Here is an interesting satire of numerology that Kurt Vonnegut employs in his prophetic novel, Hocus Pocus:
The context is that the novel's protagonist is working as a teacher in a prison. Vonnegut has this character explain his teaching methods at one point in the book. Part of that method is described by the character this way:
"I showed them a chart a fundamentalist preacher from downtown Scipio has passed out... I asked them to examine it for examples of facts tailored to fit a thesis.
xxxx"Across the top the chart named the leaders of warring nations during the Finale Rack, during World War II. Then, under each name was the leader's birthdate and how many years he lived and when he took office and how many years he served, and then the total of all those numbers, which in each case turned out to be 3,888.
xxxx"It looked like this:
Churchill | Hitler | Roosevelt | Il Duce | Stalin | Tojo | |
Born | 1874 | 1889 | 1882 | 1883 | 1879 | 1884 |
Age | 70 | 55 | 62 | 61 | 65 | 60 |
Took Office | 1940 | 1933 | 1933 | 1922 | 1924 | 1941 |
Years in Office | 4 | 11 | 11 | 22 | 20 | 3 |
3,888 | 3,888 | 3,888 | 3,888 | 3,888 | 3,888 | |
xxxx"As I say, every column adds up to 3,888.
xxxx"Whoever invented the chart then pointed out that half that number was 1944, the year the war ended, and that the first letters of the names of the war's leaders spelled the name of the Supreme Ruler of the Universe."
Okay. So Vonnegut's character has pointed out that the first letters of the names above = C,H,R,I,S,T
And here’s something Vonnegut's protagonist didn’t point out:
1+9+4+4 adds up to 18, which is three sixes (666) = the number of the Beast.
Isn't that interesting?
Vonnegut's character never tells us if any of the convict students found any "facts tailored to fit a thesis."
