Coincidence

I recently read a post about someone who woke up earlier than their usual alarm time and went about their routine, earlier than usual. This resulted in them helping out someone in need, who they would have missed if not for this unusual awakening they had. The story carried a strong implication of divine intervention.

I am not going to debate about how this event is a coincidence and so-and-so. That is not interesting at all. Rather, reading this incited a thought that always lurked in my mind: Why do we, as humans, attach such importance to these events?

Humans are the only ones on this planet, star system and most probably in the whole galaxy that can ask the question “why?” Other species aren’t very bothered. They hunker down and survive. Even if they have “free” time, they would rather rest than ponder about things. But we fundamentally cannot do that. It is what made us, us. We ask “why?” “Why are we here?” “What is the purpose?”

Tiger got to hunt,
Bird got to fly;
Man got to sit and wonder, “Why, why why?”

- Kurt Vonnegut, Cat’s Cradle

What if the answer we get to the question is “No reason. You exist because of a random chain of events that no one has control over. You are insignificant. This event doesn’t mean anything. You don’t mean anything. Anything you do ever, means nothing. Nothing has meaning.”
That is a pretty depressing answer. It implies that we evolved the ability to ask “why?”(which in itself is insane), only to be put down and humbled by the answer being a resounding “nothing.”

It is hard to grasp. How is that possible? How can we mean nothing? If we have this ability, and we’re the only ones that we know that have it, it should mean we are special. It should mean something. We should mean something.

So, we soothe ourselves. We make ourselves important. We have a purpose. We have a goal to accomplish.

And this makes sense evolutionarily too. If we evolved the capability to ask “why?” to help us survive better than the others, but the answer is “just cause, no point”, then we’re caught in a paradox. If nothing has meaning, then the evolutionary drive that ultimately led us to ask the question is undermined.
Why should we survive and pass down our genes, the cornerstone of evolution? (this is the remotest sense of “point” we have, evolutionarily speaking). We wouldn’t. We would rather die if there is no point to all this.

So, we make ourselves important. But, we also do not take an extreme pride in this self-importance. We are a little humble. We attribute our importance to someone greater than us. We are mere mortals, so we reason with ourselves. If we did not have a purpose in this life, it would only mean we are part of a grander plan, long after we are gone.

Tiger got to sleep,
Bird got to land;
Man got to tell himself he understand.

- Kurt Vonnegut, Cat’s Cradle

If I woke up earlier than usual today, it was not by chance. It was by design. It had to be because someone superior saw another person needing help, so I was called upon. My life is important. Because something superior thinks it is. There is a plan. It all leads to something.