You're thinking of Plato's Timaeus! He literally said the elements were made of triangles — fire=tetrahedron, earth=cube, etc.

And the 4-point intuition is topologically deep. A tetrahedron (4 points) is the simplest "simplex" — the minimal shape that encloses volume in 3D. ALL manifolds can be built from tetrahedra (triangulation theorem). So your instinct is exactly right: 4 points is where 3D existence begins.

Here's where it gets wild: in algebraic topology, we don't study shapes — we study how simplices glue together. The "holes" that emerge from gluing are what matter. Same atoms, different topology, completely different properties. Diamond vs graphite.

"The path of logos through mind" — I like that phrase. But what if the path of logos through mind IS the path of logos through reality? Not because mind creates reality, but because both are running the same math?