SYNCHRONICITY, THE BRIDGE BETWEEN MATTER AND MIND

BY F. DAVID PEAT PhD

Excerpted by Tom Mandel for fair use

SYNCHRONICITY:
Meaningful coincidence, significantly related patterns of chance.

 Each of us is faced with a mystery. We are born into this universe,
we grow up, work, play, fall in love, and at the ends of our lives, face
death. Yet in the midst of all this activity we are constantly confronted
by a series of overwhelming questions: What is the nature of the universe
and what is our position in it? What does the universe mean? What is
its purpose? Who are we and what is the meaning of our lives?

Science attempts to offer answers to these questions, for it always has
been the province of the scientist to discover how the universe is
constituted, how matter was first created, and how life began.

There appears, therefore, to be an unbridgeable gap between the objective
and the subjective approaches to the question of the universe and our
role within it.

It is, however, the argument of this book that a bridge can indeed be built
between interior and exterior worlds and that synchronicity provides
us with a starting point, for it represents a tiny flaw in the fabric of all
that we have hitherto taken for reality.

Carl Jung defined synchronicity as "The coincidence in time of two or more
causally unrelated events which have the same meaning." His implication
is clear--certain events in the universe cluster together into meaningful
patterns without recourse to the normal pushes and pulls of causality.
These synchronicities therefore must transcend the normal laws of science,
for they are the expressions of much deeper movements that originate
in the ground of the universe and involve, in an inseparable way, both
matter and meaning.

Arnold Mindel gives the example of a psychotic patient who declared that
he was Jesus, the creator and destroyer of light. At that very moment
the lighting fixture dropped from the ceiling, knocking the man out.

The true story of synchronicity begins with the collaboration of two
remarkable thinkers, the psychologist Carl Jung and the physicist Wolfgang
Pauli. Their concept of synchronicity originated in a marriage between the
approaches of physics and psychology.

Jung writes, "In writing this paper I have, so to speak, made good
a promise which for many years I lacked the courage to fulfill. The
difficulties of the problem and its representation seemed to me too
great...If I have now conquered my hesitation and at last come to grips
with the theme it is chiefly because my experiences of the phenomenon
of synchronicity have multiplied themselves over the decades".

"Meaningful coincidences are unthinkable as pure chance--the more they
multiply and the greater and more exact the correspondence is...they
can no longer be regarded as pure chance, but, for the lack of a causal
explanation, have to be thought of as meaningful arrangements."

W. Pauli writes, "There must be something else. I think I know what is
coming. I know it exactly. But I don't tell it to others. They may think I
am mad. So I am doing five dimensional theory of relativity although I
don't really believe in it. But I know what is coming. Perhaps I will tell
you some time."

Despite our appeal to a "scientific view of nature," such events do occur,
and while it is true that anyone of them can be dismissed as "coincidence"
such an explanation makes little sense to the person who has experienced
such a synchronicity. Indeed the whole point of such happenings is that
they are meaningful and play a significant role in a person's life.

Synchronicities are the jokers in nature's pack of cards for they refuse to
play by the rules and offer a hint that, in our quest for certainty about
the universe, we may have ignored some vital clues. Synchronicities
challenge us to build a bridge with one foundation derived into the
objectivity of hard science and the other into the subjectivity of
personal values.

Synchronicities take the form of patterns that emerge by chance out of a
general background of chance and contingency and hold a deep meaning for
the person who experiences them. Often these coincidences occur at critical
points in a person's life and can be interpreted as containing the seeds of
future growth. Synchronicities could, therefore, be said to involve the
meaningful unfoldment of potential.

Synchronicities are therefore often associated with periods of
transformation; for example, births, deaths, falling in love,
psychotherapy, intense creative work, and even a change of profession.
It is as if this internal restructuring produces external resonance's or as if
a burst of "mental energy" is propagated outward into the physical world.

Such synchronicities begin within the outer world and then move inward
as their meaning is revealed. Such synchronicities depend on detecting a
deeper meaning to the patterns and clusterings of the phenomena around us.
They may involve our becoming linked with the environment in a special way,
anticipating events or sensing some underlying pattern to the world.

While the conventional laws of physics do not heed human desires
or the need for meaning--apples fall whether we will them to or
not--synchronicities act as mirrors to the inner processes of mind
and take the form of outer manifestations of interior transformations.

The many examples of coincidental movements of thought, feeling, and ideas
between unconnected groups and across disciplines suggests that a deeper
meaning lies beyond these coincidents and synchronicities.

Such curious events may not be so much the result of a "psychic link" or
mental communication but rather indicate that a mutual process is unfolding
out of the same ground and that this ground must therefore lie beyond the
individual consciousness that is located in space and time.

It is as if the formation of patterns within the unconscious mind is
accompanied by physical patterns in the outer world. Synronicity is
therefore the expression of the potential or meaning contained within a
certain point of existence. It acts as an intimation of the meaning that
lies hidden within a particular life, relationship, or historical moment.

The special flavor of a synchronicity lies in its being, at one and the
same time, a unique, individual event and the manifestation of universal
order. Wrapped within the temporal moment, a synchronicity exhibits its
transcendental nature. It is this relationship between the transcendent
and the coincidental arrangement of mental and physical happenings
that the synchronicity acquires its numinous meaning.

Synchronicities represent a bridge between matter and mind and the concept
of causality that is clearly not appropriate to the world of mental events.

By probing causality to its limit, it has been discovered that "everything
causes everything else" and that each event emerges out of an infinite
web or network of causal relationships. Causality therefore remains an
idealization that can never be put into absolute practice.

Neils Bohr, for example, stressed that quantum theory had revealed the
essential indivisibility of nature while Heisenburg's uncertainty principle
indicated the extent to which an observer intervenes in the system he
observes. A contemporary physicist, John Wheeler, has expressed this new
approach in particularly graphic terms: "We had this old idea, that there
was a universe out there, and here is man, the observer, safely protected
from the universe by a six-inch slab of plate glass. Now we learn from the
quantum world that even to observe so minuscule an object as an electron
we have to shatter the plate glass; we have to reach in there...So the old
word observer simply has to be crossed off the books, and we must put in
the new word participator. In this way we've come to realize that the
universe is a participatory universe.

Quantum theory and relativity had a revolutionary effect upon this
Newtonian approach, not only in transforming the formalism of physics
but also changing the worldview that was associated with it.

The worldview that we have all inherited from an outmoded physics still
has a profound effect on our whole lives; it permeates our attitudes to
society, government., and human relations and suggests that every adverse
situation can be analyzed into an isolated "problem" with a corresponding
solution or means of control. It is for such reasons that synchronnnicity
can have such a profound effect on us., for it reaches beyond our
intellectual defenses and shatters our faith in the tangibility of
surfaces and the linear orders of time and nature

While quantum theory has successfully challenged the exclusive nature of
this (Newtonian) worldview, the loophole it offers is simply not enough to
admit synchronicity. It is only when causality is pushed to the limit that
it is discovered that the actual context in which everything that happens
in our universe is in fact caused by everything else. Indeed the whole
universe could be thought of as unfolding or expressing itself in its
individual occurrences. It is within this global view that it becomes
possible to accommodate synchronicities as meaningful events that
emerge out of the heart of nature.

In building the bridge between mind and matter, the notion of causality
must be bypassed in favor of transformations and unfoldings. Causality and
synchronicity are not contradictory but are dual perceptions of the same
underlying reality. In other words, synchronicities are manifestations, in
mind and matter, of the unknown ground that underlies them both. In this
way similar orders are found in both consciousness and in the structuring
of matter, The parallelism between the objective and the subjective aspects
of the universe do not so much arise through causal connections, or linear
patterns in time, but out of underlying dynamics that are common to both.

Synchronicities therefore introduce meaning and value, in an essential way,
into nature. The meaningful patterns of the world, which transcend all our
attempts to limit and encompass them, arise not so much through the
mechanisms of external orders but through the unfolding of their own
internal significance.

While science has an awesome power to predict and control, it is also clear
that its essential fragmentation of nature is no longer able to address all
the major problems that face the world today. Synchronicity, however,
with its sensitivity to harmony and the indivisibility of consciousness,
humanity, and nature at least opens up the possibility of a new approach.
But again this does not mean making a choice to "adopt" synchronicity or
to "replace" some of the approaches of science with those of synchronicity.
Rather, by being perceptive to these issues it may be possible to move, in
a creative way, in an entirely new direction...One step toward becoming
more sensitive to the duality between these different worldviews is to
begin to question the whole current order of science and to develop
new ideas and theories that have a more holistic approach.

In the present century the ultimate level of nature appears to be that
of space-time and the infinite energy of the quantum field. But there is no
reason to suppose that the ground of reality lies there and that there may
not be an uncountable number of yet more subtle levels to be discovered.

Indeed both consciousness and matter may be discovered to evolve out of a
common order where the processes of matter and the activity of information
are two sides of one reality.

The real message of synchronicity, for the Western scientific viewpoint, is
not to throw away all that is of value within the last five hundred years,
but to be sensitive to new perspectives and to allow the mind its full
creative potential.

In this way it becomes possible to retain a subjective experience of nature
and a sense of the meaning and interconnectedness of things without
needing to reject the scientific approach

Synchronicity will appear very naturally to a mind that is constantly
sensitive to change, for it reveals the overall patterns of nature of
mind and provides a context in which events have their meaning.

Synchronicity has gradually been enfolded into an entirely new dimension;
in place of a causal deterministic world, in which mind and matter are
two separate substances, appears a universe of infinite subtlety that is
much closer to a creative living organism than to a machine. Reality, in
this way, is pictured as a limitless series of levels which extend to deeper
and deeper subtleties and out of which the particular, explicate order of
nature and the order of consciousness and life emerge. Synchronicities can
therefore be thought of as an expression of this underlying movement, for
they unfold as patterns of thoughts and arrangements of material processes
which have a meaningful conjunction when taken together Paradoxically,
the nothingness of the ground state, out of which the universe is sustained,
is both a vacuum and a plenum. It is a vacuum because, as in the everyday
idea of empty space, matter is able to move through it without interruption.
But it is also a plenum because it is infinitely full of energy. Indeed, the
observable material universe is nothing more that the minor fluctuations
upon this vast sea of energy. And, it should not be forgotten, just as this
infinite energy is used in the generation of matter, so it is also
available to mind, through the deeper ground of its source.

Why should synchronicity be considered as some isolated coincidence
of mind and matter when the one underlying source is constantly giving
birth to the universe at every eternal moment? An answer to these questions
is given in the final chapter, where it is suggested that a fragmentation in
the way the mind has come to perceive the orders of time, and the growth
of the self with all its attachments, has blinded our perceptions to the
basic creativity in the universe.

While the source of all reality is an unconditional creativity, it does
appear that human society, and the individual within it, often operate
in a fairly mechanical way so that they respond to new situations from
relatively fixed positions and in uncreative ways. In other words, they
appear to be trapped in structures and forms of their own making,
such as the beliefs, goals, and values that have become so rigid that
they are unable to move in the flexible and subtle ways that
characterize the general order of the universe.

Is it possible therefore for the creative source to permeate the life of
the individual? By no longer sustaining the mechanical order of time and
attachment can the division between mind and body, individual and society,
and society and nature be healed and the whole order of consciousness
transformed in a creative way? Is it possible that the balance of life on
this planet may be restored and a deeper sense of meaning function
within the individual and society?

Within each part is enfolded the whole, so that each element becomes a
microcosm of the macrocosm. In this sense, the individual truly stands
as an image of a wider reality, with all its complex orders...However, as
this self becomes more rigidly identified with set structures and its the
sequential order of becoming, it believes itself to be the only and true
source of all progress and creativity...In operating from its fixed forms
and relatively limited order, the self assumes itself to be the origin and
sustainer of all things...In this way the self has fragmented itself from
the general field of consciousness and has become blocked from creativity
so that a synchronicity now appears to be a rare and isolated incident,
rather than one aspect of the general order of time and unfoldment.

Synchronicities, epiphanies, peak, and mystical experiences are all cases
in which creativity breaks through the barriers of the self and allows
awareness to flood through the whole domain of consciousness. It is the
human mind operating, for a moment, in its true order and extending
throughout society and nature, moving through orders of increasing
subtlety, reaching past the source of mind and matter into creativity itself.

Synchronicity gives us an image of what such a transformation may be like,
for within the operation of its meaningful coincidences, time has its end
and creativity dissolves and transcends all structures and distinction.

Synchronicity is therefore an intimation of a much greater transformation.
An intimation of a more creative life in which the self takes its proper
place within consciousness.

Synchronicities have opened a window onto a creative source of infinite
potential, the well-spring of the universe itself. They have shown how
mind and matter are not distinct, separate aspects of nature but arise
in a deeper order of reality. Synchronicities suggest that we can renew
our contact with that creative and unconditioned source which is the
origin not only of ourselves but all of reality. By dying to the self and its
mechanical, reactive responses to nature, it becomes possible to engage
in an active transformation and gain access to unlimited ranges of energy.
In this way, body and consciousness, individual and society, mind and
matter may come to achieve their unlimited potential.

>From this perspective, we have no more need for tortoise shells
and milfoil stalks, for we have learned to live with the wisdom
 

Essential Characteristics of the Synchronistic Event

1) The specific intrapsychic state of the subject defined as one of the
following:

a) The unconscious content which, in accordance with the compensatory needs
of the conscious orientation, enters consciousness [something is in our conscious]

b) The conscious orientation of the subject around which the compensatory
synchronistic activity centers [something happens concerning what is in our mind]

2) An objective event corresponds with this intrapsychic state [may be literal
or figurative correspondence]

a) The objective event as a compensatory equivalent to the unconscious
compensatory content

b) The objective event as the sole compensatory of the ego-consciousness

3) Even though the intrapsychic state and the objective event may be
synchronous according to clock time and spatially near to each other, the
objective event may, contrary to this, be distant in time and/or space in
relation to the intrapsychic state [as in telepathy, clairvoyance, etc.]

4) The intrapsychic state and the objective event are not causally related
to each other [acausality]

5) The synchronistic event is meaningful [excludes some coincidence, but
does not require the meaning to be understood]

a) The intrapsychic state and the objective event as meaningful parallels

b) The numinous charge associated with the synchronistic experience
[feeling of spiritual experience]

c) Import of the subjective-level interpretation [the content must reflect
back on the issues of the individual]

d) the archetypal level of meaning [transcends the individual and implies
absolute knowledge].
 

EXAMPLES OF SYNCHRONICITY

 There are in your life when financial difficulties seem to have no end.
Yet there is always enough money for basic expenses...rent, food,
utilities. Finances seem to appear where and when they are needed.

 You have just received your last check from unemployment
when suddenly a job comes along.

 You walk into a book store not knowing what to buy, and the book you
need falls from a shelf and practically hits you over the head.

 You have been feeling ill with no apparent cure. You are out for the day
and meet someone who knows a doctor or healer with the answers.

 There is a sudden relocation which seems to be for one reason,
and you find much more than you bargained for.

 You finally end a bad relationship and immediately another
partner comes into your life.

 You feel depressed and can't find focus in your life and the next person
you talk you says something that brings you the guidance you need.

 Everyone's favorite.....You drive to a place where parking is "next
to impossible" and someone pulls out of a parking spot or it is
just waiting for you.
 

http://www.crystalinks.com/synchronicity.html

Synchronicities are events that you attract into your life for various
reasons. They make you sit up and take notice of what is important to you.
You attract them not your life (grids - energy fields) - when you are
looking for a confirmation or seeking guidance.

With the merging of realities and the increase in planetary frequencies at
this time - synchroncities are becoming part of our daily lives as we learn
to understand how we manifest. This will accompany increase in psychic
abilities.

Synchronicities are created on a level other than the third dimension. You
attract the synchronicity to you on a higher level then it manifests in
third dimension.

Not all synchronicities are events that you must experience
or take seriously.

Synchronicities often can point to 'learning lessons' you do
not wish to experience.

They can also go no where - just there to make a subtle point.

For example - you meet someone who interests you and touches your soul.
Through synchronicity - that person seems to come into your life over and
over again. You begin to feel a destiny with that person. You begin to
think with your heart instead of your head. You connect with that person.
In some cases the karma between the two people is positive - but in many
cases you have attracted that person into your life for a learning lesson
whether you are aware of it or not.

Look at the underlying facts when the synchronicity occurs to be sure
you know why you attracted that person/ situation into your life.

You can consider an event synchronistic when an inner experience such as a
dream, vision, or other form of deja vu prepares you for the physical event.
 

A Philosophy of Education for the 21st Century
The Presentation of General Principles

Compiled by Tom Mandel

Education makes us what we are.
The most important kind of knowledge, perhaps the only
kind that matters ultimately, is not intellectual in its nature.
I would far rather feel remorse than know how to define it.
Culture is activity of thought and receptiveness to beauty and
humane feeling scraps of information have nothing to do with it.
All too often Americans substitute as a measure of educational excellence
the display of details instead of the abilities for which they are the fuel.
Education is not a perfection in the accomplishment of habits of blind
obedience and prescribed diligence, but a preparation for independant action
The teachers function is to train pupils in habits of accurate observation,
not in the memorization of words. However true those words might be, they
have no reality for the student unless based on his own perceptions.
Do not mistake the pointing finger for the moon.
For eternally and always there is only Now, the
present is the only thing that has no end.
To know is to do.
Experience is the only teacher.
Experience is the child of thought,
and thought is the child of action.
We cannot learn men from books.
The word is not the thing.
The difficulty that beginners find in the study of science is due to the
large amount of technical detail which has been allowed to accumulate
in the elementary textbooks, obscuring the important ideas.
The governing metaphor of the school should be student
as worker rather than the more familiar metaphor
of teacher as deliverer of instructional services.
It is a grave mistake to think that the enjoyment of seeing
and learning can be promoted by coercion and sense of duty.
Order and obedience we would always have and yet two of the
best schools we ever knew appeared to the casual spectator
to be complete uproar, confusion and chaos.
Schools need not be asked to teach more and more content,
but to teach what is essential and to teach it more effectively.
Education is not a process of packing articles in a truck,
the importance of knowledge lies in its use.
A magazine of remembered facts is a useless treasure.
Using knowledge is the heart of it.
There is an inmost centre in us all,
where truth abides in fulness, and,
wall upon wall, the gross flesh hems it in.
And to know rather consists in opening out a way whence
the imprisoned splendor may escape rather than in affecting
entry for a light supposed to be without.
The emphasis is upon placing the pupil in the midst of
those things which are like what we desire him to become.
Let them know nothing because you have told
him, but because they have learnt it themselves.
Don't teach them science, let them discover it for themselves.
They should be told as little as possible and induced to discover as much as possible.
Teach by doing whenever you can and fall back upon words only when doing is out of the question.
My friend, all theory is grey and the golden tree of life is green.

 creature | heart | LightBodies | E | Planet