Accidental Numerology

Here are some things that I just noticed about the second edition of Out in the Garage, none of which is intentional:

• There are Nine Chapters, and 1-3 go from pages 4-49, 4-6 go from pages 50-102, and 7-9 go from pages 103-164 (i.e. each three chapter chunk is roughly equivalent in length)

• The exact halfway point, pages 84-85, is just over the halfway point of the chapter (pages 80-81), Chapter 5, which is also the central chapter

• Chapter 5 is the chapter where the protagonist, Lance, begins to come back to consciousness

• The first half and second half are nearly the same number of words (the first half, pages 4-84, is just under 23,000 words, and the second half, pages 85-164, is just over)

• The scene which is roughly at the center of the book is one of the most important scenes in the book

As someone who has read quite a few medieval texts, numerology has always fascinated me, but this is completely accidental.  This text, as most people who read this blog regularly know, has taken me about ten years to complete, and has undergone numerous configurations.  Recently, I have finally settled on a non-linear structure, which has brought out the themes and ideas that I have been trying to express all along, particularly the existential aspects, which were originally somewhat buried.  It has really helped me find my focus and get it to a point where I am truly happy with it.

I have no explanation for these patterns, though, and I will be the first to admit that I am a skeptic…  I would like to say that it is coincidence, that it means nothing, but I can’t come to terms with that explanation.  I generally consider myself agnostic, with leanings towards Buddhism, and this weird number system doesn't make me want to reconsider my beliefs or to go back to Christianity, which I was raised to believe, or anything like that—if anything, it makes me want to learn more about Buddhism, since it is my (very basic) understanding of Buddhism, as well as physics (to be honest) that leads me to believe that everything in the universe is connected, and that we are all part of the same life force, and these are ideas that strongly inform the text.

Just doing some quick searching on Buddhist/general numerology has brought up some interesting results about how religions, Buddhism, in particular, symbolically interpret different numbers (i.e. it’s not just Christianity).  This is something I will have to read more about.  I am not convinced that it means anything concerning my novel, but, if anything, it does make my novel more interesting (to me, at least).  I have no plans of changing it, further developing it, or highlighting it any more than I have here, but I will definitely be "meditating" on it, so to speak.