Synchronicity: the science of significant coincidences

To see the world in a grain of sand, And Heaven in a wild flower, Covers infinity in the palm of your hand And eternity in an hour.

—William Blake

Some clues about synchronicity or significant coincidences

We have all experienced coincidences of facts to which we do not usually give more importance than that of a striking curiosity. We are thinking of someone and, just at that moment, we receive a call from him; we remember a person we have not had in mind for a long time and we meet him later in the street, or a song is playing on the radio that is closely related to something that happens in that fair moment. Some people narrate experiences that can seem even more amazing to us, such as dreaming of events that later happen or perceiving an accident or the death of someone close in the distance.

From an eminently rational perspective, these facts are a matter of chance, coincidences to which it is not necessary to pay more importance than they have. On the other hand, extraordinary facts are considered inventions of people who want to call attention to or erroneous interpretations of objective facts.

However, the Swiss psychiatrist Carl Gustav Jung saw, in the coincidences of highly improbable events, the expression of a phenomenon that deserved to be studied rigorously. In this sense he coined the term synchronicity, which he defined as the simultaneous presentation of two facts that are not linked by a cause and effect relationship, but by their meaning.

What is synchronicity according to Jung?

The development of the concept of synchronicity arises from the collaboration between Carl Gustav Jung Y Wolfgang Pauli, a Nobel laureate in physics and one of the fathers of the quantum mechanics. It is therefore a concept in which approaches from physics and psychology converge. The collaboration of these authors was reflected in 1952 with the publication of the joint book Synchronicity as a principle of acausal connections. In this book synchronicity is considered as a key element for understanding the relationship between the psyche and matter.

Jung describes three categories of synchronicity: in the first, the coincidence between a mental content (thought, feeling, a dream) and an external event (you receive a call from someone you were thinking about). The second is the coincidence between an internal vision and an event that happens far from there (dreaming of an accident or the death of a person that happens in reality). The third is to have an image of something that later happens in the future. It is emphasized that the images on which synchronicity is based are not necessarily presented literally but can be manifested symbolically.

Rational thought does not welcome this type of phenomenon, so when developing the concept of synchronicity, Jung resorts to what is often called oriental thought. This type of thinking is related to what we usually refer to when we speak of intuition.

Western thinking vs Eastern thinking

Rational thinking, mechanistic and materialistic in which the vision of the western world from the enlightenment is sustained, and which is the basis of our beliefs, it presupposes the linearity of time and the causality of phenomena.

From this paradigm, science questions the cause of phenomena with the intention of controlling and predicting events. In its methodology it is essential to build models and abstractions based on statistical generalities. Isolated cases, those that depart from the norm, such as synchronicities, are elusive from an approximation statistics, therefore they are not contemplated by science, nor by our belief system built under the same logic and influence.

However, this has not been the predominant way of thinking in the history of humanity, nor is it even today in various cultural contexts. Jung considered synchronicity to be a phenomenon consistent with Eastern worldviews, such as the Chinese one from which the world emerged. taoism or the worldviews of ancient India, which have a conception of time and space different from ours.

The oriental thought, in which it is also necessary to include many of the indigenous worldviews, considers that all the elements of the universe are linked forming a unit. The concrete reality, that is, what we observe, is considered as an illusory manifestation of an underlying principle. Each element of the universe is considered a reflection of something superior that encompasses it. The universe is seen as a great organism in which each element that composes it is intrinsically interrelated and at the same time is a mirror of it. The individual is therefore considered as a microcosm that reflects the dynamics of the macrocosm, of the entire universe..

From the logic of a universe seen as a totality, composed of interdependent elements, operating under the influence of an underlying principle, when a event the natural questioning would not be about its origin or cause, as we usually do, but about what other events can occur in such a way. simultaneous.

From the eastern perspective it is understood that each moment in the universe has a particular quality, with which rall elements sound synchronously. This type of logic would be the sustenance of astrology or oracles. At the moment of an individual's birth, the stars are in a certain position and symbolically there is a record of it in each person, who is conditioned by it.

In the same way, when consulting an oracle, tarot cards, signs of the turtle shell etc., it is not present randomly, but correspond to the particular moment and situation from which the questioning; and because of this relationship, a symbolic meaning can be given to each of these events. In this scheme, synchronicity would be that phenomenon that would allow us to understand that link between the questioning of the querent and the composition of the elements of the oracle.

The symbolic dimension in synchronicity

Jung highlights how In Eastern thought, numbers are given, in addition to their quantitative function, a qualitative and symbolic dimension. To exemplify the above, he tells a short story from Chinese tradition about the history of a kingdom that had to decide whether or not to go to war. As there was no consensus, the council of sages took a vote; the result was 3 votes in favor and 5 against. However, the king decided to go to war because 3 was the number of unanimity. Numbers, like synchronicity, are considered as intermediaries between the everyday world and the spiritual.

The conception that there is a unifying principle in the universe, a strange force that is origin and motor of everything, and that provides harmony and structure in chaos, has been present in various philosophies and worldviews. This unifying principle has been called Tao, Logos, Sense and with similar characteristics it is the foundation of the main eastern religions such as Taoism, the Buddhism, Hinduism, Zen. Although it has been given different names, all these descriptions hold that reality, that is, The concrete and observable elements, as well as our dual abstractions, are the external manifestation of the One. The history of the universe and of humanity would be a display of the different aspects of this unifying principle.

It is also considered that the different cycles and rhythms present in nature are an expression of this underlying principle. For Eastern thought, time does not pass in a linear but circular way, the image of the spiral, like that of the shell of the snail. Thus, time has been seen as an expression of the eternal cycles of birth, death and regeneration. These cycles are present in nature, in the history of peoples and in individuals.

Many of the models and conceptions of Eastern mysticism that have accompanied humanity for thousands of years, began to have resonances and parallels with the descriptions about the composition and dynamics of matter, provided by physicists who were the precursors of quantum mechanics towards 1920. Jung he noticed those parallels and saw it as an opportunity to give his observations and insights about synchronicity an argumentative solidity. Therefore, he decided to delve into those studies, exchanging correspondence, ideas and findings with several of the precursor physicists of quantum mechanics, including Albert Einstein and Wolfang Pauli.

Quantum Physics, Eastern Thought and Synchronicity

The quantum mechanics It is that branch of physics that is responsible for describing the behavior of subatomic particles, that is, of the smallest parts of which the universe is composed.

A confusion similar to the one we can experience when we experience a powerful synchronicity, that is, our rational and structured point of view is shaken, it was what physicists lived at the beginning of the last century, when they began to discover the strange, or even magical way, in which matter behaves subatomic.

Albert Einstein himself, who with his theory of relativity revolutionized science and was the forerunner of physics quantum theory, the last 20 years of his life were dedicated to trying to show the inconsistencies of quantum theory, since what It seemed incredible to him that the world worked in such a unique way. Subsequent studies showed that, at the subatomic level, the world behaves largely in an unpredictable and paradoxical way, forcefully questioning our common sense.

Experimentally it has been verified that if one of the particles is affected, the other is altered synchronously. If, as apparently all the elements that make up in the universe, including ourselves, are the consequence of a great explosion of a very dense mass, it can be inferred that at the subatomic level we continue to maintain a link with the entire universe.

Similarities to Eastern thought

The relationship between quantum physics and Eastern cosmology is a complex and controversial subject.

It is well known that subatomic particles can behave sometimes like waves and sometimes like particles. Perhaps most surprising to our Cartesian mindset are the experimental results in those that it is evidenced that an atom can be and not be in one place, or be in two places at the time. Also, that it can rotate in one direction and at the same time in the opposite direction. All this is reminiscent of the world of mystery that both Jung and the mystics tell us about when referring to the unifying principle and its manifestations.

Physicist David Bohm postulates that an implied order operates in the universe, underlying the unfolded order, reproducing the differences that Buddhism makes between the illusory world of Maya and the unifying principle. Physicists also describe that a large part of the constitution of matter that we observe is empty, this being one of the aspects to which the Tao alludes.

Synchronicity, fractals and Unus Mundus

Spontaneously, nature forms certain geometric configurations that are present in the form of leaves, the spirals of snails, in caves, in the form of bones, hurricanes. This kind of configuration patterns, also known as fractals, are sometimes considered a manifestation in matter of this underlying principle. Fractals or archetypal geometric shapes are also present in some works of art and in architecture.

The archetypal configurations in addition to being considered a manifestation of synchronicity, that is, of a link between the world physical and psychic, can be an element that affects the aesthetic pleasure generated by both nature and art. Not a few people have experienced that the contemplation of nature, a painting, or a sculpture, listening to a certain melody has provided something more than an aesthetic pleasure, and has given them a sudden non-rational understanding of the interconnection of themselves with the rest of the elements of the universes.

This type of experience can also be considered as an expression of synchronicity, when our daily physical world is linked for moments with a transcendent and mysterious reality.

Jung resorts to the term Unus Mundus of the Greek philosopher Heraclitus to refer to this unifying principle that is also somehow present in his concept of collective unconscious. The collective unconscious can be understood as that "soul of the world" from which the present symbolic patterns emerge. in the mythologies of all peoples, and that like fractals, tend to configure, not forms but modes of action typical. The so-called archetypes of the collective unconscious. Synchronicity for Jung can be a manifestation of a constellated archetype, a way in which the collective soul affects our life, promoting some experience, some perspective.

For Jung, synchronistic phenomena were related to moments of great affectivity. This is why, he affirms, that they usually appear in moments of transition such as deaths, infatuation, travel situations in which we are in contradiction in ourselves or in a dilemma before a decision fundamental. They can also be catalyzed by exalted affectivity in a psychotherapy, and in altered states of consciousness, generated by natural or chemical elements.

Some people tend to be more likely to experience or be aware of synchronicities, but sometimes they present in skeptical and predominantly rational people, opening their perspective and sensitivity to a symbolic dimension of life.

For Jung, synchronicities could also be part of collective life, as when scientists without maintaining any exchange of information make discoveries simultaneously, the most recognized case being the almost parallel postulation of the theory of evolution by Darwin and Wallace.

Synchronicity and the "power of the mind": the rainmaker

The positive thinking and visualizations (through imagination) can be effective in achieving specific objectives in some people. However, neither quantum physics nor synchronicity are in themselves scientific arguments in favor of what is often described as "the power of mind to create realities ”,“ to believe is to create ”and the like, which are more related to an omnipotent infantile thought than to the science. The power of prayer and good energies, for their part, still remain in the respectable realm of belief and Faith.

Quantum physics has evidenced the participation of the subject in the physical reality observed at the microphysical level, and an interaction of the physical and psychic, but from this it does not follow that this incidence can be manipulated by the subjects to obtain manifestations in the reality. Quantum logic works in the microphysical realm, but in our observable world it continues Newtonian physics working and large dimensions are conducted through the logic of relativity Einstein. These logics are related but cannot be extrapolated. Physics is still in the search for a unified theory that integrates and accounts for the different areas.

For its part, synchronicity, as well as the Tao, refers to complex, paradoxical phenomena, impossible to reduce to phrases and recipes from a personal growth manual. In any case, they distance themselves from the logics of control, dominance, entrepreneurship and progress with which visualizations are usually related to the achievement of objectives. The logic of synchronicity is closer to letting happen, resonating and flowing with this underlying principle, and is often best expressed through poetic and literary imagery.

The following story from the Chinese tradition was Jung's favorite to convey the essence of synchronicity and the Tao.

The Rainmaker

In a certain Chinese town he hadn't rained for several weeks, so he sought out a rainmaker. When the old man arrived he went directly to the house that had been prepared for him and stayed there without performing any ceremony until the third day the rains arrived. When asked how he had done it, he explained that when he arrived in town, he had noticed the absence of a state of harmony, in such a way that the cycles of nature were not working convenient.

As this state of disharmony had affected him too, he retreated to reestablish his balance, and when this balance was reestablished according to the natural pattern, the rain fell.

Bibliographic references:

• Bolen, Jean Shinoda. The Tao of Psychology. Barcelona: Kairós, 2005.
• Capra, Fritjof The Tao of Physics. Malaga: Sirio, 1995.
• Franz, Marie-Luise von On divination and synchronicity: the psychology of significant coincidences. Barcelona: Paidós, 1999.
• Jung, C. G. The interpretation of nature and the psyche: synchronicity as a principle of acausal connection. Barcelona: Edicones Paidós, 1991.
• Peat, F. David. Synchronicity: bridge between mind and matter. Barcelona: Kairós, 1989