Nigeria has been in the news lately with the Christmas attempted terrorist attack originating there. So I asked Augustine Togonu-Bickersteth, of Nigeria, who has posted synchronicities here, for his thoughts. I think you’ll find them interesting in that he couches his response in terms of the Chinese calendar.
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We agree with Augustine, who said, “Beyond terrorism, we should emphasize the similarities between Nigeria and the U.S.”
To that end, we are posting two more of his trademark synchronicities, which compare U.S. and Nigerian leaders, pointing out the similarities in their backgrounds.
The first one: Bill Clinton and Olusegun Obasanjo. Both were presidents of their countries, the U.S. and Nigeria respectively. Clinton belonged to the Democratic Party and Obasanjo to the Peoples Democratic Party. They were both born on a Tuesday. They are both Baptist.
Clinton’s first name, William, begins with W, ends with M. Obasanjo’s first name, Matthew, begins with M, ends with W. Both first names are seven letters long. And, for good measure, both men were involved in sex scandals with women whose names start with M: Monica for Clinton, and Monisola for Obasanjo.
Augustine also pairs Mike Akhigbe, a retired vice admiral of the Nigerian navy, and Admiral Mike Mullen, the current chairman of the joint chief of staff of the United States. Right off, we have two Mikes, and looking up Akhigbe, we found he does indeed go by the name Mike.
Both men were born in 1946. Akhigbe served as the chief of the naval staff, Mullen was chief of naval operations. Akhigbe also served as chief of the general staff, a position similar to Mullen’s role as chairman of the joint chiefs. Mullen resigned as chief of naval staff on Mike Akhigbe’s birthday, Sept. 29, 2007, and Mullen became chairman of the joint chiefs on Oct. 1, 2007, which is Nigeria’s day of Independence.
The way I see it, such comparisons show us that in spite of our differences, we are all inter-connected.
Rob
We ran across a blog this evening by Dr. Stephen Diamond, a forensic psychotherapist in L.A. He has a fascinating post on the unconscious psychology of terrorists.
I live in Holland, will your book be published here as well? The way you explain it, I'd like to read it and see what I'll find. See, I do believe in a collective consciousness, I first read about it in a book of Donald Neale Walsh. And yeah, 'neutral', as in writing about it, giving examples of synchronicities, but not explaining it. But then, I haven't read all of your blog (nor any of your books) so I'm sure you wrote something about it somewhere, between all those posts. 🙂
Thanks for the answer.
Musing – snopes is interested in cause and effect. They're not the best source for exploring the nature of synchronicity, which concerns connections that are acausal.
For Ray: I too was researching the Lincoln-Kennedy links a while back and found this info on Snopes.com. Enjoy!
https://www.snopes.com/history/american/lincoln-kennedy.asp
Hi Tom, You're in the space between.
This is interesting and took some thinking and work to put together. I really enjoyed reading this one very much. The resulst in the countries are very different and the way that they deal with challenge is also very different too.
What I am confident in is that I am limited in complete knowing of what is possible so I stand in the space of thinking that anything is possible.
Thanks for sharing
Tom
great post – always love the stories of how inter-connected we all are – and wonder how many many more are out there about which we simply are unaware at this moment – i also visited Dr D's blog – interesting from the after the fact perspective – in any event – like nancy, i'm counting the days till august! – great neutral response on the bagels, by the way! geeee…..
d – thanks for the book recommendations. The books you single out are always good ones!
Interesting insights, Toumai. I think that any time we experience an archetype like the trickster through a synchronicity, it's because that archetype has become conscious within us. Jung said the same thing about numbers, too, as archetypes. It always a message.
I am going to venture into a catch 22 scenario and take the chance that I can challenge a potential psychiatric label of "grandiose, bi-polar with delusional psychotic mental disorder" in lieu of my right to freedom of speech, belief and thought to make this hypothesis:
Synchronous events such as what Augustine brings to our attention and those that are surfacing elsewhere, makes it appear that at the very least, many of us are interconnected by a mysterious force.
Butt, as I see it, not all are connected equally.
If this mysterious force can manipulate even a small portion of the population 'unconsciously' to move in certain ways (like creating synchronicities), then this in itself says a lot in regards to the potential of a hidden/infiltrating army.
The 'inner world' or 'collective unconscious' is a force to be reckoned with because of the fact that they have managed to infiltrate in ALL walks of life, undetected.
Kind of a catch 22 exists for more than just I, one that spells "Checkmate" (king is in check and with no way to meet the threat).
In order to gain such power the inner world had to infiltrate especially the more 'sinister, Smeagol rings' of power (they had to play the part of bad guy/trickster/Judas in order to bring about… whatever).
You can bet, that there is a serious reason at to why the "inner world" has now revealed themselves via synchronicity.
Very interesting and informative. I'm really looking forward to your book in August. I'm off to visit Dr. Diamond's blog post. Terrorists must be almost unconscious to do what they do.
I feel all of this so important. There always seems to be "clues" all around us, to the hidden forces behind the unfolding dramas on our planet. There a curious book that tries to show us the link between our modern news stories, and ancient myths using names ,dates, & synchronicity: Our Rock Who Art in Heaven, by Jacqueline Brook. It is OP, but there may be a copy at the Bodhi Tree Bookstore. Also Loren Coleman's "Twilight Language" blog, and his book "The Copycat Effect" deal specifically with terrorist acts.
This American/Nigerian synchronicity reminds me of the things said about Lincoln and JFK. Lincoln had a secretary named Kennedy. Kennedy had a secretary named Lincoln. Lincoln was elected in 1860. Kennedy in 1960.
Ray
Hi Josephine,
We'll answer all of those questions in Seven Secrets of Synchronicity, coming out in Aug., but briefly synchronicity represents a window to a deeper reality that exists outside of cause and effect.
In quantum physics, the every day world of cause and effect, where things seem separate and unconnected is known as the local mind, whereas the hidden reality, the universal consciousness, is known as the non-local mind.
You might take a look at the July 9 post or do a blog search for Indra's Net.
I'm surprised that you find us 'neutral' about synchronicity. I don't think we'd write a book about the subject or put up these posts if that was our perspective.
Let's see, I'm neutral about bagels, and definitely won't write a book or post about them. I might eat one from time to time, but I won't go out of my way to look for one…unless I have a bagel synchronicity.
Hope that helps.
Rob
So, I've been reading the synchronicities you've been posting. When it comes to such things I'm pretty sceptical; actually, I'm pretty sceptical about anything that can't be explained by science. That said, I have to admit I do believe in cosmic energy, but only because it has a semi-scientific explanation.
Back to synchronicities; what I've been wondering: your posts are quite neutral, observative. You don't seem to have an explanation or the need to explain. But synchronicities are obviously important to you, so, then, I'm wondering: what are sycnhronicities to you? Why are they important to you? Do you believe in fate? Or in serendipity? And how do you explain synchronicities? Questions, questions… 🙂