DIRECTORY OF BEAUTIFUL WORDS
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A Brief Moment in the History of Time:
Time is the continuous passage of existence in which events pass from a state of potentiality in the future, through the present, to a state of finality in the past.
Also available as a Word Guide.​

WINDS OF FATE AND DESTINY
In an Eternal World
​Do we live a predetermined life?
​Dowe have free will?

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this topic is also available as a word guide

DIRECTORY OF FEATURE

Fate and Destiny in an Eternal World Home
SEE ALSO:
​A HISTORY OF TIME - a brief introduction to the history, philosophy and mythology of the passage of time.
​
​EXISTENCE OF SOULMATES
For a Greek perspective of this content and the role of fate and destiny within the constructs of soulmates or eternal love see Spinning the Wheel of Fate and the Existence of Soulmates

​CHANCE, COINCIDENCE AND CIRCUMSTANCE

CHANCE - something that happens unpredictably without discernible human intention or observable cause.
  • From the Middle English ‘chaunce’ meaning “occurrence (especially unforeseen or providential), stroke of good or bad luck, luck, fall of the dice,” borrowed from Anglo-French ‘cheaunce,’ Vulgar Latin ‘cadentia’ derivative of Latin ‘cadent’ ‘cadens,’ present participle of ‘cadere’ meaning “to fall, be cast (of dice, lots), turn out, come to pass,” perhaps going back to an Indo-European verbal base ‘ḱad’ meaning to “fall,” also Sanskrit ‘śaśāda’ meaning “fell off/out,” ‘śatsyati’ meaning “will fall off/out”

COINCIDENCE- the occurrence of events that happen at the same time by accident but seem to have some connection. Borrowed from Medieval Latin ‘coincidentia,’ derivative of ‘coincident’ ‘coincidens,’ present participle of ‘coincidere’ meaning “to agree in nature.”

CIRCUMSTANCE - a condition, fact, or event accompanying, conditioning, or determining another; an essential or inevitable concomitant (something that accompanies or is collaterally connected with something else).
  • From the Middle English, from Anglo-French, from Latin ‘circumstantia’ from ‘circumstant’, ‘circumstans’ present participle of ‘circumstare’ meaning “to stand around.”

SERENDIPITY- is an unplanned fortunate discovery. Serendipity is a common occurrence throughout the history of product invention and scientific discovery. The result is the eureka moment.
  • ​The first noted use of "serendipity" was by Horace Walpole in 1754. He had made an unexpected discovery about a lost painting of Bianca Cappello by Giorgio Vasari. It was in reference to a Persian fairy tale, The Three Princes of Serendip. The princes, he wrote in a letter, were “always making discoveries, by accidents and sagacity, of things which they were not in quest of."
  • The word comes from Serendip, an old name for Sri Lanka (Ceylon), It is derived from the Sanskrit Siṃhaladvīpaḥ (Siṃhalaḥ, Sri Lanka + dvīpaḥ, island).

RELATED WORDS:
  • ZEMBLANITY - William Boyd coined the term zemblanity in the late 20th century to mean the opposite of serendipity: "making unhappy, unlucky and expected discoveries occurring by design". The derivation is speculative, but it is believed to be from Nova Zembia, a barren site once used for Russian nuclear testing.
  • BAHRAMDIPITY - derived directly from Bahram Gur as characterized in The Three Princes of Serendip. It describes the suppression of serendipitous discoveries or research results by powerful people.

​VOCABULARY
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CASUALISM - the doctrine that events are ruled by chance.

CAUSALITY - a chance happening.
  • CONSILIENCE - a chance happening or coincidence.

FORTUITISM - the doctrine that chance is involved in natural events rather than absolute determinism. A chance event, discovery, or occurrence.
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FORTUITOUSNESS - the quality of happening accidentally and by lucky chance. uncertainness, uncertainty, precariousness - being unsettled or in doubt or dependent on chance; "the uncertainty of the outcome"

KARMA कर्म, s Sanskrit word meaning action, work or deed; it also refers to the spiritual principle of cause and effect where intent and actions of an individual (cause) influence the future of that individual (effect). Good intent and good deeds contribute to good karma and happier rebirths, while bad intent and bad deeds contribute to bad karma and bad rebirths.
  • Wilhelm Halbfass explains karma by contrasting it with the word KRIYA. Kriya is the activity along with the steps and effort in action, while karma is the executed action as a consequence of that activity, as well as the intention behind it. A good action creates good karma, as does good intent. A bad action creates bad karma, as does bad intent.
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​LUCK - The chance happening of fortunate or adverse events; fortune. Good fortune or prosperity; success: One's personal fate or lot:
To gain success or something desirable by chance.
  • From the Middle English ‘lucke’ from Middle Dutch ‘luc’ short for ‘gheluc’ akin to Middle High German ‘gelücke’ (source of modern German ‘Glück’ meaning happiness, luck) and Middle Low German ‘gelükke’ meaning luck, all perhaps from Old Low Fraconian ‘galukki.” Luck is defined as the good or bad things that happen by chance.

SYNCHRONICITY - synchronicity, or synchronizität in German - is a concept first introduced by psychologist Carl Jung, which holds that events are "meaningful coincidences" if they occur with no causal relationship yet seem to be meaningfully related.
  • ​Jung defined synchronicity as an "acausal connecting (or togetherness) principle, meaningful coincidence, acausal parallelism or meaningful coincidence of two or more events where something other than the probability of chance is involved". He introduced the concept as early as the 1920s but only gave a full statement on it in a 1951 lecture.
NEXT: Causality - Basics of Cause and Effect
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