Still another factor that figures somewhat in coincidences
relates to events which are sooner or later very likely or quite
certain to occur, and in which the coincidence is confined to
the close simultaneity of the action on the part of two or more
persons concerned. The crossing of letters is easily the best
illustration of this type of occurrence which has the semblance
of thought-communication. It is so easy to fall into the habit of
delaying all delayable matters as long as possible that it must
frequently happen that your own sense of duty is aroused and your
correspondent's patience is exhausted at nearly the same time. If A
is to hear from B, or B from A, within a period not very definite
but still reasonably limited, every day's delay makes it more and
more probable that their letters will cross. The same consideration
applies to other affairs of daily life; we delay a matter of business
and are just about to attend to it when the other party concerned
comes to us, or we delay offering some social attention until just as
we are about to do so it is asked of us; and so on. In brief, we find
not only in sickness and death, in family ties and friendships, in
travel and adventure, but also in the special and in the complicated
interests of our civilized life an abundant opportunity for
coincidences; and we find that their frequency is clearly related to
the commonness of the event, and to its familiarity and closeness of
relation to our habits of thought.
V
Reviewing the arguments which have been presented, we find a tendency
to underestimate the possibilities of expression and communication
through the normal channels of the senses and the subtle inferences
based upon them, and also an insufficient appreciation of the
unrecognized but by no means supernormal capabilities, which
special and unusual susceptibility or training of these same powers
of interpretation and thought-revelation may bring about; we find,
further, a prevalent underestimation of the generic and at times the
specific similarity of the products of our several diverse and yet
homogeneous mental equipments, and with it a lack of consideration
of the greatly increased facilities for such mental community
afforded by modern conditions of rapid transit and rapid sharing
of the common benefits of civilization. We find a misconception of
the nature of the application of the doctrine of chances to mental
coincidences, which brings about an apparent recognition but an
intrinsic belittling of the rôle which chance really plays in the
evidence advanced for telepathy; we find that this error is probably
due to an unfortunate, intensely individual view of the problem,
which insists upon an explanation of personal experiences, and
disregards the essentially impersonal and statistical nature of the
inquiry. This unfair attitude (which is equally unfair if applied
to other and more exact data) renders difficult, if not impossible,
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