Synchronicity

What is Synchronicity? Well, to folks of a certain age it’s an album by The Police, but that is not quite what I have in mind. In this case I am thinking of something of a more esoteric nature…

Synchronicity and coincidence

Synchronicity occurs when a series of coincidences pile up in such away that we are impressed by them. The idea is perhaps easier to understand if I give you an example of synchronicity which happened to a pal of mine. Julie (not her real name) left her partner recently and she desperately needed to generate some cash without too many overheads. Julie decided a basic catering business might be a starting point but she wasn’t completely sure.

Cosmic hint

After we spent a morning discussing her business options I popped to the local shop, on the way I passed another friend’s business. They were about to throw out a fridge because it was too small for their needs. I asked if Julie could have the fridge, and they replied “yes” delighted not to have to take it to the recycling centre and gave it to her for nothing. Julie was more than delighted to receive the fridge and needless to say she took the cosmic hint and is now busy putting her business plan together.

Synchronicity and Carl Jung

The word ‘synchronicity’ was coined by Carl Jung and he developed the concept in the 1920s but he only started to discuss it fully in the 1950’s.  In  1952 he published a paper, Synchronicity — An Acausal Connecting Principle, in a volume with a related study by the physicist (and Nobel laureate) Wolfgang Pauli.

Einstein and Jung

After discussions with Einstein and Pauli, Jung decided that there were parallels between synchronicity and aspects of relative theory and quantum mechanics. Today some scientists see a theoretical grounding for synchronicity in quantum physics, fractal geometry, and chaos theory. They argue that the isolation and separation of objects from each other is an illusion and that everything (atoms, cells, molecules, plants, animals, you and me) interacts in a sensitive, flowing web of information.

Physicists have shown that if two photons are separated, no matter by how far, a change in one creates a simultaneous change in the other. As a result of his work on synchronicity Jung began to think that life was not a series of random events but rather an expression of a deeper order. This deeper order suggested that a person existed in an orderly framework and was the focus of that framework and furthermore, that the realisation of this was not just an intellectual exercise but also had spiritual elements.

Jung also believed that synchronicity served a similar role in a person’s life to dreams with the purpose of shifting a person’s conscious thinking towards a greater wholeness. Not that everyone, even amongst Jung’s followers totally agrees with him; where Jung believed synchronicity was a rare event Ray Grasse argues that it is common but it is only apparent to us when the coincidences are particularly unusual.

Ray Grasse and Astrology

Grasse also thinks that astrology offers a way to become more aware of these connections and to test and even predict their occurrence throughout our lives. As we saw in Julie’s case synchronicity seems to appear most often at times of personal crises or when you are intensely caught up in something profound such as failing in love.

Meditation and synchronicity

Furthermore, activities like meditation also seem to increase your chances of experiencing synchronicity. As you go about your daily task why not keep a look out synchronicity? It might offer you a cosmic clue that could improve your life.

If you would like to read the early article on Carl Jung and astrology, or if you would like to explore my Astrology section, or enjoy your Daily Zodiac Forecast.

 

 

 

 

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Post Author: Patrick Arundell

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