Was it karma, chance, fate, kismet, luck, coincidence, probability waves, synchronicity, being in the flow, being in the zone, or God?

Here are four events that took place during seven days in the life of your faithful narrator:

1. Land in Paris on Monday, drop bags at hotel and stroll around the old neighborhood. I want to show my friend Cherie a cool pharmacy near St. Sulpice that sells fun little French items. As we approach the door I hear, “Hey Ira! It’s Iona, Larry Payne’s friend!” I recall meeting Iona at Larry’s house (I believe) around 11 years ago for a few minutes. We chat for a moment and I find it uncanny to bump into someone from LA soon after landing in Paris.

2. Cherie and I stroll around the 6th and eventually decide to grab dinner at a wonderful bistro named Chez Moineau.?After dinner we were walking on Boulevard St. Germain when suddenly a woman with a yoga mat coming towards us suddenly stopped and said, “Ira Israel! It’s Patty Chamberlin!” Patty and I attended Rippowam High School together in 1981/1982 and she was a lifeguard at Cove Beach in the summers of 1985 and maybe 1986. We hadn’t seen each other in 38 years. We caught up and exchanged numbers. I was astonished that two people from many years prior had recognized me during my first twelve hours 6,000 miles away from home.

3. I flew home from Paris on Saturday and my normal ritual of reading the NY Times at Primo Passo Cafe on Sunday morning was waylaid by a combination of jet lag, laundry and returning the emails of new clients. I finally made it to Primo Passo around 4pm and soon after sitting a large tatted gentleman wearing sunglasses approached and asked, “Are you Ira Israel?” I responded affirmatively and he added, “You were my social studies teacher in Austin in 2007.” John sat down and caught me up on his last 17 years including the bathtub drowning of the founder of the school where we had met. Very strange.

4. After landing from Paris on Saturday, making my way through customs and picking up my car, I went home, unpacked my carry-on of Paris shopping victories and took a nap. When I woke up around 6:30pm I noticed the empty fridge and decided to go to Trader Joe’s to pick up some food. Walking through the produce section I spotted a woman with an eyebrow ring and could have sworn that she had been in cabin of my plane from Paris to LA earlier that day. However, I realized that the chances of two people inadvertently crossing paths at a grocery store in Santa Monica four hours after flying on the same plane from Paris was quite slim, so I didn’t approach her.

Monday morning, I woke up at 5am and couldn’t fall back asleep. I decided to attend a Functional Training class at my gym at 7:30. When I arrived and laid down my mat, I noticed the woman next to me was the same woman I had seen at Trader Joe’s. After class, I told her, “I saw you at Trader Joe’s on Saturday and thought you looked like someone from my flight. You weren’t on a plane on Saturday, were you?”

“Yes,” she replied, “We flew home from Paris on Saturday.”

We realized we had shared the same Air Tahiti Nui flight, crossed paths at Trader Joe’s, and then taken the same class.

“Strange, isn’t it?” I remarked.

“Yes, that’s strange,” she agreed.

Oh yeah, probably should mention that although Cherie and I had “met” at a birthday party in October of 2022, it turns out that we had unknowingly spent a semester together in 1999 in Alan Wallace’s Tibetan Medicine class at UCSB.

I won’t even mention that Patty and I bumped into each other a second time in the Jardin de Luxembourg because that’s somewhat explainable seeing as everyone flocks to the parks when it’s 80 degrees and sunny; however, the other four encounters remain inconceivable to me.

Had we been five seconds later to the pharmacy, we would have missed Iona. Had we been seated two minutes earlier at the bistro or hadn’t stopped for a photo, we would have missed Patty on Boulevard St. Germain. Had I gone to Primo Passo at my usual time, John might not have spotted me. The series of events that led to me encountering that woman at Trader Joe’s and then in my gym class feels beyond improbable.

When I recounted these experiences to friends, I received responses like “Wow, synchronicity!” “How random!” or simply, “That’s God!”

Was it karma, chance, fate, kismet, luck, coincidence, probability waves, synchronicity, being in the flow, being in the zone, or God?

Let’s break this down:

• Karma: This refers to the law of action and reaction, though there’s no direct causality. It’s more like a conspiracy of infinite influences aligning perfectly for paths to cross.
• Chance/Coincidence: These terms imply that events occur randomly, without underlying purpose or design, highlighting life’s inherent uncertainty.
• Luck: While chance refers to random occurrences, luck represents the subjective interpretation of these events — viewed as either fortunate or unfortunate.
• Fate/Destiny: Fate implies a predetermined course of events beyond our control, suggesting that some occurrences are destined to happen, hinting at a larger cosmic order.
• Kismet: Similar to fate, kismet carries a stronger connotation of an underlying universal order, suggesting that certain events are meant to happen, guided by a higher power.
• Synchronicity: Coined by Carl Jung, this concept involves meaningful coincidences that are not causally related but seem connected in a significant way.
• Being in the Flow: This state denotes complete immersion in an activity, marked by heightened focus and enjoyment. In my case, the only thing flowing was the glass of Saint Joseph I had with my leeks in truffle sauce.
• Being in the Zone: Similar to being in the flow, this refers to heightened concentration and performance. Again, the only thing zoning was my fatigue thanks to the 9 hour time difference.
• God: For those who believe in a higher power, these reunions might be seen as divine orchestration, though the reasons remain elusive.
• Probability Waves: In quantum mechanics, this term describes how potential outcomes collapse into a single observable reality upon observation.

Given the millions of tourists in Paris each year, the chances of two former Rippowam 1981/1982 students crossing paths might be slim but not impossible. However, the series of events that led to a woman being on the same flight, then at Trader Joe’s, and finally in my gym class feels utterly unfathomable.

We all have belief systems regarding how the universe is operating. On one hand, phenomena could occur randomly; at the other extreme, they could be fated. If life is random, it seems meaningless; if destined, it seems meaningful. But if it is destined and meaningful rather than random and meaningless, then how do we reconcile the countless senseless tragedies that occur daily?

Between chance and fate lies a gray area, likely beyond human comprehension. Calling it God seems to add more unknown to the already unknown. Perhaps embracing the complexities of karma and probability waves collapsing is the best we can do to explain why certain events unfold as they do.