Synchronicity: Four Signs of Yeats
Wednesday, March 07, 2007
Consider these three movies:
So, ok, that's strange, but there's no need to get Paulo Coehlo-ish on the whole thing. There's no "message", nothing literal nor symbolic. Maybe there's lots of movies with Yeats. And maybe, given the number of people watching these movies, someone's bound to consecutively watch three movies with Yeats on it.
The thing is, it didn't end there. I took a work leave today, watched House, the TV series, and saw someone reading a book of poems in one scene. I can't see the title, not yet at least, but as the camera zoomed out, a feeling crept over me -- no, it couldn't be. Don't tell me that those blurry curly letters spells out that name. No. Oh yes, it's w-b-y-e-a-t-s! That was a bit unnerving.
If only a close friend wasn't raving about the topic of signs yesterday, if only I hadn't glanced at this newspaper column, aptly titled "When signs are ignored", not a minute after I watched that TV scene, then I would have had this experience filed away in some hard-to-reach compartment in my mind.
What are coincidences anyway? Aren't they just disparate events, bound by probability to eventually occur, and yet people attach to them some rare significance, some meaning. I think that if synchronicity does help people, then it won't hurt to try and use them, maybe like feng shui or astrology. But I'm not a strong fan of it. Its not as if I already found a soulmate or got lucky financially because of some fortunate sequence of inexplicable events. And yet, imagine this: what would it mean if synchrnonicity is actually true? And what would it mean if it actually isn't? I like playing with these kind of ideas, which makes synchronicity my kind of intangible toy. No one can prove synchronicity for all humanity. We only have our individual experiences either as controvertible proof or contrary testament. Synchronicity will always be in the margin of truth and untruth. There will be no way to ascertain it, no way that someone could scientifically expunge the mystery. It could be our dearest possesion if we want to believe in it. Hmm...I think I like that. I think I really do.
Yeats, I yield. Consider your book bought.
- Bridges of Madison County
- Million Dollar Baby
- Runaway Bride
So, ok, that's strange, but there's no need to get Paulo Coehlo-ish on the whole thing. There's no "message", nothing literal nor symbolic. Maybe there's lots of movies with Yeats. And maybe, given the number of people watching these movies, someone's bound to consecutively watch three movies with Yeats on it.
The thing is, it didn't end there. I took a work leave today, watched House, the TV series, and saw someone reading a book of poems in one scene. I can't see the title, not yet at least, but as the camera zoomed out, a feeling crept over me -- no, it couldn't be. Don't tell me that those blurry curly letters spells out that name. No. Oh yes, it's w-b-y-e-a-t-s! That was a bit unnerving.
If only a close friend wasn't raving about the topic of signs yesterday, if only I hadn't glanced at this newspaper column, aptly titled "When signs are ignored", not a minute after I watched that TV scene, then I would have had this experience filed away in some hard-to-reach compartment in my mind.
What are coincidences anyway? Aren't they just disparate events, bound by probability to eventually occur, and yet people attach to them some rare significance, some meaning. I think that if synchronicity does help people, then it won't hurt to try and use them, maybe like feng shui or astrology. But I'm not a strong fan of it. Its not as if I already found a soulmate or got lucky financially because of some fortunate sequence of inexplicable events. And yet, imagine this: what would it mean if synchrnonicity is actually true? And what would it mean if it actually isn't? I like playing with these kind of ideas, which makes synchronicity my kind of intangible toy. No one can prove synchronicity for all humanity. We only have our individual experiences either as controvertible proof or contrary testament. Synchronicity will always be in the margin of truth and untruth. There will be no way to ascertain it, no way that someone could scientifically expunge the mystery. It could be our dearest possesion if we want to believe in it. Hmm...I think I like that. I think I really do.
Yeats, I yield. Consider your book bought.
