Synchronicity or Meaningful Coincidence
Majority of us, if not all of us, have
experienced some strange coincidences throughout our lives. Most of the time we
brush them of as exactly that – just coincidences, however sometimes these random
events turn out to be completely unbelievable that it makes us wonder; was it
a coincidence? Famous psychiatrist and psychotherapist Carl Jung was one of to
first to research this phenomenon naming it synchronicity.
DEFINING SYNCHRONICITY
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Similar to most of us, Jung was inspired
to look deeper into the phenomenon of coincidences from his everyday life. One
of his patients dreamt a golden scrab – cetonia aurata to be exact. The next
day, during the psychotherapy session, that same insect hit against Jung’s
cabinet window. Interestingly, the presence of this insect was very rare for
that climate. Furthermore, in esoteric philosophy of antiquity, the scrab was
associated with death and rebirth which is what Jung’s patient was experiencing
at that time while going through psychotherapy. Therefore, Jung noticed a
significant connection between both psychical and psychological phenomena. Was
it just a coincidence? Jung probably wondered.
In his research, Jung explained the
concept of synchronicity stating that everything in the universe is somehow
intimately connected. He proposed the idea that when multiple meaningful
occurrences happen, it is a type of psychological and spiritual experience
intended to guide us instead of it being a coincidence. The direction of
guidance might not be initially known but if we trust and believe our
intuition, the path will sometimes become obvious to us. However, it is still
up to us as individuals to make the decision to follow. Synchronicity seems
like a little helpful push.
Moreover, Carl Jung believed that we are
responsible for our own synchronicity. Subconsciously, each and every one of
us knows what we want and our daily thoughts (conscious and unconscious) and
actions cause the manifestation synchronicity in our lives. However, not all
synchronicity will lead us to a place we consciously want to be. Sometimes our
subconsciousness knows better and it will lead us to events, people and places
which might not initially seem like the best choices but ultimately they might
be teaching us life lessons and end up being beneficial to us in long term.
Furthermore, people connect synchronicity with Law of Attraction stating that
positive attracts positive and that negative attracts negative. Although this
concept certainly is interesting, there are no facts that could properly
support the theory leaving synchronicity in the field of pseudoscience and
parapsychology.
SCIENCE BEHIND COINCIDENCES
Science explained coincidences as a
result of psychological phenomenon called confirmation bias; humans easily
notice and remember things which might confirm our beliefs rather than those
that do not. Apparently, our brains are extremely good at making connections and
creating patterns where there are none. Think about the smiley face; we
perceive it as a face even though it is not a real face. Perceiving world
around us as a pattern makes it easier for our brain to process information. It
would be quite a long and exhausting process if we had to identify eye by eye,
nose and lips each time in order to figure out we are seeing a face. Moreover,
making connections has also been helpful in our survival as a species. Add
people’s need to find causality in everything in the mix, you have got yourself
a coincidence. According to science, coincidences are nothing but a production
of our minds.
Science
might have explained it and Jung’s theory might still be a part of a
pseudoscience but what about experiences with truly unbelievable coincidences which
will blow anyone’s mind.
BABY SAVED TWICE
In 1930s a man by the name Joseph
Figlock was walking down the streets of Detroid. At the same time, the baby
fell from a high window in that same street. Luckily, the baby’s fall was
broken when the baby landed on the man and both were unharmed. Strangely, a
year later, on the same street, the same baby fell from the very same window
onto the very same man. Both the baby and the man survived this time as well.
THE TAXI
In 1975, a man riding a moped was
accidentally killed by the driving taxi. Exactly one year later, the victim’s
brother was driving a moped on the same street as well when he was stuck by the
same taxi as his brother. Furthermore, the same taxi was driven by the same
driver and was even carrying the same passenger!
TWIN BROTHERS
Two twin boys were separated at birth
and adopted by different families. Although, the families were unknown to
each other, both decided to name their son James. Both brothers sought
law-enforcement training, had abilities in carpentry and mechanical training
and each married the woman named Linda. Both of them owned dogs which they
named Toy and had sons whom one named James Alan and the other James Allan. Furthermore,
both divorced and remarried other woman; both named Betty. Twin brothers met
each other forty years after their childhood separation and were probably pretty
amazed by their similar lives.
If you wish to read more stories about
really strange coincidences, check them out here.
Thanks for a read!
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