COINCIDENCE AND THE THOUGHT PATH

BEYOND THE BLOG
Posted by anthonynorth on May 7, 2008

We’ve all heard of fate, but what is it? To some it is a force in the universe that influences you, driving you towards a life preordained. Whilst to others, it is a superstition, a fallacy – something that doesn’t exist.
I don’t like the former – it suggests that you have no free will, and without this, what is the point of choice? But on saying this, I don’t like the latter either. It is too reductionist, ignoring the experiences of many of us.

Is there a coming together of the two extremes?

Some people believe that luck has a lot to do with it. Some people are just born lucky, and their life seems to be one success after another.
Research into luck has provided a clue. Those who are lucky tend to be good at calculating odds. In such a way, they can unconsciously assess a situation as it arises, and usually take the right decision.

This gives a clue to those who are unlucky.

In calculating odds correctly, the person learns optimism, and this seems to go into the world ahead of you – whilst the unlucky seem to project pessimism onto everything – a kind of self-fulfilling prophecy.
Carl Jung would point out synchronicity. Here, coincidences seem to happen that seem to have meaning above the coincidence itself. It is almost as if the person has made the coincidence happen.

Is this possible?

Can the mind have a direct affect on the events of the world? Events that, for all intents and purposes, are out of your control? One possibility is to look at another attribute in the lucky.
They are not ‘lucky’ at all. Rather, they have a form of selective attention. They simply remember the good times more than the bad; whilst the unlucky tend to remember the bad times more than the good.

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