Apocalypse Unsealed: appendix C
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Appendix C
Origins of Gematriot and Number Symbolism
The origins of gematriot and number symbolism are lost in
antiquity. Carl Jung (Ref. 2, p. 71) contends that the roots of
number mysticism are prehistoric. Neugebauer (Ref. 53, p. 9)
suggests that number mysticism may have originated among
primitive civilizations when counting was considered a difficult
and "magical" task comparable to spelling the name of a god.
It is generally believed that numbers preceded letters. It seems
likely that numbers were first associated with the fingers. Dr.
Barry Fell in his fascinating book _America B.C._ (Ref. 55)
describes an early alphabet also based upon the fingers. Could
not the same finger represent both a number and a sound? The
origin of an early gematria becomes obvious.
Some suggest that the origins of the historical gematriot lie in
ancient Egyptian and Babylonian cosmology. In the history of the
Western use of number symbolism, Pythagoras of Samos (circa
582-500 BC) is probably the most noteworthy. He is supposed to
have travelled and studied in Egypt, Babylonia and India. While
in Babylon, he may hav studied under the neo-Zoroastrian
Nazaratas. (Ref. 4, p. 62) His sojourn there almost coincided
with the Jewish Babylonian Captivity. On his return, he
originated a school of philosophy in Crotona, a Greek colony in
southern Italy. Pythagoras is reputed to have discovered the
numerical ratios giverning musical harmony, the famous theorem
regarding the hypotenuse of a right triangle that bears his name
(proably erroneously; see Ref. 53, pp. 35ff, 148, 149), and many
other things that have influenced other philosophers, scientists,
and mathematicians down to the present day. He is sometimes
called "the father of numerology."
Plato (circa 427-347 BC) discusses the rudiments of gematria in
his _Cratylos_, in which he claims that the force of a name
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is to be found in its numerical value, while words and phrases of
the same value may be substituted without loss of meaning.
The Hebrew cbala, the mystical system of philosophy wwhich
includes the Hebrew gematria, has been used for thousands of
years as a method of interpreting the Sacred Text. The Old
Testament apparently contains hidden meanings in the literal and
archetypal values of expressions and numbers, possibly encoded by
the prophets. The authoritative documents of the cabala are the
_Book of Formation_ (the _Sefer Yezirah_) and the _Book of
Brightness_ (the _Zohar_). The origins of these books are
ancient and uncertain.
Plilo Judaeus, a Jew of Alexandria (circa 30 BC-50 AD) (Reference
42) attempted to reconcile Hellenistic and Jewish thought through
number symbolism. Saint Augustine (354-430 AD) in his book _The
City of God_ and elsewhere (Reference 43) also attempted such a
reconciliation.
Most pertinent to the discussion of the Apocalypse, perhaps, was
the use of gematria by the ancient Gnostics, a religious movement
in competition with early orthodox Christianity. Before their
period of decadence, they appear to have had many worthy leaders
and may have had a considerable influence on Christian doctrine.
(See Reference 14, p. 70 and Reference 9.) The Church was so
effective in suppressing overt Gnosticism that, until the recent
discovery of a Gnostic library at Nag-Hammadi, our principal
knowledge of them came through their critics and enemies, notably
Saint Irenaeus, the second century Bishop of Lyons, who reveals
many prejudicial, though informative, details concerning the
Gnostics in his book _Against Heresies_. As an example, he
discusses the fact that the Gnostics saw in the name of Jesus
'INåoçä a numerological connection with both the 8 and the 6,
since His name has a literal value of 888 and an archetypal value
of 6. Other details quoted by Saint Irenaeus indicate that the
Gnostics probably built their system of gematria on more ancient
sources. It is interesting that the Gnostics claimed to have
esoteric knowledge from Jesus privately transmitted by Him to His
Disciples. (Reference 14, p. 70)
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Occultists find the gematria and number symbolism a rich source
of material for speculation because of its mysterious and
esoteric nature. The fascination of numerology is not limited to
the West and the Middle East. The Chinese book of divination,
the _I Ching_, one of the six Chinese Classics and probably the
oldest book in existence, has as its premise that all human
destiny can be reduced to a limited set of numbers based upon
combinations of Yang and Yin symbols. Many reliable people have
attested to the value of the _I Ching_. However, all forms of
divination and other occult practices are forbidden to Baha'is,
not because they are necessarily inopeerative, but because such
practices are disruptive to human development, both in the realm
of earth and in the realm of heaven.
Both the Bab and Baha'u'llah have employed the abjad, the Arabic
gematria, as a means of concealing meanings, and, at other times,
to reveal extended meanings in certain words and phrases. This
is certain to revive interest in number symbolism and gematria.
Let us hope that the occultists of the first Baha'i millenium
will use number symbolism more wisely than they have in the last.