The Alphabet That Changed the World: How Genesis Preserves a Science of Consciousness in Geometry and Gesture

(Paperback)

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According to Rabbinic traditions, the letters that comprise the Torah do not primarily impart an historical narrative, but a cipher based on the letters themselves. Each letter is also a Hebrew word and an instruction for making a meaningful gesture with the hand. The gestures are related to the meanings of the letters, so that the letters in a line of Genesis spell out a sequence of meanings and a sequence of instructions for performing a contemplative dance with the hands. The dance reinforces and specifies the string of meanings. Behind the patterning that determines the sequence of letters lies a series of complexly interrelated geometrical images that in themselves provide metaphors for an ultimately satisfying intuition into the nature of creation and the divine.Thus the letter text is not simply a cipher for the meanings of the letters, but also contains ancient knowledge of both mathematical and cosmological/spiritual import. The title of the book covers many aspects of both the geometry and its meaning and is explicated throughout the text. The geometry is illustrated by numerous colour drawings that almost miraculously not only are related to fundamental symbols of the oldest level of the Jewish tradition, but prove to be relevant to other ancient traditions as well, ranging from Egypt, Islam, to India and the Orient.

Author Bio

Stan Tenen is the Director of Research for the Meru Foundation of Sharon, Mass., with a B.S. in Physics (1963) from the Polytechnic Institute of New York in Brooklyn. In 1968, while examining the Hebrew text of Genesis, Mr. Tenen noticed what appeared to be a pattern in the arrangement of the letters. This observation, which prompted thirty years of research into the history and tradition of the text, has led to a meaningful understanding of traditional teachings in a modern context. Mr. Tenen has presented his works to scientific and religious scholars throughout the United States and Israel. Editor Charles Stein, a PhD in literature, has been a lifelong student on the subjects broached in the book. A poet and author of texts on ancient religion and certain mathematical topics, he resides in upstate New York and is the author of Persephone Unveiled and a verse translation of The Odyssey (NAB, August 2008).