I am getting close to having a three-year anniversary surviving a near death experience in 2023. Throughout my life I have been exposed to many events and items that have to do with the number of three. Now I am beginning to wonder if my bonus time on earth is coming to an end soon.

I had a dream about a woman that I hadn’t thought about for over 40 years. In that dream she said that our life would have been totally different if we ended up together. This dream bothered me and I did some research and found out that she recently died three days before my eye-opening dream. Coincidence? Or was she cleaning up items in the three-day allotment before she moved on? A question that will never be answered in my lifetime.

I asked AI of some examples, and it came up with the following.

Yes, the number 3—and specifically periods of 3 days—carries profound symbolic meaning across history, religion, mythology, folklore, and culture. It often represents completeness, harmony, transformation, divine perfection, or a transition from one state to another (like death to life, or trial to renewal). This motif appears independently in many traditions worldwide, suggesting it’s a deeply ingrained human archetype.

Here are some notable historical and cultural examples where 3 days (or the number 3 more broadly) holds significant meaning:

In Christianity

• Jesus Christ’s resurrection: According to the New Testament, Jesus was crucified, died, and was buried, then rose from the dead on the third day (e.g., Matthew 12:40, Luke 24:46). This fulfills Old Testament prophecies (like Jonah in the whale for three days and nights) and symbolizes divine completion, victory over death, and new life. The “three days” also ties into ancient Jewish ideas that death was irreversible after three days (due to decomposition), making the resurrection a powerful sign.

In Other Religions and Mythology

• Jonah in the Bible (Old Testament/Hebrew Bible): Jonah spent three days and three nights in the belly of a great fish before being vomited out alive—a story often seen as a foreshadowing of resurrection and deliverance.
• Inanna/Ishtar’s descent (ancient Sumerian/Mesopotamian mythology): The goddess Inanna descended into the underworld, was killed, and hung dead for three days before being revived and ascending— one of the oldest known “dying-and-rising” deity stories, symbolizing seasonal renewal (e.g., fertility cycles).
• Attis (Phrygian and later Greco-Roman mythology): The god Attis died (often self-castrated under a pine tree) and was mourned for three days before rituals of resurrection or rebirth, linked to spring vegetation gods.

Broader Cultural and Symbolic Examples of the Number 3

The number 3 itself is “magical” or sacred in countless traditions, often beyond strict “3 days” but tied to triads and completion:

• Holy Trinity in Christianity: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit—representing divine unity in three persons.
• Trimurti in Hinduism: Brahma (creator), Vishnu (preserver), and Shiva (destroyer)—the three fundamental aspects of the divine.
• Triple Goddess in Celtic and pagan traditions: Maiden, Mother, and Crone—symbolizing life cycles.
• Folklore and storytelling: The “rule of three” appears everywhere—three wishes (e.g., genie stories), three little pigs, Goldilocks and the three bears, three billy goats gruff—creating rhythm, balance, and satisfaction.
• Time and reality: Past, present, future; heaven, earth, underworld; or body, mind, spirit—common triads for wholeness.
• Other cultures: In ancient Pythagorean philosophy, 3 symbolized harmony and wisdom. In some Chinese traditions, 3 relates to life and auspiciousness.

These examples show how 3 (and 3 days specifically) often marks a liminal period of waiting, testing, or transformation before resolution or rebirth. It’s not always literal but carries deep symbolic weight across human history.

All my life I have been inquisitive, and asked many questions about situations, always trying to read between the lines. I speculate that I will be here after my 3-year anniversary continuing doing what I have been doing before the event and show that the number three did not apply this time.

Only time will tell.