Synchronicity

Synchronicity is generally defined as the simultaneous occurrence of events that appear significantly related but have no discernible causal connection. Or: an apparently meaningful coincidence in time of two or more similar or identical events that are causally unrelated.

Some more spiritual-related definitions are: Synchronicities are incidents of spiritual significance that ask us to momentarily dampen our self-obsession and consider the possibility of the divine. Synchronistic experiences leave us with a curious sense that we should pay attention.

I have found synchronicity fascinating for some years, so I was happy to write this article about it. And, as an admirer of C. G. Jung, I am always interested in Jungian concepts.

Quotes on Synchronicity

“Synchronistic phenomena prove the simultaneous occurrence of meaningful equivalences in heterogeneous, causally unrelated processes; in other words, they prove that a content perceived by an observer can, at the same time, be represented by an outside event, without any causal connection. From this, it follows either that the psyche cannot be localized in space, or that space is relative to the psyche. The same applies to the temporal determination of the psyche and the psychic relativity of time. I do not need to emphasize that the verification of these findings must have far-reaching consequences.”
― C.G. Jung, Synchronicity: An Acausal Connecting Principle

“According to Vedanta, there are only two symptoms of enlightenment, just two indications that a transformation is taking place within you toward a higher consciousness. The first symptom is that you stop worrying. Things don’t bother you anymore. You become light-hearted and full of joy. The second symptom is that you encounter more and more meaningful coincidences in your life, more and more synchronicities. And this accelerates to the point where you actually experience the miraculous. (quoted by Carol Lynn Pearson in Consider the Butterfly)”
― Deepak Chopra, Synchrodestiny: Harnessing the Infinite Power of Coincidence to Create Miracles

“We do not create our destiny; we participate in its unfolding. Synchronicity works as a catalyst toward the working out of that destiny.”
― David Richo, The Power of Coincidence: How Life Shows Us What We Need to Know

“We often dream about people from whom we receive a letter by the next post. I have ascertained on several occasions that at the moment when the dream occurred the letter was already lying in the post-office of the addressee.”
― C.G. Jung, Synchronicity: An Acausal Connecting Principle

“Coincidences give you opportunities to look more deeply into your existence.”
― Doug Dillon

“Synchronicity occurs at the intersection of your awareness, response, perspective, and action.”
― Andrea Goeglein

“Jung introduced the idea of synchronicity to strip off the fantasy, magic, and superstition which surround and are provoked by unpredictable, startling, and impressive events that, like these, appear to be connected.”
― C.G. Jung, Synchronicity

“Rhine’s experiments confront us with the fact that there are events which are related to one another experimentally, and in this case meaningfully, without there being any possibility of proving that this relation is a causal one, since the “transmission” exhibits none of the known properties of energy.”
― C.G. Jung, Synchronicity

 

Carl Gustav Jung and His Ideas

Carl Jung coined the phrase “synchronicity” to explain the unexplainable, and to label coincidences that are more than coincidences. Jung was one of the greatest, and most spiritual of psychiatrists. This Swiss psychiatrist and psychoanalyst, who founded analytical psychology, said Synchronicities could be seen as manifestations of the “collective unconscious,” a term he popularized. He defined synchronicity as the “acausal connecting principle” – a meaningful coincidence of two or more events that appear to be unrelated but are experienced together. In other words, the events do not have a cause-and-effect relationship, but their occurrence together is seen as having a greater significance or meaning. Jung’s theory was formed from his clinical observations, research into mythology, and personal spiritual journey. Physicists and other scientists have generally scoffed at the idea of synchronicities, as well as other Jungian ideas such as archetypes, but there are a few exceptions. Despite this, Carl Jung and Freud were friends and early Psychiatry was divided into two primary schools: the Freudian and the Jungian.

Physicist, Wolfgang Pauli became a patient of psychologist Carl Jung to receive psychotherapy, and later a friend. While he had some criticism of Jung’s concept of synchronicity, as I read his comments, it seems he was not opposed to the idea.

Examples of Synchronicity

Some common examples of synchronicities are:

• Thinking about someone you haven’t seen for some time, then running into them.
• Receiving an unexpected gift of something you really needed at the time.
• Unexpectedly finding a solution to a problem.
• Meeting a stranger and discovering that you have something significant in common.
• Experiencing a series of events that lead to a profound realization.
• Being in the right place at the right time for something important to happen.

Here are some examples from my personal experience:

• On a number of occasions, I have found myself humming an old song, or singing it in my mind, only to have it come on the radio a short while later.
• When I was new in Cosolargy, I questioned whether this was truly a good spiritual school for me. Then I dreamed I was helping several people from the community build a brick building. A few nights later, I dreamed I was climbing to the top of a steep mountain with other members of the community. These dreams answered my question positively. I was on the right path.
• I once felt the need to go clean the inside of my car. When I did, I found that a bird—a young Cardinal—had flown in through a partially open window and gotten trapped inside. If I hadn’t found it, the bird probably would have died.
• Some years ago, when I was traveling in California for the first time, I missed a turn to get on the highway heading south. I decided not to turn around, but to follow the road I was on. A few miles later, I came to another entrance to the highway.
• And the most amazing example of synchronicity I have experienced: Some years ago, before social media became common, I decided I should call my sister who I hadn’t spoken with for a few months. When I picked up the phone, there was no dial tone, so I said “Hello”. My sister answered. She had just dialed me!

Some Examples of Synchronicity from other Members of the Community

Some other members of Cosolargy provided these synchronicity examples from their own life.

• While I studied in Germany, a few significant events happened. My mother found articles that my late father had copied from a German magazine, which were about an Austrian man with name Viktor Schauberger. This man was a forester and seemed to have had insights in nature. He built lumber troughs where he would lay it out like a river, where you had meanders. This would introduce a vortex motion in the water that would keep the lumber afloat and from getting stuck. It was such an intricate system and a great success that the Austrian government made a movie about it. That was before WW II. Then the war came and Schauberger was put into a concentration camp to work on his ideas and inventions under the supervision of the Nazis. According to Nick Cook in his book ‘Hunt for Zero Point’, Schauberger was working on a top-secret flying saucer. This was also documented in Viktor Schauberger’s diary.

  I became so interested in the ideas from Schauberger that I made a technical sketch about a turbine that combined ideas that were expressed in these articles from my later father. (Years later I would find the exact sketch in one of Viktor Schauberger’s original hand sketches!) I went to the city of Aachen to get some building materials to build a model of the turbine (just for modeling, not actual functioning) with the drawing in my chest pocket. After I had purchased all the materials, I went to the kiosk at Aachen’s Rathausplatz to buy the newest issue of Magazin 2000. When I opened the magazine I couldn’t believe my eyes: There was an article about Viktor Schauberger by his son Walter, who for the first time in 25 years went public with this article!

  I contacted Walter Schauberger and met him a few times. Walter passed away a few years ago but I am in contact with his son Joerg, who continues to inform interested people about the work of his grandfather, Viktor Schauberger. Then almost 30 years later, a colleague of mine, the late Prof. Robert Vidmar, who had his office across the hall from my office at the Nevada Terawatt Facility probably found out how Viktor Schauberger’s machines worked. But I think he had never heard of Schauberger! It is amazing how this still continues to unfold.

  Then I had a study colleague in Aachen, who already had a degree in electrical engineering from the Bundespost Hochschule in Dieburg, Germany but wanted to study physics. When he learned about my interest in Schauberger, he told me about a professor in Dieburg, that he knew was also interested in this stuff. This was Prof. Norbert Harthun, whom I met later. Prof. Harthun received his Ph.D. in Aachen and was also very much interested in the inventions of Viktor Schauberger. Strange crisscross connection, isn’t it? (from Stephan Fuelling)

• Second Synchronicity Event, International Community of Christ

  
  Around the same time in 1979 or 1980 in Aachen, I woke up in the middle of the night and ‘knew’ Isaiah 45:2 and that it was important. I didn’t go to church although I was brought up Lutheran and believed in God. The big churches didn’t seem to offer what I was looking for. When I came to Reno, I met Robert Roy, who is a member of the ‘International Community of Christ, Second Advent’ but didn’t press me to attend.

  After a nice evening with Robert and some deep discussions about life I left and drove home and just entered the intersection of Keystone Ave and 7th Street here in Reno, when I suddenly thought ‘I have to be careful that my light doesn’t go out’, when suddenly the yellow sodium high-pressure lamps that illuminated the intersection went out and the intersection was all dark. I took that as a hint and the following weekend I attended Saturday Chapel Service! Eventually, I also became a member.

  Then I thought – I should re-read chapter 45 from Isaiah, to see if there is anything that relates to our community. And I could not believe my eyes: 45:6 says: (God spoke): ‘So that one becomes aware of me from the rising of the sun and its setting.’ Then Isaiah 45:2 talks about tossing open the brass doors and breaking the iron locks. This was from the Lutheran bible; in other bibles it is not so clear! I was puzzled over this for many years. I wondered whether there is a deeper meaning, especially the metal brass (or copper) and iron. What is going to get unlocked? Then our former Music Professor, the late Dr. Gary Buchanan, gave me an explanation when I asked him whether he could see any relationship if one would consider the metals are related to the planets (alchemy and astrology); copper is related to Venus and iron is related to Mars. He wrote back, here is what he had to say:

  Stephan,

  In analyzing ancient scripture we can always find several different meanings, e.g., physical, psychic, spiritual, etc. I usually look first for the Kabbalistic meaning. For  example, the “five worlds” of Isaiah can also be the higher realms of the Sephiroth Tree, etc.

  In this 45th chapter from Isaiah, the Verse 12: “Most Hidden of All Hidden” (in God’s Light) is the physical world. It receives only a fraction of the divine revelation, so to speak.

  If Venus is brass and Mars iron, then for sure the “pentacle,” astronomically/astrologically, is the path Venus inscribes in its orbit. (I have attached the chapter from my book that addresses that…beginning around page #350.)

  In traditional interpretations of the chapter it is believed to refer to Cyrus the Great and Babylon — Iraq. Cyrus was the “brass man” with the “iron armies,” etc. The prophecy was also written 150 years before it actually took place, i.e., with the return of the Jews to Israel and the rebuilding of the Temple there/Solomon’s house.

  Similarly, parts of our being have metallic symbolism…and let’s not forget our seven mounts of metal at Red Rock Consecrated Sanctuary…the seven-fold light, etc. The four “Masonic Elements of Masonic/Rosicrucian/Euclidean Mysticism” are gold, brass, iron, and silver. Okay, so there will be a major transit of Venus on June 6, 2012 (Pentecost) 198 days before the Winter Solstice on December 22. The planet will pass directly over the face of the sun— thus introducing Isaiah’s “darkness,” only in actuality a heightened “Shekinah” effect on us as we do sunrise services. This, of course, will be the 50th, or Jubilee, year since 1962 when the Sun of Righteousness first appeared.

  As the “morning star, “Venus is the appropriate marker of all great calendars, e.g., the Aztec, Mayan, Incan, Mayan, Babylonian, Egyptian, Chinese, etc.

  The relationship of Venus and Mars during the June 6 to December 21 period during 2012 is discussed at several web site, e.g.,

  https://www.cropcircleconnector.com/inter2008/germany/Secklendorf/Secklendorf2008a.html

  https://www.surfingtheapocalypse.net/cgi-bin/forum.cgi?noframes;read=209990

  Of course, on the solstice, all the planets will be lined up with the sun and the center of the Milky Way….which is “dark,” but full of “treasures.” So, this might be the “making of all lines straight,” leveling the valleys, smoothing the waves, etc.

  So, these are only a few of the things that come to mind this morning…I am sure there are other details that could be mentioned. Overall, Isaiah was talking about the coming of the Christ Light, in the Sun of Righteousness, as taught by the Essene Prophets at Mount Carmel. The esoteric symbolism has to be taken within the context of the solar teachings…the Light, first and foremost, no?

  Love & Light,

  Gary [Buchanan] (from Stephan Fuelling)

• There is also a strange interconnection in how I came to Reno. I knew the area from a previous vacation tour in the early 1980s with my mother and my two brothers. We toured the West Coast and ended up in South Lake Tahoe, where I swam in its cold waters. When I was finishing my Master’s in Physics at the University of Aachen, I wanted to find a place to do my doctorate. I didn’t want to stay in the field of High Energy Physics but wanted to do some research that could be done in a small lab – rather than the huge projects at CERN. During a tour to different universities with a high school friend, I met Dr. Reinhard Bruch at the University in Freiburg, he was an atomic physicist, working on a small ion accelerator to study ion-atom collisions. I knew about his father, the famous Prof. Walter Bruch, who developed the German PAL color TV system. Another connection here: since high school, I worked part-time at a radio and TV repair shop since my hobby was (and still is) electronics. So, my hobby in electronics and repairing color TVs made me very interested in trying to do my doctorate with Dr. Reinhard Bruch, who just accepted a position at the University of Nevada, Reno! Since I knew the area from the previous vacation, I decided to accept his offer to be his first Ph.D. candidate and moved to Reno in January of 1985. (from Gary Buchanan)
• Another interesting synchronistic event happened after I wrote to our late Head Bishop Gene Savoy Sr. how I thought of the workings of ‘intent’ or synchronicity. I compared it with the spinning of a spider web. The strings are so fine, you can’t see them. But then, overnight, dewdrops collect on the fibers and when the sun rises, you suddenly see the spider web with its sparkling dewdrops! This is was meant as an allegory; one’s thoughts (the invisible spider web) can ‘materialize’ (the dew drops) and this causes synchronistic events.

  Two weeks later I came by Hans Frischeisen’s Natural Foods and Vitamin store ‘Everlasting Health’ here in Reno. A ‘life coach’ gave a free Tarot card reading. I thought this might be amusing and I went to see her. I told her how I thought the Tarot card reading works. I told her that it is a ‘dowsing system’ (an expression I learned from dowsers, who use a method to ‘program’ their dowsing rod or pendulum), it works through intent and synchronicity. It requires a random event, so here the random drawing of Tarot cards from a mixed card stack. One poses a question, best even if one writes it down. Then one draws the cards, and the meaning of the cards give you a meaningful answer, because of synchronicity.

  So, I picked seven cards and on two of them was the spider web with the dewdrops in the morning sun! I had to laugh – sometimes the synchronicity shows its humor! She also told me that I would work with water (Schauberger, or ‘hydrogen’: BlackLightPower, Fusion Research, Prof. Leif Holmlid, Sweden, on the ‘Ultradense Hydrogen’), very true indeed! (from Gary Buchanan)

• Just before the Venus-Sun crossing in 2012, I became worried that maybe one could unintentionally open these gates (the ‘brass doors’ from Isaiah 45:2), since according to another myth, about 40 demons were locked up in the Sun and King Salomon had been given a ring with a hexagram or a pentagram that was made from iron and gold that gave him power over these demons. In this story, he ordered these demons to build him the temple.

  Then a strange number of synchronistic events happened. A colleague of mine, Prof. Jim Henson, Dept. of Electrical Engineering, asked me whether I would give one or two lectures about fusion and fission, to which I agreed. I asked a colleague from the Physics Department, Prof. Ron Phaneuf, who had given lectures about this subject, if he had any material that he could share with me, which he did. He gave me a long Power Point about fission. The first slide showed Pandora’s Box, an ancient Greek myth about a woman that was given a box by the Gods where demons were locked up. But the Gods also made Pandora very curious, so she could not resist and opened the box to release these demons, when she closed the box again, all the demons were gone but hope was the only thing left in the box.

  When I read about this myth, which I did not know about before, I wondered whether it may have something to do with the demons locked up in the Sun and the upcoming Venus crossing, which was in 2013. I got a little worried. Then I encountered Pandora’s Box several times, I saw it as part of Windows installation, while watching an antivirus program displaying names of files it was checking, I saw it on TV, on car radios at the electronic outlet store BestBuy (it is all related to the Pandora’s Internet music service), etc. It kept popping up. But the final event was during an emergency faculty meeting, that was about a graduate student failing the exam for the second time; her advisor wanted her to pass. To continue our meeting, we had to move from the Department conference room downstairs into an unoccupied classroom (classes were over for the semester). When the discussion was heating up, our Russian colleague, Prof. Victor Kantsyrev, who sat in front of me, turned around and said with great sincerity and his thick Russian accent, right into my face: ‘If we allow this student to pass, then we open Pandora’s box!’ And I froze instantly…

  Well, the June Venus crossing came, my son Phillip and I watched it on Interstate 395 at the end of Washoe Valley, and it was an exciting moment! But other than that, nothing happened that I could tell. So, again, my mental focus created these events, and they manifested through synchronicity. (from Stephan Fuelling)

• Our technician who worked with me at the Nevada Terawatt Facility told me his very strange synchronicity story: At the time, he was also working part-time for a professor at the Material Science Department at UNR. He was building a gas manifold for hydrogen loading. He needed to braze brass nuts onto stainless steel fittings, which required a special flux – a very toxic gas: boron-trichloride. He wondered where he could order the gas and what to do with it after he finished the brazing job, since it was such a toxic gas. So, he procrastinated with the gas order. A few days later, while he was in front of his house, which was just down the street from the university, a homeless person, who he knew and whom he had given some scrap metal to make some money, pushed a grocery cart, full of junk – possibly from the junk bins at the university. He stopped in front of our technician, who saw something odd sticking out of the pile of junk in the cart: a gas bottle! Since this could be something dangerous, he asked the homeless person what he was having there. The homeless person mumbled something, took the bottle, and handed it to our technician. Our technician looked at the label on the gas bottle and read: ‘Boron Trichlorite’! What an amazing coincidence! The ‘Universe’ made a home delivery, probably faster than if he had ordered it online.

  After he finished the brazing job, he wondered how he could get rid of the bottle. He looked up the phone number of the gas company and learned that the bottle went missing during shipment. They asked him if he would be so kind as to bring the gas bottle to the company in Reno that originally had ordered it, which he did, and therefore didn’t have to worry about the safety of the toxic gas bottle! (from Stephan Fuelling)

  
  

Why Synchronistic Events Happen

The collective unconscious represents the shared, underlying beliefs and experiences of all humanity. It is believed that this shared unconscious is what triggers synchronicities. Some believe that they are part of a spiritual awakening process. Skeptics, of course, deny that.

Synchronistic events often occur as a way for the universe, beings from higher levels of consciousness, or our higher selves, to communicate with us and guide us on our spiritual journey. Synchronicities let us know that we are not alone, we are connected to everyone and everything else in the universe and even to those non-physical beings in higher levels of consciousness. The exact causality of synchronicity really doesn’t matter, just the general idea that higher levels of being, possibly including our own subconscious, are communicating.

While some people believe that synchronicities are simply coincidences, others believe that they are evidence of a deeper connection between the individual and the universe. There is no scientific evidence to support the existence of synchronicity, but many people find them to be meaningful and even life-changing experiences. Scientists say that believers are suffering from confirmation bias, but more people are beginning to accept synchronicity, perhaps because more people are beginning to accept spiritual things in general. And recent studies in quantum physics show that there are unexplained connections between all things.

Dealing with Synchronicities and Meaningful Coincidences

If you are experiencing synchronicities, it is important to pay attention to them and to see what they might be trying to tell you. Synchronicities can be a powerful tool for personal growth and transformation.

Here are some tips for interpreting synchronicities:

• Acknowledge the synchronicity: Recognize and appreciate the synchronistic event for what it is – a meaningful coincidence that carries a deeper message or purpose.
• Pay attention to the details of the synchronicity. What happened? Where did it happen? Who was involved? Were these meaningful connections?
• Reflect on the meaning: Take some time to contemplate the possible meaning or message behind the synchronistic event. Consider how it may relate to your current life circumstances, beliefs, or desires.
• Consider what is going on in your life at the time of the synchronicity. What are you thinking about? What are you feeling?
• Ask yourself what the synchronicity might mean. What message is it trying to send you?
• Trust your intuition. If you feel like the synchronicity is trying to tell you something, then it probably is. Try to find the deeper meaning.
• Take action: If the synchronicity seems to be offering guidance or direction, take action in alignment with the message or insight you’ve received. This may involve making a decision, changing a habit, or reaching out to someone important in your life.

Synchronicities can be a powerful source of guidance and inspiration. By paying attention to them and interpreting them in a meaningful way, you can gain valuable insights into yourself and your life.

Books on Synchronicity and the Concept of Synchronicity

For those who would like to read more about synchronicity, here is a list of top-selling books on Amazon on the subject:

• Synchronicity: An Acausal Connecting Principle. (From Vol. 8. of the Collected Works of C. G. Jung)
• Living in Flow: The Science of Synchronicity and How Your Choices Shape Your World ~Sky Nelson-Isaacs (Author), Joseph Jaworski – foreword (Author)
• Jung on Synchronicity and the Paranormal – October 5, 1998 by C. G. Jung
• Synchronicity: The Art of Coincidence, Choice, and Unlocking Your Mind by Kirby Surprise
• Meaningful Coincidences: How and Why Synchronicity and Serendipity Happen by Bernard Beitman