Spiritual Prompt for the Week of April 17th — 23rd

I get many wonderful comments to my deep prompts but I see very few prompsponsive creations so today I go with the hopefully more accessible spiritual and cosmic nature of coincidence

I wonder how many readers are thinking to themselves, “What’s that you say Marcus, what is spiritual and cosmic about happenstance?”

Well, I say, with a sigh, to any dear reader thinking this, “Don’t feel bad, as I see people get this wrong on Medium every day, but you don’t know the god damn definition of coincidence — it does not mean happenstance!! It means that there is causation but of a metaphysical or spiritual nature.”

As you can tell from my tone, for which I do not ask your forgiveness, the common misuse and misunderstanding of the word coincidence, as demonstrated by the all-too-often seen statements of “I don’t believe in coincidence” and “no mere coincidence” are pet peeves of mine that make me want to scream, “wake up!”

The Oxford Dictionary defines coincidence thusly: “a remarkable concurrence of events or circumstances without apparent causal connection” [emphasis added].

I found my favorite definition of coincidence in the 1968 Edition of the Webster International Dictionary: “Noteworthy event, circumstance, or series of such, which occurs in conjunction, or synchronously, with others, and is of such a character as to suggest a connection of cause and effect, although apparently no connection of the kind exists.”

Had I used the word “synchronicity” in my subtitle, I suspect people would have immediately connected the word to the spiritual concept of directional messages from the universe. Well, synchronicity and coincidence are synonyms, as demonstrated by Carl Jung’s circular definition of the term synchronicity, which he coined, as “a meaningful coincidence.”

Jung realized that our souls and the universe communicate with us through the symbols of our dreams. Similarly, the universe signals us through symbolism in the physical world, and our psychic energy can manifest a symbol, often a mirror coincidence,¹ but sometimes a directional coincidence as well. Craig S. Bell’s fabulous book, Comprehending Coincidence, Synchronicity and Personal Transformation, discusses Jung’s work in great detail, provides myriad examples of real coincidences culled from his research, and sufficiently for our purposes sums up the latter type of coincidence thusly:

Directional coincidence[s are] also generally related to one’s state of mind. However directional coincidences are associated more with an open receptivity to guidance and are the product of an intelligence that is far superior than our own: an all-knowing supraconsiousness, rather than our own limited awareness. Directional coincidences occur to provide each of us with particular guidance for contentment and fulfillment appropriate to our own journey through life.

The Prompt

Create a poem, personal essay, or creative nonfiction that discusses or is inspired by a coincidence or coincidences you have experienced in your life and the meaning you ascribed thereto.

Poems I Previously Created About the Spiritual Nature of Coincidence

A Rondeau

Title: Meaningful Coincidences

Universe speaks to us all the time Signals can be all so sublime Yet when we observe with awakened brain Tears flow without any restrain Thank you guides for your silent wind chimes

Love letters to God dispatched in mime Hoping for poetically answered rhymes Even the algorithm contains Meaningful coincidences

Be mindful of your ancestors’ dimes Their messages as sweet as key limes Allow them to unlock and unchain All spiritual wisdom you contain Don’t poo poo woo woo with soul align Meaningful coincidences

A Tanka:

Neath blue winter sky Spirit called me to gaze up Only cloud caught eye White rabbit speaking to me All you need you shall receive

My discussion of these poems is here.

Looking back through my publication, ChannSpirations and Coincidences,² I saw these essays, which would fit as responses to today’s prompt.

Camille Grady’s

Erin M.’s

This one of mine, Exercises in Spiritually Decoding Synchronicities, shows how these take many forms besides repeating number sequences and I find the universe often speaks to me through other people.

Reminder: You can use this prompt here on PW or anywhere else on Medium (which I strongly encourage as it builds a wider audience and I believe in cross-pollination between and among publications). Regardless of where you publish, please tag me, and Ravyne and use “promptly written” as one of your reader interest tags, and include a link to this prompt. Also, if you use the prompt in another publication, please come back here and drop a link to your story in the comments as the tag notification system is notoriously unreliable.

In Rama I create, with soul-energy surging through my body, inspiring me and breathing wind into my sails,

Marcus (Gregory Maidman)

Endnotes:

1. In Bell’s book, he recounts the story of a management-level employee’s retirement and the not proverbial gold watch he received that stopped running at precisely the time the retirement party ended. Discussing the mirror coincidence of the retiree’s watch, Bell explains: “In a mirror coincidence, the coincidental events — often in dramatic fashion — reflect or mirror a current dominant concern of the psyche (the conscious and unconscious mind)….The watch’s stopping provided no direction or guidance. It merely reflected a part of my stepfather’s (conscious and unconscious) mind that was highly charged with energy.”
2. Here is my essay describing the pub, where we celebrate synchronicities and the every-person-portal. https://readmedium.com/what-is-channspirations-97516b44185a