Filling in for George, guest host Ian Punnett (Twitter) welcomed psychiatrist Dr. Bernard Beitman for a discussion on coincidences and the meanings behind them. He defined coincidence as a remarkable concurrence of events without apparent causal connection. They are markers for understanding reality, Beitman continued, noting how coincidences require one's capacity to intuit as well as rationally examine what they could mean. He mentioned two fundamentally opposing explanations used to explain away coincidences: God and probability.
Beitman shared his own coincidence story which began around 11:00 PM Pacific time at his home in San Francisco where he started choking uncontrollably. "At the same time I was choking at 11:00 PM West Coast time, my father was choking on his own blood East Coast time... he died choking on his own blood at the same time I was choking uncontrollably over the sink," he revealed. His father's death was also on Beitman's birthday, which he suggested was his father's way of telling him to remember him.
Beitman called the simultaneous feeling of the pain of a loved one at a distance simulpathety, and pointed out it is not a unique experience. These kind of coincidences are markers for the connections between two people that allow emotions and ideas to flow between them, he explained. "What happened with me and my father was a marker of our connection... it marked that we were much more connected than I ever thought we were," he said. Beitman also talked about something he called the psychosphere, a mental atmosphere in which all living things on the planet exchange ideas and energy.
The final hour of the program was devoted to Open Lines.
News segment guest: Tim Binnall