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“…and God divided the light from the darkness.”
Bible, Genesis 1:4

“…and God divided the light from the darkness.”

Bible, Genesis 1:4

The Meaning of Number 2: The Other, the Seeming Flaw of Being

Within the philosophy of numbers, the number 2 is the second principle. Before it, there was only the 1 (see: The Meaning of Number 1). With the number 2, something new enters the sequence of numbers, and symbolically as well. Symbolically, the number 2 therefore also stands for “the other.” It symbolizes differentiation. With the 2, “the one” and “the other” come into being. Where there were no differences yet with the 1, because everything was 1, differences now enter the world with the 2. Difference is a basic principle of the world: there’s up and down, left and right, good and evil, man and woman, day and night, light and dark. Poles exist everywhere in the world (more on this in The Philosophy of Nature). Physics knows them as matter and antimatter, positive pole and negative pole, wave and particle. Myths and fairy tales know the hero and the villain. In the Bible, “God created the heavens and the earth.”

Because the symbolism of 2 brings the other into the world, it doesn’t just reveal differences, but also incompleteness. What does that mean? One pole is no longer the whole: up isn’t down, day isn’t night, man isn’t woman. Seen negatively, the 2 within the universal principles therefore often also symbolizes deficiency or flaw. It then becomes the counterpart to the 1. The way the devil (with his two horns) is the counterpart to God. Whatever belongs to a pole seems to be missing something. The part can feel incomplete.

The 2 symbolizes the polarity of the world. The one and the other.
This is also connected to the central problem of being human. Because he was created out of the whole, he is no longer the whole. Symbolically, he was separated from God, from the complete. He has traits and particularities. He has something, and something is missing from him. He can feel incomplete. This sense of lack shows up in many terms associated with the 2, such as discord, doubt, and strife (Zwist, Zweifel, Zwietracht in German), but also in the principle of the devil, or Diabolus. We’d love to banish this dark side of the 2, and people would love to push the uncomfortable pole out of their lives. But it actually belongs, and it matters. Just as night belongs to day, just as every story needs a villain to stand against its hero, just as mistakes are necessary for learning.

Quotes connected to the symbolism of 2 include “Part of that force that always wills the evil and always produces the good” (Mephistopheles, in Goethe’s Faust), “Anyone who never makes a mistake isn’t doing much of anything else, either,” and “You’ve got problems? Good, that means you’re alive” (Napoleon Hill). “Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you” (Matthew 5:44). The other side can’t be gotten rid of: “The devils are gone, but evil remains” (Mephistopheles, in Goethe’s Faust). More on this in “Numbers in Fairy Tales, Myths, and Literature.”

Synonyms for the Number 2:

Beginning, start, part of everything, unity, perfection, oneness. Polarity, the other, distinction, opposite, pair, duality, dialectic, and in a more negative tone: mistake, flaw, imperfection.

Symbols include: the bull, the devil, and the letter B.

Question

Did you know that the core of nearly every myth, fairy tale, or movie is the hero’s confrontation with the other, the different? Sometimes it appears as Mephisto, sometimes as Darth Vader, sometimes as an evil queen. Every hero has to face what stands against them, the powers of darkness. How to do that best is what the meaning of number 3 tells us.

Quotes on the Meaning of Number 2:

„The first thing god caused to dwell in us was the capability to understand what we are shown. And of the things he shows us, what can we behold more beautiful than the day? Later, when we come to see the night, everything appears different. Since heaven never stops making these bodies ply their course night after night and day after day, it never stops teaching humans one and two, until even the slowest person learns well enough to count.“
(Platon)

„But I’m part of the Part which at the first was all.“ 
(Mephistopheles, in Goethe’s Faust, Part One)

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Related Topics:

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

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