Working from the Edge

I first got to know the number 666 and what it meant in the West in about 2014 when I went to the FaceBook page of some kind of Wellness or Health show in Vancouver. It just happened that I found myself to be the 666th liker of that page. I felt extremely lucky, so I posted a request on their page, asking for free admission for that show, just because I was the 666th person to like that page.

That was when someone pointed out that it was a devil’s number! I was shocked at first, and was embarrassed – that feeling you’d have when you are in a new culture and out of your politeness you said something or did something, and then were told it meant something very rude in that culture.

Regardless, the organizer did decide to give me two free tickets. And I invited my colleague Korë to the show.

It is very interesting how a very lucky number in one culture is considered as the devil’s number in another. I grew up liking it – 666, in Chinese it sounds “liu liu liu”, meaning “smooth”, a desirable number for drivers and people on the road, or journey, which includes everyone.

I looked it up on Wikipedia. It says,

In the Textus Receptus manuscripts of the New Testament, the Book of Revelation (13:17–18) cryptically asserts 666 to be “man’s number” or “the number of a man” (depending on how the text is translated) associated with the Beast, an antagonistic creature that appears briefly about two-thirds into the apocalyptic vision…

In modern popular culture, 666 has become one of the most widely recognized symbols for the Antichrist or, alternatively, the devil. The number 666 is purportedly used to invoke Satan. Earnest references to the number occur both among apocalypticist Christian groups and in explicitly anti-Christian subcultures. References in contemporary Western art or literature are, more likely than not, intentional references to the Beast symbolism. Such popular references are therefore too numerous to list.

It is common to see the symbolic role of the integer 666 transferred to the digit sequence 6-6-6. Some people take the Satanic associations of 666 so seriously that they actively avoid things related to 666 or the digits 6-6-6. This is known as hexakosioihexekontahexaphobia.

Being a hypnotherapist, I assume I can find a way to treat that phobia. However, that person first needs to come up to the 6th floor of my office building in Park Place on 666 Burrard Street.

Why did this largest office building in British Columbia choose to use the address 666 regardless of the negative connotations in Western culture? Another Wikipedia entry for the building says, “The decision was likely motivated by the city’s large population of Chinese Canadians and strong ties to China, especially Hong Kong.”

Park Place Atrium

It’s still quite bold to me though. But the building has been there since 1984. Whatever decision it was, it has worked. When I first walked into the building, I immediately liked it. The quiet stunning five-story-high atrium, the large green space, and the water feature in and out of the atrium… It can be a therapeutic place in the busy downtown core.

Yet every time when I looked at the address, I was still taken aback. It keeps me on edge, kind of like my work. I never know where people’s subconscious minds will take me next. I never know how receptive or resistant the next person will be. And In a deep sense, I am glad that I have located myself here. Whatever biblical history is, there needs to be no fear living our lives. And there is nothing wrong with the alignment of any numbers. I don’t know how you think about number 4, 44, or 444. In Chinese, they are considered to be unlucky numbers. But I like them regardless.

Also, in China, we have this saying, “Believe it, you’ll have it. Believe it not, you won’t find it.”

Like we create statues of “gods” and we bow down and worship them.

Like we create all sorts of thought-forms and beliefs and they turn around controlling us.

Devils are scary, but I don’t know what or who created them. Actually, I’d go as far as to say that the greatest achievement of Satan is that it makes you believe that it exists.

How could a number be evil? Only human beings choose to be good or do evil. If you replace the word “evil” with “ignorance”, that reflects much better than the projection of our own minds.

Kemila Zsange Hypnotherapy in Park Place Downtown Vancouver

I’ve called this small little cute room my new office, ready to challenge any beliefs, and to hold the space for all emotions, to be open, and to be free.

Yesterday as I was scheduling a new client in on the phone and asking her if I should text message her the address, she said, “No need. Who does not remember it? 666 Burrard, Suite 500!”

I laughed. How simple all this is. After all, put it simply, 666 is what comes after 665 and what goes before 667, unless you give it any other meaning, it may truly have no other meaning aside from being an easy-to-remember number.