Richard Ford is a graduate of the USCGA and a career Coast Guard officer, and among his experiences was becoming adept at celestial navigation–a time-honored practical application of astronomy. He has studied ancient architecture extensively for many years, where he identified numerous mathematical concepts and geometrical shapes that were reflections of a much large cosmic order. It was in this area of study that he grew to understand the importance of patterns in the cosmos. Over the years, as many before him, he developed a fascination with Plato’s Timaeus, which grew with time, until its relationship to the cosmic patterns he was studying gradually dawned on him. Much of what he had learned over several decades was also present in Timaeus and he decided that it was so important that he determined to understand the mathematical and geometric portions of the Timaeus text. As its detail began to emerge, he realized that not only was this work directly related to his own efforts, but it underlay all of it and, as Timaeus states, it is the foundational basis for all of creation.