 One Life Tutorial for April 2023
At times you experience the occurrence of events in your life as coincidence, appearing related without any apparent causal connection. Coincidences arise from a variety of reasons, such as chance and statistical probability, but are ultimately created by the way you process information—how you perceive and interpret the experience. You may see patterns and connections, without any objective capacity to prove they exist. Or you may just sense that something feels different in the interaction. A coincidence feels more significant than just a random occurrence. If meaning is present, you might label an experience as more than “just a coincidence,” because coincidences which are meaningful reflect a deeper connection to your inner psychological state than what a random occurrence might suggest. Sometimes coincidences occur simply by chance. There are billions of people and events happening every day and the odds of things lining up in ways that could easily be interpreted as meaningful are actually quite high. Coincidence presents aspects of the dynamic and interdependent nature of existence. With the knowledge that you have a tendency to interpret most of your experience in a way that conforms to pre-existing bias, beliefs, and expectations, it becomes prudent to recognize that in a world of dynamic coincidence, auspiciousness is always present. The term auspicious is often used to refer to anything associated with positive and favorable outcomes. It can be used to describe a variety of situations, such as completion of positive action or the arrival of a new opportunity. In Buddhism, auspiciousness is closely linked to the idea of karma and the belief that one’s actions have consequences that affect future experiences. We use the term auspicious is to describe anything that is fortunate and conducive to spiritual growth and well being. The notion that auspiciousness is always present suggests that there is a state of consistent opportunity for positive events and outcomes to occur and that these opportunities are interconnected and interdependent. This could be interpreted as the belief in the natural unfolding dynamic play of One Life as evolutionary movement into a more and more profound state of loving kindness. Whether the evolutionary movement is towards anything or nothing at all is irrelevant, however. In the relative sense of reality, it just is more reassuring to assume there is a direction and purposeful quality to evolutionary movement. You do not have control over all the events and occurrences in your life, but you can appropriately cultivate a sense of the ever present auspicious nature of All That Is. Your choices, actions and beliefs are always met in the dynamic play of One Life unfolding. This meeting is perfect in that there is always an outcome that serves the continued unfolding. Coincidence is the juxtaposition of events unfolding and auspiciousness is the terrain upon which the events unfold. And the deeper truth is that dynamic coincidence is always recognizable in the midst of prevailing auspiciousness. And auspiciousness, ever present, can be cultivated and thereby support the profound knowing of meaningful interdependent coincidence.
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