Intelligence vs. synchronicity

Posted on July 30, 2009 by Trish and Rob


Cats respond to humans through their intelligence. But how much do they know and how much of what might be perceived as intelligence is actually synchronicity? This story looks at that question.
***
I’d just awakened and was sitting on the edge of the bed when I noticed Simba, our one-year-old orange male cat watching me from the doorway to the bedroom. I looked from him into the bathroom where the window was open several inches. He goes in and out early in the morning. I usually open it for him at 5:30. Somehow, he knows when it’s 5:30 and it’s always within a few minutes either way when he lets me know.

Simba has a little friend, a younger black male cat from next door, who follows him faithfully around when he’s outside. The cat likes Simba a lot. He might be gay. Simba is very gentle, a peace-loving cat, and quite a bit larger than his buddy Shadow. He tolerates Shadow, allows him to sit or lie next to him. But like most cats, Simba has his limits when it comes to friendship. He gets annoyed with the ever-present Shadow and sometimes growls at him to stay back. When he’s had enough of him, he comes in.

Once in a while Shadow will follow Simba through the window into the house. That’s when Simba gets upset and chases him out. He needs his space.

So, on this morning, I looked back at Simba and in a soft voice said. “Here comes Shadow. Get him out of here.”

I didn’t really expect a response. But suddenly Simba crouched, crept forward the way cats do when they’re outside, in the grass,, and peered to his right into the bathroom toward the open window. He took a long look, then relaxed, realizing that Shadow wasn’t there.

Trish thinks he’s smart and knows Shadow’s name, and knows that we don’t want that cat in the house any more than he does. But I think, in that instance, it might’ve been synchronicity. In other words, as I spoke to him, he acted on his own, moving forward to check the window. So it appeared he was responding to my words. Is intelligence or synchronicity at work here? I’m leaning toward synchronicity or telepathy, a form of synchronicity.

As I write this, the cat in question is staring at me from the doorway of my office. Maybe I should ask him.
Rob

Posted in animals, cat, Intelligence, telepathy | 6 Comments

Baby Ka-boom

Posted on July 29, 2009 by Trish and Rob


The Associated Press in an article a couple of months ago asked: Did America’s moms and dads and potential parents see the meltdown coming before the economists?

According to census figures, just before the earliest stages of the recession, there was a steep decline in the population growth of children less than a year old. The mystery is that the downturn in pregnancies began before the Wall Street crash in September.

The number of babies increased only 0.9 percent between July 2007 and July 2008, a sharp drop from the record-setting 2.7 percent growth for the preceding year. So maybe America’s family planners outperformed financial planners in predicting the rough economic times.

If true, it would indicate an example of collective family planning at the unconscious level. A message rippled along the invisible web warning of economic troubles and a noticable number reacted by deciding to put off having children.

Posted in drop in births, economy, global | 15 Comments

Between the lines

Posted on July 28, 2009 by Trish and Rob


About 20 years ago, Jane Clifford of Wales started noticing astonishing synchronicities, usually related to books. She sent us a long list of them. Here are a few.
***

1) At a dinner party my host told me I must accompany him the next day to see a Dickensian cobblers shop in his local town. Two days later I randomly bought a modern novel in which one character took another to a “Dickensian cobblers shop”.

2) A few months later I was reading a book at home and had just read that the people in it found shelter in a seaman’s mission. At that precise moment the phone rang and an unknown lady asked me if I would like to collect for a charity “The seaman’s mission.” I had never heard of it until that moment and had no connection with the charity.

3) I was going on a trip to Ireland so I bought a novel by JP. Donleavy to read on the trip. Through a series of random events I was introduced to him and invited to tea. My Irish friends tell me he is the most famous recluse in Ireland so invitations are rare. I went and had a delightful day.

4) Whilst in Ireland I bought a novel by an Irish writer. Spookily, as the novel unfolded I was visiting each of the places described in the novel. My itinerary was randomly decided by someone else who never read novels and had not had access to the one I was reading.

5) I was looking for a birthday gift for a friend. I selected a book of stories. I opened the book randomly and there was a story written by her grandfather. I bought the book.

6) I was meeting a friend in Wales for lunch before taking her to the Irish Ferry. She gave me an autobiography. On the way to the ferry she invited me to travel with her to her house, so I impulsively jumped on the ferry. Even though she had a large house, it was full of guests. So I was allocated the only room left vacant. I’d never stayed in this small room on previous visits, but I discovered there was something special about it. I began the gifted autobiography in the room where the woman who had written it had once lived, and her photo looked at me from the bedside table.

7) I was introduced by a mutual friend to a famous British playwright, and he told me he had an autobiography coming out. Some weeks later I saw a huge display of his book at the entrance of a book shop. I randomly opened it and there on the page was the name of the friend who had introduced us, and a story they had both related to me the day we had met. I bought the book.

8) I was flying to Norfolk, Virginia and randomly selected a book in a charity shop to read on the flight. On the plane I began reading and the story was set in Norfolk Virginia. I was still reading the book in Virginia when my host said we would be going to Carolina the next day. The story in the book changed to Carolina.
***
She also sent a good one about a rat that we might put in the book.

Posted in Uncategorized | 7 Comments

What would Galileo think?

Posted on July 27, 2009 by Trish and Rob


Here’s a true cosmic encounter from astrologer Lynn Hayes.
***

Jupiter and Chiron reached their exact conjunction on Wednesday (July 23) for their second time in this cycle, just as it was discovered that a huge body in space slammed into Jupiter, giving it a bruise “as big as the Pacific ocean.” Chiron of course is known as the “Wounded Healer,” and the synchronicity of the wound to Jupiter becoming known to us here on Earth as Jupiter conjoined Chiron is an interesting one. Those two are within a degree of an exact conjunction to Neptune as well, and the Triple Conjunction is still very much in force.

In another striking coincidence, it was fifteen years ago to the day that the comet Shoemaker-Levy collided with Jupiter. At the time, Uranus and Neptune were conjunct in the sky, combining the radical new ideas of Uranus with the spiritual inspiration of Neptune. This was the best and the worst of times for the New Age movement – there were brilliant new insights flooding the airwaves, as well as the most stupid of deceptions and illusions.

Jupiter in astrological symbolism represents the field of unlimited possibilities, but it also has to do with our formulation of a sense of meaning in life. If we look back to the 1994 collision of the comet with Jupiter, we can see that this time period created drastic changes in the way we constructed our belief of the meaning of reality. Perhaps we are on the verge now of another big breakthrough of consciousness. Or perhaps it was just another space collision.

Posted in Uncategorized | 6 Comments

Woman Haunts Disasters

Posted on July 26, 2009 by Trish and Rob

Some of these close calls are a stretch, but interesting.

By JENNIFER COPELAND / NewsChannel 36
E-mail Jennifer: JCopeland@WCNC.com
CHARLOTTE, N.C. — We all know the miraculous story of Flight 1549 — 155 people made it out alive when the US Airways jet made its splash landing into New York’s Hudson River on its way to Charlotte in January.
But for one local woman on board, that survival story is just another notch in her belt. She’s cheated death seven times. She’ survived an avalanche, an earthquake, tsunami warnings even 9-11.
Is it a curse? Not if you ask Maryann Bruce.
Her story goes back to the early 1980s when she was on vacation with her husband. They were newlyweds at the time on a trip to Hawaii.
She remembers swimming in a pool and hearing sirens. It was a tsunami warning that forced everyone at the hotel to evacuate for higher ground. By the time the waves made it to the islands, the storm had weakened.
In 1985, she survived Hurricane Gloria flying through the storm as it made landfall.
In the late 1980s, she came extremely close to an avalanche. Bruce was skiing in Colorado, on the very same slopes where an avalanche happened within minutes of her being there.
“I don’t know why these things happen to me, but I’m just happy that I survive,” Bruce said.
She has survived one historical disaster after another.
“That’s when I started to realize that this is not normal,” Bruce said.
In 1993, she escaped the World Trade Center bombing.
“It was in the middle of the day and all the sudden the building shook,” Bruce said.
She remembers running down 34 flights of stairs in total darkness covered in soot.
On Sept. 11, 2001, she dodged another terrorist attack. She was actually in the air flying from Charlotte to the same airport in Boston where two of the planes were hijacked.
“It was just a recognition that wow, I’ve been around a lot of these,” Bruce said.
Her most recent brush was disaster: the miracle on the Hudson.
Bruce was a passenger on that flight and remembers calling her husband using her cell phone in a raft as the plane sank beside her.
“It just makes you realize how lucky you are,” Bruce said.
And to Bruce, that’s all it is.
“I like to think I have a guardian angel,” Bruce said.
To her, it’s not a curse or a jinx. Just luck.
“We just shake our heads,” Bruce said. “What can you do? I certainly don’t want to live my life in fear.”

Posted in airplanes, avoiding death, disasters, travel | 6 Comments

Crystal Skull

Posted on July 25, 2009 by Trish and Rob


When Rob wrote his first novel, Crystal Skull, which involved the reunion of two ancient crystal skulls, he stumbled across an obscure organization called, the International Society of Crystal Skulls.

After writing them, he received a newsletter which featured an article about the upcoming reunion of two crystal skulls. Rob wrote to the owner of one of the crystal skulls, who lived in Houston, just before leaving for a trip to San Francisco.

En route he was stuck for hours in the Houston airport and upon returning was stuck again and forced to stay overnight.When he finally arrived home, a note had arrived from Joanne Parks, inviting him to Houston to see Max, her crystal skull.

Posted in Uncategorized | 9 Comments

Raindrop Connection

Posted on July 24, 2009 by Trish and Rob


Here’s one from Jim Banholzer, who mourns the thought that some people don’t take synchronicity seriously or aren’t interested in hearing about it.
***
On a recent morning, while assembling some furniture with a colleague, I inserted an old unmarked music tape for background accompaniment. As we found Gordon Lightfoot crooning at us from the truck tailgate, I noticed a slight shift in the atmosphere. Looking up, I spied a thousand feet above, some; red, white and blue cloud wisps, leading a dark storm front. I felt a certain freedom, gazing skyward, and it crossed my mind that doing so is a special privilege, reserved for fools, children and shaman.

Suddenly in the midst of our busy workstation, a singular raindrop landed right between us, while Gordon sang a stanza from Early Morning Rain. The raindrop actually flew equilaterally between the tape deck and us, precisely as it played the ‘rain’ refrain.

Excitedly, I pointed out how this was a synchronicity, but my workmate’s reaction was mute. This saddened me slightly, and shortly, I tried to diagram the special coincidence. However, it was clear that she was not interested in hearing me babble on about raindrop synchronicities or signal graces.

Later on, I thought that maybe she was right; this was not a synchronicity at all, but rather a wistful teardrop from the cherub leading the storm front, sad by her blindness to meaningful coincidences.

It could be though, that my friend secretly believes in synchronicity. And as Gordon Lightfoot might contemplate: For some folks it’s easier to ‘jump a jet plane’ than it is to scratch beneath the freight train surface of their personal beliefs.

~

Lyrics for Gordon Lightfoot’s (1963) Early Morning Rain:

In the early morning rain
With a dollar in my hand
With an achin in my heart
And my pockets full of sand
Im a long way from home
And I miss my loved ones so

Posted in Uncategorized | 13 Comments

FOOT FOOT

Posted on July 23, 2009 by Trish and Rob


Rob’s fractured cuboid bone in his left foot has been healing for almost a month now. Although he’s still using crutches, he’s now able to put weight on the foot. Wednesday morning, feeling pretty good, he went to the gym. We parked and he got his crutches out of the back seat. But as soon as he started to walk, one of the crutches collapsed and he almost landed face-down in the parking lot. A bolt had come out so the lower part of the crutch bent in a 90 degree angle.

He managed with one crutch, and afterward as we drove home, we saw two men on the street standing behind a car. Both men wore orange-striped vests, indicating they were working on the roadside. As we got closer, we saw the word CAUTION on the back of the vehicle. Then, strangely enough, we noticed that the backs of the safety vests included one word–FOOT. Okay, caution about that FOOT. That must be the message.

We laughed as we passed them, and thought about going back and asking why it said FOOT on their backs.
***
We’ve also added an UPDATE to the Poe story below.

Posted in caution, foot | 3 Comments

Poe and the Cannibals

Posted on July 22, 2009 by Trish and Rob

We thought we had posted this synchronicity, but apparently only put it in the book. It’s one of the most famous and involves everyone’s favorite weird guy, Edgar Allan Poe. It’s a great example of a synchronicity manifested through creativity.
***
In Poe’s unfinished sea adventure novel, The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym, he seems to have tapped into the future. The tale includes a scenario about three men and a sixteen-year-old boy who are drifting at sea in a lifeboat after being shipwrecked. Desperate, on the brink of starvation, they decide to draw lots to determine which of them will be killed and eaten. The cabin boy, Richard Parker, picks the dreaded short straw and is promptly stabbed and consumed.

On July 25, 1884, forty-seven years after Poe stopped working on the novel, a 17-year-old cabin boy named Richard Parker was killed and eaten in a similar incident. Young Richard Parker was on his first voyage on the high seas, boarding the Mignonette in Southampton, England bound for Australia. But when the ship reached the South Atlantic, it was pummeled by a hurricane and sank. The survivors, who had boarded a lifeboat, had few provisions and after 19 days became desperate. The men discussed drawing lots to choose a victim who would be eaten by the others, but settled on Parker, who had become delirious from drinking seawater. The remaining crew survived on Richard’s carcass for another thirty-five days until they were rescued by the S.S. Montezuma, aptly named after the cannibal king of the Aztecs.

The eerie connection between fiction and real life was revealed on May 4, 1974 when twelve-year-old Nigel Parker, who was related to Richard Parker, submitted the story to the Sunday Times of London, which was conducting a contest to find the best coincidence. The Richard Parker story not only won, but was called one the best ‘coincidences’ ever recorded by author Arthur Koestler, who had sponsored the contest. Astonishingly, the Richard Parker synchronicities have continued and a cousin of Nigel Parker, Craig Hamilton-Parker, has a web site documenting them.

UPDATE
Craig Hamilton-Parker, cousin of Nigel Parker, maintains a web site on Richard Parker, as mentioned above, and includes many additional synchronicities. Here’s a sampling.

For instance, Nigel’s father, Keith, thought that the Richard Parker story would make an interesting theme for a radio play and began to write a synopsis. At that time, to supplement his income as a writer, he reviewed books for Macmillan Publishing. The first book to arrive after he began work on the play was The Sinking of the Mignonette. A few weeks later, he was asked to review a collection of short plays, called The Raft. It was a comedy for children with nothing sinister about it, except for the cover illustrations, which showed three men on a raft, who seemed to threaten a young boy. The illustration seemed out of keeping with the tone of the stories. But even more bizarre, The Raft was written by someone named Richard Parker.

In the summer of 1993, Hamilton-Parker explains on the website, his parents took in three Spanish language students. One evening over supper, the elder Hamilton-Parker told the students about Richard Parker. The television was on in the background and conversation at the table stopped when the moderator of a local program began talking about the same story. “Dad broke the silence by saying how weird coincidences always occur whenever Richard’s tale is mentioned.”

He then told the students about the Poe story. Hamilton-Parker recalls that one of the girls cried out, “Look what I bought today!” She reached into her bag and pulled out a copy of a Poe book containing The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym. “I bought that book, too!” said another of the girls. Both had gone shopping that day and independently bought the same book.

The website includes other stories as well, including a section of letters. As Rob was perusing the stories, he was surprised to find one that he’d written in an e-mail in 2005. In it, he told Hamilton-Parker that he’d ‘solved’ the Richard Parker enigma in a novel, Romancing the Raven, in which Poe temporarily time-traveled to the future where he heard the story about the real Richard Parker.

Posted in creativity, poets, precognition, writers | 25 Comments

The Shield

Posted on July 21, 2009 by Trish and Rob


A fairly common type of synchronicity is thinking or saying a word or phrase, then hearing someone on television say that same thing. For example, recently Trish and I both said ‘ice’ close together, then just a second or two behind us a woman of television said ICE, which in the program was the name of a federal investigative agency.

Nothing too outstanding about that one. But how about when the word in question is ‘synchronicity’? First of all, how often do we hear that word on television? And who would expect a sleazeball like Vic Mackey to say it three or four times, and he actually seems to know what he was talking about.

For the uninitiated, Vic Mackey is a fictional character played by Michael Chiklis for seven seasons in The Shield on FX. We never saw it in ‘real time.’ Cop shows don’t usually interest us. But a friend of ours, a Hollywood writer, told us to rent the first disk from the first season. She said the writing and the story-telling were among the best on television. The first episode was really gritty, and we almost didn’t go any farther. But by the time we’d watched the other episodes on the disk, we were hooked. We went through all seven seasons.

So after we finished watching the final episode of the final season, I turned on the special features, which included cast members talking about the series. We went back to work, and it was playing in the background. Trish was editing one of the chapters of our synchronicity book and I was working on a post for this blog. That’s when I heard Mackey (Chiklis) start talking synchronicity. I nearly fell off my chair.

Looking back over the seven seasons, he said: “There was so much synchronicity happening all the time, so many of these happy accidents.” As one example, he mentioned a director from the first season coming back to direct the last episode. “It was so perfect. So appropriate.”

If you’ve never seen The Shield, the comments probably don’t seem so startling. But if you know Vic Mackey, the idea of hearing him talking about synchronicity as we were working on the subject was totally unexpected, and startling.
Rob

Posted in television, The Shield, Vic Mackey | 10 Comments