Mysticism and the Fine Structure Constant

Abstract

The mysticism relating to the fine structure constant, including the surprising connection between the number 137 and Kabbalah by means of gematria (first noted by Gershom Scholem in the 1950s), and the connection between Wolfgang Pauli’s World Clock dream and formulas for the fine structure constant, is explored and expanded. A formula that relates the number 137 to the golden ratio and the Fibonacci sequence is explored in the context of Platonic and Pythagorean mysticism and various religious and esoteric traditions.

Keywords: fine structure constant; pi; quantization; archetypes; Kabbalah; polygons; Pythagoras; Plato; Carl Jung; mysticism; golden ratio; Fibonacci numbers; gematria