We shouldn't be too surprised that the spiritual side of life has some set numerical characteristics, just like the physical side of the world does. One of the most important numbers to get a handle on is 8, because 8 is the number of sinful toxic emotion-thoughts that regularly attempt to mislead us. These 8 sins (conquered by 8 opposing virtues) are "Not-Self," they are "Mara-mind," perhaps they are actually evil spirits, but just call them collectively "ego" if that's too much for you right now. The traditional "Seven Deadly Sins" came fairly close to the complete truth, but through your own scientific self-observation you can discover and confirm that there are actually exactly 8, and what those 8 are exactly.
Because these stressful thoughts are not really our own thoughts, not our True Selves, being relaxed & authentic is key to overcoming them; our Authentic Selves are naturally relaxed and virtuous, so basically it's just a matter of not clinging to the false self/"ego", the 8 toxic/stressful emotion-thoughts/sins, which are: Fear, Anger/Impatience, Depression, Craving/Rushing, Sloth, Mischievousness, Conceitedness, and Suspiciousness. The opposing virtues to align with are: Courage, Calmness, Hopefulness, Temperance, Liveliness, Righteousness, Humility, and Trust.
The 8 sins are all equally bad, but fear perhaps should be tackled first (here is a comprehensive guidebook on doing that if you're interested: https://ko-fi.com/s/1bea6ef1d3). The 8 sins lead us to violate the Greatest Commandments of Jesus to love God, others and ourselves; they do this by leading us to do the opposite of love, which is abuse. There are 3 forms of abuse: Aggression (the initiation of violence), Deception, and Stealing. There are 13 expressions of those 3 forms, e.g., slandering, crowding and staring are 3 of the expressions of subtle aggression, and snubbing someone is a subtle expression of theft.
Returning to The Octad of Sin, there are 3 main forms of each sin, each main form has 3 subtypes, so there's 9 total forms of each sin, making for 72 total forms of The Octad of Sin, and 72 corresponding Right Thoughts to conquer them, the truth that can set us free from the bondage of sin.
Jesus "sent out the 72 ahead of him" (Luke 10:1), symbolizing the inner work we need to do (affirming and memorizing the 72 Right Thoughts) in order to be prepared for (i.e., aligned with) his arrival in our lives at Kairos Moments, so that the Kairos will be fulfilled, and we will "drink living water," i.e., find deep satisfaction. Jesus also referred to them as 72 colors that produce a white/purified garment:
"The Lord once came to the dye-works of Levi. He took 72 different dyes and threw them into the vat. Then He took all fabrics from it, and they were white. He said, 'Even so the Son of Man works.'" (Philip 54)
Kairos Moments are what Jesus was talking about when he described the Kingdom/Dimension of Heaven, which always manifests in a small/subtle ("like a mustard seed" ), sudden (like "a robber at night"), and brief way (a gate that is only open for one second, or alternatively, a master who only knocks on your door once). There are exactly 12 forms of Kairos Moments (6 for Desire, 6 for Justice) again referred to symbolically by Jesus "sending them out" to help people:
"Jesus called his twelve disciples to him and gave them authority to drive out impure spirits and to heal every disease and sickness." (Matthew 10:1)
&
"Then Jesus called the Twelve to Him and began to send them out two by two, giving them authority over unclean spirits." (Mark 6:7)
So, in conclusion, the numbers 8, 12, & 72 (along with the 13 Violations) should be at the forefront of the mind of a disciple of Jesus because they correspond to critical components of that discipleship.
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The 13 Violations (abusive behaviors to be rebuked calmly and assertively at the 6 Justice Kairos Moments) are:
- Privacy invasion.
- Unnecessary disturbance.
- Crowding/Blocking/Shoving.
- Damaging or neglecting property (including your own body).
- Staring.
- Threatening.
- Slander (verbal or nonverbal).
- Bossing Around/Imposition.
- Reckless Endangering.
- Usurping Control.
- Betrayal/Treachery.
- Deception/Cheating.
- Stealing/Theft/Extortion.
(#1 - #11 are expressions of aggression, #12 is deception, and #13 is stealing; again, these are the 3 main forms of abuse, the three main violations of the Law of Love).
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