Tag: Christianity

Seven curiosities on pi (π)

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  1. The keyboard shortcut for the letter pi is ALT-227.
    If you take these digits (227) and interpret them as the fraction 22/7, you will get the approximation for π (3.14285714286).
  2. In Hebrew, if you take the first letter of each word in Genesis 1:1 and sum them up and divide by the count of word you will get approximately the number pi.
    • ב = 2
    • ב = 2
    • א = 1
    • א = 1
    • ה = 5
    • ו = 6
    • ה = 5
    • Total is 2+2+1+1+5+6+5 = 22
    • There are 7 words in the verse
    • בראשית ברא אלהים את השמים ואת הארץ׃
    • Then we divide 22/7 and we get 3.14285714286
  3. The first word in the New Testament (Matthew 1:1) is Βίβλος. In Greek Isopsephy it equals 314.
  1. In English ordinal (A=1; B=2…Z=26), if you take the words
    “Twenty two divided by seven” you will get the value of 314
    20 + 23 + 5 + 14 + 20 + 25 + 20 + 23 + 15 + 4 + 9 + 22 + 9 + 4 + 5 + 4 + 2 + 25 + 19 + 5 + 22 + 5 + 14 = 314
  1. The sum of the first letters of the first five books of the Bible (Torah) is 314.
    First five books of the Bible (בשובד = 2+300+6+2+4 equal 314)

Bereshit (בראשית – Genesis)
Shemot (שמות – Exodus)
Vayikra (ויקרא – Leviticus)
Bemidbar (במדבר – Numbers)
Devarim (דברים – Deuteronomy)

5. Pi (π) is the 16th Greek Letter. In Greek Isopsephy its value is 80. If you sum up all the digits of pi (π) starting from position 16 to position 80, the sum is 314.

6. Exodus 3:14 is the famous verse on the name of the LORD.
“”And God said unto Moses, I AM THAT I AM: and he said, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I AM hath sent me unto you.” (Exodus 3:14)
The phrase “And God said unto Moses, I AM THAT I AM” in English Ordinal equals 314

7. The phrase “Zero One Two Three Four Five” equals 314 in English Ordinal. If you look in the Pi-Search page https://www.angio.net/pi/ for the string 012345, it occurs at position 447855. If you perform the sum of digits (4+4+7+8+5+5=33) it corresponds to Christ’s earthly ministry (33 years).

Angels and Demons

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The famous print of Maurits Cornelis Escher on angels and demons is called Circle Limit IV (Heaven and Hell). Escher was a Dutch graphic artist known for displaying objects and touching the perception of space, reality and infinity. An example is the image of angels and demons, where the white angels represent light and goodness and the demons represent the opposite (darkness and evil). While keeping this image in our minds let’s analyze something interesting.

One of the mysterious and debatable numbers in Christianity is 666 because of its verse in the book of Revelation 13:18.

In Greek Isopsephy, number 888 is the number of Christ (Ιησους) and in Standard Hebrew (Mispar Hechrachi) in Malachi 3:6 it is the sum of the Hebrew phrase “I am the LORD, I change not – אני יהוה לא שניתי”

Number 1110 (the blood of Jesus – τὸ αἷμα Ἰησοῦ from 1 John 1:7).

In geometry the connection between 666 and 888 is given by the Pythagorean theorem.

What does this mean? Is there a connection between 888 (light) and 666 (darkness)?

In modern times, if you ever go to a Casino, the roulette wheel has at least the numbers from 1 to 36 and the 36th triangular number is number 666. The magic square of the sun has a sum of 666 as well.

The usage of gematria is known since antiquity and actually the name of Nero (Neron Kaiser), a cruel and depraved individual, one who even killed his own mother adds up to 666.

“Here is wisdom. Let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast: for it is the number of a man; and his number is Six hundred threescore and six. ” (Revelation 13:18)

If reading the above verse carefully it asks you to “count the number”. In Greek this number is presented with three letters Chi (χ), Xi (ξ), Stigma(ϛ) which add up in Greek Isopsephy to 666.

If we view these three letters in angle -180 we will notice a strange symbol. This symbol is one of the preferred activities of humankind in reproducing themselves. People are lifeforms with carbon base. In fact the isotope of Carbon (Carbon-12) has 6 electrons, 6 protons and 6 neutrons.

One might ask, is the number 666 always a negative number?

Isaiah 53, a messianic chapter of Jesus actually has 666 letters.

The phrase “Herein is love” at 1 John 4:10 or the phrase “And this is love” at 2 John 1:6 in Greek are ἐστὶν ἡ ἀγάπη which have an isopsephy of 666.

“Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.” (1 John 4:10)

“And this is love, that we walk after his commandments. This is the commandment, That, as ye have heard from the beginning, ye should walk in it.” (2 John 1:6)

Is this just a “Coincidentia oppositorum” (a coincidence of the opposites)? How can this be possible?

Going back to Escher’s painting you will see that both the angels and demons co-exist. In Greek the word φάρμακον (pharmakon) is an example of polysemy (words that have several meanings) and enantiodromia (where things have a tendency to change into their opposites). As an example, the word pharmakon can describe remedy or medicine to cure someone and in another sense it can be a poison.

It reminds of Rumi’s poem

“In (the realm of) Time there is no poison or sugar that is not a foot (support) to one and a fetter (injury) to another—
To one a foot, to another a fetter; to one a poison and to another (sweet and wholesome) like sugar.
Snake-poison is life to the snake, (but) it is death in relation to man.
The sea is as a garden to the water-creatures; to the creatures of earth it is death and a (painful) brand.”

The Face of the Other

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The famous story in Exodus of Moses’ encounter with God, but can’t see the face of God and only his back is very meaningful and studied. Since God is divine and transcends time and space and our dimensions it makes sense that no one can see the face of God and live. (Exodus 33:23).

He is the Most High God עליון (Most High – Psalm 7:17), very powerful פני יהוה (The face of the LORD – Psalm 34:16 KJV) and who sees everything עיני יהוה (The eyes of the LORD – Proverbs 15:3 KJV).

In his book “Totality and Infinity” Levinas* touches on the concept on the face of the other. It is precisely this encounter phenomena that he analyzes. It is the meetup where you face the Other, and the Other is present, is there, is alive and their face speaks even if words are not spoken and as Levinas states “…The manifestation of the face is already discourse”
When we see the Other, we dethrone the “I”, our ego and we are obligated to act ethically.

“To approach the Other in conversation is to welcome his expression, in which at each instant he overflows the idea a thought would carry away from it. It is therefore to receive from the Other beyond the capacity of the I, which means exactly: to have the idea of infinity.”
(Levinas, Totality and Infinity, 51)

“The face is a living presence; it is expression. The life of expression consists in undoing the form in which the existent, exposed as a theme, is thereby dissimulated. The face speaks. The manifestation of the face is already discourse.”
(Levinas, Totality and Infinity, 66)

Jesus’ commandment to love “the other” our brother/sister is for eternity. It is a commandment that we must follow. It obligates us to look at our brother/sister (the Other) and love them because to love is divine.

“If a man say, I love God, and hateth his brother, he is a liar: for he that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen? And this commandment have we from him, That he who loveth God love his brother also.” (1 John 4:20-21)

God is infinite and his love is beyond our imagination. It is not a surprise that love of your neighbour is mandatory if you claim to love God (Matthew 22:37-40).

“Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.” (Matthew 22:37-40)

Simone Weil** a philosopher and mystic wrote on the topic of the forms of the implicit love of God that we imitate the divine love when loving our neighbour. In fact the name of Ἰησοῦς Χριστὸς (Jesus Christ) and the phrase (αγαπα και τον αδελφον αυτου – love his brother also) in 1 John 4:21 have the same value of 2368. It is a movement of infinite (∞) love.

Although man was created in the image of God (בְּצֶ֥לֶם אֱלֹהִ֖ים – bə·ṣe·lem ĕ·lō·hîm – Genesis 1:26-27), it is only through the true mediator Christ (1 Timothy 2:5), who is the perfect image of God (εἰκὼν τοῦ Θεοῦ – eikōn tou Theou – Colossians 1:15) where we have salvation.

“Through love of neighbour, we imitate the divine love that created us and our fellows. Through love of the order of the world, we imitate the divine love that created this universe of which we are a part.”
(Weil, Awaiting God, 62)

References:
*Levinas, Emmanuel. Totality and Infinity: An Essay on Exteriority. Translated by Alphonso Lingis. Pittsburgh: Duquesne University Press, 1969
**Weil, Simone. Awaiting God: A New Translation of Attente de Dieu and Lettre à un Religieux. Translated by Brad Jersak. Eugene, OR: Cascade Books, 2012.