Why don't you believe in coincidence?

[Spiderman]

If you are someone who does not believe in coincidence, what are your reasons for not believing in coincidence?

 

[LiveBetterLife]

Not sure what you mean.

 

[stvdv]

Some say the Japanese butterfly caused the US hurricane. Maybe that's overdoing "there is no coincidence".
But generally I do believe in Newton's Law about "Action and Reaction"

 

[Twilight Hue]

If you are someone who does not believe in coincidence, what are your reasons for not believing in coincidence?

It's kind of strange because coincidences are pretty commonplace.

 

[Twilight Hue]

Some say the Japanese butterfly caused the US hurricane. Maybe that's overdoing "there is no coincidence".
But generally I do believe in Newton's Law about "Action and Reaction"

Chaos is one of my favorite karmic theories.

 

[stvdv]

Chaos is one of my favorite karmic theories.

I see, you replied almost before I hit the "enter" button

 

[ratiocinator]

But generally I do believe in Newton's Law about "Action and Reaction"

Newton's third law is only applicable to simple physics, where it isn't a coincidence.

 

[ratiocinator]

If you are someone who does not believe in coincidence, what are your reasons for not believing in coincidence?

Humans are notoriously bad at assessing probability, it's the downside to being good at seeing patterns. As a result, we tend to underestimate the role of coincidence in life. The classic example is that you only need 23 people in a room to make the chance of two having the same birthday 50-50.

 

[Mock Turtle]

If you are someone who does not believe in coincidence, what are your reasons for not believing in coincidence?

I believe in coincidences, since they do happen, but not in the way that makes me think that something caused this. If we roll the dice we must expect such things to happen. E.g. the birthday coincidence mentioned above.

 

[stvdv]

I believe in coincidences, since they do happen, but not in the way that makes me think that something caused this. If we roll the dice we must expect such things to happen. E.g. the birthday coincidence mentioned above.

I just got a few thought reading your lines.

If we study hard in university, it's less of a coincidence getting a well paid job
If we study hard in meditation, it's less of a coincidence becoming clairvoyant etc
If a mother loves her child, it is known that sometimes she "knows" what happens to her child

Being clairvoyant you even have less coincidences, because you know more beforehand than others

Being omniscient there probably are no coincidences at all (but that is all speculation of course)

Seems to me that coincidence is related to awareness

 

[Eddi]

This is how I see it. There are two things that get confused:

“coincidence” = synchronicity, a meaningful and significant alignment of things. Something to take note of

“co-incide-ence” = things merely coinciding by chance, not significant, just co-incide-ence!

In my life I have encountered many coincidences as well as many co-incide-ences!

 

[ChristineM]

It's kind of strange because coincidences are pretty commonplace.

“Scientists have calculated that the chances of something so patently absurd actually existing are millions to one. But magicians have calculated that million-to-one chances crop up nine times out of ten.”

Terry Pratchett, Mort

 

[Road Less Traveled]

Chaos is one of my favorite karmic theories.

It’s even better observing it within the human system.

 

[Mock Turtle]

I just got a few thought reading your lines.

If we study hard in university, it's less of a coincidence getting a well paid job

I suspect that is more about cause and effect - do the work, reap the reward (hopefully) - since the reverse is mostly obvious.

If we study hard in meditation, it's less of a coincidence becoming clairvoyant etc

Less solid ground here - unless you can provide evidence that clairvoyance actually exists.

If a mother loves her child, it is known that sometimes she "knows" what happens to her child

It's a bit anecdotal - how many times has it happened that the reverse is true too - that a mother suspects something has happened to a child, but hasn't. I suspect this is many times more true than this notion. Mothers just do constantly worry about their children - fact of nature.

Being clairvoyant you even have less coincidences, because you know more beforehand than others

Each to his/her own.

Being omniscient there probably are no coincidences at all (but that is all speculation of course)

Seems to me that coincidence is related to awareness

I'll agree there - since awareness is possibly worth much more than anything else in life, but we are all still open to delusions and illusions.

 

[ChristineM]

Chaos is one of my favorite karmic theories.

Chaos is a lot more prevalent than people would like to think. From a dripping tap to airflow in flights dynamics to banking systems to the universe itself.

 

[Aupmanyav]

Coincidence: Happening at the same time. There must be trillions of things happening at the same time.

 

[Willamena]

The reason to have for not believing in coincidence is that it halts the progress of inquiry. Once you've spuriously decided that these two things that have happened simultaneously have no causal connection, that's it.

 

[Quintessence]

If you are someone who does not believe in coincidence, what are your reasons for not believing in coincidence?

Since you posted this in the "Paranormal Activities" subforum, I'll describe the line of reasoning I frequently see from those involved in magical/occult circles. It's important to understand the worldview of these folks but first, some background.

One important intellectual movement in Western culture was the Enlightenment. Part of what the Enlightenment did to the Western mindset was paint a picture of the world that was very mechanistic and disenchanted. There is a cause, then there is an effect - there is no meaningfulness beyond that mechanical relationship. If two events happen at the same time without a direct causal relationship, it is meaningless. It's "just" a coincidence. This attitude prevails today, where acausal relationships are devalued and considered meaningless.

It didn't take long for there to be a backlash against this. That was Romanticism. To varying degrees, modern magical/occult movements have their roots in this backlash. It is a deliberate rejection of the mechanical meaninglessness of the Enlightenment and a restoration of enchantment to the world. And to see the world as enchanted and meaningful, one has to discard unhelpful narratives like "it's just a coincidence." Much of magical thinking involves acausal relationships and the power inherent to them. Where the Enlightenment would denigrate finding such meaning as "irrational," this way of thinking is embraced by Romantics as essential to their practices.

In short, folks not believe in coincidence because such language creates meaninglessness and disempowerment where instead meaning and power can be found.

There's another layer I add on top of that and that's the fact that everything in our world is interconnected. There is no such thing as a truly acausal relationship when everything is connected. If something seems acausal it is because we lack the capacity to see the connections easily (or perhaps at all).

 

[Spiderman]

Some say the Japanese butterfly

I kid you not, last night I had a nightmare involving a butterfly. The butterfly didn't cause anything bad but it was still a nightmare. the "insane clown posse" was in my dream, and they dedicate every one of their albums to the butterfly.

They killed a butterfly when they were children and they promised each other that they would get to heaven to apologize to the butterfly. longing to be that innocent again they dedicated every album to the butterfly they killed.

In my nightmare I was trying to catch an emperor butterfly for my spider and it kept escaping.

the dream was a nightmare because it involved a sick man who abused and crippled someone and I was doing bad illegal crimes as well. I woke up so very happy that it was only a dream.

So I find it an interesting coincidence that your first post involved a butterfly and it was almost the first thing I read after waking from a very disturbing dream involving a butterfly. I'm choosing to believe that it was more than coincidence.

 

[Spiderman]

I kid you not, last night I had a nightmare involving a butterfly. The butterfly didn't cause anything bad but it was still a nightmare. the "insane clown posse" was in my dream, and they dedicate every one of their albums to the butterfly.

They killed a butterfly when they were children and they promised each other that they would get to heaven to apologize to the butterfly. longing to be that innocent again they dedicated every album to the butterfly they killed.

In my nightmare I was trying to catch an emperor butterfly for my spider and it kept escaping.

the dream was a nightmare because it involved a sick man who abused and crippled someone and I was doing bad illegal crimes as well. I woke up so very happy that it was only a dream.

So I find it an interesting coincidence that your first post involved a butterfly and it was almost the first thing I read after waking from a very disturbing dream involving a butterfly. I'm choosing to believe that it was more than coincidence.

Also, national butterfly day is the same day as national spider day (march 14), and my spider was in my dream. I eventually caught a butterfly and my spider wouldn't eat it. I'm clearly open to the possibility that there is no supernatural connection or meaning, but it all means something to me anyhow.