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Pythagoras - Iamblichus's Life - Number is the ruler of forms
Identifier
003476
Type of Spiritual Experience
Background
A description of the experience
Pythagoras and his students believed that everything was related to mathematics, that numbers were the ultimate reality and that, through mathematics, everything could be predicted and measured in rhythmic patterns or cycles.
According to Iamblichus, Pythagoras once said that "number is the ruler of forms and ideas and the cause of gods and demons."