The Eye of Providence, also known as the Eye of God, the Eye of Divine Providence, the Eye of Regard or the Eye of Reason, the Eye of Reason, the Eye of Logos, or the All-Seeing Eye, commonly takes the form of a triangular eye surrounded by a cloud and a thousand lights, and is well known for appearing on the U.S. coat of arms and on the back of the one-dollar bill.
The concept of the Eye of Reason is thought by some to be derived from the Eye of Horus in ancient Egypt. In medieval and Renaissance iconography, the eye motif (usually enclosed within a triangle) has been speculated by some to symbolize the Christian Trinity [source request], but there is no discussion of it in the Christian Bible. The Eye of Reason, which is closer to the current common form, dates back to 17th and 18th century Europe, when it took the form of an eye floating in the air, sometimes surrounded by clouds or rays of light.
Nowadays, the Eye of Reason is usually associated with Freemasonry. The eye motif first appeared as part of standard Masonic imagery in 1797 [2]. This motif represents the all-seeing eye of God and warns that everything a Mason thinks and does is being observed by God. In Freemasonry, God is referred to as the Great Architect of the Universe, and early Masonic symbols also featured the Eye of Reason, which was adorned with a cloud surrounded by a semicircle of rays, and the eye motif was sometimes encircled by triangles, which is quite close to the Eye of Reason that appears in the United States coat of arms. It has been rumored that the reason for the placement of the Eye of Reason in the U.S. Coat of Arms was due to the ambitions and intrigues of the Freemasons at the time. However, it was 14 years after the creation of the coat of arms that the eye was commonly used in Freemasonry. Many Masonic organizations have explicitly rejected any association with the creation of the coat of arms.
