The Artist’s Way, published in 1992, proposed a rather unusual idea at that time – that there’s a link between creativity and a spiritual connection to a higher source. If you look in the index, though, there’s only a single mention of synchronicity, which I found odd even when I first read the book.
Creativity is usually defined by four words that begin with “i:” imagination, inventiveness, inspiration, ingenuity. Synchronicity is rarely mentioned. And yet, creativity and synchronicity are like twins conjoined at the hip. They share organs, skin, blood, the life force. They complement and nurture each other. In fact, without meaningful coincidence, our creative endeavors often fall flat. We’re able to take an idea, a concept, just so far and can’t make that final leap into something larger than ourselves that speaks to the human collective. And I now wonder if that quantum leap is the spiritual missing link.
In an interview, author and philosopher Ken Wilber, said: “Synchronicity has been an important part of my own spiritual path ever since I can remember. It is something that I’ve come to relate to as a sort of ‘experiential faith,’ an actual tested faith that has shaped the architecture of my own life story in dramatic ways. My experiences with synchronicity have been varied, seeming to come and go in waves, often accompanying times of great creativity, inspiration, and transformation. Sometimes they are flirtatious, like hearing an unlikely word just as I am typing it on my screen.”
The Dalai Lama went ever farther: “I am open to the guidance of synchronicity, and do not let expectations hinder my path.”
In terms of spirituality, synchronicity seems to address the ways in which each of us is linked to something larger than ourselves, to Indra’s net, to Jung’s collective unconscious, and yes, perhaps to some higher source. Regardless of the term we use for this higher source – God, Buddha, All That Is, Source Energy, Mohammed, Christ – the bottom line is that we can connect to it through synchronicity.
I mean, let’s face it. We’re born. We die. Those are the facts. In between, we explore, we delve, we experience, and we feel everything in the spectrum from despair to joy, from paralyzing fear to liberating certainty that we are more than our physical bodies, as Robert Monroe was fond of saying.
But the bottom line is that regardless of what traditional religions tell us about heaven and hell and the afterlife and all the depressingly weird worlds between (limbo?!) we really don’t know. Maybe in our three-dimensional existence, we can’t know. Maybe we can’t quite stretch ourselves that far. And yet, some of us do. Some of us trust our own experiences to the point where we become the outlier, the outcast, the weirdo down the block who sees ghosts or talks to the dead or looks for signs at every twist in the path.
But my sense is that outliers are growing exponentially every second of every day and that, perhaps sooner than we can imagine, there will be so many of us that a tipping point will be reached and a new, more evolved paradigm will be born.
as terri mentions, i, too, have always found that intent plays a key role in all this – but i think the other word that immediately comes to my own mind in terms of creativity and synchronicity is the word “openness” – we must always be open to receiving – to creating – to synchronicities –
and that thing of which you speak…the tipping point…it’s shifting now:
“shifting paradigms”…
it was a land without time
a land before time
the land of shifting time
shifting lines
shifting paradigms
the land in between
this time and that time
cast off yesterdays
had come to stay
on this mean solar day
of stars gone astray
in this land without time
this land sublime…
/jcg
I also agree whole-heartedly. I think we are evolving, whether we know it or not and the tipping point will create a whole new way of seeing the world and our place in it. Great post.
I cannot agree more. I read The Artist’s Way when it first came out and it helped me to unleash some old patterns, but that’s about all I remember about it. I’ve been meaning to write an email to you, Trish, because I wanted to thank you for reminding me about Mercury Retrograde. My friend Jonelle and I tried twice to make a skydive together, on the 17th and 19th. We are scheduled again this Wednesday (the 24th). I think it will happen now, because Mercury has gone direct! Best laid plans and all that, you know.
I know that you and your blog (and your book 7 Secrets) have opened my eyes to all the different ways that synchronicity has unfolded in my own experience. Things I would have missed if I had not been looking. So here’s a big thank you for being my blogging friend! 🙂
Oh, that pesky mercury! When I read on your blog about those cancelled dives, I thought, that merc is such a trickster devil. And thanks for the kind words. I love reading about your hikes and seeing all those gorgeous photos of your corner of the world, DJan!
My opinion is that the “i” word to add as the bridge between creativity and synchronicity is “intent” because all the others are ethereal and it is during the intent/action of creating that synchronicity has a purpose and will offer signs.
Intent/action makes sense. Just having an intention to create something, without actually doing anything, may or may not trigger a synchro.
Very interesting post.
It would be good to think you are right about a more evolved paradigm being born.
I agree that creativity and synchronicity are linked – though perhaps not all of the time – but synchros often help solve that final essential element, or show the direction to follow.
Agreed, they aren’t always connected, but often are.