The Perfect Number

An interesting thing happened today. The odometer on my motorcycle ticked over to all 7’s. That’s a lot of miles on a motorcycle. And a lot of 7’s.

From some of what I've posted here in recent weeks, you might think my choice of perfect number would be 8. That is a very important number, but it is a human one. It represents the flow of relationships, the crossing over each other in intimate connection, the moving apart in separateness, and the looping back around to reconnection. 8 is wonderful, but it's floating. It has little connection with the baseline and is harder to manage. Writing an 8 can flow beautifully from one hand, but from another or upon a different attempt, the lines may not reconnect and leave an open loop and a difficult to read symbol. Some of us aren't very good at the 8.

But 7, ah, 7. This is a completely different symbol. It's long been associated with the divine. The / is a singular, strong stroke anchored firmly into the baseline. It rises to the right, like the raised right arm of God. That arm holds the flat cross member high up, a platform from which the world is clearly seen, from which strategic action can be based.

One last thought: 7 comes right before 8.