Hobson's Choices and Serendipity of Life

Hobson's Choices and the Serendipity of Life

By Janpha Thadphoothon

As I sip my long black (an Aussie term), I find myself reflecting on the many events of life. It all comes down to choices. We negotiate our existence and make decisions constantly. At the subatomic level, we may be floating aimlessly or emerging miraculously as "you" and "me." It is truly remarkable that we exist as humans at all—whether by divine design or cosmic chance.

Many people look to a higher power to explain the origin of humanity, and indeed, many cultures share similar stories of our creation.

The teachings of the Buddha focus on the factors and conditions of the universe. Things happen because of Paccaya, or conditions. In the Patthana, there are as many as 24 such explanations for these conditions.

I would like to focus on the choices we are offered. Sometimes—often, in fact—it is a matter of "take it or leave it." Take my own life, for example: I came to learn English because I had no other options in high school. I might have become a French teacher had my school offered the language. I remember the girl next door—I forget her name now—who showed me her French textbooks. I thought it was so cool to study French. She attended a famous school in the province, while I was at a small district school. She even told me that if I wanted to study French, I would have to transfer to her school. My circumstances as a teenager were limited, and I had to pursue English within the conditions I was in. This, I later learned, is what is known as a Hobson’s choice.

In many of the decisions we make, we find ourselves bound to act and interact with others. There are endless debates and discourses on why we meet and associate with specific people. Is it mere chance, or is it something deeper within our existence? The Western world speaks of Fate or Destiny. In Buddhist discourse, we speak of Samsara, the Law of Karma, and past and future lives. As I sip my coffee, my imagination drifts toward the concept of serendipity—how I came to be an English teacher at a college in China, and the various individuals and characters I have met and interacted with.

One could say that this is simply the way things are supposed to be—that there is nothing special or "serendipitous" about it. Yet, the more I ponder it, the more I am amazed by nature and the operation of the Universe. It is no wonder that scholars have posed such difficult, unanswered questions, urging us to keep searching.

In the realm of quantum physics, we are learning that information is perhaps all that exists, even as we continue to search for the smallest particles. We are beginning to understand how strange things are at the quantum level. Life exists across different planes of existence. I am open to the possibility that we once shared connections or Karma, and that is why we are here today, interacting with one another.

Whatever the real causes of our happenings and associations may be, we may never fully know. One thing is for certain: there are people and events that make being human in this mundane world infinitely interesting. As I take another sip of coffee and look out the window at a beautiful spring morning in Tianjin, I would like to end this piece with a haiku to capture the beauty of life and our place within it:

Morning has broken.

Fresh spring air, warm sunshine—

Part of the cycle.