Are there really any coincidences?

For there to be an underlying reason why coincidences happen would negate any kind of choice we have regarding the control of our own destiny.
If you perceive a situation or a chance meeting as coincidence, why should there be any other reason for that occurrence?
If you are suggesting that I happen to meet someone on a train by chance, and that there is an ulterior motive for that meeting, what can I do to take control of my own destiny if everything I “chance” upon is predetermined?
If I happen to meet a friend in a secluded part of the world and we end up traveling together, would you say that I was destined to meet them and the coincidence was orchestrated so that I had a traveling partner?
Wouldn’t that be called “Fate” in other parts of this web site?
I believe there are coincidences and that they do not have any underlying reason for their being. Any suggestion to the contrary is to say we do not have control over our own destiny.
If a coincidence is dissected each time something happens, it will give you a dichotomy: you either accept it and act upon it, or you ignore it and continue. It is the same as any decision you decide to make. Therefore, a fortuitous meeting or an incident which can be described as a coincidence was usually attained by the person having made their own decisions to get to that place in the first instance, which would then imply that a coincidence is merely an extension of one’s own destiny brought upon one’s self.
Is it really a coincidence when you meet someone on a train and you talk, realise you get along and then accept that: “wasn’t it a lucky coincidence we took the same train today and met the way we did”? Or would you put it down to “Fate” having a dabble?
What about the fact that you decided to finish work 30 mins earlier as you couldn’t take working any more that day and the fact that you made a conscious decision was the real reason you met that person and not some coincidence? If you had decided to stay at work, you may not have met them until the following day/week/year, but then that depends on whether you think “Fate” or your destiny would have brought you together eventually, no matter what the means.
Which also suggests we have no control over our true destiny.
What one would consider to be a coincidence can be equally read as a choice.
Someone once asked me: is it a coincidence that someone broke his or her computer in order that they ended up talking with me? Wouldn’t it be more likely that they chose to work in my company and I chose IT as a trade and that any occurrence around this subject is primarily down to mine and their own decision making? The fact that if any other member of my team had picked up the phone would have resulted in a different outcome for this person suggests that coincidence is a name we give to situations which can be interpreted as “events pertaining to our own destiny over which we have a choice for control.”
Will this person act upon our “chance” conversation or will they simply move on with their life?
I would be more inclined to believe that the conversation wasn’t by chance at all, as we both determined our career paths up to that point, but the outcome could change the way I, or they view a particular subject. So one could say that this “coincidence” had a real determinable outcome.
As would any “choice” event. Decision. Destiny control. 

If you choose to believe that coincidences occur to enable us to create a choice for our own destiny, why would the final outcome be anything less than a predetermined goal created by ourselves? Towards which we know we should be heading, but choices in our path created by these “coincidences” can either preclude or include our actions? 

“Coincidences occur constantly but you have to notice them.” By actively seeking them, aren’t you simply searching for something to pass the [blame] reasoning onto? If you seek these “coincidences”, you could be making them into something they are not and therefore assigning destiny a false course. Or would that be considered your destiny, false or otherwise? We can look too closely at events of our life and suggest they happened for a reason, but to imply that a random event (coincidence) has some meaning in the greater scheme of things is taking the whole concept into an arena for self-denial. Why allow such random events an intelligent thought when they can be argued either way? If you choose to disregard a “coincidence” then it is simply a chance event in your life. If you act upon it, then you are making a choice to include that random event into your path and that would suggest it happened for a reason.
But to seek out random events and assign them some credence is asking your path to run for you, not to allow it to run its course naturally. 

Every coincidence as far as I can tell, should stem from a decision you make as an individual and not some random force in the universe acting in the best interests of a single party. It is too far-fetched. 

In The Celestine Prophecy, it suggests we are heading towards a spiritual crescendo and an awareness of ourselves and the universe which will ultimately lead to the human race having a spiritual awareness which may negate the need for any belief system. Obviously this is being suppressed by the churches. I cannot say I would not prefer to believe in some all-encompassing energy than an individual deity, but there has to be a way of going about passing on the knowledge without making it seem like it’s impromptu.

What I disagree with in The Celestine Prophecy is the blatant push towards coincidences being influential and sought after. It suggests we must look for coincidences in all that we do. If we actively seek them, we are not allowing a natural course of action: we are creating a course and this is not what could be considered “Fate”. 

The fact that two people make a random choice which brings them together could be considered “coincidental”. 

If we actively seek a coincidence, we are not allowing a natural course of action: we are creating a course and this is not what could be considered “Fate”. 

But couldn’t this be considered creating one’s own “Fate” and that is what my web site is all about???