The magical numbers zero to nine – the way of the initiate

Mythology has it that Lamech (the Lamech that was the descendant of Cain, not the Lamech who was descended from Seth)’s four children Tubal-Cain, Jabal, Jubal and Naamah, having a precognition that the apocalyptic floods would occur, engraved three stella with the secret sciences of the antediluvian world, so that they could be passed on for posterity. Among the sciences that were inscribed on the stella was the science of Numerology.

It is said that the Greek mathematician and philosopher, Pythagoras, who lived 2700 years ago, discovered one of these stella and became a custodian of the knowledge of the secret sciences, including Numerology. So, if mythology holds true, the science of numerology can even be dated back to the antediluvian world.

Numerology holds that nothing in the created universe is random, everything is in order. Everything, from the minutest particle to the gigantic galaxies, function according to a predetermined law. We, as human beings, often perceive things, that occur, as random or accidental. But they all happen according to the divine plan of the Grand Architect, the supreme being, for whom there is a reason behind everything.

Numbers are sequential and orderly. They are the very essence of the form and structure that the divine oneness gave to his creation. Numerology is based on that sense of orderliness. While numbers, to common knowledge, represent quantity, their qualities are allegorical…the stuff of esotericism. It takes a mind attuned to divine consciousness to decipher the significance they entail in the grand scheme of things.

Commonly, in numerology, the number 1 is ascribed with leadership and independence, the number 2 with passivity but resilient strength, the number 3 with expression and imagination, the number 4 with groundedness and discipline, the number 5 with change and action, the number 6 with love and sacrifice, the number 7 with introspection and philosophy, the number 8 with balance and power, and the number 9 with completion and regeneration.

However, in a more subtle way, the numbers are significant of the stages of evolution of the human mind. We are all caught in a world of circumstance and regime. How we navigate through the currents of this world, depends on how we attune to the four `I’s – impulse, instinct, intelligence and intuition – that constitute our minds.

When we start out into the world we are loaded with impulse and instinct. Later, we gather intelligence. And as we grow older, our intuition becomes stronger. What we do with our lives, within our circumstances and armed with the four `I’s, is a matter of choice.

At birth, we sit at the circumference of a large circle. It must be our endeavour, as we proceed, to get to the centre of the circle, and achieve unity with the divine principle. The centre is always elevated. So to get to the centre, we have to move uphill. It takes strength and determination, and indeed great labour, to move upwards, when it is easier to fall away. In the same vein, birth and rebirth are the process of moving to the centre. The consequences of our actions in one life are causative of transmigration to the next life, and result in how near or distant we get to the centre of our calling.

It is for those with the eyes to see, that life is not measured by material successes, but how well we evade the entrapments of the material world. Therein lies the actual success story. It must be our endeavour to preclude the fall, and rise to the centre, even though there are numerous obstacles and pitfalls at every turn.

Numbers offer a blueprint towards this effort. The first ten numbers are the base that form all other numbers right up to infinity. There is no way we can form any number without these ten.

Zero is the initiation point. One is the development of instinct, two is the voice of conscience, three is the expression of choice, four is development of intelligence, five is acting out of intelligence, six is experience, seven is realisation, eight is reward or retribution, and nine is pure wisdom.

The number zero is the beginning of the fool’s journey. For we are fools at the point of initiation. While at the point of zero, we are poor in knowledge and experience, we are loaded with potential. This is the point that the uninitiated, being poor in experience and having no expectations or aspirations, is a powerhouse of possibilities. At this point, we only have memories from past lives, which we are not conscious of, but that have already filtered into our subconsciousness.

Those memories form the foundation to our personality, and our transit to the number one. The past recall at the subconscious level shapes our likes and dislikes, our inclinations and disinclinations, our tastes and preferences, our impulses and instincts, that will mould the way we think, and form our convictions and beliefs in the future. The number one epoch, is the time of developing individuality.

While the number one forms our instincts and primal intelligence, we are likely to err from a surfeit of these. And for that reason, we are gifted with conscience. The number two is the voice of conscience. It is the silently screaming voice within us that counters our instincts and impulses. Conscience is the invisible antenna given to us by the almighty, to amplify our consciousness and to tune into him. It is this conscience that we should forge a partnership with, throughout our lives.

The number three is the point where we are equipoised between our instincts and our conscience. It takes the freedom of choice and the expression of it, to determine where we place ourselves in our lives. While it is our right to respect our individuality, it is our duty to pay heed to our conscience. We must not be indiscriminate, but be conscientious in expressing our choices. The freedom of choice within our constraints, will form the rudiments of our actions in the future.

The number four represents formation – the discovery of the world and the acquisition of knowledge and learning from it. The three of choice between instinct and conscience, will determine how we develop our primal knowledge into worldly knowledge. We will be subject to stereotypes and we will be made to conform to them. Our education will further our convictions and vindicate our choices. In our age, mass media plays an enormous part in casting stereotypes and influencing our morality and judgement. At this point, it would be judicious to display astuteness in sifting the grain from the chaff that the mass media propositions.

It is not altogether wrong to go against norms or stereotypes. The greatest discoveries and inventions in the world have come out of shattering stereotypes. In time, most stereotypes are proven wrong.

The number five is the call of action. This is the most crucial stage of our life, because how we act will determine where we belong in the supreme being’s grand scheme. Here it is, where we decide whether we swim upstream and become one with the source, or go downstream and drown in the vast ocean of Karmic cycles. It may be one’s calling to fight battles to one’s own material detriment. One may have to suffer great pains for standing one’s ground against a world that has its own system of reward or punishment. Some of the greatest souls in recorded history have been burnt at the stake or been put to extreme torture for having convictions that went against the prevailing system.

Those who seek material success, for this is a material world, would be prudent not to seek success for greed or avarice, but for vocational fulfilment and inner glory.

The number six is an indicator of the knowledge that one’s actions are purely undertaken for one’s own attainment, no matter the challenges, disadvantages, hardships and disappointments one has to undergo. It is also the realisation that all experience should engender balance and equanimity. It is the opportunity to be dispassionate in one’s adversities and labours; as also towards one’s enemies, for there will be many if you take the chosen path. To attain self, is to first attain humility.

The number seven is archetypal of introspection and spirituality. It is the time to ponder one’s life and to make good past mistakes. It takes the humility of the six to admit and confess. It takes the conscience of the two to truly introspect. It is a time to move inward, after the onslaught and action of the number five. It is time to discover the God within.

The number eight is the time for equanimity once again…To accept the material injustices of this life as a furtherance of a divine plan. Because it is not the material goal that matters, but the spiritual one that does. One must always be content in one’s knowledge that justice is not temporal, but spiritual. For those who have been intransigent in God’s eyes, it is never too late to change the path one is on.

The number nine is the dawn of newness within the old. A time to use the maturity of wisdom with the altruism of pure youth. It is time to discover infiniteness in the finiteness of this world. To discover the joys of humanitarianism. Finally, it is a time to prepare for regeneration…to take the memories of this life into the next.