You always get the results you look for.

• The light is always red when you are late for work.
  
• The media is always biased opposite your strongly held view.
  
• The radio only plays sad love songs after a break up.
  
• Everyone seems pregnant when you want and can't have kids.
  

These are coincidences that occur when the conditions of perception are present, but don't apply in general.

RULE OF MATH: Certain perceived conditions (assumptions) allow predictable coincidences. That is, you see what you're looking at. Your observations (coincidental though they may be) are not random because your perceptions (which are their conditions) are not random.

Example from above: The conditions are:

• You're late for work.

The resulting coincidence?

• Your awareness of red traffic lights is heightened, so it seems like you must stop at more than usual.

Example from math: The conditions are:

• real numbers exist (the numbers we use everyday)
• that they have order (i.e. ...1 <>

The resulting coincidence? You can use addition and multiplication and get the same predictable answers each time you ask the same question. So Tom will get the same answer to 2 + 3 as Jan does everytime.

But subtraction and division require more conditions... because of "special cases" such as not being able to divide by zero. So beyond the limits of the conditions, the coincidences do not occur. (i.e. you don't notice as many red lights when you are on a relaxing drive.)

We have to assume conditions. If you assume nothing, the world is chaos. It is pragmatic to assume things (in math) and our brains automatically do this (by biological design) in order to operate efficiently. However, when the framework of our very existence is fraught with assumptions that are limited but applied universally, mistakes are inevitable.

RULE OF MATH: Conditional coincidence is not ultimate truth.

So, acknowledge that by assuming your views, you will find what you are looking for because you are only looking where you can find it, not because your view is ultimate truth.