Meaningful Coincidences

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verdanta

Active Member
#1
This may get a little metaphysical, and so if you are a reductionist/materialist, it may be best to go somewhere else or read with an open mind.

I've been really into the idea of "meaningful coincidences" for a while now, since I discovered the concept, first popularized by Carl G. Jung. The idea is that there are some occurrences that happen in life that happen at just the right time that they can't possibly be written off as mere happenstance. Some would write it off as confirmation bias, but, once again, the events occur so perfectly that we feel there must be a reason behind it, or that a higher power is playing a hand at things, or that people are more connected than we think.

I can recall one clear instance of this happening for myself. Some time back, I was really depressed in my job. It was dark and rainy at the time, and I was feeling quite suicidal. I just went for a walk in the rain, kind of like half-alive, just walking. I had the suicide hotline's number ready for dial on my phone--I wasn't going to ask for help, you could say. I was feeling really committed. And then, just as I had my finger on the dial, my mom called. She was quite concerned for me, which isn't her normal behavior, as if she knew the feelings I was experiencing at that time. I was brought out of my negative thinking back to earth.

Has anyone had any experiences like this, even if they're not related to depression?
 

Sunspots

To Wish Impossible Things
Admin
SF Supporter
#2
When my aunty was dying of cancer I slept round her house at night to look after her. Her dog and mine were best friends and they both slept next to my bed every night without fail. After a few months of this I got up one night to check on her. Both dogs were curled up asleep at the side of her bed instead of mine. All seemed fine so I went back to bed. When I woke up in the morning the dogs were still next to her bed and she had passed away.

Her funeral was in January. It was bitterly cold. Aunty Marion had an obsession with butterflies, she had paintings and ornaments of them everywhere. Standing in the cold outside the church, a butterfly was flying around. I had never seen a butterfly in England in January and have never seen one since.
 

Human Ex Machinae

Void Where Prohibited
#3
I was around 30 years old, and I thought I knew what suicide was and that I was ready for it and was going to do it. I was about to do it. At that same exact moment, there's a sudden key in the door and in walks my then best friend and roommate, home early from work. He never, ever came home early from work. He came home early that day and at that moment only because something weird happened that I can't recall, like a pipe bursting in his workplace, something like that. I'm here now, and I experienced 20 more years of amazing shit, simply because he happened to put his key in the door at that exact moment.
There have been countless many other examples in my life, not all having to do with suicide. Most of them have actually just been mundane stuff that kept me comfortable, in a material sense, all of my life. I don't claim to know why, or how, or what for, but coincidence? Uh, no. That much consistent coincidence amounts to something other than whatever coincidence is supposed to mean.
 

SinisterKid

We either find a way, or make one.
SF Supporter
#4
My old man was always on the road in his line of work as a computer engineer, before computers were used in homes etc. It would be 40 odd years ago I think. Anyway, he was on the road as usual one day, in some terrible weather and he ended up under the rear axel of a truck. He was a mess. It was only once he left hospital and returned home that we realised his bedside clock had stopped at the exact time he had the accident.

Fast forward 25 yrs and I was on the road myself, travelling to a job in the border area of England and Scotland. Along a particular stretch of road, I really put my foot down and was going around 90mph, in a 3.5 tonne van. Bang, something in the engine blew and the van just stopped.

Fast forward another 10 yrs and I found, purely by accident, a old newspaper cutting of my old mans accident. To my utter amazement, it was the same stretch of road as my van broke down on.
 

verdanta

Active Member
#5
Thank you everyone for sharing these very personal accounts, which I realize may be hard to talk about. I think sharing is important, though, as it shows us that our stories are not our own as others may have experienced similar circumstances. One could only imagine why we've experienced these events and what forces they allude to.
 
#6
Yes, I've had odd experiences like that, "meaningful coincidences", or whatever you may call it. When I have been thinking suicidal thoughts, someone unexpectedly will call me or text me in that very moment, such as my best friend, or Mom/Dad. It's strange, like some kind of energy or force was being given off. It's a good distraction knowing someone is trying to reach me at that moment.

Can you describe more about how you feel? I know my depression comes and goes, like waves.

Sending hugs your way..
 
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