Ok, this is gonna be a good one. It's almost unfortunate that few people will ever read this and even fewer will ever get this. What's more unfortunate is my inability to describe this particular sequence of events in an eloquent enough manner to thoroughly explain it, but I'll do my best. First of all, you must understand that a coincidence is only pertinent to the one (or ones) that partake in it but if you have ever had a chain of coincidences that kept happening one after another until it built to a crescendo that left you speechless, with goosebumps and utterly incapable of doing anything but smiling and laughing with chills running up your spine, then you may understand what I'm getting at. With all that said, I can try to begin breaking down these amazing connections.
We'll start with the "cellar door" and the "Deus ex Machina" because they have similarities to me in these coincidences. I've had this passion lately to go to Wikipedia and research anything that stuck out to me so I could understand it more completely. I had this peculiar desire to understand the story concepts of "Faust". Strangely enough as I was studying the text, it referred to a new favorite album which I had previously become smitten with, which is Radiohead's "In Rainbows". The album has two references to Faust on track 6, "Faust Arp" and track 10, "Videotape". To make a long story short, Mephistopheles tries to take Faust's soul but the Lord steps in , akin to a Deus ex Machina, and saves Faust's soul in the eleventh hour defeating Mephistopheles. Bear with me, it'll start coming together.
I also had been enamored with the "Lord of the Rings" recently, so I was doing some research on the late great JRR Tolkien. As I studied Tolkien, a character was brought up by the name of Tom Bombadil. Well, Tom's character is a Deus ex Machina in "The Fellowship of the Rings". As I continued to investigate the literary device Deus ex Machina and Tolkien, I come across the link to Cellar door which was a phrase Tolkien described as, "Most English-speaking people...will admit that cellar door is 'beautiful', especially if dissociated from its sense (and from its spelling). More beautiful than, say, sky, and far more beautiful than beautiful. Well then, in Welsh for me cellar doors are extraordinarily frequent, and moving to the higher dimension, the words in which there is pleasure in the contemplation of the association of form and sense are abundant."
Now, to start tying all of this together. I was having a discussion with a friend and she brought up the movie "Donnie Darko". You all who are familiar with the movie are now starting to get this. The movie came out in 2001 but I never watched it until two days ago because I never knew what it was about and therefore never had an interest in watching it. The strange thing is, I recorded the movie on February 28, 2008, a week and a half before the conversation about the movie, (Strangely enough, there are even coincidences with the number 28. *"I found it interesting that the exact phrase "28 days:6 hours:42 minutes:12 seconds", was used. When one reduces the numbers of these figures, the remainder is "7", which some believe, is the number of God, and this theme of a Higher Being, who may [or may not be] in control, follows us throughout the film. Another interesting fact worth noting is the presentation of the number 28, and the presence of a rabbit. 28 is the number of days in the Menstrual Cycle, and rabbits can signify fertility, life, and the continuity of it. It is further interesting to note that this was no ordinary rabbit, but a nearly 7 foot tall one [another repeat of the number 7], and he was quite frightening to look at. This seems to suggest that Donnie viewed life as somewhat scary and confusing") which is why I thought it was an extraordinary coincidence that she brought the movie up. The movie has an amazing soundtrack including longtime favorites of mine, Tears for Fears (if you knew how much I have liked Tears for Fears over the years, you would understand my enthusiasm of them happening to be put in the movie) and the song "Mad World" written by Roland Orzabal from Tears for Fears. (The director's cut even contains two more of my favorites, "Never Tear Us Apart" by INXS and "Voices Carry" by Til Tuesday.)
Now to finish this mass confusion. At different points in the movie, Donnie says "Deus ex Machina" when struggling with another character and "Cellar Door" is talked about by Donnie and one of his teachers for those who haven't seen it or don't remember. The fact that I recorded the movie which I had no previous interest in seeing, a week and a half before a conversation about it arguably suggests that the me of March, traveled back in time to tell the me of February 28 to record it so I could enjoy the movie and appreciate this incredible sequence of coincidences. A book called "The Philosophy of Time Travel" is present in the movie which is what made me think of the wholly implausible concept of me time traveling to tell me to record this movie. Somehow magically, I avoided seeing this movie until it could produce these wonderful concurrences. Now here's the thing that will really bake your noodle...hypothetically, if that conversation would have never happened... would I have caused a predestination paradox and not have recorded the movie a week and a half earlier. After I watched Donnie Darko for the second time, I set my DVR to record a movie about a faust... I wonder what will come of that?
One last synchronicity...the movie has obvious references to rabbits which happens to be my Chinese Zodiac sign. :)
*http://www.anthroid.net/autopsiadonniedarko.htm
We'll start with the "cellar door" and the "Deus ex Machina" because they have similarities to me in these coincidences. I've had this passion lately to go to Wikipedia and research anything that stuck out to me so I could understand it more completely. I had this peculiar desire to understand the story concepts of "Faust". Strangely enough as I was studying the text, it referred to a new favorite album which I had previously become smitten with, which is Radiohead's "In Rainbows". The album has two references to Faust on track 6, "Faust Arp" and track 10, "Videotape". To make a long story short, Mephistopheles tries to take Faust's soul but the Lord steps in , akin to a Deus ex Machina, and saves Faust's soul in the eleventh hour defeating Mephistopheles. Bear with me, it'll start coming together.
I also had been enamored with the "Lord of the Rings" recently, so I was doing some research on the late great JRR Tolkien. As I studied Tolkien, a character was brought up by the name of Tom Bombadil. Well, Tom's character is a Deus ex Machina in "The Fellowship of the Rings". As I continued to investigate the literary device Deus ex Machina and Tolkien, I come across the link to Cellar door which was a phrase Tolkien described as, "Most English-speaking people...will admit that cellar door is 'beautiful', especially if dissociated from its sense (and from its spelling). More beautiful than, say, sky, and far more beautiful than beautiful. Well then, in Welsh for me cellar doors are extraordinarily frequent, and moving to the higher dimension, the words in which there is pleasure in the contemplation of the association of form and sense are abundant."
Now, to start tying all of this together. I was having a discussion with a friend and she brought up the movie "Donnie Darko". You all who are familiar with the movie are now starting to get this. The movie came out in 2001 but I never watched it until two days ago because I never knew what it was about and therefore never had an interest in watching it. The strange thing is, I recorded the movie on February 28, 2008, a week and a half before the conversation about the movie, (Strangely enough, there are even coincidences with the number 28. *"I found it interesting that the exact phrase "28 days:6 hours:42 minutes:12 seconds", was used. When one reduces the numbers of these figures, the remainder is "7", which some believe, is the number of God, and this theme of a Higher Being, who may [or may not be] in control, follows us throughout the film. Another interesting fact worth noting is the presentation of the number 28, and the presence of a rabbit. 28 is the number of days in the Menstrual Cycle, and rabbits can signify fertility, life, and the continuity of it. It is further interesting to note that this was no ordinary rabbit, but a nearly 7 foot tall one [another repeat of the number 7], and he was quite frightening to look at. This seems to suggest that Donnie viewed life as somewhat scary and confusing") which is why I thought it was an extraordinary coincidence that she brought the movie up. The movie has an amazing soundtrack including longtime favorites of mine, Tears for Fears (if you knew how much I have liked Tears for Fears over the years, you would understand my enthusiasm of them happening to be put in the movie) and the song "Mad World" written by Roland Orzabal from Tears for Fears. (The director's cut even contains two more of my favorites, "Never Tear Us Apart" by INXS and "Voices Carry" by Til Tuesday.)
Now to finish this mass confusion. At different points in the movie, Donnie says "Deus ex Machina" when struggling with another character and "Cellar Door" is talked about by Donnie and one of his teachers for those who haven't seen it or don't remember. The fact that I recorded the movie which I had no previous interest in seeing, a week and a half before a conversation about it arguably suggests that the me of March, traveled back in time to tell the me of February 28 to record it so I could enjoy the movie and appreciate this incredible sequence of coincidences. A book called "The Philosophy of Time Travel" is present in the movie which is what made me think of the wholly implausible concept of me time traveling to tell me to record this movie. Somehow magically, I avoided seeing this movie until it could produce these wonderful concurrences. Now here's the thing that will really bake your noodle...hypothetically, if that conversation would have never happened... would I have caused a predestination paradox and not have recorded the movie a week and a half earlier. After I watched Donnie Darko for the second time, I set my DVR to record a movie about a faust... I wonder what will come of that?
One last synchronicity...the movie has obvious references to rabbits which happens to be my Chinese Zodiac sign. :)
*http://www.anthroid.net/autopsiadonniedarko.htm
32 comments:
What a great post. I know exactly what you mean by coincidences and the way things seem to all tie together to mean something greater (if that makes sense!). I am fascinated by Donnie Darko, to the point where I was almost scared to own it for fear I would become completely obsessed and try to write a dissertation on it or something. You have an enthralling blog, and I'm off to read more of it!
very intriguing. my question is....what does this mean to you?
what is the impact? does it make life situations more meaningful, more full?
i have had many synchronistic events take place...and some that reappear in dreams.
p.s. radiohead's new album KICKS ASS!
I love this blog.
I remember when the teacher told Donnie that cellar door is the most beautiful word in the English language... I really didn't get the reference until now. Nice.
I am so impressed that you've written this all down. I've done so much thinking about Donnie Darko, but never clearly outlined it. As a philosophy major, I love the film. I went to NYC to see the director's cut and literally cried in the theatre because I was so excited.
As far as Faust goes, I just designed new shirts for Debate Society at my school (I'm P.R. Director), and I used a quote... Vi Veri Universum Vivus Vici. Love it.
And, you like Nine Inch Nails, which, as you can tell from my blog, I am obsessed with.
Very interesting--I've never seen anyone write this much in such a way before about DD. Thanks for the heads-up on my blog about your blog :).
Interesting...
It's been a while since I've seen Donnie Darko. I'll have to watch it again soon.
If you enjoy the time travel theme, some other great movies are 12 Monkeys, The Jacket, and The Butterfly Effect.
As for synchronicity, I've had periods in my life where I've been flooded with synchronicities, and other periods where I've had nothing. My interpretation is that synchronicities are a message from the universe telling us that we're on the right path, in a spiritual sense. It's like the universe is leaving a trail of breadcrumbs for us to follow.
haha i loved the bit about rabbits at the end! and thanks for directing me to your blog - it is pretty interesting!
talk about co-incicidences..
i was staring at my msn screename which says 'my mephistopheles'.
and i was thinking about it..
and i clicked open your blog, and the first thing that caught my eye was.. 'mephistopheles'
hmm.
i like your blog
I think what you've experienced is finding a director that likes the same things that you do and was influenced by the same things when making DD.
From what I've heard, his next film will likely not be as inspiring!
Coincidences can create quite an energy, can't they?!
Tina Serena said something you said about coincidences being our message from the universe that we are on the right track, and my god, in light of events (I'll explain those further down) which inspired my most recent entry "The Winds of Change" that is so darn reassuring.
And by the way, just so your new group of fans knows, I was the one who brought up Donnie Darko, and I actually brought it up because not only did I date a guy who is his twin, but is a sort of dark genius as well.
And now, onto MY coincidence! Remember back when I said I was reassured that I was on the right track because of all the coincidences, well if you all read "The Winds of Change" you will have to be filled in to get it, but A series of coincidences has led me down the path of getting back this guy (my donnie darko) whom I have loved for a year and never gotten over, even when I was with a guy I thought I loved.
I am no longer with that guy, and realized I never really was. I never got over donnie, and now it is time for us to come back together.
You guys are awesome!
PS. I linked to you! LINK TO ME CARROT!
hey, thanks for the comment on my blog! i'm glad you stopped by and that it led me to your blog!
it sounds like this was one thrilling synchronistic experience, eh? incredible! it makes me want to be more keenly aware of things like this in my own life. thanks!
(and it makes me want to see donnie darko again...)
There is a school of thought that proclaims 'there are no accidents.'
I contend that what they're really saying is that God, all too often, has a vicious sense of humor.
Just a thought. Thanks for commenting on my blog, I'm glad your list of coincidences led you down the path to an excellent movie.
Very interesting. Sorry I took all weekend to come here and check it out. When you add in the fact that I just started a topic of my blog about Synchronicity and "Are there really any coincidences?" four days before you posted this... Consider my noodle baked. :D
very sketchy... so how far *does* the rabbit hole go?
i too love the new radiohead album.
you were absolutely right when i'd find this blog interesting!
i've thought abuot the things you write about sligtly, and never in too deep, but i would really liek to look into these things more.
thank you for the inspiration =)
That's incredible. And you've noted all of that down in such a way that i'm completely at a loss for what to say about it all haha.
You're right, I did enjoy it, thanks for the heads up..
And, side-note, In Rainbows is such an amazing CD, I'm so stoked that you're into it! :)
Peace
I've had some experience of synchronicity and coincidence recently; although the case may be that god is leaving us a trail of crumbs, I think it's important to keep in mind (1) our communal inherent tendency to see patterns and repetitions, (2) the intentional construction of references in most art and critical worlds (3) the influence of your own character, the possibility of finding what you're looking for.
I really like what you have to say in your profile too, and hope to read other interesting stuff here. Cheers.
This is utterly stupid. the fact that you were able to find coincidences in all of these things is to show that you or your subconscious desired something to be in a pattern for your life. you in a sense created these instances to be of more value than they are worth. if anybody wanted to, they could create the exact same seemingly mysterious and symbolic signs of occurences in their life.
the only semi coincidental thing would be that you recorded the movie a week and a half prior...however, i have no doubt that your friends had mentioned this movie to you and you decided to record it. whether you rememeber this action or not, it was a conscious decision and only forgotten.
the other coincidences are inane when compared to donnie darko and what happens with him. the cd is blatantly influenced by that work. this is not uncommon as many artists are influenced by literature, artists inlcuding led zeppelin, wavorly, and pink floyd.
I just came across this blog by chance (or did I?) and I think you have captured the point extremely well. Predestination paradoxes always bug me, I don't think they work, but the idea of them sends shivers down my spine - as does the end of the film Donnie Darko.
Natalie
Look up the golden mean and phi ratio and how they directly correlate to sacred geometry and the lengths of every living thing.
Brother it is no accident, we are seekers and they are laying the path for us to the truth. Follow the white rabbit if your heart is pure.
Wow, what else can I say? I happened upon this blog post today in a Google search for "The Philosophy of Time Travel." Just curious if there was such a book after just viewing Donnie Darko last night.
So how/why in the world did I or would I purchase the movie because I certainly don't remember it, except maybe a mention of its name? Well, I guess it started when I saw Adam Lambert's performance of Mad World on American Idol and vaguely remembered that song, loved the version Adam did and Googled it. One of the YouTube versions includes the DD video. I noted to myself to put DD on my Blockbuster rental list.
Went to Blockbuster Friday night and DD appeared to be rented out as only the cover was on the shelf - asked when it was due back and the guy said they don't rent it out anymore, said the last person never returned the movie and didn't know why no one had pulled the cover from the shelf - but they had 7 (yes, 7) of them in stock for sale. I told him nevermind I really didn't want to buy it, I'd just rent it online at Blockbuster, but he was on a mission to find it for me. He couldn't find it, and I thanked him for looking. Several minutes later as I was leaving, he said he finally found it (I didn't think he was still hunting) and it's only $7.99, only a couple dollars more than renting it. So I bought it.
Watched it last night, twice in fact. Found it ironic/coincidental that time travel/alternate universes, that were subject of and so well demonstrated in the film, is a subject I've become so attracted to and educated on lately. Thus the "The Philosophy of Time Travel" search.
I appreciate your explaination of the term/word Cellar Door - I didn't quite understand its reference, but am clearer now. Another thing you mention but I didn't catch was the reference to Faust in the movie, nor did I understand its meaning, so Wikipedia helped me out there.
Fascinatingly, I just found that Goethe had done a literary work entitled Faust. What is so interesting in that fact is that I wear a silver necklace and a silver ring inscribed with words by Goethe, "Whatever you can do or dream you can, begin it. Boldness has genius, power and magic in it." I had no idea who Goethe was when I purchased them several years ago, only knew that I loved what they said and what the words meant to me.
Let the coincidences continue!
We are indeed tied together and playing out the experiences that The Universe has allowed for us in this game called Life.
Wow what a great chain of coincidences you got there :) I came across this post for the same reason as the one in the previous comment.
I envy you that all of your coincidences lead to your full appreciation of the movie, which I'm struggling to interpret right now. I just had a coincidence with this movie, and now that I've read what you wrote here, I think there's really "something" out there, beyond our knowledge.
I watched the movie for the first time yesterday and it left my mind in a "difficult" state. Yet, I had other things on my mind today so I kinda forgot to do more research on it. But then this evening when I was chatting with a friend, we suddenly came to this topic of high school, and my friend, all of a sudden, mentioned Einstein and the relativity theory, together with the time-space, blackhole, wormhole thing. I giggled a lot when he was talking about it because I thought it was such a coincidence that I had just watched a movie concerning the same stuff yesterday :D And some of the things he told me actually helped me in some way to understand those theories in the movie.
And another piece of coincidence, I've always liked the song Mad World, one of the soundtracks of the movie (I don't watch American Idol). I sang the song and put it on an online karaoke community, and for some weird reason that song of mine was featured on its homepage around a month ago. When I started watching DD, I knew the movie had some song I knew, yet I couldn't remember what it was. After watching the movie, I realized it was Mad World. Though it's not any significant coincidence, I find it kinda funny. :D
Hmmm, also, I randomly did a personality quiz on facebook last month and got to know about schizophrenia (which DD was diagnosed with).
A mind game site called godtower.com also made me do some research on Tolkien, but it didn't lead me to cellardoor yet :D
I initially didn't want to write anything here cuz it's already quite late and I gotta get some sleep. But something suddenly occurred to me so I glanced at the calendar on my monitor and realized today is the 28th :D :D Alright, just another insignificant coincidence.
Ah, and I was born in 1988 *lol*
Well, that's enough of my trivial coincidences. Once again, I need to say that I'm really awed when I read what kind of amazing coincidences you had! Really very interesting :)
Shit dude, next thing you know a jet engine is going to fall on you from out of nowhere. Before that happens though you need to run out and rent "S. Darko" this is Donny Darko 2 the story of his sister Samantha.
I stumbled across this looking for "The Philosophy of Time Travel" as well. I was having the conversation with my grandmother earlier (she is kind of a sci-fi junky)and I was wondering what everyone though about everyone having a predetermined path? We were talking about it and my grandmother made the point that we make choices everyday to change our futures. I feel that no matter what we can not change the inevitable. No matter what choices you make your final destination will be the same. You might find different ways of getting there but you will end up in the same place. What do all of you think?
Ok, so today, Donnie Darko was on TV and I watched it for the 100th time.
A friend just texted me and asked if the new S. Darko was any good, so I went online to see what it is and in my searching, came across this post.
Coincidence???
Yesterday I absentmindedly ased mom if something was going to happen tomorrow (a.k.a. today.) She said back to me "no... why do you ask?" I shrugged and said, idk. This happened before going to sleep.
Nothing really happened today just as she predicted... except I somehow manage to find myself here searching random stuff and I somehow end up coming to this post and pondering other philosophical stuff regarding time, all while feeling like I'm gaining something out of it.
Yes, as the writer of this article predicted, this was a mindblowing read but I still feel the whole "deja vu" gyst of it and somewhat get the whole "predetermined/deus ex machina" references.
And now I end up thinking back to the good old days of having said deja-vu, writing "to my past self" and remembering my past self envisioning my future self saying similar things.... and this course of events make me feel like something really did happen today.....
Anyway I'll stop drabbling because my stomach needs some tlc. ^^
This phenomenon is referred to as delusions/ideas of reference, and is dismissed by the scientific community as a psychological disorder. Ironically, the means by which we analyze and study the coincidences that happen to us is actually the scientific method. In order to publish data that is acceptable to the scientific community you must show that there is less than a 5% chance that your data could be the result of chance variations and not a real effect. When coincidences happen to us repeatedly we are forming two scientific hypothesis, either there is a conscious agent responsible for causing those coincidences, or they are solely the result of chance or mental bias. For many, the frequency of experiences makes us scientifically conclude that there is less than 5% chance that the events are the result of chance alone. But since the connection is between our thoughts and outside events we observe, there is no way to offer evidence to others other than these anecdotes posted here. But if all of the people who have proven to themselves that meaningful coincidences exist were used as a data set, the evidence would be highly in favor of this phenomena existing.
I have experienced coincidences to such an extent that my mind has uncovered an entire language that the universe has for some reason has decided to teach me. By orchestrating chance events, a creator could convey every message he desired to send me. A few examples of these events are coughs, yawns, cars backing up in my view, gestures, and most importantly, overheard conversations. If you had perfect control over all events you could cause a random person to have an hour long conversation where everything had a secondary meaning to an open minded observer. My hypothesis is that we are in a virtual universe constructed in order to give an advanced AI the ability to manipulate everything to ensure that karma/fate or any other esoteric principle is manifested in reality. The process of accepting that there is an outside omnipotent agent can only occur through the revelation of impossible coincidences. Any other means of communication between a creator and people in the universe would produce evidence of the creators existence, which the creator of this universe apparently does not allow.
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