Numerology

As such I am not a believer in soothsayers and fortune tellers. In fact it was in early eighties when I acquired a copy of a book titled "Living With The Himalayan Masters" on the suggestion of a friend then, actually made me rethink about my beliefs and re-evaluate my values. One thing led to another. A radical shift from light reading to serious thoughtful writings took place, without even my noticing it. From then on the questioning and searching for truth of life is going on and on, without stop till date. I am now in such a state that, I tend to question even Jiddu Krishnamurti, most of whose teachings I have accepted, but not without making my own inquiry. Bertrand Russell is another thinker I like most. In such a sound and rational frame of mind, it is really hard to stop myself from ridiculing these soothsayers and fortune tellers.

I came across a numerologist on the Internet. There was a brief friendship. Just to see the fun of it I gave her my date of birth. Lo! pat came the long reply in return post, of course, with a suggestion to buy an entire guide on my personal 'future'. There ended the matter and friendship!

But what she mentioned in her brief reporting resulting from my birth date numbers really stunned me. I give below a few lines from the report on my birth date numerological reading.

"You were born on a Wednesday under the astrological sign Libra. Your Life path number is 11.

Life Path Compatibility:
You are most compatible with those with the Life Path numbers 2, 4, 8, 11 & 22
You should get along well with those with the Life Path numbers 3 & 6.
You may or may not get along well with those with the Life Path number 9.
You are least compatible with those with the Life Path numbers 1, 5 & 7."
 
Stunned because I compared the the 'life path number' of the members of my close family with that of mine. The compatibility factor according to numerology resembled very closely with real facts!
 
Life path number is simply adding up the numbers, stage by stage of your date of birth, wherein month is given the chronological order in the English calender, to finally arrive at single digit. For example if you are born on 12th April, 1987, your life path number is calculated as follows:
 
Date of birth - 12/04/1987 -> 1+2 = 3
                                                   0+4 = 4
                  1+9+8+7 = 25 -> 2+5 = 7
                                                          ----
            Add up total is   14 -> 1+4 = 5
5 is your life path number.
 
The number 2, according to the numerologist has unique features and it is mentioned as 11/2 or 20/2. Mine is 11/2, on which she gave me the brief profile. Whereas most of the character analysis matched reality, (I do not think the details are relevant here) the part that really stunned me is her account on birth number compatibility factor. As for character analysis, well, she explains positive side and negative side of number 2 (11/2 or 20/2). I think this part of a soothsayer is very important, because every personality has a positive side and a negative side. The way a soothsayer presents it makes all the difference.
 
As I said earlier, I like the teachings of J.Krishnamurti and the forceful language with powerful satire of Bertrand Russell in questioning all and sundry traditional, cultural and religious values of society. JK says we constantly modify the past to create future, a process that never allows you to live in the present. Neither past is relevant to the present nor the future, if only you are able to isolate yourself in the present where there is nothing known, nothing remembered and nothing foreseen - everything new. And that is supreme fact of life. Where comes foretelling? It is simply an art of psychological manipulation. A well trained psychiatrist can also give you a reasonably probable future after deeply studying your personality traits. And he is actually better placed to analyse compatibility factor. After all, mind is not a rational entity; it is a huge store house of memories - given, experienced, acquired and genetically recorded, all leading to speculate a future, and so irrational. In sum, mind is more of beliefs incapable of facing or seeing the constant change in the present, the only reality. That makes the mind keen to know the future. A state of mind, capable of change, that I call rational. But basically mind dwells on beliefs. And there is no rational belief, all belief is irrational. It is in understanding this very fact of life that makes much sense, because it is impossible to completely change your beliefs. One can only be temporarily rational for a brief period in his thoughts. If at all this happens to you, next time, notice how blissful you are in that rational state of mind, however brief.

And finally this could very much be my belief, yet, in that belief if you please, I am better off.