ALL THINGS SYNCHRONISTIC

I decided to flit and sip like a butterfly at the side view theme for this weekend. It is a deeply fascinating one. 

SEEN: CRONE IS CITY
(Observing that an elderly woman is a supporter of Manchester FC.) 

A PLUG FOR GOOD TIMING

To get the dishes washed and dried
In time to see one’s TV show
Is not something one can abide,
But, I would like to have you know,
It is a task can be reduced
To greatest of simplicity –
If one can get to be produced
Some kitchen sink chronicity! 

I was introduced to the subject and mathematical reality of synchchronism myself during a visit to Cape Town some years ago when I was lent a copy Steven Strogatz’s fascinating book ‘Sync’. For those with sufficiently quick loading capacity, the following lecture by the author, showing sync to be a natural phenomenon even in inanimate objects, is well worthwhile viewing: 

http://motherboard.vice.com/2011/6/2/why-everything-is-in-sync–2 

That is sync. Let’s look at the more esoteric cousin, SYNCHRONICITY, though. 

Jung’s famous definition is —
Synchronicity is the coming together of inner and outer events in a way that cannot be explained by cause and effect and that is meaningful to the observer. 

     The most striking example of synchronicity in action that we have experienced personally was when Much Better Half and her sister discovered that they had both, on the same day and from different libraries, taken the same book title, which they could not recall having heard of before but which they felt drawn to. The book was called The Celestine Prophesy.
    As if that isn’t synchronistic enough, the book itself introduced them to the concept of synchronicity! 

          ‘The Celestine Prophecy is a 1993 novel by James Redfield that   discusses various psychological and spiritual ideas which are rooted in          many ancient Eastern Traditions and New Age spirituality. … The     narrator … begins to notice instances of synchronicity, which is the           realization that coincidences may have deep meaning.’

 

     I recall that my impression of the book was that it was dreadfully badly written. The first person adventure narration approach simply doesn’t work. Still, it certainly introduces some interesting ideas.
    Anyone who denies that numerous synchronistic things happen daily is living with blinkers so large they amount to a blindfold. However, if one were to prove a conscious direction and purpose in these events, then the meaning of life-the-universe-and-everything would be close to being revealed. The incident related above is significant in that the final link could argue that there was such ‘purpose’. Or was it simply coincidence with a booster-rocket? 

© Colonialist Jan 2012 (Letterdash/WordPress)