Juan Villoro
“There are no two without three,” warns an artists’ proverb. When two members of the guild die, the death of a third is expected. Whenever that happens, the proverb proves true.
The first explanation of the world is magical, the second religious, and the third scientific. Civilizations move from enchantment to reason without the mysteries disappearing completely. In our time, algorithms coexist with faith and rabbit’s feet. The reason is simple. Science has a limited horizon because it only explains what it knows; on the other hand, superstition explains what it ignores.
Three high-magnitude earthquakes occurred on September 19. Those of 1985 and 2017 caused dramatic havoc; the one in 2022 was less severe but brought the dread of previous disasters. In a sober statement, the National University of Mexico (UNAM) reported that it was a coincidence without a logical explanation.
Thus, the triple earthquake invites us to exercise magical thinking. If it trembles again on September 19, that will scare us differently. For now, let’s concentrate on the third tremor.
Each number has its own mythology. Mesoamerican peoples and Eastern religions embraced duality and accepted a dialectic of opposites. Since it is not easy to live in a permanent balance between life and death, night and day, masculine and feminine, yin and yang, other cultures added a number to the count. Three represents the most synthetic version of the definitive.
Christianity found its foundation in the Holy Trinity and the art of storytelling in the triad of plot, knot, and outcome. Time is divided into past, present, and future; religions conceive of earth, heaven, and the underworld; living beings are born, grow and die, and humans have three ages… It is no coincidence that fairies grant three wishes instead of two or four.
Is there a more definite number? When someone says “the third time is their last”, they are alluding to the procedural law of the 16th century, which determined death on the third robbery. A different tribunal, which analyzes sainthood projects in the Vatican, requires three miracles to be presented.
Baseball strikes out a batter on the third strike and ends an inning on the third out, wrestling ends on the third fall, and soccer ends when the umpire blows his whistle three times. In the theater, the show begins with the third call.
Symbol of the end and the beginning, three is the expected and necessary number: the Olympics award gold, silver, and bronze medals (although titanium is worth a lot, it is not convenient to alter the cipher).
Poseidon, or Neptune, traveled the sea armed with a trident. Other utensils were more appropriate for fishing, but none surpassed it as a baton of command. That mythological fork announced that the powers would be divided into Executive, Legislative, and Judiciary.
Hellenic culture could not do without the Three Graces that procure happiness, and Christianity found three theological virtues, Faith, Hope, and Charity.
No play in the Western canon has unleashed as many superstitions as Macbeth. Those who perform it prefer not to pronounce the title that has led to the death of numerous actors and refer, with respectful dread, to “the Scottish tragedy”. It is rumored that Shakespeare included real spells in it. To make them convincing, he put them in the mouths of three witches. The man who was to be king could not resist the triple oracle that foretold his cruel fortune.
The Three Stooges or the Three Amigos have integrated unmodifiable groups in comedy. It is possible that Columbus’ voyage would have been less attractive with an extra caravel and that certain phrases have become unforgettable for naming three things (such as “Blood, sweat, and tears”). Is there anything worse than suffering the triple revenge that Paquita la del Barrio documents in ” Three times I cheated on you”?
The third place us in space. Earth is “the third rock from the sun” and we live in the third dimension. Mexico has three colors on its flag, was founded by the Trigarante Army, and is represented on the soccer fields by El Tri.
There is no scientific explanation for the September 19 earthquakes. The first two were a tragic coincidence. One was missing to close the account and to quote López Velarde: “we only know one thing: that the world is magical”.
This piece was published in Spanish on September 23, 2022, by Reforma.
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