When first asked to speak on the topic of synchronicity, I was agreeable, but frankly, not thrilled. As some of you know, I teach psychological theory and as Carl Jung is credited with coining the phrase synchronicity, I initially planned to approach the topic from my understanding of his perspective. I always have to reach when teaching Jungian theory because, professionally, I approach human behavior from primarily a cognitive perspective. And as many of you know firsthand, when you lecture on a topic, you selfishly want it to be something you are interested in. I really wasn’t all that interested in synchronicity or Jungian psychology.

That was several months ago. However, since then, I have experienced some funky synchronistic events in my own life that have left me in a fairly humble state. My “big girl” self struggles with the simplicity of events, unplanned and seemingly unrelated, having profound meaning to each other. If these events had occurred a year or even 6 months earlier, they would have probably have been of interest but not profound. It is the timing of the events that made them meaningful.

This has probably happened to all of us at some point. You think of someone for the first time in years, and run into them a few hours later. An obscure song pops into your head then you hear it three times in the same day. In an entirely different country, you bump into a college friend. A book falls off the shelf at the bookstore and it is exactly the book you need. Is it fate, destiny, a God thing, or just a simple coincidence?

Synchronicity is that freaky thing that makes no sense when, against the odds, something in the Universe seems to swing into place to answer an inner need we have.

Synchronicity & Faith

The diversity this congregation holds offers a special bonus for this topic. Those of you from a Christian, Jewish, or Muslim tradition may connect with the God concept of synchronicity. Those of you who are practicing Buddhists or Hindu will indentify with the interconnectedness of synchronicity. Those of you who are agnostic or atheist may connect with the quantum mechanics of synchronicity. At the end of the day, I believe we are just splitting hairs on language that says the same thing. The source of the thing, synchronicity, may be open to each faith or intellectual perspective, but the existence is hard to argue.

“It’s a God Thing”

Back in February, I was invited to attend the 50^th birthday party of a friend of mine that I had not seen in many years. In the past few years she has become very involved in a large Baptist congregation in town, married a man from the singles group at the church, and embraced all of the language that you would expect from that environment. Everyone at the party was from the church except me. Since I didn’t know anyone, I was given the opportunity to observe and listen more than interact. What I noticed was how often their life events were attributed to God’s will, or God’s blessing, or God’s plan. Life events appeared to be simple for these folks because of attribution. I know many of us came from similar traditions and some of have run as fast as we could in the other direction. But what I took away from the experience was how open they were to the possibility that life wasn’t simple a matter of “cause-and-effect”. They look for signs from God to give them direction.

According to Dr. Allan Combs, a psychology professor at the University of North Carolina at Asheville, there is power in the ability to turn choices over to intuition that seems to open oneself to synchronicity. Combs co-authored the book, Synchronicity: Science, Myth and the Trickster (Marlowe). He says, “If you expect the unexpected, synchronicity will emerge."

This concept of expectation is mirrored by author, Carolyn North, who states, "If your belief system is such that intuition and synchronicity are real and significant, you will notice them. If your belief system is that they’re hogwash, you won’t."

From a faith perspective, the concept of synchronicity is by no means held only by conservative Christians. In fact, the concept of interconnectivity is an underlying theme in most Eastern philosophies and faiths. But it may be worded differently.

From a Hindu perspective, our individual egos are like islands in an ocean: We look out at the world and each other and think we are separate individuals. What we don't see is that we are connected to each other by means of the ocean floor beneath the waters. Because of this connectedness, synchronicity is inevitable.

In Taoist teaching, synchronicity would be viewed as the experiences of "meaningful coincidence". We know the experiences have meaning intuitively but we would be hard pressed to explain them in rational terms. In Taoism, these "meaningful coincidences" are not coincidences at all but spontaneous realizations of the underlying interconnectedness of all things within the Universe.

It is said that soon after his enlightenment the Buddha passed a man on the road who was struck by the Buddha's extraordinary radiance and peaceful presence. The man stopped and asked, "My friend, what are you? Are you a celestial being or a god?"

"No," said the Buddha.

"Well, then, are you some kind of magician or wizard?"

Again the Buddha answered, "No."

"Are you a man?" "No."

"Well, my friend, then what are you?"

The Buddha replied, "I am awake."

In order to experience synchronicity, we must learn to be “awake”.

Synchronicity and Science

Several years ago, this congregation reviewed and examined the concepts proposed in the movie ‘What the bleep to we know?’ which explored the concepts of reality from the perspective of quantum physics. If you were part of that study, you will remember the concept of “planning our day”. When we wake up, we can begin to think about what we want our day to be. Then we become aware of thoughts, events, persons, and interactions that support our perception of the day we have planned. Our perception is our reality. If we expect a negative day with negative events, all that we encounter becomes that reality. We define our reality.

This same concept is found, though presented differently in the popular book called ‘The Secret’. While I personally reacted negatively to the universal catalog of materialism that the book presented, the concepts of the so-called “Law of Attraction” are similar to the ancient wisdom of synchronicity.

According to the Law of Attraction, thoughts have an energy that attracts like energy. In order to control this energy, proponents state that people must practice four things:

Know what one desires and ask the universe for it.

Focus one's thought upon the thing desired with great feeling such as enthusiasm or gratitude.

Feel and behave as if the object of one's desire is already acquired.

Be open to receiving it.

Thinking of what one does not have manifests itself in the perpetuation of not having.

Many of you enjoy the writings of Deepak Chopra. Chopra advises the following: If you bump into someone you haven't met in a long time then it is advisable to stop and talk to them. Be aware of a message that they might have for you. Coincidences are often a sign that you are going with the flow of life, doing what your heart desires (or divine will) and following your intuition (inner guidance - gut feeling).

According to Chopra, coincidence is not rare. It is not unusual. On the contrary, the entire universe is built on an almost infinite number of incredible improbabilities. Perhaps the greatest of all these improbabilities is our own existence as human beings.

Spirituality is based on the idea that there's more to life than meets the eye. Modern science is also based on this. In the twentieth century, science has taught us that a material world that seems solid and tangible is actually made up of mostly empty space and pure energy

Many of us may not be comfortable, at first, with the idea that the Universe is giving us guidance. The concept of synchronicity assumes that all energy and matter is an interconnected web. One part of the web affects the other. Therefore, all parts of the web inform each other at all times. If we believe we are undeniably interconnected, therefore, it would make sense that two seemingly disconnected events are actually interconnected.

Synchronicity is the application of the law of balance in all realms of human life. In metaphysics, and ancient scripture that everything in this Universe, at any given moment in Time is synchronized to everything else - all working together, all interlocked and interdependent.

Synchronistic events can be a powerful "heads-up", calling us to pay attention.

Conclusion

My final words come from the Buddha:

We are what we think

All that we are arises with our thoughts.

With our thoughts we make the world.

Speak or act with an impure mind, and trouble will follow you, as the wheel follows the ox that draws the cart.

We are what we think

All that we are arises with our thoughts.

With our thoughts we make the world.

Speak or act with a pure mind, and Happiness will follow you, as your shadow, unshakable.

How can a troubled mind understand the way?

Your worst enemy cannot harm you as much as your own thoughts, unguarded.

But once mastered, no one can help you as much, not even your father or your mother.

I hope the Tao, God, or, whatever Force drives the universe opens your world to the possibilities it holds.

Peace be with you.

"Coincidence is God's way of remaining anonymous." Albert Einstein