KariRoad said:
1 can't exist alone, and 2 automatically creates 3. Snap! So perhaps 3 is the first "number" and all we have to do is stop counting to see.
No, it is imperative that 1 BE alone, for it represents that which is not yet divided. And the way that Tree is set up contradicts the underlying logic that puts Da'at (Knowledge) where that diagram places 3.
I will say, though, that there is a tradition in Hermetic Kabbalah, one I have not been able to confirm or refute yet, that reverses the left-right correlation in the middle pair, and in fact number symbolism seems to support this: 2 is air, hence the solar channel of the breath or right side, 3 water, hence the lunar channel or left side; R in Irish bardic tradition is 15 and L 14, which would seem to point 4 to the left and 5 to the right, while 15 and 14 are the reflections of 7 and 8, respectively, which would put 7 right and 8 left. But this is merely a hint, the ramifications of which I've not fully worked out (though I have contemplated them a bit).
There is, of course, another way of placing the Sefirot, one that points to the Tree as it may have existed before the Lurianic 'breaking of the vessels', namely:
......1
3...........2
......4
6...........5
......7
9...........8
.....10
As you can see, it was the breaking of vessels 4-10 that caused them to each slide down one on the ladder, thus leaving 4's place vacant, knowledge of which was named Da'at (knowledge).