NMR ISSUE 22

Astrological Forecast 22
Butterfly
Choosing a Medicine Name
Editorial
Finding a Magickal Teacher
Holidays
Humanity: The Next Step
Letters 22
Panda
Protection from the Intoxicated
Psalm to the Goddess
The Oldest Magick
The Witch of Wookey
Understanding Your Dreams
Why Spiritual Groups Succeed or Fail
You've Seen Me

Articles
Authors
Rituals
Book Reviews
NMR Issues
NMR Covers

The Oldest Magick

Measuring and Music

Lew Paxton Price

Think how you might have been, had you lived in a past age without modern gadgets to distract you. You look at the world around you for hints about what it is, how it works, and how it was conceived and built. You look for patterns in the growth of plants, examine the properties of each number, study the geometry of shapes, look for patterns in the stars and in the weather, study human nature, listen everywhere for hints of the answers you seek, and attempt to devise ways to better measure everything around you.

You notice that each number is a consequence of those that went before it, that each has an extension" that is the sum of all the numbers from one to itself, that it has a reduction that is the sum of its digits, and that it matches the numbers in certain special mathematical series or things in the natural universe. And you begin to measure the universe around you with these things in mind.

This is how it happened, how our discovery of universal constants came about, how our systems of weights and measures evolved, and how we attempt to discover the means and ends of our Creator. Within our system of weights and measures (and other related things), even though it be only a shadow of what it once was, can be found the story of humankind. Little things, like the tradition of the 30-inch stride of two steps per second that our armies use, hold the key to our past. These are things that religious fanatics, warring dictators and time have failed to erase.

At least as long as five thousand years ago, someone noticed that a triangle the length of whose sides was in a ratio of 3, 4 and 5 would always have one angle of 90 degrees. In other words, this triangle had a square corner where the 3 side met the 4 side. The unit of measure made no difference. Inches, feet, yards, miles, or any other unit would do as long as all sides were measured in the same units. This was a very important discovery because it allowed craftsmen and masons to construct perfectly square corners. And for many hundreds of years, the 3, 4, 5 triangle was a guild secret, never to be revealed to the uninitiated. Later, someone discovered that a triangle with sides measuring 5, 12 and 13, also could be used to lay out a square corner, although this latter triangle was not nearly as convenient to use. Probably somewhat later, it was discovered that many triangles of this nature exist.

The concept of a square corner had much practical importance. However, it was realized that the universe was based upon our view of a three-dimensional space, and the concept of dimensions is also based upon the perfect right triangle. So the universe is based upon such triangles. Actually, the ancient peoples were known to have expressed a concept of a universe having six directions in place of three dimensions, which is more reason to understand their regard for the number 6. The high regard for 7 came partly as the result of their placing a center where the 6 directions meet, the center being 7 when counted with the six directions.

These right triangles were one of the considerations as to what numbers should be most sacred. Indeed, the learned among the ancient peoples regarded all numbers as sacred—as was the science behind them. People of those times were not stupid. They hadn't lived long enough to discover much of our modern gadgetry, but they had their own insights that were, perhaps, wiser than many of ours.

The first of these triangles has sides whose product is 12 (3x4=12), and sides and a hypotenuse whose product is 60 (3x4x5=60). All the triangles of this type have sides whose product is an even multiple of 12, and sides and a hypotenuse whose product is an even multiple of 60. Therefore, 12 and 60 were regarded as universal constants of vast importance.

The concept we call zero was sacred because it was the sum of all things, the symbol of the Eternal, the state of existence that preceded the creation of the universe. The number one was sacred because it represented the great Mother from whom all were created, the substance of space itself, the Ether. Three, four and five were all parts of the builder's right triangle. Six was the perfect number because 1+2+3=6 and 1x2x3=6 also. No other number has this quality. There were many other reasons to use certain numbers. All these reasons eventually led to a system of measurement.

The inch was a very early unit of measure approximately equal to the width of a human thumb. This was a very good fundamental unit because it was about the right size (fairly small without being microscopic) and corresponded to the digit that sets humans apart and gives them a great advantage over other animals. It is typical of most units to be easily approximated by a dimension of the human body. The inch could be halved to obtain a half-inch, halved again for a quarter-inch, again for an eighth-inch and so on. Using a halving or a doubling was in keeping with octave theory. The ancients knew that a musical pipe that was half as long as another pipe would play the same note but one octave higher. The width of a hand was often used as a measure of four inches (two doublings of an inch). A hand width with the thumb extended to the side was six inches (the perfect number and the product of two and three).

The foot was approximately equal to a human foot in length and was twelve inches long. Twelve is easily divisible by 1, 2 3, 4 and 6. It is the number of full moons in one year, the number of notes in the chromatic scale, the number of years it takes for a human to reach puberty, the number of years required for Jupiter to make a full revolution about the sun, the length of one side of a perfect right triangle (the 5, 12, 13 triangle), and the product of the first two sides of the 3, 4, 5 right triangle (3x4=12). An ideally dimensioned pipe that plays middle C on the old scale is about 12 inches in depth from the top to the plug, and had a diameter of one inch.

The cubit is 18 inches long, approximately equal to the length from the tip of the elbow to the tips of the extended fingers, half of one yard, 1.5 feet, and based upon the number 18. A pipe that is 18 inches long produces an F," the fourth note above the C" below, used with the fifth above to tune pianos and other instruments today, and used in the old four panpipe sets that eventually led to the pentatonic scale. However, the fact that 18 inches is half of 36 inches may be the most significant feature of the cubit.

The two right triangles (3, 4, 5 and 5, 12, 13) were analyzed at some early date to reveal what we call today the Pythagorean Theorem, which was rediscovered or simply revealed by a Greek teacher we know as Pythagoras (not his given name). This is the theorem that says A2+B2=C2, when A and B are the lengths of the short sides of a right triangle and C is its hypotenuse. The Egyptians used this theorem long before the time of Pythagoras to work square roots in a geometric type of mathematics. When they wanted to find the square root of 5, they simply made a square, bisected it, and drew a diagonal across one of the halves, thus:

This was called the Golden Section and was considered very sacred. Why? Because it allowed them to construct a perfect pentagram.

Each line of the pentagram is divided into three lengths. If the center length were two inches, each end length would be one plus the square root of five inches. If we call the center A" and the end lengths B," then (1+5)/2 = B/A = (A+B)/B = (A+2B)/A+B = 1.6180339, the value that the Greeks named after a character in their alphabet, phi" (f). The pentagram and its number, 5, were known as symbols of the life force (remember the movie Star Wars?) because the life series in mathematics, which was rediscovered by Fibbonacci, is represented by (1+5)/2, or phi. This is a remarkable series whose numbers appear in the head of a sunflower, the cross-sections of bones, the patterns of growth of limbs on trees, the construction of pine cones, the gravitational harmonies (orbital periods) of the planets, and the ratios between frequencies in our musical scale, to mention but a few places. The series, in its simplest form, is 0, 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, 34, 55, 89, 144 and so on. It is merely the adding of the two last numbers to obtain the next in line. When it is carried out to about the 21st number (if one includes zero), each succeeding number divided by the preceding number equals exactly the value of phi, (1+5)/2. Inverted, it becomes phi minus one. And squared, it becomes phi plus one. Interestingly, phi squared times 6/5 equals pi (the key to circular calculations). This is only the beginning.

The ancient peoples defined the pentagram as the symbol of the life force for good reason. It represented the life series as no other symbol could. And the smallest angle found in the pentagram is 36 degrees. A vertical line bisecting an upright pentagram divides the 36 angle into two angles of 18 each. Other angles found in the pentagram are 72 (twice 36) and 108 (thrice 36). This brings us back to the cubit of 18 inches, the yard of 36 inches, and the fathom of 72 inches—all of which tend to remind us of the properties of the pentagram and its sacred numbers.

Once more we digress to the simplest units of length for the circumscribed pentagram. [See NMR 4:2.]

Remember that the circle was the symbol for the Eternal with a diameter of 26 and a radius of 13. From the center down, the number of life is reaching toward the Eternal. But eight is needed to reach the Eternal. In old Hebrew and, possibly, in other of the similar languages of its day, 13 was the number of the noun love, and 8 was the number of the verb to love. The extension of 13 is 91 which is 7 times 13 and the approximate number of degrees in a quarter revolution about the sun and the length of one season. Thirteen is the number of weeks in one season. A panpipe tuned to middle C is about a fourth wavelength long or 13 inches. The number of notes in the musical scale is 13, including the octave note. The circle diameter is 26, which is the number of weeks in a half-year. An open ended flute tuned to middle C is equal in length to about half the wavelength of middle C. The wavelength of middle C is 52 inches (the number of weeks in one year) and its half wavelength is 26 inches. The extension of 8 is 36 (1+2+3+4+5+6+7+8 = 36) and we are back to the yard again. But before we go on, note that the extension of 36 is 666 which is three of the perfect number, 6, and reduces to 18 (the cubit).

It has been noted that 12 and 60 were the key numbers in right triangles whose sides can be expressed as whole numbers. Today, we still use 12 for many things and 60 is the key to our time measuring (60 minutes in one hour and 60 seconds in one minute) and our system of measuring arcs (60 minutes in one degree of arc and 60 seconds in one minute of arc), all of which came from Old Sumer. Sixty is also the division that is basic to the notes of the pentatonic scale. If the basic pipe wavelength in a pentatonic panpipe set were 60 units long, the others would measure 50, 45, 40, 36 and 30 units.

To go one step further and multiply by the next number in the series that is 6, the perfect number, we have 360 or the number of degrees in a circle (3x4x5x6 = 360). This is not an accident as 360 is easily divisible by 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 8, 9, 10, 12, 15, 18, 20, 24, 30, 36, 40, 45, 60, 72, 90, 120 and 180. This number is also usable as a basic unit for the diatonic musical scale (the number 180 (the number signifying half of one complete cycle) is actually the fundamental unit for the scale). And probably the greatest boon of all is that 360 is very close to the number of days in one year, making it possible for the old astrologers to perform their computations more easily.

When Daniel Gabriel Fahrenheit first devised the temperature scale we commonly use in this country, he chose his scale so that the temperature of water freezing was 32 and that of the human body 96. Most men of science or influence have had ties with groups that wish to keep close to the traditions of the past. In fact, these groups are pledged to keep the old wisdom alive even though the means by which this is done is not very obvious to most of the populace. So Fahrenheit's scale was modified to what we have today. The freezing point of water is still 32, the boiling point is 212, and the temperature of the human body is 98.6.

The range between freezing and boiling is 180 which is easily divisible by many numbers, and is like half a year or half a cycle (a full year or cycle is 360). One temperature cycle would be from freezing to boiling and back to freezing (360 total) just as one yearly cycle is from the winter solstice to the summer solstice and back again for a full revolution of 360. Water is the key to life on this planet. This is the water planet and without it we could not ever have come into being. So the number 32 is one that will reduce to five, the number of life. The boiling point of water, 212 also reduces to five for the same reason. The human body temperature then becomes 98.6, so that the span from freezing to the human body temperature is 66.6, which hints very strongly at the number 666 which is the extension of 36, the pentagram angle, and the double extension of eight, the number of the verb to love and the number of Sabbats in a Pagan year (Sabbats are times of showing love to your Creator in Its many guises). This means something to those who know a few things about the real meaning of 666. For those led deliberately into ignorance by a book-burning church, it means something entirely different.

According to Peter Tompkins (see pages 206 & 207 of Secrets of the Great Pyramid) the old geographic foot can be traced back to ancient Mesopotamia in 3500 BC. This means Old Sumer and the foot may be much older. This particular foot is 1.0101 times the foot we use today—almost the same, as tradition is sometimes stronger than the ravages of time. This particular foot was originally computed by astrological observation (or by astronomical observation—astronomy is one of the descendants of astrology) so that 100 feet equaled one second of arc on the earth's surface, which gave the earth a circumference of 129,600,000 feet. The number 1296, which is the meaty (non zero) portion of 129,600,000, is 36 squared (36 times itself equals 1296) and reduces to first 99 and then 9. Remember that 36 hints at the pentagram is also equal to the perfect number, 6, times itself.

In ancient systems of measurement, the stadium was 600 feet, 400 cubits, or 100 fathoms in length (the names of the units could vary with the language and culture). One second of arc equalled 100 feet, one minute of arc-equaled 6,000 feet or 10 stadia, and one degree equaled 360,000 feet or 600 stadia. We keep seeing repeats of 6 and 36. And, of course, 360 degrees, the full circumference of the earth would be 360x360,000, 362x105, or 64x105.

Today, the foot is in error, but one nautical mile (still used for navigational purposes) is 6,080 feet. We use a polar great circle for navigation to arrive at this value for a mile. The older cultures probably used degrees of latitude for their particular location, which would cause a variation in the value for the foot, because of the polar flattening of the earth. As the Middle East cultures were not far from one another, the variation would have been slight.

The Egyptians preferred the stadium being equal to 400 cubits as they used the cubit more than the foot, and timewise it was more convenient. There were 240,000 cubits in one minute of arc and this went well with the 24 hour day. The older cultures also appreciated that one degree of arc on the earth's surface equated to four minutes of time as the earth rotated. In other words, the earth rotates one degree in every four minutes of time. So time can be a function of distance and distance a function of time. This is essential for a good system of weights and measures.

According to Livio Catullo Stecchini (see Notes on the Relation of Ancient Measures to the Great Pyramid), all serious scholars of ancient systems of weights and measures know that the systems were begun with units of length. Units of volume were units of length cubed, and units of weight were obtained by filling units of volume with rainwater at ordinary temperatures (which is essentially the same as the distilled water at 4? Centigrade adopted by the French metric system). The older cultures were very concerned with maintaining the precise accuracy of weights and measures because the lengths were used in measuring geographic distances and the weights were used to measure amounts of gold and silver.

Egypt passed through many periods. Early in its history, the ruler was considered a public servant and the priests were another sort of public servant. At times, the ruler was also the chief priest. As greed set in, the priests were paid with tithes demanded of the people. The tithes took the form of grain for the majority of people who had their own farmland. During droughts, when the grain was not produced, the priests sold it for whatever the people could pay. For many of the people, payment was in the form of land—not money or goats or chickens. As time passed, the priests controlled the land and the people became tenant farmers—little more than slaves. The unit called the artaba was the ration of wheat that each adult free male was allowed for one month (women, slaves and children received less).

The artaba was a unit of measure derived by cubing the foot (a cube that measures one foot in height, width and depth). This was a fundamental unit of volume. The artaba was divided into 64 smaller cubes by dividing each of its linear measurements by four. The resulting unit was the Egyptian pint (the pint we use is slightly greater as there would have been only 61.67 of them in an artaba rather than 64). There were two other units in use that were multiples of the artaba. One was the 3 artaba (literally 3 artabas) and the other was the 5 artaba (literally 5 artabas). There was also the qedet, a unit of weight derived by dividing the artaba by fifty. It was used to weigh gold and silver.

As more time passed and civilizations waxed and waned, many strange variations of the basic units occurred. One interesting example occurred in Egypt (where we have better records, so it offers more examples), having to do with their system of navigation. They were using a stadium that was 351.6 cubits in length. This made a degree of longitude at 9 north latitude equal to 210,960 cubits, which rounded to 211,000 cubits (degrees of latitude change because of the polar flattening of the earth). Their complete system is too complicated to fully examine here; however, we should look at one very pertinent portion of it.

Using their system, the number of cubits in one degree of latitude at the equator (0) is a starting point. At 1 north of the equator, the number of cubits per degree increases by one, at 2 the number of cubits per degree increases by two more, at 3 by three more, and so forth until we get to 8. This is a system of extensions of numbers, so that at 8 north, the value added to the starting value is 36 cubits, the extension of 8. This basic system is continued to degree 36 where the value added is 666, the extension of 36. Past 8, there are other corrections to make, but the basic system is the one of extensions which we have seen earlier.

Now let us examine a part of our lives that we take so much for granted that we are seldom aware that it is not very sensible or reasonable in light of what we know today. Frankly, it wouldn't have passed as very sensible in most of the really old cultures either. In fact, in many ways, it seems to be the work of an idiot rather than a committee of relatively ignorant individuals separated by time. Try viewing our calendar from the perspective of a visitor from another planet. The following information is the result of researching such source material as is still available after the burning of the ancient library of Alexandria, the killing of all wise men and women of other religions, and similar acts by religious fanatics. The research, to some extent, I combine with my own best guesses because so much information was destroyed.

In ancient Sumer the year began with the winter solstice, which is logical, as this is still the time of rebirth of the sun according to the societies that have kept the secrets alive. When the Aryans migrated southward a second time with their flutes tuned to the natural major scale, they brought an influence that gave the year a second starting time at the vernal equinox. At this time the tradition of twelve months known as signs" was still in effect and astrological calculations determined when the signs changed as twelve does not fit evenly into 365.2422 days (the actual length of the year). Later, as warlike people moved into the area, the old astrological system went underground and only the priest astrologer/scientists kept it alive.

Sometime during this early period, Sumerian scientist missionaries arrived in Egypt and influenced her to become one of the most scientifically advanced of the older nations. The one who headed these missionaries was the source of the myth of the God Thoth.

Egypt then developed a calendar with a beginning based upon the summer solstice coinciding with the Nile flood and the rising of the bright star Sirius. Each month was 30 days long followed by an intercalary period of five days to make a year of twelve months plus five days. However, the extra .2422 day caused the popular calendar date to shift each year so that over the 3,000 year period of Egypt's history, there were beginnings throughout the solar year. From the time that the year first began on the date of the summer solstice until it once again would begin on that date, a period of 1,456 years passed. This period is called the Sothic cycle after the god Soth which is the Egyptian name for Sirius.

In Babylon, the old calendar of Sumer took a different turn. It was based upon a 19 year cycle. The first year began with the first moon after the vernal equinox and was either a year of 12 or of 13 months. Twelve of the years in the 19 year cycle had twelve 30-day months. The other 7 years had thirteen 29-day months. At the end of each 19-year period, the calendar was only 2 hours off. This system worked so well that others of the old nations adopted it.

When the Romans became attracted to the secrets of Egypt, the calendar was one of the legacies they adopted, compliments of Julius Caesar, 46 BC. This was known as the Julian calendar and worked well for a time because the Romans changed it to account for the extra fraction of .2422 or about a quarter of a day each year. It was treated as if it was a quarter of day precisely and a leap year was invented so that every fourth year had an extra day in it.

This cured the larger problem calendar creep but left the smaller part of the problem. The fraction of .2422 is not the same as .25, so every hundred years, the total gain of the calendar over the actual solar year came to one day. This was better than losing a day every four years, but still not good enough.

So Pope Gregory XIII, in 1582, eliminated 10 days from the old calendar to bring it back where he wanted it and he ordered that every 100 years the extra day in one leap year would be eliminated. If you were born on February 29th, then you didn't have many birthdays to be concerned about. We have this system to this day, guaranteeing that our calendar will be forever a ridiculous monstrosity.

Granted, the system we use today is better than some; but it is still, very likely, the result of a church attempt to deprive us of a sensible system. Had the Pope eliminated enough days to bring the year's beginning back to a solstice (preferably the winter solstice), and to have increased the days in February at the expense of two 31 day months, we might have had a good popular calendar. Ideally, one similar to what follows would be best.

This provides a total of 365 days divided into roughly equal seasons. Leap year could provide an extra day to June and once every 100 years a June 31st could be eliminated. However, the Christian Church has been very fearful of competition and the power of the human mind; and the Popes have done everything possible to prevent the masses from becoming too well educated lest they adopt Pagan (other than Christian) ways. When the Popes have not been involved, politicians, kings, dictators, paid clergy of other religions, or similar greedy and shortsighted people have been instrumental in keeping the population ignorant.

An accurate calendar might lead to the people calling the months by the names of the signs again, as the signs would again coincide with the months. The populace might become aware that the winter solstice corresponds to the birthday of the sun rather than the son (except as it applies to the old Tree of Life glyph). This might make them suspect that their savior was not here to be their scapegoat so much as their teacher. It might even lead them to an understanding of the nature of myths. The solstices, equinoxes and the seasonal midpoints (major Pagan Sabbats) could again become common knowledge and the old ways of celebrating the eight Sabbats as part of the eight spoked Wheel of the Year might again become a custom. The old system of attributing the proper colors and notes of the musical scale to the signs or months might be realized again. And, worst of all, the significance of the musical scale and the zodiac might be known. Then someone other than the churches might use the consciousness-altering secrets of music in their ceremonies.

The way we measure time began so long ago that no one really knows who started it. However, it has been traced back as far as Old Sumer and was based upon a day being equal to 24 hours, an hour being equal to 60 minutes, and a minute equal to 60 seconds. And, of course, it was established by measuring exactly how long it took the earth to rotate relative to the sun. Very likely, it was corrected by watching rotation relative to a fixed star because the day relative to the sun will vary over the course of a year.

The purposes of a system of weights and measures, as I see it, is:
1) To provide a standard for communication and business. Blueprints will then have meaning and can be plans that allow one to accurately create what is shown on them. Proper payment can be made for a known amount of a commodity that must be measured as a length, a volume, or by weight.
2) To provide a means of measurement that lends itself to mental calculation (not necessarily to pictures on a cash register or to electronic calculators). This means that key numbers should be easily divisible by many whole numbers into units that are also whole numbers (ask astronomers how anxious they are to go to a circular measure that is 100 or 1000 degrees to a circle rather than 360).
3) To provide a means of measurement that lends itself to human memory by using numbers that are a part of, or are connected to, our natural universal constants.
4) To provide a means of keeping universal constants alive even in the face of book-burning and religious or scientific ignorance and bigotry.
5) To provide a means of measurement that interrelates length, volume, weight, time, temperature and music. Of course, things like electrical, mechanical and thermodynamic measurement would fall into place as well, but would be used mostly by specialists.

The metric system lends itself well to computers and calculators (although the binary system is truly the best for this purpose) as it uses only the number 10 for nearly everything. However, for human use, I would recommend the calendar that I proposed, the same old system of measuring time and circles that has existed for thousands of years, the same temperature scale that is in use today (Fahrenheit scale), and the following system in regard to other measures:

The foot would be the fundamental unit of length—not exactly the foot we use now. We would update it so that it is long enough to have exactly 6,000 of them in one nautical mile. This would make it about an eighth of an inch longer than the one we use now, Statute miles would eventually fall into disuse, I hope. The new inch would be one-twelfth of the new foot. The new yard would be three of the new feet.

The cubic foot or artaba" would be the basic unit of volumetric measure. By dividing each side of the artaba by four, we would have 64 little cubes that would measure 3 inches on a side. One of these little cubes would be our pint. Two pints would be one quart, eight pints would be our gallon, two gallons would be our peck, and this would make our artaba about the same as what our bushel is today. There would be four pecks to the artaba, eight gallons, 32 quarts, and 64 pints.

The basic unit of weight would be the pound. One pint of rainwater at normal temperature (about the same as distilled water at 4? Centigrade) would be defined as weighing one pound. A quart of such water would weigh 2 pounds, a gallon 8 pounds, a peck 16 and an artaba 64. Fractional measure of the pound should stay in units easily divisible by two. An ounce might remain at 16 to the pound, a new unit we could call a fracton might be a sixteenth of an ounce, and a grain might be a thirty-second of a fracton. This would make 8,192 grains to the pound. The existing common grain us 7,000 to the existing pound, so the size would not be too disproportionately different.

The musical standard would be the tempered scale with a starting point at middle C. Middle C would be defined as having a frequency of 256 Hertz (cycles per second) and would have a wavelength of 52 inches. This, in turn would give a standard musical temperature of 67 Fahrenheit that is probably not far off the one used in Old Sumer, whether by intent or by accident. 67-32=45 and 45=5x9, so 67 is a good temperature numberwise.

It is almost magical the way that numbers fit with units of measure. Are these astounding coincidences? Hopefully, you now understand that a lot of thought throughout the ages went into the better systems of weight and measurement. The people who devised such systems worked with them until the minor adjustments were all made to make them magically" fit together. Humans are definitely an ordering force in the universe. It comes from the way they want to make things simple for themselves. It is too much work to remember things that are not connected to other things in a logical fashion.

There are other forces at work that seem good at first, but can result in humanity becoming more like the ant. There was once a time when writing was unknown and the memory was the key to the passing on of old legends and myths. People understood the myths better then and their minds were more facile in this regard. There was a time not long ago when kids just out of school could count out change and even calculate how much to give you back. In fact, they could even total up your bill without the picture-button cash register. Someday, it is very likely that mental math will be a lost art and myth will be forgotten. Instead, we will have science in a very sterile and unrelated sense, and math from a computer that knows only the decimal system and metrics. We need to work to see to it that not all of us succumb to this ant-like New World.

Our goal should not be short-term easy living, but living that allows us mental growth as a species and preservation of knowledge for the generations of the future. If we replace the old numbers with one number (such as ten in the metric system), we will be perpetuating and increasing a form of ignorance that has been pushed since the beginning of time, backed by a book-burning church and abetted by tyrannical governments who want to keep the people ignorant and docile.

If we can regain some of the old knowledge, the experience of children in school can be so enjoyable and the subjects so well related to reality that humans may even reverse their adverse effects on the planet and make it a better place on which to live. Remember that older things that have survived and evolved for thousands of years just might have more to them than first meets the eye. They are usually based upon numbers that are naturally recurring and already a fundamental part of this universe. Indeed, if we do not keep them, their significance may be forgotten and we will be the poorer for it.

We are not computers even though a part of us functions, in some ways, as a computer. We are much more than cold machines which are not even bright enough to be properly called stupid. We have the potential for wisdom as opposed to simple intelligence. Let us keep this potential for wisdom and nourish it to become the force needed to truly regain our freedom. Let us wake up from this nightmare in which our ignorance is so great that we do not realize that we are ignorant. And let us become free once more from tyranny.

1992 by Lew Paxton Price