4th page
Progressive Thinkers as of 12/1/2022
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Let me give an example of language which expresses the "1- 2- Many" theme in a poem, supposedly by Shakespeare, or whomever you decide wrote the many plays that Shakespeare is credited with. The "1" and "Many" positions of extreme are initially described as and entrance and exit, but the "2" in the middle may not be recognized by those who get caught up in the "scenery" of what is being said. They may not take into account the different two-patterned scenarios which can take place in one's life. Notice also the reference to "7" stages of a person's life, thus providing a clue as to the culturally induced orientation the composer of the poem was affected with. For those who are unaware, let me make reference to the "7" as having prominence in the thoughts of some which no doubt got started way back in history when early peoples counted the seven stars of the Big Dipper (from which we also get the Swastika), then identified the Pleiades with 7 stars and eventually sighted 7 planets... the three instances of which (are not typically noted by those interested in the "7" pattern) was interpreted to mean the number 7 was a commentary by a supposed god that affected the way people viewed many aspects of life, such as making references to the recurring pattern of 7 by accommodating day-to-day orientations to; one of which was the 7 liberal arts program used in Medieval Universities.
Liberal Arts: college or university curriculum aimed at imparting general knowledge and developing general intellectual capacities in contrast to a professional, vocational, or technical curriculum. In the medieval European university the seven liberal arts were grammar, rhetoric, and logic (the trivium) and geometry, arithmetic, music, and astronomy (the quadrivium). In modern colleges and universities the liberal arts include the study of literature, languages, philosophy, history, mathematics, and science as the basis of a general, or liberal, education. Sometimes the liberal-arts curriculum is described as comprehending study of three main branches of knowledge:
- The humanities (literature, language, philosophy, the fine arts, and history),
- The physical and biological sciences and mathematics,
- The social sciences.
("liberal arts." Encyclopædia Britannica, 2013.)
While the number 7 is preferred by some, and a few might be able to provide you with a list of examples, they don't even attempt to include a reference to the presence of other numbers or the absence of the "7" in very many situations. It also should be noted that the reliance on the number 7 as having some primitively assessed other-worldly attribute remains an obsession for those attached to the Koran. It is a text that is in need of a Revelation so as to bring the consciousness of the Islamic world into the future now unfolding.
However, let me not be too brief on the number 7 since it is a number that can be found in several ideas. But one must not only at the quantity of items to assigned a given number but also the quality. For example, surely one would not consider the old idea of 7 planets or 7 wonders of the world or even the currently used 7 days of the week as equal to the threes occurring in physics, DNA code or that the Earth is 3rd in position. Here are some examples of the number 7:
The sum of the spiritual 3 and the material 4 is 7. In medieval education, students pursued the trivium (grammar, rhetoric, and logic) and the quadrivium (music, arithmetic, geometry, and astronomy), a total of seven subjects, collectively known as the liberal arts. Pythagorean interest in the mathematical patterns in music gives 7 a privileged role, for there are seven distinct notes in the musical scale—corresponding roughly to the white notes on a piano. Counting from 1, the eighth note up the scale is the exceedingly harmonious octave, which is how the name arose.
The number 7 is often considered lucky, and it has a definite mystique, perhaps because it is a prime number—that is, it cannot be obtained by multiplying two smaller numbers together. There are seven days of the week, named after various ancient gods and planets (Sun-day, Moon-day, Tiw's-day, Woden's-day, Thor's-day, Frigg's-day, Saturn-day). Tiw was a Norse god of war, parallel to Mars in role but to Zeus in etymology, and Frigg was the Old English version of Frea (or Freya), wife of Woden (= Odin).
Shakespeare wrote of the seven ages of man, an idea that goes back much earlier. In China 7 determines the stages of female life: a girl gets her "milk teeth" at seven months, loses them at seven years, reaches puberty at 2 × 7 = 14 years, and reaches menopause at 7 × 7 = 49. The phases of the Moon last approximately seven days, with 4 × 7 = 28 days in a month and also in a female menstrual period. Many cultures recognized seven planets (Sun, Moon, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn) in the sense of "wandering bodies," unlike the "fixed stars," which retain the same relative position in the night sky. The seven candles of the Jewish menorah that burned in the Tabernacle symbolized the Creation and, according to the English scholar Robert Graves, may be connected to the seven planets of antiquity.
In ancient Egypt there were seven paths to heaven and seven heavenly cows; Osiris led his father through seven halls of the underworld. The seven deadly sins are well-known in Christian tradition. The number 7 was the fundamental number of the Rosicrucians, who used it as an organizational basis for their text Chymische Hochzeit Christiani Rosenkreutz (1459; Alchemical Wedding of Christian Rosycross). The number was also central to the cult of Mithra, which believed the soul rose to paradise through seven planetary spheres. The Christian idea of seven layers of purgatory may be related.
The number 7 features prominently in folk sayings. Breaking a mirror leads to seven years of bad luck. In Iran a cat has seven lives, not the nine of Western myth.
The most common numbers in the Indian Vedas are 3 and 7. Agni, the god of fire, has seven wives, mothers, or sisters and can produce seven flames. The sun god has seven horses to pull his heavenly chariot. In the Rigveda there are seven parts of the world, seven seasons, and seven heavenly fortresses. The cow has 21 = 3 × 7 names.
In the Hippocratic tradition of medicine, 7 rules the illnesses of the body, with painful illnesses lasting 7, 14, or 21 days. In Germany it was believed that pigs would not contract hog cholera if they were treated for seven days with water containing asphodel. In Jewish magic a fever can be cured by taking seven prickles from seven palm trees, seven chips from seven beams, seven nails from seven bridges, seven ashes from seven ovens…terminating in seven hairs from the beard of an old dog. ("number symbolism." Encyclopædia Britannica, 2013.)
Seven Sleepers of Ephesus: the heroes of a famous legend that, because it affirmed the resurrection of the dead, had a lasting popularity in all Christendom and in Islam during the Middle Ages. According to the story, during the persecution of Christians (250 CE) under the Roman emperor Decius, seven (eight in some versions) Christian soldiers were concealed near their native city of Ephesus in a cave to which the entry was later sealed. There, having protected themselves from being forced to do pagan sacrifices, they fell into a miraculous sleep. During the reign (408–450 CE) of the Eastern Roman emperor Theodosius II, the cave was reopened, and the Sleepers awoke. The emperor was moved by their miraculous presence and by their witness to their Christian doctrine of the body's resurrection. Having explained the profound meaning of their experience, the Seven died, whereupon Theodosius ordered their remains to be richly enshrined, and he absolved all bishops who had been persecuted for believing in the Resurrection.
A pious romance of Christian apologetics, the legend is extant in several versions, including Greek, Syriac, Coptic, and Georgian. Western tradition calls the Seven Sleepers Maximian, Malchus, Marcian, John, Denis, Serapion, and Constantine. Eastern tradition names them Maximilian, Jamblichus, Martin, John, Dionysius, Antonius, and Constantine.
Their feast day is July 27 in the Roman Catholic Church (now suppressed) and August 2/4 and October 22/23 in the Greek Orthodox Church. ("Seven Sleepers of Ephesus." Encyclopædia Britannica, 2013.)
H.O.B. note: and let us not forget the 21 gun salute at military funerals featuring 7 guns fired 3 separate times, or the 7 "teens" I discovered while thinking about the number 7 but have not encountered it elsewhere: (13, 14, 15, 16 17, 18, 19). Notice also that three of the names for the days of the week are named after the Sun, Moon, Saturn, while the other four are Norse gods. Let me also mention the 7 colors of the visual spectrum Hence, we have another quadrivium/trivium.
We don't find the same presence of "7" as we do other values such as 2 and 3, or even 1/Many.
Celestial mechanics has its beginnings in early astronomy in which the motions of the Sun, the Moon, and the five planets visible to the unaided eye— Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn—were observed and analyzed. The word planet is derived from the Greek word for wanderer, and it was natural for some cultures to elevate these objects moving against the fixed background of the sky to the status of gods; this status survives in some sense today in astrology, where the positions of the planets and Sun are thought to somehow influence the lives of individuals on Earth. The divine status of the planets and their supposed influence on human activities may have been the primary motivation for careful, continued observations of planetary motions and for the development of elaborate schemes for predicting their positions in the future. ("celestial mechanics." Encyclopædia Britannica, 2013.)
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BY WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE (from As You Like It, spoken by Jaques) All the world’s a stage, And all the men and women merely players; They have their exits and their entrances; And one man in his time plays many parts, His acts being seven ages. At first the infant, Mewling and puking in the nurse’s arms; And then the whining school-boy, with his satchel And shining morning face, creeping like snail Unwillingly to school. And then the lover, Sighing like furnace, with a woeful ballad Made to his mistress’ eyebrow. Then a soldier, Full of strange oaths, and bearded like the pard, Jealous in honour, sudden and quick in quarrel, Seeking the bubble reputation Even in the cannon’s mouth. And then the justice, In fair round belly with good capon lin’d, With eyes severe and beard of formal cut, Full of wise saws and modern instances; And so he plays his part. The sixth age shifts Into the lean and slipper’d pantaloon, With spectacles on nose and pouch on side; His youthful hose, well sav’d, a world too wide For his shrunk shank; and his big manly voice, Turning again toward childish treble, pipes And whistles in his sound. Last scene of all, That ends this strange eventful history, Is second childishness and mere oblivion; Sans teeth, sans eyes, sans taste, sans everything. source: Poetry Foundation |
Generally, everyone in the present age has only 1 type of birthing entrance, unless they are a test-tube baby, arrived by Stork, or some Frankenstein concoction... if not by some "Extraterrestrian" human/alien creation (not to mention caesarean... which is a word derived from the belief that Julius Caesar was born that way, according to the Wordweb dictionary,)... but let us not rule out the manner in which some demi-god might be born such as a virgin birth. In any event, there typically is only one kind of Entrance (which is, from a female), but the way a person leaves this world can be by Many different routes... unless one prefers to lump all types of passage as a singular act of death. Then again, a person might want to say that a "Many" theme could be applied to how one came about to be born, such as through "accident" (the infamous "it just happened" rationale), or by lawful marriage, or unlawful rape, extended family incest, artificial insemination, etc... Thus we see that either side (either extremity) could play the part of being a "1" or "Many" expression, but the idea of "1" and "Many" remains as a precedent, even if they are flip-flopped in position; much like our vision occurs as a flip-flopped picture. And as for the central "2-ness", we can see how the author of the poem engaged in a tally-stick model of conceptualization and expression by itemizing changes which alternate back -and- forth over the stages of life being outlined. However, the author and the many millions who have encountered the recitation, have been oblivious to the underlying 3-part script being used by Nature.
 The iris behaves as a diaphragm, modifying the amount of light entering the eye; probably of greater significance than control of the light entering the eye is the influence on aberrations of the optical system; the smaller the pupil the less serious, in general, are the aberrations. The smaller the pupil, however, the more serious become the effects of diffraction, so that a balance must be struck. Experimentally, it is found that at high luminances with pupils below three millimetres (0.12 inch) in diameter the visual acuity is not improved by further reduction of the diameter; increasing the pupil size beyond this reduces acuity, presumably because of the greater optical aberrations. It is interesting that when a subject is placed in a room that is darkened steadily, the size of the pupil increases, and the size attained for any given level of luminance is, in fact, optimal for visual acuity at this particular luminance. The reason that visual acuity increases with the larger pupils is that the extra light admitted into the eye compensates for the increased aberrations. When the gaze is fixed intently on an object for a long time, peripheral images that tend to disappear reappear immediately when the eyes are moved. This effect is called the Troxler phenomenon. To study it reproducibly it is necessary to use an optical device that ensures that the image of any object upon which the gaze is fixed will remain on the same part of the retina however the eyes move. Two investigators found, when they did this, that the stabilized retinal image tended to fade within a few seconds. It may be assumed that in normal vision the normal involuntary movements—the microsaccades and drifts mentioned earlier—keep the retinal image in sufficient movement to prevent the fading, which is essentially an example of sensory adaptation, the tendency for any receptive system to cease responding to a maintained stimulus. H.O.B. note: Take a look at the following three responses of the eye and compare them with the switching patterns found in computers... suggesting physiology is already computer-like. I am also looking at the "on/off" as an expression of the "1/Many" circumstance of extremes. Together they create their own centrality of expression. We also have the situation in which the eye has two extremes of visual range whether we describe it as up/down, right-side/left-side, or diagonally, coupled to a central vision position. Even when we include one's peripheral vision we find there is a limitation... or extreme point. Electro-physiology of the retina: Neurological basis Subjective studies on human beings can traverse only a certain distance in the interpretation of visual phenomena; beyond this the standard electro-physiological techniques, which have been successful in unraveling the mechanisms of the central nervous system, must be applied to the eye; this, as repeatedly emphasized, is an outgrowth of the brain. Records from single optic nerve fibres of the frog and from the ganglion cell of the mammalian retina indicated three types of response:
The responses in the mammal were similar, but more complex than in the frog. The mammalian retina shows a background of activity in the dark, so that on- and off-effects are manifest as accentuations or diminutions of this normal discharge. In general, on-elements gave an increased discharge when the light was switched on, and an inhibition of the background discharge when the light was switched off. An off-element showed inhibition of the background discharge during illumination and a powerful discharge at off; this off-discharge is thus a release of inhibition and reveals unmistakably the inhibitory character of the response to illumination that takes place in some ganglion cells. Each ganglion cell or optic nerve fibre tested had a receptive field; and the area of frog's retina from which a single fibre could be activated varied with the intensity of the light stimulus. The largest field was obtained with the strongest stimulus, so that, in order that a light stimulus, falling at some distance away from the centre of the field, might affect this particular fibre it had to be much more intense than a light stimulus falling on the centre of the field. This means that some synaptic pathways are more favoured than others. The mammalian receptive field is more complex, the more peripheral part of the field giving the opposite type of response to that given by the centre. Thus, if, at the centre of the field, the response was "on" (an on-centre field) the response to a stimulus farther away in the same fibre was at "off," and in an intermediate zone it was often mixed to give an on-off element. In order to characterize an element, therefore, it must be called on-centre or off-centre, with the meaning thereby that at the centre of its receptive field its response was at "on" or at "off," respectively, while in the periphery it was opposite. By studying the effects of small spot stimuli on centre and periphery separately and together, one investigator demonstrated a mutual inhibition between the two. A striking feature was the effect of adaptation; after dark adaptation the surrounding area of opposite activity became ineffective. In this sense, therefore, the receptive field shrinks, but, as it is a reduction in inhibitory activity between centre and periphery, it means, in fact, that the effective field can actually increase during dark adaptation—i.e., the regions over which summation can occur—and this is exactly what is found in psychophysical experiments on dark adaptation. ...There is a characteristic shift in the maximum sensitivity from 5000 angstroms for scotopic (night) vision to 5550 angstroms for photopic (day) vision, the so-called Purkinje shift. It has been suggested that the cones have a pigment that shows a maximum of absorption at 5550 angstroms, but the phenomena of colour vision demand that there be three types of cone, with three separate pigments having maximum absorption in the red, green, and blue, so that it is more probable that the photopic luminosity curve is a reflection of the summated behaviour of the three types of cone rather than of one. ("eye, human." Encyclopædia Britannica, 2013.)  |
Date of (series) Origination: Saturday, 14th March 2020... 6:11 AM
Date of Initial Posting (this ): 30th December 2022... 11:11 AM AST (Arizona Standard Time); Marana, AZ.