The Significance of 53: A Metaphor for Unsettling Times

Hmmm, was it just an odd
dream or a message to keep the faith?

I seldom remember my
dreams other than a vague recollection. But one night earlier this week I had a
dream about which I did recall specific details. Being an analytical person, I
was able to connect most aspects of the dream with something in my day to day
life. Most but not all.

The
Dream: I was forced
to find a new place to live on very short notice. I was able to find and secure
a new apartment and move in within the improbable span of time of 48 hours.

Real
Life: Back in March
when COVID-19 hit Canada, things changed rapidly at my place of employment. On
a Friday we were told our offices were remaining open, but we should take our
laptops home just in case. By Sunday, within 48 hours, everything change and we
were told we would be working from home.

The
Dream: The apartment
I rented was unusually large by modern standards and was in an unusual L-shape
with two long, narrow areas.

Real
Life: Our lives have
been contracted into confined spaces during the COVID-19 lockdown and have been
literally bent out of shape. Subconsciously, we long for more room and freedom
to move around and for things to resume their normal pattern or shape.

The
Dream: The entrance
to my new apartment was odd. I had to pass from the hall through a set of doors
into a vestibule which was a work area for the apartment building staff. I then
had to pass through another set of doors to get into my apartment. Every time I
entered that vestibule I was momentarily confused thinking I was in my
apartment.

Real
Life: In this
work-at-home period, our home space and our work space are one and the same
which can be disorienting.

The
Dream: The entire
floor of the apartment building had a wraparound balcony with no dividers.
Everyone’s apartment opened on to this communal balcony.

Real
Life: During the COVID-19
lockdown, we have had to avoid contact with others and are craving more human
interaction.

But here is the odd
thing in the dream. The building manager came to my apartment and told me I
needed to provide extra cheques for $53 per month as I had overlooked a clause
in the lease. 53 is an oddly specific number, but not one I could make any
connection with.

I do not talk about it
much, but I do have a deep faith and a strong church connection. So I turned to
good old Google to see if the number 53 has a spiritual significance.

I stumbled on The Meaning of 53 website which
maintains that 53 is a number of great significance. Why? The number 3
represents the trinity – the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. Certainly
cannot dispute that. The number 5 represents man – by virtue of the fact that
we have two arms, two legs and one head. A bit of a stretch, but it works.

53 itself is an
indivisible number, meaning it cannot be divided equally by any other number. Hence,
the number 53 is said to symbolize that we are indivisible with God.

I am not a religious
scholar, so I cannot speak to the validity of this spiritual interpretation.
But it provides an explanation for that one aspect of the dream that I could
not understand.

53: Indivisibility with
a greater presence. The metaphor provides me with some comfort in the odd and
unsettling time in which we are living. It may or may not work for you – just
putting it out there for what it may be worth.

~  Now Available Online
from Amazon, Chapters Indigo or Barnes & Noble: Hunting Muskie, Rites of
Passage – Stories by Michael Robert Dyet

~ Michael Robert Dyet is also
the author of Until the Deep Water Stills – An Internet-enhanced Novel which
was a double winner in the Reader Views Literary Awards 2009. Visit Michael’s
website at www.mdyetmetaphor.com .

~ Subscribe to Michael’s Metaphors of Life Journal aka Things That Make
Me Go Hmmm at its’ internet home www.mdyetmetaphor.com/blog2 . Instructions for subscribing
are provided in the Subscribe to this Blog: How To instructions page in the
right sidebar. If
you’re reading this post on another social networking site, come back regularly
to my page for postings once a week.