What’s in the number 8?

Israel Prince
Jul 20, 2017 · 3 min read
https://www.technobuffalo.com

What is in a number?

Can numbers indicate any significance?

Numbers do not lie, it is said. In business sometimes it’s the numbers that count. In real life, it’s said age is just but a number. Sometimes numbers do not really ‘count’, sometimes numbers do count. Numbers indicate a position. In schools numbers are used for performance grading. In politics it’s the numbers that will give you the coveted seat.

Of interest to me has been the number 7 and 8. Particularly because we are in the 7th month and we are almost at the 8th month. Numbers have various uses and understanding, and without visiting too much of the history of numbers, mystical significance of numbers, the symbolism of numbers or mathematical abstraction of numbers I would say that there is something and everything in a number.

To illustrate this let’s get back to 2007 and 2008.
Something key happened, the Great Recession.

“The Great Recession was a period of general economic decline observed in world markets during the late 2000s and early 2010s. According to the US National Bureau of Economic Research (the official arbiter of US recessions) the recession, as experienced in that country, began in December 2007 and ended in June 2009, thus extending over 19 months” source:(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Recession)
“Ben Bernanke, the former head of the Federal Reserve, said the 2008 financial crisis was the worst in global history, surpassing even the Great Depression.”
source: (money.cnn.com/2014/08/27/news/economy/ben-bernanke-great-depression/index.html).
Coming closer home; my beloved Kenya, key occurrences were happening in the country. General elections were held in Kenya on 27 December 2007. The presidential elections were a two-horse race. The 2007–08 Kenyan crisis was a political, economic, and humanitarian crisis that erupted in Kenya after the sitting President was declared the winner of the presidential election held on December 27, 2007, supporters of the opponent, alleged electoral manipulation. The rest as they say is history.

I want to get back to 2017, 2018. Its still our general elections in Kenya and this time done on the 8th of August. We still this two numbers around here; the 7th and the 8th. Reminder: This post was particularly about numbers do not veer off. Hey look! Its July the 7th month and August is almost here the 8th month. Maybe I am looking at all these numbers with extreme keenness, but still the number 7 and 8 has something significant going on here.

I enjoy a bit of music, and I play the piano which in particular is divided in black and white keys arranged in what is the semitones. The most important musical scales are typically written using eight notes, and the interval between the first and last notes is an octave.
“The Bible numerology code number 8. The number eight in the Bible signifies Resurrection and Regeneration. … Eight is 7 plus 1 and since it comes just after seven, which itself signifies an end to something, so eight is also associated with the beginning of a new era or that of a new order.” source:www.astrovera.com/bible-religion/189-bible-number-8.html.

But honestly,
I took all this effort to analyze what is the number 7 and 8 when perusing the classical book ‘Think and Grow Rich’, particularly written just after the ended 1930 economic depression. Creating a lot of similarities with our times, because, be it you believe in numbers or not, there has been a shift of what is happening particularly from the early 2000 to 2010 and another kind of change from 2010 extending to 2020. It’s been years with a sum of crisis to talk about.

Particular in my thoughts is how history will judge us we who live in this era. And of more importance how we will judge ourselves at the outcome of our lives after several crisis in these times. There is no Chinese word for crisis just the word OPPORTUNITY. Is there an opportunity we are not identifying? Is there a completion , an end and a new beginning to be identified? Do the number 7 and 8 really have anything in them to think about? What about you, is there something you will have to end to start something new?

What is in the number 8? You decide.

)

Welcome to a place where words matter. On Medium, smart voices and original ideas take center stage - with no ads in sight. Watch
Follow all the topics you care about, and we’ll deliver the best stories for you to your homepage and inbox. Explore
Get unlimited access to the best stories on Medium — and support writers while you’re at it. Just $5/month. Upgrade