Earth is the really real. That something would be the really real, which neither comes into nor passes out of existence, but receives and loses the primary qualities. It is the Indeterminate , the Unlimited , the Apeiron . All entities can be thought to result from the Unlimited 's being limited or determined to some definite shape. This is best thought of mathematically.
Unity limits plurality and gives it determinate shape.
Since each number is associated with a determinate shape, we can think of things as being numerical and of mathematics as the key to understanding the world. Here we see philosophy not just as a theoretical enterprise but as a way of life to which seekers after wisdom attach themselves, at first as catechumens and then as full-fledged members. The philosopher challenges empirical science. The unintelligibility of non-being or nothingness 2. So it is not the case that before I tanned Socrates was something.