Numbers are the symbolic representations of the relationships that make up reality. Normally, we don’t bother seeing them this way. It is easier to recognize a 2 or to visualize two things than it is to contemplate the nature of two-ness.

But what is two-ness but the principle of polarity, or the principle of division—one into two? Psychologically, we could call it the other, or the awareness of the objective world. Or, it could be the recognition that everything we see “out there” is really a projection of what’s going on “in here.” Two-ness, then, is also the principle of reflectivity.

In sound, there is one thing striking another, producing a secondary manifestation—a shock wave moving out in all directions. Two-ness, therefore, also represents action and reaction, the very foundation of physical reality.

The Sanskrit word for the heart chakra is anahatha, which means “not hit”— the sound that is not made when two things strike each other. This gives us a direct insight into one-ness, or what in metaphysics is known as the Unmanifest. In one-ness, nothing moves, nothing is reflected, and there is no “other.” It is the stillpoint between oscillations, the horizontal line resting at the mid-point of every sine wave.

Why is this important? Because, in order to contemplate spiritual things, we must be able to think in terms of principle and not merely in terms of appearance.

When theologians say that God is omnipresent and omniscient, this is what they are talking about. Principles are in all places simultaneously. And they are the “intelligence” of all that is. Likewise, when they say that God is invisible, they are saying that God is not a “thing.” God is the Principle underlying everything that exists, has existed, or will exist. God is the potentiality of all things, the realization of all things, and the history of all things. There is nothing that exists or can exist that is not God.

So, when we work with numbers, what we are really doing is exploring relationships. Four-ness is not a 4 any more than the word “orange” is an orange.  If we are to think intelligently about real things, we must learn to think in terms of principle and not in terms of appearances only.

Sure, it may look like a rabbit hole, but the real world always does.