Humans are pattern-seeking animals.¬† Get fixated on something: hexagons, conspiracies, the Hand of God, and you begin to see it everywhere.¬† As a religious studies scholar who specializes in ritual, I see ritual everywhere: at Starbucks, in the vegan dietary code, when the boss says, “I want to see you in my office” without telling you why.
So pick a random pattern today.¬† Read your horoscope.¬† Open your Bible, roll a die, crack a fortune cookie or do a random Google search.¬† Then make a conscious effort to find patterns that reinforce it–does it seem like the universe is willing it?
To tell you the truth, I’m not sure how this experiment will go.¬† I have a hunch, but maybe it’s part of my own pattern-seeking.
2 responses so far ↓
1 nee // May 3, 2007 at 4:40 am
I know the answer without doing it (but I’ll do it anyway). We find what we want to. We find what we’re looking for.
Did you see the movie Pi?
2 Bored in Vernal // May 3, 2007 at 8:09 am
This reminds me of Carol Lynn Pearson’s Consider the Butterfly. It talks about learning to see synchronicities. My latest synchronicity has been having Carol Lynn Pearson’s works brought to my attention so much lately. Here, and here, and here!
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