Another Ponder

[lima]

Coincidence or Something Else?

 

Do you believe in “something else”?   That premonition when you think of somebody out of the blue and then they show up or call you, somehow pop into your life.  Or you come across something that becomes a focus in your life.  

 

Things like that.

 

I use to have those experiences all the time,  I would be sitting there, with no care to the world and start thinking of a person, and usually the phone would ring within the day, or that person would show up to visit.  It became a normal for me that I gave it no thought really as to if there was something more behind it.  

 

 

I was also very “spiritual” and very interested in theology and the study of many teachings, etc.  

 

Buddhism and knowing one’s self was a very important theme in those days.

But is there any connection?  or is it all just a coincidence?

 

Are some people more in tuned to everything around them, or is it all just hokey pokey?  Animals have “natural instincts”, can humans have some type of experience as well?   Gut instinct for instance.   When you know to walk away from a situation, that something is just not right, or when you know to keep a vigilant eye out on something…   are the two situations related or two different topics?    Perhaps they are two different topics.   

 

 

So back to the first question.   Something else or coincidence.   Two days ago out of the blue I thought of a kid from school, long time ago.  I passed by his house and wondered what ever became of him.  Yesterday he showed up at my fathers house while he was having a yard sale.  The man speaks to me, calling out my name and I was unaware to who he even was.  When he tells me his name,  I am sure I came across very obtuse, I think I was in more shock than anything else.   Plus I remember wondering in the back of my mind, oh my god, I look like hell.  We have a quick exchange and he leaves.  

 

After my mother passed away, my thinking changed, I had already started that path before she passed, the more I studied the more I questioned everything I had thought.   I let go and doing so, I actually became empty inside. 

 

Don’t get me wrong, I am not saying that everyone that thinks that way is empty, but I myself personally, became like a shell.   I felt that everything I had ever been taught was all a lie.  I was mad at the world, the people in it,  and the continuing pushing of ideologies.

 

I had nothing to hold on to.    The more I searched for answers, I was awakened to more questions.  Coincidences no longer happen, they were just that, a coincidence… I went from one extreme to the other, with no neutral ground.   I went from being a feeling to a becoming a thinking.  now I seem to be in the middle of the both, with my own beliefs from my own experiences.  

 

 

I guess what I am trying to get at is, do we make these coincidences up or do they really exist?  Is it a power of suggestion?  or is it nothing, with no real meaning behind it?

 

I am having a hard time believing that it’s just a coincidence.  

Would love to know what you think.

[ThatGirl]

the shell thing happens to everyone who walks away from indoctrination.  It's a tough thing to do, which is why so many fence-sitters just stay on the fence.Too painful to get down and walk the path! 

So, stand up right now and CONGRATULATE yourself for having the courage to let go and walk the path.   Filling that space with constant discovery and seeking transcendence of self can be very fulfilling. 

on "is it coincidence?: There's probability SOME of it is coincidence but on a scientific level, ENERGIES exist on all planes, and we dont even truly understand TIME, space, existence. Did you ever consider that our capacity for comprehension of "existence' theories or to even "sense" or "discover" evidence is limited to our human capacities?  Think about it, we cannot even sense sound on the level dogs can sense it. All the answers may be right here with us and we have no way to detect or discover them, THEN we may not have developed the capacity in our brains to process the information in a way we could comprehend. 

What constitutes existence? Am i here only when you can see me? do I leave energy behind in my path? ARe parellel universes possible? (( BRAIN EXPLOSION)) Maybe coincidences have to do with time and energy. Planes of existence are possible or bends in time can create spaces in events.  ( someone changed the matrix, there goes that cat again!)  Quantum physics?  i try to comprehend the theories which all differ slightly but remain a mystery, then I stop at...it's fascinating and I revere existence itself, no need for a religion.  We're lucky to be able to exist with our delicate biological makeup under this little blanket of atmosphere, so I continue to explore while I'm here. Think about it, what kind of design is this? thin skin, susceptible to the very sun which keeps us alive, dependent upon a small range of temperature to stay alive? WT ACTUAL Fawk?  human phyisiology is both fascinating and ridiculous when you study medicine.

I find exploring the brain to bring so much understanding of how we create the world we interpret through our senses. I'm BIG into studying neurology, pysch and neuropharma, which all explain how we create our world inside our own fracking heads. We each walk around with a different set of neural connections we've formed throughout life and we are born with some that give us tendencies to react in certain ways. We can try to form new connections and change brain chemistry which completely alters experience. From that level, when you look at life, it makes alot more sense that we react to stimuli in predictable ways. Think about the connections you've made to scent to sights, colors, sound. All of those triggers may give you the sense of a coincidence or bring a person to mind.  it can all come from a microscopic place OR a theory as complex as quantum mechanics...either way, its all still fascinating,so I find life without religion more beautiful than they other way around.....

Just like with politics, if you get too wound up in trying to answer the questions, you don't have time to live. meet us at the beach!

[lima]

Love you and your response. The sharing of ones mind is such a great thing to consume.

I experience that cat so many times.  

I can grasp the idea of sights, sounds, even body movements to distinguish when something might be off, etc.  smells as well trigger emotions.  

But coincidences, perhaps are electromagnetic vibrations that send signals to others to come closer or vice versa?  I think therefore I am.   I think therefore you are.  We are sitting on magnetic poles, negative and positive, just thinking out loud.   Maybe its not a coincidence but the mere fact that I pulled the thought towards me or the thought pulled me towards it.

 

pondering again.  must go read.  

[Geoff]

I think everyone has had those kinds of experiences and, in the moment, it is pretty hard not to feel a little chill as if you've just brushed up against some deeper significance. I built a vlog around an experience I had of meaningful coincidences.

The Lotus Sutra from Geoffo on Vimeo.

I also had a similar experience when I was filming my very first vlog... but it unsettles me a little and I've never quite finished editing it. Not that I'm spooked; I just don't know if I can do the experience justice at my current skill level.

[lima]

Geoff, my first lucid dreaming experience was too much to even explain.  Its just one of those things that you can't always put into words.  But I will never forget it.

Kabbalah meditation and chants seem to work the same way with the vowels and numbers spoken.  I guess its all a branch off of something when you really dig into it.  

I think I remember watching this from you previously.  Enjoyed. Would love to hear about your experience when filming your first vlog.  

[Geoff]

It won't sound like much but at the time it felt powerful.

The idea, which was inspired by something I saw on YouTube, was to film inscriptions in public places in Cambridge and Boston.

So I filmed plaques commemorating soldiers who died during the Civil War. The inscribed lintel of a Harvard Business School building that had to be renamed and reinscribed because the guy who gave the money turned out to be a crook. I filmed the busts of saints and philosophers (and their names) high on a wall, etc., etc.

And there was this constant discovery going on. When I was filming the Civil War plaques an usher came over to me--the plaques are outside a theater--and she took me to a spot and said "film that". It was Paul Joseph Revere, the famous Paul Revere's grandson and he died at Gettysburg on July 4th. This was on the first day I ever held a video camera in my hands. Later, I found his grave--when I was looking for the grave of Charles Bulfinch, another discovery along the way.

Anyway, I just stumbled onto an incalculable shitload of stuff and everything seemed to fit together beautifully.

I filmed the front of the Boston Public Library which is covered with tablets inscribed with artists, scientists and miscellaneous geniuses. The story is that the architect, Charles McKim, worked the name of his firm into one of the tablets. I looked and couldn't find it. The outraged citizens of Boston had made them take it down. I called up the Mass. Historical Society and the Boston Architectural Center and they confirmed the story but couldn't tell me any details.

It was actually a librarian at the library itself who helped me out. So I was able (some months later) to create an animation of the offending tablet.

[Geoff]

And I found out about another tablet suggested by a Boston newspaper when the scandal was breaking.

The idea was to walk back across the Massachusetts Avenue Bridge and film the Smoots. Everybody in Boston knows about the Smoots. Back in the 1950s some fraternity boys from MIT decided to measure the distance from Cambridge to Boston over the Charles River using their new pledge Oliver Smoot. The frat has been maintaining and refreshing the markers ever since.

[lima]

Super cool stories!  After reading up on Oliver Smoot, I was impressed to learn he later became the president of ANSI and ISO!

[Geoff]

I should mention that one thing I had been doing was using Google Earth to zip around in my video. Like, I took a screen shot of the Charles River and its banks and panned from the big MIT dome in Cambridge over to Boston and then I zoomed down on the Boston Public Library and dissolved to the original floor plan--things like that.

When I was working on the return trip over the bridge I clicked the ruler icon that lets you switch between feet and meters, etc. and I saw this:

Smoots are a unit of measure in Google Earth. It turns out Oliver Smoot grew up to become the Chairman of the American National Standards Institute from 2001 to 2002 and President of the International Organization for Standardization from 2003 to 2004.

That's when I got my chill. The meaningful coincidence.

If it comes right down to it, there is nothing remotely inexplicable about any of this. I just got unreasonably lucky with my first vlog. But understandably it drove in deep the idea that this was going to be more than just another hobby for me.

Lima, I know you are interested in evidence of a 'purposeful universe' and this ain't evidence. But somehow these little uncanny experiences, and we all have them sometimes, do provide a tiny bit of encouragement and support even though they don't hit any philosophical bulls eyes.

[lima]

No, I get it. These little hints are like kicks in the butt to keep you thinking in the right direction, or not giving up when you are about to lose hope.  Almost like reminders of some sort.   I just sometimes question my sanity when coming across them.  

Are some people more susceptible to experiencing these more than others?   

[BlancheNoE]

This sort of thing (obvious connectedness) happened so often when I was young that I thought it was weird when it WASn't happening. It still happens a lot. I think maybe long-long ago we had a deeper feel or awareness of the energies of this mother-rock we scramble around on and we knew better how to work with it. Those genes are still floating around but offer only a predisposition that if not paid attention to and nurtured, leaks out the noggin like high school algebra.

"reminders" is good.