THE NUMBERS

1. The principle

The number one represents unity, the original principle.

In one, traditional visions synthesized the idea of ​​primordial unity, divinity before creation, comprising every potential reality and every concept that could be thought of. The idea of one is timeless.

At the same time, the number one evokes the primordial unity towards which everything tends, it is the alpha and the omega towards which everything created is destined to return.

Number one is the divine principle. Everything comes from one. The One is the whole, the Eternal Infinite Being, which has no form and possesses all states, which has no name and includes all names. Being indivisible mainly indicates unity. Its strength lies in its qualitative value of uniting and origin.

For this reason, it is a sacred number revered since antiquity. All traditions speak of an origin in which unity reigned, the unmanifest without division, the unification of energies and wholeness. From this origin, all things and manifestations were born. From one, two equal and opposite points arise, which form matter. The union of these two energies, masculine and feminine, within one creates new life. Unity is the harmonizing principle, but if this unity is broken, it gives way to diversity. The pantheon of ancient mythology contemplated a multiplicity of gods as an epiphany of the natural elements, ruled by a supreme divinity, a reminder of the fundamental unity. The symbol of one is the circle being without beginning and end.

As a unifying symbol, the One has a great evocative capacity, allowing you to create bonds by bringing together the separate elements, such as the earth and the sky, the macrocosm and the microcosm. The one in esoteric symbolism is not considered a number having a principal value as a unit, from which all numbers originate and return. It allows you to create links by bringing together the separate elements, such as the earth and the sky, the macrocosm and the microcosm. The one in esoteric symbolism is not considered a number having a principal value as a unit, from which all numbers originate and return. It allows you to create links by bringing together the separate elements, such as the earth and the sky, the macrocosm and the microcosm. The one in esoteric symbolism is not considered a number having a principal value as a unit, from which all numbers originate and return.

2. God and the other from oneself

The number two is the symbol of duality, and it contains the mystery of creation.

Suppose in number one we find the creator principle that includes every aspect of reality, present, past and future. In that case, the two tell of the creative act, the moment in which the primordial divinity generates the other from itself, giving shape to the other matter that has not yet taken form.

In the two takes place, splitting is necessary for the origin of creation at a macrocosmic level. At a lower, micro-cosmic level, this same duality is reflected in the juxtaposition of opposites: hot and cold, high and low, good and evil, male and female; their opposition reflects on a material level the first great division, a separation which is such only in appearance. The number two comes from the division of unity, and it is the symbol of separation because, from a sacred point of view, unity is essentially One and only. The two, as dìade, is the expression of duality. In a dualistic world view, there is the separation of the material principle from the spiritual direction, and the number two is the embodiment of opposites: masculine/feminine, day/night, earth/sky, etc. Being a dual principle, it indicates both contrast, polarity, and the attempt at conciliation.

3. The Trinity

In the number three is synthesized the very completion of creation and the origin of life.

The creative act is not, in fact, complete with the dualistic split.

After the principle has separated itself, generating creation, a third element appears to complete the work: the force or essence connecting the first two realities, the creator and creation.

Imagining the primordial principle as the reality, it creates and creation as its work. The third element is represented precisely by the creator’s gaze, by the act of looking.

This is the foundation of each trinity: the creator, the created, and what unites the two. In the most ancient cosmogony of Greek mythology, the three elements are identified in Chaos,  Gea and  Eros. Chaos is the indistinct space, the infinite that contains everything (the one). Gaea (or Gaia) is the raw material to take form, included in Chaos (Chaos and Gaia, the duality).

Eros is the force of attraction that makes matter converge and gives life to everything with an act of love.

What unites, the third element is love. In the same way, Christian Tradition contains the mystery of creation in the Holy Trinity Father (creator), Son (begotten) and Holy Spirit (the force of union that binds every aspect of the visible and the invisible). Three is the symbol of the ternary, the combination of three elements. The ternary is one of the major symbols of esotericism. First odd number, since one is not considered a number, three is deeply active and possesses great energetic strength. It is the symbol of conciliation for its unifying value. The two separates as much as the three reunites. Its geometric expression is the triangle, a good sign of the return of the multiple to unity: two different points in space assemble and come together in a third point located higher up.

4. The world

With the four, we pass from a metaphysical level to a properly earthly level: the four is, in fact, the number par excellence of the moulded reality.

For this reason, four cardinal points delimit the boundaries of the created world, and four are the seasons, which mark the passage of time.

The square in its primordial meaning is the symbol of the earth, of the reality, enclosed under the sky, as four rivers rose in the earthly paradise and the cities of men were divided into four parts (hence the quarter), to reaffirm their reality material. Can also read four as 3 + 1, and the unity that is added is precisely the matter that takes shape, passing from the potential state to the one in progress. Four represents the most perfect of meaning of the numbers,  being the root of other numbers and all things.

It represents the first mathematical power and the generating virtue from which all combinations derive. It is the emblem of motion and infinity, meaning corporeal, sensible, and incorporeal. Can break down the four into 1 + 3, the monad (the one) and the triangle, symbolizes the Eternal, and the man who carries within himself the divine principle. The quaternary was the symbol used by Pythagoras to communicate to the disciples the ineffable name of God, which meant the origin of all that exists.

5. The Microcosm and Man

Five is the symbol of the microcosm and the human being.

It should read it as 4 + 1, that is, as the material reality in which a creature in the image and likeness of God finds a place, which brings down a sliver of the primordial celestial unity.

The five-pointed star with the point pointing upwards graphically summarizes the microcosmic reality of man, the purpose of his existence in the material world and his natural predisposition towards reunion with the creator principle. In the same way, there are five senses through which man can come into contact and know the material world.

Five is a number that symbolizes universal life, human individuality, will, intelligence, inspiration and genius. The five illustrates vertical evolution, progressive and ascending movement. As a median between earth and sky, being the number of men indicates the possible transcendence towards a higher condition. It is an eminently human number, and as such, symbolically susceptible to deviation from the spiritual order, which instead gives it positive values. This deviation occurs when individuality and vitality, deductible from the reference to the five senses and the quinary articulation of the human being in Leonardo’s depiction (Vitruvian man, five-pointed star), pretend to detach themselves from the One to become self-centred.