Reflections on God's Number

I remember once saying to someone - this must have been just at the beginning of my spiritual journey - that the number 4 was evil. My insight had little to do with numerology, i.e. the knowledge that the number we are all so afraid of, 13, adds in fact up to 4 in numerology. I also knew nothing of the Chinese linguistic fact that 4 rhymes with death. No, it was based on an observation that negative market and economic shocks appeared to be coming in four year intervals.

As I said, this was a while ago, today I would say instead that four is in fact God's numbers. How do I get there? Well, something is missing in the Holy Trinity. We revere the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, but we do it with the perspective of an outsider. The sonship is part of us. God is complete if we join the holy union. Four equals three plus one! Yet, we have not yet managed to join the union so we are afraid of what we don't understand.

Often we are afraid of God's "wrath" just because we don't understand the Force that operates in a higher dimension than we do. This was not always the case and other societies don't have our psychological hang-ups. The Indian's for example value Durga - our Holy Mother's benevolent face - as much as Kali - our Holy Mother's occasional fury. The Holy Mother knows best, the reverent Hindu would say. "Inshallah" - as God wills it - the reverent Muslim would add. As many of you know, I am a Taoist, so here would be my spin.

You could write the number 4 in numerology as 123 and 7. One Two Three is a clear symbol of an uptrend. We say this is easy as one two three. Seven in contrast is the symbol of completion. So the fear is that the number 4 will in fact bring the end of the good period. We Tao travelers are not afraid of change, we welcome it. The creator in us see the end of an uptrend as an invite to start an even more powerful uptrend. And even if we are about to enter a contraction phase, the Tao will make this period of decay meaningful to us.  We embrace everything life brings our Way, even the most feared transition of them all - our own death. Lao-Tzu writes in the Tao Te Ching, "and if death finally comes, the Master will be ready."

Three Paths of the Tao

Most of us experience Heaven on Earth only subconsciously. The Zen masters keep on telling is, "it is as it is", but we have a hard time to make the jump to "it is as it is, and as is, is good". The other side of the spectrum is even harder to accomplish: in the presence of God, the Daughter of God makes the Kingdom whole as well. Yet few of us are equipped to fill these divine shoes. But there is a simple way to realize Heaven on Earth, you in fact only need one thing that comes naturally to you, love!  If you manage to sort out your convoluted preferences and desires and manage to live a simple and innocent life in which you surround yourself with people and projects you love, you experience Heaven on Earth as well. In the presence of the Holy Trinity, love creates Heaven on Earth.

 So how exactly do do get there? Well, start with one good intention at a time, and let life guide you to bliss. When you want to love or want to be good know that you are unfortunately not quite "there". Wanting is always of the ego, no matter how good your intentions seem to be. When you love, you love, wanting to love is different. But then, if spirituality is what you want, life will always present with yet another opportunity to choose love. You can surround yourself with love that way, one friend and one project at a time.

If you are into numerology you can symbolically represent the three paths with numbers. All you have to know that the number of the Tao is Five:
Zen philosophy: 5 = 5
Daughter of God: 4 (God's Number) + 1 (Daughter of God) = 5
Bakti (Love) Yoga: 3 (The Holy Trinity) + 2 (Symbol of Love) = 5

The Number Symbols of the Lord

One is a symbol of the Daughter of God. Two is a symbol of love, for two soul siblings are standing side by side in unity. Three is an expression of the Holy Trinity, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. Three is holy, but it is still incomplete, because you are missing, the Daughter of God! Four is not only holy, it is whole as well. God is complete when you realize that you are home. Sometimes you see the number sequence 1:1:1:1 - the entire universe can be summed up in this holy sequence.

I write often about the Tao - Five is the number of the Tao. You haven't awakened completely, so life wraps yourself around you to bring you home. Five is the sum of three - the Holy Trinity - and 2, which symbolically means 'you experiencing life'. If you practice Bhakti yoga - the discipline of experiencing love everywhere - then it doesn't matter whether you are enlightened or not. You love the union, the self wrapped up in everyone else.You love period and in that holy feeling you have transcended the I.

Wisdom yoga is the path of separation - the discipline of separating the devine I from the illusion. It can be done, though I would caution everybody from running after enlightenment. Fact of the matter is that there is always a level on which the Daughter of God has already shown up, but similarly, no matter how advanced you might be spiritually, there is always a dimension where further spiritual evolution is possible. One step at a time my friend and, as long as it happens in the right direction, your path will as be easy to figure out as 1-2-3.

Six is a symbol of the Christ and it is a derivative of 2, the symbol of love. You can write 6 as 2+2+2, which is my love and your love united in the presences of the Lord's love. As Jesus said, 'Whenever two or more meet in my name, there I will be.' You can equally write 6 as 3+3. In that holy encounter of two soul siblings, the I melts on either side and all that is left is the encounter of the respective Holy Trinity, 3+3.

The Numerical Symbol of Jesus Christ

I once brainstormed in a yahoo forum on the numerical symbols of spirituality and a gentle voice responded that Jesus secret number was 33. I had no idea where she was coming from and first thought that it may be a reminder of Jesus secret birthday which some people put at the end of March rather than our Christmas tradition. While this may or may not be correct, I now think that it just means that whenever two friends are meeting, their holy trinity connects, i.e. love melts our human biases away at that holy instant.

"Whenever two or more come together in my name, there am I in their midst."
Matthew (18:20)

Fuzzy Math?

For the spiritual path traveler who is into numerology, this little number game is something I came up when I reflected on the spiritual meaning of numbers:
1:Son of God
2:Love
3:Holy Trinity
4:God
5:Tao

You may not be enlightened yet, but you always have the choice to be part of God's magical plot by being in the Now, i.e. 5=4+1. In contrast, when you are finally enlightened, the Holy Trinity becomes perfection by You being added,i.e. 4=3+1.

Fuzzy math?

9 Spiritual Numbers

1 Son of God
2 Love; Decision (PS: If you choose love, there is nothing to worry about)
3 Holy Trinity
4 God (= Holy Trinity + You); I Am
5 Tao (= The I experiences the Tao)
6 Change, Christ (33)
7 Completion; Symphony
8 Infinity
9 Mirror, Change

1:1:1:1

I realized the other day that the sum of my street address, my work address and the licence plate numbers of my two cars (if you include the registry date) all add up to 100. Given that we live in the year 2011, which sums up to 4 as well, I view it as a sign that we operate in an important period that for many individuals has a lot of upside (though many have to tread with caution as well as many seismic shifts are in the making). Up and away my friend!

The Holy Number Four

I don't claim to know much about numerology, but since I have received so many messages in form of licence plate numbers, clock times and calendar dates, I cannot help forming my own spiritual impressions about numbers. I also learned about the letter four in Arthur I. Miller's book, The Odd Couple: Carl Jung and Wolfgang Pauli and Mystic Numbers, in which they claimed that 4 was the true symbol of God and not the Holy Trinity as Christianity postulates. Well, if you use their claim for a moment, this is the algebra I came up with.

Four and the Christian Interpretation
Four is the sum of One and Three. The Holy Trinity (God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit) is your pathway to God, but the Kingdom is incomplete without you. One is the symbol of a Son or Daughter of God as the straight line connects heaven and earth. As you find enlightenment and become a 1, the Kingdom is complete again, i.e. 4=1+3.

Four and the Four Yogas of Enlightenment
Four is the sum of 2 and 2. Some claim that 2 is a symbol of ambiguity, but this only means that you are afraid of the choices you have to face. If you happen to choose love all the time there is nothing to be afraid of. For me 2 symbolizes the twin love of Krishna, the real love between soul partners (symbolized by Radha) and vis-a-vis God (symbolized by Mira). Did you know that if you write the mirror image of 2 next to a 2 you are left with a heart that is standing on the ground. The heart is a symbol of God realized by bakhti yoga (the yoga of love) and tandra sex.

In addition to the yoga of love, you also have the three yogas of wisdom (jnana), medidation (or energy), as well as work (tao). Four also happens to be the sum of 0 and 4. And all of these paths are about eliminating the the ego, the little I and letting the empty space fill up with God's presence. As you reflect, the ego disappears (jnana), as you meditate the chokras open up until you radiate with divine energy, and as you submit to life (and follow the tao), you dissolve the self that way too: 4=0+4.