Coincidence

[Martin Hash]

My religion is based on coincidence; there is too much damn coincidence even accounting for the unimaginable amount of simultaneous events that occur. I don't have an answer for that, and I will be considering it for the rest of my life, I suppose. I'm always pointing out coincidences to my wife, Gwynne, who over 40 years of marriage is just about coincidenced out.

“Life isn't just a bunch of coincidences,” she would say.
“Yes, it is,” I would defend myself, citing some coincidence that just happened.

I have a laundry list of coincidences that have happened over the years; like never ever hearing of a kid named “Haven,” and the same day in the same hospital, somebody else named their baby “Haven.”
“They obviously heard us discussing the name,” Gwynne would explain every time I told someone of the coincidence. “Because we made that name up.”
“Now lots of people name their kids 'Haven,'” I reply. “Boys and girls; that's got to be a coincidence.”
“What about the coincidence of me getting a job in Vancouver on the same day that Mt. St. Helens blew up?” I brought up as another example.
“Lots of people were in Vancouver when Mt. St. Helens,” Gwynne said.
“But it wasn't their first day!”

Haven's House.jpg

That's just a tiny couple points; there's lots & lots of coincidences in the Hash household. Take a recent one, for example: Gwynne wanted to go through the Panama Canal and coincidentally, we were able to see Haven and his family in Lima, Peru. And while we were on the ship, while attending a Martini-tasting event, I heard somebody at the end of the bar mention “Vancouver,” and they were a couple from where we lived. We even generally knew where, it was so close.

Panama Canal.jpg

“Don’t you think it’s a coincidence that we should meet somebody from our hometown in the Panama Canal?” I asked Gwynne.
She thought about it for a moment.
“Not really,” she answered. “There’s a quarter-million people live in our area.”
“How about the fact that he’s a PE, and I’m looking for one more endorsement?”
“There are lots of engineers,” Gwynne explained.
As it turned out, I forgot to get Marlin’s contact information; we were Martini tasting after all.

Martini Tasting.jpg

Gwynne planned a family outing at one of those Escape Rooms in the mall for Christmas since we'd missed it on the cruise. We were in a hurry to make our appointment so Gwynne walked right by but when I looked over the balcony, our neighbors were playing giant chess on the mall floor. I stopped, pointed them out to Gwynne.
“Look,” I said, “It's Eric and Craig. Don’t you think that’s a coincidence?” I asked Gwynne.
“We see them all the time; not everything is a coincidence,” Gwynne brushed it off as we rushed into the game Waiting Room.
While the kids were filling out the entry information, I was looking at the D&D paraphernalia in the displays. That's when I heard familiar voices, and out from behind the curtain popped Betsy & Marlin who we had met on our cruise.
“What are you doing here?” I asked, totally surprised.
“We came with our family to play this Escape Room for Christmas,” Betsy said, and out from behind the curtain popped their two kids. We hugged and shook hands.

I looked over at Gwynne but she pretended not to see me.

Betsie & Marlin.jpg

p.s. I thought my story of my wife, Gwynne, and I going to Jr. High and High School together but not knowing each other, was unique, but we gave away an old piano yesterday to a couple who had the same story; they went to Jr. High and High School together but didn't know each other AND... It was the SAME JR. HIGH AND HIGH SCHOOL Gwynne & I went to!

[DBTrek]

Man, I was just going to post a thread on coincidences!

[C-Mag]

Man, I was just going to post a thread on coincidences!

We already have one already viewtopic.php?f=63&t=3773&p=238575&hili ... st#p238575

[Martin Hash]

Continuing with the coincidences...

I thought my story of my wife, Gwynne, and I going to Jr. High and High School together but not knowing each other, was unique, but we gave away an old piano yesterday to a couple who had the same story; they went to Jr. High and High School together but didn't know each other AND... It was the SAME JR. HIGH AND HIGH SCHOOL Gwynne & I went to!

[GloryofGreece]

Meaningful coincidences aren't coincidences they are best understood as synchronicity or fate.

[Martin Hash]

Dude, Nietzche... There is no fate nor God’s Will. You make decisions for yourself and reap the rewards or suffer the consequences of your own actions, otherwise known as liberty. The Enlightenment was a few hundred years ago, where ya been?

[GloryofGreece]

Dude, Nietzche... There is no fate nor God’s Will. You make decisions for yourself and reap the rewards or suffer the consequences of your own actions, otherwise known as liberty. The Enlightenment was a few hundred years ago, where ya been?

Ya b/c Nietzsche said it. No. I base it off my experience, feeling, and intuition. Its also called Faith. I know the Enlightenment and read more about that Asperger movement more than most. It was overall part of the problem more than a meaningful worldview.

https://www.counter-currents.com/2019/0 ... more-90581

"Haidt refers to the dominant, Western philosophical moralities – such as deontology and utilitarianism – as “one receptor moralities.” And, amusingly, he speculates at some length that this is because Kant and Bentham had Asperger’s Syndrome! These moralities appeal to people who are “high in systematizing and low in empathy” (one of the principal characteristics of autism). Of course, there is no way to confirm such a diagnosis, but Haidt makes a fairly persuasive case, especially when it comes to Bentham."

[Martin Hash]

Only Tories and Theists begrudge personal autonomy.

The idea that we have autism to thank for liberty appeals to me. Us PhDs in Computer Science love our autists.

[GloryofGreece]

Only Tories and Theists begrudge personal autonomy.

Well that's more than half of humanity so. Good luck winning out with the argument that we should be more rational and personal liberty is the number 1 value.

[Martin Hash]

Yeah, war is coming. You and Islam vs. Modernity.