Just A Coincidence?

There have been a number of indications in my daily experience recently which seem to point toward an opening to a new direction in my ongoing pursuit to begin to unravel some of the mystery presented by our struggle to understand the nature and character of our subjective experience of human consciousness, and to present it in a comprehensible manner to the general reader.  I am months away from completing my fifteenth year of writing here at John’s Consciousness, and as anyone who has been reading along for any length of time knows, this has been a pursuit that has been going on for much longer than the writing here.

Part of the difficulty clearly resides in the complexity of our cognitive apparatus and functionality, which we employ in our process of translating our experience of existing as a living and sentient entity in the modern world.

Most of us experience the world utilizing our five functional senses, and the complex workings of our central nervous system, combined with the most complex structure in the known universe—the Human Brain! A nominally functional brain receives input from the five senses, transmits that data to a variety of brain regions for processing, through a host of fantastically complex neural networks, composed of billions of neurons, connected by trillions of synaptic gaps, where the electro-chemical magic takes place, supported by an additional network of glial cells, which provide the nutritional requirements that keep the neurons firing and wiring together, reinforcing the neural pathways.

The indications I spoke of are not, in every case, blatantly obvious to the casual observer, nor can I necessarily justify clearly the reasons why I SEE them as indicators, without that observer having at least a modicum of life experiences to look back on. Anyone who has pondered the deeper questions that occur in their lives, can only hope to progress after living through their experiences and then reflecting on them over time, perhaps even needing to repeat certain experiences, and at least considering the character and flavor of their memories of those events, and put their analysis to the test, by altering or enhancing their continued efforts to understand, based on the results or consequences which occur afterwards.

In my case, as I have reported at length in numerous essays here on my blog, the range of experiences which has led me to draw the conclusions I have drawn so far is quite broad and those pivotal experiences have taken place over decades now. 

My research and investigations have yielded a number of what I would consider solid leads for further analysis. Human connections between individuals in various cultures and societies from every corner of the world are replete with episodes of sometimes inexplicable or uncanny “coincidences,” which may involve astonishing stories of remote awareness of serious events, even at great distances, which later turn out to have occurred at precisely the same time; two individuals meeting for the first time, enjoying what feels very much like instant recognition of either a profound compatibility or a potent intuition that defies explanation by comparing the facts and character of those individuals; knowledge of events which took place in the distant past without ever having studied that historical period; dream events which later take place in the waking state; instinctively taking an action which then prevents a potential injury, taking steps which then become life-saving.

Recently, in my position at my part-time job, a customer appeared at my window, and the moment I caught her eye I was immediately and inexplicably unable to speak. I was unable to utter my typical cheerful greeting, unable to even utter a sound. It almost felt as though I was choking somehow, and after a few seconds passed, I managed to eke out a “hello,” only to be struck dumb again as the customer smiled and asked “how much is it?”

Unable to respond immediately, the woman seemed to recognize my dilemma, and looked away briefly, giving me an opportunity to report the cost. In spite of my best effort, I found myself almost hypnotized, trying to grasp what was occurring, and when the transaction was completed, I suddenly found my voice, and could not stop myself from reporting that I was certain that it was some sort of “vibe,” that had captured me, which somehow bound us together momentarily, through some degree of recognition. I described the experience to her as being, “really great,” in spite of the difficulty it seemed to inflict on me. Although no such event has occurred since then, I made note of at least a dozen subsequent customers that night who exclaimed to me in the exact same way, “God bless you, sir.” Something clearly was happening that night which I am unable to explain satisfactorily.

There are a number of possible explanations for any event that, at first, seems inexplicable, and not every curious or unusual event requires investigation or analysis, but all throughout the stories and events I have reported over these last fifteen years, there is a thread which now appears to flow through them all, and that is where I will turn next.