Synchronicity New Age Fantasy Or Face Of The Future

Untitled Synchronicity: New Age Fantasy or Face of the Future? Parts relate to whole, the chain holds on, and where it ends, unknown – Alexander Pope, An Essay on Man Introduction Most people have some inkling as to the meaning of the word synchronicity. “Chance? Coincidence? Signs?” they’ll usually reply if asked. Religious fundamentalists and conservatives tend to have a knee jerk reaction to the idea synchroncity, seeing it as the workings of the devil. Meanwhile, materialistic skeptics usually dismiss synchronicity as some kind of flaky New Age fantasy. More mature psychologists, theologians and thinkers, however, are seriously considering the implications that synchroncity might have for cosmology and ethics in the 21st century and beyond. Background The term synchronicity was coined by the Swiss psychiatrist Carl Gustav Jung (1875-1961). At one time Jung was a close friend and colleague of Sigmund Freud. But these two giants of modern psychology had a falling out in 1914, mostly due to Jung’s rejection of Freud’s dogmatic insistence on the primacy of the libido. Before their split, the two corresponded a great deal about the emerging school of psychoanalysis. One of the topics mentioned in their letters was Jung’s idea of synchronicity, which at that time wasn’t clearly defined. Freud mostly ridiculed the idea but Jung’s personal encounters with synchronicity along with his study of quantum physics provided him with solid empirical and theoretical grounds to advance this cutting edge concept. Definition Synchronicity suggests that mind and matter, along with past, present and future exist in a potentially meaningful continuum. As such, it compels us to rethink everyday assumptions about self and environment, causality and time. Page 1

Untitled By the 1950s, Jung had outlined three types of synchronicity: 1. The meaningful acausal coincidence of a psychological event and an external observable event, both taking place at or around the same time. This first type of synchronicity could be illustrated as follows: You’re driving home and begin to think of a friend whom you haven’t seen in years. Upon entering the front door you find that the very same friend had just phoned and left a message on your answering service. 2. The meaningful acausal coincidence of a psychological event and an external observable event, the latter taking place outside the individual’s range of sensory perception. The second type of synchronicity is illustrated by the documented vision of the Swedish scientist and mystic, Emanuel Swedenborg (1688-1772). Jung says Swedenborg inwardly saw a devastating fire that raged approximately 100 miles away in Stockholm, representing what psi researchers now call remote viewing. 3. The meaningful acausal coincidence of an internal psychological event with an external observable event, the latter taking place in the future. Also called precognition, one finds this type of synchronicity throughout the history of religions. In the Biblical tradition, for instance, Jesus accurately predicts Peter’s finding a coin in a fish’s mouth, as well as his own betrayal, death and resurrection (Matthew 17:27; 26:23; John 2:19). One could argue, however, that Jesus was absolutely certain that this precognition would come about. He knows because he’s God. Jesus’ predictions might be construed as ’synchronicities’ by non-Christians but not by himself and his followers. For Christian believers, Jesus’ accurate predictions are sure evidence of God’s plan of salvation. And this is a bit different, theologically speaking, from the notion of synchronicity as set forth by Jung. The Chicken or the Egg? Jung says that synchronicity involves an acausal relationship between ego consciousness and the outer environment. That is, synchronicity just happens, not caused by any single event. He also cautions against actively searching out instances of synchronicity. In this regard, Jung says synchronicity is never sought nor anticipated, but discovered.1 Page 2

Untitled Jung also suggests, however, that the conscious ego is guided toward the experience of synchronicity by the archetypes of the collective unconscious. If this sounds confusing, it is. The difficulty may in part be attributed to Jung’s theoretical limitations along with the somewhat mysterious nature of space-time. In fact, the issue of causality vs. acausality is much debated within academic, theological and scientific circles.

Ethics and Synchronicity It’s important to realize that synchronicity is ethically ambivalent. Neither good nor bad in itself, synchronicity may be experienced by saints, devil-worshippers and the insane.2 In cases of psychological inflation,3 individuals may act in horrendously cruel ways while believing they’re God’s special gift to humanity. Indeed, synchronicity may be extremely dangerous when experienced by a demented person who interprets it so as to inflate the ego. In such intances the immodest identify with archetypal forces and adopt a false and destructive sense of superiority. Jung says this kind of self-aggrandizement usually arises when psychological complexes remain unresolved. Thus an Adlerian inferiority/superiority complex may be reinforced by the alleged experience of synchronicity.4 Arrogance and Synchronicity Synchronicity isn’t exactly he most popular topic of conversation in contemporary society. And it likely wouldn’t be a great opener at cocktail parties. It’s difficult to know if this taboo arises from fear, ignorance or some combination of the two. But it seems reasonable to say that not too many Western people experience synchronicity on a regular basis. While this may be the situation in most so-called developed nations, the paranormal writer Colin Wilson inverts Western wisdom by suggesting that the healthy mind, not the weird or deranged one, experiences synchronicity on a regular basis. Page 3

Untitled In keeping with this idea, saints, gurus, elders and shamans from a wide variety of spiritual traditions claim to live in an almost perpetual state of synchronicity. Could the spiritually wise be more aware and, therefore, better attuned to synchronicity than the unwise? Well, maybe. But this kind of thinking arguably leads to unhealthy, elitist attitudes. Quite possibly one form of wisdom is characterized by an acute awareness of synchronicity. But those claiming to be wise often prove to be lost in a world of fantasy, wish-fulfillment, paranoia, confusion, deception and error. This wouldn’t be a huge problem if misguided people always kept to themselves. Unfortunately we often hear of arrogant charismatic figures so wrapped up in their own little bubble of ‘reality’ that they hoodwink, exploit and abuse others–emotionally, economically, sexually and sometimes lethally. Indeed, some sham gurus and alleged guides seem more like puffed up bullfrogs presiding over mudponds instead of sincere, humble individuals in touch with the Holy. The Big Picture On a more optimistic note, synchronicity may point to a Divine Plan within God’s Creation. It’s hard to know if Jung would have seen it this way. But the Biblical Isaiah illustrates this essentially theological perspective: This plan of mine is not what you would work out, neither are my thoughts the same as yours! For just as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than yours, and my thoughts than yours.5 In his recent publication, The Rupture of Time, the Jung scholar Dr. Roderick Main writes extensively on the wider implications of synchronicity: Synchronicity suggests that there are uncaused events, that matter has a psychic aspect, that the psyche can relativise time and space, and that there may be a dimension of objective meaning accessible to but not created by humans… If the psyche can relativise time and space, then it becomes possible for temporally and spatially distant events somehow to involve themselves in the here and now without any normal channel of causal transmission. If there is a dimension of objective meaning, this implies that the meaning we experience in not always or entirely our subjective creation, individually or as a species, but that we may be woven into an Page 4

Untitled order of meaning that transcends our human perspective.6 While the idea of synchronicity might seem obscure and perhaps difficult, we’d do well to remember that it’s a relatively new concept, one that compels us to take a fresh look at ourselves and our ever-changing place in the cosmos.

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