Well-being, religion, philosophy, love, relationships, thinking, perception, or what about life, immortality, eternity, hope, fear? Some great things have been written about each of these so what could I actually add that would be of value? Something that isn’t redundant? Something that maybe connected dots? Or maybe identified what the dots were? What exactly is a dot? Does it need to be connected or can it thrive solo? Do all things need to be connected in order to thrive? What is the definition of thrive? How about the word “value” – who determines if “it” is valued or of value?
I appreciate the process of connecting dots and seeing the connections across a body of information. I don’t believe in the so-called meaningful coincidence since I believe that God is almighty and thereby there can be no coincidence. Does that make sense? Is the implication accurate and true? Does the removal of coincidence, significant or not, imply a fate for every being that is not based on the individual’s values, principles and freewill? If so then it cannot be accurate because God did not create certain individuals to be fodder in the lake of fire. I guess this would stumble into the idea of a permissive will of God which is real but does not rule out or against “coincidence” so this then is a question: Since God is almighty, is there such a “thing” in the realm & experiences of human beings as coincidence?
Dictionary.com defines coincidence as: “a striking occurrence of two or more events at one time apparently by mere chance;the condition or fact of coinciding. Coincide as 1. to occupy the same place in space, the same point or period in time, or the same relative position: The centers of concentric circles coincide. Our vacations coincided this year. 2. to correspond exactly, as in nature, character, etc.: His vocation coincides with his avocation. 3. to agree or concur, as in thought or opinion: Their opinions always coincide.”
I agree with definition but building on the coincidence definition I would state it as a striking occurrence of two or more events at one time apparently by mere chance that are of significance to the receiver/noticer. It’s those last eight words that are required for a meaningful coincidence to be such a thing which brings me back to the idea of is the striking occurrence of two or more events at one time an act or result of an omnipotent, omnipresent and omniscient God, schemes of a lesser deity (ex. Satan), or simply and nothing more than chance?
Providence is defined by Dictionary.com as by as when considered by “God, especially when conceived as omnisciently directing the universe and the affairs of humankind with wise benevolence; a manifestation of divine care or direction.”
Could it be that what we consider as coincidence is actually the effective result of planning by God or lesser deity in all circumstances so that there is really no such thing as a coincidence? What we consider a coincidence is because we have not actively considered all possibilities nor set things into motion that would provide for the best conclusion which would be an end which is agreement with our will? Put another way, because we do not spend the time and resources to consider every action, inaction and event we will have the opportunity to encounter – PLUS – the inability to secretively/quietly influence others without them knowing they are being influenced– PLUS – the lack of thousands of years of experience with human beings on a personal level – PLUS – not knowing or understanding the history of every race or culture along with its dogma, religion and values – THEN – what we happen to notice as a coincidence is incorrectly identified as such and is really a logical and planned result of God or a lesser deity.
If the above is true, does it necessitate that all events/happenings we identify as coincidence are actually not of chance at all? God told Israel not to play games of chance because it approached upon His providence. If that is to be interpreted that all games of chance are not actually chance then I think it implies that coincidences are not by chance but are events that we perceive as chance occurrences only because of our lack of knowledge about events/happenings preceding the “coincidence”. Many of the games we label as chance are probably misidentified happenings of laws of action and reaction that we don’t have the knowledge to understand. For example, flipping of a coin – it is quite possible that what is involved is the playing out of an equation in which the weight and size of the coin, facing a certain way, flipped a specific number of times, in a specific rotation, in an environment of X temp and humidity will always result in a X finding (tails or heads). So the end result seems chance by us because we do not consider the variables or how to quantify them so they can be measured thereby telling the participant the sure end result. We could consider the same with rolling dice. Another good example is the difference from someone playing pool with skill and a novice. The end results can be predicted by the skilled player where the novice will surely just happen to get some balls into the pockets by “accident” = “chance”. The skilled player can call the pocket and even the rails and interaction with certain balls removing all “chance”.
So in the realm of what we perceive as coincidences what we are missing is knowledge/information and power/skill. So does this require that every action/event is the work of God or a lesser deity? I think that there are actually categories for these perceived coincidences. The trite superficial and of little or no importance is the result of actions and decisions that we and others involved made, preceding the perceived coincidence that led to a certain, ultimate event. Most if not all the human beings involved did not have the knowledge/information and power/skill to bring about the certain event’s logical, reasonable conclusion nor the ability to know what decisions/actions others made that led to the event taking place. This means that those who took notice of the event perceive it to be a coincidence but in reality it is not. This does not mean that the event happened by chance because once a person has knowledge/information and power/skill the end result is predictable & repeatable.
In the case of meaningful coincidences I believe that they are in fact the work of God &/or a lesser deity/s to bring about a certain end/event/happening and they are errantly perceived as meaningful coincidences by human beings.
This means that people are freewill beings and their steps are not made for them. There are scenarios, schemes and blueprints planned by God and lesser deities but these do not remove the freewill of the person to make choices and decisions and the resulting actions. So there can be a “fate” in the romantic idea of the subject but only if the person believes they have such a plan to follow and then exercise their freewill correctly so that they can achieve such fate.
I wonder if this means that if you are in the center of God’s will you will come across a much greater amount of so-called coincidences since you will be following His plan for your life? Which implies to me that the scarcity of so-called coincidences in one’s life is proof that many who call themselves Christian, religious or spiritual etc. – are really off track – doing what they want to do instead of following & obeying God. For myself I know that when (making the quote sign with my fingers) coincidences occur often I consider them proof of God being present and me aware of Him. This often results from answered prayers not something communicated to other people just between Him and I. This gives me more to think about…
Hope, Levity and Wonder 