Accidentally on Purpose
Sara Goodman
October 26, 2013
Readings
“The Riddles of Hamlet,” Simon Augustine Blackmore
I
t is strictly and philosophically true that there is
no such thing as chance or accident; since these
words do not signify anything really existing,
anything that is truly an agent or the cause of any
event; but they merely signify man’s ignorance of
the real and immediate cause. Most tragic events
turn on most trifling circumstances. [In
Shakespeare’s work,] The fate of Richard II, is
traced to a momentary impulse—an impulse that
cost him his kingdom and his life. Poor
Desdemona’s fate hangs on the accidental dropping
of a handkerchief. The unhappy death of Romeo
and Juliet result from the miscarriage of a letter.
The noble Caesar would not have met his
untimely death, had he not postponed reading the
schedule of Artemidorus. Wolsey fell from the full
meridian of his glory by a slight inadvertence,
which all his deep sagacity could not redeem. But
of all the poet’s plays, the predominance of chance
over human designs is most powerfully brought
home in the tragedy wherein the fate of Hamlet
turns on accident after accident. These fortuitous
events are variously denominated, as Destiny, or
Fate, or Chance; but, in the poetical religion of
Shakespeare, they are recognized as the direction of
a Providence that exercises supreme control over
human affairs.
From Conversations with God, Neale Donald Walsch
God: Yet know this: there is no such thing as an
incorrect path—for on this journey you cannot
“not get” where you are going.
Neale: Then what is the point? If there is no way
not to “get there,” what is the point of life? Why
should we worry about anything we do?
God: Well, of course, you shouldn’t [worry]. But
you would do well to be observant. Simply
notice who and what you are being, doing, and
having, and see whether it serves you.
The point of life is not to get anywhere—it is
to notice that you are, and have always been,
already there. You are, always and forever, in
the moment of pure creation. The point of life is
therefore to create—who and what you are—and
then to experience that.
Neale: And what of suffering? Is suffering the way
and the path to God? Some say it is the only
way.
God: I am not pleased by suffering, and whoever
says I am does not know Me. Suffering is an
unnecessary aspect of the human experience. It
is not only unnecessary, it is unwise, uncomfortable, and hazardous to your health.
Neale: Then why is there so much suffering? Why
don’t you, if you are God, put an end to it if you
dislike it so much?
God: I have put an end to it. You simply refuse to
use the tools that I have given you with which
to realize that. You see, suffering has nothing to
do with events, but with one’s reaction to them.
What’s happening is merely what’s happening.
How you feel about it is another matter. I have
given you the tools with which to respond and
react to events in a way that reduces—in fact,
eliminates—pain, but you have not used them.
Neale: Excuse me, but why not eliminate the
events [that cause us suffering]?
God: A very good suggestion. Unfortunately, I
have no control over them.
Neale: You have no control over events?
God: Of course not. Events are occurrences in
time and space that you produce out of choice—
and I will never interfere with choices. To do so
would be to obviate the very reason I created
you. But I’ve explained this all before. Some
events you produce willfully, and some events
you draw to you—more or less unconsciously.
Some events—major natural disasters are among
those you toss into this category—are written off
to “fate.” Yet even “fate” can be an acronym for
“from all thoughts everywhere.” In other words,
the consciousness of the planet.
Neale: The “collective consciousness.”
God: Precisely.
Reflections
ccidentally on purpose is a delightful phrase
that I found while reading novels. It has been
around for centuries and is a funny little oxymoron.
It means doing something “on accident” with
quotes around it—in other words I am intending to
make this look like an accident, or I am intentionally getting in a situation where I know an accident
could happen.
A
Accidentally on Purpose, by Sara Goodman, October 27, 2013
back to Greek philosophy.
In Greek and Roman mythology, fate is
described as “the three fates”—three women, sometimes depicted as Maiden- Mother- Crone, who
have control of the destiny of all beings, including
the most powerful Gods. The youngest, the maiden,
spins the wool of a life force into a thread that she
feeds to mother, who measures the thread, before
passing it to the crone, who then cuts the thread to
the chosen length. The length of every life is predetermined before every person is born. I love the
image of these three women working together with
their hands on all parts of a life—there in the forming, in the living of the life, and in the cutting off
from living.
In Shakespeare, these three fates are reimagined, often called the three witches, as the women
who direct the fate of Macbeth. The famous phrase
of the witches, “toil toil, boil and bubble” comes
from these women, who told the unfortunate future
ruler only part of his fortune. More common in
Shakespeare’s plays is the idea that fate is written in
the stars, and when we try to control our destiny
bad things happen.
The idea that God had predestined everything
in people’s lives was generally accepted in this
post-reformation, Christian country. However,
many people still believed in the concept of the
wheel of fortune. The turning of this wheel could
bring the most fortunate person low and the lowliest person into great fortune, but it was unpredictable where you would land. It was a way to
describe the twists of fate that could happen to people in their lifetimes.
As we heard in our reading, Blackmore believed
that Shakespeare’s characters fell victim to twists of
fate’s wheel that only appeared to be accidents.
They were no accidents, though; this was the way it
was going to unfold all along. Blackmore clarifies,
saying,
One of my favorite authors, Jennifer Crusie,
used it to describe her lead character’s behavior in
at least three of her novels. In one of Crusie’s books,
Mab, an artist working on repairing a fortune telling
machine, “accidentally on purpose” hits the lever
multiple times, so she can get more fortunes without looking like she is interested in reading them.
You see, she doesn’t believe in silly things like fate,
fortune telling, or magic, but she is drawn to them
all the same.
Many of us feel the same way. Perhaps to you
the world is too clearly logical to believe in fate,
destiny, or predestination, and yet you find yourself
saying something like “it was meant to be” when
something good happens. Or maybe you find the
small coincidences in your life to be something
more than accidents, but somehow you can’t put
your finger on why.
So we go along in our lives making little accidents happen, maybe on purpose, or maybe unintentionally. Have you dropped something to distract someone from something you didn’t want
them to see? Have you picked up the phone to call
your mom and accidentally called a friend’s number instead—only to find out that your friend really
needed to hear from you that day? Were these accidents or done on purpose?
I think “on-purpose accidents” are typically
self-serving: we create an accident to make ourselves look better in another’s eyes. Be it distracting
them from something we don’t want them to see or
trying to hide our true intentions—like caring too
much about something that’s socially unacceptable
or feeling vulnerable and needy.
Maybe we make purposeful accidents because
we want to connect with people—we want to be
accepted and maybe even loved. But maybe we
don’t know why we do what we do.
Jung is famous for saying “Until you make the
unconscious conscious, it will direct your life, and
you will call it fate.” So, is it our unconsciousness
that drives us, or is it something more?
OK, so what is fate anyway? Fate is a big idea
word—what the heck does it mean?
Traditionally fate has been described as the plan
that has been set out for our lives. Be it God, the
universe, or some indescribable force in the world,
the course of our lives has been set for us before we
were ever born. Many of us may immediately think
of the Calvinist idea of predestination—it has
already be decided if we are going to heaven before
we are even born—but Fate as an idea goes way
These fortuitous events are variously denominated, as Destiny, or Fate, or Chance; but in the
poetical religion of Shakespeare, they are recognized as the direction of a Providence that
exercises supreme control over human affairs.
This idea of providence is what I like to call the
Abrahamic view of fate as influenced by the biblical traditions. This is the plan of a life chosen and
overseen by the all-powerful father figure. Last
week, Michael spoke at length about this concept of
fate and how it has lost meaning for many people,
most especially the existentialists. They mainly
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Accidentally on Purpose, by Sara Goodman, October 27, 2013
Process thought doesn’t believe that what will
be is set out or that there is an omnipotent (all powerful) being out there that can force any behavior or
outcome. The belief is that there is a divine lure
toward expansion, toward progress—not necessarily towards good or away from evil. We have free
will to respond to this lure, or not.
For me, I imagine this lure as this stream of
energy that moves through us all at varying speeds.
We have control over the tap in our soul—we can
turn the faucet either direction—towards an open
tap with a rushing stream of life force or towards a
closed tap with just a few drops coming through.
No matter what, the life force is moving through us
luring us towards opening the tap more, but we can
always turn away from this lure. I think our feelings
are our guide in this, when we feel good we are
allowing the energy to flow, and when we feel bad,
we are steming the flow. So, what does this mean
for how I live my life? I am constantly looking for
thoughts that feel better—that feel like relief of suffering. Not happiness really, but relief.
Conversations with God is a series of books that
were popular in the ’90s and that chronicle the conversation that the author, Neale Donald Walsch, had
with what he believes to be God, but what I would
call the universe. You may translate the name God
in a different way. In the earlier reading, Walsch has
asked God what the point of life is, if there is no end
goal. God responds, “The point of life is not to get
anywhere—it is to notice that you are, and have
always been, already there. You are, always and forever, in the moment of pure creation. The point of
life is therefore to create who and what you are and
then to experience that.” The point of life is to experience creation.
But Walsch goes on to ask a question that may
be on your minds as well. What about bad things?
Why do bad things happen? It’s all well and good to
say that the universe lures us towards expansion,
but what about the people who experience terrible
suffering?
God responds: “You see, suffering has nothing to
do with events, but with one’s reaction to them.
What’s happening is merely what’s happening. How
you feel about it is another matter.” So, suffering is
about emotional attachment to outcomes. This is
one of the key Buddhist teachings. Attachment is
suffering. Let me tell you a story. This story comes
from the Taoist tradition out of China.
believe that there is no purpose to life but living.
In stark contrast is the belief in karma and reincarnation in Hinduism and Buddhism. In both religions, the primary purpose of living life is to be free
from living—to stop being reincarnated. OK, so that
is a simplistic and incomplete description of the
beliefs and practices of Hinduism and Buddhism.
But it doesn’t negate the fact that the belief is that
our lives are free to be lived with choice and freedom, but that the only way to stop the cycle of birth
and rebirth is to reach a sufficient level of detachment from life.
According to some Hindu traditions, there are
two kinds of karma. One is the commonly known,
“bad karma,” which is described as an iron chain,
and the other is “good karma” which is a golden
chain. Both keep you in the cycle of reincarnation,
one with misdeeds, bringing you down the hierarchy, and the other bringing you up the ladder. But
until you can be free of your emotional attachment
to the good things you have done, you will never be
free of the chain.
In a way, reincarnation has a level of predestination as well. If you are born into a low station in
life, it is believed that you had an accumulation of
“bad karma,” a weight of the iron chain brought
with you from a former life. The difference is that
you can change the outcome of your life, and the
outcome of your next life by living with intention
and accumulating “good karma.” In this way, all
that has come before is incorporated into the present moment.
This idea resonates with my soul; the idea that
all that has come before this moment influences this
moment. But I see it as much broader than my individual life. I believe that the universe works in this
way. I’ve had a sort of metaphysical/quantum physical view of the world for a while now. I feel like
there is more to the universe than can be explained,
and if there is a God, it is made up of all that we see,
feel, and do in the world.
This is most clearly stated by process philosopher Alfred North Whitehead in his seminal work
Process and Reality, written in 1927. He posits, “It
is as true to say that God creates the world, as that
the world creates God.” According to Whitehead,
the universe (or God if that name works for you) is
as much creator of us as we are of it. All-that-is or
has ever been is a part of a living creativity. Every
moment all-that-is expands to include all new experience that’s happening in the current moment,
becoming greater for the experience.
[There once was] A man who lived on the
northern frontier of China. He was skilled in
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through space. There is a shiny “spear” of energy
that leads each person to what he or she will do
next. His own “spear” appears, and it beckons him
forward. He believes that this is his fate, and he has
no choice but to follow. Donnie rushes to speak to
his science teacher about what he’s seen.
He believes that he can see the pre-decided path
that God has set for each person and that if he can
see that, he can see into the future. He asks if this is
time travel, and his teacher responds:
interpreting events. One day, for no reason, his
son’s horse ran away to the nomads across the
border. Everyone tried to console him, but his
father said, “What makes you so sure this isn’t
a blessing?” Some months later, his horse
returned, bringing a splendid nomad stallion.
Everyone congratulated him, but his father
said, “What makes you so sure this isn’t a disaster?” Their household was richer by a fine
horse, which his son loved to ride. One day he
fell and broke his hip. Everyone tried to console him, but his father said, “What makes
you so sure this isn’t a blessing?”
A year later, the nomads came in force
across the border, and every able-bodied man
took his bow and went into battle. The
Chinese frontiersmen lost nine of every ten
men. Only because the son was [injured] did
the father and son survive to take care of each
other. Truly, blessing turns to disaster, and
disaster to blessing: the changes have no end,
nor can the mystery be fathomed.” How can
we know what will be a blessing, and what
will be a disaster?
You’re contradicting yourself, Donnie. If we
could see our destines manifest themselves
visually... then we would be given the choice
to betray our chosen
destinies. The very
fact that this choice exists... would mean that
all pre-formed destiny would end.” But
Donnie argues, “Not if you chose to stay within God’s channel. . . . ”
This conversation sums up the core message of
this movie. If you knew what the future was going
to bring you, and it wasn’t what you were hoping
for, would you live out that destiny?
On the night of Halloween, Donnie eventually
sets into motion a series of events that end in the
deaths of two people, including his girlfriend, and
the imminent death of his mother and sister. He
realizes when the time comes, that to save the people he loves he needs to travel back in time to die in
his bed when the jet engine crashes into it.
On the morning of his death all the people
affected by what has happened in those 28 days
wake up from the same dream; the dream of what
could happen if they keep living the way they are
living, what could happen if they ignore the lure of
the universe.
So what would you do? How would you choose
to live your life if you could see the future? Would
you be defeated, resigned to living the life given to
you? Would you embrace it, moving towards your
destiny with relish? Would you try to change the
outcome?
No matter how you believe the world to be—
predestined, chaotic, luring you towards expansion, you have to live in the world. I truly believe
that having a full enjoyable life means living as if
you have control over your destiny. We need to
believe that our choices make a difference in our
lives. You’ve got to live life, to experience it fully, in
order to get the most out of it. So do your best to live
a purposeful life despite the accidents that come
your way. Maybe that is our destiny.
This point is illustrated by one of my favorite
Halloween movies, Donnie Darko. It is a little
known film but was a cult hit for my generation.
This independent movie, released in 2001, is a dark
psychological thriller set in 1988. Donnie Darko is a
suburban teen with self-proclaimed emotional
problems. One night he is awakened by Frank, a
six-foot-tall bunny rabbit, who lures him out of bed
to tell him that the world will end in 28 days on
Halloween, and he is the only one who can save it.
When Donnie comes home the next morning, he
discovers that a mysterious jet engine has crashed
through the roof of his bedroom.
If he had been in bed, he would have died. At
first, this seems like amazing good fortune, but with
the series of awful things that follow it’s clearly a
disaster.
In the course of the movie, Donnie is visited
repeatedly by Frank who tells him to do increasingly destructive things, including flooding his high
school, and burning down someone’s house. He
also tells Donnie to find out more about time travel.
Donnie talks to his science teacher about Steven
Hawking’s book A Brief History of Time and the science teacher gives him a book by a local female scientist called The Philosophy of Time Travel. Soon
he starts to see the path of people as they travel
CWL
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