Suzanne Treister 137 is the number potentially at the root of the universe which describes the atom's fine-structure constant, a number which determines how stars burn, how chemistry happens and whether atoms exist or not, and which within the alphanumerical system of Gematria corresponds to the word Kabbalah. The relationship of the fine-structure constant to light in physics parallels the Kabbalists' concept of connecting with light, or becoming enlightened by shedding the ego. For quantum physics pioneer Wolfgang Pauli (1900-1958) and psychoanalyst Carl Gustav Jung (1875-1961), who enjoyed a long association, mathematics held one of the keys to the door between their two worlds, the number 137 exposing extraordinary links between physics and mysticism. In the 1950s Pauli developed a friendship with Gershom Scholem, a prominent scholar of Jewish Mysticism. Two keys words in the Kabbalah are “wisdom” which has a numerical value of 73, and “prophesy” which has a numerical value of 64. 73+64=137. The Cosmic Number takes the form of an interactive image of a Kabbalistic tree of life where each sephirah leads further into the work. At its base the Blockchain sephirah opens into a large diagrammatic transcription of the books in Wolfgang Pauli's library which are currently housed inside 'Salle Pauli', in Building 501 at CERN, Geneva. Pauli's eclectic library contains books on Chinese and Indian philosophies, religion, mysticism, science, theoretical physics, telepathy, literature, the classics, iconology, love, Western philosophy, many volumes by Carl Jung, and also includes books written after Pauli's death concerning his scientific work and correspondence and relationship with Jung and the number 137. The particular format of this diagram parallels visualisations of the Blockchain's structure, as a distributed ledger system securing data in multiple locations at the same time, a condition attained for books since the invention of the printing press in the 15th Century. The Pauli Library CERN sephirah leads to a moving image transcription of the contents of Pauli's library composed of over thirty sequential images of each individual bookshelf, photographed at CERN, overlaid with filmed footage of the diagrammatic transcription of the library, alternating from transparency to opacity, by turns revealing and obscuring the images of the books on the shelves. The Wolfgang Pauli and Carl Jung sephirot lead to images of Pauli and Jung, animated from watercolour portraits through multiple echoing and paralleling digital processes, to create pulsating hypnotic artificial presences. The Kabbalah sephirah leads to a text work in which the word Kabbalah is painted in Hebrew with gematria calculations showing the resulting cosmic number 137, across which an illumination travels. The 137 sephirah leads to a commentary on the cosmic number, below which a duplicate 137 sephirah leads to the door of Salle Pauli on the first floor of Building 501 at CERN. This door opens onto the video of the library. To the right of the Salle Pauli door is a second door, numbered 137, which returns you to the commentary. The Pauli Effect sephirah opens onto an explanatory text: The Pauli effect is the alleged tendency of technical equipment to encounter critical failure in the presence of certain people. The term was coined as a result of numerous accounts describing instances in which demonstrations involving equipment suffered technical problems only in the presence of Wolfgang Pauli. In their correspondence Pauli and Jung agreed that the effect was an example of the concept of synchronicity. The Cosmic Number incorporates the idea of consciousness enhancing synchronous acausal connections or parallelisms, where the Pauli effect creates a fissure, revealing pathways to potential ethically and spiritually focussed technological shifts and developments, as the ghost of Wolfgang Pauli's library and the cosmic number 137 enter the nascent system of the Blockchain. Finally, as The Cosmic Number travels across the blockchain to the K21 vault, it passes through the 137 portal. |