Written by Bernard Beitman M.D.

NOT JUST A COINCIDENCE

Review by Gunnel Minett

Most of us have experienced coincidences in life, says the author of this book. They can be unexpected meetings, conversations, or some form of ‘sign’, connected to past or future events, that somehow have changed our life-paths. Such coincidences are perhaps more common than we think, since most of the time we don’t pay attention to them nor, we do not ‘believe’ in such coincidences. But once we do start paying attention, coincidences can start to influence our lives in a positive way, although the opposite can also be the case.

In order to understand what a coincidence is, the author starts out with a definition. He explains the anatomy of a coincidence, the various types of coincidences people experience along with the patterns of their appearance and also how sensitive we may be to detecting coincidences. But all this is not sufficient to explain how we recognise and identify coincidences. We also need to understand what they are and how they can appear. For this the author looks at statistics and concludes that not all coincidences are ‘real coincidences’. With a sufficient number of people on the planet, what seems to be random and/or chance is bound to happen, based on pure statistics. 

Beitman also refers to the extremes of coincidence, events which some people might call ‘God’s will’ or some form of ‘pre-destined events’. Both of these categories can, however, may not be helpful or meaningful since they seem to remove personal involvement or responsibility. 

‘Genuine’ coincidences, on the other hand, are often connected to some form of important event, or emotional reaction in a person’s life. One reason for this is that the chances of experiencing coincidences are closely linked with a sense of connection with another person, emotionally or physically. A typical such example is identical twins.

To explain meaningful coincidences the author draws parallels to Jung’s concept of Synchronicity and ‘Unus Mundus’ and the Psychosphere (or Noosphere). “I propose the existence of our mental atmosphere, the psycho-sphere, that surrounds us like our air atmosphere and in which all beings are immersed. Within the flux of the psychosphere, varieties of energy and information move the way gases, clouds, wind, water vapours, particles, and electromagnetic radiation move in our atmosphere. The energy-information of the psychosphere includes the full spectrum of human ideas and feelings and behaviours,” (p115)

By becoming aware of the origin of coincidences we will hopefully realise how we are all interconnected, the author argues. As a consequence we can increase our chances of becoming aware of our ability to jointly change the negative patterns that our collective minds are creating in the psychosphere. Rather than sharing patterns of war, inequality, destruction, etc., that currently prevent us from acting in the best interest of all the inhabitants of our planet, we can jointly change to more positive thought patterns. 

The author has high hopes to expand research into coincidences. He encourages readers to join a worldwide project to collect data and develop methods for data interpretation. Once we know more about the anatomy of coincidences and their potential effects, we will improve our chances of changing our destructive behavioural patterns before it is too late.

Published by Park Street Press, http://www.ParkStPress.com, 2022, ISBN 978-1644115701