I say one, and it becomes two… at once we have arrived at multiplication.
Two is the only even prime number, for two is a divisor of every other even number. Two is the first number with which an arithmetic operation can be performed: you can divide by two, and you can multiply by it too. So does the function of two determine its nature, or does its nature determine its function? Is two a divisor or a multiplier? Does it mean splitting, or multiplying?
It is a matter of outlook. For many, two is a splitting, a halving, which brings forth stunted parts worth less than the whole. Set against unity, two is thus double-mindedness, discord, division, loss of value. This is analytical thinking that takes things apart, as opposed to integral thinking that seeks synthesis. Two can mean a pairing of elements of equal value, but it can also be multiplication: two lions are twice the strength. Yet it is also true that two half-lions set side by side still do not make one whole…
Two signals duality, change, diversity, and if we speak of two sides or two individuals, there may be agreement between them, or conflict. Dualities arrange themselves into pairs of opposites, they exist by presupposing one another, and reciprocal processes lead from one state to the other. According to Plato, sleep and waking are such a pair of opposed concepts, and between the two states, falling asleep and awakening are the reciprocal processes of passage. By analogy he speaks of the opposed pair of life and death, and here he names dying and rebirth as the processes of passage. In his view, incidentally, two is the number of connection, of relation: that is, to the two elements it adds a third factor, the link. In a harmonious connection, then, 1 + 1 = 3, that is, the two elements and their relation. Two is pairing.
Heaven and Earth, Sun and Moon, day and night, man and woman… these pairs of opposites do not necessarily mean a split, but a meaningful and rich polarity, as in the interwoven qualities of Yin and Yang. We might also say that polarity always calls forth the synthesis of a higher harmony.
They are like day and night, good and evil: they always go together, and one must give its life so that the other may survive, in the spirit of truth and love.
There is something tragic in this existence of the pairs of opposites, presupposing one another yet cancelling one another out. Without farewell there is no new meeting, without separation there is no union. The one is the mirror of the other, and between the two qualities, the two poles, not only cancellation but also balance is possible. Theory and practice are two, wisdom and method are two as well, and the two together form a higher fullness.
The binary number system simplifies, breaking processes down into true-or-false logical steps, but it leaves out the possibility of error, uncertainty, indeterminacy, simultaneity or play. That is why neither one nor two suffices to describe the myriad variations of life.
The magic of painting makes a leap of dimension possible: it can depict space on a plane, that is, it condenses three dimensions into two. By contrast, the lower and upper jaws of the giant serpent of time – the past and the future – threaten to swallow man; this is not condensation but dimension-reduction, from existence back into non-existence, from life into death.
Man and God are two as well; there are two of them. Even when on God's side there is no respect of persons, and on man's side there is only denial. Once there is no more denial, a chance opens up to make a connection. And a good connection can only grow out of a connection. Then they are no longer two, but: we two are one.