Man, it has been said, its a symbolizing animal; it is evident that at no stage in the development of civilization has man been able to dispense with symbols. Science and technology have not freed man from his dependence on symbols: indeed, it may be argued that they have increased his need for them. In any case, symbology itself is now a science, and this volume is a necessary instrument in its study.
Herbert Read
The Quantum Revelation
Pretty much sums up what I enjoy studying – a synthesis of science and spirituality – and in the case of the quantum the two cannot be separated. Quantum physics verifies what mystics and esoteric teachings have thought about our consiousness and reality for centuries, before even a “real” science existed. Ideas that came to these thinkers in altered states of consciousness. Such things like how consciousness isn’t local to the brain, that we are all connected by consiousness – both humans and object – how our perception and beliefs actually take part in creating the objective world around us, and that we are indeed a microcosm of the macrocosm.
Mutability
The purpose of physics has always been seen as a search for the fundamental laws of the universe. Commenting on what quantum physics tells us about the laws of physics John Wheeler states “There is no law except the law that there is no law”. This is to say that the laws of physics are malleable, mutating in tune with the universe they support, in the same way living organisms mutate. “Every law can be transcended”. He means that nothing is absolute, nothing is so fundamental that it cannot change under certain circumstances and this includes the very laws of the universe.
Quantum is also considered a reflection of our being, our minds into the universe. Something I took away from all that is if the very nature of the universe is as such then we as humans shouldn’t be so reluctant to change; whether its an opinion we hold, old habits, our thoughts, etc. as mutability is the very underpinning of who and what we are along with the cosmos around us.
Divine Decan
Since the numerical terms after 10 are simply outgrowths of the decad and since, “clearly and indisputably,” the ordered and the finite take precedence over the unlimited and infinite, it follows thata thorough analysis of the properties of the first ten numbers will reveal not only the whole nature of numbers, but also the pattern of the universe as it exists in the mind of God.
Vincent Hopper
Medieval Number Symbolism
I got this book to help me better understand number symbolism – the philosophy and relationship of numbers to themselves and to the cosmos – to apply this knowledge to the use of Tarot.
… medieval number philosophy, which often appears as sheer nonsense or at best as the product of extraordinarily confused thinking, is explicable only by reference to its origins. … It is the purpose of this study to reveal how deeply rooted in medieval thought was the conciousness of numbers, not as mathematical tools, nor yet as the counters in a game, but as fundamental realities, alive with memories and eloquent with meaning. … An important result of these studies has been to reveal in the medieval mind a web like structure of abstract ideas and concrete realities so closely interwoven and interdependent that no serious gap was felt to exist between them.
Vincent Hopper
Blind Specialization
An issue with most fields of modern science and philosophy are that they are specalized and only focus on a specific area of study. It is like someone viewing a painting with their eyes only a couple inches from the canvas. From this perspective we have an excellent opportunity to analyze fine brush strokes and textures of paint but only a small area of the whole, the consequence being the “painting” (or meaning) itself eludes us. This is true of our relationship to the whole. Our perception and understanding of the universe is we are smacked up right against it peering suspiciously at a fraction of reality and making our various assessments of such grand affairs as “life” and “the world” thus missing the meaning.
It is inevitable from the vantage points of our limited, mistrustful egos, these assessments are biased, prejudiced, and for the most part inaccurate.
