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At the graduation this week of Adele's son from law school, the dean gave a speech on the importance of serendipity in the building of one's career in law; how through a chance encounter or the fact of someone taking an interest in you, you may be exposed to a type of law which to that point had never occurred to you as a possible direction to take.
My favorite part was learning the etymology of the word, serendipity.
serendipity - ability to make fortunate discoveries by accident.
[It seems it was a term] coined by English author Horace Walpole, in a letter to Horace Mann in 1754, from the title of the Persian fairy tale The Three Princes of Serendip whose heroes "were always making discoveries, by accidents and sagacity, of things they were not in quest of." Serendip was an old name of Ceylon (Sri Lanka)
Chambers Dictionary of Etymology
A closely related term would be:
synchronicity - an apparently meaningful coincidence in time of two or more similar or identical events that are causally unrelated [coined by Carl Jung]
Dictionary.com
These are beautiful words, describing the kinds of experiences that always are fun to have, that seem to indicate a universe, perhaps even a divinity, with a sense of scope, a sense of humor, a sense of fun. The Veda does not speak in these terms, but the concepts are there. And more. What the Veda says is that everything is infinitely correlated. We just call it synchronicity, or serendipity, when we happen to notice it.
Wednesday, when we arrived at the airport to come home, we ran into an old friend I haven't seen in probably 13 years. He'd skipped an earlier flight and I'd made plans to come to the airport earlier than needed. Together, we'd found a way to encounter each other. We were able to catch up. Now, we're back in touch.
Flowing with the laws of nature, following charm, following that still, small voice that says, 'go to the airport now.' This is the 'how' of it. Following charm. Letting go of control. The 'why' of it? Progressive change. Evolution. We are here to grow, to evolve. With nature, as nature. We move in the direction indicated by charm, and the universe steps forward, gifts in hand, to take us further.
Today I will assume a loving universe that wants only what is best for me, and by definition, what is best for the whole.
 Up Town Trains, Chambers St. Station, Tribeca
All material copyright Jeff Kober
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