The Coincidence Of The Rhythm Of The Universe

If you are lost as to what to think about, here's a couple of things to ponder: What do Java tree rings have to do with the price of wrought iron in England? How does the number of marriages in St.Louis relate to the height of flood stages in the Nile? 

And one more for good luck: Why should the number of lynxes running loose in Canada concern the membership of the Presbyterian Church?

The answers all lie in cycles, That's in the sense of a cycle being a rhythmic pattern of recurrences - a trend that keeps repeating itself.

Java tree rings and English wrought iron prices ... St Louis marriages and Nile flood stages ... Canadian Lynxes and the new Presbytarians ... each pair shares such a cycle.

Edward R. Dewey, one time chief economic analyst of the U.S Bureau of Commerce, compiled a list of some 4,000 cycles for a study of, well, cycles.

Take the Java tree rings and English wrought iron prices, both seem to be on the same length - with cycles averaging 16 and two-thirds years - and have done so for hundreds of years.

In other words, the size of these rings increases toward a peak for about eight and a third years - and then decreases to a low point for the next eight and a third years.

The same applies to iron prices in England, which have been reported for nearly 700 years.

What is odd is that such similar cycles tend to start and end in roughly the same calendar years. For example, 21 long established cycles of 9.5 to 9.75 years compared by Mr Dewey att reached mid-points within a 4.5 year spread.

If the law of averages had prevailed, Mr Dewey points out, these mid-points would have come at various times throughout the 9.75 year period. They wouldn't be bunching up at each end of the period.

The implication to all of this is that there is some kind of all-governing rhythm in the solar system, galaxy or universe.

When the Canadian lynx population follows roughly the same cycle as that of heart disease in New England and wheat prices in Europe it makes you wonder if there may be something in Mr Dewey's conclusions.

Another example is that higher flood waters in Egypt always seem to go with more marriages in Missouri.

Mr Deway summed it up thus:

"A scientist may not be impressed because some cycle of activity continues for centuries with great regularity.

"He may not even find it too significant that diverse and apparaently unrelated phenomena have the cycles of similar length. But he must take note when such cycles of familiar length tend to begin and end at the same calendar times. Then he begins to feel this couldn't be all mere chance."

Other Random Posts:
The Tortoise And The Big Crunch Prior To The End Of The Everything
Jesus Had A Helicopter!
The Double Slit Experiment

Coincidence Clusters And Beating The Coin Tossing Odds

As you will have gathered I believe that the majority of coincidences are meaningful. But, how come, they often arrive in clusters, as Trish and Rob call them? With this in mind I took to coin tossing!

If we toss a coin, for example, the odds of a Head or a Tail are 2/1 every time the coin is tossed. But strange things happen if you, say, toss a coin 100 times - which I have just done!

Tossing a coin this many times should, you would have thought, produce a pattern of Heads, Tails, Heads, Tails or maybe a couple of times Heads or Tails. What happens in reality though is that you get runs of 3s, 4s, 5s, and even a 6, in my own experiment, of Heads or Tails.

Coin tossing, like life, can jog along at a regular level: with one or two Heads, Tails or Coincidences. But then something happens and suddenly there is a string or cluster of several coming all at once. When this does occur, the odds of this actually happening are quite high.

So occasionally we beat the odds in life and get a cluster of coincidences or good fortune. To me this is cyclic.

If you have ever played cards you'll know that some days the cards will fall right and you can win almost every hand. Other times you might just as well not play, as there seems to be little chance of ever winning.

And this is life. It's why I have always maintained that when you are on a roll, and things are going well, you make the most of this. Your luck is in and whatever you do will turn out fine, whether that be making lots of sales if a sales person, feeling happy all day long or just having some time when everything works out perfectly. And we all get these good runs.

Adversely we get the not so good days as well when the car won't start, the toast catches on fire, we get stuck in a traffic jam and so on. It's Heads, Tails, Heads, Tails ...

Life is like that for most of us: various shades of good and bad.

As I've already said I feel we should make the best of the good times. When we are on top, play it for all it's worth and enjoy the experience - in a non selfish way, of course!

I personally think that the bad times are our tests, and it's how we handle these that dominates how often they come round and how long the good times will last.

So, things are not going too well. The toast burns - joke about it. You get stuck in a queue - smile. Don't get sucked into becoming one of those long faces moaning and grumbling. Handle the rough with good humour and, dare I say the word - love. Believe that life will get better - soon.

I feel that if we handle the difficult times properly they become less frequent and the good times lengthen.

Unfortunately at times we may have sorrows that are hard to get over, but we can still handle them with positivity and dignity.

I guess what I've taken a roundabout way to say is that things, such as coincidences, do come in clusters. It's the way life works. Life works in cycles. Enjoy the highs. Respect and smile at the lows. This way you could well get a run of six or even more Heads or Tails. It is possible to beat the odds.