Outreach no. 213

              OUUTTRREEAACCHH
the newsletter of
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MARCUS BACH founder
no213
THE LETTER
eeggglil lkaakk
dear friend of the fellowship
if you are new to FSU you will want to know that each year round august time we honor
CHANCE that inscrutable mmuullttiiffaacceetteedd unpredictable sprite who wears many masks and
seems always to be waiting just around the bend
for ten years we have been providing our OUTREACH family with a CHANCE DAY greeting
these have been in various forms and fashions several years ago our magic maker of these cards
came up with a design that was much too attractive to be merely a one timer it captured the
princes of ssSeeerrreeennndddiiibpp astride their steeds of the desert exactly as 1I had always visualized them in
my better moments of fantasy somewhat like the wise men somewhat like kings they brought
a kind of promise of the kind that christmas brings
the creator of serendipity prints has been working closely with us on this project ever since she
read by chance THE WORLD OF serendipity she started a low profile greeting card
business in the basement of her home I1 havent seen her for years and have never seen her present
facilities where she turns out all sorts of cards serious seasonal humorous religious originals
semi originals with all sorts of ideas that come to her by chance
this year I1 had a great idea I1 decided to devote this letter to and about this serendipitous card
specialist I1 spoke to her on the phone as I1 often do and said let me introduce you to our
OUTREACH readers by way of a picture let me tell them about you by way of a story as
for example the time I1 was having tough going with a creative assignment and you dropped me
a card that said K
and do you know what she said I 1 wouldnt take the chance if I1 were you we
readers of OUTREACH want to know what is happening at FSU and what you have to say about
CHANCE DAY 85 that we dont already know
all of this was very much in the true ssppirriitt of this sseellffeeffffaacciinngg artist in the art of serigraphy
and what is serigraphy it is an ancient oriental process of drawing designs on silk with a litho-graphic
ink or lithographic crayon the screen is coated with a wwaatteerrssoolluubbllee glue solution after
the screen dries the image is washed out with a special solvent and this lays the screen bare in
the design areas since the original color sketch is visible through the screen the serigrapher can
now prepare separate screens for each color and superimpose one over another simple not for
me but for our CHANCE DAY maker it seems to be second nature or by chance a recall of a
consciousness that lived in some dim and distant oriental past
so thanks to serendipity PRINTS and KOKO
yours for the fellowship
we
no 213
sortsof
K 0 I1 thought it meant kick off kick off until you told me it really
meant KEEP ON KEEPING ON let me tell them about your family your faith what a day
in your life is like perhaps some pictures of you at work at play how your cards are marketed
what fun you seem to have with what you are doing and how you always seem to be on top
of things
kok0o
faithanad
no 213 page 2
THE LESSON
SPIRITUAL understanding AND THE THING CALLED CHANCE
1
during the recent rage of terrorism the media televised interviews with customers in travel
agencies A west coast dialogue involved a wweeaatthheerrwwhhiippppeedd senior citizen who was buying a
ticket to athens
how do you feel about taking the trip at this particular time asked the girl with the mike
feel great about it came the confident reply ill take my chances I1 always have if some-thing
happens okay its all in the cards
there were other samplings of travelers reactions in a mmiiddwweesstteerrnn ticket bureau a motherly
looking client explained she was cancelling a trip to the holy land her reason was with all
my faith I1 still dont think it is fair to take chances
pros and cons ffaailtilhthaanndd fears logic and premonitions
all played a part as the cameras scanned the country
for public opinions
one conclusion was inescapable the word CHANCE
has many interpretations and serves as justification for
many perspectives at every turn it provides food for
thought
it also raises many questions IS IT CHANCE OR DIVINE ORDER THAT LIES AT THE HEART
OF THINGS
WHEN WE TALK ABOUT CHANCE ARE WE TALKING ABOUT AN aberration IN AN
OTHERWISE ORDERLY uUnNiIvVeErsReSoEr OR IS THE UNIVERSE ITSELF SUBJECT TO TCOHCAHANNCCEE
WOULD YOU LIKE TO LIVE IN A WORLD WHERE NOTHING IS LEFT TO CHANCE OR
WOULD YOU RATHER TAKE YOUR CHANCES IN A CHANCEY WORLD
WHAT IS THE difference BETWEEN CHANCE AND FATE possibility AND proba-bility
foreordination AND FREE WILL
WHAT DO YOU THINK ABOUT serendipity
2
can there be incontrovertible answers to these questions
not a CHANCE not even a ghost of a CHANCE
so why try because CHANCES are tteennttoooonnee that you are just as interested in exploring
CHANCE as 1I
I
1
SUBJ ECT
CHANCEOR
I1 mean the fact that there is
no such thing as CHANCE
IF
pgaggae33 no 213
to come immediately to the point and letting the
chips all where they may my conviction at the mo-ment
is that CHANCE is an integral part of DIVINE
ORDER
I1 have had too many chance happenings happen to me
to believe otherwise I1 have talked to too many people
whose lives have been changed by CHANCE
I1 have read too much of history to feel that chance
was simply happenstance or an accident or a fluke or
an act of fate
in my book on serendipity I1 have reported on the
power and blessings the wonder and warnings the
influence of CHANCE in influencing lives luring lives
to greater heights and to greater depths of thought
no doubt about it CHANCE is a teacher a discipli-narian
a judge a jury a mirror in which we often see
ourselves as others see us and catch a vivid glance of
what we might by CHANCE become
3
sometimes it all seems so simple so obvious so absolutely real
IF we really and truly believe as we so easily and glibly affirm that GOD IS ALL AND
ALL IS GOD then we certainly are compelled ipso facto to accept what we call chance and
divine order as one and inseparable no matter what semanticists or agnostics may say to the
contrary
listen to yourself once more as you GOD IS ALL AND ALL IS GOD GOD IS LOVE
AND LOVE IS GOD- GOD IS BOTH IMMINENT AND transcendent THE LIGHT OF
GOD SURROUNDS ME THE LOVE OF GOD ENFOLDS ME WHEREVER I1 AM GOD IS
etc etc
you can of course argue yourself out of this insepera
abbiilliittyy with god by many specious means one famous
way is to create a DEVIL and set up the dualistic
proposition that the devil is constantly upsetting
gods design
such a ploy is a ccooppoouutt and should be beneath ones
spiritual dignity and ones faith in gods omnipotence
and love
affirm
no 213 page 4
but we seem always to need ssoommeetthninngg or someone to blame for our ineptitudes or a ssccrraappeegoat
of
goat
some kind to preserve our pride and exonerate ourselves and keep our vaunted self esteem
and our refusal to face the fact that
GOD IS BOTH CHANCE AND DIVINE ORDER AT WORK IN THE WORLD
which according to this kind of reasoning implies that whether we are involved with terrorism
or are the recipients of showers of blessings the examination of gods involvement in these
affairs requires our deepest possible insight and research
rreerereaadd the parable of THE GOOD SAMARITAN which
speaks of both terrorism and blessings luke 1100330036
lets
36
take it out of the realm of fantasy and sentiment
and mere platitude and see it in the light of gods
design what did jesus mean when he said
and by chance there came that way
a certain priest likewise a
levite a certain samaritan
or does this parable no longer serve as a realistic response or prescription for negotiations in our
modern times or has it ever served or has it ever truly been tried
4
we are on much more universal and friendly grounds when we talk about CHANCE as it applies
and appeals to personal experiences apart from those that overwhelm us nationally and inter-nationally
we often feel helpless and frustrated and to use a current phrase we beat the
walls in our despair
but from an individual point of view where we feel we can exercise responsibility and control
the thing called CHANCE can certainly add adventure and zest to life why because there is
always that onceiinnaalilfiefetitimmee big break that just by CHANCE might be ours
for this to happen we do not need to figure
things out or ask ourselves whether the
happening is an aberration in keeping with
an orderly universe we simply play the game
and somehow with this in mind I1 am all
for it 1I mean I1 like the chanceynneessss of
life
there is something of the gambler in all of
us while I1 doubt that ill add much to the
california lottery that has just been legalized
millions of people are impatient and continue
to go to las vegas and reno to satisfy their
love of CHANCE
even though the odds will be 7700mmiilllliioonn to
one of winning it big there always a
CHANCE
once inailI
is
I1 oth day of the oth month he won
100000 a year for the rest of his iliilffee
A psychologist told me that stud poker is a game of chance while straight poker is a game of
skill to ease your conscience you might wish to remember that
in fact with just a bit of doing you can persuade yourself that nothing is a gamble unless think-ing
makes it so the stock market marriage the ssttooppaannddggoo signals and the thousand circum-stances
dealt to us by the kind of world in which we live
page 5 no 213
the story of eric leek has already been revived this resident of new jersey held the winning
ticket in the bicentennial lottery in 1976 he said he knew he was going to win because he held
ticket no 10 he had been born on the lootthh hour on the
are they really as chancey as statistics
seem to prove Is it really our thinking that makes it so or is there something else
there are two something aelses one is that we are
creatures living under the privilege of free will and
freedom of choice
two there are immutable laws we either know nothing
about or we have a tendency to flaunt them even when
we know
when we take time to meditate on these two principles
we are able to live more meaningfully with CHANCE
for in confronting ourselves honestly with the concept of free will and laws that are absolute
we come to a most wonderful conclusion or at least a grand supposition
FREE WILL IS inextricably RELATED TO fore-ordination
AND IMMUTABLE LAWS WHICH WE
HAVE A TENDENCY TO FLAUNT BUT WHICH ARE
ROOTED IN THE SUBSOIL OF CAUSE AND EFFECT
in other words if we knew as god knows we would more easily understand what god does
which is my inadequate way of expressing what samuel johnson said two hundred years ago
with considerably greater eloquence and adequacy
in this state of universal uncertainty where a thousand
dangers hover about us and none can tell whether the
good he pursues is not evil in disguise or whether the
next step will lead him to safety or destruction nothing
can afford any rational tranqquuiillltyy but the conviction
that however we amuse ourselves with unideal sounds
nothing in reality is governed by chance but that the
universe is under the perpetual superintendence of him
who created it that we are in the hands of onmipotent
goodness by whom what appears casual to us is directed
for ends ultimately kind and merciful and that nothing
can finally hurt him who debars not himself from the
divine favour
1 1
h is I1
WILLIS
no 213 page 6
5
As for words like FATE probability possibility DESTINY KISMET LUCK FOR-TUNE
coincidence our dictionaries and reference books can give us definitions that
fully satisfy the WHAT but give us little if any explanation about the WHY
great as the study of words etymology may be greater is the effort to understand their causal
factors etiology in an attempt to capture the word in its origin its action and its power
that is why I1 am so impressed with the word serendipity I1 couldnt for the life of me
understand why the 700 page volume titled CHANCE CAUSE REASON by arthur W burks
should not at least have mentioned THE WORLD OF serendipity
I1 was surprised until I1 noticed that the subtitle said an inquiry into the nature of scientific
evidence when I1 saw that 1I knew the princes of ssSeeerrreeennndddiiibpp had had it they might as well get
back on their camels and forget the whole thing
because like the bible which is also very much out of bounds in scientific circles any story
about sseerreennddiippittyy is allegorical filled with analogies parables visions suppositions a yearning
in the human heart for something which the soul perceives as metaphysical and potentially in
the realm of spiritual understanding
I1 did however find a statement by an accredited german scientist erwin ssSccchhhrrroooedddiiinnngggeeerrr who
belongs in the category of such men as albert einstein and max planck who said
research in physics has shown beyond the shadow
of doubt that in the overwhelming majority of phe-nomena
whose regularity and invariability have led to
the formation of the postulate of causality the com-mon
element underlying the consistency observed is
CHANCE
so hang in there princes of ssSeeerrreeennndddiiibpp find joy
and meaning in unexpected happenings
and dont give up the dream
f
page no 213
THE LEARNING
FATALISM an attitude of mind which accepts whatever happens as having been decreed to hap-pen
it is a state of mind which can be imposed whether the person is religious or nnoonnreligious
if
religious
religious the person simply assumes that god has foreordained whatever is to happen if non-religious
the individual is persuaded that whatever happens is governed and ordered by FATE
FATE an impersonal power which is involved in ones events but which does not per se lead
to fatalism because of the belief that the individual is a ccwooworokrkeerr with fate in ones destiny
an interesting example of the difference between fate and fatalism is found in islam early
islam taught that everything is predestined by allah or god but gradually the concept of sub-mission
to the will of god imposed the belief that though there is an inexorable fate kismet
there is also a fate which can be calculated by ones degree of submission perhaps this was a
step toward introducing the concept of chance into the factor of fatal order
CHANCE the happening of events that cannot be fully explained by either fatalism or fate
it is as though there were some influence or entity or fortuity beyond predestination fore-ordination
or pact with god or power of prayer or influence of rite or ritual chance could
hardly be god at work because it often resulted in evil it could not be a devil at work because
it too often resulted in good nor could linguistic analysis offer much help and no one has yet
been able to explain whether something happened by chance or whether chance caused
it to happen
serendipity the answer to happenings for which there is no clear cut answer
MB
A dictionary definition of serendipity A word coined by horace walpole c 1754 based
on the three princes of sSeerreennddiiap a persian fairy tale in which the princes make chance dis-coveries
an apparent aptitude for making fortunate discoveries accidentally
WEBSTERS new world dictionary
thank you noah and thank you eeddiittoorriinncchhiieeff david B guralnik for making it so clear
FSU
AND THANKS TO CHANCE YOU CAME OUR WAY
THREE CHEERS FOR serendipity
7
FA TA LISM
WE B ST ERS
co
no 213
PAGING LISA
page8d
my two favorite OUTREACH issues each year are the christmas issue and the august newsletter
that is devoted to serendipity and chance day although they are a aagbgooooooddd six months apart they
have many similarities
the december copy uusshheerreeds in a season when our thoughts really do turn to peace on earth and
good will to all the miracle story of christs birth touches us all in different ways but it does
touch us and we resolve to live every day of the year with that special christmas spirit unfor-tunately
by mmiiddssuummmmeerr our good intentions from last christmas are long gone and the years
uuppccoommiinngg advent season is just a dim vision on the horizon but then chance day comes with
its unlimited hope for the future and it brings excitement and surprise and delight into our sum-mer
days
the gift of the chance day cards has meant a great deal not only to our FSU family but to
the serendipitous friends they remember on this special day let us share some letters we have
received after last years chance day offering
thanks for sending a chance day card I1 had recently met a couple at a retreat we spent four
wonderful days with them among the beautiful mountains trees and lakes it was a very well
organized program and we found it relaxing and rewarding the chance card came just at the
right moment as I1 had wished I1 had one of these cards to send to them and now I1 do this
is truly serendipity
CHANCES ARE THERES MORE TO CHANCE THAN CHANCE the message on the current
serendipity card intrigued me from a philosophical viewpoint I1 ordered 50 of these handsome
cards and had so much joy in sending them to special friends with this short message because
august 7 is chance day we want you to know how thankful we are that chance brought YOU
into our lives we have had so many grateful phone calls and letters in response
what a lovely surprise on my 45th birthday to receive 25 chance day cards I1 enclose herein
a cheque which I1 had already set aside for your work in spiritual understanding and now send
with greater opportunity
well if EVERYBODY wrote and told what they did with their chance day card you wouldnt
have time to read them it would make quite a book wouldnt it but I1 just have to tell you that
I1 sent mine to the son a unity minister of the man who first introduced me to unity via mr
bachs UNITY WAY OF LIFE ive read ALL of his books since my undying gratitude for all
the information youve imparted and continue to do so
we know you all will enjoy receiving the chance day card included with this special serendipity
issue of OUTREACH and dont forget christmas is only 139 days away
in the spirit of FSU pu LMM
all rights reserved
no part of this publication may be reproduced in any form without ppeerrmmiissssiinngg in writing from the publisher
while copies of OUTREACH will be sent to anyone upon request your tax deductible contributions are invited
additional copies for use by organizations study groups etc are available write to fellowship FOR
SPIRITUAL understanding PO box 816 palos verdes estates CA 90274 phone 213 373 r2669
page 8
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