magic numbers

I've been feeling selfish lately, for a couple of reasons which I might explore at another time. I hate feeling like an insular navel-gazer but, as I've said previously, this forum is one for navel-gazing + I think that should be accepted + embraced on some level. Self-involvement seems a paramount pre-requisite of blogging. And I don't think that's all bad. It's good to have a space in which to explore my thoughts, feelings + experiences, + to forge an ongoing connection to myself. Lord knows that there are not enough of those spaces in contemporary life. So how do I make a distinction between self-knowledge or self-reflection + selfishness? I keep coming back to a favourite Anne Morrow Lindbergh quote: I believe that true identity is found... by going into one’s own ground and knowing oneself. A lovely (if slightly 70's) reading, given to me by Annalise, has also been feeding my thinking...

… the number seven was regarded as a magic number in the Hopi mythology, because it represented the seven primary directions, or places, in the Hopi’s world: the north, the south, the east, the west, up into the sky, down into the earth and the place where he stands. It seems that the Hopi understood in the magic seven the paradox that in order to know the universe outside of himself, a man must first know himself, and experience existence in his own body, the house of his spirit, the centre of his consciousness. Without the seventh place, the other six directions have no meaning. The Hopi might look for the north star in order to determine what place he was in, but he must be aware of himself before he can find the north star. The seven becomes a circle always coming back to itself, or infinity, in the sense of endlessly recurring self-awareness. For even as you say “the north, the south, the east, the west, the sky, the earth and where I stand, “ and visualize each place as you say it, you realize that the six directions all flow back to where you stand, yet the very existence of those directions is predicated on your being there in the centre of awareness from the beginning. The seven not only follows the six, but also precedes the one.
… Even as I write these words, I understand how difficult it will be for someone to read them and understand what they really mean… One of the most powerful yet simple images to express what it means to find your centre is this: As a tree grows taller with wider reaching branches it will always grow a thicker trunk and deeper roots. The tree “knows” what to do for stability. Man’s mind, on the other hand, can invent possibilities that are not necessarily good for his body. He may try to reach away from himself without, at the same time, growing deep roots. If we are to learn from nature, as undoubtedly the Hopi did, we must know where it is we are standing at the same time we search for the north star.

From 'Where I Stand' by Beverly Brown
5 Essays On The Dance Of Erick Hawkins, 1973