Sean Parker, 3 Tree ☳
(b. 12.3.1979, Herndon, VA): arrested at age 16 for hacking into Fortune 500 companies; co-founded file-sharing service Napster in 1999, first president of Facebook.
In Nine Star Ki, two numbers correspond with Tree: 3 and 4. The overriding image of Tree, of rising energy, exists in both, but each number concerns a different part of the process. 3 Tree imagery concerns the initial stages; of a tree as a young plant, breaking through the earth and seeing the light of day for the first time, of things getting going. 4 Tree images relate with the overall growth of a tree. Parker's profile is especially helpful in demonstrating the former.
The 3 Tree I Ching trigram is called "Thunder". It is comprised of an unbroken horizontal line, yang, rising below two broken lines, yin. The yin lines, correspond with the stillness of earth, while the yang line, introduces movement. Early spring corresponds with this energy, when nature begins a new cycle. In daily life, the earth can provide stability and security, but these qualities can transform into complacency, inertia, laziness, being in a rut, feeling stuck, and taking things for granted, all images of lack of movement, all things we can see in the person with negative Soil energy. The introduction of the yang line is mirrored in nature by the sound of thunder, heralding the advent of spring. It comes as a shock, and has the energy of disruption; it can awaken and refresh.
Profiles of those born in a 3 Tree year demonstrate that this energy is strongest and most effective in the beginning or early stages of things, or at an early age, or in things that deal with youth, or in maintaining a youthful outlook even in senior years. In terms of popular culture, the classic symbol of this energy was Elvis Presley (1.8.1935, Tupelo, MS – 8.16.’77), "the King", who was the most popular figure at the birth of rock and roll, heralding the introduction of loud ("thunder") music. Following him, other figures in popular music brought music and image, that came at the time as a kind of shock: Mick Jagger (b. 7.26.1943, Dartford, Kent, England) and Keith Richards (b. 12.8.1943, Dartford, Kent, England) of the Rolling Stones; George Harrison (2.25.1943, Liverpool, England – 11.29.2001), who introduced Eastern religion and music to a massive Western audience; and the extraordinary guitar work of Jimmy Page (b. 1.9.1944, Heston, Middlesex, England) of Led Zeppelin. More recently we see this energy in Paul Allen (b. 1.21.1953, Seattle, WA) who co-founded Microsoft, and was responsible for much of the original software design, but left due to sickness early on in the history of the company. President Obama (b. 8.4.1961, Honolulu, HI), in addition to becoming the first African-American president, brought something fresh in his approach, and in seeking his first term as president attracted a large youth vote. There is also activist and author of "The Shock Doctrine", Naomi Klein (b. 5.8.1970, Montreal, Quebec, Canada), and courageous young girl, Malala Yousafzai (b. 7.12.1997, Mingora, Swat, Pakistan), who was shot by the Taliban for taking a stand about education for girls in Pakistan.
So who is Sean Parker?
With a Little Help From His Friends, by David Kirkpatrick, Vanity Fair, October 2010
'Within a few short years, Parker went from apprehended 16-year-old hacker—he had managed to break into the computer networks of numerous multi-national corporations and even military databases—to world-class Internet entrepreneur. In 1999 he became rather notorious, at 19, for helping an even younger teenager named Shawn Fanning create Napster. That free song-sharing service upended the music industry. More recently, Parker played an indispensable role as the founding president of Facebook, the mammoth social-networking site where 500 million people now spend 700 billion minutes a month. Had he not joined founder Mark Zuckerberg in Palo Alto in the summer of 2004, when the fledgling Facebook was just five months old, the service almost certainly would not be the colossus it is today.'
The relationship between Parker and Zuckerberg is significant energetically speaking. From my research, when we look at what is known as the magic square in Nine Star Ki, when a number is in the center, the numbers directly above it and below it are the ones that are most likely to connect easily with the central number when talking about people's birth dates. Zuckerberg was born in a 7 Metal year (b. 5.14.1984, White Plains, NY). When 7 is in the center, the numbers 2 and 3 are above and below it respectively. I maintain that a person born in a 7 Metal year is going to find that his/her energy best complements those born in a 2 Soil, or 3 Tree year. On the other hand, when 3 is in the center, 7 and 8 are above and below it respectively; thus people with these numbers are the ones most likely to complement 3 Tree. Thus, energetically speaking, according to this idea, there is a good energy flow between Parker and Zuckerberg. This profile also tells us that one of Parker's closest friends is Sean Lennon; also born in a 7 Metal year (b. 10.9.1975, NYC). In Zuckerberg's case it was most auspicious. While his energy is particularly suited to social networking, but not so much to business, Parker's, as we have seen excels in beginning things, in startups. Put them both together and you have Facebook as it exists today.
A tree grows toward the light
'Parker had already concluded that the most promising way to launch a social network would be within a relatively closed community. College seemed perfect. He trawled the Web site and sent an e-mail to the kid who ran it—Mark Zuckerberg, then a sophomore at Harvard—suggesting that the two of them meet ... Matt Cohler, who joined Thefacebook shortly after Parker, is awed when he thinks about that pivotal e-mail. “Napster and Facebook are two of the most significant companies in the history of the Internet,” he says, “and in both cases Parker spotted them earlier than anyone—other than the people who invented them.”'
'Back then Parker apparently believed even more passionately in the company’s potential than did Zuckerberg himself. Peter Thiel—the billionaire hedge-fund manager and co-founder of PayPal, who became Thefacebook’s first investor—says that around that time “Sean consistently argued that Facebook was going to be really big. If Mark ever had any second thoughts, Sean was the one who cut that off.”
The important part of the first quote is in the last sentence. In his translation of the I Ching, "The Authentic I Ching", Henry Wei describes the Thunder trigram thus: "a strong, dynamic force moving up from under the earth and about to burst through its surface." The important issue is that the plant is at the stage when it is first to see the light, and in terms of a person, the light is the idea, the image, the vision. Secondly, Wei's quote includes this word "burst"; the plant is full of energy that it cannot contain, and that cannot be contained. Earth, which doesn't move much, represents as mentioned in the beginning of this profile, negatively speaking, the status quo, and a situation lacking change. In this sense, 3 Tree energy can be a disruptive energy. Parker and his friends tell us what this energy means in Parker's case:
“I think the best way to describe me is as an archetypal Loki character,” Parker begins, “like Joseph Campbell’s Hero with a Thousand Faces. I’m like the prankster or Puck in mythology. He’s not trying to cause harm, but rather to pull back the veil that masks your conventional, collectively reinforced understanding of society. This renegade thing was very clear at Napster. The point was that the emperor—the content industry—had no clothes.” He hesitates. “This all probably sounds incredibly pretentious and narcissistic.” ... It does. But even as Parker alternates between putting himself down and pumping himself up, he can rely on most of his friends to speak glowingly. Says Peter Thiel, ... Sean is one of the great serial entrepreneurs of his generation, someone who is really changing the world and turning the wheel of history.”
'It is late at night. Parker stretches back on an easy chair and bemoans what he sees as the scarcity, in contemporary culture, of revolutionary thinkers on the level of, say, Jim Morrison [12.8.1943, Melbourne, FL), also 3 Tree and Jack Kerouac “They were capable of folly,” he says, “and willing to take risks in terms of their message. We live in an extremely repressive era, and we fail to realize how repressive it is, because we’re told that all these outlets for rebellion, like listening to rock music, are no longer satanic. Smoking weed—that’s sort of O.K. and acceptable in some circles.” To Parker, the implication is that people in his position have almost an obligation to do what they can with the tools at their disposal—software and the Internet—to free up society through disruptive technology. As he muses, it is clear that he sees entrepreneurship and invention as handmaidens of social transformation.'
'Most of all, he turns his knowledge and instincts toward Internet business strategy as a way, he says, of “re-architecting society. It’s technology, not business or government, that’s the real driving force behind large-scale societal shifts.”'
At limb's length
'This is Parker’s pattern—great idea, work like the devil, then disappear for a while.”
As I see it, a tree's limbs have a dual meaning in terms of the way people born in a Tree year manifest their energy. On the one hand, they reach out, and in some way help others. As I have mentioned often, they tend to get involved in causes, and indeed, in Parker's case, he has a Facebook application that is indeed called "Causes". On the other hand, elusiveness is a common theme in those born in a Tree year. They need their space, and may periodically keep people at a distance.
Sean Parker: Agent Of Disruption, by Steven Bertoni, Forbes, 9/21/2011
‘For all that he has accomplished, Parker remains a hacker at heart, motivated less by money than the drive to disrupt.’
There is a similar image in the hacker in his/her actions, to the plant breaking through the earth and into the light; one is in the dark, and then, in breaking through, there is this light, this expanse of knowledge at one's disposal.
There are a number of quotes in this profile, that I think simply reinforce the ideas presented in the previous profile:
Flighty, manic and unpredictable, Parker grates on investors—he’s been jettisoned from the three companies he helped create, soon after they lifted off. “He’s seen as an unknown quantity, and VCs love for things to be very much in control,” says Facebook cofounder Dustin Moskovitz. But VCs also love big ideas, and Parker has those in spades— LinkedIn founder Reid Hoffman calls him a “big-ass visionary.”
In this quote we see how 3 Tree energy is especially helpful in initiating things, but not necessarily in going further than that. Big-ass visionary? – a tree grows toward the light; we can expect that a Tree nature person is likely to have a good imagination, and the ability to visualize.
“He can see things most people won’t be able to see for a year or two,” says Palihapitiya. As Shervin Pishevar of Menlo Ventures describes it: “Parker has access to trends and signals that are invisible to many people. For him it’s like hearing a dog whistle.” Parker doesn’t disagree: “I find a lot of things relevant that aren’t necessarily relevant to the world when I’m thinking about them.”
'Plaxo was Parker’s first attempt at creating a real company—an online service that aimed to keep your address book up to date. It sounds boring compared to Napster and Facebook, but Plaxo was an early social networking tool and a pioneer of the types of viral tricks that helped grow LinkedIn, Zynga and Facebook. “Plaxo is like the indie band that the public doesn’t know but was really influential with other musicians,” Parker says … Once you downloaded Plaxo, the program would mine your address book and e-mail every contact with a message, coaxing them to sign up for the service. When the next person signed up, the software would pirate the new address book and spread further. Within a short time millions of e-mail accounts had been hit with Plaxo pitches. “In some ways Plaxo is the company I’m most proud of because it was the company that wreaked the most havoc on the world,” says Parker. Those experiences later changed the history of Facebook.'
Two comments on this last quote. First, another aspect of this extension of the limbs, apart from helping others, is in the pitch; it is a good energy for reaching out and doing business. Secondly, we can see in the way that Plaxo worked, something like the branching aspect of a tree where one branch leads to multiple branches, and each one repeats the same pattern.