Serendipity: Thanks, Horace Walpole
A recent post on SensitivityToThings.com, entitled Serendipity, prompted more in-depth pondering about the word and its meaning. Serendipity can be defined as pure luck in discovering unsought things, or yet more simply as good fortune. This might be a good time to explain the link between the name chosen for this site and its chosen motto.
Firstly, you might wonder how come this English girl has an Indian name. My first name, Sumangali, is a spiritual name, given to me by my meditation teacher, Sri Chinmoy. A spiritual name is like a mantra, reflecting the essence and purpose of its bearer at a very deep level. It was given to me after I had been studying and practising meditation for a few years.
The root of the word Sumangali (mangal) means auspicious. Sometimes two people may have the same word as a name, but the interpretation or aspect of it may be different. The main part of the meaning for me is auspicious good-fortune, so this is at once my essence and my primary purpose, and that’s what I hope to try and offer through this site, in any small way I can.
As for the word serendipity, there’s no way I would have guessed its progenitor: Horace Walpole, 4th Earl of Orford. It seems there was a gap in our language, and so the word was born, inspired by a Persian fairy tale called The Three Princes Of Serendip (Serendip being Sri Lanka).
So the princes were fortunate on their travels? Well it’s not so simple. It seems they were very wise as well. Perhaps Horace won’t mind me quoting the letter in which the word was first written:
“I once read a silly fairy tale, called The Three Princes of Serendip: as their highnesses travelled, they were always making discoveries, by accidents and sagacity, of things which they were not in quest of: for instance, one of them discovered that a mule blind of the right eye had travelled the same road lately, because the grass was eaten only on the left side, where it was worse than on the right—now do you understand serendipity? “
Source: Wikipedia
Well no, Horace, in fact your definition has sparked numerous debates on its meaning. Looking up The Three Princes Of Serendip we find a little more clarity:
“In the camel story, the Three Princes use trace clues to precisely identify a camel they have never seen (lame; blind in one eye; missing a tooth; carrying a pregnant maiden; bearing honey on one side and butter on the other). This result of abductive reasoning is not what is meant by serendipity (the discovery of something not sought). Because of their cleverness and sagacity, they are accused of stealing the camel and are about to be put to death by Bahram Gur. Suddenly and without anyone seeking him out, a traveler steps forward to say that he has just seen the missing camel wandering in the desert. Bahram spares the lives of the Three Princes, lavishes them with rich rewards and appoints them as advisors. These rewards are the unsought (serendipitous) results of their sagacious insights.”
So, Horace, what you mean is that wisdom is often rewarded, and if we do not seek to receive a specific reward, but receive it nonetheless, then we are serendipitous? Ergo: wisdom - expectation + reward = serendipity.
Back to SensitivityToThings.com, John Gillespie cited a quote from Sri Chinmoy about rainbows. Sri Chinmoy says that a rainbow siginifies success and progress, but we must be looking towards the sky in order to see it. In this case wisdom is looking at the sky. Rainbows are rare so we can hardly dare expect them. The reward for looking upwards anyway is the rainbow, so that’s serendipity. The rainbow is already there, we just have to be looking up in order to appreciate it: an analogy which could stretch to any corner of life.
These days employers are starting to realise a fact already well-known in the field of research and development (an industry heavily dependent on serendipity): that employees need a certain amount of time in order to be creative. One caveat is that that the optimum pressure–freedom ratio is different for each individual. There’s an interesting post on the subject entitled Time For Innovation at SlowLeadership.org. In this case wisdom is taking enough time out.
In other cases it might mean breaking out of routine. Have you noticed how problems you’ve been brooding over often resolve themselves if you have a break from ‘solving them’ and go for a run or walk? Ever taken a wrong turning and found something interesting that you otherwise never would have known was there? I wrote a little something along those lines in My Day finds A Motto.
Meditation is certainly conducive to serendipity, and it’s one reason I meditate every day. Even a few minutes can bring a fresh perspective, often bringing forward solutions to things I would not have thought of while facing them head on. Rather than shutting me away from the world it makes me more aware of my surroundings, and reminds me of what’s good in the world around me.
I could go on… Wikipedia has much to say on the subject of serendipity—much more than a blog-post-worth. One section says simply “See also Synchronicity“. Don’t get me started…
Image: The Horace Walpole at the National Portrait Gallery, London
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February 25th, 2007 at 11:50 am
Very nice post Sumangali. You appear to have found a rich vein of material in the topic of serendipity, and I for one certainly look forward to further elucidations.
Two mentions to A Sensitivity to Things? The least I could do was return the compliment: Life is but a dream…