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EdgeScienceCurrent Research and Insights

Number 9 OctoberDecember 2011

A publication o the

Society or Scientifc Exploration

The Plasma Universeof Hannes Alfvnby David Talbott

Coincidence Studies

A Manifestoby Bernard D. Beitman, M.D.


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CONTENTS

EdgeScience #9OctoberDecember 2011

EdgeScience is a quarterly magazine.Print copies are available fromedgescience.magcloud.com.For further information, see edgescience.orgEmail: [email protected]

Why EdgeScience? Because, contrary to public

perception, scientic knowledge is still full ofunknowns. What remains to be discovered whatwe dont know very likely dwarfs what we do know.And what we think we know may not be entirely corrector fully understood. Anomalies, which researcherstend to sweep under the rug, should be activelypursued as clues to potential breakthroughs and newdirections in science.

PBSE: The Society for Scientic ExplorationET: Patrick uyghe

ASSATE ETS: ick Blasband,P.. Moncreif

TBTS: Bernard . Beitman,

obert Mcuhan, avid TalbottES: Smythtype esign

The Society or Scientifc Exploration (SSE)is a professional organization of scientists andscholars who study unusual and unexplainedphenomena. The primary goal of the Society is toprovide a professional forum for presentations,criticism, and debate concerning topics which arefor various reasons ignored or studied inadequatelywithin mainstream science. A secondary goal is topromote improved understanding of those factorsthat unnecessarily limit the scope of scienticinquiry, such as sociological constraints, restrictive

world views, hidden theoretical assumptions,and the temptation to convert prevailing theoryinto prevailing dogma. Topics under investigationcover a wide spectrum. At one end are apparentanomalies in well established disciplines. At theother, we nd paradoxical phenomena that belongto no established discipline and therefore mayoffer the greatest potential for scientic advanceand the expansion of human knowledge. The SSEwas founded in 1982 and has approximately 800members in 45 countries worldwide. The Societyalso publishes the peer-reviewed Journal oScientifc Exploration, and holds annual meetings inthe .S. and biennial meetings in Europe. Associate

and student memberships are available to the public.To join the Society, or for more information, visit thewebsite at scienticexploration.org.

PESET: William Bengston, St. Josephs ollegeVE-PESET: obert Jahn, Princeton niversitySEETA: Mark rban-urain, Michigan State

niversityTEASE : John eedEPEA AT: Erling Strand,

stfold ollege, orway

opyright 2011 Society for Scientic ExplorationThe authors retain copyright to their work.

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THE OBSERVATORYAnecdotal Evidence

By Robert McLuhan

LETTERS:Tunguska, UFOs, and Pluto

FarS

The Plasma Universeof Hannes AlfvnBy David Talbott

Coincidence StudiesA Manifesto

by Bernard D. Beitman, M.D.

BACKSCATTERIn Memory of William Corliss

By Patrick Huyghe

4

over image: A coronal mass ejection. redit: SP/AS consortium

5

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4 / EDGESCIENCE #9 OCTOBERDECEMBER 2011

Tunguska, UFOs, and PlutoHenry Bauers criticism of the 1908 Tunguska event [in

Pseudo-Science in Science, EdgeScience #8] is interesting,but misses the point. No one human saw the impact who

was able to describe it.

However seismic detec-tors recorded the eventall around the world. Itis not in dispute that acatastrophic event hap-pened at a certain loca-tion at a certain time.The destruction and theseismic records are solidevidence. Now whatcaused this? From ourexperience (historicalknowledge) it is likely

the cause was a collision with a celestial smallobject. (Humans didnot have nuclear bombs

then!) It does not matter what you call the object that causedthe event. Science tries to describe how and why nature worksthe way it does. It could have been an asteroid or a comet(most likely), but to suggest that this event might have beencaused by a totally unknown object is grossly improbable,given our experience.

{LETTERS|

What is pseudo science is to suggest that a UFO may havecaused the Tunguska event. Additionally, it also depends whatone means by UFO. If it is unidentied object, then we havezero clue of what they are, and have zero evidence that they

exist (other than unveried hearsay).This reminds me of the recent saga about Pluto being a

planet or not. Science says that Pluto is a certain size objectgravitationally bound to the Solar system and it has certainphysical characteristics that we can measure and deduce (mass,mean density). That is all. Science does not say anything aboutPluto being a Planet or not. That is human intervention onhow to communicate the truth to other humans, by ad hochuman made denitions.

Yervant Terzian, Cornell University

Henry Bauer replies:I think my article just says that it isnt known for sure

that an asteroid caused Tunguska. Comets are not asteroids;and I dont think its unreasonable to allow the possibility ofsomething that we dont presently know about. Improbabledoesnt equate to impossible, and our experience suggeststhat we should allow for the possible existence of unknownunknowns, even if Donald Rumsfeld used that term. I didntdene UFO but treated (and do treat) it (them) as mysteries.

I certainly agree about Pluto. The fuss isnt about the factsbut about what to say about them, what to cal l things.

Sciety Scietic Expati151 Petaluma Blvd., S. #228, Petaluma, CA 94952

Ji the SSE tday

Support scientifc exploration

Enjoy the benefts o membership

scientificexploration.org/join


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EDGESCIENCE #9 OCTOBERDECEMBER 2011 / 5

In the 20th century no scientist added more to our knowl-edge of electromagnetism in space than Hannes Alfvn

(19081995). His insights changed the picture of the uni-verse, revealing the profound effects of charged particle move-ment at all scales of observation. But recognition never camequickly, and never easily, and mainstream journals typicallyregarded Alfvn as an outsider, often rejecting his submis-sions. In retrospect, Alfvns difculties in gaining acceptance

can only highlight the inertia of institutionalized ideas in thesciences, reminding us of the obstacles faced by all of historysgreat scientic innovators.

Awarded the Nobel Prize in 1970 for his contributionto physics, Alfvn emerged as a towering critic of directionsin astronomy, cosmology, and astrophysics. Though he wassurely not correct on everything he proposed, decades of spaceexploration eventually conrmed a lifetime of observationsand hypotheses, often with implications that many space sci-entists did not want to hear. In the world of specialized sci-ence, wrote plasma scientist Anthony Peratt, Alfvn was anenigma. Regarded as a heretic by many physicists, Alfvn madecontributions to physics that today are being applied in the

development of particle beam accelerators, controlled thermo-nuclear fusion, hypersonic ight, rocket propulsion, and thebraking of reentering space vehicles.1

But Alfvns impact reached far beyond new technologies.He devoted much of his life to the study of plasma, a highlyconductive, elementary form of matter characterized by thepresence of freely moving charged particles, not just electri-cally neutral atoms. Normal gases become plasma throughheating and part ial ionization as some percentage of the atomsgive up one or more of their constituent electrons. Oftencalled the fourth state of matter after solids, liquids, andgases, plasma is now known to constitute well over 99 percentof the observed universe.

Alfven is the acknowledged father of plasma cosmol-ogy, a new way of seeing formative processes in the heavens.Proponents of plasma cosmology suggest that vast but invisibleelectric currents play a fundamental role in organizing cosmicstructure, from galaxies and galactic clusters down to stars andplanets. The Big Bang hypothesis, black holes, dark matter,and dark energy are only a few of todays popular cosmologicalthemes disputed by scientists working with this new perspec-tive. Many central tenets of plasma cosmology emerged fromlaboratory experiments with plasma and electric discharge,and it was Alfvn himself who showed that plasma behaviorin the laboratory can be scaled up to galactic dimensions: vastregions of plasma in space behave similary to plasma on earth.

Underscoring the enormity of ignoring cosmic electro-

magnetic effects in cosmology is the fact that the electric forcebetween charged particles is some 39 orders of magnitude(a thousand trillion trillion trillion) times stronger than thegravitational force. In comparative terms, gravity is incompre-hensibly weak; a hand-held magnet will raise a small metallicsphere against the entire gravity of the Earth.

Alfvns documentation of laboratory plasma experimentseventually made it impossible to ignore the role of electricity inspace. He explained the auroras based on the work of his pre-decessor Kristian Birkeland; correctly described the Van Allenradiation belts; identied previously unrecognized electro-magnetic attributes of Earths magnetosphere; explained thestructure of comet tails; and much more.

David Talbott

The Plasma Universe

o Hannes Alvn

annees Alfvn with necklace of feathers from Fiji. ourtesy arl-unneFlthammar


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Early LieHannes Olof Gsta Alfvn was born onMay 30th, 1908, in Norrkping, Sweden. Astrophysicist Carl-Gunne Flthammar,perhaps Alfvn closest colleague, notes twochildhood experiences inuencing the pio-

neers intellectual development and eventu-ally his scientic career.2 One was a book onpopular astronomy by Camille Flammarion,sparking a lifelong fascination with astrono-my and astrophysics. The other was his activerole in a school radio club, a role that includedbuilding radio receivers. His natural facility forelectronics can be seen at an early age and contin-ued through his formal education. ...As a scientist, writes Flthammar, Hannes was inclined to look at astro-physical problems from an electromagnetic point of view, andthis turned out to be very fruitful.

While a graduate student Alfvn wrote a paper interpret-ing the source of cosmic rays. He submitted the article to thedistinguished scientic journal Nature, which published it in1933. In this rst peer-reviewed article by Alfvn, one seeshis early condence in laboratory experiments as pointers toevents in space.

Alfvn received his PhD in theoretical and experimentalphysics from the University of Uppsala in Sweden in 1934.Early highlights of his academic career, beginning the year ofhis PhD, include teaching physics at the University of Uppsalaand at Swedens Nobel Institute for Physics. He later servedas professor of electromagnetic theory and electrical measure-ments at the Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm. Formany years he served as Chair of Electronics, a title changedto Chair of Plasma Physics in 1963. He also spent time inthe Soviet Union before moving to the United States, wherehe worked in the departments of electrical engineering at boththe University of California, San Diego, and the University ofSouthern California.

In 1937 Alfvn observed that the charged par-ticles of a raried plasma appear to pervade inter-

stellar and intergalactic space. And he suggestedthat these particle motions were responsible for thedetected magnetic elds. A few years later, in theearly 1940s, Alfvn proposed that the Sun and plan-

ets emerged from a cloud of ionized gas and that,in such processes, electromagnetic forces have been

more important than mechanical forces. The latterclaim, together with other emphases on electric currents,

would place Alfvns work in direct conict with a cardinaltenet of astronomy at the beginning of the space agetheassumption that only gravity can perform real work acrossinterstellar or intergalactic distances.

Magnetohydrodynamics Alfvns interest in magnetic elds laid the foundationsof todays magnetohydrodynamic theory, a theory widelyemployed by astrophysicists. In the original formulations ofthe theory, Alfvn spoke of magnetic elds being frozeninto neutral plasma, and the magnetohydrodynamic equa-tions he formulated implied that the electric currents that cre-ate magnetic elds could be effectively ignored. Hence, theplasma activity on the Sun and in more remote space couldbe analyzed without reference to any larger domain of electriccurrents or electric circuits.

To this notion astronomers were readily attracted, and for

a time they thought they had an ally in the brilliant electricalengineer. Although his fundamental work and discoveries inmagnetohydrodynamics led to his Nobel Prize in 1970, thebackground to this occasion is paradoxical.

Through much of the 19th and 20th century, mostastronomers and cosmologists had assumed the vacuum ofspace would not permit electric currents. Later, when it wasdiscovered that all of space is a sea of electrically conductiveplasma, the theorists reversed their position, asserting that anycharge separation would be immediately neutralized. Herethey found what they were looking for in Alfvns frozen-inmagnetic elds and in his magnetohydrodynamic equations.Electric currents could then be viewed as strictly localized and

temporary phenomenaneeded just long enough to createa magnetic eld, to magnetize plasma, a virtually perfectconductor.

The underlying idea was that space could have been mag-netized in primordial times or in early stages of stellar andgalactic evolution, all under the control of higher-order kinet-ics and gravitational dynamics. All large scale events in spacecould still be explained in terms of disconnected islands, andit would only be necessary to lookinsidethe islands to dis-cover localized electromagnetic eventsno larger electric cur-rents or circuitry required. In this view, popularly held today, we live in a magnetic universe (the title of several recentbooks and articles), but not an electric universe. The point was

A young annes Alfvn reading a popular astronomy book by

amille Flammarion. mage credit: arl-unne Flthammar

Pages from 15-year-old annes Alfvns notebook.mage credit: arl-unne Flthammar


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universe became the playground of theoreticians who havenever seen a plasma in a laboratory. Many of them still believein formulae which we know from laboratory experiments tobe wrong.

Again and again Alfvn reiterated the point: the underly-ing assumptions of cosmologists today are developed with

the most sophisticated mathematical methods and it is onlythe plasma itself which does not understand how beautifulthe theories are and absolutely refuses to obey them.

Cellular Structure and Filamentation o SpaceThe fundamental truth discerned by Alfvn, but ignored byproponents of his magnetohydrodynamic model, is thatplasma in space cannot have a magnetic eld permanently fro-zen in to it. In space plasma environments, electric currentsare required to create and sustain magnetic elds. In orderto understand the phenomena in a certain plasma region, it isnecessary to map not only the magnetic but also the electric

eld and the electric currents. Space is lled with a networkof currents that transfer energy and momentum over large orvery large distances. The currents often pinch to lamentaryor surface currents. The latter are likely to give space, interstel-lar and intergalactic space included, a cellularstructure.5

Of course when Alfvn discussed these issues, electriccurrents and cellular plasma congurations in space were sim-ply off the grid of theoretical astrophysics: ...Space in generalhas a cellular structure, he wrote, observing that the cellularwalls are not visible and could only be measured by sending a

space probe through those inaccessi-ble regions. Based on his own labora-tory research and backed by the work

of Nobel Laureate Irving Langmuirand others, he noted that the plasmacell boundaries, called double lay-ers, tend to insulate the regionsinside these cells from the regionsoutside.

Plasma experiments show thatstrong electric elds can be pres-ent across the walls of these cellularsheaths (double layers), and the pres-ence of the these elds is essential tounderstanding plasma behavior. Toignore this cellular structure in the

cosmos, Alfvn observed, is to assumethat deep space plasmas have prop-erties which are drastically differentfrom what they are in our own neigh-borhood. This is obviously far more

stated bluntly by the eminent solar physicist Eugene Parker,No signicant electric eld can arise in the frame of refer-ence of the moving plasma.3

But the critical turn in this story, the part almost nevertold within the community of astronomers and astrophys-icists, is that Alfvn came to realize he had been mistaken.

Ironicallyand to his creditAlfvn used the occasion of hisacceptance speech for the Nobel Prize to plead with scientiststo ignore his earlier work. Magnetic elds, he said, are onlypart of the story. The electric currents that create magneticelds must not be overlooked, and attempts to model spaceplasma in the absence of electric currents will set astronomyand astrophysics on a course toward crisis, he said.

In accord with Alvns observations, American physicist,professor Alex Dessler, former editor of the journal GeophysicalResearch Letters, notes that he himself had originally fallen inwith an academic crowd that believed electric elds could notexist in the highly conducting plasma of space. My degreeof shock and surprise in nding Alfvn right and his critics

wrong can hardly be described.4In retrospect, it seems clear that Alfvn considered his

early theoretical assumption of frozen-in magnetic elds tobe his greatest mistake, a mistake perpetuated rst and fore-most by mathematicians attracted to Alfvns magnetohydro-dynamic equations. Alfvn came to recognize that real plasmabehavior is too complicated and awkward for the tastes ofmathematicians. It is a subject not at all suited for mathe-matically elegant theories. It requires hands-on attention toplasma dynamics in the laboratory. Sadly, he said, the plasma

A typical day on the Sun, showing the

energetic loops and prominences that

trace out the complex magnetic elds

carpeting the Suns surface. But what is

the contribution of external electric elds to

these events? redit: ASA/TAE


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unpleasant than our inability to detect distant cell walls.Hence, a thorough revision of our concept of the propertiesof interstellar (and intergalactic) space is an inevitable conse-quence of recent magnetospheric discoveries.6

Stellar JetsEven before the space age, Alfvn had come to realize that, forstars, the electrical circuitry will show up in equatorial currentsheets and polar current streams. Based on laboratory plasmaexperiments, Alfvn noted that electromagnetic energy couldbe stored in a stars equatorial ring until a critical juncturewhen that energy switched to a polar discharge. The resulting

AS 2 image, recording a coronal mass ejection. Astronomers

continue to offer explanations for such events, based on the interplay

of magnetic elds, with no regard for the external electric elds that are

required for the acceleration of charged particles away from the Sun. redit:SP/AS consortium

The energetic stellar jet of (erbig aro) 49/50, as seen through the

Spitzer Space Telescope. redit: J. Bally ( niv. of olorado) et al., JP-altech, ASA


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space. There is no canon-like explosion, and there is no noz-zle on one end. The jet is dening astrophysical objects infundamentally new terms, conrming Alfvns suspicionsmore than 60 years ago, that interstellar space is alive withelectric currents.

X-Rays and Synchrotron Radiation Alfvns view of space was radically different from that ofmainstream astronomy before the electromagnetic spectrumbecame a door to discovery in space. In the rst years of thespace age astronomers were generally satised with seeingobjects in visible light alone. Earths upper atmosphere shield-ed the surface of our planet from most emissions at the higherend of the spectrum, and there was little reason to expect abroader spectrum of electromagnetic emissions from space.That all began to change in the 1930s, when an engineernamed Karl Jansky accidently discovered the existence of radio waves from space. The eventual interest in space telescopes

detecting ultraviolet, X-ray, and gamma-ray wavelengths camelargely through incremental surprises such as Janskys.

The intense electromagnetic activity across the cosmosrequires a vast complex of electric elds and electrical circuitry, just as Alfvn condently predicted decades before the newtelescopes were launched into space. Prior to the launch ofthe X-ray telescope Uhuru in 1970, for example, astronomersknew of only two X-ray sources in the heavensScorpius X-1and the Crab Nebula. But the Chandra and XMM-NewtonX-ray telescopes, more recently launched into space, began toreveal X-ray activity in virtually every corner of the universe,even in the deepest vacuum between galaxies. X-rays require

jet would be energized by a particle-accelerating double layer:the gravity of a star would then give way to the incomparably

more powerful electric force, accelerating matter away fromthe star.

And now, thanks to more powerful telescopes, we seeexactly what Alfvn envisioned. One noteworthy form is theHerbig Harro (HH) object; such objects are now counted inthe hundreds and observed in sufcient detail to invalidate allearly, non-electric theories of such formations.

The unsolved mysteries confronting mainstream astron-omy were popularized in the Astronomy Picture of the Day(APOD) on Feb 3, 2006. The caption identied this stellar jetas a cosmic tornado light-years in length, with gases movingat 100-kilometers per second.

Of course, gravitational models featured in twentieth

century astronomy never envisioned narrow jets of anythingstreaming away from stellar bodies. Neither gravity nor stan-dard gas laws would allow it. The Hubble Space Telescopewebsite compares the whirling, pulsating, and oscillating jetsto the effects of lawn sprinkler nozzle: Material either at ornear the star is heated and blasted into space, where it trav-els for billions of miles before colliding with interstellar mate-rial.7 Does a star have the ability to create collimated, highenergy jets across billionsof miles by merely heating mate-rial in its vicinity? The matter in the jet is hotand it is mov-ing through a vacuum. If one is to use an analogy with water,the better example would be a super-heated steam hose. But itwill not form a jet of steam for more than a few feetbefore the

steam disperses explosively.The Hubble page poses two additional questions: What

causes a jets beaded structure? and Why are jets kinky?Ironically, the questions point directly to two of the mostprominent features of electric discharge in plasmabeadingand kink instabilities. Both occur not just in laboratory dis-charge experiments but in everyday lightning on earth.

Herbig Haro objects do not just defy all traditional astro-physics; they explicitly conrm Alfvns vision of the polardischarging of stars. Axial currents, conned by a current-induced, toroidal magnetic eld, ow along the entire lengthof the jet, in precise accord with Alvns expectations. Only anelectric eld can accelerate charged particles across interstellar

erbig aro 111, displaying a jet 12 light-years long with charged

particles accelerated to speeds approaching 500 kilometers per second.

The nely lamentary and knotted jet spans three times the distance

from the Sun to our nearest star. By what means are these jets conned

to a narrow stream across such unfathomable distances? redit: ASA andB. eipurth (ASA, niversity of olorado)

Energies along the jet of alaxy M87 conrm the presence of

synchrotron radiation. redit: VA/ubble/handra


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10 / EDGESCIENCE #9 OCTOBER DECEMBER 2011

electrical interpretation of galactic activity. Astronomers couldnot imagine such a thing at the t ime. But in 1987, astronomerGeoffrey Burbidge detected synchrotron radiation emitted bya spectacular jet along the axis of a galaxy called M87. And thefact that these frequencies have now been detected abundantlyin space is perhaps the greatest surprise of all.

As every electrical engineer knows, charged particle accel-eration is routinely achieved by electric elds. The ubiqui-tous synchrotron radiation from space simply conrms thatthe isolated islands envisioned by traditional astrophysics donot exist. But the specialized training of astronomers had sug-gested no need for electricity. As a result, the discovery ofintensely energetic events in space have provoked exotic anduntestable amendments to traditional theoryfrom blackholes to dark matter and neutron starsall based onphenomena unknown in our practical world and disconnectedfrom any veriable behavior of nature.

Though the history and practice of science is often clut-tered with dismissals of scientic outsiders and obstructive

allegiance to dogma, it can at least be said that in the last 40years astronomers have grudgingly come to accept an entirelydifferent view of the universe from the one they started with. And for this, no one deserves more credit than the cosmicelectrician, Hannes Alfvn.

DAVID TALBOTT is the founder of the

Thunderbolts Project (http://thunder-

bolts.info), an internet collaboration on

behalf of the Electric niverse. e

was the founder and publisher of Pense

magazines ten issue series, mmanuel

Velikovsky econsidered, bringing inter-national attention to the Velikovsky issue

from 1972 through 1974. is book The

Saturn Mythwas published by oubleday

in 1980 and helped to inspire the con-

tinuing research of scholars and scien-

tists now involved in the Thunderbolts Project. e has co-authored two

books with Australian physicist Wallace Thornhill: Thunderbolts o the

Godsand The Electric Universe, and his work was the subject of the

1996 documentary, emembering the World. More recently he served

as editor-in-chief of an e-book series, The Universe Electric(Big Bang,

The Sun,and The Comet) and has written and narrated two Vs of a

planned series called Symbols O An Alien Sky.

an acceleration of charged particles up to speeds far beyondthe capabilities of thermal expansion or gravitational accel-eration. So its understandable that most astronomers did not

anticipate an X-ray universe. Of course, we routinely employelectric elds today to produce X-rays, and if Hannes Alfvnhad lived to see the recent results, he would have not beensurprised at all.

Then at the upper limit of the electromagnetic spectrum, just above X-rays, lie the wavelengths of Gamma-rays. Thename for a full complex of electromagnetic emissionsinclud-ing Gamma-raysis Synchrotron radiation, a radically newphrase in the astronomers lexicon. Such radiation is producedby electrons moving at close to the speed of light while spiral-ing along magnetic elds. Magnetic elds requireelectric cur-rentsof this fact no reasonable dispute is possible. Ironically,it was in 1950, well prior to the space age, that Hannes

Alfvn predictedsynchrotron radiation in space, based on an

handras observations of 4631 reveal a giant halo of electried

plasma, with X-ray emissions seen in blue and purple, animating this

spiral galaxy. We now know that X-ray emissions are ubiquitous in

space. redit: ASA/handra

ENDNOTES1. Anthony L. Peratt, Dean of the Plasma Dissidents, The World

& I, May 1988, pp. 190-197.

2. Comments made in a Hannes Alfvn birth centennial cel-

ebration pictorial tribute: http://www.bibhasde.com/

Alfven100.html

3. Eugene Newman Parker, Conversations on Electric and

Magnetic Fields in the Cosmos(Prineceton, 2007), p.1.

4. Quoted in Anthony L. Peratt, Dean of the Plasma Dissidents,

Washington Times, supplement: The World& I(May 1988),

p. 195.

5. Alfvn, H., Nobel lecture 1970, emphasis ours.

6. Alfvn, H., Cosmic Plasma, Chapter II: Electric Currents in

Space Plasmas.

7. Hubble Observes the Fire and Fury of a Stellar Birth,

NASA News Release, June 6, 1995: http://hubblesite.org/

newscenter/archive/releases/star/1995/24/background/

results/50/


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Coincidence Studies

A Maniesto

Bernard D. Beitman, M.D.

We instinctively seek order in our surroundings. The rec-ognition of order helps us to survive by producing pre-

dictability. We also seem to nd pleasure in the discovery oforder. One way in which we establish order is through thedetection of coincidence. Two events occurring closely in timesuggest a possible causal connection. Causal connections implyprinciples and laws by which to predict and control the future.

Our perceptions of coincidence emerge from swirls ofinformation in our minds juxtaposed with swirls of eventsin our surroundings. Like two dials being spun by separatehands, the active mind and a pattern of events briey coincide,bringing the mind to note an odd correspondence. The matchis often surprising because it seems improbable.

At least a third of the general population frequentlynotices coincidences (Coleman, Beitman, Celebi, 2009).Reports of synchronicity seem to be increasing exponentially

in print and electronic media. With world interest in coinci-dence reaching a tipping point, it is time to create a new eldto explore how these unexpected conjunctions of events areto be understood and used. In response to this development,I propose the establishment of the transdisciplinary eld ofcoincidence studies.

DefnitionThe central idea of coincidence is the unlikely juxtapositionof similar events that seem to be meaningfully connected.If there is a cause for their coming together, it is not appar-ent. The events making up a weird coincidence come from

two sources: the human mind and the environment or con-text within which that mind is aware. The primary variablesinvolved in coincidence are time interval, similarity, degree ofsurprise, and ownership.

Time Interval

Dictionaries dene coincidenceas the coming together of twoor more events simultaneously in time or in the same space.In the future dictionaries will recognize an additional de-

nitionthat in popular and scientic usage, time intervalscharacterizing coinciding events can vary from simultaneousto many years.

Short time intervals seem to increase the potency of a pos-sible coincidence because short time intervals between twoseemingly related events begin to suggest a causelightningis quickly followed by thunder so lightning causes thunder.Unknown cause more easily evokes surprise and wonder.

But even events taking place years apart may be very sur-prising and have major impact. Take this example: AllenFalby was a highway patrolman in Texas. One night on dutyhe crashed his motorcycle and lay bleeding to death on theroad, having ruptured a major artery in his leg. At that point,

a man named Alfred Smith arrived, quickly put a tourniqueton his leg, and saved his life. Five years later, Falby was againon duty and received a call to go to the scene of an auto acci-dent. There, he found a man who was bleeding to death froma severed artery in his leg. He applied a tourniquet and savedthe mans life. Only then did he nd out it was Alfred Smith,the very man who had saved his life in the exact same way veyears earlier. Falby joked, It all goes to prove that one goodtourniquet deserves another (Combs and Holland, 2001).

In the creation of a coincidence, time usually goes for-ward: youre thinking something and then an event outsideyour mind matches what you are thinking. Coincidences canalso be recognized by looking back in time and matching phe-

nomena retrospectively, as happened to Allen Falby. As anexample from my own life, I found myself choking on some-thing caught in my throat for quite a long time. A few hourslater I was told that my father had been choking and dyingat the same time. (This example raised the question aboutwhether or not a coincidence exists if no one notices it.)

Similarity

The two or more events making up a coincidence must besimilar. The similarity between and among the events is basedupon recognizing a pattern in each event and then conclud-ing that the two patterns resemble each other. For example,

iStockphoto.com/3dts


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between rst-person and second-person perspectives. Shefound that subjects rated their own coincidences as more sur-prising than other peoples on an average of 14.6 to 11.2. Herconclusion: when a coincidence happens to me, it is muchmore important than when it happens to you.

Forms o CoincidenceThe words most often used to describe the types of coinci-dence are synchronicity, serendipity, and seriality. A fourthtype, simulpathity, has a more recent history.

Synchronicity

Carl Jung (1973) is single-handedly responsible for the emer-gence of a formal discipline of coincidence studies. He inventedthe word synchronicity from the Greek Synwith, togeth-erand Chronostime (as in chronology). Synchronicity

means together-in-time. Through his towering intellect,reected in his theoretical writings and anecdotes, Jung laidthe groundwork for the 21st century study of coincidences.

True to the experiences of his youth, he placed manyevents under the synchronicity umbrella including telepathy,precognition, and clairvoyance (collectively classed as psi),along with poltergeists, apparitions, divination (e.g. the IChing), and astrology. Jung and those who followed him havemaintained that synchronicity can be an important tool in thequest for self-realization, for personal and spiritual growth,and for a deeper experiencing of human interconnectedness.

A rst step in the systematic study of synchronicityrequires that it be couched in more common language that

repositions it in the direction of meaningful coincidence.The Weird Coincidence Scale-2 (WCS-2), a survey approach tocoincidence studies, has yielded two subscales: psychological/interpersonal and action (Coleman and Beitman, 2009). As aset of weird coincidences, synchronicity primarily involves thepsychological/interpersonal. Further research into synchron-icity should take into consideration this less theory-baseddescription.

Serendipity

Horace Walpole, a member of the British House of Commonsin the 18th century, recognized in himself a talent for nding

what he needed just when he needed it. Walpole rst recordedthe term in a letter to his friend and distant cousin HoraceMann, the British minister in Florence, Italy. Mann had sentWalpole a portrait of the Grand Duchess Bianco Capello with-out a frame. Walpoles new frame required a coat of arms fromthe Capello family to decorate it appropriately. He just hap-pened to nd the needed coat of arms in an old book he hadpicked up. On January 28th, 1754, thrilled with this coinci-dence, he wrote to thank his Cousin Horace and gave a nameto this ability to nd things unexpectedlyserendipity.

He based the name on an old fairy tale called The Travelsand Adventures of Three Princes of Sarendip. Sarendip (orSerendib) is an ancient name for the island nation Sri Lanka

someone goes to a class on movies that focuses upon a specicscene in a specic movie and then later that day hears from afriend about another class in another town in which the majorevent in that scene is discussed. The same pattern is beingrepeated. If later that evening, the person continues reading a

book on spirituality and reads a passage referring to the samescene in the movie, then three parallel, similar patterns makeup the coincidence.

Just how similar must similar be? How strongly do thepatterns need to match to be called similar? Coincidencereporters may allow themselves great latitude in answeringthese questions.

Degree of Surprise

One of your friends arriving on time for coffee does notqualify as a coincidence. It is not surprising, though you maybe glad to see her. There must be some mystery, something

anomalous to make the intersection of two sequences surpris-ing. Surprising coincidences make us wonder. They stretch oursense of probabilitythe less likely, the more surprising.

Along with its improbability, the degree of surprise isevaluated according to its relevance: how directly does thiscombination of coinciding events relate to our current think-ing? When the coincidence seems to provide a comment on acurrent set of thoughts, the sense of surprise is also amplied.

The degree to which a coincidence is surprising helps

determine the degree we tend to pay attention to it. Withoutsome surprise we would not look any further at the parallel; wewould not search for its signicance or meaning.

Ownership

Is it your coincidence or mine? I will usually nd my coin-cidences more compelling than yours. Ruma Falk (1989)did the research to prove this point. While working on herPhD dissertation, she was teaching the psychological aspectsof probabilityspecically how people perceive randomness.Coincidences were a natural subject for her to study, so sheconducted an experiment to compare the surprise gradient

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to another concert and again his brother-in-laws cloakroomticket #21 matched his seat number. A third example involveshis friend Prince Rohan. On the train his wife was reading anovel with a character Mrs. Rohan. She saw a man get onthe train who looked like Prince Rohan. Later that night the

Prince himself dropped by their house for a visit.

Sometimes Kammerer described events that were clus-tered in space: Case No. 10 concerns two young soldiers whohad never met before. They were separately admitted to themilitary hospital of Ktowitze, Bohemia in 1915. Both werenineteen, both had pneumonia, both were born in Silesia,both were volunteers in the Transport Corps, and both werecalled Franz R ichter. Six items overlapped (Koestler, 1971).

Kammerers (1919) work on seriality helped Jung develop

his concept of synchronicity. In his bookDes Gesetz der Serie,Kammerer dened seriality as a recurrence of the same orsimilar things or events in time and spaceevents that, asfar as can be ascertained, are not connected by the same act-ing cause. Afterwards Jung used a similar denition for syn-chronicity and also attributed it to inuences outside knowncausal principles. The two developed very different theo-ries. In addition, Jung emphasized personal meaning, whileKammerer did not. Nevertheless, a series of improbable paral-lel events can seem quite meaningful. Meaningful series maytake the form of a repeated phrase, seeing the same person indifferent contexts, or references to the same movie or book.

Simulpathity

Within the broad concept of synchronicity at least one cat-egory of weird coincidence emerges as worthy of being dis-tinguishedthe simultaneous experience by one person ofthe distress of another without conscious awareness and usu-ally at a distance. One person is in pain; the other begins tofeel something similar without knowing why. While my fatherwas choking to death on his own blood, I was 3,000 milesaway desperately choking on something in my throat. As withmy father, the involved pair usually shares a strong emotionalbond. Twins serve as a prototype because the largest num-ber of reports concerns them (Fairplay, 2008; Mann and Jaye,

off Indias southern coast. The king of the fable recognizedthat education requires more than learning from books, so hesent his sons out of the country to broaden their experienceby becoming acquainted with the customs of other peoples.Throughout the story, the clever princes carefully observed

their surroundings, and then repeatedly utilized those obser-vations to save them from danger and death.

Horace Walpole invented the word serendipity to meannding something by informed observation (sagacity as hecalled it) andby accident (Austin, 2003; Merton and Barber,2004). But Walpoles ambiguous denition has invited arange of possible meanings. Its main ingredients include luck,chance, active searching, and informed observation.

Science advances not only by testing theories under con-trolled conditions but also by serendipity (Austin, 2003). Forexample, unexpected and remarkable pharmacological dis-coveries have often been made when prepared minds activelyexplored both jungle and laboratory. The best known example

is Alexander Flemings discovery of penicillin. It was LouisPasteur who said that Chance favors the prepared mindacombination of sagacity and luck.

Serendipity can be helpful in many other situations. Forexample, career counselors advise clients to make the most ofchance events because luck can arise from unplanned events(Krumboltz and Lewin, 2004). They suggest that job seek-ers be prepared to seize an opportunity. Job advancement mayresult from being in the right place at the right time; beingintroduced to the right someone; trying something new; andhaving an obstacle placed in your planned pathway that leadsto quite different circumstances. (When a door closes, a win-dow opens.)

The study of serendipitous events requires a simplicationof the exotic term. Serendipity is a coincidence form basedupon action.

Seriality

The phenomenon of seriality differs from serendipity and syn-chronicity in that it is a series of events in the objective worldthat the mind takes note of and remembers. Unlike the others,there is not necessarily a special subjective element. The seriescould theoretically be veried by anyone.

Few have described strings of similar events more thor-oughly than Austrian biologist Paul Kammerer. He spent

hours sitting on benches in various public parks, noting thepeople who passed by, classifying them by sex, age, dress,whether they carried umbrellas or parcels, and so on. He didthe same during the long train rides from his home to hisofce in Vienna. Kammerer was not particularly interested inmeaningonly repeated sequences. His hundred or so exam-ples include apparently insignicant repetitions of numbers,names, words, and letters. Some examples: His wife was ina waiting room reading about a painter named Schwalbachwhen a fellow patient named Mrs. Schwalbach was called intothe consultation room. His brother-in-law went to a concertand received cloakroom ticket #9, which was the same numberas his seat. Shortly thereafter he and his brother-in-law went

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psychological instruments to undergraduate students as subjects, we found several additional characteristics that suggestelevated tendencies to connect mind with context:

Self-referentiality: the tendency to believe that thethoughts of others involve the self

High negative affect: high negative emotions likesadness, anger, and anxiety

Vitality: the tendency to enthusiastically welcomethe day accompanied by the belief that events areunfolding in ones favor

Intuitive: the tendency to bypass rational thoughtsequences to make connections on the basis of feel-ings and general impressions

Search for meaning: seeking clues to the meaningof life

These characteristics share in common heightened emo-tional states likely to increase readiness to scan the environ-ment. The WCS-2 data indicate that people high on agree-

ableness saw fewer coincidences. Highly agreeable people arepleasant, amiable, cooperative, and think positively of others.Why do they score low on coincidence sensitivity? Perhaps theyare looking for ways to connect to the needs of others and areless concerned about their own inner experiences.

Neuropsychology research adds another related vari-able: the degree to which people are prone to associate ideas.Those who associate easily are more likely to make connec-tions between mental and contextual events (Brugger, 2001).

Some coincidence-prone people may t none of thesedescriptions. They may be deeply immersed in a subject andnd connections to it in many different times and places. Orthey may simply have learned to look for such correspondences

after having had positive experiences with them.

Situations in which coincidences aremore likely to occurTwo prominent variables inuence coincidence frequency.The more intense the current emotional state and the moreoften a mind intersects with streams of environmental events,the more likely will coincidences be noticed. Everyday eventsthat increase mind-context intersections include telecommu-nications, media immersion, out of the ordinary situations,and intense discussions involving personal feelings and ideas.Situations that increase the intensity of emotion include such

life transitions as births and deaths, marriage and divorce,severe sickness, moving, job changes, vacations and travel, psy-chotherapy, as well as engaging in creative activities, being inthe ow, and facing apparently unsolvable personal prob-lems. In considering how these situations increase the pos-sibility of coincidences, one could speculate that each of usis enmeshed in a self-designed web of regular daily interac-tions. Regularly recurring patterns of behavior and events arecomforting and insulate us against new intrusions. Traumaticevents tear the regularity of the quotidian web, increasing thepossibility that something weird can enter our reality.

2007), although stories about mothers and their children areprominent as well. These concordant experiences usually donot have idiosyncratic meaning as do classic synchronicities.Rather they carry a more universal meaning; namely, the twoindividuals are more closely bonded than current scientic

thought holds people to be.Since simultaneity and distress characterize these coin-

cidences, I have invented the word simulpathity from theLatin word simul, which means simultane-ous, and the Greek rootpathy, which meansboth suffering andfeeling, as in sym-pathy and empathy. With sympathy (suffer-ing together) the sympa-thetic person is aware of

the suffering of the other. With simulpathity theone is usually not con-sciously aware of the suf-fering of the other (exceptfor those pairs with whomthis shared pain is a regu-lar occurrence). Only lateris the simultaneity of thedistress recognized. Noexplanatory mechanism isimplied. (Previously, theterms telepathy and

telesomatic have beenused for these experiences,each of which implies a psi

explanation. Coined in 1882 by the classical scholar Fredric W.H. Myers, a founder of the Society for Psychical Research, theoriginal meaning of telepathy suggested distress communi-cated at a distance as suggested by the sufx pathy but thedenition has evolved to mean thought transference.)

Characteristics o Coincidence Prone PeoplePeople create coincidences by matching their own mentalactivity with contextual activity framing their experiences.

Coincidence nders must be capable of paying attention totheir thoughts, mental images, and feelings, while also mon-itoring events around them. The penchant to notice coinci-dences seems to be greater in some people than others. Variouspersonal characteristics contribute to the meta-mental statesconducive to experiencing meaningful coincidence.

Work with the Weird Coincidence Scale (WCS-2) sug-gests several characteristics associated with a readiness to per-ceive coincidences (Coleman and Beitman, 2009). As might beexpected, people who describe themselves as spiritual and/or religious report experiencing coincidences with higherfrequencies than those who are less so. Applying standard

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(Rushnell, 2006). Among those who place high value on cur-rently accepted scientic concepts of reality, coincidences areexplainable in statistical terms randomness, probability, andchance. Those who wish to combine these two predominantexplanations can combine divine intervention and chance by

suggesting that God works through random events. TheFreudian perspective offers a personal unconscious explana-tion, requiring only current need and early childhood experi-ence to explain coincidences (Williams, 2010).

The resolution of conicts among coincidence theoriescould take two forms. One possibility is that a superordinatetheory will be developed to encompass all others, explainingall instances of coincidence. A second possibility is that differ-ent theories may account for different types of coincidences.This second approach to theory appears more likely to t thecurrent state of knowledge in the study of coincidence: differ-ent coincidence subtypes require different theoretical explana-tions. Do quantum principles govern any aspect of the macro

world? Perhaps. Are there overlaps between various coinci-dence theories? Probably.

The Use and Misuse o CoincidenceHow can coincidences be used? They can support tentativelymade decisions; reinforce psychological change; offer oppor-tunities not yet apparent; provide encouragement in timesof trouble; alter rigid beliefs; demonstrate interpersonal con-nectedness; provide help for nancial problems; provide helpfor medical problems; produce creative ideas; and increasethe sense of connectedness to something greater. Much moreneeds to be done to expand and clarify the practical function

of coincidences.Coincidences can have strong negative as well as strong

positive effects. The popular literature has generally ignoredthe downside of coincidences; they can be used to exagger-

ate self-importance; conrm paranoidthinking; coerce others; and supportmalevolent decisions. The ways in whichcoincidences can be used destructivelyalso requires expansion.

Increasing the Frequency oCoincidencesPeoples interest in coincidence rangesfrom disinterested to skeptical to deeplycommitted. Disinterested people dontsee the value or relevance of examiningcoincidences. Skeptics do not believe thatobjective events can have symbolic per-sonal meaning. They also believe thatrandomness and chance best describehow coincidences occur and, by this rea-soning, dismiss them. The deeply com-mitted nd coincidences to be friendlycompanions on lifes journey, acting asmetaphorical advisors and supporters.

MeaningSubjective meaning is an essential ingredient in coincidence.Subjective meaning can be applied to the past, present, orfuture.

Future meaning emphasizes the practical: What do these

parallel events imply about what I am doing or what I amabout to do? Perhaps the most famous instance of synchron-icity occurred to a patient of Jungs who was closed to Jungsideas for her. Prior to the pivotal session, she dreamed of ascarab (a beetle-like insect of Egypt). A moment after she toldJung about it, he presented her with a scarab-like beetle thathad been buzzing at his ofce window as she was describingher dream. The synchronicity changed her attitude, helpingto break through her rigid thinking to become more open toJungs therapeutic inuence. Her future was changed.

Past meaning seeks a cause, an explanatory framework.When I tell a coincidence story or an amazed person tells metheir story, the same question usually followshow (or why)

does this happen? We are cause-seeking creatures; we wantto know why and how things happen. We want to understand.Sometimes we are driven by inborn curiosity preserved fromchildhood. Sometimes causal understanding helps to clarifythe implications of the coincidence for the future. For exam-ple, there are those who believe that some especially signif-icant coincidences are messages delivered by God, and thatattribution of causality increases the desire to comply with theimplied message.

Present meaning emerges in simulpathity experienceswe come to experientially know how deeply we are connectedto those we love. The present expands in breadth and depth.Jungian Analyst Roderick Main described the effect of some

coincidences on the present: In synchronicity, uniformlyunfolding clock time is interrupted with moments of extraor-dinary timeliness, which in turn can open our eyes to a senseof present time as qualitative, lled with varying landscapes ofmeaning (Main, 2004).

TheoriesJung and his followers have formulatedthe most elaborate theories of synchron-icity. Jungian theories share in commonthe belief that the collective unconsciousand archetypes are major participants in

coincidence creation. Archetypes arethought to be activated (or constellated)in high-emotion situations. They arethought to exist in a state from whichboth mind and matter emergethepsychoid. Jungians support their theo-ries with ideas drawn from mythologyto quantum physics and have provided arich soil from which to speculate aboutmeaningful coincidences.

Among the general public, divineintervention is the most widely acceptedexplanation for meaningful coincidences

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To establish the eld, interest in coincidences must garnerthe energetic attention of sufciently large numbers of peo-ple positioned to help it develop. The enthusiasm of the gen-eral public must be coalesced sufciently to motivate popularmedia to write, talk and produce videos on the subject. Public

and popular media interest will drive the idea into the aca-demic and grant funding arenas.

Many disciplines can contribute to this new eld. Thesedisciplines include but are not limited to Jungian psychol-ogy, statistics, neuropsychology, psychiatry, cognitive neuro-science, psychotherapy, parapsychology, vocational counsel-ing, narrative arts, cultural anthropology, theology, and theMantic Arts. What can these elds tell us about coincidence?Research results and accompanying academic interest will addto growing support, leading to the establishment of formalinterdisciplinary and transdisciplinary units in and outside ofacademics to promote the use and study of coincidences.

New story collecting websites could be established with

more systematic data gathering. A screening tool would ndstories of particular interest and an interviewer would ask theexperiencer more details about the events. These would bethick descriptions, sometimes augmented with visuals likephotographs and videos to make the details clearer. Contentanalyzers would be developed to nd themes that mightescape the view of trained readers.

The Yale SynchroSummit, held in October 2010, markedthe rst focused gathering for the study of meaningful coin-cidences that included the full spectrum of competing theo-ries. More such summits would help to accelerate the eldsdevelopment.

Citizen Scientists need to be engaged. Two leaders of the

SynchroSummit, James Clement van Pelt and Lesley Roy, ini-tiated the Citizen Scientist approach to studying coincidencecentering around an app that can be activated when the sub-ject experiences a meaningful coincidence. The subject is thenprompted through a series of questions to characterize thecoincidence.

A related approach would test the hypothesis that coin-cidences occur regularly but are often missed because of theabsence of the heightened emotional state or sufcient atten-tion. This project would dene a specic time and place forongoing reports. A baseline study would examine coincidencetype and frequency in a circumscribed quotidian reality like ashopping mall. A comparison group could be a high-energy

gathering like a music festival or coincidence conference. Notonly would standardized questions accompany the subjectswhen a coincidence is noted, but real time video cameras, GPSlocators, and subsequent interviews would also be employed.This study would apply current anthropological methods forgathering data and then apply computer programs to denepatterns of coincidences that might not be readily discerned bythe human mind alone.

We should study coincidence sensitive people. Whatmakes them so sensitive and how do they interpret and usethem? Life transitions also need more systematic attentionsince they have so regularly been reported to be correlated

Between the skeptics and the deeply committed are those who would like to try using coincidences. An effective trainingprogram based upon this developing science is ripe for devel-opment. The premise of a proposed training program is thatcoincidences can be helpful in love, work, and creativity, as

well as in spiritual and psychological growth.

The Twin Aims o Coincidence StudiesCoincidence studies aim to develop coincidence theories andexpand the usefulness of coincidence. These aims reciprocallyadvance each other. Increasingly effective usage helps sharpenconnections to specic theories and helps to further advanceunderstanding of that particular theory. Rened theoreticalunderstanding helps to sharpen interpretation by placing thecoincidence within a context that claries its limitations andpotentials.

Use:In how many different ways can coincidence aid deci-

sion-making, self-development, and aesthetic appreciation? When are coincidences best utilized, and when is their uselikely to be inconsequential or harmful? What are the prin-ciples that determine which interpretation may be optimallyapplied? How do we help those who want to increase theirsensitivity to detecting coincidences?

Cause:The study of coincidence will join other attemptsto discover laws we do not currently understand. Coincidencesaffront the current scientic understanding of reality. Shall westop and simply admit that they are an incomprehensible mys-tery, or shall we push back the frontiers of faith and mystery touncover currently unknown principles governing our world?Despite the objections of many skeptics and scientic funda-

mentalists, much data supports the human ability to knowthings without a clear idea of how we can know them (Radin,2006; Carpenter, 2004; Mayer, 2007).

Establishing the Field o Coincidence StudiesThis manifesto lays out basic denitions, principles, and prob-lems around which divergent groups can organize. In thefuture we need to:

Clarify denitions: synchronicity, serendipity, andseriality. What are more operationally useful terms?

Develop a taxonomy of coincidencescreate sharp-

er categories like simulpathity, Dene methods to judge the strength and weak-

ness of coincidences and the differing relevance, Expand the value (and difculties) of coincidence

use, Develop and clarify interpretation principles, Further characterize coincidence prone people, Address the positive correlation between intense

affect and increased coincidence frequency, Firmly establish viable theories and test them, rec-

ognizing that we may be expanding our under-standing of causation.


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REFERENCESAustin, J. Chance Chase and Creativity. Cambridge: MIT, 2003.

Brugger, P. From haunted brain to haunted science: A cognitive neu-

roscience view of paranormal and pseudoscientic thought.

In Houran, J, R. Lange (eds.). Hauntings and Poltergeists:

Multidisciplinary Perspectives. Jefferson, NC: McFarland, 2001.Carpenter, J. C. First sight: part one, a model of psi and the mind.

Journal of Parapsychology. 2004; 68(2): 217254.

Coleman, S. L, B. D. Beitman, E. Celebi. Weird coincidences com-

monly occur. Psychiatric Annals. 2009; 39:265270.

Coleman, S. L., B. D. Beitman. Characterizing high-frequency coin-

cidence detectors. Psychiatric Annals. 2009; 39:271279.

Combs, A., M. Holland. Synchronicity. New York: Marlow and

Company, 2001.

Falk, R. Judgment of coincidences: Mine versus yours. American

Journal of Psychology. 1989; 102:477493.

Hill, J. Synchronicity and grief: The phenomenology of meaning-

ful coincidence as it arises during bereavement. Palo Alto, CA:

Institute of Transpersonal Psychology. Unpublished dissertation,2011.

Jung, C. J. Synchronicity: An Acausal Connecting Principle.

Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1973.

Koestler, A. The Case of the Midwife Toad. (Appendix 1). New York:

Vintage Books, 1971.

Kammerer, P. Das gesetz der serie. Stuttgart: Deutches Verlags-

Anstalt, 1919.

Krumboltz, J. D., A. S. Lewin. Luck is No Accident: Making the

Most of Happenstance in Your Life and Career. Atascadero,

CA: Impact Publishers, 2004.

Main, R. TheRupture of Time: Synchronicity and Jungs Critique

of Modern Western Culture. Hove and New York: Brunner-

Routledge, 2004.

Mann, B. S., C. Jaye. Are we one body? Body boundaries in tele-

somatic experiences. Anthropology& Medicine. 2007; 14(2):

183195.

Mayer, E. L. Extraordinary Knowing. New York: Bantam, 2007.

Merton R. K., E. Barber. The Travels and Adventures of Serendipity.

Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2004.

Playfair, C. L. Twin Telepathy. (2nd ed.). Stroud, England: History

Press, 2008.

Radin, D. Entangled Minds. New York: Paraview Pocket Books,

2006.

Rushnell, S. When God Winks. New York: Atria, 2006.

Williams, G. A. Demystifying Meaningful Coincidences (Syn-

chronicities): The Evolving Self, the Personal Unconscious, and

the Creative Process. Lanham, MD: Jason Aronson, 2010

BERNARD D. BEITMAN, MD, is Visiting Professor at the niversity of

Virginia and former chair of the department of Psychiatry at the niver-

sity of Missouri-olumbia. e is the recipient of two national awards

for his psychotherapy training program and a world expert in the re-

lationship between chest pain and panic disorder. e edited an issue

of Psychiatric Annals entitled Synchronicity, Weird Coincidences, and

Psychotherapyand developed the Weird oincidence Scale. e may be

contacted at [email protected].

with an increase in coincidence frequency. The association ofgrief and coincidence, for example, was the subject of a doc-toral dissertation (Hill, 2011). Other conditions to be stud-ied include sickness, pregnancy-birth, and job transitions withnormal life comparators.

Individual, couples, and family psychotherapy provideanother potentially controllable setting to study the possibleregular occurrence of coincidences. How people show up intherapists ofces appears to be randomthe timing of thecall, the day of the opening, the type of problem. Therapyincreases emotional intensity, opens all participants to the con-tents of their minds, and increases mind-context intersections,providing fertile ground for coincidence creation and detec-tion. How can this potentially rich depository of meaningfulcoincidences be mined?

We should include coincidences as guiding inuences inthe development of coincidence studies. Our organizationalmind should be alert to those unexpected, unpredictable par-allels that can richly populate everyday life. The parallels couldbe presented to those interested for interpretation and possibleguidance. If this principle can be incorporated into the living,growing organization, it will help keep us exible, open, andstudying in real time just what we might be studying in othersystematic ways.

Of course there are problems that cannot be anticipated.But one problem is clear from the outsetthe multiple disci-

plines, each with its own set of thoughts, beliefs, and methodswill need to nd ways to work together. The goal is not con-sensus but rather the bringing together of thoughtful peoplefrom a variety of perspectives to nd ways of sharing new nd-ings under a mosaic of theories.

The biggest challenge in the development of this new dis-cipline is providing a systematic place for subjectivity and con-sciousness. Meaningful coincidences are fully dependent uponthe mind of the observer. Without subjective recognition mostcoincidences do not exist. How do we develop a methodologyand an accompanying language that includes the subjective?

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be tentative. The history of science proves that this is a wisepolicy. Corliss saw anomalies as a way to renew, to reinvigo-rate, science.

Though his rst volume of anomalies, entitled StrangePhenomena, was actually recommended by both Natureand

Science, quite often the publication of his catalogs met withdisbelief, even disdain. The critics claimed that the data mustbe in error, that the data is anecdotal, that it was too old, thata supposed anomaly was explained long ago. His reply? Thebaseline of well-established theories, against which anoma-lousness is measured, is always shifting and some data, indeed,are bad. But for every anomaly or example that can be legit-imately demolished, ten more take its place. Nature is veryanomalous or, equivalently, Nature is not yet well-understoodby science. Such words did not endear him to the scienticmainstream, which largely ignored much of his later work.

Corliss did not have any illusions about the impact TheSourcebook Project would have on science. Would it revolu-

tionize science? Probably notat least not immediately, hewrote. The late sociologist Marcello Truzzi called Corliss anunsung hero of science.

I was introduced to the Sourcebook Project in the late1970s, when I received my very rst published volume ofanomalies from the mail-order service he operated with his wife, Virginia. (Most volumes are still available from TheSourcebook Project, P.O. Box 107, Glen Arm MD 21057. Seealso: http://www.science-frontiers.com.) Shortly afterward, Imet and interviewed him for an article I was writing on hiswork for Science Digest. We kept in touch over the years, and Iwould occasionally send him a newsclipping for the newsletterhe published called Science Frontiers. After being involved in

producing a couple of science exhibits for museums, I beganto think that his work should have a wider audience, thatthere should be a William Corliss Museum of Anomalies or atleast an exhibit for museums based on his work, called WhatScience Doesnt Know. I cant imagine anything more stimu-lating to the minds of young people than to discover areasof science that are up for grabs, puzzling topics they couldexplore, wide open elds of research where they could make adifference, instead of being presented with science as a closedbook of knowledge, as at most science museums. The work of William Corliss is an inspiration, a wonder-lled refutationthat we have not come to the end of science. Quite the con-trary. As he would often say, Much remains to be done.

facades of the various sciences. But there are potholes as well,the potential game changers. Instead of simply acceptingnice, slick theories like evolution, relativity, and continentaldrift, he said in 1980, I think we should occasionally reex-amine them to be sure they are not accepted just because they

are so slick. And based upon the material Ive collected, whatIm saying is: Im not so sure. Among the major paradigmswidely considered to be fact that his catalogs of anomalies putat risk are: the expanding universe; the Big Bang origin of theuniverse; Neo-Darwinism, specically evolution via randommutation and natural selection; plate tectonics and continentaldrift; Special and General Relativity; and the assumption thatgenomes are the complete blueprint for life forms.

Corliss made no claims of completeness. Indeed he wouldconstantly point out that he had covered just a fraction of theliterature on a subject. In 2005, he wrote that his 40 pub-lished volumes detailing more than 2,000 scientic anoma-lies and provocative phenomena represented just 50% of his

database. And even after decades of work, only a handful ofEnglish-language journals had received his serious attention.The journals in other languages, government reports, con-ference papers, publications of research facilities, proceedingsof state academies of science, and an immense reservoir of per-tinent books, he noted, remain almost untapped. The taskhe faced was daunting: The anomalies residing in the worldsliterature seem innite in number.

But he never lost his enthusiasm, and one has to admirehis courage in single-handedly attempting a project of suchenormous scope. His catalogs are unique in the annals of sci-ence, in that he cataloged not what is known but what is notknown. It seems to me that any organized activity like sci-

ence would have done this a long time ago, he said. It is atleast as important to realize what is not known as it is to rec-ognize the well-explained.

Though Corliss has often been compared to a modern-day Charles Fort, their differences are considerable. UnlikeFort, he avoided using newspapers as the source of his datawhenever possible, preferring instead to depend on academi-cally accredited journals that described anomalies that werethe product of scientic observation, research, and explora-tion. Furthermore, Corliss, unlike Fort, was not anti-scienceand he did not editorialize. He thought the data were damn-ing enough on their own. In the Catalog of Anomalies, hewrote, the data rule; all theories and hypotheses are held to


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Mediumistic PhenomenaObserved in a Series o Sessionswith Eusapia Palladinoby Filippo Bottazzi,translated by Antonio Giuditta and Irmeli Routti

Scientists at the Institute of Physiology of the University

of Naples attempt to penetrate the troubling mysteries

of the occult and come to grips with the phenomena

of mediumship, its dynamics and possibilities. Eight

sances with the famous medium, Eusapia Palladino, are

described by the groups director, the distinguished Italian

physiologist, Professor Filippo Bottazzi, who, on the basis

of the evidence obtained, proposes an explanation of the

observed events based on his knowledge of physiology.

All of this occurred more than a century ago, but the story

remains fascinating and relevant to our own time.

nEW froM ICrl rESS

Order rom Amazon or Barnes & Noble

Published in cooperation withThe Center for UFO

Studies and the The Fund for UFO ResearchFor more information, see

AnomalistBooks.com

Now available from

Anomalist Books

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