"Since all the sciences are equivalent to mathematics, Nature must also possess an eternal principle.
"The principle of Nature, or of the Universe, must be of one and the same kind with the principle of mathematics. For there cannot be two kinds ... of eternities, nor of certainties. The highest unity of the universe is thus the Eternal. The Eternal is one and the same with the zero of mathematics. The Eternal and zero are only[1] denominations differing in accordance with their respective. sciences, but which are essentially one.
" The Eternal is the nothing of Nature.
"As the whole of mathematics emerges out of zero, so must every thing which is a Singular have emerged from the Eternal or nothing of Nature.
"The origin of the Singular is nothing else than a manifestation of the Eternal. Thereby unity, brightness, homogeneity, are lost, and converted into multiplicity, obscurity, diversity.
" The Eternal becomes re-al by binary self-division. When the Eternal is Manifested, it is either a positive or negative. The whole of arithmetic is nothing else than a ceaseless act of positing and negating, of affirming and denying.
- ↑ I have elsewhere expressed my belief that when a thinker states that any thing is "only "any other thing, he is usually on the brink of a blunder.
