The Number 3

Thought, word and deed - the human triptych?

Ever since my post about the 3 denials of Peter, the 3 verses of Seferis and Lawrence's 3 angels, I've been thinking about the significance of the number 3. Though I'm also quite partial to 5, 7 and 13 (my birthday), 3 is my favourite number. All these are prime numbers incidentally! And, again incidentally, true gardeners always plant in groups of 3, 5 or 7 rather than 2, 4 and 6. I wonder why that is so? The cachet of number 3 has a long and universal pedigree. In Ancient Greece there were 3 Fates (Moirae)(see pic) - Clotho (who span the thread of life), Lachesis (who measured the thread of life) and Atropos (who cut the thread of life). There were 3 Greek Muses - Aoide (Song), Melete (Practice) and Mneme (Memory); and 3 Graces (Charites) - Aglaea (Beauty), Euphrosyne (Mirth) and Thalia (Good cheer). In Celtic times they had the sacred tree-trinity of oak, ash and thorn; and also the Wiccan moon goddess (manifested in the stages of the moon's waxing and waning), the triple goddess of the cycle of rebirth: Maiden, Mother, and Mature Woman. These 3 archetypes were transmuted into the Greek goddesses Artemis, Demeter and Hecate; and the Roman goddessess Diana, Ceres and Trivia.

Hindus believe in a triad or trimurti of overarching gods: Brahma (the Creator), Vishnu (the Protector) and Shiva (the Destroyer); and the basis of Christianity is of course the Holy Trinity of Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

I could mention the 3 persons in grammar (he, she and it), the 3 dimensions (length, breadth and height), the 3 windows of time (past, present and future), the 3 kingdoms of matter (animal, vegetable and mineral), the 3 primary colours (red, yellow and blue), the 3 primary human cultures (art, science and religion), and the 3 vital human constituents (body, mind and spirit).

I could go on. What about the Greek logician's syllogism of major premise, minor premise and conclusion; the Greek philosopher's dialectic of thesis, antithesis and synthesis?

According to the cliché, 2 may be company and 3 a crowd - but often a third party can smooth over differences and prevent a 1 to 1 relationship becoming an injurious and dead-end superior/inferior or dominant/submissive one.

The Beatles were of course a 4some - but what band could match the pared down, attacking drive of Ginger Baker, Jack Bruce and Eric Clapton in the legendary rock trio Cream? I'm getting silly now..!

Any more 3somes, anyone..?

Waiting For The Cock To Crow

It's amazing how often we sleep on a problem and the solution is there in the morning. I went to bed last night reflecting on yesterday's poem. I've just woken abruptly - the idea fresh in my mind that Peter denied Christ 3 times and that this is the key to the meaning of the 3 verses with their, if you like, 3 denials. I don't know where this idea came from. I wasn't consciously thinking towards it. I've never read any critical works on Seferis. I hardly know his poetry. It was as if someone had put the idea there. Very strange.

But I suppose this subconscious process, often active while we are sleep, is the basis of much creative thought. Artists, writers, many creative people often feel their work comes from a source "out there" - or, conversely, from somewhere "deep within" - which they are powerless to control. They are simply agents being channelled by a greater force. D. H. Lawrence, in his poem Song Of A Man Who Has Come Through, writes of the wind that blows through me. I've just looked up the poem, reminded myself of it. In it he mentions three strange angels. 3 again!

The human mind is an extraordinary thing. I always like the idea that the mind is a limitless place, that you can travel forever its depths and infinities. That you can go much further "inwards" than the physical body can ever journey "outwards".

But back to the poem Denial by Seferis. Does it mean we are living our lives somehow in the wrong way - though we can't help it since we are human and nature is a force over which we have no control - but we have the power to change? That our passion and desire are somehow misdirected - so the water tastes bad? The poem seems on the surface easy to understand. In fact it's quite mysterious.