when a coincidence is not

WHEN A COINCIDENCE IS NOT
Monday, February 21, 2011
By Rev. Dr. Larry Delano Coleman

A coincidence is when by chance and without discernible design two or more persons meet and discover something in common with each other that surprises them all. Coincidences also concur in nature, mathematics and science, and have been plotted statistically into conforming probability tables. Some deny the existence of coincidence and place causality, determinant or non-determinant, behind it all.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coincidence

We’ve all experienced apparent coincidences. When someone we had been discussing unexpectedly appears, we call it a coincidence. When we discover someone with our exact name or birth day, or when we encounter unknown relatives in unusual places, we also call these coincidences.

The opposite of coincidence is “causality,” but its mere definition, not to mention its proof, is as ambiguous and as uncertain as its opposite’s, “coincidence.”

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Causality

No one thing causes another thing to occur at any specific time and place. Each component of an occurrence has its own separate, and, therefore severable, history and vitality. Each component, individually, and, sometimes jointly, contributes in whole or in part to the occurrence. Recognizing the inherent subjectivity of causality, civil juries are instructed to decide whether an occurrence was “more likely than not” caused by one thing or another. This is known as preponderance of the evidence.

I recently learned that a childhood friend, whom I had not seen in over 30 years, was chairman of a department in a Philadelphia hospital, where he is a physician. I mentioned to him that one of my former clients, a Ph.D. in medicinal chemistry, was in Philadelphia, also, possibly at the same facility. My friend then stated he believed that my former client had recently been appointed chairman of his respective department at that same facility! I requested that he convey felicitations to him and my love.

Now, was this a coincidence or some aspect of causality? Frankly, I am not sure.