The Number of the Expression

Name Versus Date of Birth, Revisited

We've already looked at the difference between the date and the name, from the numerology point of view, in the Life Path Number lesson. Let's summarise the main points here:

  1. The name is given by parents while the date of birth usually isn't under human control. These days, when Caesarean section is common, the date of birth can be chosen by a doctor, but still, there are so many factors that influence the choice that from the point of view of the child and its parents, the date of birth is something outside of their control.
  2. The name can be changed, whereas the date of birth cannot. It is common for a married woman in the Western society to take the surname of her husband, and it isn't that unusual for any person to change his or her name on some reason.
  3. Perhaps everyone has more than one name. There is an official full name recorded in birth certificate or passport, and there is a commonly used name which is typically different (Barack Hussein Obama II vs Barack Obama). It isn't uncommon for a person to have a different name between friends or in the family, and there are also nicknames and author's names.
  4. Finally, the date of birth can be unknown, but everyone has at least some name.

So the name is given by parents, but is it selected randomly? From the esoteric point of view, nothing is random in our world. Instead, there are laws and causes that are incomprehensible for a human intellect. The eternal human soul plans its next incarnation, and chooses both the lesson it wants to learn in that life and the resources it is going to use. It also selects the parents who are going to create for it a physical body, and who will play a major role in the first part of the coming life. Then the parents choose a name for the newborn child. Is that name random or arbitrary? Probably not. 

If I attempt to explain rationally what happens when parents give their child a name, I can say that they pick up some vibration that sounds in their subconsciousness, and that vibration somehow guides their choice of the name. How else can we explain that the vibrational, numerological value of a person's name very often strongly resonates with the life and the character of that person?

Let's return to the idea that in each human life there is a goal, or a purpose, and there is also a set of resources (abilities, talents, circumstances of life, etc.) that the incarnated soul can use to achieve its purpose. From the numerology point of view, the purpose of life is strongly associated with the date of birth, whereas the resources given to the person in that life can best of all be understood by studying the person's name. 

Names Big And Small

The official name given at birth is the foundation, the base. You probably don't use it often, if ever, but its potential is always with you. The numerological characteristics of the official full name might not be clearly visible in your life, but you do have them anyway, and you can rely on them. 

On the other hand, there can be a version of your name which is known to only a few very close people. The numerological parameters of that name will only be valid when you are in a company of those people, but they should be clearly visible then. 

The more often a name is being used, the stronger it can be seen in your personality, and in your abilities. 

You might also notice that a certain version of your name, although perfectly valid, does not appeal to you, and you prefer other people not to use it. The reason for this might be a lack of resonance between this particular name and your full official name, or some other important version of your name. We'll discuss how different numbers can match -- or not match -- in a later lesson. 

If we continue the analogy between the name and resources that are available to you in your life, then the full official name is similar to a large warehouse that is available to you somewhere in the base camp. You can always return to that camp and replenish your resources. On the other hand, a version of your name which you use daily is similar to a small number of resources that you carry with you everywhere in your backpack. And the smallest of the names that everyone calls you might be something you carry in your pockets, perhaps. 

The Number of the Expression is the numerological sum of your name, and since there can be many names, you can also have many expression numbers. Some of them can clearly contradict each other. How not to get lost in all these various numbers?

Just think about different events in a person's life. You might find that the same person can have many different faces depending on the situation, and depending on the timeframe in which his or her behaviour is viewed. 

The biggest event is the whole life. If you look at someone's life from afar, you might say: this person is a great scientist, or this is a famous actor. That's one way to view a person.

On the other hand, the scientist might be an avid gardener, while the actor might be a great cook in his free time. Same people but very different faces, very different abilities. 

And here is yet another view: yesterday the scientist spent most of the day in a hospital. He was not a scientist, not a gardener but mostly a patient on that particular day. Does this contradict to all the other things he does or did in his life? No, it doesn't. 

Similarly, with different versions of one's name, and with corresponding to them expression numbers, you just need to keep in mind in which context, in which scope that particular name, and that particular number, is used.