© 2022 Éric Tarissan
© 2022 Urantia Association of Quebec
Eric Tarissan
Quebec
The numbers form a family of ten members.
Each one is unique, has its own value, meaning, weight, qualities, coordinates and identity.
If Zero is the first digit, then ONE would be the second or, a ‘second prime’!
What a terrible role to be the second fiddle, thinking you have always played the leading role!
Because even if it doesn’t look like much, it is true that Zero represents nothing but nothingness or, if you prefer, absolute emptiness. However, it remains that it makes possible, by its presence alone, the succession and elevation of numbers in increments of ten, from the infinitely large to the infinitely small and this, without any limit, to infinity.
But there you go!
How could this Zero who started from nothing, this first number without value and without shelter, this null patriarch of the family and absolute master of the void, eternal representative of nothingness and undisputed lord of that which does not exist, has never been and will never exist - have given birth to his next one, the one and only: One, the second?
But let’s move on from this incalculable mystery where they would have us believe that infinity can be born from nothing, and continue on our way!
ONE still represents the starting point, the beginning of everything and, at the same time, represents, signifies and identifies uniqueness. The fact of being a unique person.
Because it is thanks to it, by adding itself each time, that ONE will give birth to all the other numbers up to NINE, thus forming this beautiful family of ten!
Despite everything, ONE is very happy to have a value, because even if it represents the smallest of all the numbers in the family, there is no doubt that from the start this value is already infinitely greater than that of its predecessor Zero which, in and of itself, has none and contains none!
However, ONE will still have to concede to his predecessor that by holding out his hand to him, by placing him on his right, Zero passed away, immediately seeing all his insignificance, his unhappiness and his inner emptiness die. Giving ONE, his first neighbor, a value ten times greater than, otherwise, would have remained nothing; elevating him from then on and as if by miracle to this first rank of the numbers thus created!
ONE placing Zero amicably at his side, like a brother in arms, together formed a beautiful pair whose union, starting from nothing, created a new reality, that of endless numbers!
How else to explain that Zero, this good-for-nothing who, at the start, did not bode well, could, just like that, as if by magic, make each of them, each of these solitary, selfish and pretentious numbers a number ten times, a thousand times, a million times greater, in short, as many times as Zero wants to repeat himself. And believe me, to repeat himself, he can do it infinitely because, like all his Number brothers, none of these ten very special members escape this quality, this innate gift of being able to repeat themselves infinitely, endlessly, eternally and without any limit!
Thus Zero acquired his letters of nobility and became an invaluable partner for each of them. Becoming a legendary, respected and essential figure, well beyond the void he represented and which, in the hearts and minds of each, fell into oblivion.
Truly, Zero’s heavy, painful and tragic situation came to nothing when all the members of his family understood that without him, none of them could ever grow or rise higher than their first and true intrinsic, constitutive and individual value.
This good news reverberated throughout the universe of numbers, who jumped for joy at the news that they could now all become infinitely more than anything they had ever imagined before, simply by putting Zero forward. I mean, by putting Zero at the right hand of the father they were all becoming by adopting him, rather than abandoning him behind them, lurking in the shadows as they sank into the infinite abyss of the blurry void of black!
Since at that time, no one thought of anything… I mean, Zero! All too focused on themselves to discern the power they had together and the infinity they formed.
So they had nothing more to lose, quite the contrary!
By becoming partners with their brother Zero, they had everything to gain because thanks to him (the darling child who said nothing and who everyone thought would never do anything, simply because he was worthless) - everything became possible. Everyone knew from that moment, and without taking anything away from anyone, that thanks to their precious ally Zero, they could now all become as big, tall and fat as they wanted, and that eternal infinity or, if you prefer, eternal infinity, far from being a utopian chimera or a fantastic legend, became accessible and very real!
Yes! Together, these ten numbers, all unique and singular, became infinity! Thus accessing an incalculable happiness and unlimited bliss that otherwise, isolated and divided, they would never have been able to access, live and know!
It was on this distant and unforgettable day, all together, that they gave birth to science, the fruit of their unexpected collaboration, revealing from their foundations, a perfect and symmetrical structure which, since then, has never ceased to discover the truth and the intelligence of their Creator. This Absolute Creator who, from the beginning, had divinely and naturally created them all in his image: perfect, unique and infinite.
