Cloud 9

Have you ever been to "Cloud 9"? Do you even know where "Cloud 9" is? Just about everyone knows the phrase Cloud 9 referring to a state of happiness and euphoria. But where did it come from? There are actually several theories.

Most people would assume that the phrase came from the 1950's, when B-movie sci-fi was at its height and a general Cloud 9 feeling was sweeping through America since the war had ended. During that time, there was a radio show called the Johnny Dollar Radio Show which had the main character transported to a place called "Cloud 9" when he was knocked unconscious. But the actual phrase had been around since at least the 1930's, but it wasn't always 9. Sometimes it was Cloud 7 or 8, and as high as 39. The most common were 7 and 9. There isn't an exact reason other than 7 has always been looked at as a lucky number, and more recently, there are phrases which use 9 as a means to explain that something is as far as it can go (such as "dressed to the nines" and "the whole nine yeards").

Taking the notion of going as far as you can and mixing it with a cloud might lead us to another explanation. In the US Weather Bureau, a story said that they described the clouds in a numeral fashion, with Level One being the lowest clouds. Level Nine was the highest, which was the peaks of the cumulonimbus clouds. These clouds could reach a whopping 40,000 feet from the ground. To be on Level Nine is to be on top of the clouds.

But of course, there's more possible origins. One of the most interesting and convincing origins of this phrase actually comes from Buddhism. The Mahavastu (a written work of Buddhism) gives ten stages in a being's existence. The ninth stage is when a being reaches a point when all that he does is unselfish and done without any desire. When a being makes it to the tenth stage, he becomes a tathagata, which is "a cloud of dharma". I've seen it mentioned before that the ninth state itself is also referred to as "The Bright Cloud of Great Refuge". The reason this sounds convincing as the origin is because it sounds like someone heard this idea, then decided to simplify it, which made it a part of pop culture history. Martin Luther King Jr. even wrote a paper on this, called "The Chief Characteristics and Doctrines of Mahayana Buddhism".

But if that was the only historical evidence, it wouldn't make this such a mystery. There's another place that refers to a level of nine. Dante's Paradise has ten levels, which the tenth being where the Divine Presence is located, and also being the highest heaven. The ninth level is as high as you can get without actually making it to the tenth. Hence, another Cloud 9, since it's the ninth level of heaven, and in the clouds.

So, where did the phrase "Cloud 9" come from? Here's some theories. The popularity of the phrase gaining traction in the 1950's, and being traced to at least the 1930's can both be clues, but the true answer is most likely lost. It may have come from multiple sources at different times, but either way, it has ended up with just about the same meaning.

Bet you didn't know that!