Ryan
09-05-2002, 05:46 PM
A teacher of mine (also a Vietnam war vet) has a strange attachment to the number seventeen. He never tells us when we ask him what it means, he's a joker, so we figured it was just a joke to him.
However, we asked our chem. teacher what it means, and he said "The number 17 is the number of Zen." My friend said it is kind of odd that he'd have this, because this teacher's a known Catholic. Our Chem. teacher said it took him years to understand what it was (he's a Christian, too) and he said that it has nothing to do with Eastern Philosophy (???). I found myself begging him to tell me what it meant, he refused and said he can't. He told me to meditate about it, etc.
Of course, I don't expect to find the meaning of this over the internet, but is there really a connection between Zen and the number 17, or is my teacher just playing a weird joke on us? Also, would it be wrong (from a Christian standpoint) to meditate to find the answer?
However, we asked our chem. teacher what it means, and he said "The number 17 is the number of Zen." My friend said it is kind of odd that he'd have this, because this teacher's a known Catholic. Our Chem. teacher said it took him years to understand what it was (he's a Christian, too) and he said that it has nothing to do with Eastern Philosophy (???). I found myself begging him to tell me what it meant, he refused and said he can't. He told me to meditate about it, etc.
Of course, I don't expect to find the meaning of this over the internet, but is there really a connection between Zen and the number 17, or is my teacher just playing a weird joke on us? Also, would it be wrong (from a Christian standpoint) to meditate to find the answer?