WHAT
IS THE MEANING OF THE WORD “SPACENUMERATICS”?
Spacenumeratics
is the science which approaches and relates between themselves the concepts of
“Space” and “Number”, in a simultaneous scientific and symbolic context. Usually known as Sacred Geometry, it seemed
to me, however, that the word Geometry, from the Greek gê
(earth) and metron (measurement), was, in a way,
insufficient to express the universality of both concepts on which it is based.
Furthermore, as consequence of my research in this area resulted a
systematization of principles able to re-launching the bases of this millenary
science, the reason why I had to look for a modern word which could define this
ancient science. And this is how the
word SpaceNumeratics
was born.
In the words of Pythagoras: “Number rules the Universe”. However, all it took was the problem
raised by the incommensurability between the side and the diagonal of a square
so that its philosophy would be rejected and new ways would open leading to the
Mathematics we all know, causing a deeper separation between the concept of
Number and the one idealised by Pythagoras, who based his aphorism upon the
concept of the “whole number”.
In spite of all this, and somehow confirming the
mathematician Leopold Kronecker so debated sentence “God created the whole numbers, everything
else is Man’s work”, therefore modern scientists turn once again to the Pythagoreanism, convinced - as well as Pythagoras,
Aristotle or Plato - that only Structure and Number matter in the perception of
the world surrounding us.
As Matila Ghyka states in his book “The Geometry of Art and Life” :
The
rediscovery of Neo-Pythagorean Aesthetics did coincide with a startling
resurrection of scientific Pythagoreanism (to quote
Bertrand Russel: “Perhaps the oddest thing about
Modern Science is its return to Pythagoreanism.”)
Plato and the Neo-Pythagoreans had clearly stated that structure and number are
the only things which count in our perception – or rather, reconstruction – of
the external world. And modern science, with its quest for “invariants” and
group structure, has arrived at the same conclusion, via Einstein, Eddington and Jeans. (“Thought, taken in its most general
meaning to contain Art, Philosophy, Religion, Science, taken themselves in
their most general acceptation, is the quest of invariance in a fluctuating
world.” (C. J. Keyser). And Eddington: “All that
Physics discloses to us in the external world is a structure in conformity with
the Theory of Groups (Group Structure).”
As it is known, behind a world in permanent change
there are concealed fixed structures and basic laws which command shapes and
phenomena, as well as their transformation. So, discovering those structures
and laws means discovering the basic oneness of the Universe, being this oneness
a common characteristic of science and mysticism, as Fritjof
Capra clearly states in his book “The Tao
of Physics”:
The basic
oneness of the universe is not only the central characteristic of the mystical
experience, but is also one of the most important revelations of modern
physics.(…) As we study the various models of subatomic physics we shall see
that they express again and again, in different ways, the same insight – that
the constituents of matter and the basic phenomena involving them are all interconnected,
interrelated and interdependent; that they cannot be understood as isolated
entities, but only as integrated parts of the whole.
(The same
happens with mysticism). Although spiritual traditions may differ in many
details, their view of the world is essentially the same. It is a view which is
based on mystical experience – on a direct non-intellectual experience of
reality – and this experience has a number of fundamental characteristics which
are independent of the mystic’s geographical, historical, or cultural
background. (…)
The most
important characteristic of the Eastern world view – one could almost say the essence of it – is the awareness of the
unity and mutual interrelation of all things and events, the experience of all
phenomena in the world as manifestations of a basic oneness. All things are
seen as interdependent and inseparable parts of this cosmic whole; as different
manifestations of the same ultimate reality.
(…) The
modern physicist experiences the world through an extreme specialization of the
rational mind; the mystic through an extreme specialization of the intuitive
mind. The two approaches are entirely different and involve far more than a
certain view of the physical world. However they are complementary (…) Neither is comprehended in the other, nor can either of them
be reduced to the other, but both of them are necessary, supplementing one
another for a fuller understanding of the world. (…) Science does not need
mysticism and mysticism does not need science; but man needs both.
Everything points out that, in remote times, Humanity
knew how to combine science and mysticism. Proving that knowledge we can find a
number of monuments, myths and traditions
as well as a vast variety of sacred books.
This wisdom was preserved in the Temple, which both concealed and exposed, in a symbolic manner, the
Sacred Canon of Cosmology, not only
as part of the Temple rituals but also as
laws and the people’s lifestyles.
With the evolution of times and the expansion of a
more advanced scientific technology, Man was gradually driven away from that
canonical and sacred reference, creating his own national, planetarium and
cosmic models.
Due to this dispersion of the original Wisdom, human
beings ended up getting lost in a labyrinth of non-communicating, fragmented
and autonomous “knowledge”, presently translated through a vast set of
different options, from Religious Fundamentalism to Atheism, passing by the
ideal of Democracy.
Hence the urgent need man has of “recovering the sense of the sacred, his true memory and
the dignity of his primordial vocation”.
Helping to attain this, is one of the main goals of SpaceNumeratics,
the science upon
which two different forms of language cross
– one scientific, another symbolic – both essential for an holistic
vision and understanding of Man and the Universe.
As a scientific language it rescues to the Pythagorean
concept of “Number” and suggests to
Mathematics new solutions for some of its oldest problems, suggesting a profound
revision of some of the concepts on which it is based.
As a symbolic
language approaches Tradition, in its ampler sense, and restores the
profound meaning of its symbols.
In this sense, the word “Tradition” means the uninterrupted transmission of knowledge in its
multiple aspects, so it facilitates the consciousness of immanent principles of
the universe, being able to take two different aspects: one exoteric (exterior), which expresses
itself in a doctrinal and ritualistic way, the other esoteric (interior), only
transmissible through a symbolic language.
In his book “Les
Sociétés Secrètes”,
René Alleau says that the presence of symbols – enigmatic signs and of mysterious expression
of the religious traditions – as well as works of art, tales and folklore traditions prove the
existence of an universal language spoken in the East, as well as in the West,
whose trans-historical meaning seems to have its place in the roots of our own
existence, our knowledge and our values.
In fact, this universal language is present everywhere
and emerges, most of the time, in a sacred context. For example, just look how the Bible is full of symbols, being many of
them of numeric or “numeric – geometric”
nature. I merely quote two examples: the
number of the days it took Creation, referred in the Book of Genesis, and the
dimensions of the
As far as the first example is concerned it is obvious
that one cannot take the number of days of Creation literally if this counting
has as unit of time our earthly day. Today we know that Universal evolution is
valued in about 14 billions of years, and as Carl Sagan
said, if we compare the “cosmic year” with the “earthly year”, human species,
for instance, only emerged in the last seconds of the last minute of the last
day of the year, which means that, in this panorama of cosmic grandiosity,
99,998% of the Universe history happened before the emergence of our species.
Therefore, the original creative process associated to number six has
figurative meaning and can only be deciphered through the science of Space and
Number. In particular the two concepts clearly complemented in the second
example, since the dimensions of the Holy City of the Book of Revelation,
referred to as a “New Jerusalem, correspond to the ones of a cube with 12.000
furlongs of edges .
In these two concepts – Shape and Number – are also
founded the dimensions of the
Although these measures may differ from temple to
temple, they all are, however, subjected to a numerical interpretation through
the sacred canon unifying them.
Quoting John Michell in
“City of
In every
account of the holy city, the importance of measuring its dimensions is
emphasised; and this is meant literally, for the fabric of the temple contains
the secrets of the ancient world set out in such a way that they may be read by
anyone in whatever age cares to undertake the study of the language in which
they are written, which is the language of geometry and number.
Within the many sacred books where this language is
referred, we should emphasise the Bible – a book that not only exposes a doctrine,
but also mentions the history of the Universe, in a simultaneously natural and
transcendental level, from the beginning till the end of Creation, finishing
with the reference to a new Creation, highlighting as perfection paradigm, the
cubic shape of the Holy City or New Jerusalem mentioned in the Book of
Revelation. Meaning that, in its symbolic context, the Bible, as well as other
sacred books are coded documents. The same happens with some “books of stone”
as, for instance, the Great Pyramid of Egypt and the Chartres
Cathedral - true repositories of an apparently forgotten science -, and with
many of the symbols attached to the history of Humankind, whose origin and
meaning seem to have been lost in time.
Summing up: due to its universal character, the
science of Space and Number is the highest degree of Knowledge which man can
aspire to, and within this Knowledge, Science is inevitably linked to Religion.
Reason why it is urgent to re-establish the alliance between both and put an
end to the apparent duality which opposes the objective to the subjective
world, the rational to the intuitive, science to mysticism.
If, in the scientific aspect, it becomes necessary to
coordinate and inter connect the different aspects of Science, related to the
deep and symbolic aspect of Religion, as René Alleau
suggests in his book “Les Sociétés Secrètes”, it would be necessary to restructure in a
single body all traditional mysteries, in order to propose to Science, to
Philosophy, to Art and to Religion itself, an ecumenicalism founded upon an
order - the mysteries’ order, and not upon a Church.
As it is stated by this author:
That’s where
the key really is, not only to a social and economical revolution which should
in any way intervene, in order to reinstate
the world back to Man; that’s where the key to a moral and spiritual
revelation lies, reinstating Man to the sacred world, without which all
revolution merely material is nothing but a delusion. It is Man as a whole that
is necessary to change and not only the social and economical man; and it is
man’s heart, and not only his body, that must be the centre and the main
objective of all efforts. Only this way it will possible that some day a new
consciousness may occur, the only one able of attaining the equilibrium we all
are so painfully still searching for between knowledge and spiritual evolution.
Today’s human
condition is of dispersion: dispersion within time, dispersion within space,
dispersion within our wishes, dispersion within knowledge and dispersion within
action. Today’s humanity is a dispersed
humanity within a multiplicity of fragments and of autonomous logical worlds
lacking mutual communication. Therefore, as we all very well know all dispersion
results in a decrease of consciousness. So, today’s humanity is jeopardizing
consciousness and this is even more dangerous than atomic risks. Consequently,
it becomes absolutely necessary to restore the sense of sacredness and, in this
manner, its true memory and the dignity of its primordial vocation.
But, will it really be possible the unification of
people, cultures, traditions and religions? I do believe so, although in order
for it to happen it will be necessary that all human beings rediscover themselves
within a universal context, and put aside all the partnerships or sectarianisms
which keep it artificially separated. After all, our history begins with the
history of the Universe, and that is the same one for all of us. It is,
therefore, necessary to discover it by the light of a primordial tradition and
of modern scientific knowledge suitable for all human beings, throughout a
language not belonging exclusively to any specific people, but quite the
contrary, being common patrimony of all Humanity.
Lucilia