Serendipity requires a certain state of mind to occur. For example, in The Travels and Adventures of Serendipity, the only reason the three princes were able to have an educated guess of the whereabouts of the man’s missing camel was, was because they were observant. An unobservant person wouldn’t have any idea that a camel was walking on the road with a missing tooth, spilling honey and butter while carrying a pregnant woman. Even for the classic example of the apple falling on Newton’s head, Newton had to be observant and curious to why wonder why the apple fell. Most people probably would have just thought about the pain the apple caused them, not why the apple caused the pain. Curiosity is another aspect one has to have in order for serendipity to occur. Observance and curiously go hand in hand in discovering things by serendipity. Observant people are usually curious, and curious people are usually observant. While serendipity may occur by chance or accident to someone, that someone requires both keen observation of curiosity.
I once was had a serendipitous experience of no significance, but it was still interesting. I was in downtown Houston, Texas when I stepped outside of a restaurant around 1:00 P.M. Something didn’t seem quite right. The sun didn’t feel as warm or seem as bright as I thought it should have felt. I looked down on the sidewalk where sunshine appeared to be shining. It looked like the sun was shining on the sidewalk, but not at full power, and it was a completely clear sky so no clouds were partially blocking the sun. This observation led me to be curious to why this was happening. I looked up to immediately noticed that the actual sunlight was being completely blocked by a skyscraper, but the sun was reflecting off another skyscraper like a mirror to the ground I was looking at so that it almost seemed as if real sunlight was shining down on the street when it was really just a reflection of the sunlight. The definition of serendipity is having an aptitude for making desirable discoveries by accident, but in my opinion, the aptitude needs to be observance and curiosity for serendipity to occur.
I think you looked at serendipity from a very interesting angle. It seems very similar to the argument about luck influencing serendipity, but a little different. What I understood from your post is that people almost need to be looking for serendipity to occur, or always be ready for it to happen. But wouldn't serendipity be more serendipitous if you weren't constantly observing everything for the possibility of discovering something? When Newton discovered the idea of gravity he didn't observe an apple falling to the ground from a tree, the apple simply fell on his head. He may have been curious about what made the apple fall but I feel that observation plays a different part in serendipity then helping you experience it. I think that there is a difference between observations and experiencing serendipity but this also goes back to the argument though of what exactly serendipity includes. Overall though, I think you expressed your opinions very clearly and I liked that you used a very specific example that you experienced.
ReplyDeleteJessica Lynam - section G5