Here’s a synchronicity from Australian futurist Marcus Anthony. The same evening that he alerted us to the story below, I had downloaded the Inner Tradition edition of his book, Discover Your Soul Template. In the foreword, Ervin Laszlo’s mentions a book by David Loye, “Darwin’s Lost Theory of Love.” I had never heard of it and paused to Google it to read more.
A few minutes later, the e-mail from Marcus arrived in which he suggested looking at his current blog post about a synchronicity. To my surprise, the synchro dealt with Charles Darwin and was about something else that he lost.
With that introduction, here’s Marcus’s story.
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Synchronicity is a fascinating subject. Firstly, we can dismiss it as pure coincidence, as mere projections from minds that are, by their nature, pattern recognisers. This is the standard way of looking at all coincidences, from the perspective of modern science. The second way to look at synchronicity is to assume that the coincidences emerge from an intelligent cosmos, or intelligent agents of the cosmos. In this sense synchronicity implies that the universe is playful, and has an inbuilt directionality. It suggests that there is an intelligence(s) which “wants” us to move in a certain direction.
Two weeks ago, I gave a talk at the Hong Kong TEDx gathering at the HK Polytechnic University. My talk was called “Cosmos, Psyche and Our Brilliant Futures”. In my allotted eighteen minutes I made an argument for an intelligent cosmos, and predicted that soon the mechanistic paradigm that still dominates much of modern science will be replaced by the metaphor of an organic universe. Machines are unconscious, while organisms have intelligence and intention.
Part of my talk was about synchronicity and how it indicates just such an organic universe – where consciousness is a central component, not just an accidental bi-product. Fascinatingly, there was an intriguing synchronicity which occurred in regard to my talk. The Polytechnic Uni offered me the services of a student assistant, and her job was to make my slides as attractive and readable as possible. Part of my presentation was looking at the way that modern education and learning destroy certain natural abilities, and I used Charles Darwin as an example. Here’s the slide I put up for this particular part of the speech.
To go with this slide, the preceding slide was an image of Darwin. Below is my original slide, which I gave to my assistant.
However, when my assistant returned my PP file to me with the adjusted slides, my Darwin slide looked like the one below.
Darwin really had lost half his head! Later I was speaking to my assistant, and I said it was a clever idea. However she then confesed that it was all a mistake, and she hadn’t realised the slide had come out this way! I ended up leaving the slide exactly this way for my presentation, and using it as a great example of synchronicity.
Thanks for putting this up, Trish and Rob. I don’t normally like to even read comments about my work, let alone comment myself! There’s probably already too much of my input here without my adding more!
And Daz, sorry I didn’t respond about that point. Please don’t take it personally. I just completely forgot about it. It has been a very, very hectic time of late. And there’s a bit of truth to what Trish wrote: if it feels like there is strong energy on something I will do it, but the energy isn’t there in the moment I may not ever get round to it!
No worries Marcus.
I wasn’t taking it personally,I’m pretty thick skinned,I just hoped I hadn’t somehow offended or embarrassed you in some way by leaving a comment on Katherine’s blog about you and your site.
Good luck with your new book,it looks like it is generating a bit of interest on this blog post.
Might run into you again,if you are heading to the Byron Writer’s Festival in August this year?
Re:
“Part of my talk was about synchronicity and how it indicates just such an organic universe – where consciousness is a central component, not just an accidental bi-product”.
Sounds a bit like what Lyall Watson’s book “Supernature” was trying to convey,to me.
I have just bought a secondhand copy and started reading it .I thought I had read it years ago,but don’t remember that much about it
(I’m now trying to read five books at once) .
His niece Katherine Lyall Watson lives in Brisbane and has a blog which is half dedicated to Lyall.
Katherine who is a play-write wants to write a play about her relationship with him and is also thinking about writing a book about him.
https://katherinelyallwatson.wordpress.com/lyall-watson/#comment-1343
Wow, Lyall Watson. His books are great. Supernature is fascinating. His niece? Intriguing. Thanks for the link.
Daz – I may have asked you or Natalie this before – does australia have universal health care?
It sure does.
It’s like Canada’s and Britain’s health schemes.
We still have private health cover as well,which is a bit like flying first class,instead of economy.
See Michael Moore’s film “Sicko”,when he goes to visit Canada and Britain…that’s the same system that we have.
Your health ‘scheme’ in the States scares me,to be honest.
I cheered at the end of all his movies. But Sick-o was particularly scary. There is no health care system in this country. For self-employed people like us, you either pay anywhere from 12,000-15,000 a year – or go without. We have gone without since just after Megan was born. We had insurance then and her birth still cost us $8,000. She was covered under a fantastic state program, Healthy Kids, till she was 18.
Here, health care is about profit – not about wellness. One of the jobs my sister, a nurse, applied for some years back was with an insurance company. The job? Finds ways to deny care to customers. She turned it down.
I have come to believe that when we remove or lose connections with the magic and mysteries in life, life loses its joy and lustre and we become robotic. One of the most magnificent facts about our dear Professor Einstein is that he never, ever lost his appreciation for and connectedness to the magic and mysteries of life, and his appreciation of those things that cannot be understood or explained by science or otherwise. His famous quote about “imagination” is a motto by which we may all choose to guide our lives. Poor Darwin. He missed so much….not to mention half his head! 🙂
Funny you should mention Albert and robots Connie.
I just started reading my copy of Lyall Watson’s “Supernature”, and he starts off his book with this quote;
“The most beautiful experience we can have,is the mysterious.”
Albert Einstein,in “Living Philosophies” 1931
I was also just visiting his nieces’s blog and she had posted
a story/play/dream about a robot (she is a play-write) called
“When systems Go Mad” ;
https://katherinelyallwatson.wordpress.com/2011/07/01/when-systems-go-mad/#comments
I just left a comment on her blog. Wow, I hope she writes her book. What a delight THAT will be.
I left two comments on this post;
https://katherinelyallwatson.wordpress.com/2010/12/08/academic-language/#comments
but she probably thinks that I’m some nutcase stalker who could possibly live around the street from her…which I could possibly? And I could be a nutcase…to some people…but I am definitely no stalker.-)
Or maybe she thinks Marcus might get angry for her using the picture of his book cover image from his book “Sage of Synchronicity” in her post.
Which I thought was a brilliant show of Synchronicity,because I bet she has never heard of Marcus and his book…that is until I told her by leaving a message on this post of hers.
If you’re a stalker, then we all are. Mike Perry left a comment, too. Funny about Marcus’s cover!
Actually my last post was all about Mike Perry, Wolfmother’s “Cosmic Egg” album,the Lenny Kravitz concert last Saturday and Mike’s post about Birds…not to mention Lyall Watson’s book “Supernature”,with the cosmic egg on the cover.
https://brizdazz.blogspot.com.au/2012/03/cosmic-egg-and-dragon.html
Saw tht post. And your comment came thru at -? right, 11:11.
That’s interesting because over here it would have been 1:11 pm
(Wednesday afternoon)
when I posted that comment…but still all ones.
Weird or what ?
getting even weirder – this newest comment of yours came thru at 11:22.
In fact I haven’t had a reply from Marcus,either, since I told him about Katherine using his book-cover image on her post about Academia.
Maybe he thinks I’m a nutcase,too?
Or maybe I just embarrassed him…or both?
What time is it in Hong Kong? I think Marcus comes and goes as his impulses lead him. Rob pointed out that we’ve done two posts that mentioned Marcus in the last two days and he hasn’t been around at all. Not to worry, Daz.
It was a month ago,though.
And I left it on his blog.
Maybe he’s just not a Lyall Watson fan ?-)
a month ago? Wow. I thought all of this was transpiring in a span of a few days.
Great post again, and a big smile about Darwin losing half his head.
The photo is priceless!