Beyond the Decimal

      Today is a particularly auspicious day in the celebration of mathematics, as the date 3.1415, and the time 9:26:53, is also the first ten digits of the mathematical equation Pi - the ratio of the circumference of a circle to its diameter. The Greek mathematician, Archimedes, was the first to accurately approximate Pi, using fractions in 250 B.C! We have been pondering the circle for a long time! This seemingly simple concept, is expressed in numbers, beyond the decimal, that are irrational, with NO repeating pattern and No end! Yes, we are talking about infinity here. This is where my interest lies, in the celebration of the unknowable.
      Carl Sagan wrote, in his book Cosmos, "If you wish to make an apple pie from scratch, you must first invent the universe." So where is the infinite Pi, present in our lives? Obviously, everywhere there is a circle, and more subtlety in  waves of energy, such as sound, and light, in a ripple in a lake, and in the changing, flowing path of a river. All rivers that are measured, for all their meanderings, average to Pi. Pi is present in the rings of trees, the spheres of planets, and within the spiraling helix of our DNA. Infinity is truly within us!
     Humans have calculated the numbers, beyond the decimal, to 10 trillion, with the help of computers. According to Numberphile's  YouTube video, Pi and The Size of The Universe, "It takes only 39 digits of Pi, to be able to measure the circumference of our observable universe, as accurately as the width of one hydrogen atom." So I ask you, gentle reader, what could we possibly need with the rest of the numbers.... into infinity? It really is a mystery. Pi and e are transcendental, uncountable numbers, and although we only know of a few, they are anything but rare. According to Manil Suri's opinion piece, Don't Expect Math to Make Sense, in the New York Times this week,   "Out of the totality of numbers, almost all are transcendental. Pi reveals how limited human knowledge is, how there exist teeming realms we might never explore."
     I am anything but a math expert. I am more of a nerdy, weekend wine-drinking philosopher. I love to ponder the spaces where math and science intersect with philosophy, in our attempts to understand our place in the universe. It is in those spaces where I feel comfortable expressing what I know to be true. What wakes me from my sleep, with sheer awe, is simply,

we are not apart from infinity - we are a part of it!  

Infinity is within and without, encompassing all we can conceive. It is beyond our knowledge, yet an integral part of our knowing. We are alive within a boundless sea, of all there ever was, and all there ever will be. This concept of infinite randomness is really beyond any one religion, or field of science, it just IS. How liberated could we feel as humans, if we could learn to embrace the unknowable? Perhaps we can begin by practicing gratitude for our place within the space of the infinite. We could even grow in our liberation, to the point where we just can be - present to one another, and all life, able to see the infinite in even the smallest creature.  In our attempts to control the mundane aspects of our daily lives, we often miss the bigger picture. But not today! Today we celebrate the mystery!  We celebrate the expansive abilities of the human mind, and the limits of it. We are curious participants in the sacred circle of life. With eyes wide open, and using all of our available counting fingers, across all space and time, we gather with wonder, as seekers. We celebrate the beyond, the immeasurable, the delicious limitlessness of our desire to know!

Endlessness

Yum

Pass the Pi please.  

Blog Post and Pi-ku by Heather Kohser 3/14/15 copyright