- Image by Guðskraftur via Flickr
There is no need to force the issue or to get weirded out regarding synchronicity. These responses, both off the mark, are the most common reactions I observe in the rss feed I set up of a twitter search on the word synchronicity. So let’s break these two very different attitudes apart.
Forcing the Issue: This is the attitude that wants to see synchronicity in everything, demanding that any and every observable pattern must have some hidden meaning. Such an approach misses an essential element of Jung’s definition. Synchronicity for him is “a phenomenon where an event in the outside world coincides meaningfully with a psychological state of mind. ” (from Sharp, C.G. Jung Lexicon, pg. 132) It’s when the random occurrence is meaningful for you, in a sometimes surprisingly peculiar way, that the synchronicity occurs. It’s thinking about a person when they just happen to call on the phone. If the meaningfulness is not evident, and we are forcing meaning into patterns, then we err on the side of being demanding.
Weirded Out: this occurs when legitimate occurrences of synchronicity happen, and the subject, fearful at the implications of what Jung called the acausal connecting principle, tends to dismiss the event or miss the inherent meaning by focusing on peculiarity and inexplicable aspect. Through fearfulness toward the manifesting reality, the gift is missed as the subject retreats into the relative safety of a limited awareness.
To close, here’s some of Jung’s words on synchronicity:
Synchronicity…consists of two factors: a) An unconscious image comes into consciousness either (i.e. literally) or indirectly (symbolized or suggested) in the form of a dream, idea, or premonition.
b) An objective situation coincides with this content. The one is as puzzling as the other.
Jung, Synchronicity:An Acausal Connecting Principle, par 858: in Sharp, C.G. Jung Lexicon, pg. 132
What’s so interesting here is that the dream becoming conscious is also a form of synchronicity…
related post: Meaningful Coincidence
