11:11

11:11 is a topic that’s been on my “to write” list for years. I’ve gotten numerous requests from people to write something about it. But until recently I never felt that the timing was right.

11:11 tends to be discussed mainly in private, among people who are already familiar with it or those who are just awakening to it. I haven’t seen much written about it online, at least not with the level of depth and clarity that really rings true for me. A few people, including Uri Geller, have spoken about it, but most of the material on 11:11 tends to be fairly obscure.

I’ve had a small 11:11 in the lower right corner of my website for years. It’s there mainly as a nod to people who already know what it means. I suspect most people never notice it. When people email me to ask me what it means, I usually tell them that if they don’t already know, they can safely ignore it. To those who do know what it means, it serves as a type of identifier and can spawn some interesting interactions.

What Is 11:11?

There are many levels on which to explain 11:11. I’ll start with the most basic physically observable level and move up from there. This will take a bit of explaining.

11 is a number of course, and 11:11 is a time on a clock. Some very small percentage of people will begin to encounter 11:11 as well as the number 11 more often than chance would indicate — so much more often that you may think you’re in the midst of some crazy conspiracy once you begin to notice it.

If you’ve seen the Jim Carey movie The Number 23, there’s a similar concept behind it, although that movie is far removed from the actual experience. You may indeed think you’re going a bit nuts at first, but that will eventually pass, and soon you’ll be lead to some fascinating new insights about reality.

Numerologically speaking, you can take any number that appears in your life and sum up the digits. If you end up with a number greater than 11, keep re-summing the digits until you’re at 11 or less.

For example, my ZIP code is 89138.

8 + 9 + 1 + 3 + 8 = 29, and 2 + 9 = 11.

My previous ZIP code was 89129

8 + 9 + 1 + 2 + 9 = 29, and 2 + 9 = 11.

My phone number also sums to 11, and it works with or without the area code.

The fascinating thing about 11:11 is that it runs backwards and forwards through one’s life. So when you first start noticing the 11s in your life, you’ll find they run through your past as well as your present and future.

When I was first exposed to this idea, I thought I was going nuts because it seemed that my whole life was infested with these hidden 11s.

My awareness of this phenomenon began in early 1994, shortly before I met Erin. I started noticing hidden 11s everywhere. I lived in apartment 119. My first retail computer games was published at this time, and the digits of the game’s bar code game summed to 29. I owned 92 CDs, and my favorite music group had 11 albums. My previous four phone numbers summed to 11. The model # of my wrist watch was 5600, and my TV’s model # was 2720. My computer’s hard drive was 245 megs in size, but I got 380 with compression software.

In addition to the numbers, you’ll see the time 11:11 on the clock disturbingly often. Sometimes I will suddenly look up at a clock and notice this time twice a day for several days in a row. It’s rare that more than a few days go by without my noticing an 11:11 on a clock somewhere.

In fact, I just went to the kitchen to grab a snack while writing this article, and there was 11:11am winking at me from the clock on the microwave.

My daughter Emily was actually born at 11:11pm. That’s a hard one to ignore.

A Backdoor Virus

Now any good skeptic will stop at this point and say that this is simply the result of self-suggestion. You get the belief stuck in your head that you’ll see more 11s, so your reticular activating system begins finding them in your environment and bringing them to your conscious attention. There will seem to be more 11s simply because you’re noticing the existing 11s more often. You may be creating some of those 11s unknowingly, and you may also be subconsciously pre-selecting the right numbers to check.

These logical explanations are perfectly fine. They’re nice and neat and tidy. You can certainly claim that I was subconsciously noticing more 11s because that’s what I expected to see. I’m not going to argue that point because it turns out that it doesn’t matter. In fact, I’ll go so far as to concede that point; as it turns out, this is precisely how reality must work if you’re a skeptic.

You see… it’s part of the nature of reality that anything you experience is automatically projected within the framework of your belief system. So if you’re a hard-nosed skeptic, the 11:11 phenomenon must still be validly explainable according to your current beliefs. It cannot violate your beliefs, for that would violate the cosmic principle of free will. The universe cannot show you anything which you’ve intentionally chosen to block from your reality.

Skeptics have plenty of ways to explain my 11:11 experiences, and from the skeptic’s perspective, all of those explanations will seem valid. And indeed, they are valid from within the skeptic’s reference frame. They cannot be otherwise.

That’s one reason why 11:11 is such an interesting phenomenon. Because it works in the realm of improbable but not impossible events (as viewed through an objective lens), it’s able to sneak past the filters that would ordinarily prevent it from reaching your reality at all.

There are many phenomena which an objective belief system will block completely, meaning that there are events in space-time that people with objective beliefs systems will never, ever perceive because their beliefs will block such events 100%. It’s like trying to perceive the color blue while peering through red lenses. However, due to its probabilistic nature, 11:11 is able to get around these filters. Why? Because it always leaves you the out of claiming it was luck, chance, coincidence, or the result of auto-suggestion or hypnosis.

This is why 11:11 is such an insidious doorway. It’s reality’s way of inserting a thought virus through a backdoor into an objective belief system. Once this virus takes root, it begins to dismantle limiting objective beliefs, gradually supplanting them with a more accurate model of reality.

11:11’s purpose is positive, although it may not seem that way when it first takes hold. It’s purpose is ultimately to destroy your belief in a physically grounded objectified reality. This makes it possible for you to discover and perceive more accurate ways of viewing reality.

You can do your best to explain away the surging 11s any way you like. You can cage those experiences in a vault of hard logic. But once you’ve been infected, it’s only a matter of time before your old beliefs begin to crack.

Week after week and month after month, the 11s keep coming. You keep noticing 11:11 on the clock. It’s like you’re being stalked by the number 11 and just can’t shake it. Your logical explanations don’t stop the phenomenon from arising.

Permit yourself a few months, maybe a few years of this, and eventually you’ll reach the point where you’ve had enough. What will you do when five years have passed, and these 11s as well as 11:11 keep popping up all over your environment like a broken record? Will you keep reminding yourself of all the logical reasons such events continue to arise within your otherwise neat and tidy objective universe?

The more you try to disregard and ignore the 11s, the stronger they become. They practically demand your attention.

The 11s are like a pesky ghost that keeps making its presence known. Turning your back on the ghost only makes it more persistent in trying to get your attention. You can deny the ghost’s existence. You can try to explain it away. You can convince yourself that it’s just your imagination and that you’re creating it. Yet no matter how you try to frame it, the ghost persists.

Eventually you’ll break. At some point you’ll turn and face the ghost and ask it what it wants and why it keeps bugging you so incessantly. The sooner you do this, the better.

The Blue Pill vs. the Red Pill

11:11 basically acts like a glitch in the matrix of reality. Explaining it via the reticular activating system may give you some solace at first, but given enough time, that answer will eventually prove unsatisfying.

This leaves you a couple of options.

Option 1 is to conclude that you’re perpetually broken and that you’ve been infected with this stupid mental virus that keeps filtering your reality in a very peculiar way.

Option 2 is to consider that perhaps reality itself doesn’t work the way you previously expected, and maybe — just maybe — these 11s are coming up for a reason that you simply don’t comprehend yet.

Option 1 is the blue pill. Option 2 is the red one.

Most people do their best to stick with the blue pill. They may cling to that pill their entire lives. But many will eventually swallow the red pill and see where it leads.

I took the red pill. And I’d like to give you a glimpse into where it leads.

A Glitch in the Matrix

My initial response to all those 11s was to exclaim, Reality just can’t work this way. It’s simply not possible. But then I asked myself, What if it is possible? And what if there’s some kind of intelligence behind it? What if something else is creating all these 11s in my reality, as a way of trying to get my attention?

The continued recurrence of these 11s serves as a constant wake-up call. The 11s make it difficult to keep doing business as usual. Every time you think you have life figured out, the 11s surge again to remind you that you’re missing something.

Eventually you conclude that your current understanding of reality must in fact be broken. It becomes clear that many of your assumptions about the nature of the universe were wrong. Reality just doesn’t work the way you thought it did. You’re stuck clinging to a broken model, but you don’t yet have anything solid to replace it with.

Losing your grip on reality can be a frustrating experience to say the least. In truth you aren’t losing your grip on reality though. You’re simply letting go of false assumptions. This will have the positive effect of opening your mind to new possibilities.

This will likely be a tumultuous time. You may start to feel disconnected and confused. The best thing you can do is to try to relax and flow with it. I wish I could tell you this process will resolve quickly, but the truth is that it can take years. Part of the problem is that other forces, such as your old social conditioning, will keep pulling you back down, trying to convince you that the old model is still salvageable.

11:11 is a specific frequency of awakening, but there are many others. Some are other recurring number patterns like 111, 1234, or 444. Others are non-numerical events. But the underlying pattern is the same. You experience these events as a repeating glitch in the matrix of reality. When such events occur, they jolt you to a higher level of awareness. You may react with surprise, laughter, or silent recognition as they continue to occur. Eventually you’ll learn to observe such events with gratitude.

Intending to See

When you feel ready, the next step is to ask to see the truth about reality. You have to intend this consciously, or it won’t happen. Say to yourself, I can see that my old model of reality is broken. I now ask to be shown what I’ve been missing. Let me begin to see reality as it truly is. Let my beliefs accurately reflect the true nature of reality.

Form this intention with your thoughts, but feel it as well. You must really want it. You must desire to see the truth about reality as strongly as a drowning man desires his next breath. If you don’t really want to see the truth, nothing will change.

This isn’t a decision to be taken lightly. The truth about reality is very different from what’s taught in mainstream society. It can be very unsettling to see your old notions of reality destroyed, even when you know they’re inaccurate. Most people would rather cling to the familiar than see their lives turned inside-out by such an immense shift in their beliefs.

Unfortunately, this is a journey that must be taken alone. It’s a decision you must make of your own free will. No one can force you into it. 11:11 may crack open the door, but you must willingly choose to walk through it.

There is no point in asking for proof of what lies through this doorway because proof-seeking is an artifact of an objective belief system. This is a choice you must make freely, and proof cannot be provided because that would influence your choice. If you request proof, you will be shown something inconclusive every time. As long as you linger in the doorway, you can never see proof of what lies beyond it. If you were provided such proof, it would violate your freedom to choose your beliefs, and that’s a huge cosmic no-no.

There is a cosmic law which states that your reality must remain congruent with your beliefs. If you choose to maintain your old beliefs, you cannot be shown anything that would violate them. However, once you shed the old beliefs and embrace new ones, the proof you originally sought will be readily forthcoming.

When you consciously ask to see reality accurately, some amazing things will begin to occur, gently at first, then with increasing strength and presence.

Synchronicities

The first change is that you’ll begin to see a surge in synchronicities in your life, more than you’ve even seen before. Highly unlikely coincidences will begin to occur with increasing frequency. This is a gentle way of helping you shed your old beliefs. Instead of immediately destroying your old reality, it begins to crack gradually. This happens by introducing increasingly improbable, but not objectively impossible, events and circumstances into your life.

If you entered through the 11:11 doorway, many of these synchronicities will be connected with the number 11 or the time 11:11, especially in the beginning. At this point you can regard the 11s as sign posts to follow.

For example, whenever you look up and see 11:11 on the clock, take note of the thought you were holding at the moment you noticed the 11:11. The 11:11 is indicating that your thought is aligned with truth. For example, if you were considering an idea, that would be a good and productive idea to act on.

If you look up and see 11:10, it means you’re getting ahead of yourself. The thought you were holding may be good, but the timing isn’t right yet. It would be premature to implement your idea at this time.

If you look up and see 11:12, it means you’re falling behind. The thought you had was good, but the timing is a little late. Other energies related to your idea are already in motion, so you’ll need to move quickly in order to avoid missing the boat.

These synchronicities will begin to serve as a powerful guidance system for you. They act as a two-way communication channel between yourself and the universe.

You aren’t limited to merely using these three times. You can request whatever structures you desire, as long as they’re consistent with your current belief system. If your beliefs are still very objective, then looking up and noticing a particular time is a good signal. It’s one that can fit your belief structure. And you can use it again and again.

However, if you request a signal to see a human being flying through the air as confirmation, that wouldn’t work because your beliefs will usually block that kind of signal.

When you want to open a two-way communication channel with universal intelligence, it’s good to start with simple synchronicities like times on a clock. Think of this as a reasonable baby step. Eventually you’ll be able to enjoy higher bandwidth communication, but simple synchronicities are a good place to start. You may be at this level for several years before you feel comfortable moving beyond it.

At first the synchronicities you experience may seem random and unpredictable, but eventually you’ll be able to create them intentionally. When you hold a strong intention and then release it, the initial reflection will usually occur in the form of synchronicities. Follow that trail wherever it leads.

For example, if you put out the intention to explore a new hobby, like getting into public speaking, and later that same day, a friend invites you to attend a Toastmasters meeting as a guest, and then you notice the time on the clock is 11:11, by all means attend that meeting. This is confirmation that your intention is in the process of manifesting.

11:11 is a doorway (one of many) to a new level of existence. It is the introductory chapter to a greater understanding of reality. Instead of going through life as a hapless victim, 11:11 shows you how to begin creating your reality. There are countless lessons to be learned along the way, far more than I could summarize in a single article (or even a book), but walking through the 11:11 doorway is an amazing step to take.

Final Thoughts

One of the reasons I hesitated to write this article is that it’s likely to be read by a lot of people. Just by reading this article, many of those people will begin to experience the 11:11 phenomenon. Since that is a pretty huge deal, I didn’t want to publicly share anything on this topic until I got a clear indication that the timing was right.

Earlier this year I began to sense that the time to write about 11:11 was drawing near, so I asked for confirmation. While pondering how to write such an article, I looked up at the clock and saw 11:11. Later that day someone emailed me to ask about the 11:11 in the corner of my website (an event that usually happens less than once a month). Then I noticed someone in the forums had started a discussion thread about 11:11. Still on the same day, I got an out-of-the-blue email from someone with 11:11 magazine, a publication I didn’t even know existed. They were interested in having me write an article for them. Nice touch.

I put the article on my active to-do list yesterday, followed by a question mark. The question mark was there as my way of asking, “Are you sure? Is this really the right time to post such an article?” Shortly thereafter the mail arrives, and I receive a sample issue of 11:11 magazine. The cover of the magazine says in bold yellow letters, “Say YES!” Okay! Okay! I’ll write the article already. 🙂

If you do start seeing 11:11 all over the place, you’re in for quite a wild ride. For me this journey began 15 years ago, and there’s no end in sight.

I apologize in advance if this ends up breaking your reality. If that happens, you’ll probably want to kill me in a month, question me in a year, and hug me in a decade. I’ll hold out for the hug. 🙂