We modern humans today are living with a kind of weird emptiness.
Everything has been speeded up, data has been doubled and more and more things have been added to people’s list of things to do …
But clarity has dropped drastically from inside.
In this emptiness, the most human thing that the mind can come up with is: To connect one thing to another.
This is the exact point where apophenia comes into play.
Apophenia is the mind finding/creating a connection between two or more events that are completely different, independent, coincidental in nature and also in symbols.
It’s as if the universe is sending us cryptic messages.
Seeing 11:11 on the clock, hearing the same word three times, feeling that the lyrics of a song are a message specially made for you …
Perhaps they are merely coincidences.
However, the human brain is not satisfied with uncertainty it refuses to leave it to chance.
The mind sees coincidences as gaps.
Gaps, in turn, bring about a feeling of insecurity in us.
Therefore, it is our mind that fills those gaps with stories.
This is the reason why:
Sometimes we do not discover meaning we create it.
This is a psychological need for safety.
Philosophically, this is the human effort to make sense of life.
The modern human is, in fact, more fragile than ever before:
Constant notifications, constant flow and a constant feeling of “there is something here, but I can’t quite grasp it…”
In this time, apophenia is more than just a scientific term it is the dark side of our everyday life.
If we come to understand this, we can be much more at ease:
Not every visible link is a real link. Not everything has to be a sign.
Maybe the inner peace is just the bravery to leave some things exactly where they are.
Sometimes, nothing is just… Nothing.
And this is perfectly fine.
I wish peace to everyone’s soul…