I believe that people laugh at coincidence as a way of relegating it to the realm of the absurd and of therefore not having to take seriously the possibility that there is a lot more going on in our lives than we either know or care to know. – Frederick Buechner
Today I was sorting through digital files on my computer when I ran across this Buechner quote that I’d highlighted somewhere along the way. It reminded me of a post I wrote a few months ago: Synchronicity or Super Weird Coincidence.
I have a lot of stories that fit under the topic of coincidence and I’ve told many of them in a variety of places, to a variety of audiences through my years. Sometimes I tell them with confidence. Sometimes I tell them with skepticism. Sometimes they are the building blocks for my sense of being. Sometimes I don’t want to own them at all. And there’s a lot of sometimes muddled in between.
They are stories that I’ve worked hard to integrate into my understanding of the meaning and purpose and organization of life. Absurd can be a pretty good word for some of these stories. And yet. I pay attention. And stay curious. Because it is also true that they can be windows to the most true things.