Coincidence?

Making Connections

“How did these ingredients, albeit small ones, happen to coincide...After paying enough attention (always the key word), you begin to see that events form patterns; you see that they also hold lessons or messages or signs—the outer world is somehow trying to communicate—and then you see that the outer world events are actually symbols for inner events.”

                               Deepak Chopra (How to Know God)

I heard an interesting story of synchronicity yesterday. A young man named Andrew, son of a friend of mine, who is a graduate student at the University of Maryland, wanted to do his doctoral work on the role of music in the lives of African Americans after the Civil War. He started in the Alabama state archives in Montgomery. He found several photographs taken during the Jim Crow years (early 1900's), showing black musicians with their musical instruments standing in front of a large house. He was told the photographs were from Fayette County. From Montgomery, he went to the archival library in Birmingham, where he uncovered a trove of photographs, some taken at the same house. Someone had bought them at the Bessemer Flea Market, realized their historical importance, and donated them to the library. Again, Fayette county was mentioned. So Andrew got into his car and drove across the state to Fayette, Alabama. He knew no one and had nothing but hundred year old photographs to guide him. By a series of encounters with random people (a letter carrier, who directed him to the oldest man in the county, etc.), he found not only the house, but the descendents of the photographer/musicians, who, amazingly, invited a total stranger into their home. Thus began a journey of discovery for both Andrew and family.

Connections. The web of life connects all things. Random events are not random at all. They are strands in the web. When we look at our lives in retrospect, we can clearly see that all things happen for a reason, even things that seemed bad at the time. We can say, 'if it hadn't been for that, I wouldn't be here now', and name the connecting event. What if we were to treat our lives going forward as an adventure unfolding before us. What if we were to keep the question in our minds, 'what will happen now', and be as fearless as Andrew in moving toward our future with the anticipation of making the connections. The wise hand of the universe knows where we're headed even when we don't.

                                                    In the spirit,

                                                   Jane