What rich questions you ask, and I will try to answer them to the best of my knowledge. Yes it is interesting to see how family names were derived in western culture – and how western culture has found its way into almost every other culture. Most cultures have their own calendars (‘time-tables’) but, because the industrial era came out of the western world, and because industry has taken over the world, the western calendar rules the day, and changes cultures as it goes.

Africa is caught up in the western takeover, too, and there is much conformity going on there. This is sad because wherever old traditions are adhered to, those people do not do too well. The same can be said of the Native American people who were all but wiped out by the influx of Europeans to the Americas. They had no family names either. It was common for them to name their babies after the first thing they saw at the time of birth, such as Sitting Bull, Eagle Feather, Two Rivers, or Running Deer.

It’s not that anything was wrong with the way they named their children, or the way the people of Burundi name theirs. Rather, it boils down to the western flaw of desiring uniformity – sameness – everything alike. Now, in the United States, as well as many parts of Europe, each town looks just like every other town. Fashion is limited and dull. Everyone strives to look the same. Please God, save originality!

Although we can see logically how some family names came into being, i.e. Henry the Horse Shodder became Henry Smith, I think that spiritually, there is more to it than that. Throughout history, we humans have not learned a lot. Look at us! Humanity fights with itself! How stupid is that? And because of all the suffering involved, I think our spiritual essence fragmented, and that is perhaps why reincarnation needs to exist – so that we can eventually learn, evolve and become whole again. It could be that some of the people we are dealing with closely in this lifetime, i.e. family, may indeed be fragments of ourselves, of each other, parts of a whole being who have come back to reconnect. Or, they could be individual souls who have come together to learn something specific, evolve, and become individually whole. Metaphysical speculation can get very deep. Personally, I hope those old traditions – and diversity itself – are able to continue.
With love,
Christine

So, in the case of my father-in-law, when he was in his twenties, the government came around to the people who did not have last names, and asked everyone to choose one (which makes us a “5″ family, by the way). I quite like this name, which actually means “lucky” in our local language.

About twenty years ago, while traveling through Burundi, I was the guest of some black Africans in their home. I discovered that every child in the family had a different last name than each parent. When I inquired as to how this could be, I was told that, “Last names are a European, colonialist invention forced upon us. When we make out a child’s birth certificate, we just choose any last name we want for that child, and everyone in the family has completely different last names because we like it that way.” So, my question is, how would numerology apply to such a family? Would it mean they would not be together to learn as a family, but each person just to learn on his own?

Best regards,
Madame Monet (in the Middle East)
Writing, Painting, Music, and Wine
winewriter.wordpress.com

I hope you will make more practical posts in this vein. As a reader, this is really the kind of post I’ve been hoping for!

Best regards,
Madame Monet (in the Middle East)
Writing, Painting, Music, and Wine
winewriter.wordpress.com