One

Sorry for the slow updates over the last few days. I’m having some significant computer issues. They should be sorted soon.

The first true number, one is generally considered to represent the spark of life and the male principle. Almost invariably represented by a single stroke in cultures world-wide, the written number has a strong visual association with the male phallus. Meaning a single item as it does, it strongly symbolises unity, solidarity and fellowship: “we stand as one”. It is also the number of uniqueness, individuality, isolation, separation and loneliness – “the one and only”. On its own, one is inherently sterile, unable to self-differentiate, develop meaningful self awareness, or to ever open into any significant dialogue.

Being self-contained, one is seen in several cultures as the number of divinity. Unable to procreate because of its isolation, for one to bring forth many must be an act of divine creation. Accordingly, the number, like zero, has associations of completion and perfection, but unlike zero it lacks the implied sterility and emptiness. One represents the infinity of eternal presence, rather than the infinity of the empty void, and has overtones of power that zero lacks. Mathematically, one is seen as something of an exception, the odd one out, because it is a special case for so many rules. In computing, it represents logical ‘True’, or the answer “Yes”.