“There are two ways to live: you can live as if nothing is a miracle; you can live as if everything is a miracle.”
Albert Einstein
Coincidences are interesting phenomena that people either believe in (and miss all the synchronicities occurring all the time), or dismiss (and see all the synchronicities happening all the time).
Some believe that there is always a cause behind something happening, and if they don’t know what that cause is, they may say it happened by chance or by coincidence. Or they will believe that what caused it to happen was them. They believe that events are precisely related to their inner energies and focus. Each choice that they make sets something in motion and lays the foundation for other actions. They may think that coincidences are just life being random, viewing each event in relation to what experiences they have. This view flows from the scientific materialistic viewpoint, where life is a physical objective reality, over which they have no conscious direction. They believe most of life is surely the outcome of their inner choices. Some people say that even life was created by coincidence. This thought pattern seems a little too simplistic in the grandiose scheme of things.
Do you lead yourself?
“The probability that life arose by a coincidence can be likened to the probability that a voluminous encyclopedia be the result of an explosion in a print shop.”
– Biologist Edwin Conklin
Others believe that life is a little bit of destiny, mixed with some coincidences; that certain experiences and events may be preplanned to occur, but they design their life through their actions, and the choices that they make. Every choice they make sets something in motion and lays the foundation for other actions. They may or may not believe in a Creator, but they do believe that the universe has some type of order. They are of the thinking that an event prepares them, and then the next event prepares them for the next event that happens… leading them to the place they end up. The formative ideas that originate from their soul can be followed by the guidance that shows them the next step and the next, as if they’re being led by the universe by their own choices.
They are more inclined to believe in luck and tend to describe random happenings as “glitches.” They believe that there are “glitches,” which aren’t a part of the plan, but do occur; and that these glitches lead to things disappearing, people ending up on different timelines, and the world changing amongst others. In a conversation, it may be hard for them to explain their position. They may even start talking about the matrix and “being part of a simulation.”
Are you led by the Universe?
Still, there are others who do not believe in coincidence at all. Have you ever heard someone say, “everything happens for a reason”? Some believe that not so much as one leaf can fall from a tree without the will of the Creator. They don’t believe in chance, and they always look for signs of Spirit speaking to them, and some would say that they consider their life to be pure magic! They scrutinize bad events for learning opportunities and rectification, and let good times rain down upon them, as if karma has a hand in everything, whether that be a lesson that needs to be learned, or an even a strict consequence that they deserve. They take the good and the bad equally, like it was owed to them.
They believe that certain experiences and events have been preplanned to occur in our lives, and play out as defined and agreed before birth, and that everything proceeds by the Divine Plan, and never by itself. They believe they are here for a reason, and that there is no randomness in the universe… that everything is ordered and serves a purpose.. In order to trust a divine plan, one must believe that there is a Creator. To believe this, they must have faith that the divine plan is perfect, and that the part they are designed to play is perfect for them.
Are you led by a divine creator?
“Everything happens for a reason,” I say to myself… Because without hope that there is a reason, what’s the point of living? What’s the point of the pain if there isn’t a purpose for the suffering? And if there is no divine plan, why am I here? Einstein believed: God does not play dice! Since I can’t believe that there is no Creator, no divine timing, no order to things, I tend to agree, and I have a wholehearted faith in a Divine Creator, in destiny, and in the divine plan of my life.
Of course, there is no wrong or right here, and we must all proceed lightly on our paths toward enlightenment.
Where do you, the reader, stand on this topic?
(And do you believe that you can have a life purpose if you don’t believe in a creator?)