Éliphas Lévi tells us that the binary « is also the number of gnosis ». Given that gnosis is a synonym for wisdom, there are far-reaching consequences for the number two, which is often summed up in the terms ‘duality’ and ‘opposition’. Thus in the mind of Éliphas, whose reasoning depends on the principle of the Kabbalah, the number two takes on an altogether different meaning. Éliphas explains that the wise men of antiquity used the word gnosis to express the idea of knowledge through intuition. Now knowledge presupposes the binary, for the being who possesses knowledge also requires a known object : two terms, then, in order to have the knowledge that results in wisdom. Another important point : we must not confuse numerals with numbers. Since the numeral represents what our body is to our spirit, it can be compared with our body, it is material and serves us as a vehicle, just as the body serves as a vehicle to the spirit. When we speak of numerals we have a notion of classification, we count something that is tangible, we number, enumerate, compute and calculate states and memories and so on in order to arrive at a quantity or classification.
Booklet n°5
A Christiane Buisset conference
20 pages format PDF
12,00 €
Editions du Pélican © CLS 2014