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Friday, July 25, 2014

Floor 23 and Sign in the movie Serendipity 2001


The number 23 has a cult status, even before creation of Jim Carey's movie about it back in 2007.  In the film Serendipity 2001 it was the missed floor of two star crossed lovers. 
Where is the dividing line between superstition and serendipity?  Is the Universe a chaotic swirl of things happening, or a Romantic Opera of Destiny?

The movie Serendipity 2001 heralds that serendipity is the champion of the Universe as being a Romantic Stage of Destiny.  With stunning grace, Serendipity 2001 conveys this message without sounding like a preacher and elegantly weaves itself into the Romantic-Comedy section of the forlorn video store.

SPOILER ALERT: Do not read any further if you intend to watch the movie!  


The recently met, less than 24 hrs, lovers at first charm: Jonathan and Sarah, have just experienced an unplanned night of authentic romantic charm.  However, they are already engaged in relationships with other persons.

To test the fates, that their love is meant to be, Sarah drags Jonathan into a hotel and makes him randomly pick a floor in one elevator while she does the same in another.  And only if they happen to meet on the same floor, then Sarah will be satisfied that their love is meant to be.

They pick the same floor - the 23rd floor.  But a boy dressed as a devil (oh the intentional irony) gets on with Jonathan and hits all the buttons.  Subsequently Jonathan is delayed, and just as Sarah leaves the 23rd floor, Jonathan's elevator opens on the 23rd floor. 

Funny thing about Destiny is that you can not test it.  It's like a cat that follows its own whims, uses reverse psychology to get what it wants, and can second guess, third guess, or fourth guess your sly intentions to trick it.  Thus many people who abhor the notions of Destiny or Synchronicity tend to be Rationalistas, Stone Cold Atheists, or limited to objective thinking - tending to censor all impulses from the heart.  They often believe that the core force governing life and spirits of the world is completely and utterly random. 

But one argument to counter the theory of random happenstance, that all thinkers should be familiar with, is Destiny's obnoxious cousin Murphy, who wrote that devilish statute after his own name.  Random as you may think the Cosmos is, this often annoying law is the de jure will or factor for the majority of outcomes, trivial and consequential.  One great thing about Murphy's Law is that no human law can break or undermine it.  Likewise...

In order to understand, or rather ride, the Law of Destiny, it requires that you strap your seat solidly fastened with an invisible belt of Faith.  





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