Of late, I have been experiencing things I haven't experienced in such a long time. Its hard to explain exactly what is happening, but the closest I can get is to liken it to the blabberings in The Celestine Phrophecy. If you do not know of it, its a book that has pretty much sold in truck loads across the globe, and has a large following amongst the New Age crowd. Very often if you look around on the tube, chances are you'll see at least one person reading it. This means its not as popular as The Evening Standard, but its popular nonetheless.

Not sure what people think of coincidences, but the book leverages the concept a great deal. In terms of my experiences, I was just last night thinking of a friend whom I haven't heard from in ages. I was one of the very few of his work mates that turned up for his 30th at Monkey Chews, where his girlfriend works. Well, last night I saw something about Monkey Nuts, thought of Monkey Chews, and thought of aL and then wondered how he was. This morning I saw that he had sent an email (the first in eons) stating he was about to head off to Asia and would like to catch up quickly with people. Now people usually say coincidence is just that, an event that encapsulates two separate strands of activity that were initially unrelated but just happened to happen at the same time. However, there are also alternative schools of thought, that dwells on other reasonings. One is purely psychological, one is purely mathematical, one is purely spirtual, one is weird etc.

I feel as though I might need to just hook up with some people who have opinions on this stuff again. Last time I did this was back in 1997/1998 when I was able to discuss such weird things freely and even made an appearance at a Mind Body & Soul Exhibition at the London Horticultural Halls. Am sure in this day and age, there is going to be an online community somewhere that talks of such stuff, that may be able to feed my imagination and help me categorise coincidence in a better place than next to - spooky.

On a separate note, Tai Chi is getting to be very good fun indeed. I found this article on Alexander Technique and Tai Chi, which is very good since its how I think of things - mixed up and together.
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dp

Posted 11/17/2004.

Comments:

1.  Teresa Bowman says @ 9:41 am
   Here's a fun thing to do: it's called "asking the world a question". Apparently they used to do it in ancient Greece to obtain guidance from the gods. If you have a question that's bothering you, write it on a piece of paper and put it in your pocket before you leave the house in the morning. At some point during the day you will get an answer (whether, of course, you *understand* the answer or not is another matter).
   
   I tried this once when I was feeling very low and insignificant and wanted to know how to make myself feel better. Later that day, some loony came up to me in the library and told me I was a reincarnation of William Blake. So you see, this method of divination has its comedy elements as well! (Cheered me up, anyway.)
   
   Kind regards,
   
   William ;)
2.  The Num Num says @ 10:11 am
   Just William?
3.  LB says @ 10:29 am
   I have just finished reading a book called "Why Buses Come In Threes". It is basically a popular science book that tries to explain everyday things like traffic jams, sports rankings and the maths of elevators in laymens mathematical terms. (It is more interesting than it sounds, honest).
   
   There is a chapter in there on coincidences which basically says that there is no such thing. We think and do thousands of things a day the vast majority of which dont relate to anything else that is going on, so it stands to reason that now and then two things will happen which seem like a coincidence.
   
   How many times a day do we think about friends that we dont subsequently get an email from or a call?
   
   It is a rather logical and unmysterious explanation, to be fair. Interesting book, though, you should give it a try.
   
   Although me sitting in my car some time ago humming "Magic Bus" by the Who which then was the next song that came on Radio 1 takes mre than logic to explain...
4.  The Num Num says @ 10:47 am
   You are most probably absolultely correct (if thats a valid sentence that is).
   
   I've taken to sitting in Borders sipping a Chai Latte with my fiance, whilst awaiting films etc to start in the West End. Most recently, prior to our visit to see The Mousetrap (a most excellent play) I picked up and started to thumb through this book : Beyond Coincidence It basically says the same as the one you just read.
   
   I still think there is something unusual about rare occurances though. Something almost Metaphysical (since I know all us sceptics need something scientific to back up our acceptance - needless to say science said at some point - earth is flat, earth is centre of solar system, humans are only 2000 years old, etc.)

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