Is coincidence not coincidence but something else?

27 June 2026

George Musser, writing for Nautilus, ponders the nature of coincidence, particularly the more “out there” instances. Read about his repeated encounters with another backpacker, as he travelled — solo — in Africa some years ago.

I could probably write at length on this topic. For instance…

A few years ago, someone whom I will refer to as Mick, was residing in the apartment building where I stay when we are in Sydney.

We would often stop for a chat if we bumped into each other at the door of the building, or in the hallway. Mick had arrived in Australia a few months earlier, and was looking for both work, he’s a chef, and a larger apartment, as his wife and daughter were joining him later.

He eventually found a job and somewhere to live, and moved out. I saw him just before he left. He asked if I could message him, should any mail arrive for him, and left me his phone number.

We exchanged a few text messages in the months following, but after a time ceased communicating. About five years later, some mail arrived for him. The building manager, who assumed the role after Mick’s time, had left it on the console in the foyer.

It was from a car dealership. Mick had also mentioned before moving out, he was buying a car. I decided not to bother Mick with the news of this letter. I wrote “return to sender” on the envelope, and when I went out later that day, dropped it in the post box along the road.

I came home a few hours later, and decided to log into Facebook. It was something I only did every few days at that stage. It’s hardly ever now. On opening Facebook though I almost couldn’t believe my eyes when I saw a friend request from Mick.

The request was only a few hours old, and he must’ve sent it at almost the same instant I was putting the letter that had arrived for him in the post box. I didn’t share that news with Mick, but was astonished, to say the least, at the timing of his friend request.

In my view, as intriguing as coincidence can be, coincidence is coincidence. It’s random, there’s no force of some sort in the universe lining up curious happenings to bemuse and baffle us. Things just happen. This of course doesn’t make any given coincidence, particularly the seemingly weirder ones, any less magic. Provided that is, they’re a pleasant sort of concurrence.

Incidentally, Mick had studied in Australia about twenty-years earlier, and on the flight here back then, had met the woman whom he later married. So I suppose there is that.

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