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Chapter 4: Mastering Time

Choosing a Metric

If the four primordial elements determine Creation’s repetitive cycle of seasons: birth, growth, aging, and death; and, if the four fixed constellations of the Zodiac serve as seasonal markers in the sky; then, how would mankind measure the passage of time between each annual cycle, and between each of the four seasons within each annual cycle? Early science further explored the cyclical paths of the various heavenly bodies in search of a way to add more granularity to this annual and seasonal metric.

Telling time might appear to be as fundamental to prehistoric civilization as the discovery of fire. A clock enables us to measure our progress through life. But, imposing the metric of time on our lives might also be seen as a psychological constraint that demands an answer to “when” we did something or intend to do something. It brings more relevance to both the past and future. What about the spiritual ideas of eternity and immortality? If a clock simply counts to 12, where does eternity and divinity fit in? Evidence will be presented suggesting that the Aryan fathers believed it was possible to transcend the constraints of time and materiality through their meditation practice. Indeed, the central point of the entire religious exercise throughout history has been Moksha: meditation that results in the purification of the body and the liberation of one’s immortal soul from the body’s finite constraints of time and space.

The Aryan fathers attempted to understand their experience of Moksha as a real phenomenon that occurred within the fabric of cosmos. The apparent motion of the sun, moon, planets, and stars, all occur at different rates of speed, carving out different blocks of time from an observer’s perspective. To track these cycles, priestly astronomers measured the changing angles created between the horizon and various orbiting objects (see Appendix D: A Primer on Astronomy). The sun’s cycle differentiated days and nights; the moon’s cycle delineated months, the solstice and equinox determined the seasons, while the stars came full circle every year. Early astronomers who first tracked these heavenly cycles needed to standardize on an effective metric to quantify them.

Any sort of measurement requires a numerical system and the ability to count within that system. Counting can be defined as the process of enumerating how many objects there are within a given finite set of objects. There is archeological evidence to suggest that counting began as far back as 50,000 years ago.”103 It is logical to suggest that counting may have begun as

a result of the one-to-one relationship between a material object and each of our fingers. Perhaps our decimal system (Base-10) began by counting small flocks of sheep on our fingers and toes. A decimal system can be defined by 9 unique digits plus zero.104 Any linear measurement of space’s three dimensions would require us to count a ruler’s numbered increments. Logarithmic measurement also helps us count. Within Base-10, once we finish counting 9 objects, the very next object would require a change by an order of magnitude. We would indicate a high order 1 and add zero as place holder. Each change in order of magnitude would create a 1:10 ratio with its predecessor, that is, between the 1’s column and the 10’s column, between the 10’s column and the 100’s column, between the 100’s column and the 1000’s column, etc. Generally speaking, when we speak about a ratio we are comparing two things or ideas (known in ancient Greek thought as analogy). This can be expressed by the formula a:b, for example, 1:10 or 1:60. This last ratio describes the orders of magnitude within sexagesimal place holder notation, analogous to the ratios in a decimal system:

What is most important here is that we understand the difference between linear and logarithmic numbers. We can see this difference clearly if we compare an arithmetic progression of like quantities 2,4,6,8,10,12, to a geometric progression of like ratios 2:4:8:16:32:64. With this information we will be better equipped to choose the most appropriate numerical system for whatever we hope to measure. For example, a computer might be simplistically thought of as a bunch of connected electrical switches, and each of these switches can either be “off” or “on.” If a numerical system only has two states, 0 and 1, we call it a binary system (Base-2). If we need to count a small herd of sheep, the decimal system is perfectly suited, since we can make good use of our fingers and toes. But, what if we have to count a lot more than small herds of sheep? In ancient Sumer and Babylon, they decided on a sexagesimal system (Base-60), implying the use of 59 unique digits plus zero. As we can see in Figure 18, Sumer and Babylon counted unique digits from 1 to 12, but then used a modified decimal system as a kind of shorthand for expressing larger numbers.

Just as Base-2 is tailor-made for describing a two-state switch within computer systems, Base-60 is arguably the best numerical system for modeling nature. The number 60 creates a very flexible system, primarily because there are twelve factors of 60, including: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 10, 12, 15, 20, 30, and 60.

 • Lunar tides, which alternate about every 6 hours.

 • Days and nights, which take roughly 12 hours each.

 • Lunar months, with a lunar cycle completing in roughly 30 days.105

 • 12 lunar months of 30 days each approximate a 360 day solar year.106

Figure 18 - Decimal and Sexagesimal Counting