The Number 5040

Let us then take a brief, introductory look at the number 5040 and some ways that numbers serve to illustrate and embody the dynamics of the creative forces of the universe. Of the number 5040's many aspects, one of the most important is that it serves as an archetypal representation of the sacred number nine (5 + 0 + 4 + 0 = 9). The number nine is significant in many cosmological studies. In the I Ching, an ancient Chinese philosophy, a system of eight hexagrams centered around a yin/yang symbol is representative of nine. Balinese Hindu/Buddhist thought is principally based on eight directions at the center of wich the Shiva/Buddha serves as a ninth component.

In Judaic thought, the Tree of Life, or Kabbalah, is composed of nine sefirot (emanations from which reality is structured), and an outer, or form, world forming a tenth sefirot. In this instance it is the ten that is of significance, and frequently in cosmology, the number nine may be followed by the number ten, a universal symbol of completion or union. In considering the number ten, the one may be seen as a straight line, symbolic of the world pole, or axis, while the zero represents the world order that balances on top of the pole while spinning about its axis. Similarly, the number ten may be analogous to the relationship of the spine to the brain (the one symbolizing the spinal column and the zero symbolizing the brain), which is of significance to Tantric, or Kundalini yoga. One can use a similar analogy to apply the number ten to the world and its surrounding space. The numbers one and zero have also been used to represent male and female genitalia - the number one, or straight line, representing the male organ (lingam in Sanskrit) and the zero, or circle, representing the female organ (yoni in Sanskrit). Here, at the site of union of male and female, it is interesting to look back to the number nine, where the number may in this instance signify the time it takes for a human being to emerge from the mother's womb, the emergence resulting from the union of the lingam and yoni, more specifically, the sperm and egg.

Thus, in following the threads of numerology, particularly of the number 5040, I have found it weaving throughout the world's cultures, the structure of the human body, and the worldly dimensions. I discovered that in each significant cosmological teaching, whether it be Shivite, Hindu, Buddhist, Greek, Judaic, or Christian, the code 5040 was an intricate aspect of the symbology expressed.

One of the most arresting features of the number 5040 is the ways in which it has been used to reflect the dimensions of the earth and moon. There is a bit of truth to this reflection in that the mean radius of the earth is 3,960 miles and the moon's being 1,080 miles. Totaled these radii equal 5,040 miles. Hence, we have the symbology of the Buddha touching the earth immediately after his enlightenment. By this act, in which he demonstrated that the earth was the support upon which his enlightenment was founded, the Buddha signified the very base of his existence as holy. This symbol of Earthly support can be found in Tibetan Buddhist iconography - where the Lotus symbolized the Earth or foundation of meditation mandalas. This same symbology is presented in Hinduism, where Shiva, the primary God, is represented as the divine protector of the earth; his wife is symbolized as a mountain. Likewise in Judaism, Moses leads his people to the promised land of milk (the moon) and honey (the earth). Both Moses and Shiva, thus, were depicted as attempting to reestablish humanity as intimately connected to nature. The heavens and the earth were perceived in divine union, ultimately the natural Godhead, reflecting both male and female characteristics. In the ancient Greek alphabet, this was expressed by the character f or phi, which symbolized the Golden Proportion, or Golden Mean, which is a proportionate increase from zero to infinity. (The decimal representation of phi is 1.61803.) Phi can be expressed in a series of numbers known as the Fibonacci Series, or 0, 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, 34, 55, 89, 144, and so on to infinity. An example of how nature replicates growth via the Golden Proportion can be found in the nautilus shell. Each of the shell's spirals grows proportionately larger by phi. A sunflower, for example, has 55 clockwise spirals overlain by either 34 or 89 counterclockwise spirals, which are all in phi perspective.

 

New Jerusalem as Basic Formation

The gnosis was conceptualized within the framework of knowing oneself and was embodied in the 5040 codex. The use of the 5040 codex and its related numbers in conjunction with sacred geometry demonstrates the heart of Gnostic truth revered by the Cathars, Knights Templars, and the Rosicrucians. We will explore this divine pattern together. The 5040 codex has far-reaching implications in our daily lives. It represents a cosmology from which one can begin to perceive what it means to "make the inner and outer the same," as the Gospel of St. Thomas 1 advises.

"Jesus said, "If those who lead you say to you, 'See, the kingdom is in the sky,' then the birds of the sky will precede you. If they say to you, 'It is in the sea,' then the fish will precede you. Rather, the kingdom is inside of you and it is outside of you. When you come to know yourselves, then you will become known, and you will realize that it is you who are the sons of the living father. But if you will not know yourselves, you dwell in poverty and it is you who are poverty."

It is a pattern which is replicated both in the outer world of solid-appearing objects and the inner world of subtle appearances. To the many cultures which symbolized the 5040 codex in art and religious icons, it represented the pattern of the divine. In Dimensions of Paradise John Michell shows various ways in which codices were applied in earlier civilizations. Here is Michell speaking of the idea of the divine pattern or logos demonstrated in figures 1 to 4.

1...three versions of the New Jerusalem diagram which have so far been investigated are shown together for comparison, and with them is a fourth. This additional diagram is the astronomical version of the New Jerusalem, representing the 'sublunary world' or the earth and it's surrounding atmosphere beneath the influence of the moon." "It is a remarkable fact of nature that the earth and the moon, placed tangent to each other and measured in miles, demonstrate the squared circle in terms of the very same numbers that make up the New Jerusalem diagram." ~ John Michell, Dimensions of Paradse.

Figure 4, the mandala of the Earth and Moon, provides us with an opportunity to see how mandalic embodiment works. Observe the outer square, which has a perimeter of 31,680 miles. Then notice the outer circle, which also measures 31,680 miles. The inner circle represents the earth, and has a diameter of 7,920 miles. The smaller circle higlighted in grey represents the moon and has a diameter of 2,160 miles. Thus each geometrical form within the mandalic pattern is representative of a particular number. Therefore, each geometrical figure embodies a numerical value. Later, when we examine the entire 5040 New Jerusalem mandala, I will show how this embodiment may also be reflective of spiritual values and the creative forces of the universe. Figure 6, demonstrates how a hexagram drawn with the circumference of the earth provides a symbolic reference to the distance between the earth and the moon.

"The earth's mean diameter is 7,920 miles and the diameter of the moon is 2,160 miles. The combined radii of the two bodies are equal to 3,960 + 1,080 = 5,040 miles, and a circle with radius 5040 has a circumference of 31, 680 miles. That length, 31,680 or 4 x 7920 miles, is equal to the perimeter of the square containing the circle of the earth. It is also the measure of the squared circle in the New Jerusalem." ~ John Michell, Dimensions of Paradse.

"The earth and moon are here in contact with each other, but their actual mean distance apart, about 237,600 miles, is not neglected in the diagram, for if a hexagon is inscribed within the circle of the earth the measure round its six sides is 23,760 miles."

"It would be easy to conclude that the New Jerusalem diagram was modelled on this figure of the earth and moon in some remote age when the dimensions of the solar system were reckoned more accurately than was possible in early historic times. Yet the traditional code of number set out in New Jerusalem expresses the organization of so many different categories of natural phenomena, including the inherent framework of number itself, that one must be wary in ascribing origins. As one pursues these studies, the world of appearances fades away, its diverse manifestations dissolve into shadows and behind them the mind's eye discerns the reality which sustains their illusions. It is a reality formed by the interplay of creative forces which can most adequately be likened to a pattern of numbers. The squared circle of the earth and moon is therefore best described, not as the primary expression for the New Jerusalem diagram, but as its astronomical expression."

What intrigued me the most about Michell's writings was the way in which he was able to show the number of levels at which New Jerusalem, as a pattern, had manifested throughout history. According to Michell, New Jerusalem appears as a resident, or memory pattern that can be found in the heavens with its various astronomical alignments. This pattern can also be found in the human body, in Buddhist psychology, in Sanskrit language, in Hindu yantras, and in the western occult tradition of Tarot. In applying the pattern to human beings, I have found a direct correlation to the Hindu concept of Kundalini energies. Effectively the resident order is both within and without each one of us. I feel that the mandalic patterns discovered throughout my visionary journey extend the depth of the sacred code contained within the number 5040 and its resulting New Jerusalem pattern. I learned that the number seven, too, plays a role in the 5040 code (1 x 2 x 3 x 4 x 5 x 6 x 7 = 5040; or 7 x 8 x 9 x 10 = 5040). The number seven is one of the most important numbers in cosmology -seven chakras, seven days of the week, seven planets in our solar system, etc. In addition to providing deeper insight into the ancient codices, mandalas are a looking glass through which the imagery enshrouding the Book of Revelation may at last be understood.

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