On Synchronicity

In this episode we examine the phenomena of synchronicity, a term coined by Carl Jung to designate the meaningful coincidence of a psychic and a physical state or event, which have no causal relationship to one another. According to Jung, such synchronistic phenomena occur, for instance, when an inwardly perceived event (dream, vision, premonition, etc.) is seen to have a correspondence in external reality: the inner image of premonition has "come true." Neither the one nor the other coincidence can be explained by causality, but seem to be connected primarily with activated archetypal processes in the unconscious.

Jung: "I chose this term because the simultaneous occurrence of two meaningful but not causally connected events seemed to me an essential criterion. I am therefore using the general concept of synchronicity in the special sense of a coincidence in time of two or more causally unrelated events which have the same or a similar meaning, in contrast to 'synchronism', which simply means the simultaneous occurrence of two events."

We base our discussion around Jung’s lecture On Synchronicity, which can be found as an appendix in a larger work: Synchronicity: An Acausal Connecting Principle.

Throughout the discussion we scatter in a few of our own personal experiences of bizarre synchronicities. Alejandro refers Tobias to a number of photographs as evidence of synchronicity—a collection of which will be made available next week, in Alejandro’s upcoming written post.

When considering ‘mystical’ experiences, in Varieties of Religious Experience, William James wrote that ‘no account of the universe in its totality can be final which leaves these other forms of consciousness quite disregarded.’ In this episode we reach a shared thesis, wonderfully articulated by Tobias: that synchronicity seems to be a roadmap towards these ‘other forms of consciousness’, and an expression of them at the same time. We could very well echo James and argue that any account of the universe that fails to account for or at least consider the ‘meaningful coincidences’ of a synchronicity, is incomplete.

References

• C.G. Jung (1960). Synchronicity: An Acausal Connecting Principle
• Maria Popova — Atom, Archetype, and the Invention of Synchronicity: How Iconic Psychiatrist Carl Jung and Nobel-Winning Physicist Wolfgang Pauli Bridged Mind and Matter
• Arthur Miller (2024). How the unlikely friendship of Pauli and Jung led to the discovery of CPT symmetry
• Beverley Zabriskie (1995). Jung and Pauli: A Meeting of Rare Minds. [link]
• DEVS (2020)
• This episode is definitely not about Paulie Gualtieri from The Sopranos but go watch Christopher Moltisanti & Paulie Gualtieri Get Stuck In The Pine Barrens anyway.
• Matt Ruff (2016) Lovecraft Country
• Homer — Odyssey
• Alan Chapman (2008) Advanced Magick for Beginners
• Christophe Le Mouël (2021). Experiencing the Unus Mundus.
• David Tacey (2009) Edge of the Sacred : Jung, Psyche, Earth
• Stuart Davis — Man Meets Mantis

Links

Altered Mates Website

Altered Mates Instagram

Music for the show by Si Mulumby

A Glimpse of Eternity by Alejandro Tuama

• Purchase the novel here (hard copy, ebook and audiobook).
• Listen to the free serialised audiobook here.