Three, Six, Nine, The Truth Takes Time

In discussing the number nine on page 37 of The Inner Reaches of Outer Space, Joseph Campbell wrote:

"It is to be noticed, by the way, that 1 + 6 + 5 + 6 = 18, which is twice 9, while 4 + 3 + 2 = 9; 9 being a number traditionally associated with the Goddess Mother of the World and its gods. In India the number of recited names in a litany of this goddess is 108. 1 + 0 + 8 = 9, while 108 x 4 = 432. In Roman Catholic Europe, when the Angelus tolls (at morning, noon, and evening), it rings 3 + 3 + 3 and then 9 times, in celebration of the Virgin's conception of the Savior. The recited prayer at those junctures, 'The angel of the Lord declared unto Mary, and she conceived by the Holy Ghost . . . . and THE WORD WAS MADE FLESH . . .' is in recognition of this miracle at the opening of a new world age."

1,656 is the period of years between Adam's creation and the landing of Noah's Ark. 432 is a cycle of time number. These two numbers and 108 are part of a very ancient system of numbers.

After reading Joseph Campbell's book, and drawing the various symbols around my nine chits, I saw the film, Flatliners. A group of young interns experiment with the "near-death" experience, by causing each other to "die," and then come back to life. The experiences bring on strange events that have karmic implications. One of the interns sees a young, black girl on a streetcar. Many years before, in grammar school, he had treated her cruelly. The girl speaks, saying -

"Three, six, nine,
the truth takes time,
the monkey chewed tobacco on the streetcar line.
The line broke,
the monkey got choked,
and we all went to heaven in a little row boat."

I felt that the nursery rhyme was inspired; that it was related to the "nine" symbolism, as expressed by Joseph Campbell, and that the game of baseball was symbolically related. Other dreams and experiences indicated that the "monkey" carried an evolution metaphor, in terms of mankind's "problem" with thoughts and beliefs. My dream voice said, "We are still apes! The great cycle is not over yet. We will become Man at the end of the cycle."

This came after thinking about a TV show, where a tribesman catches a monkey, in order to find water. He first finds a giant ant hill, then puts sweet food in a hole of just the right size. He hides nearby and waits. Soon, the monkey comes, drawn by the sweet smell of the food. He reaches in the hole in the ant hill, and grasps the food. The tribesman approaches with a rope. The monkey screeches in extreme fright, and struggles desperately to free himself from the ant hill. But, he does not think to release his grip on the food, so he is trapped. The tribesman puts a noose around the monkey's neck, and then feeds him salt, to make him thirsty. He releases the monkey's grip on the food. The monkey travels through the jungle to find water, with the tribesman holding the end of the noose. The monkey finds a hole in the ground, and is released from the noose. He goes into the hole, finds a pool of water, and drinks his fill. The monkey runs free back into the jungle, and then the tribesman goes into the hole and takes his water.

This real-life method of finding water can be viewed symbolically in terms of "food for thought," "the hive mind" represented by the ant hill, and so forth. The tribesman, as I see it, represents a spiritual being, his black color indicating "invisible." So, the symbolism of the monkey or ape, can indicate our inability to release old beliefs, even when they hold us "captive."

Dee and I have found many dreams from many people that seem to have a similar meaning. The dreams are about dumping the garbage, or going to the bathroom, or the toilet being blocked, and the like. It seems to be a play on the "food for thought" symbolism. These are old beliefs that have been "consumed and digested." All the nutrients have been removed. It is time to eject them, otherwise one cannot continue to consume new food, i.e., new "food for thought."

The word, "tobacco" in the nursery rhyme seemed related to another idea that came to me. Food that we chew, such as gum or tobacco, can be a "spiritual food for thought." We do not swallow this food; we just get the flavor, which is mixed with our own juices before being digested. In other words, spiritual communications via dreams, visions, inspirations, etc., are processed by our minds, and are influenced by our beliefs. The original message will have our own "overlay" or distortion.

Interestingly, I found that Dali had ants in his paintings. I first noticed it in the painting, Partial Hallucination: Six Apparitions of Lenin on a Grand Piano. Six little glowing heads of the Soviet Revolution leader appear on the keyboard. A man sits rigidly in a chair nearby. He wares an arm band and a cloth is pined to his back. It is a very austere scene, seeming to indicate the result of conditioning by propaganda. ....

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The strange nursery rhyme suggests a great change in the last line, "and we all went to heaven in a little row boat." The numbers on the first line seemed related to my experiences, and the various related symbols.

Reading the Bible later, I found verses in Mark that appear to be related:

15:25 And it was the third hour, when they crucified him.
15:33 And when the sixth hour had come, there was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour.
15:34 And at the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, "E'lo-i, E'lo-i, la'ma sabach-tha'ni?" which means "My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken
[link to www.greatdreams.com]