What is it with the number three?
Why do patterns of three appear in so many ways?
Is it mystical, magical, or coincidental?
According to numerology, the number 3 is a whirlwind of expressiveness, joy, and boundless, childlike imagination.
My grandmother, who was not into numerology, firmly believed in patterns of threes. If there were two accidents, she went on alert waiting for the third. Good things can happen in 3s too according to her.
In a recent blog, James Scott Bell discussed how celebrity deaths seem to come in threes. He cited Shannon Doherty, Richard Simmons, and Shelley Duvall who died within days of each other this year. Ed McMahon (Johnny Carson’s sidekick) died, a couple of days later, Farrah Fawcett (Charlie’s Angels star) then Michael Jackson “moonwalked beyond the veil” in 2009.
Psychologists attribute these connections to “confirmation bias.” When we look for something, we “find” it in questionable details.
My grandmother’s superstition came mostly from her mystical Irish heritage, but when you look, you do find patterns of threes everywhere.
Mind, body, spirit
Born, live, die
Hear no evil, speak no evil, see no evil
The Father, Son, and the Holy Ghost
Three Wise Men
Ready, set, go
ID, Ego, Superego
Three wishes
Three strikes and you’re out.
Liquid, ice, vapor
3 months in a climate season
What about stories and movies:
3’s Company (TV Show)
Goldilocks and the Three Bears
Three Blind Mice
Three Little Pigs (or Kittens)
Three Bears
Three Stooges
Three Billy Goats Gruff
Three Coins in the Fountain (Movie)
Or these well-known three-part quotes:
“Citius, Altius, Fortius” (Olympic motto)
“Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness
“wine, women and song”
“truth, justice, and the American way”
“Government of the people, by the people, for the people”
Because Aristotle observed patterns of three, he developed his three-act structure – Beginning, middle, end – for story plotting. Writers use it today. As a reader you may or may not be aware of the structure unless that structure is missing then the story won’t flow.
Writers use the Rule of Three. That’s why sentences like the one in the opening of this blog— Is it mystical, magical, or coincidental? (adjective triplets in phrases) are found.
The smallest number of elements needed to create a pattern is three. Those patterns in turn inform, inspire, or amuse. Watch for patterns of 3. You’ll find one I’m sure.
I have a lot of eighth-note dangly earrings that I wear often. I wore them to the children’s symphony last year and discovered one was missing when I got home.