How many TIME does something have to HAPPEN for you to QUIT calling it a COINCIDENCE?

Question

is you believe in DESTINY, should you discount COINCIDENCE?
and vice versa?

Answer 1

Things have to happen, on average, at least four or five times in a fairly short period--less than a month--or at least twice as often over a longer period before I stop believing it is random. Of course some of it also depends on how "out there" or unusual it is. I'm a bit of a weirdness magnet anyway, so I will admit I give some oddities a *bit* of a benefit of the doubt, where a total skeptic might give that same oddity *exactly none*.

As for *Coincidence*...essentially I look at it like this. I agree with the sentiment of "everything happens for a reason" in the sense that everything really is about a cause leading to an effect, but....

I'm also aware of how *big* and complicated reality is. Or at least I try to be, *lol*. And if we live on a world where *everyone* is only six degrees of separation removed from anyone else (Kevin Bacon or otherwise), then it only stands to reason that anything that happens is likely only going to be a similar *small number* of degrees of separation removed from anything else, in terms of cause and effect. This is why *chaos theory* actually works, because in addition to predicting how things like weather behave, by explaining the *hordes* of hair trigger rules under which the system operates...

it also admits, tacitly, that things get complicated and seem *terribly random* once you have second, third, fourth, fifth, and sixth generations of causes leading to effects.

And Destiny....Hmmm...

Let's just say I'm a bit more cynical on the concept, just because my life has led me to understand that the *idea* of Destiny itself is so powerful, but the *reality* of someone being Destined is also such a fragile thing.

To put it bluntly....a significant part of my father's side of the family has Native American ancestry. So I rather grew up hearing both sides of the story, in terms of hearing about how the *idea* of Destiny, in this case Manifest Destiny, can be so powerful that *raises one people up*, and in so doing *smashes another down utterly* in acts of violence, terror, enslavement and genocide. The *idea* of Destiny is that powerful--it can be a social, cultural, *shared* psychosis.

But on the other hand....the *reality* of Destiny is a fragile thing. It can start with something as simple as earning a *gold star* on a paper card in the second grade, and a teacher telling you, yes, maybe you *could* become an astronaut someday.

Which in turn comes back to *haunt you* in adulthood every year that you pass through and realize, "ok, so I don't have a steady job for the time being, can't *get* people to help me with my problems, all my friends are gone, and my odds of having a family anytime soon are zero...." So much for second grade, and all those *gold stars* huh? So much for that promise, that idea of *Being Destined* for something more than a grind, a meager pittance, and a *lot* of hassle.

So yeah, Destiny gets me cynical....if only because life *is* that chaotic sometimes, that much a case of "easy come, easy go, little high, little low...."

But that's just me. ^_^ I'm not your go-to-guy if you want a "ray of sunshine" or any such thing.

Thanks for your time. ^_^

Answer 2

If you believe in destiny then a recurring event only needs closure as a destiny point for it to be considered destiny.

For instance, you believe its your destiny to be with someone. You keep bumping into them and you think to youself, wow, this must be destiny. You will keep believing so until one of two things happen.
a) You end up with this person, thus completing your destiny line.
b) You dont end up with this person, which should probably destroy your belief in destiny. But as is usually the norm, once the belief in destiny settles it usually sits, so you will probably just realign your destined thoughts to accommodate the loss.

As for coincidence. Once you start calling something a coincidence then it will be, unless you find some determining factor or reason behind the continued coincidence, in which case, it becomes either a conspiracy or a planned event of some kind.

The key to figuring out coincidence from conspiracy is to find the point at which each event involved in the coincidence begins its movement towards the coinciding point. You must then determine the motives behind the moves. If they are all random and no planning is involved to bring the coincidence about, then it will always remain coincidence until it no longer occurs.

Answer 3

I believe in destiny and I believe the Great Man Above has something if not everything to do with it, there are too many items in life that come full circle without much doing. Take the act of 'REVENGE' for example, the italians may say, "Revenge is a dish best served Cold", the bible says to leave revenge up to Him. I can personally think back to severals items or times in life where I won a battle without even trying, it may have been sometime later in life, but it grants me the opportunity to smile to myself or share the experience with a well trusted friend. It often times seemed more than coincidence. I couldn't have bio children, my brothers children are sleeping in their rooms at my home while I me and my new husband raise them,,,,,,COINCIDENCE? I am also a stepmom to 2 children......I couldn't have 1 and now I have 4................im just saying..........

Answer 4

Coincidences are so much fun! Yes, I believe in destiny. And coincidences are but one glimpse of it. They reinforce a purpose and meaning in life.

I feel compelled to add that destiny is the end result, but the means in which we get there are up to us. We all have the same destiny. Some arrive at it sooner than others.

Answer 5

it's destiny what I believe in so there's no such thing like coincidence for me.I believe that everything is the act of destiny.everything happens for a reason.though I don't always find the reasons,but I don't always need them.
if I believed in god,it would be the same.only that i would call it god's act.everything else would be the same,only that it would be god instead of destiny.

so it looks like I discount coincidence as I believe in destiny.but it doesn't mean that I should do so.I just do so...cos this is how I see things.but it doesn't mean that i see things right ;)

Answer 6

I do not believe in coincidence, or Destiny. I do believe that God is the one who is going to say when our Lives will end, and even though we want to remain here on Earth for eternity, it is not our say-so. But I have some premonition when something is going to Happen, because when once I was thinking of a Best Friend I used to have, that I had not seen for 30 years to date when the next day I met her in all places in the Supermarket, was I surprised about it. also, no, I better not mention anything any more because the ones that do not believe are going to say I made it all up, so I would leave it there.

Answer 7

I don't believe in destiny, but I do believe some things are beyond coincidence. I just answered one or Rena's questions that falls into line with yours. About being "in touch" across distances, something like that. Far too many times in my life, people who loved me have "reached out" & touched me when they needed me, even when we'd been separated for years & didn't even know where the other lived. That surely can't be destiny, & it's beyond coincidence. What about precognition? Of course there are "coincidences," but there are things not fully understood that fall in neither destiny, nor coincidence.

Edit: Goldberry, by coincidences, I meant the random times you may be thinking of someone, & they phone you. That sort of coincidence.

angel baby--are you sure you understood the question?

I don't believe that enki was referring to destiny as in "death."
That's everyone's ultimate DESTINATION. "Continued coincidence..a conspiracy...a planned event?" The point is unclear.

Answer 8

No. I don't think that coincidence can explain everything, but I don't really believe in "destiny" if it means pre-determination. I mean, we might as well all just park ourselves on the sofa in front of the TV or radio most of the time if the future is pre-ordained and inevitable. I've had some very strange things happen to me in this life, like running into people I know in a wilderness area, and once even in a forest in another country. Yo me it's more like being on the same wavelength or tapping into the same pipeline, than it is some pre-determined sequence of events. Have a really nice weekend!

Answer 9

Destiny is not plan by human being...it is just like a gene inside human body and tell that person got to do it and must do it.....for coincidence, it can plan by human being...as you see your surrounding, when guys or girls wanted to after their favourite people, they plan so well to get a chance to talk to them or to meet them...this is not destiny, it is not coincidence too, I call it CHASE......but in the eyes of the people being chased by others, they may think that it is coincidence......
I have many coincidence in my growing lives....all these experience make me understand well what is the difference between destiny and coincidence.
Destiny...so far no one able to control it!!!
I see many girls plan so well to make their destiny and manage to get men they wanted...in the end, even they married, mostly end up divorce or unhappy in lives......still when times keep moving, they did not get what they really want.....in my eyes...that is call pity!!! so go against destiny, mostly is tragedy in the end.

Answer 10

yes i believe in coincidence and as well in destiny
how?
sometimes my sister and i are watching television and suddenly i want to pass comment on the drama but the time i pass my comments ,the same time my sister passes the same comment and we begin to see each other's faces .
when i was young probably 7-8 years old my mother was hospitalized and doctors after her operation told that she would not go to home yet
she would have to stay in the hospital for about whole month.
when the half month passed i went to my school's tour and when we were coming back i was deeply rememberin my mother that she could be at home and i told her the story of my tour
i was sitting sad and my friend was encouraging me
but when i came to home my mother was laying on my bed and i was very happy to see her at home
i was jumping with happiness and that was coincidence in life.
where there is a will there is a way
yes i believe in destiny
two type of destinies
one is fixed.
life , death, where a man will stay, where he will die, where he will get food etc and his marriage , some die young
and one is made by a man with his efforts
under this 'a man has that much for which he struggled for.'