Ten

Do you remember the film, “10”? It was released in 1979, starred Dudley Moore, Julie Andrews and Bo Derek, and was a romantic comedy about a Hollywood composer experiencing a mid-life crisis, who becomes completely infatuated with a beautiful young woman at a wedding. The suggestion is that she is the perfect 10. The reality turns out to be quite different.

Do you remember the song, “Perfect 10” by The Beautiful South? It was released in 1998, and compared in its lyrics the stereotypes of being conventionally beautiful with the reality of love, and deep, happy and accepting relationships being far beyond that.

I have become fascinated by the number ten. I wonder why it has become so associated with perfection? Here are some possibilities that I found when I began to look...

It could be because it is the foundation of our number system, and I wonder if that is because we have ten fingers and ten toes, something that has never changed since humans first appeared on Earth. In the book “Ten Little Fingers and Ten Little Toes” by Mem Fox, it is those ten fingers and toes that symbolise our equality and sisterhood, no matter who we are or where we come from. It is familiar, natural and easy to work in tens… it’s perfect.

It could also be because the number ten brings a feeling of both completeness and new beginnings. I think I agree with that. In our number system, for example, the numbers count up, we reach the number nine, and then that place goes back to zero and we roll over to the next place value, which will build itself until it too reaches the number nine and the same happens again. Does that make sense? It’s easier to feel than to describe or to teach; I spent many joyful years teaching in primary schools trying to do just that, and understood it far better for myself as a result. It’s instinctive! It feels neat and tidy and easy and… perfect.

I know I am glad that I did not grow up having to remember all the values and make all the calculations of the old imperial system for measuring. And I am glad that the imperial system was not the one I had to teach. I grew up with the decimal system, which was adopted as the new system in the UK on 15 February 1971 – D-Day. Base 10 is neat and tidy and easy and… perfect.

I’ve also discovered that ten has been valued as a number for a long time. Apparently, in the world of Ancient Greece and Pythagoras, the number 10 was considered sacred because 1+2+3+4=10, and those four numbers represent the point, the line, the plane and the solid in geometry – the building blocks of reality. So, ten was about cosmic order and… perfection.

And, apparently, in numerology, 10 is seen as a “master number of transition”. It reduces to 1 (1+0=1), which represents leadership, beginnings, and creative force, but it carries the added resonance of “0” — potential and spiritual connection. Wow.

Ten just seems to draw us in. Top tens, ten commandments, ten top tips, ten steps, decades, anniversaries; ten feels snug, satisfying, orderly, manageable, safe… perfect.

For me, exploring the number 10 began when I was considering how I might best create a fair, congruent and transparent pricing structure for my small business. Simple and clean. I also wanted to represent my faith in that structure, and so I decided on a ten per cent discount for church and not-for-profit organisations, with the tenth session free for those who commit to a package of ten. Ten was just there… a perfect solution.

For me, ten was already the number of the tithe that is a part of church life. And many years ago, when I first began working for my local church, ten was also a part of our day-to-day language; in the book of Daniel, excellence is associated with wisdom, understanding and capability, a gift from God and something to aspire to, and is expressed as being “ten times better.”

I aspire to be a perfect 10 in my world

and in the things that matter to me.

I will aspire to be a perfect 10 for you too.

And now I know a little more about why.