We recently read an interesting article on synchronicity on the Internet in which the author takes a scientific approach and makes some worthwhile observations. Here’s one:
“If causality does not govern everything, then there could theoretically exist an ACAUSAL connecting principle. Two events which are somehow connected, but neither of them caused the other one to happen. This is synchronicity. If synchronicity does not exist, then the world is just full of strange coincidences.
“Telepathy, divination, astrology and such are potentially possible under the theory of synchronicity. But they don’t occur for the traditionally believed reasons. Telepathy, meaning that one could ‘read’ another person’s mind, suggests some sort of thought waves, and this is not in accordance with physics. But it’s possible that two people can think of something at the same time.
“Under the theory of synchronicity, all such events would be synchronistic. If a person is more inclined toward certain synchronistic phenomena than others, she/he could be perceived as a telepath. Similarly, an event in the future or in the past could be connected with an event in the present; and the constellations and the stars and planets could be connected with elements in human lives.”
However, for a smart guy who wrote a lengthy and thoughtful article, Nicolas Knutsen makes one very baffling comment:
“The only book which is all about synchronicity that I know of, is of course the original by C.G. Jung, “Synchronicity – An Acausal Connecting Principle.”
Unfortunately, that comment tends to put Mr. Knutsen in the Dick Cavett league of writers on synchronicity. So let’s set the record straight. There have been many books exclusively on synchronicity and they are not difficult to find. Here are some:
Chopra, Deepak. The Spontaneous Fulfillment of Desire: Harnessing the Infinite Power of Coincidence. Harmony Books, 2003.
Combs, Allan, and Holland, Mark. Synchronicity, Science, Myth and the Trickster. New York: Marlow & Co., 1989.
Grasse, Ray. The Waking Dream: Unlocking the Symbolic Language of Our Lives. Quest Books, 1996.
Hopcke, Robert. H. There are No Accidents. Riverhead Books, 1997.
Joseph, Frank. Synchronicity & You: Understanding the Role of Meaningful Coincidence in Your Life. Element Books, 1999.
Jung, C.G. Synchronicity: An Acausal Connecting Principle. Princeton University Press, 1969.
Koestler, Arthur. The Roots of Coincidence: An excursion Into Parapsychology. Vintage, 1972.
Mansfield, Victor. Synchronicity, Science, and Soul-Making, Open Court. 1995.
Peat, F. David. SYNCHRONICITY: The Bridge Between Matter and Mind. Bantam Books, 1987.
Storm, Lance (editor). Synchronicity: Multiple Perspective on Meaningful Coincidence. Pari Publishing, 2008.
Tarnas, Richard. Cosmos and Psyche. Plume, 2007.
Vaughn, Allan. Patterns of Prophecy. Dell, 1973.
Vaughn, Allan. Incredible Coincidence. Signet, 1980.
Wilson, Colin. C.G. Jung: Lord of the Underworld. Aeon, 2005.
And, of course, we can’t overlook:
MacGregor, Trish & Rob. Seven Secrets of Synchronicity: Your Guide to Finding Meaning in Coincidences Big and Small. Adams, August, 2010.
Trish and all interested others…. The following is the context surrounding my first significant synchronicity plus the meaningful coincidence in detail.
The Coincidence. While consciously asking myself the question if miracles might in fact be really real, I opened the Bible and randomly turned to the story of Lazarus being raised from the dead. I was struck by the story's implications, reasoning that if the bible is the revelation of divinity communicated to mankind so that events like the rising of Lazarus might be literally true, then such phenomena as contacting “dead” spirits and personal spiritual guides at a séance, such as I had attended (initially judged to be as preposterous as it was seductive), might in fact be valid.
Feeling excitedly agitated, I called D to share my experience. Responding to my apparent revelation, excitement, and reflections, she exclaimed: "How uncanny!” for that very afternoon on a walk with L, her (unconventional) psychiatrist, had told her that in a previous lifetime he had been present at the raising of Lazarus.
Upon hearing this amazing coincidental reference to the raising of Lazarus, being connected as it was to L, the remarkable psychiatrist; to D the unusually friendly woman; and the vision I saw at the extraordinary séance, I experienced an unexpected rush of awe combined with a felt sense of being in touch with an indefinable but highly significant shockingly good experience. (Jung would likely have named the sense of awe associated with this event as a numinosity.) Later I described my experience as being in touch with mysterious forces that, at that time, verified the possibility that so-called occult energies were apparently real and this meant that virtually anyone could access them at will.
I then experienced a heightened split between a wide open-side of me that desperately wanted to believe in the actuality of a transcendent spiritual realm that was a source of and accessible to potentially vital information concerning myself; versus, a skeptical cynical side of me that scoffed at such activities as highly stimulating but patently "unscientific" indulgences in the realm of the supernatural. I wondered if I was dangerously playing around in what Freud (1910) was cautioning Jung to be wary of; namely, “the black tide of mud… occultism?”4
———————————————-
For me at the time the whole experience had important philosophical, psychological, scientific, spiritual, and occult implications that ignited my passion to try to scientifically understand what Jung said was basically incomprehensible in rational terms.
Hi Dr Gibbs. I went to the link you provided in your comment. It seems to be less of a review and more of a biographical summary. I am frankly curious about the 19 synchronicities you refer to that constitute the core of your book. Are these broad categories? Archetypes? What?
I also didn't find much about Jung, other than the fact that he coined the term synchronicity. The Freud connection is beyond me. From what I have read, Freud didn't believe in meaningful coincidence.
We would be delighted to post a table of contents or a synchronicity from your book. The email provided on your site didn't work.
– Trish
Trish and Rob – I would like to add the most recent book dedicated to scientifically understanding the nature and use of synchronicities. My soon to be published work is called: DEMYSTIFYING MEANINGFUL COINCIDENCES (SYNCHRONICITIES): The Evolving Self, The Personal Unconscious, and The Creative Process. A good overview can be found on Author's Den:https://www.authorsden.com/gibbsawilliams
Robert Moss on a certain page gives the best description going of synchronicity,,,,
Very interesting. I can think of at least one other book on synchronicity called the Three Only Things: Tapping the Power of Dreams, Coincidence, and Imagination by Robert Moss. I look forward to reading your book when it comes out.
yeah "Way of the Wizard" should of read much more intently and completely, thanks for the recall, think i'll have to dig it out 12357
yeah "Way of the Wizard",,, thanks for the recall, should of read much more intently and completely,,,, think i'll have to dig it out 12357
oh, neat on the numbers, trish!
Man, Deepak is quite the prolific writer. I didn't know he did a book on synchronicity! I was just browsing my library database to see if they have it, and they don't, but I found something even more interesting by him: The Way of the Wizard: Twenty spiritual lessons in creating the life you want. That's on my reading list fo' sho', as is a certain book coming out in August 2010. 😉
YES!!! 🙂
Gypsy – I saw that – then checked today's hits – and it was exactly the same number. Uh-oh.
Hi Iva, welcome!
Whip – it'll be autographed.
I love shameless self-promotion! I'll be the first in line at the bookstore to buy a copy of Seven Secrets!
just noticed you all are at 111 followers now!
amazing! thank you for posting!
UNBELIEVABLE!!! [knutsen's remark about the lack of books]!!!
and on a brighter note, yes, AUGUST is the month!!! and coming just in time for my leo birthday!
neat post, boys and girls!
I'm waiting for that last one!!
Thanks for pointing out this intriguing article, clarifing his error, and compiling the list of books.
no, random coincidences on such a large scale and with such regularity just can't be.