Serendipity

The word “serendipity”, synonymous with chance, fate, destiny, karma, providence, luck, fortune, coincidence, is a very intriguing term.

The movie bearing this name can be seen as a sappy love story about boy meets girl, but also serendipitously presents some interesting topics for discussion about how seemingly chance meetings become long term relationships, and how fate, destiny, and choices might intermingle to become the reality of today, and the history of yesterday.

Serendipity is defined in the movie as “a series of fortunate accidents.”

Of the three relationships that are presented in this movie, (the two main characters destined for love, their respective significant others, and the best man and his significant other) all three find themselves single, in somewhat committed relationships, but cohabiting with their significant other without the commitment of marriage. At the end of the movie, none are still together in the same relationship although the relationships seemed to last about 2 years each. I find this interesting because that is the length of time that Gary Smalley says that the typical romantic love cycle runs its course and begins to rely on what he terms as covenant love, a love based more on commitment than emotions.

Since serendipity is one of those words not used regularly, its meaning often is defined by the context of its use as much as its use actually brings meaning to its context. I think this is true in this movie. What is the movie really trying to say about relationships and how they transpire, migrate, mitigate? What is the title trying to say about the movie?

Serendipity has something in common with synergy. Like serendipity, a synergistic relationship, the combination of components yields more than the sum of the components. But with synergy, the benefactor can be seen as internal and the nature of the unique combination of components, whereas with serendipity, the benefactor is external whether credited to some mystical power of fate or karma, or the great designer, God. These two concepts could come together where the synergistic relationship is seen as a result of God’s design and even God’s leading them to be combined.

Other definitions:

1. Serendipity is the effect by which one accidentally discovers something fortunate, especially while looking for something else entirely.
2. Getting more than you bargained for!
3. The discovery of something not sought
4. One aspect of Walpole's original definition of serendipity that is often missed in modern discussions of the word is the "sagacity" of being able to link together apparently innocuous facts to come to a valuable conclusion.

Quotations on serendipity

• "In the field of observation, chance favors only the prepared mind." Louis Pasteur
• "Serendipity. Look for something, find something else, and realize that what you've found is more suited to your needs than what you thought you were looking for." Lawrence Block
• "The most exciting phrase to hear in science, the one that heralds new discoveries, is not 'Eureka!', but 'That's funny …'" Isaac Asimov
• "In reality, serendipity accounts for one percent of the blessings we receive in life, work and love. The other 99 percent is due to our efforts." Peter McWilliams
• "Serendipity is looking in a haystack for a needle and discovering a farmer's daughter." Julius Comroe Jr.
• "Serendipity is putting a quarter in the gumball machine and having three pieces come rattling out instead of one—all red." Peter H. Reynolds
• "--- you don't reach Serendib by plotting a course for it. You have to set out in good faith for elsewhere and lose your bearings ... serendipitously." John Barth, The Last Voyage of Somebody the Sailor
• "Serendipity is the art of making an unsought finding." Pek van Andel (1994)