Yoga's Science Portal

Hey, guys. LOL. I've never stopped being so much inconsistent, right? Well, you're right that this is my third blog. Quite frankly, I can't really bear that it is right; despite I erase the first one, I don't erase the second one. In other words, I am managing two blogs now, this one *with a lower voice* and the private one. Sshh…

But beyond that pale, I reckon that three is not that bad, isn't it? You know, three is a favorite number among storytellers, also three is a special number in both science and arts. It stands for solidity, balance and completion.

OUR ANCESTORS were very fond of the number 3 and it occurs repeatedly in scripture and mythology. Christianity has the Holy Trinity of the father, the son and the holy spirit. Islam has three holy cities, Mecca, Medina and Jerusalem. Yin and Yang were warring opposites, heaven and earth, that had to be balanced by a third party, man, and Taoism also has three deities called the Three Pure Ones. Brahma, Shiva and Vishnu are the trinity of Hindu gods; Buddha, Dharma and Sangha are the three ‘treasures’ of Buddhism; and Norse mythology tells of three Norns, Urd, Verdandi and Skuld, who wove the tapestry of our fate, each person’s life being a thread in the tapestry.

Why is three such a popular number?
Here are three good reasons I can find:
1. Storytellers are governed by the associations of certain numbers. One is a hero, a loner, not lending itself to dialogue and cooperation. Two is a romance, or a rivalry. And so, for a group of characters who act as one unit, with human interaction but without romance, the first and simplest choice is three. Of course, while a third party can provide the balance between two sparring factions, it can also put a dramatic spoke in the wheel – the classic ménage à trois.
2. When people try to perform a task in time with each other, e.g. lifting a wardrobe, they count to three before lifting in unison. This is because it takes a count of three to establish a rhythm, so that everyone heaves at the same moment. Running races are traditionally started with a three-part signal: on your marks, get set, go! Modern competition has dropped the ‘get set’ part, going straight from ‘On your marks’ to the ‘bang’ of the gun, with a silent ‘get set’ in between.
3. A man has 10 pairs of socks, 5 red, 5 blue, but he keeps them loose in his drawer. As he’s dressing for dinner the light bulb in his room blows just as he’s about to get his socks out, so he decides to take a few and put them on downstairs where he can see. How many socks would he have to take out of his drawer to ensure he had a matching pair? The answer is three, because if the first two are different colors, the third will definitely match one of them. If the first two are the same, that’s the job done. This is a good explanation of why we say ‘third time lucky’.

TRI, TRI AND TRI AGAIN
Three is the smallest number of sides required to make a polygon: the triangle. And there are three types of triangle: scalene (all sides of different lengths), isosceles (two sides of the same length) and equilateral (all sides the same length).

Three star
The predominance of threes in nature may also have influenced our interpretation of the number 3 as representing completion. Three dimensions; three elementary states: solid, liquid and gas; and astronomers have classified galaxies into three basic shapes: elliptical, spiral (and barred spiral) and irregular. They’ve even ascertained that elliptical galaxies are composed mostly of old stars, with little
gas or dust. Spiral galaxies have plenty of gas and dust and their stars are a mixture of ages, while irregular galaxies are mostly composed of young stars. In other words, the older a galaxy gets, the more elliptical it becomes and the less dusty.

In China, 3 (‘sahn’) has the same sound as ‘alive’ and is therefore regarded as auspicious. Three-digit numbers are also favored for bringing luck.

Alright, now you know that three is an extraordinary number. Don't fool yourself, I know that you're starting to be interested. Hence, keep following this blog!


Glynne-Jones, Tim. 2007. The Book of Numbers. England: Arcturus.

Crescent)))