ruben stelzner

“The one, then, attaches to every single part of being, and it does not fail in any part, whether great or small, or whatever the size of it may be.”

Platon

“The one, then, attaches to every single part of being, and it does not fail in any part, whether great or small, or whatever the size of it may be.”

Platon

The Meaning of Number 1: The One, the Origin of All Things

The number 1 is the first of the universal principles. It’s the first of the natural numbers. The sequence of numbers begins with it. It’s where we begin counting. Accordingly, in the philosophy of numbers, it also stands symbolically for the principle of beginning. Wherever something begins, the principle of the number 1 is at work: the first step of a journey, the first day of school, January 1, the first day of the biblical creation story. Everything always begins with 1. The 1 is a beginner, the start of everything. It was there first, and symbolically speaking, it precedes everything. In nearly every culture, the symbolism of 1 stands for beginning, origin, and unity.

Mathematically speaking, every number that follows is a multiple of the number 1. Everything contains the 1. This, too, can be understood symbolically: since everything is built on the 1, the 1 is also contained in everything. The 1 is contained in the 2, the 1 is contained in the 3, the 1 is contained in everything that follows. The 1 is the “primal substance.” You could say: “Everything is 1.” Just as the whole tree is contained in the seed, the whole human being in a stem cell, or all of life begins with birth, the symbolism of 1 for the same reason also stands for “aloneness.” You’ll find this principle not just in mathematics, but in every field: in physics, it’s known as the “singularity,” the point the Big Bang originated from and out of which everything, the entire universe, developed. In religion, it’s the principle of “God,” who was there at the very beginning, created the world, and is contained in everything that came after (see also the post “The Meaning of Numbers in the Bible”). So the 1 is not just a beginner, but also “the singular,” the one thing contained in everything. The 1, then, also represents the principle of “perfection,” “wholeness,” “unity,” “everything.”

Circle: A Symbol of Unity

Because the principle of the number 1 is the origin of everything, and therefore contained in everything, in other words, both one and all, it carries something fascinating, “divine,” and magical about it. The symbolism of 1 isn’t fully graspable for the human mind, much like the wholeness and infinity of the universe are hard to picture, or the way divinity in religious teachings carries something mystical and formless. In physics, it’s the principle of the singularity, a point that escapes scientists’ ability to calculate it fully. This quality, that everything is already contained in the beginning, along with the ungraspable, magical feeling that comes with it, shows up in sayings like “A magic dwells in each beginning,” “Dream big,” “The drop is in the ocean, and the ocean is in the drop” (Buddha), “Amazing things happen when you try,” “The expert in anything was once a beginner,” and “The journey is the destination.”

Synonyms for the Number 1:

Beginning, start, part of everything, unity, perfection, oneness.

Commonly used symbols include the sun, light, the singularity, the universe, the precious metal gold, the mythical unicorn, and God.

Question:

Did you know that the prologue of a story, or the first scene of a movie, often already contains the whole message of the work in miniature? According to the principle of 1, the great and the whole are already contained in the first and the smallest. Examples include the biblical Genesis, the Prologue in Heaven in Goethe’s Faust, the opening scene of the blockbuster “Forrest Gump,” and many more. (See also the post “Numbers in Fairy Tales, Myths, and Literature” for more on numbers in literature.)

Quotes on the Meaning of Number 1:

„For you are doubtless aware that experts in this study, if anyone attempts to cut up the “one” in argument, laugh at him and refuse to allow it. But if you mince it up, they multiply it, always on guard lest the one should appear to be not one but a multiplicity of parts.“

(Plato, Republic, Book VII)

„Anyone who thinks about this carefully will discover that oneness cannot be perceived by the bodily senses. Whatever is perceived by such a sense is clearly not one but many, for it is a material object and therefore has countless parts.“

(Augustinus)

„It is ungenerated and imperishable: whole, of a single kind, unshaken, and complete. It never was, nor will it be, since it is now, all together, one, continuous.“

(Parmenides)

„That much I can follow, but I’d say there is only the One. About this “One,” I can’t make any “is” statements either. I can’t make any “something” statements about it. […] When I talk about creation, or sketch out some particular idea of God, that’s already nonsense. It’s always the One!“

(Hans-Peter Dürr)

„That’s why I can’t speak of God, because the moment I do, I slip into duality, naming God and creation as something separate, standing apart from me. The number “one” has no meaning on its own. It only gets one once you allow for something split apart.“

(Hans-Peter Dürr)

„The great deed of the supreme hero is to come to the knowledge of this unity in multiplicity and then to make it known.“

(Joseph Campbell)

Related Topics:

For the meaning of the other numbers, see: The Principle of Numbers.

Image credit: iStock.com/LagartoFilm (numbers on a green background)