An Introduction to the Meaning of Numbers

Let us play God for a moment. Were I to take a single proton and combine
it with a single neutron and a single electronwhat would happen? A hydrogen
atom would happen, right? Now, say I add to the mix a second proton, neutron,
and electronnow what happens? A bigger hydrogen atom, right? Strangely,
though I had used exactly the same materials, we now have before us, not a larger
hydrogen atom, but a helium atomwhich exhibits entirely different properties
altogether. Hydrogen for instance is extremely reactive while helium is noted for its
heroic stabilityin fact, physicists believe that helium was the first element to
coalesce in any significant amount following the big bang because it is the only
atom that is both simple and stable enough to have been created by and to have
survived in such extreme conditions. If a third proton, neutron, and electron were
added then the phenomenon of lithium would appear, which is a reactive alkali
metal and the least dense of all solid elements, including liquids. 1
The Meaning of Numbers: From Mysticism to Physics
But why, if the constituent parts are identical, should mere number result in
such drastically different qualities? If we were talking about the ingredients to a
cake, then doubling or tripling the components would result in a double or triple
1."The Periodic Table of Elements." It's Elemental. Accessed May 4, 2015.

http://education.jlab.org/itselemental/.

size cake - but in the case of atoms, or the building blocks of matter, this is
obviously not the case, but why? Why should one proton result in a highly reactive
invisible substance while two protons result in a noble gas that is noted for its
heroic stability? And why should three protons all of a sudden be a solid,
superconductive metal with the approximate weight and density of pinewood?
Though modern physics has undoubtedly advanced our understanding of the
universe immensely, physicists were not the first to have observed the role that
numbers play in the creation of the universeembarrassingly enough, it was the
mystics who seem to have first proposed that numbers were the key to the secret of
cosmogenesis.2
The mystical interpretation of number has long been ubiquitous within
mystical traditions, from Pythagoras' and Plato's schools in ancient Greece to
Paracelsus and the Christian Hermeticists of Renaissance Germany. The idea that
the study of numbers can yield insight into the process of creation and the structure
of the universe is a perennial one, expounded by the mystery schools of ancient
Egypt, theologians such as St. Augustine, the medieval Jewish Kabbalists, the
ancient Chinese schools of Confucius and Lao Tzu, and the relatively recent
alchemist, Sir Isaac Newton, who used the same ancient principles to formulate the
2. Lawrence, John M. Basic Principles of Numerology in the I Ching. unpublished research
paper, Naropa University, 2015.

laws of motion, universal gravitation, and calculus.3

1, 2, & 3: The Secret of Creation
The first three natural numbers, across traditions, are assigned great
importance in the process of creation and their names are sometimes even
synonymous with the Creator or God (the One, the Holy Trinity, etc.)and for
good reason! Let us examine them, starting with the idea of one. A unique problem
confronts us from the outset, however, and that is the fact that there is no way to
examine or even imagine the one; this is because, if we observe the one, we have
already made the twoobserving the one automatically creates a reference point
outside of it from which we are observing. In order for the experience of one to
occur, the observer necessarily cannot be other than the one; one therefore
possesses a quality of ineffability; if one is understood as the sole originator of all
numbers or as the beginning of creation, then all subsequent qualities inhere in it
since there is no other source from which they might be derived; since all future
qualities are derived only by subdivision of this one, there is nothing that exists
without taking part in one's existence. If our object is the cosmos itself, then every
part of the whole will be represented by a fraction of that one. By use of reason
alone, one can be described as ineffable, all-inclusive unity of being.
3. Hulse, David Allen. The Western Mysteries. 2nd ed. St. Paul, MN: Llewellyn Publications,
1948.

From the starting point of the un-imaginable one, the idea of two introduces
primordial division within the one and, in order for this to occur, differing takes
place; the indefinite qualities which inhered but were undistinguished within the
one coalesce, so to speak, within the two or the other. It is important to note that,
though the qualities that inhere in one are distinguished in the two, they are not

separate because separation implies that there is a medium in which one and two
exist and through which they might escape each other; the differentiation that is
occurring by the one into two is the differing of qualities, complementing and
opposing one anotherdistinguishable but not separable.4 "Two-ness" then,
culminates as maximum differentiating without separation. Two then, unlike the
one, is partially knowablethough no third person perspective could be adopted
under these circumstances, an object can be recognized from the perspective of the
subject as definitely not-subject. The quality of two is that of one recognizing itself
as other, which happens through qualitative opposition since differing factors such
as distance and time are as yet unmanifestpure duality, thesis and antithesis
defining each other.
Subject & object, positive & negative, male & female, night & dayas the
dual forces represented by two precipitate with increasing intensity from the over4. This appears to be consistent with both yin & yang in the Daoist traditions and with the

purusha & prakriti of the Vedic tradition.

saturated one, the tension that inheres in their oppositional natures develops into a
movement toward overcoming each other. While the natures of one and two ensure
that the balance is ultimately unchanging and self-contained,5 the apparent changes

of proportion and tension within the whole reveal a third quality which is the
synthesis between the now irreconcilable thesis and antithesis of one and two. The
three, being the second odd number, is, in actuality, a dynamic form of the one;6 it is
the culmination of a mysterious process originally initiated by the one which causes
division by the two and its subsequent oppositional tension which is resolved by
returning to balance in the three.
4, 7, & 10: Macrocosm, Microcosm, & the Fractal Universe
By resolving the opposition that arose from two, three both re-establishes
the unity of one and reveals its hidden dimensions by reintegrating the qualities
that precipitated as two into a more complicated whole. But just as one
mysteriously projected itself into itself as itself (1 + 1 = 2), so three, as the new
one, projects itselfbut its self is not made of one, it is made of three, and
therefore projects another three, which when added to itself (as one) is four, an
elaboration of two and the first temporal number. One, two, and three are
5. Consider: any victory that one attained would be counter-balanced by an equally great defeat in
the other; alternately, if one were to amass all substance to itself, the other would match this
accomplishment by possessing an equal insubstantiality.
6. Consider the notion of the Triune God of Christianity and similar concepts in other

religions.

primordial numbers, meaning they are the prior, underlying principles7 upon which
manifestation is supportedas the one, no experience was possible; as the two, the
fundamental split occurred between subject and object but true multiplicity
remained folded inside of the primordial object (the two); only in three are subject
and object finally integrated in a dynamic relationship.
Three is what appears as the creator (one and two are hidden [3 = 2 + 1] in
three) who projects their self outward as creation, which appears as four (four is
also the minimum number of points required to move from an abstract triangular
plane to a 3D shape with volume). When three, the Creator, enters into creation,
the four, seven manifests (3 + 4), the number of incarnation. Seven represents the
three-in-one god entering into the four dimensions of space and time.
When one, two, three, and four are added together, the result is ten,
represented as a 1 and a 0. Because ten integrates all of creation with its source,
substance, and cause, it represents completion,8 the one's presence in creation, and
the fractal repetition of its own being and creative power reflected in its creation.
Conclusion and Suggested Contemplations for Further Learning
Though this essay hasn't covered all of the natural numbers, I hope that the
reader has understood some of the underlying principles of numerology and it is
7. Consider the sephirot keter, chokma, & binah
8. This appears to correlate to malkhut.

the author's opinion that the meanings of all numbers can be deduced by a clever
person who understands the process of one, two, and three. I do not intend,
however, and would not wish for anyone to take my word for all of this, for the
practice of number mysticism is ultimately an experiential endeavorI suggest that
the reader look at nature, science, and the scriptures of their own spiritual tradition,
or better, various traditions.

Bibliography
Hulse, David Allen. The Western Mysteries. 2nd ed. St. Paul, MN:
Llewellyn Publications, 1948.
Lawrence, John M. Basic Principles of Numerology in the I Ching.
unpublished research paper, Naropa University, 2015.
Lawrence, John M. On Numerology in the Jewish Tradition: Gematria.
unpublished research paper, Naropa University, 2015.
"The Periodic Table of Elements." It's Elemental. Accessed May 4, 2015.
http://education.jlab.org/itselemental/.