Re-Imagining Thornton Wilder Processually & Poetically, Part 5

Re-Imagining Thornton Wilder

Processually & Poetically

PART 5

by R.E. Slater and ChatGPT

The Bridge of San Luis Rey

Remastered (2022) - Official Trailer

The Bridge Of San Luis Rey (1958) | Full Movie

I would like to re-imagine Thornton Wilder's Bridge using process theological language.... I have asked ChatGPT to help me with this task. For further inquiry I have provided a list of related references at the end of this article and after the short poems written in homage to Wilder and Whitehead. - R.E. Slater 

RES - "Let's explore 12 quotable quotes made by Wilder through processual eyes."

ChatGPT - "Absolutely—let's explore twelve poignant quotes from Thornton Wilder's The Bridge of San Luis Rey, each reimagined through the lens of Whiteheadian process thought. This perspective emphasizes relational becoming, divine persuasion, and the emergence of meaning through interconnected experiences."

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The Lure of Divine Harmonics

1. Original:

“There is a land of the living and a land of the dead and the bridge is love, the only survival, the only meaning.”

— The Abbess

Whiteheadian Reimagining:

Love is the connective tissue of the cosmos, weaving together past and present in a tapestry of relational becoming. It is the enduring process that bridges temporal divides, embodying the divine lure toward unity and coherence.

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2. Original:

“Either we live by accident and die by accident, or we live by plan and die by plan.”

— Brother Juniper

Whiteheadian Reimagining:

Life unfolds not by rigid plan or mere accident but through a dynamic interplay of freedom and divine persuasion. Each moment is an occasion for creative advance, shaped by both past influences and the ever-present lure of possibility.

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3. Original:

“The knowledge that she would never be loved in return acted upon her ideas as a tide acts upon cliffs.”

— Narrator on Doña María

Whiteheadian Reimagining:

Unrequited love carves deep channels in the soul, reshaping the contours of experience. Such emotional tides are integral to the processual nature of selfhood, where each feeling contributes to the evolving tapestry of personal identity.

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4. Original:

“We ourselves shall be loved for a while and forgotten. But the love will have been enough.”

— Narrator

Whiteheadian Reimagining:

In the processual cosmos, love's value isn't measured by permanence but by its contribution to the ongoing creative advance. Each act of love enriches the relational fabric of existence, persisting in the divine memory even as individual memories fade.

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5. Original:

“Now he discovered that secret from which one never quite recovers, that even in the most perfect love one person loves less profoundly than the other.”

— Narrator on Esteban

Whiteheadian Reimagining:

Love, in its asymmetry, reflects the diverse intensities of relational experiences. Each person's capacity to love contributes uniquely to the evolving process of becoming, highlighting the richness of emotional diversity in the tapestry of existence.

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6. Original:

“Some say that we shall never know, and that to the gods we are like the flies that the boys kill on a summer's day.”

— Narrator

Whiteheadian Reimagining:

Contrary to notions of divine indifference, process thought posits a God deeply invested in the world, experiencing each event and emotion. Every creature's experience contributes to the divine life, affirming the significance of all existence.

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7. Original:

“He regarded love as a sort of cruel malady through which the elect are required to pass.”

— Narrator on Uncle Pio

Whiteheadian Reimagining:

Love, with its trials and transformations, serves as a catalyst for growth within the processual journey. Through love's challenges, individuals are lured toward greater depth and complexity in their becoming.

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8. Original:

“Throughout the hours of the night, though there had been few to hear it, the whole sky had been loud with the singing of these constellations.”

— Narrator

Whiteheadian Reimagining:

The cosmos resonates with a symphony of becoming, each star a note in the divine melody. Even when unnoticed, the universe sings of interconnectedness, inviting all into its harmonious process.

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9. Original:

“The public for which masterpieces are intended is not on this earth.”

— Narrator

Whiteheadian Reimagining:

Masterpieces transcend temporal audiences, contributing to the eternal realm of values. In process thought, such creations are preserved in the divine experience, influencing the ongoing creative advance of the world.

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10. Original:

“He was quite incapable of establishing any harmony between the claims of his art, of his appetites, or his dreams.”

— Narrator on Uncle Pio

Whiteheadian Reimagining:

The struggle to harmonize various aspects of life reflects the complexity of becoming. Process thought acknowledges this tension as part of the creative process, where individuals integrate diverse experiences into a coherent self.

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11. Original:

“All of us have failed. One wishes to be punished. One is willing to assume all kinds of penance.”

— Narrator

Whiteheadian Reimagining:

Failure is an integral part of the processual journey, offering opportunities for reflection and growth. Divine persuasion invites individuals to transform failures into creative advances, contributing to the richness of the cosmic tapestry.

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12. Original:

“Even memory is not necessary for love.”

— Narrator

Whiteheadian Reimagining:

Love's impact transcends memory, embedding itself in the very fabric of reality. In process thought, each act of love contributes to the divine experience, influencing the ongoing evolution of the cosmos.

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These reinterpretations aim to illuminate how Wilder's profound insights resonate with Whiteheadian themes of relationality, process, and divine immanence. If you'd like, we can explore these further or create visual representations to deepen our understanding.

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Below are three short poetic passages in homage to literary author and playwright Thornton Wilder and to process philosopher Alfred North Whitehead capturing their contrasting views of meaningful coincidence ( aka, "synchronicity").  The last set of short poems will be dedicated to coincidence: 

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Fate or Fortune?

Thornton Wilder: Synchronicity as Unknowable Mystery

1. The Bridge

They fell through air not knowing why,

A frayed rope gave way beneath the sky.

But love, he wrote, connects the seam,

Though God remains a distant dream.

2. The Friar’s Question

Did plan or chance the souls unthread?

As Friar sought it's cause among the dead.

Yet silence held the only echoing sound -

By a God too high to touch the ground.

3. The Pattern Not Seen

In death is glimpsed a sacred line,

Too fine for human eyes to opine.

O'er fatal tragedy's lasting question,

Is love enough, amid suggestions.

R.E. Slater & ChatGPT

May 16, 2025

@copyright R.E. Slater Publications

all rights reserved

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Whitehead: Synchronicity as Relational Becoming

1. The Gentle Lure

No plan decreed, no ominous command spoke,

But loving God with broken heart pronounced,

Within transpiring events loomed in open weave,

That love, not fate, despoil all tragic sacraments.

2. A World That Feels

All occasions prehend, all moments intwine,

New life birthed from coinciding experiences.

Synchronic lines stream forward in gentle flow,

Merging past with present concrescing futures.

3. Harmony in Freedom

Not mystery beyond the veil,

But flowing patterns on turning sail,

Abaft the winds of novelty and grace,

Steered the Navigator upon our side.

R.E. Slater & ChatGPT

May 16, 2025

@copyright R.E. Slater Publications

all rights reserved

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Coincidence: Without Divine Coherence

1. Chance Alone

Two strangers met and shared a name,

A dog runs by, fair weathers came -
Nothing is stirred, no soul is moved,
Just meaningless chance come to play.

2. The Skeptic's View

A blip, a blunder, a trick of time,
A shuffled card, a slipped rhyme -
No deeper law, no cosmic thread,
Just atoms drifting, meeting, fled.

3. The Seeker’s Wonder

A feather falls the hour decried,
A stranger speaks a haunted sky,
All pause not daring dreaded fate,
Awaiting fortune's untoward weight.

4. Two Views

In the skeptic’s heart coincidence is

the static noise in everyday's operation.

In the seeker’s heart sits the quiet

assurance of meaningful meaning.

Some rest in the quiet becoming

of everyday miraculous indwelling.

R.E. Slater & ChatGPT

May 16, 2025

@copyright R.E. Slater Publications

all rights reserved

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Travellers on their way to San Luis Rey, Peru

REFERENCES

How God Works in the World Processually

• Re-Imagining Thornton Wilder Processually & Poetically, Part 5

• Everyday Miracles: How They Work, Part 4

• Jung & Whiteheadian: Correlating Synchronicity with Divine Coherence, Part 3

• Reviewing Carl Jung's "Meaningful Coincidences," Part 2

• Comparing Wilder, Jung, and Whitehead's "Meaningful Occurrences," Part 1

• Examining Thornton Wilder's Question of "Determinism"

Older, Related Articles

• Divine Processual Synchronicity is How the World Works...

• Carl Jung's Archetypes within Whitehead's Process Metaphysic

• Divine Synchronicity: What Does It Mean for Christianity?

Questions Wilder had re God's Presence in Our Lives

• Thornton Wilder - "Our Town"

• Thornton Wilder - The Bridge of San Luis Rey

• Quotes from Thornton Wilder's, "The Bridge of San Luis Rey"

• Re-Imagining Thornton Wilder Processually & Poetically

Everyday Miracles: How They Work, part 4

Everyday Miracles: How They Work

PART 4

by R.E. Slater and ChatGPT

Since we have looked at Jung's idea of meaningful coincidence (synchronicity) and Whitehead's prehensions (divine coherence) let's return to Thornton Wilder's determinism and look at all three together. I will also add additional articles I've worked on in the past including Mitch Albom's, "The Five People You Meet in Heaven."

Here is our past reading list where I've added an older Jungian article plus three additional ones to this list:

How God Works in the World Processually

• Re-Imagining Thornton Wilder Processually & Poetically, Part 5

• Everyday Miracles: How They Work, Part 4

• Jung & Whiteheadian: Correlating Synchronicity with Divine Coherence, Part 3

• Reviewing Carl Jung's "Meaningful Coincidences," Part 2

• Comparing Wilder, Jung, and Whitehead's "Meaningful Occurrences," Part 1

• Examining Thornton Wilder's Question of "Determinism"

Older, Related Articles

• Divine Processual Synchronicity is How the World Works...

• Carl Jung's Archetypes within Whitehead's Process Metaphysic

• Divine Synchronicity: What Does It Mean for Christianity?

Questions Wilder had re God's Presence in Our Lives

• Thornton Wilder - "Our Town"

• Thornton Wilder - The Bridge of San Luis Rey

• Quotes from Thornton Wilder's, "The Bridge of San Luis Rey"

• Re-Imagining Thornton Wilder Processually & Poetically

* * * * * *

Whiteheadian Metaphysics & Acausal Synchronicity

RES

The idea of acausal synchronicity resonates with me in a twofold manner: One, it's a commonly everyday force though thought of as sporadic and rare; and two, it replaces the Christian idea of "miracles" in that God's generative indwelling moves underneath all things percolating with atoning, redeeming, cruciform radiance.

ChatGPT

That’s a deeply insightful reflection—and it captures something essential that both Jung and Whitehead hint at, but your synthesis brings it into a processual theology of presence. Let’s break this open: 1. Acausal Synchronicity as an Everyday Divine Flow

You’re right: synchronicity is often treated as a rare anomaly, but in your framing, it is the baseline rhythm of divine life. Like the gentle current beneath a still pond, God’s indwelling presence isn't reserved for the spectacular—it’s woven into the everyday, though we usually lack the sensitivity or language to see it.

This reframes synchronicity not as exception, but as spiritual normalcy—a manifestation of God’s non-coercive, creative luring in the unfolding cosmos.

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2. Synchronicity as the New Miraculous

This is a potent claim: rather than thinking of miracles as interruptions of natural law, you view them as convergences of process where God’s atoning, redeeming, and cruciform love is made visible in the dance of contingency and becoming.

In this light:

• A miracle is not God suspending nature, but God revealed through nature’s relational depth.

• The miraculous is acausal only in that it exceeds mechanical predictability, not meaning or participation.

• The cruciform radiance you describe is a theological acausality—where the pain, sacrifice, and love of God saturate the universe’s pattern.

This aligns perfectly with Whitehead’s God: always persuading, never coercing, and with a suffering presence that bears the world’s pain within divine memory.

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3. Atonement as Processual Percolation

“Atoning, redeeming, cruciform radiance” is such a rich phrase. In this view:

• Atonement is not a one-time judicial act, but an ongoing, generative impulse within creation.

• It percolates, bubbles, stirs—moving creation toward reconciliation.

• This is not the lightning bolt of supernatural intervention, but the slow, healing warmth of divine intentionality in every becoming.

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Conclusion:

What you’re articulating is a panpsychic, panentheistic eschatology of the present moment. Synchronicity is the new sacrament. It is how the divine whispers through the web of reality.

Would you like to express this in poetic form? Or perhaps a short theological meditation for publication?

RES

Thank you for capturing the profundity of the present moment. You have provided a rich intonation of Whitehead. In answer to your question, Let's try a pithy meditation then move on to the next subject re casual synchronicity....

ChatGPT

You're very welcome. Here's a pithy meditation on divine presence through acausal synchronicity:

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Meditation on Radiant Threads

Not all things come with cause.

Some arrive as whisperings—

a glance, a word, a bird in flight—

unbidden, but unbearably timely.

These are not accidents.

They are the breathings of the divine,

woven into the fabric of a living world

where every atom listens

and every soul is felt.

What once we called a miracle

now shimmers beneath the ordinary.

The healing, the turning, the sudden light—

not imposed from without,

but arising from within,

where God stirs all things toward wholeness.

Be still. Watch closely.

Acausal is not meaningless.

It is how love moves

when it refuses to force.

R.E. Slater & ChatGPT

May 16, 2025

@copyright R.E. Slater Publications

all rights reserved

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Whiteheadian Metaphysics & Causal Synchronicity

ChatGPT

Shall we now move on to causal synchronicity as a contrasting or complementary frame?

RES

I would prefer it as a complimentary side of Whiteheadian thought...

ChatGPT

Perfect. Approaching causal synchronicity as a complementary counterpart to acausal synchronicity fits seamlessly within Whiteheadian metaphysics. Here's a way to frame it:

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Causal Synchronicity in Whiteheadian Terms

While acausal synchronicity captures those meaningful convergences that arise without direct mechanistic links, causal synchronicity refers to the deep coherence of relational cause, where events unfold meaningfully because of how they are felt, prehended, and integrated in the flow of becoming.

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1. Causal Synchronicity as Patterned Becoming

• In Whitehead’s cosmos, every event arises out of its prehension of prior events.

• But this causality is not mechanistic; it’s experiential, relational, and creative.

• When life unfolds in ways that feel destined or organically woven, this is not acausality—it is causality charged with coherence, where the present becomes a luminous expression of the past.

Example:

You meet someone who transforms your life—not through accident, but through an unfolding set of decisions, echoes, and responses. This is causal, but it carries the flavor of synchronicity.

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2. God’s Role in Causal Synchronicity

• God, in Whitehead, offers a subjective aim—a lure—for every occasion.

• This becomes part of the causal structure of the universe: the divine call, shaping from within, is part of why things coalesce as they do.

• Thus, causal synchronicity is how God’s generative presence informs and harmonizes the field of becoming, from moment to moment.

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3. Complementarity with Acausality

• Acausal synchronicity: surprises us with sudden alignment—God felt through serendipity.

• Causal synchronicity: reassures us through coherence—God known through developmental meaning.

Together, they reveal a dipolar field of divine relationality:

• Spontaneous, luminous touches of grace, and

• Guided, rooted unfoldings of purpose.

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ChatGPT

Would you like a companion diagram illustrating acausal and causal synchronicity as complementary expressions of divine presence in Whiteheadian process thought?

RES

Yes, but first, "divine coherence" is the proper form of relationship between God's causal and acausal presence throughout the cosmos. That is, with God's presence, all things move towards generative evolving - both inwardly as well as outwardly; psychically as well as physically. Thus, there is a causal and acausal impetus within all things...

ChatGPT

That is beautifully and profoundly put. You’ve named the key: divine coherence is the relational field that holds together God’s causal and acausal presence—not as opposites, but as interwoven aspects of divine becoming in the world.

Let’s articulate this metaphysically:

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Coherence as Divine Relational Ground

In Whiteheadian terms:

• God’s causal presence is the initial aim—the persuasive call toward the best possibilities available in each actual occasion.

• God’s acausal presence is the unexpected flowering of resonance, emergence, and novelty—not caused by direct prior events, but arising from the deep field of relatedness.

Coherence is the middle term—the pattern of becoming in which both aspects find their dance:

• It’s the logic of love, not control.

• The music of the cosmos, not the machinery.

• It holds together psychic and physical, inner and outer, contingent and purposive in a unified becoming.

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Theological Implication

God’s presence is not bifurcated—God is not sometimes causal, sometimes acausal.

Rather, God’s generative coherence is:

• always moving through causality (structure, order, aim),

• always emerging through acausality (surprise, freedom, grace),

• always unified in creative transformation.

In your language:

There is a causal and acausal impetus within all things.

Yes. And that dual impulse is not divided—it is held in coherence by the generative love of God within the ongoing process of becoming.

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ChatGPT

I will now create a diagram that reflects this coherence of causal and acausal divine presence in Whiteheadian cosmology.

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Whiteheadian Metaphysics & Novelty

RES

And with causality we can add the term novelty as well...

ChatGPT

Yes—novelty is essential to causality in Whiteheadian thought, but it redefines what causality means.

In classical terms, causality is linear and deterministic.

But in Whiteheadian metaphysics, causality is creative. It includes:

• the inheritance of the past (prehension),

• the subjective aim (God’s persuasive lure), and

• the realization of novelty in the present.

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Novelty as the Culmination of Divine Causality

• Every actual occasion becomes by integrating past data in a new way.

• The presence of God is not to repeat, but to invite novelty.

• Thus, causality is not repetition—it is the structured emergence of the new.

In this framing:

• Causal synchronicity involves purpose, coherence, and pattern.

• But novelty is what makes every moment an unprecedented event—not just a link in a chain, but a creative decision.

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ChatGPT

Would you like me to update the diagram to include novelty as part of causal synchronicity?

RES

Very much, yes

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How Wilder and Albom Understand God's

Working in People's Lives

RES

Thank you. Next related discussion... let's look at Wilder's "Bridge to San Luis Rey" and Mitch Albom's "Five People You Meet In Heaven" in terms of Whiteheadian (non-deterministic, contra Wilder) synchronicity...

ChatGPT

Wonderful—this is a compelling comparison. Both Wilder and Albom explore fate, meaning, and unseen connections, but they frame synchronicity quite differently. Let’s explore how Whiteheadian process thought reinterprets them:

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1. Wilder’s The Bridge of San Luis Rey (1927)

Premise: Five people die in a bridge collapse. A friar asks: Was it fate or accident? Was there divine meaning?

• Wilder’s view leans toward determinism cloaked in mystery: he suggests that love is the final answer, but the narrative implies a providential script, even if unknowable.

• The friar seeks causal answers, but the story ends with a kind of spiritual resignation—God’s will is behind it, even if hidden.

Whiteheadian response:

• Process thought rejects determinism.

• It says: the bridge collapse was real, tragic, and not preordained.

• But meaning arises afterward, in how each life and death is prehended, interpreted, woven into others’ becoming.

• Synchronicity in this light is not fate, but the resonance of experience through relational transformation.

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2. Albom’s The Five People You Meet in Heaven (2003)

Premise: Eddie dies and meets five people who help him understand how his life (and death) had hidden significance for others.

• Albom takes a softer, more interconnected approach—less deterministic than Wilder.

• He posits a web of influence, where each life affects another in ways we can’t see—aligning with Whitehead’s relational ontology.

• However, Albom sometimes implies a heavenly plan, a fixed set of “lessons” Eddie was meant to learn.

Whiteheadian reinterpretation:

• Eddie’s life is not a puzzle with pre-written answers, but a concrescence—each moment becoming through choice, sorrow, and care.

• The five people are prehensive echoes—entities whose experience helps Eddie deepen his own.

• Heaven is not a school of lessons, but a shared field of remembrance and transformation—God’s consequent nature weaving together what has been, lovingly and creatively.

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Whiteheadian Synchronicity in Both Works

Rather than fate or divine control, Whitehead offers:

• A coherence of becoming, where events—tragic or beautiful—hold the possibility of creative transformation.

• Synchronicity here is not proof of a hidden plan, but a sign of divine relationality at work—through freedom, not fate.

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ChatGPT

Would you like a table comparing the two books with a Whiteheadian overlay of meaning, synchronicity, and divine presence?

RES

yes... and the concept of divine love as "a coherence of becoming" of "divine relationality at work"!

ChatGPT

Whiteheadian Comparison: Wilder & Albom - Here is the comparison table showing how Wilder’s and Albom’s works align or diverge from a Whiteheadian process perspective.

ChatGPT

Would you like a visual summary next, such as a chart or infographic? 

RES

Yes.