8/14/2019 Synchronicity New Age Fantasy or Face of the Future

1/5

UntitledSynchronicity: 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? theyll usually reply if asked.

Religious fundamentalists and conservatives tend to have a knee jerk reaction to theidea synchroncity, seeing it as the workings of the devil.

Meanwhile, materialistic skeptics usually dismiss synchronicity as some kind of flakyNew Age fantasy.

More mature psychologists, theologians and thinkers, however, are seriouslyconsidering the implications that synchroncity might have for cosmology and ethics inthe 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 twogiants of modern psychology had a falling out in 1914, mostly due to Jungs rejection ofFreuds dogmatic insistence on the primacy of the libido.

Before their split, the two corresponded a great deal about the emerging school ofpsychoanalysis. One of the topics mentioned in their letters was Jungs idea ofsynchronicity, which at that time wasnt clearly defined.

Freud mostly ridiculed the idea but Jungs personal encounters with synchronicity alongwith his study of quantum physics provided him with solid empirical and theoreticalgrounds to advance this cutting edge concept.

Definition

Synchronicity suggests that mind and matter, along with past, present and future existin a potentially meaningful continuum. As such, it compels us to rethink everydayassumptions about self and environment, causality and time.

Page 1

8/14/2019 Synchronicity New Age Fantasy or Face of the Future

2/5

UntitledBy the 1950s, Jung had outlined three types of synchronicity:

1. The meaningful acausal coincidence of a psychological event and an externalobservable event, both taking place at or around the same time.

This first type of synchronicity could be illustrated as follows: Youre driving home andbegin to think of a friend whom you havent seen in years. Upon entering the front dooryou find that the very same friend had just phoned and left a message on youranswering service.

2. The meaningful acausal coincidence of a psychological event and an externalobservable event, the latter taking place outside the individuals range of sensoryperception.

The second type of synchronicity is illustrated by the documented vision of the Swedishscientist and mystic, Emanuel Swedenborg (1688-1772). Jung says Swedenborginwardly 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 anexternal observable event, the latter taking place in the future.

Also called precognition, one finds this type of synchronicity throughout the history ofreligions. In the Biblical tradition, for instance, Jesus accurately predicts Peters findinga coin in a fishs mouth, as well as his own betrayal, death and resurrection (Matthew17:27; 26:23; John 2:19).

One could argue, however, that Jesus was absolutely certain that this precognitionwould come about. He knows because hes God.

Jesus predictions might be construed as synchronicities by non-Christians but not byhimself and his followers.

For Christian believers, Jesus accurate predictions are sure evidence of Gods plan ofsalvation. And this is a bit different, theologically speaking, from the notion ofsynchronicity as set forth by Jung.

The Chicken or the Egg?

Jung says that synchronicity involves an acausal relationship between egoconsciousness and the outer environment. That is, synchronicity just happens, notcaused by any single event.

He also cautions against actively searching out instances of synchronicity. In thisregard, Jung says synchronicity is never sought nor anticipated, but discovered.1

Page 2

8/14/2019 Synchronicity New Age Fantasy or Face of the Future

3/5

Untitled

Jung also suggests, however, that the conscious ego is guided toward the experienceof synchronicity by the archetypes of the collective unconscious.

If this sounds confusing, it is.

The difficulty may in part be attributed to Jungs theoretical limitations along with thesomewhat 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

Its important to realize that synchronicity is ethically ambivalent. Neither good nor badin itself, synchronicity may be experienced by saints, devil-worshippers and theinsane.2

In cases of psychological inflation,3 individuals may act in horrendously cruel wayswhile believing theyre Gods special gift to humanity. Indeed, synchronicity may beextremely dangerous when experienced by a demented person who interprets it so asto inflate the ego.

In such intances the immodest identify with archetypal forces and adopt a false anddestructive sense of superiority.

Jung says this kind of self-aggrandizement usually arises when psychologicalcomplexes remain unresolved. Thus an Adlerian inferiority/superiority complex may bereinforced by the alleged experience of synchronicity.4

Arrogance and Synchronicity

Synchronicity isnt exactly he most popular topic of conversation in contemporarysociety. And it likely wouldnt be a great opener at cocktail parties.

Its difficult to know if this taboo arises from fear, ignorance or some combination of thetwo. But it seems reasonable to say that not too many Western people experiencesynchronicity on a regular basis.

While this may be the situation in most so-called developed nations, the paranormalwriter Colin Wilson inverts Western wisdom by suggesting that the healthy mind, notthe weird or deranged one, experiences synchronicity on a regular basis.

Page 3

8/14/2019 Synchronicity New Age Fantasy or Face of the Future

4/5

Untitled

In keeping with this idea, saints, gurus, elders and shamans from a wide variety ofspiritual traditions claim to live in an almost perpetual state of synchronicity.

Could the spiritually wise be more aware and, therefore, better attuned to synchronicitythan 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 ofsynchronicity. But those claiming to be wise often prove to be lost in a world of fantasy,wish-fulfillment, paranoia, confusion, deception and error.

This wouldnt be a huge problem if misguided people always kept to themselves.

Unfortunately we often hear of arrogant charismatic figures so wrapped up in their ownlittle bubble of reality that they hoodwink, exploit and abuse othersemotionally,economically, sexually and sometimes lethally.

Indeed, some sham gurus and alleged guides seem more like puffed up bullfrogspresiding 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 GodsCreation.

Its hard to know if Jung would have seen it this way. But the Biblical Isaiah illustratesthis essentially theological perspective:

This plan of mine is not what you would work out, neither are my thoughts the sameas yours! For just as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher thanyours, and my thoughts than yours.5

In his recent publication, The Rupture of Time, the Jung scholar Dr. Roderick Mainwrites 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 adimension of objective meaning accessible to but not created by humans If thepsyche can relativise time and space, then it becomes possible for temporally andspatially distant events somehow to involve themselves in the here and now withoutany normal channel of causal transmission. If there is a dimension of objectivemeaning, this implies that the meaning we experience in not always or entirely oursubjective creation, individually or as a species, but that we may be woven into an

Page 4

8/14/2019 Synchronicity New Age Fantasy or Face of the Future

5/5

Untitledorder of meaning that transcends our human perspective.6

While the idea of synchronicity might seem obscure and perhaps difficult, wed do wellto remember that its a relatively new concept, one that compels us to take a fresh look

at ourselves and our ever-changing place in the cosmos.

Page 5