A ‘Black Swan’ Event or a Manifestation of Transcendent Forces?

A true, exact report on actual events experienced by me on 12/26/2018.

“Taking off the mask, I saw myself at the mirror. 
I was the child from many years ago” 
Álvaro de Campos [Fernando Pessoa].

Isabel, dear daughter, perhaps you remember that on some May day in 2018 I lost my luxurious ‘Collected Poems of Fernando Pessoa’ Nova Aguillar edition, right? As you know, I used to constantly read and re-read those enchanting poems, thus I am deeply sad for its loss.

Anxious and sad, I searched for it in my usual reading places; bookstores, cafeterias, restaurants, clubs. However, nothing was to be found. I thought, and still take it for possible, that perhaps in some hurried domestic cleaning, my precious book has been thrown into the trash, mixed by accident with old newspapers.

Unfortunately, that special edition was published some decades ago, then disappeared from bookstores. Even its publishing house no longer exists.

For many weeks, I kept looking for it in used-books stores near home, in vain. In one of those, it was suggested that I consult Internet retailers, where, in fact, I did find some copies of the sought after book. I hesitated, however, to place an online order for fear of getting a badly preserved copy, finally deciding I would only buy one if I was able to see it first. My caution was justified because I suppose the last identical Nova Aguillar edition must be at least thirty years old.

However, I became too busy for it and I put off my quest for many months. Until December twenty-sixth, around noon, when I came down from my apartment to have an espresso at a nearby café.

As I got to the sidewalk and turned right, I saw behind me a woman with a grocery cart, packed with books. As you know, this is an exceedingly rare event here on Rua Oscar Freire, which has neither libraries nor big bookstores. Pushing that cart together with her seven-year-old son, she walked ahead of me, as I was deliberately walking slowly, aiming to get a close look to all the books in that pile. Before me, a rare bibliophiles’ treasure, including the complete poetries of Drummond, Guimarães Rosa, Machado, Camões, among other volumes of great worth.

Greeting her, I said, “Congratulations, what good literary taste is yours!”

There I could quickly see among the stacked books a ‘Complete Prose Writings’ by Fernando Pessoa, from the same Nova Aguillar Publisher, which had printed my lost Pessoa’s ‘Poetry’. Both books are like twins, but the last one never leaves my shelf, being still unread. Bernardo Soares must forgive me, but to read his ‘Livro do Desassossego’ (‘Book of Disquiet’) seemed to me too melancholy a task, at least till the third page, where I stopped a long time ago.

Just below this, I saw another one, also edited by ‘Nova Aguillar’. At that moment, this thought came to my mind:

In my opinion, Pessoa’s prose will never be as appreciated as his poetry. The proof is here on this scene, where two copies of his Collected Prose, published as a twin book of his Collected Poetry, despite such dull content, are going to be put for sale surely as a mere ‘cat by hare’. Only upon opening it you may see it is the Prose, and not that wonderful Poetry book lost by me.

Despite those pessimistic thoughts, I asked permission to pick through the books, to see the publication dates.

Blessed heavens, I had been quite wrong! That second Pessoa’s book on the cart was nothing less than another copy of his Collected Poetry, exactly the one I had been looking for in vain these last seven months.

To the shopping cart’s owner, I said at once, “How amazing, you are carrying a rare edition of the most precious Portuguese poetry, exactly the one I have been searching for in vain for many months!” And going straight ahead to the point, I added, “Are you going to sell it?”

She replied, “I’m not selling these books, but I see you really like this Pessoa’s a lot! So, it is from now on, all yours!”

Astonished, I said, “You must be an angel, who has crossed my path! I have been searching for this precious edition in bookstores for many months.”

I suggest you calculate the likelihood of such an event, in all its details, taking place on the day after Christmas. Wouldn’t it be a probability of infinity to zero?

Was it due to Santa Claus, or to a Guardian Angel about whose existence I have been reassured of last Chanukah? Or could we take as enough explanation for the lucky event, merely the statistical ‘Large Numbers’ Law’?

Events like this, even so trite, put in check the empirical-rationalist worldview which has engulfed the occidental culture in the last centuries. The probability of its occurrence with all its details, calculated ex-ante, that is, before it has happened, as infinity to ZERO! And among such details, it is impossible not to stress the date it happened.

Remember that an impossible fact may be defined as one which has a zero probability of occurrence.

Originally published at https://reality-to-who.blogspot.com.