Quote by Joseph Campbell, source uncertai

It seems to have had an order, to have been composed by someone, and those events that were merely accidental when they happened turn out to be the main elements in a consistent plot. Who composed this plot? Just as your dreams are composed, so your whole life has been composed by the will within you. Just as the people who you met by chance became effective agents in the structuring of your life, so you have been the agent in the structuring of other lives. And the whole thing gears together like one big symphony, everything influencing and structuring everything else. It's as though our lives were the dream of a single dreamer in which all of the dream characters are dreaming too. And so everything links to everything else moved out of the will in nature...It is as though there were an intention behind it yet it is all by chance. None of us lives the life that he had intended.

Summary

This quote suggests the idea that our lives, like a well-composed plot or dream, have an underlying order and intention. It proposes that the events and encounters that seem accidental at first are actually integral to the overall structure of our lives. The quote highlights the power of individual agency and how our actions and choices can impact and shape the lives of others. Additionally, it suggests a sense of interconnectedness, emphasizing that all aspects of life are intertwined, just like the characters in a dream. Ultimately, while there may be a sense of intention in the grand scheme of things, our lives unfold based on chance, often deviating from our initially intended paths.