Pythagoras Philosophy of Numbers and Shapes

         

    Pythagoras is one of the most well-known philosophers, considered the first pure mathematician, and who founded a community/society based on religion and science. He is most widely known as the author of the Pythagorean Theorem. He claimed to be a lover of wisdom, for which the Greek word"philo"; means love, and "sophia" means wisdom. He believed there was a system of principles that existed behind numbers. One of his most basic notions revolves around the symbolism and beauty associated with the Divine Proportion.

     Pythagoras expressed his thoughts and ideas by using words and numbers as we know them today.  For instance, a point is the essence of a circle. A series of symbolic forms were constructed to mirror the concepts of the universe. Using a compass, straightedge, and writing utensils, mathematical philosophers created these symbolic representations. He stated that in all geometric figures, the circle is the parent of all the following shapes. When a circle is mirrored, two mirrors are created. These two circles side by side build a foundation for all numbers. 

   Believing that nothing exists without a center, mathematical philosophers started with a point and drew a circle around it. This symbol is called the Monad and represents the Number One. This figure is the most stable, and the mathematical philosophers also called it The First, The Essence, The Foundation, and Unity. 

   In order for ‘one to become many’, the circle (or one) must be transformed by a reflection. By contemplating itself, the circle is able to become many. It is replicated with each circle sharing the center of the other. The geometry of creating a line that connects the two centers of the circles furthers the principles of all following numbers. 

    Number Two involves the principles of “twoness” or “otherness”. Greek philosophers referred to the dyad as “audacity” because of the boldness of separation from the one, and “anguish” because there is still a sense of tension of a desire to return to oneness.  

   Number Three is the firstborn and the eldest number. The triad signifies prudence, wisdom, piety, and harmony. The triangle represents balance and is a polygon of strength.

   The next shape is the tetrad, Number Four is associated with justice, stability, and completion. There are four seasons, four ages of man, and four directions. 

   The shape of the pentad follows as the symbol of life itself. The pentad arises in the existence of our five fingers, and five toes, the symbol that wards off evil, and a symbol of power and immunity. The Pythagoreans associated the Number Five with the “beam of the balance,” which suggests the power of choice and perhaps the final “moment of choice” for our humanity in the middle of the Fifth Round.

   Number Six illustrates the six directions of extension of all solid bodies. The interlaced triangles picture the union of spirit and matter, male and female, since “the union of the two sexes and the alchemy of matter by triads are necessary to develop the generative force … which is inherent in all bodies.” 

   Number Seven Pythagoras called it the perfect number, making seven the basis for “Music of the Spheres.”  Seven not only governs the periodicity of the phenomena of life on the physical plane but also dominates the series of chemical elements, as well as the world of sound and color, as shown by the spectroscope.

    The Pythagoreans called the Number Eight “justice”, a symbol of expression of the eternal spiral motion of cycles, the regular inbreathing and outbreathing of the Great Breath. 

  Number Nine was mentioned as the “Ocean” and the “Horizon,” as all numbers are comprehended by and revolve within it, and all the figures may be resolved into the number nine...

  Yours faithfully,

  HAC