Chiang

             One of the sayings that struck me from "The Merchant and the Alchemist's Gate" is about

 coincidence and intention. Fuwaad asks younger Bashaarat if it is a coincidence that the man builds his

 store and the gate in Baghdad 20 years later or if it is because of Fuwaad's visit. Bashaarat replies,

 "coincidence and intention are two sides of a tapestry... you may find one more agreeable to look at, but

 you cannot say one is true and the other is false," (Chiang 51). It is probably very easy for us to think of

 examples of things we have called coincidences throughout our lives. What if we flipped the tapestry

 around and said that they happened for a specific reason? 

        The danger in attributing everything to chance is that we might miss the beauty and utter meaning

 that can be drawn from the little things in life.  Our lives could be a lot less monotonous if we take

 everything to have greater significance. Ruth trusted her intuition and found the greater meaning in the

 strange occurrences surrounding her discovery and reading Nao's diary. The Jungle Crow could have just

 been a random crow; the dreams of Jiko could have just been of a random grandma; there was no reason

 for Ruth to see the connection between Nao's diary and Haruki #1's journal. Ruth is a very time-conscious

 being, as is Nao. Related to finding significance in everyday things is Zen Master Dogen's teachings

 about how many moments pass within the snap of a finger. If everything has significance and meaning,

 then every moment does too. 

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