The unforgettable Saint-Exupéry’s character, the Little Prince, brought countless wise thoughts into our world.

In one of his statements, he tells us that grown-ups love figures.

“When we talk to them about a new friend, they never ask questions about essential matters. They never say to you: How does his voice sound like? What games does he prefer? Does he collect butterflies?

They ask you: How old is he? How many brothers does he have? How much does he weigh? How much money does his father earn?

It is only then that they feel they know him.” – He goes.

Exupéry invites us to rediscover what is good about being a child, to rediscover naivety and the essence of the things in life.

And when he speaks, in his ingenuity, about people and figures, he calls our attention to something very serious: figures can become a bad habit.

We usually associate time to numbers.

We forget that numbers are something we attributed to the measurement of time, that it is just a convention, and we end up being slaves of these conventions.

Much time; little time; there is no time; spare time.

60 seconds; 60 minutes; 24 hours; 365 days – these numbers seem to hunt us.

They are in our dreams, nightmares, and in our biggest urgencies.

We forget that time is an opportunity, it is a succession of experiences and facts, and that we should make the best of it, having in mind our spiritual growth.

15 years old; 30 years; forties, sixties; third age – they are all labels we created, and it truly does not correspond to our true age, the age of our souls.

The age of our souls is not related to the time of the figures, but it is associated to disposition, mood, high spirits and courage.

We get thrilled when we hear about people who are 90 and are going to learn to read, and they say they feel fulfilled, feeling younger than ever!

It is not just gibberish, they are young indeed. The age of the body can be disguised; the age of the soul can never do that.

How can we evaluate or judge people based on the amount of digits showed in their payment slip? Or based on the clothes they can afford to buy, the trips they can make, or the year of their car?

Speaking like that, it does sound absurd, an exaggeration, but this is really the way some people act relating to figures and the judgment they make about others.

Many have numbers as their main objective: the numbers in a scale; the numbers of the lottery; number of clients; figures in the sales objectives, etc.

They still have not found out that the true world is not made of numbers, that the highest goals in life, the most valuable acquisitions will never be measured this way.

It is time to know the others for what they are, and not for what numbers can count.

*   *   *

Numbers will never measure happiness. Figures will never be able to measure joy. They will never weigh out love.

However, if in this world we cannot escape from numbers, let us think about these ones:

How many times do we smile in a day?

For how long have we not said that we love someone? Not the “I love you!” from the soap operas, but the one said and felt from every bit of our souls.

How many seconds does an embrace last?

What is the date you have chosen to give up a bad habit, to free yourself from something that made a slave of you?

How many days until you start to be happy?

Text written by the Spiritist Moment Team based on the book “The Little Prince” from the book “Felicidade, amor e amizade – a sabedoria de Antoine de Saint-Exupéry.” Publishing House: Sextante. Translated by Huei Lin Allegretti.