Math and Spirituality: Connections History and Lessons Learned

Chapter Four

There is no symbol of spiritual significance that shows up more than the pentagram.

The pentagram is a figure constructed from a regular pentagon, a 5 sided shape with all sides of equal length. The pentagram is made by drawing the diagonals of the pentagon, drawing lines to connect all of the corners of the shape that are not already directly connected.

Pentagrams are Everywhere

It is curious how frequently this symbol shows up. Again and Again. Across time and across civilizations. The earliest recorded instance of the pentagram shows up around 3500 B.C. inscribed in Sumerian pottery.

The symbol can be seen in ancient Greece, it can be found in ancient Jerusalem, it pops up in England during the Middle Ages, and it is the foundation of Da Vinci’s “Vitruvian Man” an influential art piece from the Renaissance. In modern times the symbol crops up everywhere in fiction and modern occultism.

Depictions of pentagrams are associated with cults and satanism. You can find the 5-pointed star littered throughout the horror and thriller genres.

Pentagrams are everywhere. But that fact alone might not be a groundbreaking revelation. To be a little skeptical here, a star is a pretty simple shape to draw. So maybe it is not so crazy to think that people just like drawing star shapes. And that would explain why the pentagram keeps showing up.

The groundbreaking revelation comes from asking a slightly different question. Instead of asking “Why does the pentagram show up so consistently?” We should ask “Why does the pentagram show up in such consistently spiritual contexts?”

No other shape can compare. Why weren’t people etching trapezoids onto their church walls or making octagons the symbols of their sacred orders? It is simply too much of a pattern to be mere coincidence.

Examples Throughout History

Here is a by-no-means exhaustive list of spiritual meanings assigned to the pentagram by different peoples. This list of examples could fill a dozen textbooks so I would advise you to do some exploring on your own if any of these pique your interest.  

In ancient Greece the pentagram was a symbol used to represent their creation myth (in a similar vein to our last chapter). They represented the 5 “niches” or “regions” that the original gods created. The pentagram was the official seal of the holy city of Jerusalem. In Renaissance era England the pentagram symbolized the five wounds of Christ suffered during the crucifixion. And the Vitruvian man, purposefully drawn in the shape of a pentagram, is regarded as the most famous drawing in the world. It has been interpreted by many as having “secret” or “hidden” spiritual meaning.

History cannot trace the significance of the pentagram all the way back to its first sighting in 3500 B.C. Sumeria. However, in the 6th Century B.C. the construction of the Pentagram led to an incredible discovery, one that an ancient order of mathematicians chose to hide. Its discoverer was exiled, cast out to sea to die. And the leader of this order, surprisingly, is someone that you may have heard of.

Pythagoras of Samos and the Invention of Math

Pythagoras is famous in modern times for his triangle based theorem, the Pythagorean Theorem. Funnily enough there is a lot of historical evidence that Pythagoras was not the first to discover the famous theorem that is named after him.

But his contributions to society remain vast. Pythagoras of Samos was said to have gained his knowledge and wisdom through travel. In 6th Century B.C. he traveled from Greece to Babylon and ended up settling in Croton, a city that would now be located in Southern Italy.

Pythagoras was the first person who decided that mathematics should be studied as “free teaching”. Mathematical problems had of course been solved prior. But problems had been solved within the context of practical issues, necessities or sacred duties.

Humans were solving math problems to build river dams and needed to do math to carve large circular stones for altars. But Pythagoras was the first person who decided to study mathematics for its own sake. There did not need to be a practical, current problem to solve. Pythagoras began exploring mathematical problems and proving mathematical truths, just because he found it interesting.

So with this in mind it is fair to say that Pythagoras invented the field of mathematics. Mathematics as a disicipline and a field of study began with Pythagoras. Once mathematics as a subject was invented, something curious happened. A new religion sprang up known as Pythagoreanism.

For emphasis. Once it was discovered that math could be proven and discovered, a religion immediately followed.

The Pythagorean Religion

So what were the Pythagoreans like? There is not a ton of surviving information from the religion itself but we have reason to believe that they embraced some ideas that would be considered quite progressive. Pythagoreans preached vegetarianism and defended the right for women to learn math and philosophy.

The intellectual achievements of the religious group are well known and celebrated. Pythagoreans created the field of mathematics known as Number Theory, a field of study concerned with the natural numbers, everyday numbers like 2, 3 and 4. They also developed the study of music theory, founding the belief that music could be expressed by numbers and their ratios to one another.

Music was beautiful because it could be expressed mathematically. And this belief went beyond music or other pleasures. The Pythagoreans started studying mathematics and they began to feel greatly that numbers were the building blocks of our cosmos. Deeply embedded in the spiritual philosophy of the Pythagoreans was the idea that everything in the universe could be expressed neatly by numbers.

It was devastating when they found out that this was not the case.

Properties of the Pentagram

How did they find out? They were exploring the mathematical properties of the pentagram.

The Pythagoreans were trying to understand the ratio between the sides of the pentagon and their diagonals. By drawing the diagonals, the pentagram is constructed within.

Nowadays, if we wanted to figure out a ratio between two values we would divide them. However the mechanism we use for division was not yet used during the times of the Ancient Greeks.

Back then they used a method known as anthyphairesis (ann-the-fair-uh-sis). Which translates roughly to “repeated subtraction”.

Let’s take an example. Say I wanted to find the ratio of 162 to 27 through the method of anthyphairesis

First we subtract 27 from 162

162-27 = 135

Then we repeat this subtraction until we get a number lower than 27

135-27= 108

108-27= 81

81-27= 54

54-27 = 27

27-27 = 0

This result of 0 means that 27 divides evenly into 162, and if you were to check 162/27= 6.

A number other than 0 would imply that the numbers do not divide evenly into one another and the result would give a remainder.

A Devastating Cognition

This process of anthyphairesis was used to investigate a certain ratio. The Pythagoreans wanted to know the ratio of the length of a side of the pentagon to the ratio of one of its diagonals.

As they began their method of repeated subtraction, something slowly became clear. This method of repeated subtraction would go on endlessly. The process would never end.

In their investigation of the properties of the pentagram the Pythagoreans had discovered irrational numbers. An irrational number is a number that cannot be expressed as the ratio of two integers. ∏, which we discussed in prior chapters is an irrational number. √2 is an irrational number as well.

This discovery is a significant one when it comes to the advancement of mathematics as a field. However the concept of irrational numbers did not sit well with the Pythagoreans. Their belief system centered around numbers. The very order of the universe could be expressed neatly by numbers! This discovery of irrational numbers spat in the face of the very core of their beliefs.

The mathematician who discovered the irrational numbers was named Hippasus of Metapontum. The members of the Pythagorean order decided that they would keep this discovery a secret, as it sat in contradiction to their established beliefs. Hippasus decided to reveal his secret discovery. And he was banned from the order. Legend says they tied him to a raft while he was asleep and pushed him out to sea to die.

There is a long and storied tradition of mathematicians who died in peculiar and dramatic fashions. Hippasus of Metapontum did receive some vindication however. After the initial overreaction to the discovery of irrational numbers, the Pythagoreans decided to embrace the discovery as truth. The understanding of irrational numbers became an intellectual rite of passage.

The Pythagoreans adopted the Pentagram as the symbol of their holy order, as an homage to the irrational number. A nod to the notion that the nature of the universe could not be defined and understood so easily.

In Closing

The meaning that the Pythagoreans assigned to the Pentagram persists throughout history. If one wants to understand the nature of all things with their mind, they will encounter pure chaos. In our journey as spiritual beings we encounter things that we must accept as true, even though we cannot understand these things. In our lives there are phenomena that cannot be defined. We brush up against the infinite and lack the ability to describe it.

The spiritual significance of the pentagram has been assigned and redefined by many people throughout history. However, I believe that its pervasiveness truly boomed once it became the symbol of the Pythagoreans. This spiritual order, the very people who founded mathematics as a field of study, believed that mathematics was the key to defining and ordering our universe.

But no such well-ordered and well-defined universe exists. At least it is not the one that we all live and breathe in. The Pentagram exists as acknowledgement of this fact. And it is the very mathematical properties of this shape that showed us that even with the best tools available, we would be incapable of defining our world in a simple and elegant way.

As science and technology advances throughout the centuries humanity continues to discover more and more complexity in our universe. This complexity remains forever out of our grasp. And the pentagram keeps showing up in art, religion and culture. A reminder hidden in plain sight, of the elaborate nature of our universe.

Next Time:

The Differing Levels of Infinity

Math and Spirituality: Connections History and Lessons Learned

Chapter Three

The Chokwe Creation Myth

At one time the Sun went to pay his respects to God. He walked and walked until he found the path which led to God. He presented himself to God, who gave him a cock and said to him: "See me in the morning before you leave."

In the morning the cock crowed and woke up the Sun, who then went to see God. God said: "I heard the cock crow, the one I gave you for supper. You may keep him, but you must return every morning." This is why the Sun encircles the earth and appears every morning.

The Moon also went to visit God, was given a cock, who also woke him up in the morning ... So God said: "I see that you also did not eat the cock I gave you for supper. That is all right. But come back to see me every twenty-eight days."

…

And man in turn went to see God, and was given a cock. But he was very hungry after his long voyage and ate part of the cock for supper and kept the rest for his return trip. The next morning the Sun was already high in the sky when our man awoke. He quickly ate the remains of the cock and hurried to his divine host.

God said to him with a smile: "What about the cock I gave you yesterday? I did not hear him crow this morning." The man became fearful. "I was very hungry and ate him." ... "That is all right," said God,"but listen: you know that Sun and Moon have been here, but neither of them killed the cock I gave them.

That is why they themselves will never die. But you killed yours, and so you must die as he did. But at your death you must return here."

“The topfigure is God, the bottom is man, on the left is the Sun and on the right is the Moon. The path is the path that leads to God.”

Telling the Tale

The telling of the Chokwe creation myth begins with the drawing of the figure, say with a stick in the sand. As the stick moves through the sand, starting up top at God, the creation myth is told. I imagine the a captive audience of children looking and listening intently.

The story-teller continues to tell the tale as they draw the figure, never lifting their stick up from the sand. If you would like to take a moment to imagine this process, take a look at the image, starting at the uppermost line that is beneath the little image representing god.

If you start following that line to your left, you start with god and move towards the sun. With your mouse, your finger or your mind you can trace the entire figure all in one go. Really take a moment and try. It is a process you that you might find pleasurable!

If you did not enjoy tracing the figure, that is okay too. We live in a world that is so incredibly good at grabbing our attention that a simple tracing exercise may not be very appealing. But if you could imagine being a child 400 years ago. Hearing this story and seeing this drawn out in front of you, I believe you would be filled with a sense of wonder.

Wonder

It is a great tragedy of our time that we do not associate mathematics with aesthetic pleasure and our sense of wonder. The vast majority of modern humans associate mathematics with childhood trauma and hardship. But it was certainly not always this way.

Mathematics has been inspiring wonder in people since before recorded history. It is no coincidence that geometric designs are found in religious traditions, iconography and architecture all over the world. From Buddhism to Christianity, Islam, to Hinduism and Chinese Folk Traditions and literally everywhere else.

And the appreciation of mathematical aesthetics is not limited to the spiritual realm. The joy we feel from visual art and from music can be attributed to mathematical properties. And there is a sense of wonder and joy that comes with the practice of math itself.

Earlier I defined mathematical properties as “the most fundamental truths of our universe”. So the practice of learning math is actually the practice of coming into knowing a new fundamental truth of the world. And when viewed in this lens I think it is easy to see why that might be an awe-inspiring, wonder-inducing experience.

18th century swiss mathematician Leonhard Euler (pronounced Oy-ler) proved an equality (known as Euler’s identity) between a bunch of irrational fundamental numbers. Give it a google if you feel so inclined.

Every single time I see what Euler proved I cannot believe it is true. One of the numbers included in that identity, ∏ has inspired people for thousands of years. We know people have been approximating the value of ∏ (an irrational number that continues on forever after its decimal point) since around 2,000 B.C.

And since then humans have come up with more and more ingenious ways to more accurately find its value. First with geometric constructions, then with advanced calculus and now with modern supercomputers we have been able to accurately calculate ∏ to one hundred trillion digits. The lengths people will go to discover the digits of ∏ is not fueled by anything practical. Their curiosity and sense of wonder is what drives them.

Fundamental Human Questions

One could argue that the human sense of wonder, our sense of curiosity, began when we looked up at the sky. Why does the sun rise every morning? Why does the moon show its full self to us every month or so? We may take these questions for granted with the access to information we have in modern times. But can you imagine living in our world and not knowing? You would go insane carrying on every day without having an explanation for the big bright circles in the sky.

Now let’s return back to the mind of a child. Hearing the story and watching the shape being drawn in the sand. It must be a great relief to hear this story and know why the sun and the moon behave the way that they do. The Chokwe creation myth addresses other fundamental questions about being human, including ones we grapple with more actively in our modern lives.

Why do I have to get up early in the morning? Why do I hunger? Why do I get tired? I can see that sun and the moon are eternal. But me. Why do I have to die?

These questions transcend culture and era. To be human is to demand answers to these questions. Earlier in this chapter I have described the practice of doing math as learning fundamental truths of the universe. So it should come as no surprise that the majority of mathematicians throughout history also contributed to the fields of astronomy and religious philosophy

Our mathematician du-jour Leonhard Euler (again, pronounced Oy-ler) was no exception. Euler was a devout Christian who believed that the study of mathematics supported the existence of god. The practice of math was a means for him to address fundamental questions, such as the nature of death and mortality.

Euler also used math to answer questions about the sky above him. By Euler’s time heliocentrism was widely accepted so he had information available regarding the behavior of the sun and moon. He took interest instead with the nature of comets. And he was able to determine their orbits with great accuracy.

Graph Theory

But these pursuits are all minor footnotes to the legendary intellectual contributions of Leonhard Euler. He is perhaps most famous for creating a field known as Graph Theory. Euler is known for creating this field of study by exploring a civic problem known as the “Seven Bridges of Königsberg”.

This is a problem anyone can look up and try to solve regardless of their mathematical background and education. Graph Theory looks at distinct objects, represented as points in space, and defines them based on their relations to one another, represented by lines. These series of points and lines are known as graphs or networks.

In this field of study Any Diagram that has a series of objects represented as points and tries to show their connections to one another via lines is called a graph.

Graph theory introduced a new paradigm. A whole new way of thinking. And this way of thinking that Euler developed is ever-present now in our daily lives. Graph Theory is used to model biological processes. It is used to understand the behavior of molecules. It is the foundation for how we understand networks. The “Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon” phenomenon is an expression of the properties of graph theory. Computer science, social networks, linguistical models, neurology all rely on graph theory as a way of problem solving. And the list goes on.

If you were to start taking lessons in the field of Graph Theory. On day 1 or 2 you would learn about a special, important type of graph. These special graphs are categorized as traversable. And the way we can tell if a graph exhibits traversability is by seeing if we can trace the entire graph without lifting our pen up from the page.

Or our stick up from the sand.

…

Weaving it all Together

This mathematical property traversability is simple to understand. Yet it is a core mathematical property that is critical to a number of academic fields. And the Chokwe people chose to make their creation myth a graph that exhibits this property! And they did this at least a century before Euler even invented the field of study!

But the Chowke people did not choose to make their creation myth a traversable graph because they saw practical value in this mathematical property. To them, there was a simple aesthetic pleasure in drawing the picture without lifting their stick up off the ground. I also believe that the choice to make the creation myth a traversable graph was intentional. Even though the term traversable graph was not yet coined. They did it to teach a spiritual lesson.

It is a profound notion and one that we see across many faiths. It is hinted at in the very last line of the myth.

“The top figure is God, the bottom is man, on the left is the Sun and on the right is the Moon. The path is the path that leads to God.”

We might think that the connections between us and everyone else in the world are a tangled mess. Though in actuality all of these connections can be drawn as one single smooth line.

Whatever force or being that you believe is out there drawing the schematics of our universe. They never have a hiccup or make a mistake. As they draw our reality they do so uninterrupted. They never have to lift their pencil up from the page.

…

…

A revelation that pushes science and technology forward.

An expressive activity done for pleasure.

A means to express spiritual truths about the universe.

A single piece of math is all of these things.

Next Time:

Grappling with the Infinite, Regular Polygons, Math Cults and Murder: The History of the Pentagram

Math and Spirituality: Connections, History and Lessons Learned

Chapter Two

What is mathematical truth?

Mathematics is not invented by humans. It is discovered. It is impossible to even comprehend a universe where mathematical truths do not hold firm. You can imagine a world where gravity, a scientific law, worked differently. It is conceivable that gravity could pull us upwards and we would be walking across the ceiling instead of the floor.

But the same exercise in imagination will not hold in the realm of mathematics. Imagine that you had 2 sticks in one hand and 2 sticks in another hand and you put them down in front of you. When you looked down there were 5 sticks in total. That wouldn’t pass the test. Some being or some phenomena had to add that fifth stick to the pile. To conceive a world where 2+2 geuninely is 5 is not possible.

Here, our imaginative capabilities illuminate a point. Our ability to imagine shows a key difference between mathematical truth and other types of truths. A mathematical truth is more Fundamentally True than other types of knowledge we can gain in our lives. It is not a truth we can invent or alter easily, it is a truth that we come to see as fundamental to our universe. The deeply inherent nature of math is what makes it relevant to our spiritual lives.

Mathematical constructs and mathematical properties are real and ever-present in our lives. They manifest in abstract forms that are unintuitive to the mind. We encounter mathematical properties in visual art and hear patterns in music that spark a deep joy inside of us. And we cannot explain why. We encounter vastly infinite things that overwhelm us and fill our hearts with fear. And we cannot describe these feelings in logical terms. Mathematics provides us the toolkit to understand our spiritual and emotional selves. It is the way we can express concepts that are deeply true about the nature of our universe. It is the basis of the wisdom that has helped humanity find purpose throughout its history.   

Wisdom of the Past

This is not some new revolutionary lens. Humans have tied their spiritual wisdom and their mathematical discoveries together long before math even existed as a field of study. In fact the moment a person realized they could “Prove Math”, they started a religion. And even before then we see examples of spiritual practices and concepts informing mathematical discoveries. Hindu-buddhists had a spiritual conception of nothingness which enabled them to use the number zero long before any other civilization. And the adoption of zero as a number caused great controversy for centuries across the world. In the 1900’s a mathematician proved that there will always be new things that are true but cannot be proven. A shocking revelation about the nature of pursuing knowledge that has profound implications.

We will explore all of this history. I will be interpreting the underlying wisdom and lessons from these anecdotes. I hope you find these stories as fascinating as I do. It is a privilege and an honor to share knowledge about these mathematical concepts, not in the way they are taught in school but through this spiritual lens. And I believe that viewing math in this way will serve you and enrich your life.

Chokwe Creation Myth

In our modern times mathematics are fairly standardized. We have adopted the same numeral system across the world. And with technology we can exchange information incredibly easily. However for much of human history, different societies evolved their mathematical understanding in different ways. For a long time the distinction was very binary. There were “advanced” societies and “backwards” ones. Hoewever we now have a more balanced and nuanced view of the world. And it is a fascinating and eye-opening thing to see how different societies came to understand and apply math.

There is a famous tale from a British explorer in the late 1800’s that illuminates this tale. The Damara people of Namibia had a trading rate of of exchange which was 2 sticks of tobacco for 1 sheep. Aiming to hasten the process of trade, a foreign visitor offered to trade 4 sticks of tobacco at once for 2 sheep. This was met with apprehension and the foreigner was suspected of fraud. The trade had to be slowed down. First 2 sticks of tobacco where given for 1 sheep. Then 2 more sticks of tobacco for 1 more sheep. When the foreigner showed that the result was the same as what he was offered initially he was seen as someone with a magical gift.

This tale was widespread as one indicating a lack of mathematical sophistication in Africa during this time. However the explorer, Sir Francis Galton, went on to gush about the mathematical prowess of the Damaras. They had a deep sense of keen observation. One that enabled them to know, in a way other than counting, if any sheep from their flock or oxen from their herd were missing. The Damara were amazed by the mathematical understanding of the British traveler and the British traveler in turn was amazed by the Damara’s very different style of mathematical understanding.

The most fascinating case of this African alternate mathematical understanding can be found a small ways up north in Angola. The Chokwe, also anglicized as Jokwe, people are most famous for their artwork. In popular culture images shown of African scuplture are often Chokwe-inspired. They are also known for designing ornate masks. These masks serve spiritual purposes and are an integral part of rituals performed by the Chokwe people.

The design of interest here is not strictly a piece of art but rather the Chokwe creation myth itself. A creation myth or cosmogonic myth is the story a people tells about how the world came to be. A society’s creation myth is one of the most profound elements of its spiritual framework. It is a glimpse into the spiritual point of view of the culture, often addressing some of the most difficult questions that every human ponders in their lifetime.

The Chokwe creation myth is a geometric design. And the mathematical properties of this design are woven into the wisdom that this myth provides.

Math and Spirituality: Connections, History and Lessons Learned

Chapter One

Intro

Mathematics and Spirituality may appear to be entirely unrelated topics. But this could not be further from the truth. Since times long forgotten the two fields have been intertwined. The idea that math should be grouped in with the sciences is a relatively new idea. There was a time when math was taught side by side with religion and spirituality. However, as society became more complex and the need to do computations became more frequent, the spiritual nature of mathematics was suppressed in order to highlight its more “practical” applications.

Mathematics is the art of unveiling fundamental truths about the universe. And it is the best tool we have for understanding abstract entities. There are many abstract entities we are interested in, just by virtue of being human. One of those is the self. The cosmic consciousness, or “god” is another. When I refer to spirituality I mean to be as inclusive as possible. No matter how you identify spiritually or religiously, no matter how you express or manifest your spirituality, this book can prove useful for you. It is a universal experience to struggle with understanding who you are. It is a universal experience to yearn for deeper meaning and grapple with the truth.

I believe that coming to know math will help us with these universal experiences, these all so common struggles. And this belief is not mine alone. There is a rich history behind this mindset and framework, the bond between mathematics and spirituality is a strong one. But in the present day these connections are not well known and the practice of relating mathematics and spirituality is not common at all. This text will go over mathematical concepts in snapshots.  At times weaving in rich tales of history and culture.

And at times… not doing that. There’s no time to waste. So let’s begin with a quick spiritual lesson derived from mathematics. No historical context. No table setting.

Commutativity

Why is it that in our lives we find it tricky to remove parts of our selves? And why is it relatively easier to add new things to our self? Eliminating a bad habit from our daily lives for example, can prove quite difficult. On the other hand if you wanted to learn something new you just have to want to do it and then start doing it. If a friend told you they wanted to learn how to play the clarinet, they could just grab one and start playing it. Then sooner or later, they would be a clarinet player. However if a friend told you that they wanted to quit smoking its not such a simple affair. Often people want to quit and they actively try to, but that is not enough.

And this isn’t limited to behavior. If you are some way or identify as some type of person, it typically is a lot of work to remove that “way” or that “identity” from yourself. Not to say that its impossible, some people find themselves in a flexible place where they can remove “notions” from their self very easily. The point is that “gaining something desirable” is typically a simpler more straightforward process than “removing something undesirable”.

So.. why is that? And the answer lay in one of the humblest mathematical properties. Commutativity, or commutative is a word that may ring a faint distant bell. It is a mathematical property that you understand well. And even if you never formally learned it, it will appear obvious and unremarkable.

Adding 3 and 5 will give you 8. Adding 5 and 3 will give you 8. And this holds true for any number. Logically formalized we would say that If A+B=C then B+A=C.

The word “commutative” refers to the operation of addition itself. Addition is commutative because

If A+B=C then B+A=C.

Multiplication is also commutative. 3 5’s are equal to 5 3’s which would give us 15 in total. Which we can formalize to

If A*B=C then B*A=C

The notion of commutativity transcends our day to day operations. We could make one up.

Call it “Blorp”. If 3 Blorp 2 = 78 and 2 Blorp 3 = 78.

Then the operation “Blorp” would be commutative.

Is this clear? As I stated before, commutativity remains obvious and unremarkable.

And there are mathematical operations which do not exhibit this property

5-3 is not equal to 3-5.

And 40/5 is not equal to 5/40

Which is to say that subtraction and division are not commutative.

All of that out of the way. Let’s go back to our original question.

Why is it trickier to remove things from ourselves then it is to add things to ourselves?

The answer?

When we are in the process of building things, we are engaging in a commutative operation.

When we are in the process of removing things, we are engaging in a non-commutative operation.

The difference being that the order doesn’t matter for one, but matters greatly for the other.

If you were to try to add Joy to Yourself. Or add Yourself to Joy. The result would be the same.

But if you were to try and remove Doubt from Yourself or remove Yourself from Doubt, the result would be different.

In the Christian faith it is believed that it would be a waste of time to try to remove yourself from Sin. But it would be a great use of your time to try and remove Sin from yourself.

In Summary

You don’t have to be mindful and precise with your intention when you’re building onto yourself. The result would be the same if you just dove right in.

However when trying to remove something from yourself it will be worth your time to identify your priorities and be precise with your intention. Otherwise you may not achieve your desired result.

This bit of wisdom follows from a mathematical observation. A provable mathematical truth. Mathematical truths are profound. The laws of math occupy a unique space in our world. And it is these distinctive features that make the language of math particularly suitable for understanding spiritual truths.

Next Time: What is Mathematical Truth? AND The Chokwe Creation Myth