Theos-Talk Archives (September 1995 Message tl00771)

Stephan:

>What about 3*666 = 1998?

Your comment makes me think of something important about
numerology that is not usually pointed out.

We have to be careful of numerology. An important distinction
that we don't always make is between numeric attributes of
things and artificial constructs. Calling this year "1995" is
an artificial construct, for instance, since we could just as
well call it any other number. It has not been 1995 years since
the start of the earth, nor since the start of time, just 1995
years since the particular year that we wanted to call zero.

Real numbers or attributes are like natural numbers, where we
clearly see there are three oranges on the table before us,
or the ratio of the circumference to the diameter of a circle.
With numerology of names, if there is some actual, consistent
relationship between the written letters and the sounds spoken
in sounding the name, numbers might be applied to the name.
On the other hand, if there are many ways of spelling a particular
name, a name that sounds the same on the lips regardless of
spelling, the written name is an artificial construct and the
numbers do not particularly indicate something.

-- Eldon