Wednesday, January 9, 2019

Numbers are Super Sensible


Wed Jan 9  9:57am

In the 9 days from Dec 31 to Jan 9 Raleigh gained 6'54" of Sun above horizon.  In the 9 days from Dec 22 - Dec 31 we gained 2'38".  Comparing 2nd 9 days to 1st 9, we gained 262% more time of Sun above horizon.

The snake as visual symbol of the ecliptic weaving above and below the celestial equator is beautiful, but I also understand Plato's frequent complaints about the high status of visual arts.  While people could be condemned to death for revealing the secrets of the Eleusinian mysteries, folks with deep pockets were encouraged to finance extravagant theatrical productions to entertain and ostensibly educate the masses, and they were free to bribe state sponsored religious temples with statuary representing the planets as gorgeous specimens of humanity.

Don't get me wrong please.  I love visual symbols, and I love music and visual art.  But I never felt that I was on a well trod spiritual path to understanding the really fascinating origins of this existence, until conscientious measurement became a regular part of my thinking.

"..[I]n after years I have deeply regretted that I did not proceed far enough at least to understand something of the great leading principles of mathematics, for men thus endowed seem to have an extra sense."
[Charles Darwin, Autobiography, 1887]

I believe the extra sense Darwin speaks of here is the same as the super sensible world so often referred to by Rudolf Steiner.

Numbers are great tools in the spiritual work of reconciling desire with the limits of physical existence.