66 — More than just a number

It’s just a number, couched between 65 and 67, not one of the “big ones” where birthdays are concerned, not yet 70, but certainly no longer 50. Today is little different from yesterday, but today I turn 66. No song today like When I’m 64, but the music—and my life— goes on. Thankfully.

The number itself does conjure up some connections. We had a Pacific 66 gas station near where I grew up in Victoria. A Canadian brand of Phillips 66 this Calgary fossil fuel brand used  the same logo the Pacific 66 brand from about 1960 until 1980.

Who can forget USA Route 66, an unfurling stretch of pavement from Chicago to Los Angeles. U.S. Route 66 or U.S. Highway 66 (US 66 or Route 66) was one of the original highways in the United States Numbered Highway System. It was established on November 11, 1926, with road signs erected the following year.[3] The highway, which became one of the most famous roads in the United States, ran from Chicago, Illinois, through Missouri, Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona before terminating in Santa Monica in Los Angeles County, California, covering a total of 2,448 miles (3,940 km).

Photographers love Route 66 given its remnants of faded ambitions and disillusioned dreams. Abandoned cars, broken neon signs and derelict restaurants and places of various repute all harken back to times of hope and glory. I Would love to make my own trek there except that my appetite for USA travel has diminished in recent years. John Steinbeck immortalized the Route in The Grapes of Wrath.

66 is the path of a people in flight, refugees from dust and shrinking land, from the thunder of tractors and shrinking ownership, from the desert’s slow northward invasion, from the twisting winds that howl up out of Texas, from the floods that bring no richness to the land and steal what little richness is there. From all of these the people are in flight, and they come into 66 from the tributary side roads, from the wagon tracks and the rutted country roads. 66 is the mother road, the road of flight.

So what about the number itself? Does “66” held special meaning or significance in and of itself. In number theory, 66 is a sphenic number (from Greek: σφήνα, ‘wedge’) is a positive integer that is the product of three distinct prime numbers. It is likewise a triangular number that can be illustrated as an equilateral triangle. Most important to me personally is its rendering as a closed meander, which is a self-avoiding closed curve which crosses a given line a number of times. When exiting the shower as I look down towards my toes, this is what I see, daily.

Turning to the metaphysical realm, the number 66 derives part of its meaning from the Millennium. Isaiah 66 describes this idyllic time (and beyond) when Jesus Christ will rule over the earth. Lasting peace will finally come upon Jerusalem and the world’s wealth will flow into her (verses 12 – 13). Additionally, the Hindustani Times advises that the Angel number 66 is a significant and profound message sent by the universe. It serves as a reminder of the importance of balance, love, and nurturing in our lives. This angel number, composed of the double repetition of the base number 6, carries a powerful vibration that resonates with harmony and love.

So you may ask, how do I synthesize the above data with my personal experience? Such an enquiry is the essential challenge for thoughtful seekers after what was once called “the common good.” How do I—and how so each of us—incorporate what is past with our present lived experience. It is said that a person with on sense of history is destined to repeat it. It is likewise said that those with no concern for the future are naïve. I am quite concerned about the forthcoming impact of the climate crisis, of the shifting direction of politics toward the right, not only in N. America. I am concerned about the escalation of violence in urban centres and of the erosion of respect not only online but in civil discourse.

I stand with those who echo similar concerns with no real solution in hand. I like the Prayer of Good Courage by Nadia Bolz-Weber

O God,
you have called your servants
 to ventures of which we cannot see the ending,
by paths as yet untrodden, through perils unknown.

Give us faith to go out with good courage,
not knowing where we go,
but only that your hand is leading us
and your love supporting us,
through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Amen 

May we all find good courage, for ourselves, and for all, this and every year.