Caught in coincidence, myopic to miracles

  • Thread starter Loren Booda
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In summary: Originally posted by TENYEARS The post seemed to be a question that wanted answering, it didn't seem rhetorical.
  • #1
Loren Booda
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I have met people who believe magic of mathematical coincidences magnified by their own predisposition for patterning. A TV commercial will say the word "soap" simultaneously to the viewer (me) thinking it. Perhaps you, at a party, were about to say the word "hippopotamus," but suppressed the word when out of the blue, another partygoer spoke it first. A friend of mine with a mental illness would continually rearrange into anagrams the meaning of simple sentences.

What is happening here is our obsessing with coincidence, patterns that helped primitive man survive that which he could not explain, but what modern man has traded for miracles. Once the little fictions fall away, however, greater truths appear. Once we look beyond a crying statue, we see what the statue truly represents, and honor our beliefs rather than burlesque them. Once we share our interpretations of the cosmos, instead of superstitiously refusing to compromise one jot with billions of other people, the true miracles of peace, bread and health will also reciprocate.

Find today the crack of coincidence in the wall whose mural of reality is painted over by habit of mind. By peeling away the layers of convienience, the beauty of actual miracles lies bare.
 
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  • #2
Find today the crack of coincidence in the wall whose mural of reality is painted over by habit of mind. By peeling away the layers of convienience, the beauty of actual miracles lies bare.

Or the humor of the absurd. :0)
 
  • #3
Evocative post LB. You write well.
 
  • #4
You write well.

I agree.

I also agree with the bulk of your post. All too often, we seem to jump to irrational conclusions about such trivial things as your example of a partygoer who suppresses saying the word hippopotamus only to have another partygoer say that very word a moment later. Obviously some sensory reference provoked the idea of a hippopotamus for both partygoers (and possibly others), but yet some would say that it had to be a sort of ESP, a linking of thoughts.
 
  • #5
Great post, Loren.

You're right, about the attribution of coincidence to ESP, or some other paranormal phenomena. My mom is convinced that we are mentally linked, because (five times already!) I have called her to ask her for something, and she already had the phone picked up, because she was going to call me and ask me about the same thing.
 
  • #6
Does bigfoot exist? What about loch ness? I would have to say in all honesty and without question in pure realism while taking a lie detector, I do not know. What would your answer be?
 
  • #7
TENYEARS-

The coincidence they infer is the psychological golem, an archetype of monsters universal to the mind of mankind.

The miracle they infer is that stranger and more wondrous entities exist in the universe waiting to be discovered.
 
  • #8
The real question is what was the point of the question?
 
  • #9
Originally posted by TENYEARS
The real question is what was the point of the question?

Of what question?
 
  • #10
Does bigfoot exist? What about loch ness? I would have to say in all honesty and without question in pure realism while taking a lie detector, I do not know. What would your answer be?
 
  • #11
Originally posted by TENYEARS
Does bigfoot exist? What about loch ness? I would have to say in all honesty and without question in pure realism while taking a lie detector, I do not know. What would your answer be?
Yes, I believe that there is such a place as Loch Ness. Bigfoot, dunno. Stinkfoot, absolutely.

Nice writing Loren!
 
  • #12
Originally posted by TENYEARS
The real question is what was the point of the question?

The point of the question was to obtain an answer, wasn't it?

Seriously, the one questioning should be aware of their own motives in doing so.
 
  • #13
The point of the post was to show that the word "know" apparently means different things to different people.
 
  • #14
Originally posted by TENYEARS
The point of the post was to show that the word "know" apparently means different things to different people.

And how did you intend to do that?

The post seemed to be a question that wanted answering, it didn't seem rhetorical.
 

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