Figures and Numbers
In traditional societies, figures and numbers are not merely used to indicate quantities but also to develop connections or symbolic supports. They express ideas and forces and form ‘living beings’ endowed with powers or vital currents that, when spoken, set an invisible but real ‘flow’ into motion, influencing the surrounding reality to which the figure or number pertains. The cosmos is a collection of numbers, hence the importance of their interpretation, which presents itself as one of the oldest symbolic practices. Plato considered it the highest degree of knowledge and the essence of inner and cosmic harmony. According to Saint-Martin, figures and numbers are the visible envelopes of beings whose physical harmony and vital, spatial, and temporal forces they regulate, along with their interdependent relationships with the First Principle. They are principles as eternal as truth and originate from the divine Spirit. The philosopher Philolaos specified: "It is the essence of the number that teaches us to understand everything obscure and unknown. Only the truth matches the nature of the number and is born with it. Deciphering numbers allows us to penetrate to the core of the Knowledge of the visible and invisible worlds and reach the substance of the divine." This numerical power could not escape the Temple, which favoured certain fundamental numbers that it incorporated into many aspects of its spiritual and temporal existence. Modern authors, often unable to maintain reason, have multiplied the ‘Templar numbers’ at will, depending on their mood, while others took the opposite approach and spoke of simple and pure coincidence. The problem with the latter perspective, since coincidence does not exist for a traditional mindset—such as that of the Middle Ages—is that the few remarkable recurring numbers used by the Temple had to come from somewhere. These numbers could only ‘come’ from a ‘subtle reality,’ transcendent and originating from the Spirit, from the Supreme Principle, to ‘mark’ and ‘illuminate’ the essence of the Temple, giving it its own personality with its nature and mission. Within the Order, three key numbers can be found: 3, 9 (the square of 3), and 8.