Mathematical allusions

[Jules Siegel]

At 04:01 PM 05/30/97 -0400, "Dexter C. Palmer"
<dcpalmer at phoenix.Princeton.EDU> wrote about Gravity's Rainbow:

>With a book of this magnitude with so many subjects and so many mystical
and mathematical allusions, *any* number can be made to seem a significant
number.

This is very true and is the basis of most mystical numerological confabulation.

I think it's helpful to look at mathematical representations of feedback,
the way a rocket homes in on a target.

When you look at astrological signs as descriptions of states of energy this
becomes even more interesting:

Aries           Seeds--Springing forward--Fire

Taurus          Planting--Ploughing forward--Earth

Gemini          Leaves and Flowers--Opening outward--Air

Cancer          Nursing breasts--Condensing tides--Water

Leo             Fruits--Blazing summer--Fire

Virgo           Harvest--Cooling off--Earth

Libra           Weighing--Diffusion--Air

Scorpio         Storage--Privacy--Water

Sagittarius     Hunting--Arrow flight--Fire

Capricorn       Forage--Nimble--Earth

Aquarius        Lightning--Crackling--Air

Pisces          Rain--Falling--Water

Astrology is an agricultural almanac. Each sign represents a state of
energy. Fire, Earth, Air and Water are actually almost exactly equivalent to
Plasma, Solid, Gas, and Liquid. In the system above, you can see that a
growth cycle is being described, beginning with the enthusiastic spurt of
the germinating seed, which then turns to the plodding cow, then to the
opening of the buds of the leaves and so on.

Each state of energy is opposite to (or a correction of) the previous one,
but in a different direction. Now remove the astrological symbolism and
simply view the transformations of energy as the underlying state of the
cosmos. Whether you then translate this as Tarot or Astrology or I-Ching or
whatever, you are always dealing with the same process of self-correcting
feedback.

In other words, Gravity's Rainbow.