Thursday, December 29, 2011

Zero Is The Greatest Number


This is the number of God

Religion tries to understand God.

Science tries to understand the Universe.

Some feel that both can be understood through numbers, or mathematical formulas.

I like the simplicity of mathematical formula. But when I look at the great mysteries of the cosmos, I think there's more there than can ever be proven.

There's been a lot of news lately about the so-called 'God particle', which is just the main stream media's idea of sexing up science so people can actually get excited about it :)

The news is exciting, because it can expand our knowledge of the universe. It may help what is called the Standard Model of Particle Physics, a mathematical formula that explains how the fundamental building blocks of the Universe interact with each other. So far, the model does not explain how particles build up mass, you know, things like atoms or large planetary bodies.

Scientists postulate the existence of an energy field called the Higgs field, that permeates every part of the Universe, even in what is called Dark Matter in the emptiest regions of space. It is this energy field that gives mass to particles, or in other words, creates everything (You see where I'm going with this, don't you? ;)

The standard model does not explain the gravitational mechanics that holds together the Universe, though Einstein's General Theory of Relativity does quite a good job, imo. The genius of Einstein lay in that he could look at a pattern, and see things that formed the basis of his theories. He would sleep, and come up with solutions in the dream state. This process of intuition is one explored in depth by Carl Jung, one of the founding fathers of modern psychology.

I'm reading "Deciphering The Cosmic Number-The Strange Friendship of Wolfgang Pauli and Carl Jung" by Arthur I. Miller. Pauli was a famous physicist who predicted the discovery of the neutrino and had a lasting impact on theoretical physics. Jung's psychoanalytical theory borrowed much from metaphysics and arrived at the concept of a universal consciousness, and, synchronicity.

Both were intrigued by numbers, from a scientific and a metaphysical perspective. And in the course of their relationship, both developed an obsession with the number 137, that it was a number at the root of a mathematical formula for the universe. Their reasons were based on 1/137 being a constant in the fine structure of matter, and that 137 had a kabbalistic connection as well. Yet it was Pauli, the scientist, who thought that numbers had a mystical power (they do) which would help him understand the universe, and Jung, the psychoanalytical metaphysician, who looked to science to help validate his mystical theories (I believe his focus on science was a loss to psychoanalysis, which could have developed much further otherwise. Others will now have to continue this quest to develop a better understanding of human psychology) It is a beautiful book, and I recommend it for all the brilliant insights it provides.

But here's the thing. While 137 might well be the number of the Universe, what, precisely, is the number of God? Kabbalists, alchemists, gnostics, have endeavoured to come up with a number, but each assumes that it must be a finite number. I believe the answer is Zero.

I have always known that to understand God we would have to understand nothingness, or, the void.

"In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters. And God said, "Let there be light": and there was light." Genesis 1:1-3.

So the universe starts out of nothingness, or, the void. And then, out of that energy, comes light.

So, science can explain the mechanics of the universe, with varying degrees of success. It can't explain consciousness, or how that develops in us, unless it also explains a creator :)

Jung got that right, by exploring consciousness, and universal consciousness. He also suggested that the answers lay in the unconscious, and there was a bridge between science and the unconscious that could help increase our knowledge and human understanding.

He and Pauli (it really is a lovely book) started to look at Gematria, the kabbalistic system that assigns numbers to letters of the Hebrew alphabet. So, therefore, each word has a particular numerical value that can also have spiritual meaning. You will see that reasoning in Hindu and Hermetic philosophy as well, and a sequence of sounds, or chant, or saying 'Om', for example, can have effect.

Ah, but to borrow from the song, what is the sound, of silence? And, in deep space, is there sound? It is the absence of sound, of light, of mass that interests me. It is this absence, this nothingness that is the root number of God, which is Zero.

The Buddha got it right. Our religions' attempts to define God are often expressions of our own ego, or desire. He suggested instead, that we try to reach a space of nothingness, without thought or desire. This, too, is God.

So we have this primordial force that creates the many universes. Science attempts to explain it as contained within the three dimensions of space, then a fourth one, of time, but it misses another dimension, of spirit consciousness, and, another: the primal force of the void.

It is interesting that both Jung and Pauli were open to new interpretations of the supernatural, (as am I :) or alchemical symbology to explain nuclear forces. Seriously, all you need to create gold is an enormous power source, but I just want to explain the knowledge for now.

There's a new physics formula waiting to be discovered, called the Theory Of Everything (TOE) which covers the strong and weak nuclear forces, gravitation, electro-magnetic force, and how mass is created. I'm not a physicist, though, so can only explain my theory in spiritual terms.

But first, a personal story. My family knew the late professor Abdus Salam, Nobel prize winner in Physics for his co-discovery of the weak nuclear force. He could have won a second prize for his discovery that neutrinos have no mass, but was discouraged in publishing that by Pauli, who at first could not believe in what would soon turn science upon its head. The prize for that discovery eventually went to others, but the two scientists developed a mutually admiring friendship. I look at their correspondence, between a Muslim and a Jewish scientist, and wish that all our religious differences could so be overcome..

So, a theory: You can plot a line across curved time and space, say in four dimensions. Or, you can have multiple parallel dimensions, each occupying a space slightly off axis of each other, or, spinning at different speeds. So, Time and Space can be measured many ways relative to each other. You can exist across time and space, as I say in my classes. You can also, heal the past, or, visit the future.

The next possibility is that of the ego-consciousness. It is our collective memories, shared from past lives and with each other, that create another force, lets call it Psi. It influences us greatly, but our emotional turmoil blocks that knowledge. Raising our spirit consciousness allows us to go beyond our material or psyche based state into a magical dimension where things just happen.

But in between and within each dimension there is a space. That space, that energy, is called the void, the nothingness, and its number is zero.

This the number of God. Everything else is a number, a value, is created. But God is, and always has been.

Time circles upon itself, and so, God has always been.

There is the individual consciousness, and there is God consciousness. One is created, the other has always been.

The primary numbers, the kabbalistic and astrological archetypes, all have meaning. But when you add zero, or God, it raises them to a higher level. 1 becomes 10 becomes 100 etc, to illustrate my meaning. You can be bound by your archetype, your karma, or, you can free yourself from it.

People can spend a lifetime trying to free themselves from their thoughts. Yet all I do in my healing or meditation is touch them, and they know peace, for I reflect that energy back to them.

Time and space can be transcended. You can be bound by it, or, transcend it. And in the end, we all return to the nothingness.

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