Saturday, June 10, 2006
the great pythagoras
perhaps the greatest discovery pythagoras imparted was form and number.
he realized the significance form and number play for things.
the basis, the great quaternion, which is 1,2,3,4.
but it isn't just the numbers, it's the form.
arranged as follows...
________1________
_______2_3_______
______4_5_6______
_____7_8_9_10____
ranging from top to bottom,
one, monad...completeness
two, dyad...tension
three, triad....spiritual
four, quatrad....earthy
sum the numbers to get to the transcendant number, ten.
pythagoras applied number and form to things to manifest beauty.
the musical scale is attibuted to pythagoras.
1:1 is the octave
1:4, the fourth
1:8 the eighth.
by arranging tonal notes according to these scales, beautiful music was discovered.
ionic rationality manifested in beauty.
it may seem elementary to us now, but before pythagoras, it was not widely held that if you changed the number in a thing, you changed it's essence. or that if you changed the form of a thing, you changed it's essence.
so pythagoras moved beyond the fact that number and form can count for the existence of thing, it also provides significance for the thing.
the universe imparts itself to humans on symbolic terms.
though a thing is made up of electrons, atoms, quarks, and superstrings, it manifests itself symbolically to us as a chair, or a table, or a wall.
and though the earth speeds through space at roughly 1400 miles per hour, it manifests itself to us as stable, solid, and unmoving.
so though the universe is rather complex and dynamic, it manifests itself in rational ways that through observation, can be predicted.
and so the underlying rationalisty of the universe gifted to us by the ionians and the greeks.
for though a thing's existential qualities on a basic level may appear chaotic, complex and without meaning, it is manifested as ordered, simple and quite meaningful.
it is left to the ant to experience a field of grass, wildflowers and domesticated plants as just stem after stem of stalks to climb up and over...trapped in an infinity within boundaries.
but it is left to the man to traverse the field in three foot strides and conquer the infinity in a short amount of time, enjoying the beauty of the field as he strides across it.
so while the universe expresses itself to us, man, in symbolic terms, it also gifted us with the preferred perception of it.
the universe, then, is scaled to the size of man.
and so man is the measure of things.
gifted with the preferred perception of the universe, he is the crown jewel of creation.
things are complex and chaotic enough that they must be learned about empirically, through experience.
but the symbolic manifestation of the universe sparks something in us we just know without experimentation.
a tree's leaves and branches will give us rest in the shade.
drinking water from a stream will quench our thirst.
and so on.
so though it is wise to become skeptical through experience, it is not wise to throw out the baby with the bathwater and question everything.
deep down, you know what is important and what is not.
thus the triumph of rationality.
perhaps the greatest discovery pythagoras imparted was form and number.
he realized the significance form and number play for things.
the basis, the great quaternion, which is 1,2,3,4.
but it isn't just the numbers, it's the form.
arranged as follows...
________1________
_______2_3_______
______4_5_6______
_____7_8_9_10____
ranging from top to bottom,
one, monad...completeness
two, dyad...tension
three, triad....spiritual
four, quatrad....earthy
sum the numbers to get to the transcendant number, ten.
pythagoras applied number and form to things to manifest beauty.
the musical scale is attibuted to pythagoras.
1:1 is the octave
1:4, the fourth
1:8 the eighth.
by arranging tonal notes according to these scales, beautiful music was discovered.
ionic rationality manifested in beauty.
it may seem elementary to us now, but before pythagoras, it was not widely held that if you changed the number in a thing, you changed it's essence. or that if you changed the form of a thing, you changed it's essence.
so pythagoras moved beyond the fact that number and form can count for the existence of thing, it also provides significance for the thing.
the universe imparts itself to humans on symbolic terms.
though a thing is made up of electrons, atoms, quarks, and superstrings, it manifests itself symbolically to us as a chair, or a table, or a wall.
and though the earth speeds through space at roughly 1400 miles per hour, it manifests itself to us as stable, solid, and unmoving.
so though the universe is rather complex and dynamic, it manifests itself in rational ways that through observation, can be predicted.
and so the underlying rationalisty of the universe gifted to us by the ionians and the greeks.
for though a thing's existential qualities on a basic level may appear chaotic, complex and without meaning, it is manifested as ordered, simple and quite meaningful.
it is left to the ant to experience a field of grass, wildflowers and domesticated plants as just stem after stem of stalks to climb up and over...trapped in an infinity within boundaries.
but it is left to the man to traverse the field in three foot strides and conquer the infinity in a short amount of time, enjoying the beauty of the field as he strides across it.
so while the universe expresses itself to us, man, in symbolic terms, it also gifted us with the preferred perception of it.
the universe, then, is scaled to the size of man.
and so man is the measure of things.
gifted with the preferred perception of the universe, he is the crown jewel of creation.
things are complex and chaotic enough that they must be learned about empirically, through experience.
but the symbolic manifestation of the universe sparks something in us we just know without experimentation.
a tree's leaves and branches will give us rest in the shade.
drinking water from a stream will quench our thirst.
and so on.
so though it is wise to become skeptical through experience, it is not wise to throw out the baby with the bathwater and question everything.
deep down, you know what is important and what is not.
thus the triumph of rationality.
