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The "23 Enigma" refers to the Discordian belief that all incidents and events are directly connected to the number 23, some permutation of the number 23, or a number related to the number 23, given enough ingenuity on the part of the interpreter. Image File history File links Circle-question. ... Discordianism is a modern, chaos-based religion founded in either 1958 or 1959. ... 23 (twenty-three) is the natural number following 22 and preceding 24. ...

About the 23 Enigma

The 23 Enigma can be seen in Robert Anton Wilson and Robert Shea's Illuminatus! trilogy (there called the "23/17 phenomenon"), Wilson's Cosmic Trigger I: The Final Secret of the Illuminati (there called "The Law of 23s" and "The 23 Enigma"), Arthur Koestler's Challenge of Chance, as well as the Principia Discordia. In these works, 23 is considered to be a number which is either lucky, unlucky, sacred to the goddess Eris, sinister, sacred to the unholy gods of the Cthulhu Mythos, or strange. Discordians regard this as a corollary of the Law of Fives. It has been suggested that Timothy F.X. Finnegan be merged into this article or section. ... Robert Joseph Shea (1933 - March 10, 1994) was the co-author (with Robert Anton Wilson) of The Illuminatus! Trilogy. ... The Illuminatus! Trilogy is a series of three novels written by Robert Shea and Robert Anton Wilson primarily between 1969 and 1971. ... Arthur Koestler Arthur Koestler (September 5, 1905, Budapest – March 3, 1983, London) was a Hungarian polymath who became a naturalized British subject. ... The Loompanics Yellow Cover combined 4th & 5th Edition Principia Discordia, (1979). ... The name Eris may refer to: Eris (dwarf planet), the largest known dwarf planet in the solar system (also called 136199 Eris, whose provisional designation was 2003 UB313) Eris (mythology), in Greek mythology the goddess of discord, and the Goddess of Discordianism Eris (spider), a genus of jumping spiders Eris... Cthulhu and Rlyeh Cthulhu Mythos is the term coined by the writer August Derleth to describe the shared elements, characters, settings, and themes in the works of H. P. Lovecraft and associated horror fiction writers. ... Discordianism is a modern, chaos-based religion founded in either 1958 or 1959. ... Discordianism is a modern, chaos-based religion founded in either 1958 or 1959. ...

Like other numbers that have long been linked to unusual coincidences, such as 13 and 17, the 23 Enigma can be seen as an example of apophenia. Skeptics point out the fact that 23, being a fairly low number, occurs often in the media, current events, and daily life, and no more often in conjunction with catastrophe or coincidence than 22 or 24. In interviews, Wilson has acknowledged the self-fulfilling nature of the 23 enigma, implying that the real value of the Laws of Fives and Twenty-threes lies in their demonstration of the mind's power to perceive "truth" in nearly anything. Coincidence literally describes two or more events or entities occupying the same point in space or time, but colloquially means two or more events or entities possessing unexpected parallels, such as thinking about someone and then receiving an unexpected phone call from that person, when it is clear that there... 13 (thirteen) is the natural number following 12 and preceding 14. ... 17 (seventeen) is the natural number following 16 and preceding 18. ... Apophenia is the experience of seeing patterns or connections in random or meaningless data. ...

As a number with which to associate things, 23 has several helpful properties. It is a prime number, and therefore more likely to be associated with coincidences because events associated with composite numbers would be divided by a factor to arrive at it or some other prime. In addition, it enjoys the boon of having the two lowest primes as digits; 2 and 3 are small and therefore can be included in complex calculations that arrive at numbers only remotely related, which can then become coincidental with significant events. Two and three are also the most frequent factors (excluding 1) of a given range of whole numbers. 23 less the numeric base is 13, which has many phobias attached to it. In mathematics, a prime number (or a prime) is a natural number that has exactly two (distinct) natural number divisors, which are 1 and the prime number itself. ...

References in popular culture

Many cultural references to the number 23 are deliberate, made by artists who are aware of the mythical status of the number.

Film

• A German film from 1998 entitled 23 starring August Diehl tells the story of computer hackers coming in contact with secret societies based on the number 23.
• A 2007 film titled The Number 23 starring Jim Carrey is about the subject.
• Jim Carrey named his production company JC23.

Events Rome Greek geographer Strabo publishes Geography, a work covering the world known to the Romans and Greeks at the time of Emperor Augustus - it is the only such book to survive from the ancient world. ... August Diehl (born January 4, 1976, Berlin, Germany) is a German actor. ... 2007 (MMVII) is the current year, a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar and the Anno Domini (common) era. ... 23 (number) For another movie by a similar name, see 23 (film) The Number 23 is a suspense film starring Jim Carrey, Virginia Madsen, and Danny Huston, directed by Joel Schumacher. ... Jim Carrey (born James Eugene Carrey on January 17, 1962) is a Golden Globe-winning Canadian-American film actor. ... Jim Carrey (born James Eugene Carrey on January 17, 1962) is a Golden Globe-winning Canadian-American film actor. ...

Television

• 23 is one in the series of "The Numbers" on the ABC show Lost.
• In the episode Unexpected of the NBC show Heroes, a character's motel room number is 23.
• In the British comedy Spaced the characters live in number 23.
• The CBS show Ghost Whisperer is filmed in Stage 23, which is alleged to be haunted.

Lost is a genre television show and includes a number of mysterious elements that have been ascribed to science fiction or supernatural phenomena. ... Lost is an Emmy and Golden Globe award-winning serial drama television series that follows the lives of a group of plane crash survivors on a mysterious tropical island, somewhere in the South Pacific. ... Unexpected is the sixteenth episode of the NBC drama series Heroes. ... Heroes is an American drama television series, created by Tim Kring, which premiered on NBC on September 25, 2006. ... Ghost Whisperer is an American television drama-fantasy-thriller about a young woman who can communicate with the spirits of the dead. ...

Musical

• Viginti Tres (Latin for twenty three) is a song by progressive rock band Tool.
• In the Gorillaz book "Rise of the Ogre" On the page before the diagram of Murdoc Niccals's 'El Diablo' Bass Guitar there is a segment titled "23 Skiddoo!" This page shows some facts about the number 23 and how it some times appears in the Gorillaz lives and songs. One quote is "It takes 23 swift kicks with a Cuban-heeled shoe to boot the head off a yak."
• The number 23 was widely used by Spiral Tribe, who played an important role in bringing about the British Rave Scene.
• In the mid-eighties, British post-punk group, Psychic TV released 23 live albums on the 23rd of each month for 23 months in recognition of the 23 enigma.

Latin is an ancient Indo-European language originally spoken in Latium, the region immediately surrounding Rome. ... 23 (twenty-three) is the natural number following 22 and preceding 24. ... Tool is an American progressive rock band, formed in 1990 in Los Angeles, California, when drummer Danny Carey joined the rehearsal of his neighbor, singer Maynard James Keenan, guitarist Adam Jones and bassist Paul dAmour, when nobody else would show up [] . His decision proved to be a stroke of... Spiral Tribe was a free party soundsystem which existed in the first half of the 1990s. ... A rave (sometimes referred to as a rave party) is an all-night dance event where DJs and other performers play electronic dance music and rave music. ... Psychic TV (sometimes spelt Psychick TV) or PTV, is primarily an electronic music group that occasionally forays into psychedelic, punk, and experimental music. ...

History

• It is said that Julius Caesar was stabbed 23 times by Roman senators on the 15th March 44BC, that day being referred to as the Ides of March. However some accounts suggest that he was stabbed up to 35 times.

Nature

• The human biorhythm cycle is generally 23 days
• It takes 23 seconds for blood to circulate through the human body
• Geosynchronous orbit occurs at 23,000 miles above Earth's surface.
• The tilt of Earth's axis is roughly 23o accounting for the changing seasons and the procession of the Zodiac
• A human baby recieves 23 chromosomes from each parent
• The 23rd letter of the alphabet is W, a letter whose shape suggests two horns pointing down and three points up
• On a keyboard, W lies directly below the two and three.

See also

• Confirmation bias
• Selection bias
• Synchronicity
• 47 (number)

It has been suggested that Myside bias be merged into this article or section. ... Selection bias is the error of distorting a statistical analysis by pre- or post-selecting the samples. ... Synchronicity is a word that Swiss psychologist Carl Jung used to describe the temporally coincident occurrences of acausal events. ... 47 (forty-seven) is the natural number following 46 and followed by 48. ...

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to:

23

• About 23
• Beckham in his prime number
• 23 Skidoo