To start with, I will attempt to clarify this term. This is the meaning I attribute to the word through the rest of the posts I dedicate to the issue of coincidence.
It is the occurrence of multiple events at the same time. This makes it sound like quite a harmless term which raises the question... Why is coincidence attributed to divinity of predestined road maps for every event in the past, present and future? Because, it seems uncanny that two people should meet at the same place without any plans to do so more than once? Because, a hatrick is awe inspiring? Because you travel half way around the planet to discover another human being who thinks, feels and acts just like you? Because pure rationale is limiting to explain such startling negations of mere chance? So, should we humble humans do what the majority of our magnificent race indulge in... attribute everything seemingly inexplicable to divinity?
So, is there a master plan? Are we mere puppets in the omnipotent hands of destiny? How do we explain certain happenings that seem almost too good or bad to be true?
Let's embark on a short excursion on the paths of our lives. I will not tread as far as the controversial Adam and Eve but to something more relevant and believable like your parents. Somewhere in their individual lives, out of the billions of people on earth and the thousands of people they were acquainted with, they chose each other. On one particular day, a particular sperm cell from you father fused with the ovum of you mother and that managed to find its way back to the uterus and fuse with it marking the beginning of a new life... you. Do you see how narrow the possibility was even for your existence. Had one little link been out of place, you would not exist and I only went as far as your parents. Think about the Big Bang, Dinosaurs, Apes, Evolution, epidemics, wars and numerous other factors and you will feel the full intensity of your very existence. Getting here wasn't easy.
Every day, without realizing it, you have probably evaded death, saved lives, walked past the person you will be spending the rest of your life with after 2 years, probably even shortened somebody's life... who knows?!
So what makes things happen in us and around us? Firstly, human choices. A Chinese businessman might get tired of his bourgeois lifestyle and choose to reduce raw material expenditure in his toys to increase profit. In the US, you choose to buy this particular toy on the shelf of Walmart that you think your child will like. You child likes chewing on the toy more than playing with it. He dies of lead poisoning. It might sound extremely grave but let's face it, it's a possibility. The hundreds of billions of choices, not only your own but also of everyone around you, that have gone into you being where you are is no laughing matter.
The second factor is natural circumstances or quirks of mother nature. Earthquakes, volcanoes, cyclones, a snapped electrical conduit, an oil spill... I don't have to elaborate on this I'm sure.
So the bottom line here is that any occurrence is a melange of choices (everybody's) and natural circumstances (quirks).
What I do not understand is why does tomorrow have to be predestined. Even if one sits down to calculate the probability of an event happening tomorrow, we are walking a tightrope when dealing with the highly complex and uncertain variables involved. The predictions will have to be made considering the likelihood of a natural (uncontrollable and unforeseeable) event happening at a particular time in the future accompanied with a certain choice made not only by you but also by everyone affecting you. The easiest variable to predict would be your choices though even this requires a tremendous amount of insight into human nature and is still not fool proof.
We've definitely come a long way in the science and art of prediction but lets not fool ourselves with the presence of divine interventions. Agreed, we cannot explain certain events of mammoth proportions like the creation of the universe and the genesis of life. But, that is an indicator not of god's infinite powers but our own limited intellect. Whatever makes us think that the human race is the smartest species in the universe! There are definitely realms of knowledge far too complex for our brains as things stand today. I'm not being a cynic but quite blatantly optimistic about human potential. We have come this far and I believe we will get much farther if only we live our lives by our virtues and not our weaknesses.
From coincidences to god... One could ask about what brought about the shift of my flow of thought. Humans try to glamorize their lives. Why? Because they think it isn't significant the way it is. Add some magical presence external to our beings capable of transforming our humble existence into something meaningful and you've caught the attention of the majority. What they don't realize is that we are already magnificent just the way we are. Born free with the virtue of potential for productive endeavor.
I am immediately taken back to what Ayn Rand stood for. "My philosophy", she said, "in essence, is the concept of man as a heroic being, with his own happiness as the moral purpose of his life, with productive achievement as his noblest ability, and reason his only absolute."
So things happen the way they do happen not because there are some unknown designs to your life that were drawn out by this divine entity that many call God but simply because of the intricate interaction of the delicate matrix of choices and natural circumstances that are, within the limitations of my intellect, unpredictable.
Instead of giving meaning to the fact that something happened, it would be more productive in making the most of whatever has happened because it will never happen again. Moments lost are moments lost. Nothing can be done to relive those moments. So if confronted by moments that have seemingly been given to you by divine intervention, try not thinking about what has been written in your destiny. Think instead of what you wish to write on the empty slate of your future.
So the bottom line here is that any occurrence is a melange of choices (everybody's) and natural circumstances (quirks).
What I do not understand is why does tomorrow have to be predestined. Even if one sits down to calculate the probability of an event happening tomorrow, we are walking a tightrope when dealing with the highly complex and uncertain variables involved. The predictions will have to be made considering the likelihood of a natural (uncontrollable and unforeseeable) event happening at a particular time in the future accompanied with a certain choice made not only by you but also by everyone affecting you. The easiest variable to predict would be your choices though even this requires a tremendous amount of insight into human nature and is still not fool proof.
We've definitely come a long way in the science and art of prediction but lets not fool ourselves with the presence of divine interventions. Agreed, we cannot explain certain events of mammoth proportions like the creation of the universe and the genesis of life. But, that is an indicator not of god's infinite powers but our own limited intellect. Whatever makes us think that the human race is the smartest species in the universe! There are definitely realms of knowledge far too complex for our brains as things stand today. I'm not being a cynic but quite blatantly optimistic about human potential. We have come this far and I believe we will get much farther if only we live our lives by our virtues and not our weaknesses.
From coincidences to god... One could ask about what brought about the shift of my flow of thought. Humans try to glamorize their lives. Why? Because they think it isn't significant the way it is. Add some magical presence external to our beings capable of transforming our humble existence into something meaningful and you've caught the attention of the majority. What they don't realize is that we are already magnificent just the way we are. Born free with the virtue of potential for productive endeavor.
I am immediately taken back to what Ayn Rand stood for. "My philosophy", she said, "in essence, is the concept of man as a heroic being, with his own happiness as the moral purpose of his life, with productive achievement as his noblest ability, and reason his only absolute."
So things happen the way they do happen not because there are some unknown designs to your life that were drawn out by this divine entity that many call God but simply because of the intricate interaction of the delicate matrix of choices and natural circumstances that are, within the limitations of my intellect, unpredictable.
Instead of giving meaning to the fact that something happened, it would be more productive in making the most of whatever has happened because it will never happen again. Moments lost are moments lost. Nothing can be done to relive those moments. So if confronted by moments that have seemingly been given to you by divine intervention, try not thinking about what has been written in your destiny. Think instead of what you wish to write on the empty slate of your future.
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