Synchronicity as a Bridge to Collective Identity:

Shared Orbits in Lifes Journey

by

Ryan George

Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements

for the degree of

Master of Arts in Counseling Psychology

Pacifica Graduate Institute

3 March 2015

ii

2015 Ryan George

All rights reserved

iii

I certify that I have read this paper and that in my opinion it conforms to acceptable

standards of scholarly presentation and is fully adequate, in scope and quality, as a

product for the degree of Master of Arts in Counseling Psychology.

____________________________________

Allen Koehn, D. Min., L.M.F.T.

Portfolio Evaluator

On behalf of the thesis committee, I accept this paper as partial fulfillment of the

requirements for Master of Arts in Counseling Psychology.

____________________________________

Sukey Fontelieu, Ph.D., L.M.F.T.

Research Associate

On behalf of the Counseling Psychology program, I accept this paper as partial

fulfillment of the requirements for Master of Arts in Counseling Psychology.

____________________________________

Avrom Altman, M.A., L.M.F.T., L.P.C.

Director of Research

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Synchronicity as a Bridge to Collective Identity:

Shared Orbits in Lifes Journey

by Ryan George

Synchronicity occurs during times of transition: births and deaths, crises and

transformations. It bridges the material and immaterial worlds of matter and mind

through a correspondence of meaning. This experience leaves an indelible mark for

many, and it has important implications for the issue of connectedness in contemporary

society, and for individual and collective experience. The concept of synchronicity is

explored from the work and life of Carl Jung and from the theories of psychologists,

physicists, and philosophers. Parallels from research in quantum physics, field theory,

emergence, cultural and collective identity, and paranormal phenomena are also

examined. Using alchemical hermeneutic and artistic-creative methodologies, the author

examines the intersection of individual and collective experience in part through the

submission of a creative, fictional story, as a representative study of synchronistic

experience.

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Acknowledgments

I wish to thank my teachers Allen Koehn, Nino Maiani, and Jamie Hollomon.

Thank you for your guidance, support, and at times, for a much needed push. You

inspired me to share my story and to make my own contribution to the field. Many

thanks, too, for the tremendous staff at the Pacifica Graduate Institute, for their hard work

and all they do to benefit students and create a wonderful atmosphere. To my cohort, I

want to convey so much that cannot be expressed. I learned from each of you along our

shared path, and I felt deeply accepted in all my guises and imperfections. I will always

be grateful.

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Dedication

To my parents, Landon and Elsie, who encouraged me to follow my dreams. To

my grandfather, Richard Levin, who was with me in dark hours and who is with me still.

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Table of Contents

Chapter I Introduction ..................................................................................................1

Signposts ..................................................................................................................2

Setting the Stage ......................................................................................................3

Guiding Purpose.......................................................................................................7

Rationale ..................................................................................................................9

Methodology ..........................................................................................................10

The Research Problem ...............................................................................10

The Research Questions .............................................................................10

Methodological Approach .........................................................................11

Limitations .................................................................................................11

Ethical Concerns ....................................................................................................12

Overview of Thesis ................................................................................................12

Chapter II Literature Review.......................................................................................14

Overview ................................................................................................................14

A Personal Encounter ............................................................................................15

Supporting Evidence ..............................................................................................16

The Meaning Factor ...............................................................................................18

A Bridge to the Collective .....................................................................................21

The Unseen Field ...................................................................................................22

A Unifying Force ...................................................................................................25

Greater Purpose ......................................................................................................29

Chapter III Synopsis of a Collective Story: The Writers Group .............................34

Chapter IV Conclusion .................................................................................................37

Summary ................................................................................................................43

Further Research ....................................................................................................45

Afterword ...............................................................................................................46

Appendix: The Writers Group ......................................................................................49

References ..........................................................................................................................81

Chapter I

Introduction

Some journeys choose us.

Feiler, B., 2005, p. 35

A journey begins with a step and the wonders that lie ahead: The sublime joys, the

rending sorrows, all the great triumphs and tragedies, lie in wait, mere glimmers in the

minds eye. In her memoir, Beryl Markham (1942), one of the first African bush pilots,

wrote,

I have learned that if you must leave a place that you have lived in and loved and

where all your yesteryears are buried deep, leave it any way except a slow way,

leave it the fastest way you can. Never turn back and never believe that an hour

you remember is a better hour because it is dead. Passed years seem safe ones,

vanquished ones, while the future lives in a cloud, formidable from a distance.

(p. 131)

In a similar vein, the fantasy writer J. R. R. Tolkien (2012) wrote that its a dangerous

business . . . going out of your door [and] there is no knowing where you might be swept

off to (p. 82).

Our sojourns are not without risk or danger, and we are threatened as much in a

psychological sense as in a physical one. An inner journey parallels the outer. What one

discovers, then, could be seen as an expansion of both worlds, and yet as the founder of

analytical psychology, Carl Gustav Jung (1917/1928), wrote, The ways that lead to

consciousness are many . . . [and] there is no coming to consciousness without pain

(p. 193). We venture nonetheless. In light of the prospect of suffering, one might ask why

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we do not stay in the known and in the secure. Along these lines, the depth psychologist,

James Hillman (1996), wrote that

sooner or later something seems to call us onto a particular path. You may

remember this something as a signal moment . . . when an urge out of nowhere,

a fascination, a peculiar turn of events struck like an annunciation: This is what I

must do, this is what Ive got to have. This is who I am. . . . If not this vivid or

sure, the call may have been more like gentle pushings in the stream in which you

drifted unknowingly to a particular spot on the bank. (p. 3)

A call is heard; an urge arises; one is pushed. As fellow travelers, we might consider,

then, how much we choose our journeys and how much we are chosen by them.

Signposts

The concept of synchronicity, which was introduced by Jung in 1929 (Jung,

1984), speaks to this interplay between ones volition and a sense of being led or

initiated. In short, synchronicity means that for a moment in time, a meaningful

relationship is created between ones subjective inner world and the objective outer world

(Jung, 1952/2014). Somehow in these instances, the individual life works in tandem with

the cosmos, and this psychophysical parallelism, (Jung, 1973, p. 546) is experienced as

meaningful coincidence (co-incidence) or co-occurrence. On one hand, then, there is

personal volition, and on the other, there are collectives, such as groups, society, and the

world. Between them lies this shared current and the push, perhaps, of something more.

The 16th-century poet and cleric John Donne (1999) described the relationship of the one

to the many like so: No man is an island, entire of itself; every man is a piece of the

continent, a part of the main . . . any mans death diminishes me, because I am involved

in mankind (p. 63). As human beings, we all live in relation, and in the sense of

synchronicity, we might live in relation to collectives in which we play a part.

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This thesis addresses the joining of personal and collective meaning by delving

into the concept of synchronicity as a bridge between the inner and outer world(s). What

follows is a brief synopsis of the emergence of synchronicity, a road map of sorts, in

order to place these ideas in context to the exploration of this thesis.

Setting the Stage

Beginning in the 17th century, the perspective of a meaningful universe was

uprooted by the concepts of classical mechanics and Newtonian physics (Combs &

Holland, 2001). From antiquity, the ubiquitous view of the world was that it held

underlying order and was composed of purposeful, interrelated, and essential parts. This

view was undermined with the acceptance of scientific laws that presupposed causal

relationships and that dismissed any evidence that could not be measured or pinned

down. The universe became empty. It was mere space, dotted with particles that struck

one another and matter that interacted according to fixed precepts. With the inception of

Albert Einsteins laws of relativity and the rise of quantum physics, however, the

Newtonian and purely mechanistic paradigms were found insufficient (Gribbin, 1984;

Combs & Holland, 2001).

On a fundamental level, nature could not be measured or defined exactly. If one

measured the momentum of a particle, for instance, then its location was uncertain, and

vice versa (Koestler, 1973). Matter could also exist in multiple states. Light, for example,

behaved as a particle (photon) in some experiments and as a wave in others. Matter

existed in a state of quantum potential, which was not fixed until it was observed in some

way (Gribbin, 1984). The world was governed, then, by outcomes that rested on

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possibility and chance (see Gribbin, 1984; Wolf, 1994), and science was forced to

accommodate the relative and the uncertain, as well as chaotic and emergent properties.

Furthermore, matter was related by unseen, unknown forces. In one seminal

experiment (see Gribbin, 1984; Thaheld, 2003), two polarized photons were fired in

opposite directions. The two photons were correlated by being fired at the same time, and

as one photon was measured, its polarization became fixed. However, it was discovered

that the measurement also fixed the polarization of the other photon, which was now far

afield, traveling at the speed of light. The photons were not linked by any known physical

law, and yet information passed between them (Thaheld, 2003). As the astrophysicist

John Gribbin (1984) wrote, Some interaction links the two [photons] inextricably [and]

those particles seem to be inseparably connected into some indivisible whole, each aware

of what happens to the others (p. 4). Matter interacted in an irreducible way, as part of

an unseen order.

In one eloquent passage, Lao-Tzu, the legendary 6th-century BCE Chinese

philosopher and poet, described the relevance of the not-seen in the world:

We put thirty spokes together and call it a wheel;

But it is on the space where there is nothing that the utility of the wheel depends.

We turn clay to make a vessel;

But it is on the space where there is nothing that the utility of the vessel depends.

We pierce doors and windows to make a house;

And it is on these spaces where there is nothing that the utility of the house

depends.

Therefore just as we take advantage of what is, we should recognize the utility of

what is not. (As cited in Jung, 1952/2014, p. 487)

As important as the observed world was, there were other unseen components that were

critical and that defined the organization of matter. Observable matter, in fact, makes up

some 5% of the universe, whereas the other 95% is composed of unseen dark matter and

5

dark energy (Ferris, 2015, p. 112). Empty space is suffused with quantum fields, which

are literally everywhere (p. 122). Unseen is not empty. To explain the nature of the

largely unobservable universe, then, require[s] something new: a quantum theory of

space and gravitation (p. 123). This is uncertainty and acausality writ large, on a grand

scale. As the poet Rainer Maria Rilke (2009) wrote, We are not really at home in our

interpreted world (p. 3). The world, it might be said, resists reduction and

compartmentalization.

Further, Jung emphasized the relativity of physical laws of the universe via his

theory of synchronicity (Pauli & Jung, 1992/2001). Einstein had proposed that space-time

was relative, in part from how it was viewed by an observer. Jung proposed, too, that an

observer relativized space and time through interactions between the psyche and the

physical world (Jung, 1952/2014). For many years Jung collaborated with the Nobel-

prize winning physicist Wolfgang Pauli in the development of his theories (see

Atmanspacher, 2014; Atmanspacher & Fuchs, 2014; Lindorff, 2004; Pauli & Jung,

1992/2001), particularly in regard to the relationship between psyche and matter. Both

men felt that their respective fields were converging and that they were elucidating the

nature of reality from different perspectives (Jung, 1973, p. 546). Psyche entangled

matter, and vice versa. At base, both men conceived of the mental and the physical as

complementary states of the same underlying energy.

For his part, Jung (1952/2014) reestablished a link between the individual

(psyche) and the outside world, and that is where he stopped, for the most part, even as he

hinted at the individuals place in a greater pattern. A collective joining remained

nebulous. Nonetheless, Jung (1952/2014) did emphasize a collective aspect to the psyche,

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from the inheritance of universal archetypesorganizers of psychic tendenciesand

with a collective unconscious that all individuals shared. These concepts, furthermore,

were analogous to field theory in which interactions took place within a shared medium

(Cambray, 2009).

Other researchers (see Cambray, 2002, 2009; Franz, 1980a, 1978/1980b, 1992;

Hogenson, 2009; Koestler, 1973) have conceived of the field concept as containing

underlying synchronicities, such as in regard to empathy and in group settings.

Neurobiological studies (see Iacobini, 2008) also support the role of a mediumsuch as

the brain or the social environmentin conveying change, and many studies have looked

at the aspect that mirror neurons play in shared psychic states. For instance, if one

observes the physical action of someone drinking water, then this observation activates a

cascade of mirror neurons in ones brain, as electrical signals, so that one internally

experiences the mental and physical act of drinking water (Iacobini, 2008). It is as if the

others intention inhabited my body (Merleau-Ponty, as cited in Iacobini, 2008, p. 78).

In that moment, another person inhabits and becomes part of oneself (Iacobini, 2008).

Specific areas of the brain become metabolically active, also, in response to thoughts and

feelings (Van Lommel, 2006, p. 143). The physical and the psychological commingle,

then, in ones experience of life. Moreover, the neurophysiologist and Nobel-laureate

John Eccles proposed that within the human body, neurotransmitters communicate across

synaptic gaps according to a probabilistic, rather than a fixed, model (Wolf, 1994). Just as

an observer in quantum physics fixes one state amid matters quantum potential, so might

ones mind make choices within the body from a range of neuraptic possibilities

(Thaheld, 2003; Wolf, 1994).

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One is left to wonder, though, how does one go from a meaningful individual

experience of the world to shared meaningwith another human being or within a group

or culture? Namely, how might ones individual meaning interact with others presumed

meaningful, purposeful existences and is synchronicity still at play? Moreover, might

synchronicity manifest in order to bring individuals into collective relationships that form

group experience, identity, and purpose? I explore this aspect of synchronicity as a

bridge, not only to a meaningful relationship with the world but also as a connector to a

web of interrelations and groups in which human beings might find collective

significance.

Guiding Purpose

I have experienced synchronicities in my life, often during periods of transition.

The psychologist Richard Tarnas (2014, lecture) indicated that these events cluster at

specific times, during crises and transformations and following births and deaths. These

instances of birth and death can hold great meaning and be experienced as crises of

meaning, whereas transitions can be understood as psychic deaths (Aziz, 1990). A part of

the psyche needs to die or be left behind in order for change to occur (Tresan, 2004).

Loss can precede gain; death can precede birth. In any event, deeper meaning is needed

as the immediate ego perspective is often one of catastrophe (Aziz, 1990). As Jungs

protg, the psychologist Marie-Louise von Franz (1997) described, The ego complex

explodes (p. 121), during these periods of great emotional tension. Something more

comes into play.

Over the course of writing this thesis, I have also experienced several

synchronicities, seemingly in service of the work. The phenomenon, von Franz (1997)

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wrote, frequently appears when one is gripped by a creative process, which is a kind of

emotional possession and the positive version of madness (p. 123). Also, over the

course of this process, I have encountered many individuals who have spontaneously

relayed their synchronistic experiences to me. I have not had to search for this

phenomenon. I only had to pay attention. When I have been able to maintain a curious

state of mind that is at once both attendant, in the sense of being aware, and detached, by

not forcing my perceptions into an egoic perspective, it seems easier to find this meaning

connection to the world.

These events have had a numinous quality in which I have felt myself to be a part

of something greater, and these moments have brought me closer to others and into

deeper relationship. The effect, then, has been to enrich my connection to others and to

the world. Yet synchronicity, as the psychotherapist and scholar Robert Aziz (1990)

wrote, does not make life easier. An expansion of consciousness also implies the

suffering of change and of leaving something behind. A greater reward implies greater

challenge, and perhaps more attention, integrity, and endurance are required to meet that

challenge. As von Franz (1997) wrote, the longer one follows this path, the more difficult

it becomes to tread. Initially, one can commit the most horrible sins of unconsciousness

without having to pay much for it (p. 114), but after a while any faux pas is an abysmal

catastrophe (p. 114). It is all these experiences that I wish to share. Others might relate

to synchronicity as an individual microcosm and perhaps, too, as a purposeful part of a

group in which the whole cannot be reduced to the sum of its parts. Logically, these

ideasone as a microcosm and one as playing a collective role in the One World

exclude one another. Nevertheless, they may both be true.

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Rationale

The depth psychologist Roderick Main (2011) wrote of the re-enchantment of

society and how Jung sought to transform modernity rather than return to an earlier age.

Society would incorporate aspects of an earlier age, yet those insights would be

understood in a new way, in light of scientific discovery and in light of the present day.

Jung was deeply troubled by aspects of modern life, Main (2011) wrote, including the

depersonalizing effects of society and a stultifying mass-mindedness.

Others were troubled too. From his work with therapeutic groups, the humanistic

psychologist Carl Rogers (1970) wrote of symptoms of modern life, such as alienation

and disconnection from ones rootsfrom ones family and ancestors. The development

of group bonds would help people not to feel alone or adrift in society, and the creation of

collective identity would help foster compassion. The travails of others would be

relatable and irreducible from oneself. Individuals might cooperate and collaborate more,

also, by cultivating group identity and purpose (Rogers, 1970). Furthermore, perhaps

these group formulations, guided by empathic engagement, are creative synchronicities in

nature and are, as such, important to individual experience.

It is important to study this topic because it has the prospect of bringing human

beings into a deeper relationship with ourselves, others, and with the outside world. Much

of the benefit of therapy derives from improved relationship, with oneself and with a

therapist, for instance (B. Duncan, 2010). If one feels more accepting of oneself, and

others, and more aware of connections that he or she might have in the world via

synchronicity, then the world might be perceived as bettermore inclusive and less

threatening. Synchronicity engenders a sense of meaning and facilitates connection. By

10

understanding this phenomenon more clearly, the psychological well-being of individuals

and collectives in society can be promoted while new paths to fulfillment and purpose

might be discovered.

Methodology

The research problem. Jung (1952/2014) introduced synchronicity as

meaningful coincidence and as an acausal connecting principle that joins an individuals

inner, subjective experience with the outside world. These events are unique and creative

and are perceived subjectively (Jung, 1952/2014). Others have examined the junction

between the individual and the outer social order in terms of the synchronistic

matchmaker (Aziz, 1990, p. 203) and with the formation of ones soul-family (Franz,

1978/1980b, p. 177). Cultural synchronicities (Cambray, 2009) have also been studied, in

terms of how these events relate to modern life and shared meaning.

Since synchronicity is experienced subjectively, one way that it might be

perceived is through story and the illustration of experience. My own creative writing

could elucidate this more expansive reality, which joins the seemingly disparate interior

and exterior worlds through an equivalence of meaning. It might illustrate how strangers

and separate lives can be entwined through constellations of shared meaning and how

synchronicity might manifest and catalyze a group identity and narrative.

The research questions. The following questions will be the focus of the

exploration of this thesis: How might synchronicity affect a group of people and coalesce

a common purpose through an intersection of shared meaning? Furthermore, what effects

might this have on an individual basis and on a collective one?

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Methodological approach. The methodology in this thesis is qualitative. It is a

combination of an alchemical hermeneutic approach (Romanyshyn, 2013) and an artistic-

creative one (Barrett, 2004). I have been gripped by this topic for more than 20 years, and

the alchemical hermeneutic approach (Romanyshyn, 2013) posits, accordingly, that one

is first chosen by the research (p. 62). The unfinished business in the soul of the work is

differentiated from egoic demands upon it (p. 65), and the re-search process is a re-

turning (p. 74) and a re-membering (p. 78) of knowledge that is already known at some

level. The work is invited into dialogue, with the intention of the ego and manifestations

of the psyche: Dreams, reflections, reveries, and synchronicities can be included and

incorporated as data. The work is alchemical; thus, the researcher is transformed as the

work is engaged and the story unfolds (Romanyshyn, 2013).

The artistic-creative method of inquiry also involves an immersion in the material,

as well as in unconscious material that arises (Pacifica Graduate Institute, 2013). In

addition, a production thesis contains a creative component and a theoretical analysis of

that production and its relevance to the field of psychology (p. 57). Through this creative

work and experience, one gains knowledge that is derived from interactions with the

material and social environment (Barrett, 2004). In the production aspect of the thesis,

chapters of a novel, then, could show, for example, how synchronistic events enlist and

entwine a group of strangers and join their subjective experiences through an equivalence

of meaning.

Limitations. Due to the nature of synchronicity, it may be more suited for study

via qualitative methodologies, which can readily incorporate subjective aspects of reality.

Nonetheless, there have been some quantitative studies of synchronistic phenomena (see

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Atmanspacher & Fuchs, 2014; Cambray, 2009; Haas & Langer, 2014; Jung & Pauli,

1952/1955; Main, 2011; Perry et al., 2011; Van Lommel, 2006, 2007/2010; Van Lommel,

van Wees, Meyers, & Elfferich, 2001). Although I am not discounting the merits of

quantitative study, I believe there are many ways in which I can elucidate and enrich the

subject of my study within my chosen method. A portion of the study is related to my

experience, so I am limited, somewhat, to my imagination and to my own perceived

connections. Yet the nature of synchronicity suggests that what one experiences as

personal is also universal and relatable (Jung, 1952/2014). If I do my job well in relaying

my sense of the phenomenon, then others might benefit too.

Ethical concerns

I did not use human subjects in my fictional work. I needed to be mindful of the

potential impact and stress upon the researcher, myself, as this type of alchemical

methodology might encompass oneself. I could have been consumed in the creative

aspect of the work, for instance, and I had to be careful not to be too engaged, or too

distant, so that I would be overwhelmed or rendered inert by the creative process.

Overview of Thesis

Chapter II presents a literature review of synchronicity, beginning with Jungs

(1952/1955, 1931/1962, 1984, 1952/2014, 2009) work, which posited the concept,

primarily, in terms of ones individual experience. The review continues with

synchronistic group experiences, including research related to empathy, group therapy,

and emergent systems, and concludes with an exposition regarding meaning that

transcends an individual perspective.

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Chapter III begins with a prologue to the artistic-creative exploration of

synchronicity, by indicating how the fictional work can illustrate an experience of

synchronicity(ies) and how this phenomenon might manifest itself and encompass a

group of individuals with common purpose and shared identity.

Chapter IV includes a conclusion and a summary of the research and what was

discovered in the process. This is followed by implications for further research and an

afterword. The Appendix contains the presentation of the fictional work.

Chapter II

Literature Review

Overview

The term synchronicity was introduced by Jung in 1929 in a seminar on dream

analysis (Jung, 1984). He referred to images that were created by nonparticipants, but that

mirrored the class material, and wrote, I have invented synchronicity as a term to cover

these phenomena, that is, things happening at the same moment as an expression of the

same time content (p. 417). Jung first used synchronicity in a public address in 1930 at

the memorial for his friend, the German sinologist Richard Wilhelm, and called it the

synchronistic principle, based on an acausal connection between events (Jung,

1931/1962, pp. 141-142).

It was not until 1951 that Jung elaborated his concept of synchronicity at the

Eranos lecture, On Synchronicity. The lecture was drawn from his essay Synchronicity:

An Acausal Connecting Principle (Jung, 1952/1955) as the first half of the book The

Interpretation of Nature and the Psyche. The second half of the book was written by

Wolfgang Pauli, with whom Jung had developed some of his thoughts regarding

synchronicity, including parallels with modern physics (see Jung & Pauli, 1952/1955).

In the foreword, Jung (1952/2014) wrote that the work was making good on a

promise that for many years he had lacked the courage to fulfill (p. 419). He had alluded

to synchronicity for decades, but he felt that the complexity of the problem was too great

and his scientific training too meager for him to tackle such an endeavor. Nonetheless,

15

the phenomenon had drawn closer to him over the years, and his experiences had

multiplied to the point that he was ready to make an attempt at explanation. As a

psychiatrist and psychotherapist, Jung had encountered many people who had

experienced synchronicity, yet they did not reveal their experiences for fear of ridicule.

These experiences, though, had been paramount to many of his patients, so the very

obscure field [was] philosophically of the greatest importance (p. 420), and Jungs

interest rested on a scientific and humanistic foundation.

A Personal Encounter

Jung drew closer to the experience of synchronicity in those intervening years

with his work on the The Red Book (Jung, 2009). He began workon what would later

become The Red Bookin 1913 and continued until 1930, following a process of self-

experimentation in which he gave free rein to his unconscious. He found parallels

between the content of his unconscious mind and the outside world, and he posited that

the individual psyche was connected to a larger collective (Jung, 1960/2010). A

prominent question for Jung, then, was how the individual psyche connected to the

collective and what this interdependence could mean (p. ix). Finally, Jungs work on The

Red Book began to wind down when he received the text The Secret of the Golden

Flower from Wilhelm, and he found that his self-exploration mirrored certain contents of

the I Ching and Eastern philosophy (Jung, 2009). Jung took the arrival of the text, an

alchemical treatise, as portent that his inner exploration had ended, for his individual

content had manifested in the outside world.

In fact, Jung (2009) wrote that his years of self-exploration, recorded in The Red

Book, were the most important of his life and that all his psychological theory was

16

derived from these discoveries. In his view, his personal unconscious corresponded with

a collective unconscious, and this relationship was universally applicable. Furthermore,

there were relationships between inner subjective events and outer objective ones, which

he attempted to unearth and bridge. Synchronicity would become one such bridge.

Supporting Evidence

Synchronicity is defined, in one instance, as a meaningful relationship between

two or more events that are not causally related to one another (Jung, 1952/2014). That is

to say, one event is not caused by the other; rather, the events appear as a falling

together in time (Jung, 1952/2014, p. 435). Jung used several arguments to support his

theory, one consisting of parallels in quantum physics.

Jung (1952/2014) argued that many natural laws are only statistically valid and

applicable at large scales and that they are based on repeating experiments many times to

minimize irregular results. The exceptional results, however, are not eliminatedbut they

are treated as suchand as the number of experimental trials increases (and is postulated

to infinity) then an average outcome is derived (Franz, 1980a). Thus, the average result of

this kind of experimentation is an abstraction that only exists theoretically, as unique cases

are disregarded and considered statistically irrelevant (p. 28). In the natural world, though,

the actual result of experiments is an accumulation of unique cases, not an average that

eliminates heterogeneity (p. 28).

Also, when dealing with minute scales, as in quantum physics, deterministic laws

are inapplicable and predictions are uncertain, because quanta do not behave causally

(Jung, 1952/2014). The physicist Niels Bohr indicated that electrons within an atom

jumped from one orbit to another without apparent cause (Wolf, 1994), and radioactive

17

decay has been cited (Mansfield, 1995; Stein, 1998) as another example of an acausal

phenomenon in nature, along with the ubiquity of the Fibonacci sequence (an ancient

series of numbers often found in biology, music, and art, among other settings) (Main,

1997). All these examples, among others, are just so (Jung, 1952/2014, p. 516) in that

they appear in a particular manner without cause. Moreover, in the subatomic world

causality has been disregarded, in favor of relationships of correlation and influence

(Shoup, 2006). Considering developments in quantum physics, Jungs supporting

evidence has been criticized and modified (see Aziz, 1990; Cambray, 2009; Mansfield,

1995; Sparks, 2007), but his arguments have been taken as relatively sound.

Furthermore, (classical) natural law was founded on the notion of causality and

transfer of energy, based on the observation and measurement of bodies in motion (Jung,

1952/2014). However, if these laws are only statistically valid and relatively applicable,

then causality is of limited use in describing natural processes. Likewise, causality was

inapplicable under certain conditions, such as at the birth of the universe, when space and

time were reduced to almost zero (Jung, 1952/2014, p. 445). Causality is bound up with

space and time, so Jung postulated that there must be acausal connection, too, which has

existed from the genesis of the universe (p. 516). The absence of causality during this

original undifferentiated state is consistent with theories in modern physics (Cambray,

2009), and it gave Jung further evidence for the a priori existence of acausal connection

and synchronicity (Jung, 1952/2014, p. 447, 516).

Jung (1952/2014) also cited the experiments of J. B. Rhine (1934, 1937, 1938), a

researcher of parapsychological phenomena, at Duke University in the 1930s as evidence

of acausal connection. Rhine carried out large-scale experiments in which participants

18

tried to guess images imprinted on one side of a deck of cards. Rhine obtained

statistically significant results, wherein subjects guessed cards at a higher rate than

expected, which supported claims of extrasensory perception (Jung, 1952/2014). The

intriguing results of Rhines experiments have been hotly debated, and subsequently,

some studies have replicated his findings (see Jahn & Dunne, 1987), but others have not

(see Wynn, Wiggins, & Harris, 2001).

Another study (Wackermann, Seiter, Keibel, & Walach, 2003) demonstrated

extrasensory effects where two people were placed in separate rooms that were

acoustically and electromagnetically shielded from one another (p. 60). One person

viewed visual stimuli (p. 61), and that persons electroencephalogram reading (EEG)

changed, unsurprisingly, upon seeing the images. Concurrently, though, a significant

number of the EEG readings for the control groupthe people located in a separate,

shielded roomalso changed, although there was no interaction between the subjects

(p. 60). People may correlate brain activity, the study concluded, although no

biophysical mechanism is known (p. 60). Furthermore, there have been other studies of

synchronicity (see Haas & Langer, 2014; Main, 1997, 2004; Perry et al., 2011), as well as

tests of related phenomena (see Dunne, 2001; Main, 2011; Thaheld, 2003; Wackerman et

al., 2003).

The Meaning Factor

Most pertinent to Jungs work, was that in Rhines studies people tended to guess

more cards correctly at the beginning of experiments and the results that were obtained

did not vary over time or distance (Jung, 1952/2014). For instance, certain people

guessed many cards correctly, even when they were physically separated from the

19

examinerwho could be located several thousand miles awayor they correctly guessed

cards that were only revealed in the future. After meeting with Einstein, Jung

(1952/2014) proposed then that distance and time (space-time) could be psychically, as

well as physically relative (p. 433). In some cases, as in Rhines experiments, events

could not be causal or dependent on classical natural law, since there is no known transfer

of energy that exists outside of space and time (pp. 433-434). The results of Rhines

experiments, that a subjects initial interest and subsequent decline affected the ability to

guess cards correctly, suggested that ones interest was critical to achieving significant

results (p. 440).

Meaning, then, became an organizing factor (Jung, 1952/2014, pp. 447-448) that

constellated a creative moment in time in which events were related through

synchronistic connection. This organizing factor, in which psyche affected matter and the

outside world, was termed the psychoid archetype by Jung (1952/2014), and

synchronicity was one instance in which the psychoid archetype was activated. This was

indicative of a more expansive nature in which psyche and matter entwined (Stein, 1998,

p. 202), via the archetype(s), as different states of energy (p. 209). Aspects of these twin

realities, of the mental and the physical, were synchronistically related and coordinated

(p. 209).

Jung (1952/2014) wrote that the phenomenon of synchronicity often manifested in

impossible situations (p. 440) when there seemed to be no possibility of a solution or a

way forward. In Rhines experiments, it would have taken a miracle to guess unknown

cards correctly (p. 441), even guessing them in advance or guessing them remotely from

thousands of miles away. In practice, Jung cited examples in which a patients therapy

20

was at a standstill and there seemed to be no way to progress toward wholeness and

healing (p. 440).

A famous instance is when Jung had been treating a woman, Maggy Reichstein,

who consistently shot down any of Jungs interpretations, and those of two previous

analysts, that did not align with her rigid views (de Moura, 2014). At a critical moment

(Jung, 1952/2014, p. 438) in her therapy, Reichstein had a dream in which she received a

golden scarab (p. 438). Jung identified this scarab as an ancient symbol of rebirth that

was depicted in Egyptian mythology (p. 439). As she described her dream, a persistent

tapping was heard at the window; Jung opened it, and in flew a greenish-gold scarabaeid

beetle. Jung caught it and presented it to Reichstein (p. 438). The opportune arrival of the

scarab shocked her and had the effect of breaking through her rigid rationality so that her

therapy could progress (p. 439).

Reichsteins case contained a number of synchronicities (de Moura, 2014), and it

was significant for Jung as he treated a Western patient who was connected, in part, to

Eastern consciousness (p. 399). Through her case, Jung could begin to reconcile the

division between a rationalistic Western science that split spirit and matter and subjective

Eastern philosophies (p. 400). In a letter to Reichstein, Jung wrote, simply, I learned a

lot from you (p. 391). He wrote, too, that what he learned would help other people

(p. 391).

There were other synchronicities that Jung conveyed, from his life and the lives of

others. These moments were always accompanied by a numinous feeling, an experience

akin to transcendent awe (Jung, 1952/2014). This specific charge (p. 436) indicated the

activation of an archetype or archetypesin short, the inherited organizing factors of the

21

psyche. This activation allowed unconscious content to arise that was often ancient and

archetypal (p. 437), and in these events, inexplicable knowledge was brought forth

(p. 446). Synchronicity, then, indicated the occurrence of a certain psychic state with one

or more external events that appeared as meaningful parallels to the momentary

subjective state (p. 441).

In sum, the three key elements of synchronicity are meaningful coincidence (or

co-incidents), acausal connection, and numinous feeling (Cambray, 2009). These

qualities are always present, yet no law exists in which synchronicities can be derived, as

they are unique, creative acts in time (Jung 1952/2014, pp. 518-519).

A Bridge to the Collective

Synchronicity inhabits a world in which the distinction between subject and

object has broken down (Sparks, 2007). At times, we become the object of physical

events in the external world that act . . . on us (p. 12). On the surface, this state is akin to

participation mystique, the term credited to the anthropologist Lucien Lvy-Bruhl (Segal,

2007), in which primitive humans saw their lives as inseparable from a collective

relationship with the world. There was no concept of the separate individual in a

primitive society (Jung, 1952/2014). There was no meaningless chance, and

synchronicities were an intrinsic part of life (Franz, 1980a, p. 48). The difference in

modern experiences of synchronicity is that the phenomenon is experienced as

momentary rather than ubiquitous (Segal, 2007). Primitive peoples, in contrast,

experienced the world as if it was an extension of themselves, or they experienced

themselves, rather, as if they were extensions of the world.

22

On this point, von Franz (1980a) described how people acted as if they formed

one body, to comprise a fate community (p. 43). Humans in primitive societies acted as

if they were one body, and if one member of the tribe was starving, then everyone was

anxious. Hence, they always shared food (p. 43). Nearly every issue was communal, for a

problem that concerned one affected everyone. In addition to the embodiment of a fate

community, von Franz (1978/1980b) wrote that people might constitute a symbolic

family.

Von Franz (1978/1980b) wrote that each person garners a soul-family in the world

(p. 177). This group is not formed by accident or mere self-interest but rather is created in

service of deeper, spiritual concerns that go beyond the individual (p. 177). She called

this the social function of the Self (p. 177) wherein others are drawn in to an intrinsic,

peculiar intimacy and relatedness (p. 176). In this gathering, one becomes aware of ones

relation to others as a facet of ones personal development (individuation in Jungs

terms), and one transcends emotional ties to see the objective meaning that underlies

these relationships (p. 177). Von Franz emphasized that in this world created by the Self

we meet all those many to whom we belong, whose hearts we touch (p. 177) and here,

there is no distance, but immediate presence (Jung, as cited in Franz, p. 177). At this

point, Aziz (1990) wrote that the inner pattern and the outer social world unite

(p. 203). The bridge is traversed and the collective is reached.

The Unseen Field

In terms of collective experience, Jungian analyst Joseph Cambray (2009) wrote

of empathy as an experience that temporarily links oneself to another (p. 80). There is a

synchronistic field that underlies empathy, as the causes that activate these connections

23

are often unconscious, with a psychoid quality to them (p. 80). Field theory itself, he

maintained, is the study of expressions or manifestations that indicate the presence of an

underlying connecting principle (p. 42). Cambray referenced the Buddhist concept of

Indras net:

In the heaven of the great god Indra is said to be a vast and shimmering net, finer

than a spiders web, stretching to the outermost reaches of space. Strung at each

intersection of the diaphanous threads is a reflecting jewel. Since the net is infinite

in extent, the jewels are infinite in number. In the glistening surface of each jewel

is reflected all the other jewels, even those in the furthest corner of the heavens. In

each reflection, again are reflected all the infinitely many other jewels, so that by

this process, reflections of reflections continue without end (Mumford, Series, &

Wright, 2002, p. ii). (As cited in Cambray, 2009, p. 44)

This concept is reminiscent of Leibnizs idea of monads, in which each monad

reflects all others and is a microcosm of the universe in itself (as cited in Jung,

1952/2014, p. 499). An underlying unity produces an interrelated web of individuals who

are not causally related to one another but who exist in a pre-established harmony

(p. 498). Thus, each individual is a little world (p. 498) and a representation of the One

universe (p. 499). Individuals or souls, as Leibniz wrote, are living images of the universe

(as cited in Jung, 1952/2014, p. 499). This image of humanity as a microcosm can be

compared to 1 Corinthians Chapter 12:426 in the New Testament (Standard King James

Version):

Now there are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit. And there are differences of

administrations, but the same Lord. . . . it is the same God which worketh all in

all. . . . For as the body is one, and hath many members, and all the members of

that one body, being many, are one body: so also is [God]. . . . There should be no

schism in the body [and] the members should have the same care one for another.

And whether one member suffer, all the members suffer with it; or one member

be honoured, all the members rejoice with it.

There are many different divine expressions and each one is a unique representation of a

more complex pattern and a part of that pattern. The Spirit/Pattern/God is enriched by the

24

multitude and harmony of these divine expressions, the diversities of gifts, and it is

diminished by any division among them.

In addition, this arrangement, in which humans constitute an interrelated network

of individual wholes, has similarities to the field of emergence (Cambray, 2009). As such,

a group of individual parts forms a matrix in which new features arise, and the

properties of the whole transcend any and all of the individuals and their interactions

(p. 91). These new properties are dependent on individual interactions, yet they are

unforeseeable from an individual perspective (p. 91). Also, synchronistic and similar

phenomena can appear in groups, and this fosters the quality of emergence in these

groups (p. 92).

On this point, Rogers (1970) wrote of an increased capacity that arose within

himself from his work with groups:

I nearly always feel a genuine and present concern for each member and for the

group as a whole. It is hard to give any reason for this. It is just a fact. . . . I trust

the feelings, words, impulses, fantasies that emerge in me. In this way I am using

more than my conscious self, drawing on some of the capacities of the whole

organism. (pp. 56-57)

Rogers described different qualities that spontaneously emerged from his group

experiences that transcended his individual concerns, and at the same time, he felt that his

individual capacity was enhanced as he was connected to a greater sense of being. These

changes occurred within oneself, as part of a collective, and they emerged in the

interactions between members of the collective. These meetings were supremely

important, Rogers wrote, because they had the capability to overcome any isolation that

one felt in contemporary life (p. 176). As meaningful interactions spread, individuals

began to see themselves as unique and choosing persons, deeply cared for by other

25

unique persons (p. 176). Hence, these interactions allowed one to connect to others, to

humanize society and to live life more fully (p. 176).

Similarly, Cambray (2009) expanded on the importance of synchronicity within

society. He wrote that synchronicities might unfold over the course of many years,

centuries even, within society to create an expansion of knowledge and to form cultural

synchronicities (pp. 99-102). Accordingly, he wrote of mirror neurons, among other

instances, as serendipitous discoveries within society that may contain a synchronistic

core (p. 106). These stunning coincidences, Cambray wrote, have greatly influenced

the emergence of meaning within a modern cultural narrative (p. 106).

A Unifying Force

Main (2011) wrote that Jungs concept of synchronicity contributed to a re-

enchantment and a re-sacrilisation of the world (p. 148) and that Jung was attempting to

transform modernity by retrieving important aspects of the pre-modern (p. 144). One

such return was to view the universe as a meaningful cosmos (Main, 2011, p. 156).

Another was to view the self as more porous and open to outside influences, which

placed more value on social interactions, such as within groups and in the making of

consensus (p. 150). According to Main, Jung emphasized an experiencefrom the

activation of the psychoid archetype and the manifestations of the unconsciousthat was

identical to how premodern humans perceived God, spirits, and demons (p. 149).

Moreover, the experience of synchronicity functions as an important equilibrating

principle in modern society and as a complement to rigid causality (Jung, 1952/2014). In

Jungs case, Main (1997) wrote that Jungs near-death experience in 1944 following a

heart attack could be understood in that light (p. 37). Jungs perceptions of absolute

26

knowledge, space-time relativity, and his visionary experiences of union (Main, 1997,

p. 37) described synchronistic phenomena that resulted in a kind of mystic marriage [for

Jung] between [his] self and [the] world (p. 37). These revelations shook Jungs

certainty and freed him from psychological reductionism (Main, 1997, p. 39). Jungs

discernment of this overpowering mystery gave him the courage he needed to expand

upon his work (Main, 1997, p. 39). Jung (1961/1989) wrote,

After the illness a fruitful period of work began for me. A good many of my

principal works were written only then. The insight I had had . . . gave me the

courage to undertake new formulations. I no longer attempted to put forward my

own opinion, but surrendered myself to the current of my thoughts. Thus one

problem after another revealed itself to me and took shape. (p. 297)

His experiences of synchronistic phenomena and the insight he gained, during this period,

allowed Jung to set aside a narrow egoic perspective and to tap into a deeper stream of

consciousness.

Jungs experiences have been shared by many others, and near-death states that

involved synchronistic phenomena were subsequently studied to gain objective data. A

study that was initiated in 1988 (Van Lommel et al., 2001) followed 344 survivors of

cardiac arrest from ten Dutch hospitals. The patients had clinically died when their

circulation and breathing had stopped (Van Lommel, 2006, p. 135). According to current

medical concepts it was impossible to experience consciousness at this time (p. 135), yet

18% of the patients did recall the time during their deaths (p. 137). Moreover, doctors,

nurses, and relatives could verify the details that the patients recalled (p. 139). Also,

many of these recollections shared commonalities, such as an instantaneous life review,

nonlocalized perception, a meeting with deceased relatives, an awareness of and positive

emotions toward death, a sense of oneself as an energic field of consciousness, and a

27

connectedness to others as fields of consciousness (pp. 137, 140). Some two thirds (66%)

of the patients that reported these perceptions said they had core experiences that had

transformed their lives, and these beliefs persisted after 2-year and 8-year follow-up

interviews (p. 137). Further, only the patients who had these experiences reported this

transformation.

There is much overlap, then, between Jungs (1961/1989) experience(s) following

his heart attack and the transformative experiences reported in these studies (Van

Lommel, 2006; Van Lommel et al., 2001). In all instances, these experiences seem to be

incredibly important to people. Jungs work, in turn, emphasized this critical meaning.

Ones life and the universe could be experienced as meaningful, he wrote, and

furthermore it should be for the sake of personal and social well-being (as cited in Main,

2011, p. 154).

In terms of the psychological impact of these moments, the Jungian analyst V.

Walter Odajnyk (2011) described these synchronistic experiences as conveying a sense of

unity of being that freed a person from emotional and intellectual entanglements (p. 28).

This experience of life freed one to be oneself. In addition, Rogers (1980) wrote that

when he was at his best, as a therapist and a group facilitator,

I am somehow in touch with the unknown in me [and] whatever I do seems to be

full of healing. . . . When I can relax and be close to the transcendental core of

me, then I may behave in strange and impulsive ways to the relationship, ways

which I cannot justify rationally. . . . But these strange behaviors turn out to be

right, in some odd way: it seems that my inner spirit has reached out and touched

the inner spirit of the other. Our relationship transcends itself and becomes a part

of something greater. (p. 129)

28

Rogers experienced a transcendence of spirit in his clinical work, in which he was in tune

with an intuitive, irrational sense of the world and felt himself to be part of a larger

creation. A group participant elaborated:

I felt the oneness of spirit in the community. We breathed together, felt together,

even spoke for one another. I felt the power of the life force that infuses all of

uswhatever that is. I felt its presence without the usual barricades of me-ness

or you-nessit was like a meditative experience when I feel myself as a center

of consciousness, very much a part of the broader, universal consciousness. And

yet with that extraordinary sense of oneness, the separateness of each person

present has never been more clearly preserved. (pp. 129-130)

This person felt herself (or himself, the gender was unspecified) to be a part of

this newfound community and to participate in and be contained by a greater

consciousness, which promoted a sense of harmony. At the same time, she felt herself to

be distinct, and as one star, if you will, within a wide constellation. In sum, Rogers

(1980) wrote that it was clear that experiences in therapy and in groups involve the

transcendent, the indescribable, [and] the spiritual (p. 130). One was transcended.

This desire to experience greater meaning and to be a part of it seemed to emanate

from within the individual. The 13th-century German philosopher, Albertus Magnus,

wrote, It is the soul who desires a thing more intensely, who makes things more

effective and more like what comes forth. . . . Everything she does with that aim in view

possesses motive power and efficacy for what the soul desires (as cited in Jung,

1952/2014, p. 448). Ones soul (or in Jungs terminology, the Self) manifests

synchronicities (Jung, 1952/2014, p. 449) that are dependent on affect. Through the

souls activation of the psychoid archetype, transcendent meaning is created in the psyche

and shared with the arrangement of an external event (Jung, 1952/2014). Somehow

29

meaning, between the subjective inner state and the objective outer one, is equivalent in

these moments. Thus, the smallest parts are akin to the greatest ones (p. 490).

Greater Purpose

In turning to the purpose of synchronicity, Jung (1952/2014) wrote that where

meaning prevails, order results (p. 488). To an individual, this ordering could serve as

compensation, for example, to a one-sided attitude that is impervious to other views

(Main, 2011). It could also serve to eliminate opposition between ones ego and ones

deeper, more authentic self (Jung, 1952/2014), or it could elicit an experience of psychic

renewal. Cambray (2009) emphasized other experiences of synchronicity, such as when it

was used in the service of greed and domination (p. 95). Moreover, Aziz (1990)

identified three pathological reactions to synchronicity, including a lack of differentiation

from the object, a failure of interpretation, and an aggrandizement of the role of the ego

(p. 191). Tarnas (2014, lecture) posited a shadow aspect to synchronicity. It could serve,

for instance, as a necessary humbling of the ego, or it might be viewed in a paranoid or

narcissistic manner in other instances. Idealization of synchronistic meaning should be

avoided, Cambray (2002) maintained, because various pathological reactions can occur

when there is a lack of differentiation between [the] self and the experience (p. 95).

Similarly, the psychologist and Jungian analyst Donald Kalsched (2013)

cautioned against overidentification with the universe as a spiritual bypass to the

development of human relationship(s). Nonetheless, from his work with trauma

survivors, he wrote that synchronicity could sustain one in the heavens, whereas

unconscious work would link ones thoughts to ones affect-in-the-body. A celestial

30

experience, then, could provide supportive scaffolding until the person was ready to

assume a more engaged, embodied existence.

Jung (1952/2014) also wrote that the meaning of synchronicities was a priori in

relation to human consciousness and apparently exists outside man (pp. 501-502).

Hence the principle of synchronicity existed as a formal factor in nature (along with

causality) before the arrival of humankind (p. 504). Moreover, the greater order that

synchronicity alludes to is indicative of the unus mundus, the One World, in which all

things exist in relationship to one another (Jung, 1952/2014). The Greek physician

Hippocrates wrote,

There is one common flow, one common breathing, all things are in sympathy.

The whole organism and each of its parts are working in conjunction for the same

purpose. . . . The great principle extends to the extremest part, and from the

extremest part it returns to the great principle, to the one nature. (As cited in Jung,

1952/2014, p. 490)

So synchronicity is a manifestation of the connection that exists between all things,

personal and collective, that work together in commonality. It is one illustration of a more

wondrous, expansive, expressive universe (Tarnas, 2014, lecture).

Furthermore, another conceivable aspect of this expanded universe is the concept

of nonlocality in physics (Combs & Holland, 2001; Targ, 2001; Thaheld, 2003;

Wackerman et al., 2003). This refers to matter that interacts in space via an unknown

mechanism. Quanta of light, for example, have been shown to maintain a nonlocal

connection when fired in opposite directions and separating at the speed of light. The

physicist David Bohm termed this concept the holographic universe and wrote that the

essential features of this implicate order are that the whole universe is in some way

enfolded in everything, and that each thing is enfolded in the whole (as cited in Targ,

31

2001, p. x). The universe resembled a hologram, Bohm wrote, in that each region of

space-time contained information about every other point in space-time, for instance, as

demonstrated by the light experiment (Targ, 2001, p. x). Bohm stated that this

information was also available to human awareness, and this implied a wholeness in

which mental and physical states colluded (Targ, 2001, p. x). Thus, there is no real

division between mind and matter, psyche and soma (as cited in Targ, 2001, p. x). So

worlds were coming together: physics and psychology, matter and mind, the observed

and the unseen.

The concept of synchronicity, though, was incomplete, and to Jung it was but one

special instance of acausal connection (Jung, 1952/2014). The underlying order, in which

synchronicity played a part, remained elusive. Jung surmised, however, that the relation

between body and soul may yet be understood as a synchronistic one (p. 500) and if so,

the phenomenon would not be rare or constitute a special instance (p. 500). Van Lommel

(2006) proposed such a theory in which undivided, nonlocal consciousness collapses via

quantum mechanics into ones singular waking consciousness (pp. 146-147). Life creates

this transition, just as observation in quantum physics collapses quantum potential into

singular instances (p. 146). The brain then acts as a receiver or as a relay of consciousness

rather than a generator of it (p. 147). If so, an acausal quantum interface between greater

consciousness and consciousness-in-the-body could implicate synchronicity as a

connecting agent.

Jung wondered (1973), though, if the gap between matter and mind could be truly

elucidated.

The difficulty this problem comes up against is that what we can grasp

psychologically never goes deep enough for us to recognize its connection with the

32

physical. And conversely, what we know physiologically is not sufficiently

advanced for us to recognize what would form the bridge to the psychological. If

we approach from the psychological side we . . . would have to be able to penetrate

into the whole mystery of the psyche. But this is totally unconscious to us, because

the psyche cannot lay itself by the heels . . . Similarlyfrom the other side

physics is tapping its way into irrepresentable territory which it can visualize only

indirectly by means of models. (p. 546)

There remained a core of impenetrable mystery that both psychology and physics were

approaching that could only be defined to a degree. Even so, Jung continued, the fields

were approaching similar terrain.

Both sciences, the psychology of the unconscious and atomic physics, are arriving

at concepts which show remarkable points of agreement. . . . If we consider the

psyche as a whole, we come to the conclusion that the unconscious psyche likewise

exists in a space-time continuum, where time is no longer time and space no longer

space. Accordingly, causality ceases too. Physics has reached the same frontier.

(p. 546)

Essentially the two sciences were describing similar phenomena from their

respective vantage points and the gap was narrowing all the while. Jung (1973) concluded

with the importance of synchronicity to this correspondence:

Since the one line of research proceeds from within outwards and the other from

without inwards, and there is no hope of our reaching the point where the two meet,

there is nothing for it but to try to find points of comparison between the deepest

insights on both sides. . . . There is, however, another possibility that should not be

lost sight of, and that is synchronicity, which is basically . . . correspondentia more

specifically and more precisely understood, and was as we know one of the

elements in the medieval explanation of the world. (p. 547)

Thus, there may be no possibility of defining a precise border, yet synchronicity

shows that there is correspondence between the two worlds and a threshold where the

components of the universe, both physical and mental, infuse one another. It bridges the

gap. Notwithstanding his reservations, Jung (1952/2014) continued to search for a precise

fundamental pattern and wrote that there must be an underlying principle which might

possibly explain all such (related) phenomena (pp. 500-501). That clarity eludes our

33

conscious grasp (Franz, 1980a), though, and we can only assume that such a reality exists

that sporadically manifests in the synchronistic event (p. 98).

In the next chapter, I examine a creative, fictional work that I wrote to envision how

individual and collective worlds might entwine through an equivalence of meaning. A

newfound soul-family (Franz, 1978/1980b) is considered along with its emergent

features, as well as the portrayal of contradictory narratives. This is viewed in terms of a

quantum story that displays contradictions while it represents aspects of a singular order.

Chapter III

Synopsis of a Collective Story: The Writers Group

The creative work in this thesis (see Appendix) can be considered in light of what

von Franz (1978/1980b) called the social function of the self (p. 177). Each person

selects certain others (p. 176), and these others are likewise attracted to oneself in order to

progress in a deeper spiritual sense. These individual selves exist in a network, although

each individual may not see all or any of the connections and intrinsic relationships

between them. Nevertheless these individuals have formed a critically important group, in

this story, to serve as a soul-family (p. 177). This family can address issues that might

seem insurmountable from an individual perspective.

Several interrelated stories and crises occur in the narrative, and the resolution of

these is dependent on the collectiveon a writers group that has been formed in the

outside world. This community goes beyond egoistic motivations to find itself in a timeless

relatedness (Franz, 1978/1980b, p. 177).

From the view of the collective, the meaning of these interactions and any

resolutions is more nebulous and intangible. I address this collective meaning more

explicitly in Chapter IV. Nonetheless, this particular group can be seen as a microcosm, as

a collective and a little world, which is itself contained in the unus mundus, the One World.

Just as an individual may contain seemingly disparate parts that work in tandem, so might

the workings of this particular group be indicative of a larger order.

35

In the story, a writer struggles to continue after a successful debut novel and after a

personal tragedy. He forms a writing group, seemingly for aspiring writers to tell their

stories and to aid them from his expertise. In actuality, he uses the group to plagiarize their

work since he is stuck and has run out of fresh ideas. The lives of various group members

have intersected in the past, and they are currently interwoven via synchronicity and via the

concept of quantum entanglement (Limar, n.d.) in which field states (of separate

individuals) correlate.

As such, human beings correlate from a cellular level as carriers of quantum

fields of energy, which accounts for synchronicity within these nonlocal acausal fields

(Limar, n.d.). Different outcomes are possible at each moment via quantum potential, and

all these stories are valid even while appearing contradictory (Frenkel, 2015) as aspects of a

singular order. Consciousness is not localized in an individual but simultaneously belongs

to a group of people (Limar, n.d., p. 7). Thus, the existence of multiple narratives is

explored in the story.

Some connections are recognized in this nascent group, while others can be

discerned by the reader from an outside vantage point. The reader, with a more

encompassing view, may find that this aggregation of consciousness expands the sense of

what is possible for this group. The chapters represent the beginning of a novel in which a

multifaceted reality is starting to be defined; later the group consciousness will address

some unresolved personal issues for its members. Furthermore, the group members

eventually discover the ulterior motives of its founder, but they decide to continue working

for other reasons. These deeper motives are consistent with the apprehension of being part

36

of a soul family and thus joined for deeper purpose, aside from any selfish concerns that

may inhibit these spiritual workings.

So many other collectives could be addressed, from the individual human body to

groups, societies, and the world. This is but one that may be illustrative to readers, who

might find the process analogous to a collective that resounds for them. This is only one

story and should not be considered wholly representative of these phenomena, although it

may encapsulate them to a degree.

Chapter IV

Conclusion

It is not too late

to dive into your increasing depths

where life calmly gives out its own secret.

Rilke, R. M., 1981, p. 27

Do I contradict myself?

Very well . . . I am large, I contain multitudes.

Whitman, W., 1892/2000, p. 77

A meeting entails many things. In a moment, the joining expands ones life and

enriches the creation of ones life experience. Joseph Campbell (1991), who wrote of

comparative mythology, described the experience like so:

People say that what were all seeking is a meaning for life. I dont think thats

what were really seeking. I think that what were seeking is an experience of

being alive, so that our life experiences on the purely physical plane will have

resonances with our own innermost being and reality, so that we actually feel the

rapture of being alive. (p. 1)

The experience of life is enhanced by the resonance between ones innermost being

and the outside world. When these correspond, one feels the rapture of life, akin to

Jungs (1952/2014) numinosity. One can find this resonance throughout the course of

ones life. As Rilke (2009) wrote,

I live my life in growing orbits

Which move out over the things of the world.

Perhaps I can never achieve the last,

But that will be my attempt (p. 13)

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There are countless possibilities, and one experiences the world, and is met by it,

time and again in these orbits of life. The terrain changes too, and a broader range of

expression is discovered as new connections and constellations are illuminated.

These elucidations of life are vast, and the universe offers everything from beauty

sublime to character befouled. There is fullness. The author John Steinbeck (1952/2003)

wrote of this unvarnished quality of nature.

There is more beauty in truth, even if it is a dreadful beauty. The storytellers at the

city gate twist life so that it looks sweet to the lazy and the stupid and the weak,

and this only strengthens their infirmities and teaches nothing, cures nothing, nor

does it let the heart soar. (p. 356)

The world can be ugly and harsh too, and any transcendence of spirit must include this

multifaceted essence. Life abounds. If there is truth to ones inalienable existence and in

the joining of inner and outer worlds, then it exists in fullness and in a seemingly

contradictory nature: a dreadful beauty, an embodied spirit, a timeless end.

The phenomenon of synchronicity shows that one might share in the experience

of others and in the fullness of the world, and it implies a second birth, perhaps, a rebirth

to a position where ones life and ones actions matter and affect patterns of life

experience. This rebirth is illustrated by the following story: In one therapy session, Carl

Rogers (S. Duncan, 2013) counseled a woman named Gloria who agonized over how to

express her true feelings rather than the conventional persona that she displayed. She was

frightened that revealing her true self would upset her whole life. Rogers leaned forward

and said, simply, Its an awfully risky thing to live. This seemed a great comfort to her.

She was understood in that moment, and she was connecting to someone in a deep and

honest way. She was risking herself, too, and she was exposed. It spoke also to Rogerss

(1980) philosophy of person-centered therapy. He aligned himself with anothers nascent

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self (rather than a persona) to show someone that he was here, toorisking too! (and

others were also)and that one was not alone in this struggle.

Living is risky, because how one expresses oneself in the world matters, and it has

real impact both psychically and physically, both within and without. A change in

orientation, in fact, can transform both the inner and the outer worlds. For example, in

1977, two young Buddhist monks undertook an 800-mile pilgrimage for world peace by

walking from a temple in Los Angeles to another near Ukiah, California (Sure & Chau,

2014). The pilgrimage took nearly 3 years as Heng Sure, the lead monk, stopped every

three steps to prostrate himself and pray. Sure and his assistant, Heng Chau, bowed and

prayed at times through unfriendly, gang-ruled neighborhoods, and they found it was

critical to maintain their inner stability. Sure wrote,

When we are sincere, the results are immediately visible . . . the tension dissolves

from street-corner groups that gather to stare at us, and even the heat in the air

seems to cool slightly. . . . If we are false thinking or have any anger or fear in our

own minds . . . the tension builds up and people get hot or uptight as we pass and

we reap the results in increased cursing, anger, and fear from the crowd. (p. 10)

Their inner work was reflected in their outer reception, and they came to see difficult

moments as rare opportunities to test their intention and resolve. Aziz (1990)

contemplated their journey and wrote that success and indeed their survival, they came

to see, depended not on their abilities to defend themselves outwardly . . . but rather, on

their abilities to hold themselves in balance inwardly (p. 119). Their inner balance

maintained outer stability.

Accordingly, there were repercussions when the men lost their inner focus.

Previously, they had been robbed (from their parked car), and Chau dreamed that they

would be robbed again (Aziz, 1990, p. 120). They had been taking extra time to shave

40

and wash and were treating their work more casually (p. 121). In Chaus dream, the

monks had identified with the thieves to a degree and offered little resistance to the theft

(Aziz, 1990). When they set off that day, Sure increased his pace, and at one point Chau

moved far ahead, something that he never did (Aziz, 1990, p. 120). Then, at the top of a

hill Chau saw their parked car and two men trying to break into it. The thieves fled when

they saw him coming. He wrote, What blew my mind was that they were the same men

in the dreamclothes, hair, and all (as cited in Aziz, p. 120). In addition to the

synchronistic experience of inexplicable knowledge, Chau said they were presented with

a choice of outcomes based on their appreciation of the meaning of their journey (Aziz,

1990). They were forced, also, to evaluate their efforts.

So the monks praised the intervention of the thieves because it forced them to

consider why they were undertaking the trip and what was most important to them. It was

as if the universe was communicating, All right if this pilgrimage is important, then you

must take it seriously, or else. Or else stop pretending, for your possessions will be

stolen and your journey will fail. So their inner work dovetailed with their outer efforts

and was just as substantial.

This rebirth, then, is an engagement with the world from ones depth of being, a

re-enchantment, and the journey comes full circle. In setting out, ones internal lived

experience changes. One orbits. The path leads out, and any understanding gained takes

one within, to return to a familiar place and to a homecoming of spirit. A journey may

take place at various levels, also, from the individual to the collective. And it has scope

that may be markedly different from its size.

41

Some of the emphasis of this thesis has been on the granda lifes journey, the

workings of the universe, a vast networkand yet, in regard to synchronicity, size is

relative to meaning. Small things can have great effects; small is writ large. There is a

statement, attributed to Zen Buddhism, that goes how you do anything is how you do

everything (Huber, 1988). The size of the action is relative, small can be immense, in

fact, and there is always an opportunity for connection, meaning, and experience.

The influence of one individual life was poignantly illustrated by the Austrian

doctor and Holocaust survivor Viktor Frankl, who wrote that spiritual freedom cannot be

taken from us (1946/2006, p. 67). After Frankls wife was taken from him at the

Auschwitz death camp, he despairedwhy should he live and suffer anymore? Even in

this place he found something.

I sensed my spirit piercing through the enveloping gloom. I felt it transcend that

hopeless, meaningless world, and from somewhere I heard a victorious Yes in

answer to my question of the existence of an ultimate purpose. At that moment a

light was lit in a distant farmhouse, which stood on the horizon as if painted there,

in the midst of the miserable grey of a dawning morning in Bavaria. Et lux in

tenebris lucetand the light shineth in the darkness. For hours I stood hacking at

the icy ground. The guard passed by, insulting me, and once again I communed

with my beloved. More and more I felt that she was present, that she was with me;

I had the feeling that I was able to touch her, able to stretch out my hand and

grasp hers. The feeling was very strong; she was there. Then, at that very moment,

a bird flew down silently and perched just in front of me, on the heap of soil

which I had dug up from the ditch, and looked steadily at me. (pp. 40-41)

He found a reason to go on, and he exhorted many others to do so as well, and he

found connection. He wrote that there was meaning even in ones suffering. It could be

stated that he was alone in his suffering, but he was not, and even in a time of despair in a

season of despair, light appeared, a bird arrived, his beloved was present. God was near.

In these moments, Frankl (1946/2006) wrote, one was forced to make a decision on how

to respond to powers which threatened to rob you of your very self [and] your inner

42

freedom (p. 66). One had a choice whether or not to make use or forgo the

opportunities of attaining the moral values that a difficult situation may afford (p. 67).

Suffering was a mark of great achievement (p. 67), then, for one had strength enough to

cry and to care. One who knows the why for his existence . . . will be able to bear almost

any how (p. 80). Not only creativeness and enjoyment have meaning, he wrote, for there

is also meaning in suffering and in difficult times and suffering is a part of life.

In this sense synchronicity does not deliver one from hardship, rather ones life is

extended and imbued with an array of experience. As the Buddhist monk and author

Thich Nhat Hanh (1999) wrote, all of us would do well to approach our lives and others

with greater acceptance and compassion for our shared journeys and sufferings. In his

poem Please Call Me by My True Names, he spoke to this human struggle for

understanding. The poem was written after the Vietnam War in 1978, as Vietnamese

refugees, the boat people, fled over the seas.

Dont say that I will depart tomorrow

even today I am still arriving.

Look deeply: every second I am arriving

in order to laugh and to cry,

to fear and to hope.

The rhythm of my heart is the birth and death

of all that is alive.

I am a mayfly metamorphosing

on the surface of the river.

And I am the bird

that swoops down to swallow the mayfly.

I am a frog swimming happily

in the clear water of a pond.

And I am the grass-snake

that silently feeds itself on the frog.

I am the child in Uganda, all skin and bones,

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my legs as thin as bamboo sticks.

And I am the arms merchant,

selling deadly weapons to Uganda.

I am the twelve-year-old girl,

refugee on a small boat,

who throws herself into the ocean

after being raped by a sea pirate.

And I am the pirate,

my heart not yet capable

of seeing and loving. . . .

My joy is like Spring, so warm

it makes flowers bloom all over the Earth.

My pain is like a river of tears,

so vast it fills the four oceans.

Please call me by my true names,

so I can hear all my cries and laughter at once,

so I can see that my joy and pain are one.

Please call me by my true names,

so I can wake up

and the door of my heart

could be left open,

the door of compassion. (pp. 72-73)

Ones inner struggle resonates with others, with the world, in all its suffering and

triumph, and we are all little worlds with tremendous capacity to affect others. We

strive, we orbit, and we are all in the process of arriving.

Summary

In Chapter III, I discussed a fictional story (included in the Appendix) in which

ones process of arriving might parallel this quality in others. Synchronicity, as a means

to connection, could be seen as a way to enhance the meaning of collective life. The story

showed how individual purpose could be understood as a collective issueof groups,

society, and the world, for instance. The purposeful ordering of collectives can resolve

44

individual purpose, while at the same time these collectives might operate as microcosms

within the firmament. A matchmaker is at play.

As the story unfolded, another unfolding took place in my life. I was finishing my

graduate program in counseling psychology, and I approached this thesis as a solitary

project, even as I wrote of how individual meaning might intersect the collective. The

collective, though, kept bursting through my attempts at isolation.

One night, when I was near the deadline to submit the thesis, I went to dinner with

my father to take a break from the w