23 twins
What is it with the number 23? William Burroughs, Genesis P. Orridge, Aleister Crowley, Robert Anton Wilson and a host of other writers, musicians, magicians, and ordinary nut-jobs have been obsessed with it – linking it to synchronicity, coincidence, and all sorts of ‘mystical’ stuff.
For Hollywood, at least, 23 is merely the new 13. In the 2007 movie, The Number 23 Jim Carrey stars as a man who becomes increasingly obsessed by the number 23, believing it to control everything. Much as I love Carrey’s acting, this movie is a poor vehicle for him. Chief culprit is a ridiculous script that crams in as many “strange” facts about 23 as possible. Silliest moment is when someone ominously points out that 2 divided by 3 yields 0.666666666 (repeating) – the Number of the Beast! Hang on, I thought, wouldn’t that actually be 0.667 when rounded up to 3 decimal places? Not even the neighbour of the Beast, but that guy over the road.
Of course, Robert Anton Wilson is responsible for a lot of this nonsense, God rest his delightfully addled soul. Back in the days when I looked more like Freewheelin’ Franklin than Uncle Fester, we all read Robert Anton Wilson’s The Cosmic Trigger, which describes his descent into a self-induced state resembling paranoid schizophrenia. In this state, he encounters various ‘entities’ and generally embarks on a quest to discover the true secret of the Illuminati which, for some reason, involved the ‘Dog Star’ Sirius and the number 23. Stoners of a particular persuasion have been dining out on this stuff ever since.
Having gone through a similar experience at the age of (you guessed it) 23, I personally wouldn’t wish it on a dog (no, Siriously!) let alone write a book about it all. As I remember it, the final chapter of Wilson’s book rather lamely concludes that the whole series of events may or may not have happened within the author’s mind, and that perhaps the number 23 could eventually mean anything you wanted it to. Gee, Robert, you think?
But why board the ghost train in search of truth? Here’s a much simpler look at some of the ways in which the number 23 might be significant.
The book of numbers
“All things are numbers” Pythagoras
Numbers form the basis of cosmology in all the ancient civilizations. The Babylonian, Greek and Indian mathematician philosophers believed numbers held the secrets of the divine order of the universe. And the big hitters in the cosmic number scene are the first three: 1, 2, 3.
Most origin myths tell a similar story: in the beginning was the big One (1) which split into the world of duality (2) – dark/light, good/bad, etc. Then along came 3 which has various meanings, including synthesis, the divine, the saving grace, the unifier of opposites. 3 was seen as our ticket out of the eternal war of duality.
So, 2 and 3 – the first two prime numbers – pretty much sum it all up for us humans. Evens and odds. Matter and mystery. Duality and beyond.
Pre-Christian systems have often represented this unique combination of 2 and 3 by summing them into the number 5. The five-pointed star, or pentagram originated some 4000 years ago in Mesopotamia, possibly as a plot of the observed transit of Venus. By the time the Pythagoreans seized upon it, the pentagram represented health, harmony and the marriage of the terrestrial and the divine. Since then, almost all western occult and religious traditions have applied meanings to it: five elements, five senses, five wounds of Christ, etc. Sadly, today, it’s commonly (and incorrectly) associated with black magic, partly due to an effective smear campaign by the late medieval Church [1].
As beautiful and fascinating as the pentagram is, its meanings have become hopelessly confused over time. Moreover, its structure tends to obscure the independent characters of its component numbers 2 and 3. Which brings us to an alternative way of representing the great asymmetric union between the divine and the material within us humans.
The number 23.
23: the number of uncertainty
First, let’s have a look at how the church once tried to describe the mystery of all mysteries. By the 15th century a popular way of graphically explaining the mystery of the Holy Trinity was a diagram referred to now as The Shield of the Trinity. It often appeared in illuminated manuscripts or stained glass windows. Here’s some examples. There we have the three in one God neatly mapped out for us all to understand.
However, when I look at a design like this, I take from it an overriding message of a universe that has already been ‘sewn up’ – all bases in the divine plan have been covered and nothing can budge. No doubt this was comforting to the medieval mind but, to a modern mind, the effect is quite claustrophobic.
23, on the other hand, symbolises the exact opposite of all this stultifying certainty. It suggests an asynchronous universe full of of asymmetries and ambiguities, of uncertainty and undiscovered potential.
23: the wobble in the beat
It’s no accident that march music has such a monstrously unambiguous beat. You can’t help but notice that a lot of preachy rock also does. When you need to hammer home a certainty – be it political or religious – the sound of a hammer is just the thing. Don’t bother dancing to it
Polyrhythmic music, by contrast, has no such certainty. A lot of west-african polyrhythm involves 2 beats and 3 beats played over the same time span. The effect is delightfully disturbing. There’s a pulse, but so many ways to move to it.
23: the last chance
According to certain interpretations of the Mayan creation myths and the Mayan Long Count calendar, we are now living in the fifth ‘creation’, which will end on the double date of December 20, 2012. [2] That’s 20.12.2012 (European date convention) after which a new ‘creation’ will begin. Couple of of 23s there, right? Some interpretations even say it will be December 23! Jeez, how many 23s do we need? Now, I'm not much of a one for prophesies (anyone remember Nostradamus?) but I reckon I can guess what momentous event might happen on that date which will tip us all over into the 6th creation: Someone will alter one of those 23 chromosomes we all have. And then maybe another, and then another… Here's how it might play out.
But hey, you sure don’t need the Mayans to tell you the human species is at its 11th hour. Except, in a 24 hour day, that’s the 23rd hour! It’s the last hour, before the cycle of night and day begins again. The last chance to make the right decision. Because decision and chance are so intimately connected, aren’t they?
23: the human number
Forget aliens and illuminati and entities from other dimensions. 23 is our number, our symbol – we human beings. 23 represents why we feel so unique. It's a symbol of how, logically, we know we are machines, yet we feel like so much more. It’s a symbol of both our uncertainties and our potential. When we walk, we propel ourselves forward in a process of controlled falling. Our temporary lack of balance is what allows us to progress. We have evolved to where we are, not because of a heaven and earth in divine balance, but because of our lopsidedness, our incompleteness. There are 23 pairs of chromosomes in our human cells, but that isn’t really the point. The point is what we might potentially do with them.
23 and the missing twin
If there are 23 twins then it stands to reason one of them must be missing.
23 is not only a prime number, it is also described by mathematicians as a twinless prime. After 2, the prime numbers begin appearing grouped as pairs, two integers apart. 3,5; 5,7; 11,13; 17,19… and then you reach 23.
23 just sits there all by itself. No twin. 23 is the first twinless prime.
“Tragically I was an only twin” Peter Cook once quipped. He wasn’t of course, but I really was an only twin. I began my life with the loss, at birth, of my twin brother David (as he would have been called). A profound sense of absence has been with me ever since. If he’d lived, we’d have been a right couple of idiots.
This site is dedicated, with love, to the man who never was.
Notes
1. Type 'pentagram' into Google images and watch the procession of sad, pseudo-satanism appear. I wonder if those goths realise they're dancing to a tune penned hundreds of years ago by the Catholic Church.
2. For an absolutely beautiful site devoted to the Mayan Calendar and Mayan culture, visit the Mayan Calendar Portal.
