Zero
There was a little boy, and his name was Zero. Zero lived all alone, in a place called Nowhere, and actually he had Nothing.
Number One
I am Number One. The only One. I am alone here, and stand alone, and proud to be the only One. From time immemorial, I have been One, Sovereign over everything I see. No One stands between me and anything I desire.
I have been given many names. In modern times I am know as 1. In ancient days, it was I which interestingly enough became the same as the One representing in language by I, as in “I am”. I am the beginning, or so I have been told.
Yet I am not sure what that means. In the meantime, I gambol happily in this garden that surrounds me. Nothing to disturb me, peace and quiet. Perfect.
But this is not the end of my story. . of course.
It was a lovely summer day when I bumped in to the Wisdom Being, the one we called Sanhedral. We sat around and chatted, sharing some food and drink, when he asked me a strange question. “Have you ever thought about the fact that you are the only One who is alone amongst all the beasts?”
“What do you mean,” I asked.
“Well, look at me. I am Snake, but not alone. There are many snakes around. Look at the tree in front of you. It is not alone – there are many trees like it all around. Gaze up into the heavens, no star is alone either.”
“But there is only One sun and only One moon,” I retorted.
“True,” he chuckled. “But do you never wonder what it would be like, what it would mean if there was another One?”
With that, we raised our glasses, and he gave a toast, to the “other One”.
But the wise Sanhedral had planted a seed in my mind, and it niggled there like a pebble in my shoe that I could not remove. So a little while later I found myself, when I found myself in the Sanhedral’s presence, I asked him, “If there was an other One, how would I find it?”
“I am not sure,” he replied, “All I have been able to find in the ancient memories, is this symbol. I believe it is a clue. But be careful. It is a powerful talisman. Use it only when you have to. Perhaps the ancient tree will be able to tell you more.”
I had heard it spoken of the ancient tree, but was not sure where it was exactly. Sanhedral, the serpent, could not tell me, but he did say that I could not stay, for if I was to find another I, then I needed to set out on the journey of discovery – to find it.
But first, I unrolled the scroll he had given me. On it was, as he had intimated, a single symbol 2, one I had never seen before. Yet it was strangely beautiful, strangely compelling. I knew what I had to do. I had to find the meaning of this symbol. I knew, in my gut, that it was important.
Xxx Who is the next one I meet that sends me on the journey? Perhaps the water and its geometry? Or does he send me to Pythagoras – to teach me the meaning of One and even perhaps bring me further on my quest. Perhaps also to the Jews, the One, who is God. Am I God? That is where I hear about the Tzimtzum. And then how to practise it. Breathing, meditation, stillness. . . I fall asleep, enter a trance. Am in a strange place. All around me weird shapes. The heichal of Math. “The one you want to see is at the end of the Hall, the Accounting department. Let me take you there.”
“These accountants, let me tell you are the psychologists of numbers. Always studying them, trying to predict their behaviour. What a joke. A number can be anything it wants to be, anytime. They have immense power in the world. And have held the human species enthralled for many centuries. Oops, but I talk to much. I am not sure. . .”
I was ushered into a huge cathedral like hall. It had weird symbols on the wall (math symbols of course, and perhaps numbers). It was quiet, dimly lit by lights shining in its crevices. [It is an angular building, like one of those modern churches; wooden brown ceiling and walls and floor. Pews for people to sit in around the central podium. A second floor balcony also around the podium. Not much else. A couple of cabinets. Some reading podiums.
Out of the shadows came a strange looking creature. “I am the Main Accountant.” He said. “I am very pleased to meet you, One. I have worked with you and your kind for many years, but never actually met the One in flesh. However, you can call me Number One or simply MA.”
“But I am One,” I protested.
“Well, here I am Number One. Though you still are One, and will always be One. No one can take your place. Without you, I am not sure what I would be.”
[When we advanced and discovered that all numbers can pass through the cross, One felt that he had been diminished. Once upon a time I was singular, sovereign, the only One – and now I am no different from every other one.
But it turns out that that is not true.
Firstly, he is the time-keeper. We know that what One step is, because of One. We know the space between One and Two, because of One. Everybody knows his and her place because of One. He is the lynch pin upon which the Order of Numbers is based. “Hail to the One”. Not only that. He is the only One that is contained in every other new one, from Two to Two hundred million trillion billion.
Why do they have double barrelled names? I mean, it can get quite complicated, these names. For instance, three hundred and twenty two is quite a mouthful. But it doesn’t end there, it can go on for ever and ever. Yes, I know they are all one because they are from the tribe of “Numbers”, and can always be symbolized today by ten holy numbers, 0 – 9. From these 10 symbols and their operators, their activators, we have produced a massive field of fields.
Let me talk about it as an inheritance game. Think of it like meeting a new family – and you thought it was only One number – but there are “generations” of numbers. We could almost think of these composites as homes, in which generations of Numbers live. Let me introduce them. We have the grandfather, Three hundred, the father, Twenty, and the son Two. This progression continues as the Numbers continued to grow. First there were the Digits, then the Tens, then the Hundreds, the Thousands, the Millions, etc. Each new generation brought an exponential jump in population, and so we had to introduce sup-categories (see the manual for more detail). We represent each generation by a place holder, zero, represented by 0. It is “nothing”, not really a number – rather like a space – and it here represents, what we are calling, generations.
Using the collection, 322, because 3 is the grandfather, he represents two generations – the hundreds, each of which is held by a placeholder, zero 0 – whom we will meet in a later episode (or maybe we have met it already) – written as 0, so we have 300. The father, being only one generation, receives only one zero, and is known as Twenty, 20. And little last 2, is the child (part of the present generation). No generations beneath him. So we use the overlapping transformation '+', and say 300 + 20 + 2, will produce 322. Voila. Here One can place 322 exactly in its position, as the 322nd measurement or point. We know that it will take 321 steps to go from One to three hundred and twenty-two.
Think of it then as a tree. Our tree actually starts from the right, and is built going down. It is a bit of strange looking tree, in that it fans out. So we start at the top, and it has ten branches, and each of these ten branches have ten branches on them. That is why it is called the Decimal (meaning Ten) Tree. There are other trees in the forest. One that has become very popular is called the Binary (meaning Two) Tree, and it, of course, only has 2 branches at every turn.
Now, below each of these levels is a “password” that you need to pass through on your way down from the top of the tree, to the bottom of it. As the part of the tree that we will look at is only three levels high, the “password’ you need to pass down to the next level (level 3 to level 2) is “hundred”, and because the use of level 2 has become so common nowadays, we allow free access.
A green ooze has appeared on the top of the tree, and it wants one thing – to get down to the ground so it can feed on young children. It has received a single message 322. That is it. What is it to do know? It begins to sniff around, and sees that there are 9 branches below him that lead to the next level if he is careful. Only one has a symbol on it I. Always go clockwise, she begins to ooze down the 3rd branch, 3. At the end of it was a large pod, which popped open as soon as the ooze touched it, and out jumped a little munchkin. “Who are you,” asked the ooze. “I am Three Hundred, sir. At your service.”
“Follow me,” snapped the Ooze, and continued down.
Three Hundred and I reached the next layer. But now I had a better idea of the process, and quickly picked out the second branch, picked up “Twenty” at the end, and continued down to the roots. A moment later Two joined us.
As soon as they set foot on the ground, they merged and “Three hundred and twenty two at your service.”