Dick Cavett is a smart guy, but apparently he has never heard of synchronicity. He needs to read some Carl Jung, who coined the term–or at least basic information about him. Also, reading Arthur Koestler’s Roots of Coincidence would help.
But it’s great that Cavett is bringing synchronicity to a larger audience via his column in the New York Times, and asking readers for help in explaining his own mind-boggling experiences. In May, he was baffled by a synchronistic encounter with a playwright.
Now in his latest column, he reveals that months later he’s just as baffled. He also asked readers to recommend books on the meaning of these puzzling coincidences, and we really wish that we could recommend Seven Secrets of Synchronicity . But no book till next August.
So in Cavett’s new story he stops at an outdoor book fair. He’s in a hurry and only has a few minutes. He walks up to the closest table, picks up a book at random without looking at its title and opens it to the middle and starts reading. The paragraph he picks describes a house and its owner in detail, and to his astonishment, it’s the house he has just purchased three days earlier and the owner he just purchased it from.
Thanks to Musingegret for leading us to the column.
I'd rather be Squat (Diddly, that is) than Dick any day. Hmm, are Dick and Squat related?
But really, where do all these sayings come from anyway? The word 'squat' which means 'short' or the cliche -'nothing' today, but in origin meant to 'curdle, press together, collect' and comes from the same root as 'sky' which in origin meant 'cloud'…. hmm a cloud after all is simply pressed together 'water' (aqua)vapour. Interestingly it has the same prefix as "squaw" (Algonguin for woman).
Of course I have reason to believe that etymology- history on root words and names are another means that the inner parallel world communicates… at least this is door worth opening.
The scary thing about considering Synchronicity as a language that can be interpreted (like dreams) is that you then have to wake up to a new reality — that the parallel world we have long considered as 'our' unconsciousness/subconscious (personal or collective) self/collective, is an entirely independant self/collective that simply resides in and works through us… equivalant to another intelligent (likely more intelligent)life form– a separate being and world running parallel to our own. This is incredible… more so than scarey!!
Some people are afraid to venture into anything new, being afraid to appear dumb is a big hurdle… afraid to rock the boat bigger … afraid of witch hunts even bigger yet.
Our civilization is not always civilized, so history has taught us to be cautious. Why do you think it took Darwin so long to bring forward his theory on the evolution of the species… what do you think brought on his many psychosomatic illness until he would finally spill the beans.
This is new ground for many of us though I have good reason to believe that there are 'old hats' out there secretly observing, watching as this age old phenomenon rising up once again. I also think this group has learned to recognize and move with this "collective consciousness" flow. Perhaps the message is for them to know and understand and we are just Dick. Perhaps not.
I take exception that Cavett knows, or rather knew, anything about synchronicity. Maybe he does now, if he read the comments to his column. But he didn't in May.
If you look closely at his first column, you'll see why. In it, he invokes Freud, thinking that he had said something about coincidence. Freud was not a mystic, like Jung, and that was at the heart of their split. Maybe Cavett never got past Freud.
Like I said before, everybody is dumb about something – and that includes East Coast intellectuals.
Rob
So then, synchronicity can be interpreted on a collective level TOO!!
Yes but… and its a big BUT!! How do we go about interpreting synchronicities from our “collective unconsciousness”… and at the same time avoid a ‘tower of babble’ mish-mash of interpretations? Except… that THE voice itself will guide us along until we get it right. But it seems to me that we need to give them something to work with… we need to make the leap… babble a little if need be (how else does a new initiate learn to understand and ‘speak’ the language).
So, in comes Dick (hmm, twice too… so there’s that 2 again!!) … and you have to admit, the name is kind of reminiscent of beginner readers—see Dick run, see Jane…). You see, I think this recurring Dick theme is not an accident. Dick is unconsciously doing what the collective unconsciousness world wants him to do in order to communicate something else.
Okay so I’m going to open a door: I think the REAL message from the collective unconscious is that they are equally frustrated 2… just like many of us are with Dick, saying something to the effect—“why aren’t they moving on… trying to interpret the “greater” message?” And seeing that many of us see that synchronicity is often humorous … perhaps this ‘parallel world’ saying more specifically, “Hey, don’t be a Dick!!”. Oh and another door worth opening : the etymology root meaning of Dick/Richard is “brave, power) and from a more creative perspective, since the letters ‘c’ and ‘k’ are related to ‘g’… the name Dick could be read as “Digg”… yes, we are being told to dig, dig!!
terri and trish – sometimes we just can't see the forest for the trees! i think you have something there!!! can't wait to see what plays out! and yeah, lennon IS his muse!!!
Terri – the same thing occurred to me today. That Cavett actualy knows exacty what synchonicity is, but is leading readers along with these intriguing posts. Two blog posts now, when and where is the third?
Imagine! Ha. Lennon is Cavett's muse.
also being me, I read comments and #59 of Dick's reader comments:
September 12, 2009 8:42 am Link
Jung called it “synchronicity.” Meaningful coincidence.
But you — being Dick Cavett, after all — probably know this.
Jung ascribed it to an activation of the collective unconcious.
— Smithe
me again: There are a few comments that reference Jung and Synchronicity but also many others that are fascinating to read because they show this is a topic understood by many people, called many things, through history and today without being limited to one school of thought.
I feel Dick is writing his posts specifically to present the wonder of discovery to his readers, who consider themselves intellectuals, and would not follow a blog by a novelist. 🙂
Since I'm a cock-eyed optimist, who thinks Dick is a smart guy, I can't help but wonder if he does understand synchronicity, and has studied Jung, and is giving his readers subtle nudges to consider it without giving it a name.
Let's not forget Dick Cavett was in the cast for the movie Beetlejuice, and was at the table for that amazing scene. If you don't know what I'm talking about, watch the movie…
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0094721/fullcredits#cast
hmmmm…and john lennon IMAGINED, too –
I imagine. And a dose of Mercury Retrograde.
It's John Lennon's Ghost/Spirit making all that happen, lol!
They say everyone is dumb about something, and sometimes it's quite surprising.
Over the weekend at the writer's conference in St. Augustine, Trish mentioned that besides being a novelist, she wrote astrology books. A woman standing nearby asked: What is astrology?
Okay, she was an older woman, but astrology is older than her! She's also an author and I noticed that her name, on the cover of her boo,k was preceded by Dr. I never found out what kind of doctor she was.
Great point, Jarielyn!
Sansego – great story about the bookstore & about Al Gore.
I don't think the eastern estabishment has any monopoly on cynicism. Cynical people are found anywhere & everywhere. & there're still many people who don't know what synchronicity is – and they certainly aren't all easterners. For many people, it just never occurs to them that a coincidence is meaningful.
Just this past weekend, at a book fair in St Augustine, Rob and I gave a talk on synchronicity. While people generally understood what a coincidence is, many of them were clueless about synchronicity.
Some people remain skeptic no matter how much evidence slaps them in the face. He is unwilling or rather fearful to change his paradigm even though he knows that something strange is going on.
Dick Cavett reminds me of why I dislike the whole eastern establishment. Living in New York City seems to make people cynical, and they believe they are the most sophisticated people on earth. They don't want to be "taken" by ideas that seem to "afflict" those of us who live in the "flyover states." Its that whole snooty attitude that shows up time and time again.
The fact that Cavett doesn't even know what synchronicity or coincidences are is baffling. It represents a nonspiritual mind unwilling to accept that there is an unseen force out there that guides us when needed.
and dick cavett of all people! i am so surprised! but at least he's asking questions…sort of…
I had an experience like this a couple weeks ago. I was in Portland's new age spiritual bookstore called The New Renaissance Bookshop. They were promoting a book by an author who was signing copies of her book and giving a lecture. I flipped open the book and the first passage I read was about this author's first experience browsing that exact same bookstore!
Even more fascinating to me, the author mentioned that former Vice President Al Gore had browsed through this bookstore when he came to Portland (though it did not give a year). This answered a question I had about Gore, because since I read "Earth in the Balance" in 1992 and then interned for him in 2000, he always struck me as a deeply spiritual person, despite being listed officially as "Southern Baptist." I always had the impression that his spiritual beliefs were a lot more open minded than that, and the fact that he would make a stop at New Renaissance Bookshop during a brief visit to Portland answered that question for me.
There's nothing unusual about interpreting synchronicity and applying it to your life. Synchronicity is a form of guidance on your path or, in some cases, warnings that you might be treading on the wrong path. It's almost always about expanded awareness – seeing that there is a bigger picture than our every day world of cause and effect.
You can definitely interpret synchronicities in the same way you interpret a dream. If you have repeated encounters with bees, as Intuitive Girl talked about yesterday, you could interpret that to mean that you're entering a period of high productivity, of more social activities, of a prosperous and happy time.
Of course, first you would consider what bees mean to you. For some people, bees could indicate anger or stinging resentment. Then you need to look at where that applies in your life. So synchronicity and dreams come from the same source – the unconscious mind or, in some cases, the collective unconscious–the realm of archetypes that we all share.
Rob
Vanessa- I love opening books at random. Sometimes when I want a quick answer to something, I open a book at random – usually a dictionary – and point blindly at the page. Often, the word I'm pointing at makes sense in terms of my question. It's a form of divination and synchronicity is at work in all divination systems.
… also, though I get the gist too of the anology "you can lead ahorse to water…", but it can be carried only go so far– if the horse is denied water long enough he will eventually drink the water he is led to, trust me on this one.
I understand what you're saying — Synchronicity 'IS' the language of the unconsciousness… just as dreams 'ARE' the language of the unconsciousness as well. So is that it… should it simply end there?!
Many have stepped out to interpret dreams… as a matter of fact… Rob, didn't you write a book on dream interpretation? So this in itself should indicate to us that these synchronicities could have a deeper meaning… just like dreams, except on a "collective unconsciousness" level. There is an undeniable pattern with our synchronicities… and moreso, they're beginning to show signs of interconnecting(remember the many Michael's).
Trust me, I can understand why people would want to distance themselves from me and 'my' interpretation– not easy to chew let alone swallow (hmmm…)
That whole thing with books "finding" me happens to me a lot, whether at the library or with someone saying, "Hey, have you read…?" I also love to open books to random pages. I think messages are always there if we know how to find them.
I know a guy who was talking (on record), because of coincidences, about a coincidence in a book about a guy born in 1856, the coincidence written about was on page 156, it was 2:56 into a meeting when he was yappin and it was 3 years since a game was set into gear on him (with a woman, 156 weeks, "2004"), it was also the 56 th BD of a very specific person. Later that day there's a e-quacke under his feet at "8:04"…. Can we guess the magnitude? They really like this guy stressed. Dozen"s" of stories like this. Spooky, well it was Halloween eve. hlp
I agree, Nancy. I think he's being nudged by the universe for some reason. Toumai – synchronicity IS the language of the unconscious. Liza – the horse to drink! Fits.
I think Dick just got bitten by the synchronicity bug – he may be on the road to all sorts of enlightenments.
You gotta love the title of this post!
Fantastic synchs.
What's that old saying about leading a horse to water but you can't make them drink, or something like that anyway.
but then what would that answer?! Really, what's it all about… where do we go from here… where is the language?
You're right.We're all fishing for answers. But if he Googled coincidence, it wouldn't be quite so puzzling for him.
Dick is certainly questioning things and fishing for answers. Which is really what we are still doing.