216 I know this is Facebook and Im supposed to post cat pics and photos of my food (peanut butter and a banana at the moment), but at the risk of seeming like a lunatic, Im going to post some ruminations on numerology. I dont mean the fake New Agey simpleton numerology about why 7 is lucky and that kind of shit. I mean the real numerology that informed early science, especially alchemy and astronomy. Last night I watched Aronofskys film Pi, which centers around the numerological importance of 216 as a plot device, showing orthodox Jews in Brooklyn who believe that the true name of God is composed of 216 Hebrew letters. This is a true fact, of which I had already been aware. (Like Aronofsky I also interacted with orthodox rabbis in Brooklyn growing up.) But the film does not explain WHY 216 was such a sacred number, which I am going to do here. First, it is the lowest number that is both the product and sum of consecutive cubed integers and is also a perfect cube itself. 216 = 2^3 x 3^3 = 3^3 + 4^3 + 5^3 = 6^3 This was discovered and mentioned by Plato. Second, it can be expressed as the product of lower sacred numbers. 216 = 3 x 6 x 12 = 12 x 18 = 3 x 72. The last is perhaps most important as reflected in the Kabbalah, where the true name of God is actually 72 Hebrew roots put together, each comprised of 3 Hebrew letters. 72 is a very important number in early astronomy, because the earths precession causes the fixed stars to rotate on the horizon about one degree every 72 years, and this fact shows that ancient texts like those employed in Kabbalah encoded early knowledge of the precession cycle. Geometrically, it is important, too because 216 is exactly three fifths of 360. In addition, a circle that is 500 units in diameter, will generate slices of 12 30-60-90 triangles that each have sides of 125-216-250. How I came by that knowledge is, of course, a secret. Yeah, I know, I should stick to cat pics.
Posted on: Tue, 08 Apr 2014 18:26:50 +0000
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