Book excerpt: “A delightful reflection of our communal experience of moments that defy rational explanation” from the bestselling author and award-winning filmmaker (NAPRA ReView). The pricking anticipation of a phone call seconds before ringing, the premonition dream of birth exactly nine months before, the chance meeting that opens a new career path, the eerie realization of a loved one’s death half a world away . . . From Jung to Einstein, across boundaries of culture and time, people have recognized the potential for synchronicity to reveal a hidden order to seeming random events, and to offer a glimpse of one’s destiny. In Coincidence or Destiny? bestselling author Phil Cousineau shares more than eighty stories of coincidence, some simple, and some so extraordinary they challenge our belief system. Coincidence or Destiny? threads together what the author calls “sly winks of fate” from ordinary individuals around the world, to well-known scholars such as Larry Dossey and Huston Smith to famous movies such as Casablanca, each story demonstrates how meaningful coincidences can profoundly change and guide people’s lives. “Many things happen to us in life that are fraught with meaning. Amazing coincidences that become turning points in the road. Happenstance events that suddenly become pieces of the puzzle of our lives. Put them together, and you may find an answer to why things are the way they are. [Coincidence or Destiny?] is a wonderful collection of such times.” —Gannett News Service