The human mind encounters the number 7 when it ventures into places of wonder, when it ponders the abyss of evil or the far more demanding heights of good, when it must impose order on the music of the universe, when it tries to imagine a way out of the world, or when, finally, it contemplates the beginning and the end of everything. As the book of all books, the Bible, teaches, the world was created in seven days and will be consumed by the sound of seven trumpets. Telling the story of 7 means visiting spaces where numbers become gods, elements of nature, the stuff of dreams, and aspirations for peace. This number’s story only seems obscure, for the mystery of 7 has never ceased to fascinate us and continually re-emerges amidst our world’s intrigues.

Raphael Ebgi teaches History of Philosophy at the Vita-Salute San Raffaele University in Milan.