Of Episodes and Coincidences

In Aristotle's Poetics, the episode is an important concept.
Aristotle did not like episodes. According to him, an episode, from the point of
view of poetry, is the worst possible type of event. It is not an unavoidable
consequence of preceding action, nor the cause of what is to follow; it is
outside the casual chain of events which is the story. It is merely a sterile
accident which can be left out without making the story lose its intelligible
continuity, and is incapable of making a permanent mark upon the life of the
characters.

...But it is precisely here that we realise the relativity of the concept
of the episode, a relativity Aristotle did not think through: for nobody can
guarantee that some totally episodic event may not contain within itself a power
that some day could unexpectedly turn it into a cause of further events.

...We can thus complete Aristotle's definition of the episode and state: no
episode is a priori condemned to remain an episode for ever, for
every event, no matter how trivial, conceals within itself the possibility of
sooner or later changing into a story or an adventure. Episodes are like
landmines. The majority of them never explode, but the most unremarkable of them
may some day turn into a story that will prove fatal to you.

---Milan Kundera, Immorality, p. 338-339


I know i sound very unrealistic but it is precisely such ideas and possibilities about events, fate and coincidences that always have me thinking a little more about life's enigmas, about how Life can be regarded upon. I do concede there's that element of romanticising in thinking about all this, though i wonder if there's not an element of truth in all this as well. Things happen, but sometimes they do not just happen but are instead triggered by some earlier events. There are words and concepts like coincidences, miracles and episodes that we humans use to capture and give meaning to various occurence-types in life. Sometimes i wonder if too much significance is given to them, because they could be just mere creations that humans use to express what happen in our lives. Yet sometimes i also wonder if it's the other way round - that such occurrences in life conform to and represent the same concepts which we have devised to explain them; that a chance meeting is precisely a chance meeting, and coincidences, however frequent and ordinary they are, are nonetheless coincidences still.

The other day i was struck by the idea that a particular characteristic of Life could be accounted for by this: that outside the linear progression of your private life, of growing up through different ages and stages, one important aspect is comprised of and given meaning by gatherings, meet-ups and so on. Imagine how in your calender and schedule there are countless number of social and/or family gatherings occupying your space and time. Consider how you came to know a group of friends, or a certain friend, through some particular institution or certain stage in your life (it could be JC, university, your first job, your seventh job, your church, your piano lesson etc). There comes a time when you would inevitably see them less often. And here comes the time when it seems almost necessary to arrange for regular or annual gatherings. In this manner, haven't such gatherings and meetings become woven into the beat of your life? If besides work and eat and sleep and sex that form the basic necessities in a man's life, aren't human interactions and gatherings just an indispensable part, unless you live a devotedly solitary life?

Therefore, in between the routines wherein you go about your life everyday, deliberate time has been set aside for meeting with different groups of friends and people. Almost unknowningly, these gatherings have come to occupy and define a part of your life that otherwise moves on ceaselessly without you taking time to ponder over their significance.

Two secondary school friends of mine, whom i have stayed in contact with, unexpectedly met our then-Literature teacher in a cafe. One of them called me up and passed the phone to my teacher, who had me guessing who she is. It was a really pleasant surprise, for i had lost touch with this teacher whom i enjoyed talking to a lot since a few years back. The next thing, my friend promised that a meet-up would be arranged, for the teacher will be leaving Singapore soon.

Is that just something innocuous and unlikely yet not to be surprised at? Or is this what would be called a coincidence (or fortuity), which seems likely to be producing certain consequences that are entirely attributable to that chance meeting, of which i wasn't even involved?

Reading the particular chapter from Milan Kundera's novel, his words struck a chord in me.