Mysticism and the Fine Structure Constant

Abstract

The number $\pi/(2\cdot6^3)$, suggested as the value of the fine structure constant $\alpha$ by Werner Heisenberg in 1935, is modified by "quantizing" $\pi$. This obtains, by empirical discovery, a new number which is much closer to the current measured value of the fine structure constant and within the range of variation of the fine structure constant reported by astronomers from their observation of the spectra of distant quasars. The expression of the reciprocal of this number in base 6 arithmetic yields further evidence for the surprising connection between the number 137 and Kabbalah first noted by Gershom Scholem in the 1950s. The results are interpreted in the hermeneutic tradition of the Pauli-Jung collaboration (relating, in particular, tothe World Clock dream) and Pythagorean mysticism. Some connections of the number $137$ to the golden ratio and the Fibonacci sequence are also explored.