The Algorithm of Events

Perhaps it’s the reading I have been doing lately. The thing is, it has made me think. How do events shape our lives? Intentional events, certainly, but also unintentional ones. Random events.

An intentional event would be say a wedding, a party, lunch with a friend, a trip. We expect certain outcomes and often those outcomes occur in some expected form. Intentional or planned events shape our lives, more or less, in expected ways. We see loved ones, we get to wear a pretty dress, we have a good meal, good conversation.

So what interests me the most are the random events. A chance meeting on the street, attending a seminar where you hear a philosophy that changes your life, encountering a stranger in a class who becomes a lifelong friend because you happened to introduce yourself. And you almost didn’t. Tragic, unexplainable happenings that alter your trajectory.

Every event changes us whether intentional or not. The changes may be minuscule or major. An example for me would be something that happened many years ago. I happened to read in the newspaper about an acting class being held at a local theatre. (Just reading a newspaper at that time for me was something of an anomaly. I did not read it on a regular basis.) I was terrified at the thought. I had two small children, I was pathologically shy and I lived a substantial distance from the location of the class. I easily could have passed. But I did not. As a result I met my best friends in the world and satisfied a lifelong passion. Was it random? You could argue that there was intention and I put it out into the universe and the universe answered. But why did I happen to read that newspaper? That day?

You often hear, “Everything happens for a reason.” Or “It was supposed to happen.” Really? So here’s the thing. I do believe in intention. It does work. But which is more powerful, fate or happenstance? Is there such a thing as universal intention for us? Is there such a thing as fate? Would it benefit us to know? Interesting questions, yes?