Baraka - Thread of Life

I'm now in Vancouver staying at my friends' condo overlooking the marina beside Granville Island. I can see the gorgeous art deco pillars of the Burrard Street bridge and the shiny glass jungle of high-rise condos across the channel.

It's fabulous.

Last night I watched "Baraka", a film made in the early nineties that has no dialogue, only images and an accompanying soundtrack. If you haven't seen it, the summary on the DVD reads:

"Baraka is a transcendent global tour that explores the sights and sounds of the human condition... in 24 countries on six continents."

The word "baraka" is from the Sufi language and it translates to "the thread that weaves life together."

One of the most memorable shots in the film is of a Balinese monkey sitting in a hot spring in the middle of a snowy mountain range. The camera lingers on him for some time and the viewer is treated to a meditation on who he is, who we are and how we are indubitably connected.

One of the things I talk about in a speech I give about having a Higher Purpose and living according to a Higher Plan, is coincidence. (You can watch the speech on You Tube -- Search "Let Go of Your 'But'" and my name.) 

Coincidence means, "a remarkable concurrence of events or circumstances without apparent causal connection."

The key word for me in this definition is "apparent". Apparent means, "clearly visible".

So when I experience coincidence, the reason is not clearly visible. I have to go deeper. I have to refer to the other word that stands out in that definition, which is "remarkable."

Remarkable means "extraordinary", which itself means "outside the normal course of events."

When I arrived in Kamloops this past Friday I took a shuttle from the airport to the hotel. As we drove through the dark I listened to a man tell the woman beside him all about his trip to Germany where his family lives and where he was born and raised. I got to know something about him on that night bus and was inspired by his story.

When I arrived at the Kamloops airport on the Sunday to fly to out Vancouver, who do you suppose was the Air Canada agent that checked me in?

Mr. German Shuttle Bus.

Baraka! This man and I did not speak and I did not tell him that I knew the name of his hometown and favorite drink. Seeing him again simply confirmed that the thread that weaves life together is always being spun.

Inspiring Message of the Day: Even the most banal coincidence is remarkable because it confirms that we are a part of something Greater that is guiding us in every single moment of our lives.