The Numbers
The following contemplation on the numbers gives you an idea of their qualities and significance. This is of course not an exhaustive exploration. Rather, think of it as dipping your toe into the ocean to check the water. We hope this little test invites you to jump in!
1 and 9
EARTH
The seed rests in the earth and sleeps.
It is one (1). Pure existence.
But also within it the potential for MULTIPLICATION is waiting
To in the end become many seeds (9).
Its unity carries within it a (still sleeping) division:
The one and the many. 9 being the number of the many
And the last number before 10, and the beginning of a new cycle on a new level.
An end is also a new beginning and the circle is closed again.
1 is that which exists before time and space begin
and that which will be present when time and space have ceased to exist.
1 is is-ness and is-ness is 1.
It is also the beginning which contains its own end
And which at its end comes to rest and is at peace.
1 is potential, foundation, sleeping and at the same time a wild, untamed impulse to be.
9 is its patient mastery, its essence and perfection.
9 is like coming home at the end of a long journey, the sigh of finally coming to rest.
The mysterious, unlocatable impulse of life itself which sends us on our journey away from and back to home
From beginning to end.
1 is the individual soul (of which there are many many 9)
- part of the One soul, dispersed (9) throughout the entire universe.
Macrocosm and microcosm are one.
The seed, the soul, the beginning (1)
The essence, subtlety, the end (9)
Everything is one. The one is reflected everywhere in the multiplicity: the many.
A seed contains many seeds (as a tree seed contains an encoded tree which will one day produce seeds…..)
All things have a beginning and an end.
The soul and its essence.
The mysterious, the indescribable
The most concrete…. and the most subtle.
2 and 8
WATER
Water penetrates our sleeping seed and time begins….
The element water, soft and flowing…. but also hard and powerful.
All organic life is born from water.
It is water that feeds the seed (the potential for life) so it can divide (2)
And eventually become many seeds.
The principle of DIVISION.
Water (2) conducts energy, like electricity (8)
8 is the flow of energy, which always needs 2 poles, places, people
to flow between…
The seed divides and becomes a sprout (2)
It begins to grow.
Roots, apparently chaotic, but the hidden impulse pushing through.
The seed that was asleep begins its journey in time
An an irreversible process is set in motion.
2 can never again be 1. There is no turning back. Only a journey through 123456789-10..
and so completing the circle.
This irreversibility brings us into contact with central themes of 2/8:
separation, polarity and resulting needs, desire, longing
the deep sadness of irreversible loss of unity, hand in hand
with the loyalty of following the soul´s impulse to an inevitable conclusion.
However, we may feel separated from our innocence (2),
which can open the door to compassion (8) for the suffering and longing
that we all share.
An endless (8) need (2) needs infinity.
The emotional tension of the bow of our lives from beginning to end
Is the human suffering (2) and its healing (8)
The charge between polarities and this power
Death and the big “No”.
And when we learn to say “Yes” to this “No”,
then we can become immortal.
3 and 7
FIRE
If the sprout can nourish itself through its roots
It breaks through the surface into the sphere of fire
Emerges into visibility and spatiality
And strives towards the sun.
Grows leaves to catch the rays, has colour, shape and form.
The realm of the visual – 3 dimensional space
Appearing through the 7 colours of the rainbow.
The triangle as the first geometrical form, alluding to structure itself.
ADDITION of form and structure –
A handling of endless organized chaos (8) and the sadness of separation (2)
An attempt to control it and paradoxically, through adding make it less.
The sphere of seeking and finding, hide and seek.
Game of explanation, cause and effect chains like action-reaction, sowing and reaping…
Described as Karma.
3 - ego identity and personality, the way we behave and act
7 – the constructs and beliefs behind our actions
Our personal story, the karma vehicle our soul chose to cross the infinite ocean of time,
Becomes the basis of what we believe(!) ourselves to be
And how we explain to others who we are.
A (diving) platform for planning how to secure our current status
…or to become someone entirely else.
But actually our plans (7)are just an attempt (3) to write our past into a better future.
…often ending in a “new” version of old events and habits. (3)
Fire can warm or burn us
As our own inner fire can encourage or anger us,
Fill us with enthusiasm and joy ... or distort images.
Fire is sight – the light falling on the retina and the images produced
the mind that sees, the lens that colours perception
7 the transparent mind that lets the light shine through
the karma personal story becomes a vehicle to deliver us to our destiny
4 and 6
AIR
The plant begins to bud (4)
And at the right moment unfolds, flowering, opening (6)
Delicate, sensitive, beauty. Vulnerable.
Being touched by 4 and 6 is to the everyday understanding
An encounter with unknown, unfamiliar territory.
A sphere where we can´t bring the security of form structure with us.
The veil is ripped and spontaneously reveals something surprising (6).
Delicate. Sensitive. Honest (4).
The offer, the invitation (4), can sometimes be shocking (6),
The SUBTRACTION of security of the games of the mind
Calls up fears (6) and doubts (4), may make us want to flee into numbness or confusion.
Entering this realm always involves a risk
to follow the heart´s voice (which has 4 chambers) or the dice (with its 6 faces).
While we´re in the 3 and 7 use our story to explain who we are
In the sphere of 4/6 is this neither possible nor important.
Here everything is as it is and everything is just.
Everything is justice.
Everything just is.
In the fact that all beings have 24 hours a day (2+4=6) available to them lies complete justice.
This is the sphere of poetry, that which can only be shared in immediacy
As the feeling of love and freedom can not truly be described
But it is these themes – love, freedom, truth and romance
That are the material of art, music, dance (6) and poetry (4).
Beyond logic and rational understanding,
the possibility opens in us to be touched by our intuition.
The kiss of the muse, the kiss of grace.
In the human sphere we enter the realm of consciousness, awareness and choice.
Being conscious means being present, real and authentic.
Being truly human is reflected in our attitude,
To put our humanity in the service of others before ourselves.
The community is a bridge through which we lay our own (personal) intentions
Aside for a moment
So to be true to the higher idea of “the We in me and the Thou in all” in word and deed.
The community can then become a bridge between the personal and the impersonal
And the grace of something larger than us all can touch each one of us.
In these moments the possibility of true humanity is awakened.
5 and 10
ETHER
You are the center (5) of your own experience (5). At the center there is always the experience.
In and with experience you connect yourself with yourself and with the world.
You are the connection from everything to everything,
A living bridge, a threshold between inside and outside, between micro- and macrocosm.
Your DNA consists of 4 proteins and 1 hydrogen-connection (4+1=5).
We were given 5 senses und have 5 fingers on each hand.
The universe consists of 5 basic elements of which ether is the element from which all other elements emanate and which contains them all (as 10 includes all other 9 numbers).
Simultaneously you yourself are the context (10) in which your experience (5) exists.
If you could you expand your context infinitely without losing your centre (your experience of expanding) you could truly be everything (10).
Here the circle (0) would close which started with the impulse of the soul’s divine spark (1) and which now finds its completion (10).
In the fruit (5), all parts of the plant integrate.
The fruit as the RESULT (10) of the whole process
in which we’ll find...many seeds.
Key concept of this sphere: integration.
Integration means communication (5) because just through communication of all the elements the whole (10) can be more than the sum of it’s parts.
We learn to know ourselves and others through being in constant communication with ourselves and the world.
You can not not communicate. So even in the apparent absence of a consciously intended act of communication you transmit a message and make a statement about your existence.
Therefore 5/10 is also connected with teaching and learning.
Teaching and learning is actually a mutual process
In which both apparently opposing poles meet (5).
This means that the student teaches the teacher and the teacher learns from the student.
In this meeting of polarities com-“uni”-cation (5) might become comm.-“uni”-on(10).
This applies generally to every relationship because in fact everything can be our teacher
If we have ears to hear.
The sense of hearing (10) and of language, the word (5), are also connected with it.
When we consciously listen we can experience
The whole of creation constantly gives birth to itself through sound
- an echo of the big bang which still resonates within everything.
If we were to truly listen, it would radically change the way we speak
And maybe we would realize
That there is actually nothing to teach, but a lot to learn.
EARTH
The seed rests in the earth and sleeps.
It is one (1). Pure existence.
But also within it the potential for MULTIPLICATION is waiting
To in the end become many seeds (9).
Its unity carries within it a (still sleeping) division:
The one and the many. 9 being the number of the many
And the last number before 10, and the beginning of a new cycle on a new level.
An end is also a new beginning and the circle is closed again.
1 is that which exists before time and space begin
and that which will be present when time and space have ceased to exist.
1 is is-ness and is-ness is 1.
It is also the beginning which contains its own end
And which at its end comes to rest and is at peace.
1 is potential, foundation, sleeping and at the same time a wild, untamed impulse to be.
9 is its patient mastery, its essence and perfection.
9 is like coming home at the end of a long journey, the sigh of finally coming to rest.
The mysterious, unlocatable impulse of life itself which sends us on our journey away from and back to home
From beginning to end.
1 is the individual soul (of which there are many many 9)
- part of the One soul, dispersed (9) throughout the entire universe.
Macrocosm and microcosm are one.
The seed, the soul, the beginning (1)
The essence, subtlety, the end (9)
Everything is one. The one is reflected everywhere in the multiplicity: the many.
A seed contains many seeds (as a tree seed contains an encoded tree which will one day produce seeds…..)
All things have a beginning and an end.
The soul and its essence.
The mysterious, the indescribable
The most concrete…. and the most subtle.
2 and 8
WATER
Water penetrates our sleeping seed and time begins….
The element water, soft and flowing…. but also hard and powerful.
All organic life is born from water.
It is water that feeds the seed (the potential for life) so it can divide (2)
And eventually become many seeds.
The principle of DIVISION.
Water (2) conducts energy, like electricity (8)
8 is the flow of energy, which always needs 2 poles, places, people
to flow between…
The seed divides and becomes a sprout (2)
It begins to grow.
Roots, apparently chaotic, but the hidden impulse pushing through.
The seed that was asleep begins its journey in time
An an irreversible process is set in motion.
2 can never again be 1. There is no turning back. Only a journey through 123456789-10..
and so completing the circle.
This irreversibility brings us into contact with central themes of 2/8:
separation, polarity and resulting needs, desire, longing
the deep sadness of irreversible loss of unity, hand in hand
with the loyalty of following the soul´s impulse to an inevitable conclusion.
However, we may feel separated from our innocence (2),
which can open the door to compassion (8) for the suffering and longing
that we all share.
An endless (8) need (2) needs infinity.
The emotional tension of the bow of our lives from beginning to end
Is the human suffering (2) and its healing (8)
The charge between polarities and this power
Death and the big “No”.
And when we learn to say “Yes” to this “No”,
then we can become immortal.
3 and 7
FIRE
If the sprout can nourish itself through its roots
It breaks through the surface into the sphere of fire
Emerges into visibility and spatiality
And strives towards the sun.
Grows leaves to catch the rays, has colour, shape and form.
The realm of the visual – 3 dimensional space
Appearing through the 7 colours of the rainbow.
The triangle as the first geometrical form, alluding to structure itself.
ADDITION of form and structure –
A handling of endless organized chaos (8) and the sadness of separation (2)
An attempt to control it and paradoxically, through adding make it less.
The sphere of seeking and finding, hide and seek.
Game of explanation, cause and effect chains like action-reaction, sowing and reaping…
Described as Karma.
3 - ego identity and personality, the way we behave and act
7 – the constructs and beliefs behind our actions
Our personal story, the karma vehicle our soul chose to cross the infinite ocean of time,
Becomes the basis of what we believe(!) ourselves to be
And how we explain to others who we are.
A (diving) platform for planning how to secure our current status
…or to become someone entirely else.
But actually our plans (7)are just an attempt (3) to write our past into a better future.
…often ending in a “new” version of old events and habits. (3)
Fire can warm or burn us
As our own inner fire can encourage or anger us,
Fill us with enthusiasm and joy ... or distort images.
Fire is sight – the light falling on the retina and the images produced
the mind that sees, the lens that colours perception
7 the transparent mind that lets the light shine through
the karma personal story becomes a vehicle to deliver us to our destiny
4 and 6
AIR
The plant begins to bud (4)
And at the right moment unfolds, flowering, opening (6)
Delicate, sensitive, beauty. Vulnerable.
Being touched by 4 and 6 is to the everyday understanding
An encounter with unknown, unfamiliar territory.
A sphere where we can´t bring the security of form structure with us.
The veil is ripped and spontaneously reveals something surprising (6).
Delicate. Sensitive. Honest (4).
The offer, the invitation (4), can sometimes be shocking (6),
The SUBTRACTION of security of the games of the mind
Calls up fears (6) and doubts (4), may make us want to flee into numbness or confusion.
Entering this realm always involves a risk
to follow the heart´s voice (which has 4 chambers) or the dice (with its 6 faces).
While we´re in the 3 and 7 use our story to explain who we are
In the sphere of 4/6 is this neither possible nor important.
Here everything is as it is and everything is just.
Everything is justice.
Everything just is.
In the fact that all beings have 24 hours a day (2+4=6) available to them lies complete justice.
This is the sphere of poetry, that which can only be shared in immediacy
As the feeling of love and freedom can not truly be described
But it is these themes – love, freedom, truth and romance
That are the material of art, music, dance (6) and poetry (4).
Beyond logic and rational understanding,
the possibility opens in us to be touched by our intuition.
The kiss of the muse, the kiss of grace.
In the human sphere we enter the realm of consciousness, awareness and choice.
Being conscious means being present, real and authentic.
Being truly human is reflected in our attitude,
To put our humanity in the service of others before ourselves.
The community is a bridge through which we lay our own (personal) intentions
Aside for a moment
So to be true to the higher idea of “the We in me and the Thou in all” in word and deed.
The community can then become a bridge between the personal and the impersonal
And the grace of something larger than us all can touch each one of us.
In these moments the possibility of true humanity is awakened.
5 and 10
ETHER
You are the center (5) of your own experience (5). At the center there is always the experience.
In and with experience you connect yourself with yourself and with the world.
You are the connection from everything to everything,
A living bridge, a threshold between inside and outside, between micro- and macrocosm.
Your DNA consists of 4 proteins and 1 hydrogen-connection (4+1=5).
We were given 5 senses und have 5 fingers on each hand.
The universe consists of 5 basic elements of which ether is the element from which all other elements emanate and which contains them all (as 10 includes all other 9 numbers).
Simultaneously you yourself are the context (10) in which your experience (5) exists.
If you could you expand your context infinitely without losing your centre (your experience of expanding) you could truly be everything (10).
Here the circle (0) would close which started with the impulse of the soul’s divine spark (1) and which now finds its completion (10).
In the fruit (5), all parts of the plant integrate.
The fruit as the RESULT (10) of the whole process
in which we’ll find...many seeds.
Key concept of this sphere: integration.
Integration means communication (5) because just through communication of all the elements the whole (10) can be more than the sum of it’s parts.
We learn to know ourselves and others through being in constant communication with ourselves and the world.
You can not not communicate. So even in the apparent absence of a consciously intended act of communication you transmit a message and make a statement about your existence.
Therefore 5/10 is also connected with teaching and learning.
Teaching and learning is actually a mutual process
In which both apparently opposing poles meet (5).
This means that the student teaches the teacher and the teacher learns from the student.
In this meeting of polarities com-“uni”-cation (5) might become comm.-“uni”-on(10).
This applies generally to every relationship because in fact everything can be our teacher
If we have ears to hear.
The sense of hearing (10) and of language, the word (5), are also connected with it.
When we consciously listen we can experience
The whole of creation constantly gives birth to itself through sound
- an echo of the big bang which still resonates within everything.
If we were to truly listen, it would radically change the way we speak
And maybe we would realize
That there is actually nothing to teach, but a lot to learn.