PART TWO. CHAPTER FOUR: Number as a Time-bound Quality of the One-Continuum

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1 12 PART TWO CHAPTER FOUR: Number as a Time-bound Quality of the One-Continuum Summary: 1. Numbers are qualities or numbers have "personalities." 2. Numbers are points of a continuum (59, 60); one "qualitatively contains the whole sequence of natural numbers" (62); there is a relation between unity and multiplicity (80). I. Numbers are qualitative/personalities and are points on a continuum. 59, read: "The great problem... its entirety." Concentrate on not "an indivisible whole but a continuum in which every individual number represents the continuum in its entirety." This paragraph summarizes the two main points of the chapter. A dream example: "'It is as if I were seeing a sort of steamroller from a point above. The machine is going and is apparently making a road, forming a particular pattern like a labyrinth.' And in the dream he thinks, 'That is my analysis'; and then he is in the picture which he has looked at from above. He is standing at the bifurcation of the toad in a wood and he does not know which way to go. At first he did not pay much attention to the arabesque the machine was making." Jung, C.G. Dream Analysis: Notes of the Seminar, pp. 97f. II. Numbers possess distinct personalities. 60f., read: Quoting Poincaré: "'Every whole [natural]... matter jointly." This paragraph summarizes the first main point of the chapter. Note: "this individual aspect of number appears to contain the mysterious factor that enables it to organize psyche and matter jointly." [?] III. Qualities of the number one. 61, skim: I've picked some of the easier to grasp qualities 1) does not multiply by itself or reduce by division 2) yields more by addition than by multiplication 3) has no predecessor. [?] IV. The number one in China. 62, read: "In China... natural numbers." Note: "quantitatively it forms the unit, qualitatively it contains the whole sequence of natural numbers." This paragraph summarizes the second main point of the chapter, the "continuum."

2 13 V. The number one in Plato; the idea of the continuum. 63, read: "Plato and many... finite two." More on the second main point of the chapter. VI. The continuum in von Franz's understanding. 63, read: "Instead of assuming... one-continuum." 64f., read: "According to... primal one." "The retrograde... very beginning." She continues to enlarge on the second point of the chapter. 65f., read: "This hen-to-pan aspect... the collective unconscious." More of the same. Note the diagram on page , note the phrase: "configurations of such a one-continuum." 68, read: "every natural number becomes endowed with a quality of wholeness and meaning." and "This wholeness adhering to each number was alive in primitive number concepts." 68, skim: "'two three-matches and two two-matches.'" See von Franz, Psyche and Matter, p , read: "we would benefit from reconsidering the primitive qualitative character of number, namely its wholeness aspect." VII. Numbers are symbols skim, 72-4: numbers are symbols. read, 74f: she sums up: "[N]umber, taken qualitatively, is understood to function as a preconscious psychic principle of activity; each number must be thought of as containing a specific activity.... From this standpoint numbers signify different rhythmic configurations of the one-continuum." VIII. Consciousness perceives numbers but numbers are anterior to consciousness. read, 75: "Human consciousness... thought processes." IX. More on the qualitative and continuum aspect of number in China. read, 78f.: "In China... primal one." "One remains... symmetrical process." "The Chinese idea... one-continuum" The main idea here is that the one gives rise to two strands of a continuum.

3 14 X. Another Chinese example skim, 80: The same idea again, a Buddhist conception that there is a relation between unity and multiplicity (a restatement of the second main theme of the chapter, the continuum). See Pauli's dream, p. 24. Why is this important? read, 81: "Psychologically this... brought out." Note the interpretive point, the whole issue of unity and multiplicity has to do with the phenomenology of the Self. XI. Summing up the continuum discussion. Read, 81f.: "All nature... formation of quantity." read, 82: "generating power of the monad." read, 85: "Looking back today... on this account." CHAPTER FIVE: The Number Two as the One-Continuum's Rhythm by Which Symmetries and Observables are Engendered Summary: two is the archetype of: the opposites (as a division, III, VII; as parts of the whole, IV, V; in creation and as matter; VI; rhythm, IX), transition (to consciousness, VIII) and union (X). I. Neutral Language 87, read: the entire first paragraph; put it in your own words... what is the point here and how does it apply to the discussion of numbers? II. Mathematical characteristics of two 87f., skim: (the paragraph beginning, "The number two...") note the six mathematical characteristics of the number "two:" 1. division 2. pairs 3. sequence 4. only even prime number 5. same result adding or multiplying itself. Try interpreting the possible psychological meanings of two from the first four qualities. III. Repetition, division 88, read: "The archetype of duality... repetition and division." A dream example [abridged]:

4 15 "I am touring in my car near the Riviera. Someone tells me the route d'en haut et route d'en bas can be used from now on only by those who stay for two months in the country, that all cars have to go one way on the lower road, and the other way on the upper. These regulations change every day. Monday it is so, while on Tuesday it goes the other way, so that one could enjoy the beautiful view from every direction.... The visitors who were there for only a short time need not observe the regulations, and I thought it rather illogical that they could go just as they pleased...." C.G. Jung, Dream Analysis: Notes of the Seminar, pp. 147f. IV. Complex numbers 88f., skim: the paragraph beginning "The archetype... ": what is the main psychological point here? See Pauli's dream, p. 24. V. Polarity, symmetry 89f., skim: the paragraph beginning "Although... ": summarize its main point, pay particular attention to, "the basic identity of these polar manifestations... " A dream example: "There is a vertical and a horizontal circle, having a common centre. This is the world clock. It is supported by the black bird. "The vertical circle is a blue disc with a white border divided into 4 x 8 partitions. A pointer rotates upon it. "The horizontal circle consists of four colours. On it stand four little men with pendulums, and round about it is laid the ring that was once dark and is now golden (formerly carried by the children). "The 'clock' has three rhythms or pulses: "1. The small pulse: the pointer on the blue vertical disc advances by 1/32 "2. The middle pulse: one complete revolution of the pointers. At the same time the horizontal circle advances by 1/32 "3. The great pulse: 32 middle pulses are equal to one revolution of the golden ring."

5 16 C.G. Jung, "Individual Dream Symbolism in Relation to Alchemy," Psychology and Alchemy, CW 12, par VI. The increatum = matter The increatum is a term from alchemy signifying the prima materia. It is a theological term meaning "uncreated," i.e., God is an uncreated = always there. It also refers to the void in Genesis 1. The alchemists took that up to mean the preexistent material or prima materia. 90, n. 18, skim: note the mythological relationship of the number two to the creation of the world, to Eve, to the devil. 90f., read: "When 'light' is... nature itself." A dream example: "A square space with complicated ceremonies going on in it, the purpose of which is to transform animals into men. Two snakes, moving in opposite directions, have to be got rid of at once. Some animals are there, e.g., foxes and dogs. The people walk around the square and must let themselves be bitten in the calf by these animals at each of the four corners. If they run away all is lost. Now the higher animals come on the scene bulls and ibexes. Four snakes glide into the four corners. Then the congregation files out. Two sacrificial priests carry in a huge reptile and with this they touch the forehead of a shapeless animal lump or life-mass. Out of it there instantly rises a human head, transfigured. A voice proclaims: 'These are attempts at being.'" C.G. Jung, "Individual Dream Symbolism in Relation to Alchemy," Psychology and Alchemy, CW 12, par VII. uncertainty 91: The key sentence "In physics... changed places." is not clear to me, but another way to say it is when there is two, confusion over which is which can arise, hence the quality of "uncertainty" is associated with two. See the Riviera dream, p. 15. VIII. threshold phenomena of consciousness or transition into consciousness 91f., read: "Identical duplications... is the other." 92f., skim: note the mythological representations of two and their meaning of transition

6 17 93f., read: "Whenever a latent... field of vision." Note how she links up two, matter, consciousness, and understand why she does this. A dream example: "It is night. There is the feeling that dawn is approaching. Two shepherds dressed in sheepskin, holding staffs and identical in looks are on a mountain path. There is an intense look in both their eyes that says they know they must go their separate ways. One has the look of the desire for vengeance and the other has a feeling of sadness. They embrace and kiss each other on the cheek with a kiss of peace and the one who had the feeling of sadness begins his climb up the mountain. The other shepherd pauses and looks at him as though to say, 'I could never have killed you.' and then turns and goes down the mountain and dawn has arrived." Edward Edinger, Anatomy of the Psyche, p IX. time as rhythm 94f., read: "Considered as a... threshold phenomenon." Note the connection with two and the unus mundus. 95f., skim: The next paragraph discuses rhythm in the Chinese understanding which supports her thesis as time as rhythm of movement: the "universe has a rhythmical basic structure." The last paragraph on 95 begins to set the stage for the next chapter: the point is that two can be thought of as a back and forth swinging, but not a forward movement. The sentence "In the... 'threeness'" completes this point and shows the dynamism that leads from two to three. See world clock dream and Riviera dream (p. 15). X. two to three 96-98, read: "In the number... unfavorable, good and bad." "Thus there arises... is restored." A dream example: "A woman dreamed that she went into an underground cavern that was divided into rooms containing stills and other mysterious-looking chemical apparatus. Two scientists were working over the final process of a prolonged series of experiments, which they hoped to bring to a successful conclusion with her help. The end product was to be in the form of golden crystals, which were to be separated from the other liquid resulting from the many previous solutions and distillations. While the chemists worked over the vessel, the dreamer and her lover lay together in an adjoining room, their sexual embrace supplying the energy essential for the crystallization of the priceless golden substance."

7 18 Edward Edinger, Anatomy of the Psyche, p Jung's 1944 vision: "I... was... in the Pardes Rimmonim, the garden of pomegranates, and the wedding of Tifereth with Malchuth was taking place.... It was the mystic marriage as it appears in the Cabbalistic tradition. I cannot tall you how wonderful it was.... Gradually the garden of pomegranates faded away and changed. There followed the Marriage of the Lamb, in a Jerusalem festively bedecked. I cannot describe what it was like in detail. These were ineffable states of joy: [Pardes Rimmonim is the title of an old Cabbalistic tract... (sixteenth century). In Cabbalistic doctrine, Malchuth and Tifereth are two of the ten spheres of divine manifestation in which God emerges from his hidden state. They represent the female and male principles within the Godhead.] C.G. Jung, Memories, Dreams, Reflections, p. 294 XI. more examples of duality , skip XII. conclusion 100, read: "Once again... of number." CHAPTER SIX: The Number Three as a Rhythmic Configuration of Progressive Actualizations in Human Consciousness and the Material Realm Summary: three is the archetype of resolution and direction. I. Mathematical characteristics of three 101f., skim the first paragraph: note some of the mathematical characteristics of the number "three:" 1. it is first odd number 2. it is the first triangular number 3. it is the sum total of digits preceding it 4. the addition of the first three numbers equals the same as their multiplication. Can you "feel" the pertinent psychological quality of three? II. Resolution 102, read: "Jung gives... in our consciousness." 102f., read: "The Chinese... the number three (1 plus 2)."

8 19 103, read: "Modifying the alchemical... of consciousness." III. Direction 103, read: "Taken as rhythm...dynamic process." IV. Triadic dieties 104f. & n. 12, read: "In the mythological... 'center of one.'" V. The I Ching and DNA 105f., skim: "The I Ching... of I Ching hexagrams." I'll say more about DNA. 106: "This astonishing correspondence seems, more than any other evidence, to substantiate Jung's hypothesis that number regulates both psyche and matter. The same numerical model, a pattern underlying the basic process of human memory and transmission (and thereby also the substratum of our entire conscious process), has been discovered, first in China through an introspective examination of the unconscious psyche, and then in the West through genetic research into the living cell." VI. Summary 106: "In 'neutral' language, therefore, three signifies a unity which dynamically engenders selfexpanding linear irreversible processes in matter and in our consciousness." 109: "Threefold rhythms are most probably connected with processes in space and time or with their realization in consciousness." 101 n. 1: "All single numbers quite apart from their position in the number series are direct manifestations of the one-continuum. They do not presuppose the existence of preceding numbers, bur rather imply them. Each in its own right is an 'archetypal ordering factor.'" VII. Dream 108f., read: "The idea of... dynamically expressed." 109, read: "For now it is important... symmetry or harmony." VIII. Processes in matter

9 20 She presents two examples of the number three which pertain to dynamisms in matter but she loses me. The point is to illustrate the "self-expanding linear irreversible processes in matter" that was introduced in section VI, p CHAPTER SEVEN: The Number Four as the One-Continuum's Model of Wholeness in All Relatively Closed Structures of Human Consciousness and in the Body Summary: four is the archetype of wholeness (115, 130) and the relativization of consciousness (125) Note: parts of this chapter are quite technical and we'll read them for the main point only; other parts are good statements of the chapter's thesis and we'll focus on them in quite a bit of detail. I. Overview Because so much of the material in this chapter is complex, let's start with a few dreams to illustrate its main tenets: From "Individual Dream Symbolism in Relation to Alchemy," in Psychology and Alchemy, CW 12 "VISUAL IMPRESSION A22. "In a primeval forest. An elephant looms up menacingly. Then a large ape-man... threatens to attack the dreamer with a club.... [T]he dreamer is terrified. The voice says, 'Everything must be ruled by the light.'" par. 117 "DREAM B16. Many people are present. They are all walking to the left around a square. The dreamer is not in the centre but to one side. They say that a gibbon is to be reconstructed." par. 164 "[A] leftward movement is equivalent to a movement in the direction of the unconscious." par. 166 "Now he [the gibbon] is to be 'reconstructed,' and this can only mean that the anthropoid man as an archaic fact is to be put together again." par. 131 "[T]he dreamer is 'not in the centre but to one side' is a striking indication of what will happen to his ego: it will no longer be able to claim the central place but must presumably be satisfied with the position of a satellite, or at least of a planet revolving round the sun. Clearly the important place in the centre is reserved for the gibbon about to be reconstructed." par. 175 "DREAM B18. A square space with complicated ceremonies going on in it, the purpose of which is to transform animals into men. Two snakes, moving in opposite directions, have to be got rid

10 21 of at once. Some animals are there, e.g., foxes and dogs. The people walk round the square and must let themselves be bitten in the calf by these animals at each of the four corners. If they run away all is lost. Now the higher animals come on the scene bulls and ibexes. Four snakes glide into the four corners. Then the congregation files out. Two sacrificial priests carry in a huge reptile and with this they touch the forehead of a shapeless animal lump or life-mass. Out of it there instantly rises a human head, transfigured. A voice proclaims: 'These are attempts at being.'" par. 183 "The animal lump or life-mass stands for the mass of the inherited unconscious which is to be united with consciousness. This is brought about by the ceremonial use of a reptile, presumably a snake. The idea of transformation and renewal by means of a serpent is a well-substantiated archetype. It is reported of the mysteries of Sabazius: 'A golden snake is led down into the lap of the initiated and taken away again from the lower parts.'... Probably the most significant development of serpent-symbolism as regards renewal of personality is to be found in Kundalini yoga." par. 184 "[I]f the life-mass is to transformed a circumambulatio is necessary, i.e., exclusive concentration on the centre, the place of creative change. During this process one is 'bitten' by animals; in other words, we have to expose ourselves to the animal impulses of the unconscious without identifying with them and without 'running away': for flight from the unconscious would defeat the whole purpose of the procedure." par. 186 "[T]he snakes that are making off in opposite directions have to be removed; i.e., the conflict between conscious and unconscious is at once resolutely stopped and the conscious mind is forced to stand the tension by means of the circumambulatio.... The snakes no longer run away but settle themselves in the four corners, and the process of transformation or integration sets to work." par. 188 "The arrangement of the snakes in the four corners is indicative of an order in the unconscious. It is as if we were confronted with a pre-existent ground plan.... In the present case the point seems to be to capture and regulate the animal instincts..." par. 189 "DREAM B22. In the square space. The dreamer is siting opposite the unknown woman whose portrait he is supposed to be drawing. What he draws, however, is not a face but three-leaved clovers or distorted crosses in four different colours: red, yellow, green, and blue." par. 212 "[W]hat the dream represents in personified form the dreamer reproduces as an abstract ideogram. This might well be a hint that the meaning of the personification could be represented in quite another form.... In this dream... the symbol of the Christian Trinity has been overshadowed or "coloured" by the alchemical quaternity." par. 220 II. Mathematical characteristics of four

11 22 She summarizes some of the mathematical characteristics of the number four from pp Perhaps the clearest "for instance" is on p.114: "In Euclidean geometry four points produce the first three-dimensional body." III. Jung's work on four 115, read: "Since Jung... fourfold structure dominates." IV. Four in physics 115f., read: "Minkowski's and Einstein's... positron."??? V. Four in geomancy (divination by geographic features or by figures or lines) From p she describes a divination technique. I suggest just looking the main point here which is that the diviner creates four shapes from which to take a reading, indicating that four is connected with the prophetic aspect of life. The prophetic aspect, in Jungian language, would be related to the inborn pattern of our live, i.e., the self. VI. A comparison of three and four, part one From the bottom of p. 120, the paragraph beginning with "The binary... " compares Eastern and Western divination. Read here for the main point only again, a good comparison of three and four: "It is as if we are more inclined to ask the unknown 'What shall I do?,' [a "three" question] while the East prefers the question: 'To what total order does my conduct belong?' [a four question]" VII. Five, part one Read the entire section beginning on p. 120 "In China..." to the end of Jung's quote on p. 121 "...rendered visible." VIII. One equals four 121f., read: "Traditionally... infinite dimensional space." IX. A comparison of three and four, part two 122, read: "The difficult step... moment of time." This paragraph will become clearer when we return to the further discussion of three and four in section XI and XIa. X. Five, part two

12 23 123, read: "the centered four" 123, read: "Five is the center of four." The following two quotes will also become clearer when we return to the further discussion of three and four in section XI and XIa. 123, read: "In China... made manifest." 124, read: "From this angle... to the center." XI. A comparison of three and four, part three (To me sections XI and XIa are the most important sections in the chapter.) 124f., read: "The numerical rhythms... of their herald." XIa. Three, four, time, and the relativization of consciousness , read: "From this standpoint... extolled the cosmos.)" XII. Three 128f., read: "Medieval Christian... veriest infant... " XIII. The axiom of Maria 129f., read: "It is therefore... original oneness." 130f., read: "In a curiously retrograde... act of becoming." XIV. What this is all about practically: the quaternity outlook 131, read: "in a deepening... differentiations" 133f., read: "The outlook... consciousness as well." XV. Ernst Anrich The last paragraph of the chapter, beginning on p. 134 ("In this connection...") is a critique of a book we don't know, but her discussion of what makes up the "quaternity outlook" is informative so I'd like to look at this entire last paragraph.

13 24 From Meier, C.A. Ed. Atom and Archetype: The Pauli/Jung Letters, pp. 192ff.