Sacred Numbers and Divine Geometry

The quote comes from the Old Testament, namely the book of Wisdom attributed to Solomon. It says "You have arranged all things by measure, number and weight." These three elements, namely measure, number and weight, indicate three aspects with which Man knows Number in relation to Creation. Number, in fact, is weight in its action of intensifying, is number in its action of specifying and is measure in its action of ordering. These three actions therefore are nothing other than three distinct faces of the action of a single being: Number. To better understand the origin of this distinction in the action of number it is necessary to clarify a fundamental concept that mutually links two numbers, namely One and Three. From a symbolic point of view, 1 and 3 are so closely linked together that they can be considered, in a certain sense, the same number. One, in fact, can always be conceived in a triple aspect and every ternary aspect can be conceived as expression of a single superior reality. The number 3 is proper to the absolute characteristic of Almighty God. Three appears everywhere as a fundamental category of psychic life and thought and therefore also of the relative completeness or autonomy of the human being. Being number 3 a fundamental category of psychic life, everything can be seen under a triple aspect, that is as will, as intellect and as love. These are like three distinct aspects that can be identified within the same individual. In relation to these three fundamental aspects every being can be considered in its relationship with other beings which can be considered as a relationship of power, wisdom and love. Therefore in relation to the three fundamental aspects of will, intellect and love, typical of every complete being, correspond the three actions or relationships toward other beings, namely power, wisdom and love. These three fundamental relationships, in the case of Number, take the form of weight, number and measure. Saint Bonaventure provides direct confirmation of this interpretive line when he says in his "Journey of the Mind to God": "When contemplating by considering things in themselves, the intellect perceives in them weight, number and measure. Weight regards the place toward which they tend, number by which they are distinguished, measure by which they are mutually delimited." These three aspects, woven into all things, are nothing other than three distinct modes in which metaphysical Number acts and which are studied by the three related and complementary disciplines of Philosophy, Arithmetic and Geometry. For greater clarity, however, let us go on to analyze these three aspects of Metaphysical Number more closely. Weight: The term weight, which here has an acceptation slightly different from the usual, indicates an intimate, interior aspect, relative to the power proper to the entity under consideration. Saint Bonaventure relates it to the place toward which things tend. It is therefore in relation to the will of the entity. As the weight of a body is the cause of its movement and the origin of its potential energy, so will is the cause of the action of entities and the origin of their power. Number therefore acts as weight giving intensity to beings. This intensity of being, of vigilance, of will constitutes in a certain sense the metaphysical weight of being. The study of experimental Philosophy aims at awakening will in order to achieve Good. Number: In this context the word number must be understood as arithmetic calculation. Number or calculation, according to Saint Bonaventure, indicates the element by which beings distinguish themselves from each other. In this sense number is at the root of essences or individual characteristics of beings. Numbers as absolute qualities are at the basis of the generation of essences or particular ideas of beings. Number therefore acts arithmetically giving an individual quality, a specific content to beings which can be contemplated by them through intellect. The study of symbolic Arithmetic aims at illuminating intellect to bring it to contemplation of Truth. Measure: Measure according to Saint Bonaventure indicates the mutual delimitation of things. Number therefore acts as measure regulating relationships between entities or ordering them according to a geometric disposition. In this sense it acts hierarchizing and ordering beings. If Number made itself known in its aspect of Power in its action of weight, in its aspect of Wisdom in its action of number, here in its action of measure, Number makes itself known in its aspect of Love. The end of Love is the realization of Beauty, therefore the study of Geometry aims at awakening and elevating love to obtain the realization of Beauty. Number, therefore, has a relationship of Power, Wisdom and Love with other entities and through which it makes itself known respectively as weight, number and measure. Number is weight in its action of intensifying, is number in its action of specifying, is measure in its action of ordering. It is intensity, quality and hierarchy. In its aspect of intensity its power is manifested, in its aspect of quality wisdom is manifested, while in its aspect of hierarchy love is manifested. The study of number as power or weight is operated by the philosophy of numbers, the study of number as quality by arithmetic symbolism while the study of number as disposition or measure is operated by geometry. However weight, number and measure are nothing but three distinct aspects of a single reality which is that of Number. In the same way Philosophy, Arithmetic and Geometry are nothing but three distinct aspects of a single discipline: Mathematics.