What is Your Birth Number and Does It Mean Anything?

The answer depends on whether or not you buy into the concept of astrology and numerology.

On a recent perusal of my Facebook news feed, I noticed a friend had shared one of the site's many viral sensations, discovering your "birth number" and how it defines who you are. Now I do have my share of skepticism when it comes to the whole idea that the way the stars align dictates how your day is going to go. Anyone can make general statements that someone else can apply to their own life. But, I am open minded to the idea there are things in this world that science can't explain, and I do admit that on the occasion I scan through a newspaper, I will stop and read my horoscope for that day, mainly because it's on the page before the comic strips.

We humans are a curious bunch; always looking for the answer to the age old questions, "What's the meaning of life?", "What's my place in the world?", etc. When science can't provide those answers, we turn to other avenues. For some it's religion, for others it's astrology or numerology, two studies that have been used by ancient civilizations for thousands of years, and rely on star positions, planet alignments, and everyday numbers to try and find the answers about who we are as individuals.

The concept behind the birth number goes like this; take the date of your birth, which for me is November 7th, 1976 (11/7/1976), and continue to add those numbers together until you get down to one digit. Like this:

11 + 7 +1976 = 1994

1 + 9 + 9 + 4 = 23

2 + 3 = 5

This makes my "Birth Number" 5. Based on the formula, each number, 1-9, supposedly represents the following personality traits, each with it's own meaning:

1. The Originator
2. The Peacemaker
3. The Life of the Party
4. The Conservative
5. The Nonconformist
6. The Romantic
7. The Intellectual
8. The Big Shot
9. The Performer

Having the birth number 5, apparently I'm a "nonconformist", the definition of which, according to AsianFanatics.com is,

5's are the explorers. Their natural curiosity, risk taking, and enthusiasm often land them in hot water. They need diversity, and don't like to be stuck in a rut. The whole world is their school and they see a learning possibility in every situation. The questions never stop. They are well advised to look before they take action and make sure they have all the facts before jumping to conclusions.

Other "Famous 5's", according to the site, include Abraham Lincoln, Charlotte Bronte, Jessica Walter, Vincent VanGogh, Bette Midler, Helen Keller and Mark Hail.

How accurate is the description? Well, that depends on how much you want to allow your mind to buy into the concept. For me, I would agree that to some extent, I do like to explore to a degree. By that I mean, I don't load up a backpack and rough it in the woods for a week to see what Mother Nature has to offer, but more along the lines of wondering how things work. If one of my kids' toys break, I'll grab some tools and start taking it apart to see how it operates and if I can fix it. I guess you could call it "natural curiosity" which, as the description says, can land me in hot water as 99.9% of the time, I end up just making the problem worse.

The one part I take issue with is the idea that I'm some sort of "risk taker". I don't really feel like that's the case. For example, my wife is the "take action first, ask questions later" type, where as I'm more "let's think this through first, make sure our kids are taken care of in the event something goes wrong, and weigh all the possible outcomes before we go to the grocery store" kind of person. More times than not, I'm content with "playing the game" and  "going with flow" so the boat doesn't rock to much, which falls in line with the last sentence of the above description (seems to contradict itself a bit, doesn't it?).

Overall, it seems to be a pretty accurate description of the person I am. Or is it that my mind has allowed itself to be deceived into believing that's who I am? I guess it depends on how badly I'm looking for the answers.