Hope this is not too long for a forum post. Please slap my wrists if it is.
Anyway! This to my mind is a most startling coincidence. Please feel free to post your own.
Mrs Snakeoil and I have just returned from a short break in Cornwall where at night we drank too much. But as well as being a lush, I am also a keen white water and sea kayaker. So during the day I spent my time reacquainting myself with the Atlantic surf. On our last day we were blessed with particularly well formed waves, and I got some real long rides. This left me with a lasting buzz, which fired my mind as I drove home. While we travelled I was looking forward to getting back home to do some writing and also going over the last effort I had posted on here.
Seventy miles from our present home, the motorway passes close to a town which was home to us for a while and which was where I lived during the time I set my last story (The Day They Stole My Wife)
As I drove, I thought about the pub we used to drink at during that time, and of the two people who were the basis for two characters in my story. I asked my wife if she thought we should pull off the motorway and drive to have a look at our old haunt. Only a ten minute drive from the motorway exit. I had not been back for over thirty years. I know the inside would have changed, but there was always a chance it would be the same. Some of our local pubs have not had a refit in all that length of time. My wife declined to revisit and said you should never go back, so I carried on driving.
As I drove, I became immersed in memories of one particularly sexually intense summer; a time when we would visit the pub in question regularly. I was calling up the songs that would play on the jukebox. I particularly recalled an ELO track that seemed to sum up the whole feel of that time. I was visualising in my head the LP it was on, but could not recall the actual title, although I could hear it in my head. I must say now, I am not a lover of ELO.
At that particular time the radio was tuned into Radio One, which is a UK national station. Throughout the trip the channel had changed automatically as we moved from one transmitter area to another; One time it might be Radio One or Two, next some local station.
At the very moment I was trying to recall the title of the ELO song, the radio frequency changed to the local station, and… I think you know where this is going… it was playing the very song I was thinking of. At that moment, travelling at 70mph, I was lucky not to plough throught the central barrier and die in a tangled-metal-petrol-pyre on the oncoming carriageway.
Oh, and in case you did not get it first time; the radio changed stations all by itself, to one where the song I was thinking about was actually playing. GULP!
When I had regained my composure I told my partner the train of thoughts I had just had. She said I see too much into things. Was she right? When is a coincidence not a coincidence?
I particularly enjoy the opening sequence of the film Magnolia. It is available on YouTube, if anyone has a mind to watch the first ten minutes. The opening sequence concludes with the following monologue from the narrator.
And it is in the humble opinion
of this narrator...
that this is not just
"something that happened."
This cannot be
"one of those things."
This, please, cannot be that.
And for what
I would like to say, I can't.
This was not just
a matter of chance.
These strange things
happen all the time.
In this big game
that we play, life...
it's not what you hope for
or deserve...
it's what you take.
I'm Frank T.J. Mackey,
a master of the muffin...
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Coincidences: when do they stop being coincidences or just one of those things?
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When I had regained my composure I told my partner the train of thoughts I had just had. She said I see too much into things. Was she right? When is a coincidence not a coincidence?
She's right. What do you want it to be? Some kind of supernatural occurence that the forces were telling you to go back and revisit your past? It was ghosts? oooh spooky?
I don't believe in things like that. So it kind of strikes me as funny. But, to each his own. Plus you had said as you travel in and out of radio ranges, the songs should change as well.
Active Ink Slinger
I have strange things happen from time to time, like you think of a song and it comes on. Déjà vu and dreams... that’s been happening since I was a little kid, it’s totally random, I don’t gain anything from it. I just chalk it up to something that happens… coincidence.
Algol
Hi Chefkathleen, thanks for taking the time to respond.
I was thinking more along the lines of Jung's theory of Synchronicity, where meaningful events arise with no ostensible reason. The title of his essay was Synchronicity, an acausal connection. It has always seemed to me that these meaningful occurrences occur when we are deeply immersed in some project. Have you never come across authors who mention the library fairy. People who are involved in research often find the relevant information arriving at the most opportune moments. One author, I forget who, tells of researching his subject and having a book fall from a shelf and land open on the relevant page.
I can offer no theory of why they come about, and yeah, I am aware of the monkeys typing into infinity...blah! blah! blah!
I just like to stand back and marvel for a few hours when special convergances come along.
P.S. you should really watch the clip from Magnolia. Type in Magnolia Opening Sequence. The three stories recounted are supposedly factual.
I was thinking more along the lines of Jung's theory of Synchronicity, where meaningful events arise with no ostensible reason. The title of his essay was Synchronicity, an acausal connection. It has always seemed to me that these meaningful occurrences occur when we are deeply immersed in some project. Have you never come across authors who mention the library fairy. People who are involved in research often find the relevant information arriving at the most opportune moments. One author, I forget who, tells of researching his subject and having a book fall from a shelf and land open on the relevant page.
I can offer no theory of why they come about, and yeah, I am aware of the monkeys typing into infinity...blah! blah! blah!
I just like to stand back and marvel for a few hours when special convergances come along.
P.S. you should really watch the clip from Magnolia. Type in Magnolia Opening Sequence. The three stories recounted are supposedly factual.
Wild at Heart
The beginning of magnolia is one of my favorite scenes ever.
I dont believe anything supernatural about it but it is eerie when things like this happen. When a coincidence is so great that you feel if you rewound time and played the same chain of events over again the outcome couldn't possibly happen in a billion tries.
I dont believe anything supernatural about it but it is eerie when things like this happen. When a coincidence is so great that you feel if you rewound time and played the same chain of events over again the outcome couldn't possibly happen in a billion tries.
Matriarch
Here you go snakeoil.
Warning - violent in places:
Warning - violent in places:
Constant Gardener
Now I'm going to make it a point to watch that movie.
Thanks, you two!
Thanks, you two!
The same GQP demanding we move on from January 6th, 2021 is still doing audits of the November 3rd, 2020 election.
Matriarch
Quote by SnakeOil
Thanks Nicola
How do you do that? Put streaming in your posts, that is.
No problem.
At the bottom of the page is a post reply button (don't use quick reply - which should be removed I feel), and in the reply screen, is a youtube button above the text box. Click that, then insert the embed youtube code where it asks. It's very easy once you know how
The Tom Cruise scene was one of my favourites, so out of character for him. I think he modelled himself on Antony Robbins for the role.
Quote by nicolaQuote by SnakeOil
Thanks Nicola
How do you do that? Put streaming in your posts, that is.
No problem.
At the bottom of the page is a post reply button (don't use quick reply - which should be removed I feel), and in the reply screen, is a youtube button above the text box. Click that, then insert the embed youtube code where it asks. It's very easy once you know how
The Tom Cruise scene was one of my favourites, so out of character for him. I think he modelled himself on Antony Robbins for the role.
I agree. Really not him at all.
Its a few years since I watched the entire film. I'll have to settle down with it again one evening.
I've heard of these Urban Legends for years. I always enjoy them. The more bizarre the better. They've made several movies, I think about some of them.
http://www.snopes.com/horrors/freakish/scuba.asp
http://www.snopes.com/horrors/freakish/opus.asp
http://www.snopes.com/horrors/freakish/scuba.asp
http://www.snopes.com/horrors/freakish/opus.asp
For me, a very fascinating topic.
I believe coincidences are much more than just a coincidence. If you have read James Redfield's "The Celestine Prophecy" ... it's a matter of being tuned in to the guideposts or things that you need to know/find out/experience.
For most of us, not at such a huge scale as the book, but hopefully you understand my meaning.
Throughout my life, when I am "tuned in" - life seems to be easier; someone shows up to help, money arrives, you assist someone easily for mutual benefit, you go to bed thinking "that was a great day". Then, you start taking it for granted, and things become harder, especially when you think/say "why me?" ... then a wake-up occurs, and I work again at being tuned in.
My own little motto is: Destiny is Absolute - any deviations on your path will eventually correct themselves.
Van
x
Active Ink Slinger
I don't think these type of things are random at all. Fate, destiny put whatever label on it you like there are things going on around us all the time we are unaware of. I continuously have these strange coincidences surrounding a certain person they almost seem to draw me to him really weird!
Bunny12
Bunny Rabbits cute and fuzzy they want to love you but they have razor sharp teeth - don't piss them off!
Bunny Rabbits cute and fuzzy they want to love you but they have razor sharp teeth - don't piss them off!
Quote by roccotool
Snake, do you believe in all coincidences, or do you feel there is some kind of karmic influence-flow of the universe- going on? I often wonder about that.
By the way, I'm a big ELO fan.
Oops! Sorry. They're Ok, a little middle of the road for my taste. I do love the song I was trying to recall, though. It was "Strange Magic" from the Album Face The Music
No, I don't think all coincidences have hidden meanings, but I always note the everyday variety; they're just strange. Anomalous. There to be enjoyed.
But the big one's, those that have variables that are so outrageously disconnected, they make me sit up and pay attention.
Here is the definition of Jung's synchronicity, taken from Wiki. A little heavy, but there is no way round the difficulty of the concept. There is a criticism later in the article. I particularly like the quote from from Lewis Carrol at the end.
Jung coined the word to describe what he called "temporally coincident occurrences of acausal events." Jung variously described synchronicity as an "acausal connecting principle", "meaningful coincidence" and "acausal parallelism". Jung introduced the concept as early as the 1920s but only gave a full statement of it in 1951 in an Eranos lecture[2] and in 1952, published a paper, Synchronicity — An Acausal Connecting Principle, in a volume with a related study by the physicist (and Nobel laureate) Wolfgang Pauli.[3]
It was a principle that Jung felt gave conclusive evidence for his concepts of archetypes and the collective unconscious,[4] in that it was descriptive of a governing dynamic that underlies the whole of human experience and history—social, emotional, psychological, and spiritual. Concurrent events that first appear to be coincidental but later turn out to be causally related are termed incoincident.
Jung believed that many experiences that are coincidences due to chance in terms of causality suggested the manifestation of parallel events or circumstances in terms of meaning, reflecting this governing dynamic.[5]
One of Jung's favourite quotes on synchronicity was from Through the Looking-Glass by Lewis Carroll, in which the White Queen says to Alice: "It's a poor sort of memory that only works backwards".[6][7]
Quote by VanGogh
For me, a very fascinating topic.
I believe coincidences are much more than just a coincidence. If you have read James Redfield's "The Celestine Prophecy" ... it's a matter of being tuned in to the guideposts or things that you need to know/find out/experience.
For most of us, not at such a huge scale as the book, but hopefully you understand my meaning.
Throughout my life, when I am "tuned in" - life seems to be easier; someone shows up to help, money arrives, you assist someone easily for mutual benefit, you go to bed thinking "that was a great day". Then, you start taking it for granted, and things become harder, especially when you think/say "why me?" ... then a wake-up occurs, and I work again at being tuned in.
My own little motto is: Destiny is Absolute - any deviations on your path will eventually correct themselves.
Van
x
I like your little motto. It reminds me of that ancient story where some guy is trying to outrun death. One day Ali is about his business in the market place and sees death coming down the street towards him. Filled with fear, he jumps on his horse and heads off to the next town at full pelt. Death asks one of the traders who was just talking to Ali, "Was that Ali Housain, you were talking to?"
"Yes," replies the stall holder, "He suddenly went pale and said he had urgent business in the next town."
On hearing this Death seemed relieved, and said "I was surprised when I saw him here, as I knew I had an appointment with him in two hours time in that very town."
Or something along those lines.
Active Ink Slinger
The fact that I'm alive to day, basically forces me to believe in fate, karma, or some form of supernatural force. When I was 2 years old I snuck away from my parents, and got out on the street. I was hit by a car, and broke my jaw, but did not lose a drop of blood. This made the doctors concerned about internal injuries, and when they checked for them they found cancer, a Wilms Tumour, on my kidney. They removed the damaged kidney, and I've been fine ever since. Would the doctors have found my cancer in time if I had not been hit by a car? I doubt it. And for me, being saved from cancer by a car accident, is too much of a coincidence to not have some higher power making it happen.
The problem is believing in it too much. You start attaching far too much meaning to the simplest of things. Some times things are just a coincidence.
The problem is believing in it too much. You start attaching far too much meaning to the simplest of things. Some times things are just a coincidence.
Active Ink Slinger
I believe in karma
Torture the data long enough and they will confess to anything.
Wild at Heart
Quote by Jebru
The fact that I'm alive to day, basically forces me to believe in fate, karma, or some form of supernatural force. When I was 2 years old I snuck away from my parents, and got out on the street. I was hit by a car, and broke my jaw, but did not lose a drop of blood. This made the doctors concerned about internal injuries, and when they checked for them they found cancer, a Wilms Tumour, on my kidney. They removed the damaged kidney, and I've been fine ever since. Would the doctors have found my cancer in time if I had not been hit by a car? I doubt it. And for me, being saved from cancer by a car accident, is too much of a coincidence to not have some higher power making it happen.
The problem is believing in it too much. You start attaching far too much meaning to the simplest of things. Some times things are just a coincidence.
Thats an incredible story.