Can one decipher messages from apparently chaotic streams of historical dates in much the same way as students of the dGematria draw meaning from the letters of the Hebrew alphabet?

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Coincidences in History, Trivia or Teleology?
“Coincidence is God's logi ”
- Georges Bernanos
"The death of the countess had a far more solemn cause; it resulted, no doubt, from an
awful vision. At the exact hour when Madame de Dey died at Carentan, her son was shot
in the Morbihan. That tragic fact may be added to many recorded observations on
sympathies that are known to ignore the laws of space: records which men of solitude are
collecting with far-seeing curiosity, and which will some day serve as the basis of a new
science for which, up to the present time, a man of genius has been lacking".
Citation from Honore', de Balzac's story "The Recruit" ("Le Requisitionnaire" 1831)
Remarkable coincidences are quite common throughout history. However, until now the
greater part has not received a small fraction of the attention awarded to the Kennedy-
Lincoln parallels. The factor of coincidence concerning dates is central to interpretations of
events according to religious traditions. In this connection one thinks of the Ninth of Av
i(Tischa b'Av) in the Jewish calendar, a date on which both the first and second Jewish
temples in Jerusalem were destroyed. Some commentators have noted that several
ominous events in world history coincided this day, notably the outbreak of the First War.
Other coincidences in history can be noted. Here are some examples.
Examples:
Apropos US presidents, three early presidents John Adams, Jefferson and Monroe died on

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no less auspicious a day than July 4th - indeed the first two on the very same day in 1826.
Oddly enough Adam's last words were "Thomas Jefferson still surv. . . ." . in fact Jefferson
had just pipped him to the post strange how old political adversaries were reconciled by
death. The purely statistical chances of three presidents dying on the same date in the
year must be remarkably high, and Independence Day is not just any day. A further
president caught a chill on July 4th
which soon led to his death. T President Zachary Taylor.
He died on the 9th of July in 1850 as a result of contracting gastroenteritis during the
celebrations of July the 4th when he ate an excessive number of iced cherries. Just for the
record, one president was born on July 4th, Calvin Coolidge, in 1872. In view of his strict
teetotalism and unerring adherence to the Prohibition, few American were able to toast
the national holiday or his birthday during his administration with anything much stronger
than orange juice. .
Apropos births and dates of recent presidents, we have had since WW2 an uninterrupted
row, a straight run so to speak, of three presidents who died on the twenty-second day of
a month Kennedy, Johnson and Nixon, a distinction otherwise only shared with George
Washington, albeit not in association with his death but with his birth. (The first name of
George W. Bush and his father also recall that of the first president). - and two who died
on Boxing Day, Gerald Ford and Harry Truman, President Bush and his ex-president father
also recall the early days of the presidency, as both John Adams and his son Quincy were
incumbents of the highest office. Back in those early days a Clinton played an important
role in presidential politics, if only as Vice-President during Jefferson's administration.
George Clinton was, however, the very popular governor of New York and did harbour the
ambition to become President. In those days there was no clear-cut election to decide who
should be President or Vice-President in any case, as the uncertainty attending Jefferson's
right to be President showed. .
Perhaps I may allow myself to interject a comment at this juncture. If we survey the vital
statistics of all presidents to date, we note other similarities, coincidences or quirks, call
them what you will. For instance James K. Polk and Warren G. Harding were both born on
a 2nd of November. It is, however, the accumulation of such similarities over recent

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decades that prompts one to consider whether we have perhaps reached the point when
references to "mere coincidences" ought to give way to the acknowlegement of a pattern
calling for interpretation, if not a conclusive explanation. If we can speak of a message to
be deciphered from the dates of history, then the message is evidently becoming more
urgent, as if to indicate that history is reaching a climax of the greatest magnitude, a
conclusion that many have already drawn by following the course of recent events. It
needs no prophet or latter-day Nostradamus to gather that the imminent future harbours
extreme dangers. Such dangers we have escaped by the skin of our teeth, those, namely,
that arose during such events as the Berlin blockade, the Cuban missile crisis and the
collapse of the Soviet Union. History also teaches that Providence does not always save
mankind from the follies and hubris of the mighty. Perhaps it is time that we "got the
message", however it may be conveyed to us. I now resume my survey of coincidences.
It is perhaps odd that Dwight Eisenhower was born on October 14th (Gregorian calendar)
in view of the fact that he was in command of the Normandy invasion. The date of the
invasion 6.6.1944 cryptically reflects the first great invasion associated with Normandy in
1066 -through the repetition of 6 and the final double number). The invasion fell within
the same week as the Allied capture of Rome. In both invasions a Montgomery held a
leading position, as in 1066 Roger de Montgomery commanded the right flank of William's
invasion force. Dick Cheney's distant ancestor Ralph de Chesney, Sire von Quesnay, also
fought at William's side in that campaign. The Battle of Hastings took place on the 14th of
October 1066 (Julian). The day of the battle fell on the Jewish festival of Shmini Atzeret. It
is interesting to note that Rommel suffered an almost fatal air attack when travelling by
car from Falaise, William the Conqueror's town of birth, and when he was in the vicinity of
Montgomery Foy, from where the line of his great adversary is derived. Rommel was
forced to take his own life. He did so on October 14 (Eisenhower's birthday and the date of
the battle of Hasting's according to the Julian calendar).
Rommel happened to be in Berlin on the 6th of June, as it happened to be his wife's
birthday.
Two interesting statistical quirks associated with American Presidents. Harry Truman
celebrated his birthday on the most momentous historical event during his presidency -

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the end of the Second World War in Europe, (V/E Day), on the 8th of May. The Presidents
Polk and Harding were both born on the 2nd of November .
To make a wry comment on the American revolution, one might say that one George was
replaced by another. Let us have a look at couincidences in the line of English monarchs.
The first three Edwards died in a year ending with 7. -1307, 1327 (with a little help from his
enemies), and 1377. In fact, Edward 1 died on the seventh day of the seventh month in the
seventh year of the fourteenth century, near Carlisle on his way to confront the Scots. The
next king Richard ended on a double number - Schnappszahl in German - in 1399, an echo
of the demise of Richard 1 (1199) - Superschnappszahl. The first and last William to date
ended both life and reign in a year ending in 7 (1087 and 1837). The first three Williams
died as a direct or indirect result of misadventures that befell them when riding a horse.
Let the future William V take care when riding or - in this modern age - when driving.
Another odd thing. The most probable line of succession (Elizabeth - Charles - William)
forms a parallel with the succession of monarchs in the 17th century, if we cancel out the
Jameses from the strange symmetry of the sequence (Elizabeth I - James I - Charles I -
Commonwealth - Charles II - James II - William III and Mary II. But what about 1066 and all
that, the marker year for numbers the English monarchs. .
In the Spring of 1066 the appearance of a comet (Halley's comet, as it later transpired)
caused a great amount of consternation - reflected in Tennyson's play on Harold II'. The
same comet appeared at other years in which momentous events occurred such as that in
which the first Jewish revolt was ignited in 66 AD.
1066 further marks the year from which the monarchs of England and Britain are
numbered. Since 1066 all English and later British monarchs have been crowned in
Westminster Abbey, all, that is, except Edward V, murdered in the Tower, and
Edward VIII because he abdicated too early. As though to prepare for its function,
Westminister Abbey was consecrated in 1065, just before the death of Edward the

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Confessor in January 1066. The endurance of the English monarchy was once
attributed to the claim that it represented the line of the Davidic monarchy in the
Bible. A vestige of this mystical notion may be found in the proclamation "Zadok the
Priest" at coronations in the Abbey. After a brief republican intermezzo the
monarchy was restored in 1660 (1066 anagrammatically rearranged. The year 1666
saw the Great Fire of London, which, as some claim, was prophesied by Mother
Shipton and Nostradamus and William's Lilly. Some people were expecting some
unusual event to take place in that year because of the 666 element in the date.
The unusual character of the year is celebrated in Dryden's poem "Annus Mirabilis".
The value 666 is rendered by writing the Roman numerals in descending order -
LCDXVI - and 1666 by preceding this sequence with M. Some authorities state that
early versions of the Book of Revelation included the larger number.
Millennial hopes and fears were current among Puritan sectarians such as the Fifth
Monarchy Men, some of whom were executed on the charge of starting the Great
Fire, and even in Jewish circles under the influence of the so-called "false messiah"
Sabbatai Zwi. French, Dutch and Papal agents were suspected of deliberately starting
the fire, and even high members of the royal court were not above suspicion. In fact,
the Duke of Monmouth, the natural son of Charles II, alleged that his uncle and the
instigator of his execution, the Duke of York, later James II, had a hand in starting the
fire. .
Another anagram-like rearrangement of 1066 might be 1606, the year in which those
who were to found the first relatively long surviving English colony in north America
set sail. The colony of Jamestown started in the following year, as on May 14 the
colonists set foot in Virginia. .
The Norman invasion entailed the first notable immigration of Jewish people into the
British Isles. O e a still isit the Je s’ House i Li ol . The lege d of little Hugh
attests to the blood libel so often directed against Jewish communities. The Jews
were banned from England by Edward 1. Though Oliver Cromwell allowed Jews to
re-enter England, their re-admission was legally sanctioned during the reign of

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Charles II. In 1066 and 1660 a pope by the name of Alexander (II & VII) was into the
fifth year of a twelve-year reign. Judge Jeffreys, otherwise not known as a humane
representative of the law, did not rescind the Cromwell's approval of a Jewish return
to England. To cap it all, Alexander VIII (the last Alexander to date) reigned as pope,
however briefly, when William III crossed the Channel in November 1689 to claim
the thrones of England and Scotland.In a sense, he completed what William the
Conqueror had only begun, the military subjugation of the British Isles (viz. Glen Coe
and the Boyne). .
Now to one of the most famous English monarchs.
Elizabeth the first of England and Elizabeth II were 25 on accession to the throne. A
Philip badly wanted to marry EIizabeth, having been married to her half-sister. One
Philip certainly succeeded in the second case. In both cases their reign was marked
by the tragic death of a female rival or person perceived as a nuisance: Mary Queen
of Scots and Lady Di. Her strange precognition of her death is no less remarkable,
possibly more so, if her death was only an accident.
The number assigned to the previous two male monarchs was the same:(in reverse
order: VI, VIII. Henry VIII and Edward VIII were both famed because of a divorce, it
being ironic that the C of E broke with the Pope because of Henry's determination to
divorce his first wife while Edward was subject to pressure from the C of E to
renounce marriage to a divorced woman).
.
88/89 Epochal Change in Course of History, especially with regards to the cause of
freedom
1588: Defeat of Spanish Armada: way free for the establishment of English colonies in

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North America and ultimately the creation of the USA.
1688/89: The Glorious Revolution and the consolidation of basic human rights. The birth of
Montesquieu, the philosopher whose theories bridged the Glorious Revolution settlement
with the American and French Revolutions
1789: The French Revolution and the demise of the Ancien Regime and relics of feudalism.
1888/9: The reaction against and perversion of revolutionary developments with birth of
Hitler and the enthronement of Kaiser Bill. 1888 goes down in history as the year of three
kaisers (emperors). The second kaiser, Frederick III was the 99-day emperor, who reigned
from March 9th until June 15th, when he finally succumbed to cancer of the throat. 1888
also witnessed the unsolved murder cases of Jack the Ripper and the stage version of Dr
Jekyll and Mr Hyde. Derek Brockis mentions these occurrences in his discussion of the
Beast of Gevaudan, a werewolf-like phenomenon that terrorized an area in southern
France not long before the French Revolution . He makes a pointed reference to "what we
call 'coincidences'" with the suggestion that the beast portended the advent of a greater
monster to whose "teeth" the French king would fall victim, in the coming Reign of Terror.
In that time the holocaust of the 20th century found a grim precurcursor in the mass
drownings in the Loire committed by Jean-Baptiste (note the irony) Carrier .
1989: The Fall of the Berlin wall and the ensuing collapse of the Soviet Union and the
European Communist bloc. The recurrence of the 9th
of November in German history will
be the subject of a discussion to follow. .
Shakespeare and Cervantes
Both giants of literature died on 23rd of April (St George's Day) 1616, but not on the same
day, i.e. ot si ulta eously. Shakespeare’s day of death accords with the Julian calendar,

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that of Cervantes with the Gregorian, which was first adopted by nations subject to the
influence of the Roman Catholic Church. Shakespeare was baptized on April 26th, leading
some to conjecture that 23rd of April was also his date of birth. As a matter of interest, the
painter Raphael died on his 37th birthday, which was, as Vasari noted, on Good Friday.
Destiny or the result of a riotous celebration? One might ask the same question about the
three American presidents who died on Independence Day.
Another aspect of dates combining great men working in the same year concerns Galileo
and Newton. One might say that the mantle of Galileo fell on the shoulders of Newton. It is
a much debated question whether Newton was born in the same year as Galileo died.
According to the Julian calendar Newton was born on Christmas day 1642, the symbolism
of which was not lost on the great scientist. Galileo died on 8th January 1642 according to
the modern and since then universally adopted Gregorian calendar (but in 1641 according
to the Julian calendar dates that set dates10 days earlier). The victory of the Gregorian
calendar is arguably apparent in the fact that Ceausescu, the Romanian dictator and the
Soviet Union both came to an end on Christmas day according to the Latin calendar (in
1989 and 1991 respectively. .
A note on a significant historical date to which an allusion is made in Richard III: The date
in question is the 26th of June, for on this day Gloucester usurped power to become the
king of England. This day was important in the medieval church calendar as a Saints Day
honouring the Apostles Paul and John. Shakespeare was evidently conscious of this day as
Richard swears by the apostle Paul on several occasions in the course of the dramatic
history. A little odd perhaps, in view of several liberties Shakespeare took with historical
events. Richard in the drama boasted he would teach Machiavelli a lesson or two,
something which the historical Richard could never have done, as Machiavelli wrote his
infamous "The Prince" about thirty years after Richard's death. A parallel case is when
Henry V promises that the English and the French will throw the Turks out of
Constantinople. When Henry lived the Byzantines were still in control of that city? On a
different level, Richard's boast is poetically true. Machiavelli's teachings were the
culmination of a philosophy that was long established by Richard's time, being based on
the Humanist emphasis on Man as the centre of human activity in politics and other

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realms. Cynicism about religion had crept into the minds of many scholars and politicians,
especially after the Black Death. Richard feigns piety in order to legitimate his claim to
power. It is a matter of interest that the first version of the Pied Piper story dates the
arrival of this mysterious figure on the 26th of June. One critic by the name of Rossiter has
even argued that the legend of the Pied Piper supplies the play with its underlying
allegorical structure (check out my article on Google.com under the Pied Piper of Hamelin"
http://www.ims.uni-stuttgart.de/~jonas/Scutts-article.html ). Richard seems to
represent the evil aspect of the Piper as one leading children to their deaths. The date falls
in the first week of summer and the four references to the summer in the play are highly
significant, the first being in the opening lines of the play. Oddly enough the word "piping"
occurs a line or so afterwards. A coincidence? By the way, rats or mice (to my knowledge
the Hebrew doesn't differentiate) played a role in the transfer of the Holy Ark from
Philistia to Judah in the book of Samuel. The Philistines were plagued by rats (mice and
discomforting growths when the Ark was in their possession. They were forced to send the
Ark back with a propitiation of golden figurines in the form of rats and swellings.
Christopher Columbus
Nomen est Omen: Christopher Columbus had a name that combined references to "Christ"
strictly a "Christ -bearer" and a "Dove" implying a reference to two persons in the Christian
Trinity. As though to reinforce this theological implication, fate or coincidence saw to it
that the ship Santa Maria (another christological reference) sank on Christmas Day. We
could also associate the name with that of the prophet Jonah, which means "dove". Both
Jonah and Columbus had a time of it sailing a boat in a westerly direction -not to mention
Jonah's enforced submarine venture. The association of dove-water occurs in the story of
Noah's flood, which in a sense also involved the quest for a new world; the idea of the
divine Spirit brooding over the waters of Creation (found in Milton's Paradise Lost); also in
the Gospel account of the baptism of Jesus in the river Jordan. Are these interconnected
associations the manifestation of divine transcendence and/or the upcrop of fundamental

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processes like that to which Jung referred the quest of the libido for its source as
symbolized by the image of the sun sinking into a great ocean in the west? Some have
even suggested that the Roman philosopher and dramatist Seneca prophesied the
discovery of a great western continent in his play Medea and thus gave Columbus a
powerful incentive to proceed with his voyage of discovery in 1492.
It has often been noted that 1492 was a pivotal year in world history in view of the fact
that it witnessed the (re) discovery of America (Eurocentrically speaking!) and the
expulsion of the Moors (to Morocco) and Jews from Spain. The deadline for expulsion
coincided with that fateful date in Jewish history, the 9th of Av, which also marked the
beginning of the First World War. On the 9th of Av 1290 (July 18) King Edward ordered the
expulsion of all Jews from England. 365 years later (as many years as there are days in a
year) Cromwell decided to allow Jews to return to England. It is probable that Columbus
had a Jewish family background, Parts of the logbook of his voyage were written in
Hebrew. In 1942 (anagram of 1492) the New World returned to Europe via Morocco when
US forces landed in Morocco. This year was also one of the darkest in Jewish history.
It is worth mentioning that the location of the District of Columbia between
MARYland* and VIRGINia echoes the associations established in the case of Columbus's
arrival in the Americas. Artistic representations of George Washington portray him as a
divinity or godlike figure. Constantino Brumidi, the artist who painted "The Apotheosis of
Washington" on the inner surface of the Capitol's dome, had adorned parts of the Vatican
before emigrating to the United States. There is sometimes a very thin division between
the secular and the religious. Again it is more coincidence than design that Maryland is so
named. In the first instance the name honoured the consort of Charles I, Henrietta Maria.
However, the first colonists arrived in the newly established concession (to second Lord
Baltimore) on 25th March, Annunciation Day, in 1634. The same date marks the genesis of
what is now the European Union. .
Jerusalem and the Number Seven
The Old City of Jerusalem has by tradition seven gates. The number also recalls the seven

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candles in the Jewish Temple. The number 7 crops up in the history of the city, which was
conquered in the years 1967 (by Israel in the Six Day War), in 1917 (by British forces under
General Allenby) in 1517 (by the Ottomans) in 1187 (by Saladin) and in 70 by the Romans.
The first and Second Jewish Temples fell to the enemy on the 9th of the month of Av in the
Jewish-Babylonian calendar, which is now a fast day). The Arab inhabitants of Jerusalem
called Allenby "Al-nabi" (the Prophet). When he ordered the construction of a water
pipeline to Jerusalem, they discerned a fulfillment of the prophecy: "Jerusalem will fall
when the prophet brings water to Jerusalem (Military History). The name Rommel is
another possible case of sympathy between name and fate, as to an Arab's ear it is "sand.
Perhaps names actively induce greatness subconsciously. Charles de Gaulle recalls
Charlemagne and the ancient name of what later became France. He thought Asterix was
greatly superior to Mickey Mouse, ça va sans dire! .
Talk of the D
The Devil is supposedly God's mimic. A good deal of religious mysticism is implied by dates
and numbers associated with Hitler. First he was born on Holy Saturday - between Good
Friday - and presumably on the Jewish Sabbath, the holiest day of the people he would
seek to destroy, like his forebear Haman in the book of Esther.
Hitler came to power in 1933, the double three being associated with the age at which
Jesus was crucified. June the 22nd was an important symbolic day in Hitler's not so hidden
agenda. On this day in 1940 France capitulated. On this day, again, in the following year
Hitler began the invasion of the Soviet Union, echoing it seems Napoleon's invasion of
Russia, which began on June 12th. The term "the Third Reich" is well known. Less so the
belief that Moscow is the third Rome after the fall of Rome and Constantinople. Stalin,
though an atheist, albeit with a theological background, exploited this mystical belief
propounded by Ivan the Terrible, in his conflict with Hitler. Note the emphasis of this
aspect in Eisenstein's film "Ivan Grosny". Stalingrad was the turning point of World War ll.

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Its earlier name had been Czaricyn in honour of the Czar. Should we write off Moscow too
soon? Talking of theology - Hitler's year of birth ends with a nine, like other self-made
national rules including Oliver Cromwell*, Napoleon, and his arch-rival Stalin. It is also
interesting to note that Napoleon shared the same year of birth 1769 with a number of his
associates and opponents -namely Wellington, General Ney (both fought at the Battle of
Waterloo) and Sir Hudson Lowe, the governor of Saint Helena) The year in which Hitler
was conceived was not very auspicious. In that year there were three emperors on the
German throne, the last of whom "Kaiser Bill" suffered from a megalomania that in some
ways foreshadowed Hitler's. Jack the Ripper was active in the same year, and according to
one source his last known resolve was to concentrate on Germans, whatever he might
have meant by that. However Hitler is seen, no historian has yet been able to explain how
one apparently half-educated misfit was able to get his way in one of the most advanced
and cultured nations on earth. Hitler and Napoleon III were born on April 20.
*Sept 13 as a day of re urre t sig ifi a e i Cro ell’s life Battles of Dunbar and
Worcester, his parliamentary coup d'etat) and his death in 1658. .
Luther and Wycliffe
John Wycliffe is considered to be a forerunner of Luther.
Wycliffe died in 1384. Luther was born in 1483 (anagram)- Both brought a message which
the common people believed would herald freedom, and, willingly or not, contributed to
extreme dissatisfaction with the feudal system, leading to the Peasants' Revolt of 1381 and
the Peasants War of 1525.One alternative spelling of Luther is Lutter. Lutterworth
originally meant "Luther's farm. Wycliffe spent his final years as the vicar of Lutterworth.

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There is much discussion as to what constitutes a "coincidence". If taken as a synonym for
a "fluke", one might suppose a coincidence reflects a statistical quirk - yet, as the
philosopher Hume pointed out; we have no a priori knowledge of causality. Our sense of
causality is based on inferences from coincidences such as those linking sensation and
expectation. Descartes agonized over the question of absolute certainty, concluding that
ultimately we trust that coincidences are not the result of a fiendish plan to deceive us but
of a guarantor or truth ("God"). In a scientific age, with its acceptance of reasonable
hypotheses only, the awkwardly persistent phenomenon of "coincidence" poses a source
of irritation. Some cannot be convincingly explained away as statistical quirks devoid of
deep allegorical or symbolic significance. The rationalist contemporary of Shelley, Love
Peacock, foresaw the death of poetry and the countervailing triumph of prose, as, in his
line of argument, poets merely "played" with the accidental and coincidental aspects of
language instead of limiting themselves to conveying one logically coherent sense.
Newton's Apple
As the old story goes, Isaac Newton was sitting in a garden near his college in Cambridge
when an apple fell on his head, jolting him into pursuing thoughts of considerable gravity.
A coincidence? Arguably the fall of any object could have produced the same effect if we
assume that Newton was at the time predisposed to think about the fundamental laws of
causation in the physical universe. It could have been a pear,a roof tile, a book from his
shelf, almost anything.
The fact the object in question was an apple points to another coincidence. The same basic
association combining "apple" -"fall" and "knowledge" occurs in the story of
Adam and Eve .
In "Paradise Lost" Milton refers to the Tree of Knowledge using the word "Science" instead

14. 14
of "knowledge". Milton delighted in refurbishing words with their original meaning, but I
do not think Milton, who was fascinated by Galileo's discoveries, was oblivious of the
modern implication of the word "science." .
With hindsight we can well argue that the birth of science eventually led to the prospect of
collective death on a scale Milton could only have imagined in terms of Judgement Day. On
a more hopeful note, the story of Newton's apple may supply a corrective to the arrogance
of those who claim dominance or a special status based on science and technology. The
greatest discoveries or changes of consciousness were engendered by humble common or
garden events and what we term "chance" in our secular post-theocentric age. .
The Ninth of November, Germany's Day of Destiny
The ninth of November is the date of significant events in German and even European
history. On the one hand it marks the abdication of the Kaiser in 1918, the attempted
Hilter-Lude dorff puts h i Mu i h pro a ly as a ki d of a i ersary of the Kaiser’s
abdication), and the so-called "Reichskristallnacht" pogrom against Jews in Nazi Germany
i 1 3 . It also oi ides ith Napoleo ’s oup d`etat 1 th Bru iaire i 1 a d the
vindictive execution of Robert Blum in Vienna, a defender of civil rights and delegate at the
short-lived parliament of German states in the Paulskirche Frankfurt from May 1848 to
May 1849. If the forces of reaction had not prevailed, German unity might have been
achieved on the basis of democratic principles. On the positive side, the fall of the Berlin
Wall took place on the 9th of November ).
.
Prophecies in Literature
Historic events are often foreshadowed by poets and writers. Cowper prophetically wished
for the fall of the Bastille in his long poetic excursion "The Task". A story entitled "Futility"

15. 15
referred to the sinking of "The Titan" in the last decade of the 19th century and foretold
the sinking of the Titanic in close detail. H.G. Wells' "The War of the Worlds" could be
interpreted as a prophecy of world war. A writer with a name sounding like his, Orson
Welles, adapted the story into a radio play that caused panic in New York and elsewhere
shortly before the Second World War. His interpretation of Nostradamus in a film foretold
an attack on New York by an evil oriental power. .
Concluding Observations
No scientific approach can prove or disprove whether the "coincidences" referred to
be quirks or whether they are revelations. Each person can only rely on his or her intuitive
powers to decide that question. However, in the case of the "coincidences" related to the
eleventh of September, the possible symbolism of "coincidental" patterns and the
conclusions we may reach through applying rational and moral criteria seem to be in full
agreement. .
In the pre-scientific religiously based worldview the casting of lots played a central role.
We need only think of references to lots in the Bible to appreciate this. Both Jewish festival
Yom Kippur and Purim contain in the syllable "pur" a reference to a lot. Casting a lot
decided which of two goats would be sacrificed to the Lord or made a "scapegoat" in the
desert to gratify the claims of the demon Azazel. In the story of Esther a lot decided the
day on which the planned massacre of the Jewish population of the Persian Empire should
take place. It is possible that the lottery for the garb of Jesus alludes to the aspect of
lottery in the festival of Purim. With its reference to hanging and the deliverance of God's
people together with the aspect of mocking the victim and its setting at the approach of
spring, Purim foreshadows Easter in some ways. According to traditional belief Yom Kippur
is the time at which the fate of every human being is sealed after the preliminary
judgement at the New Year festival. As the story of Jonah is the reading of the prophets on

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Yom Kippur, a hopeful message comes over. By prayer and contrition even the harsh edicts
of fate as to "who shall die in by water or fire" can be averted. The coincidences of history
indicate in my view that history is no random sequence of events but is subject to the
supervision of a power such as God or Providence. The Marxist analysis of history was
paradoxically predicated on a teleological, and therefore essentially religious, concept of
progress without at the same time admitting that such a worldview must have a spiritual
foundation. The fall of the Soviet Union discredits dialectical materialism but not its partial
recognition of a guiding principle revealed in history. We should not therefore expect "the
end of history" as some have asserted. The recognition of this fact in itself should occasion
a more reverential attitude to life. However, to try and predict or regulate anything on the
basis of a Torah Code or other such order carries dangers. The true message of
coincidence allows both room for accepting the ultimate overruling of God and also for a
belief in the wide scope of human freedom. Science is based on the recognition of
patterns and the acceptance that they are significant and therefore require an
explanation. We are not being scientific if we ignore patterns for which there are at
present (and the present state of knowledge is a very relative matter) no ready-made
explanations. There are more things in heaven and earth...
Returning to the assertion of Georges Bernanos that coincidence is "the logic of God", I
have to take account of the fact that some coincidences seem to reflect the forces of
destruction and ill fortune. Hitler believed in "Providence" as when he wrote in Mein
Kampf that destiny decreed his birth in Braunau on the border between Germany and
Austria as a sign that he would unite both nations. The failed attempts to assassinate him
provided "evidence" that he enjoyed divine protection. It is obviously naive to suppose
that the patterns discernable in coincidences directly express the will of God though they
may well point to the divine overruling or authorial control. To ask another question. Why
didn't Shakespeare save Hamlet and allow him and Ophelia to live happily ever after? He
might have saved Hamlet but would have robbed the play of its tragic depth in the
process. In other terms, history reveals, I argue, the interpenetration of two planes of
coherence, one being subject to straight logical analysis the other not. .
.