Grandmaster and Former British Chess Champion,
James Plaskett has an unusual and curious interest:
coincidences. He presents his controversial
ideas on coincidences on these pages.
Plaskett:
Apologia
On February 9th 1984 I began to keep a diary.
Whenever I encountered a coincidence I would
record it. When reviewing them years later I
saw that they added up to an inadvertent form
of self-portrait, insomuch as an image of the
experiencer comes through the constellation
of these separate incidents.
But if somebody observed that the very recording
of such events tells you at least as much about
a man as their contents, then they could well
be right.
In early 1988 I found myself noting quite a
lot, and it seemed to me that they were clustered
around certain themes, many of them related
to a subject about which I knew very little:
The Holy Grail. I therefore wrote them up in
a kind of narrative, rather than a listing.
I was so struck by these groupings that I tried
advancing them towards some serious parapsychologists
for their opinions, but I encountered uninterest.
So I shut up about it.
Then in September 1991 I got a letter from a
man living in Oxford, and a graduate of the
University, who said that he was studying meaningful
coincidence and had heard about my material
from a Dutch Parapsychologist, Dr H. Breederveld.
Could he see it? He signed himself Roderick
Main.
I wrote back expressing my surprise at interest
in the matter being revived after so long, but
also enclosing the material.
He was intrigued, and we later met to discuss
the topic more deeply. To assist with its presentation
and clarification I rewrote it for him in the
summer of 1992, adding additional incidents,
commentaries and appendices. Roderick used this
material to form a substantial part of his Ph.D
thesis Synchronicity As A Form Of Spiritual
Experience which he worked on in the Department
of Religious Studies at Lancaster University.
I have now amended the format further in the
hope that it will become still more accessible.
Here is my final palimpsest.
The book [entitled Coincidences, published 2000]
commences with the narrative, comprised mainly
of the events of early 1988. The second part
contains further thoughts and appendices with
references to two invaluable sources; Dr Main's
D.Phil thesis and Rudolf Steiner's book Christ
and The Spiritual World and The Search For The
Holy Grail. Indeed, it was my reading of the
Steiner book in March 1997 that ultimately prompted
the publication of this one.
Finally I give a selection of other examples
culled from my diaries, some of which are already
referred to in parts One and Two.
Coincidence does not necessarily denote anything,
unless perhaps intriguing and sometimes amusing
improbability, and I would echo the sentiments
of Grandmaster Jan Timman in the introduction
to his book The Art of Chess Analysis - It is
my hope that you will be encouraged to make
critical comments.
Finally, I should like to express my particular
gratitude to [Grandmaster] Dr John Nunn. Without
his hysterical laughter, at the beginning of
January 1988, I might not have been prompted
to set about checking the details of the naming
of the crater in the first place.
Plaskett's home page:
www.jamesplaskett.com
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| From: |
Roderick Main | Subject: | 2002-01-14 06:45:26 |
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| From: |
Bruce | Subject: | 2004-05-30 14:34:03 |
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