The Meru Project has discovered an extraordinary and unexpected geometric metaphor in the letter-sequence of the Hebrew text of Genesis that underlies and is held in common by the spiritual traditions of the ancient world. This metaphor models embryonic growth and self-organization. It applies to all whole systems, including those as seemingly diverse as meditational practices and the mathematics fundamental to physics and cosmology...Meru Project findings demonstrate that the relationship between physical theory and consciousness, expressed in explicit geometric metaphor, was understood and developed several thousand years ago.

Scientific Abstract of the Meru Research

This work involves the investigation of highly symmetrical mathematical patterns in the text of Genesis in Hebrew. These patterns become apparent when each letter in the twenty seven letter alphabet is treated as a number in base three. The alphabet represents a 3 x 3 x 3 matrix with each letter a triplet of 0's, 1's and 2's. The first verse, which contains twenty eight letters, is treated like a string of beads and wound up to form a spiral pattern arranged with each letter on one of eight radial axis of symmetry. Duplicate letters then align next to each other, and the other letters pair with their opposites (0,1,2 with 2,1,0 etc). In addition, the first letter links to the last letter of the first verse, so the Torah defines the mathematical topology of a torus. Computer studies have shown that similar patterns continue throughout the text.

The torus may be the most fundamental model of dynamic process. If one visualizes the torus as a smoke ring, i.e. the consequence of a first word, or first breath, making a first distinction between inside and outside, then it becomes apparent how the vorticular dynamics of process may give rise to this form. In topology, the most fundamental knot, the 3, 2 torus knot, has three lobes. This knot may be visualized as a continuous string on the surface of a torus which winds through the center three times. Only half of one lobe of this knot is required to mathematically define the shape of the torus. This path starts at the center, spirals up and out until it reaches the crest of the horizon and falls over the edge toward the equator.

This path may model both material events and sequences of consciousness. To model an object changing in time requires an extra dimension, thus implying hyper-dimensional geometry. The relationship between normal consciousness and spiritual awareness may also be seen as a hyper-dimensional shift. The apple models a torus as a dimpled sphere in hyper-space. The seed unfurls to become the whole tree as the spiral unfurls to the event horizon; then descends to define the outline of the new apple. Here the spiral path traced on the apple's surface becomes a model of its dynamic life process in space and time. A fruit tree bearing fruit whose seed is in itself. This spiral path might also be called, the serpent with the apple.

An inverted spiral path may be visualized on ones own hand. Imagine holding a giant apple with your thumb inside its center and your finger tips touching its equator. The spiral starts at the tip of your thumb nail, winds down toward your palm, around your thumb, across your palm and up to your finger tip. This one and a half turn spiral is highly asymmetrical. It has a unique silhouette in each orientation. These silhouettes correspond to the oldest versions of the Hebrew letters. Thus the letters of the first verse describe a coded sequence which defines a fundamental shape whose shadows generate the letters.

©1996 S. Tenen - Meru Foundation

Geometric Metaphors of Life
Stan Tenen's discovery of a geometric pattern in Genesis and his subsequent research in determining its meaning  is presented for the first time on this videotape.  We follow Tenen's path of discovery and are introduced to a mathematical and geometric model of extraordinary global implications.  We are shown how this model is descriptive of nothing less than the self-organizing and self-referential processes of consciousness and life itself, a model which is encoded into the very shapes and sequences of the Hebrew letters in which the text of Genesis is written.  Tenen introduces his original discovery that the letters in the first verse of Genesis, when placed in a Cartesian coordinate system  reveal startling symmetries.  Using 3-dimensional hand-held models, quotes from the Zohar and other mystical Jewish texts, and insights from quantum physics we witness the beginnings of uncovering a coding system embedded in the texts of several religious and cultural traditions.  Tenen then goes on to explain what these patterns might mean in finding a relationship between consciousness and physics and how they might offer us a guide to understanding and entering into transcendent states of consciousness.  He also shows how similar models may apply to the Greek and Arabic alphabets as well. 
 

A Matrix of Meaning for Sacred Alphabets
Meru Foundation research proposes that the letters of the Hebrew (and likely Greek and Arabic) alphabets are generated by an idealized human hand, identified with our reflexive consciousness and with the self-referential process of living systems.  After a brief review of earlier material, this lecture focuses on a new logical matrix which gives meaning to each letter in both Hebrew and English, and gives examples of how these letter meanings can be used to decipher word roots.   Tenen suggests implications of this natural language system for our spiritual traditions, for visual, tactile, and dance meditation, and for the study of self-organizing systems including those of biology, language, physics, and cosmology.
 

The Alphabet in Our Hands - Part 1
Can there by real meaning - beyond pride and apologia - when a religious tradition claims discovery of the One true God?  If it is not myth and metaphor, is there a modern sense in which a spiritual text could be the Truth, and if this is so, how could so audacious a claim be proven?    On this tape Stan Tenen presents the results of his investigation of the Hebrew alphabet in a demonstration of a sequence of gestures of an idealized hand.  This hand-model defines the shapes of the letters and confirms their natural and universal meaning.  He then discusses some of the philosophical, spiritual, and practical implications of these findings.
 

The Alphabet in Our Hands - Part 2
Stan Tenen demonstrates how the torodial process represents a fundamental unity, both in physics and personal consciousness, how it can be understood to underlie a wide range of traditional teachings, and how it leads to an elegant, natural, and universal alphabet.   On this tape he expands on topics introduced in Alphabet in Our Hands, and answers questions arising from the previous presentation.  This lecture is also based on his article First Hand: Canaanite and Hebrew-How the Names and Shapes of the Hebrew Letters were Determined, published in Meru Foundation Journal Torus, Vol. 2, #4.   Tenen also discusses implications in various cultural legends, symbols, and icons including Kabbalah and European iconography.