Number Two and the Dyad

During my study of number as form in nature I always slightly overlooked the number TWO and with it the understanding of the Dyad. It was the numbers THREE and SIX that always drew my fascination and after that I was drawn to the wonders of FIVE as an archetype in natural forms. 

Number Two

I was always aware that TWO was apparent in the cyclic events of the world; day and night; the hemispheres. And the balance that I saw there was reinforced with the multiples of two. Four seasons, Eight phases of the moon.

Yet it was only when I came to examine patterns and number in the celestial sky, and by extension a journey examining myself, that I actually came to fully comprehend the concept of the number TWO. The dynamic of balancing opposites and the attraction forces that come with them.

In the Greek number philosophy the number TWO or the ‘Dyad’ as they called it was seen as suspicious.  Suspicious because of its need to be separate from the Unity of being One.

The visual representation of TWO in nature is presented to us in the mirroring of bi laterals. The presence of dual halves like in shells or winged insects.

But the active concept of duality manifests throughout all affairs which involve a tension between two sides. And it is human interaction that presents us with many examples of this.

Understanding the Dyad and its inherent Unity

The essential paradox of the Dyad is the constant poles that attract and repel in equal measure. It has a rhythm from one to the other of polar opposites.

Every emotion and experience has its opposite. The language we use is an active reflection of the invisible tension that exists in the absence of the other .

To say ‘I won’ something means that the chance of a loss was also a possibility. Hell doesn’t exist without a notion of heaven. Life isn’t life without the inevitability of death.

These pairs of words are inseparable. One doesn’t have any meaning without the presence of the other.  The 2 are separate yet also make the whole.

The number Two and the Dyad with a Möbius strip

The Mobius strip is a cool analogy for this essential paradox of the number TWO.

One strip of paper (which has 2 sides) is joined into a loop but with a half twist which creates a loop with one side, draw a continuous line on a mobius strip and both sides of the paper will become one.

Or as the video shows, cut it down the centre and rather than two loops which you would expect you will end up with one. 

Both sides of the strip of paper together create the one Möbius strip. If we try to split it into two it remains as one.

Both sides try to split but are one in unity.

Every emotion by the very nature of it existing has an opposite, one wouldn’t exist without the other. They are bound together. Pushing away from one in an attempt to chase the other just seems to reinforce the divide between them.

Watch your language

Is it the use of the language that has us pinned into this dance of polarisation?

In my experience of life it just doesn’t seem to support this approach. We have deluded ourselves to believe that if one person is right, the other must be wrong. Is it really that basic?

Both are needed to make the whole. 

How does Two come from the One?

What makes the ONE create the other?

How does ONE become TWO? To multiply is only to get 1 again and forever. 1x1x1x1=1

So how does unity create the many?

In our current view of maths as quantitative numerals this seems like a ridiculous question, but for philosophers of number it is a serious point of discussion. Arithmetic was philosophy. To study number was to understand the secrets to life itself. And honestly, I’m beginning to understand why.

How does the Monad create other shapes and in doing so create other principles?

With reflection. By mirroring itself into an identical self.

Reflecting its own light to cast a shadow. In doing so creates a duplicate.

Scared Geometry of the Number Two and the Dyad

In sacred geometry the number TWO is represented by the arrival of the line. Before line there was only the point/the circle and All was One.

The centre point of the one becomes the reflection of itself and they are joined by the line. The line itself is a paradox, is it a dividing boundary or a joining link?

So the primary move away for the One brought problems for the Greeks and maybe we still haven’t resolved those problems.

The Dyad and Separation

Under the sway of the Dyad we see walls, boundaries, dividers. Polarised thinking encourages our sense of separateness and deflects our vision from the world’s – and our own – inherent unity

Micheal Schneider 1994

The idea of opposites has become more and more divisive in current world view. Emphasise how different we are and you weaken the whole. The challenge is to think of this divide in a non-polarised way.

Can we think of it as just being separate? As having come from the SAME source and therefore holding a possibility of returning to One.

The Number two and the Dyad in the Stars

It was studying the opposites in an astrological chart that I came to realise what I needed in myself. It shed light on my internals battles. Psychology calls it seeing the ‘shadow self’ and I got to know her well.

Accepting parts of myself that I don’t really want to see. The shadow self. In embracing the shadow it makes us whole.

To have ONE awareness viewed from TWO (or many) angles is a collective that can work together to move through things.

Easier said than done, I know.

Our language of metaphors for the two sides can go on as long as we like. But what if what we see around us is only the reflection of what we are in an opposite form?

The geometry has shown us that both come from one.

It is both polarities that make the whole. The challenge lies in our ability to accept the other as part of ourselves.   Can we remember the twist of the mobius strip and incorporate that into our thinking?

To see both energies in a twisted embrace; the ideal is always available to us when we embrace the inherent duality that is always there.