By The coincidences that seem incredible to us have an explanation according to Carl Jung. Read all about the synchronicity he referred to, examples to understand it and what role it plays in everyday life.
Have you ever had an extraordinary coincidence and said “this can’t just be a coincidence”? Thinking about a person and receiving a message from them, or dreaming about something that later happened – this is what happened to Carl Jung, who proposed a theory of synchronicity to explain these phenomena.
This concept refers to those coincidences of events that are related to each other, but not causally. They are significant because they result from the person’s desire and make sense to them. Let’s delve deeper into the subject.
What is Jung’s theory of synchronicity?
Western science tends to ignore unique, rare or difficult-to-explain events and seeks the causes of other phenomena it studies. However, Carl Jung was struck by coincidences whose causes could not be proven and which were not the subject of scientific investigation.
Jung was a psychiatrist and psychologist who coined many concepts throughout his life. Among them, Jungian synchronicity is “the temporal coincidence of two or more events, not related to each other by causality, whose significant content is identical or similar.”
Synchronicity is the simultaneity of two events that are meaningfully related but acausal. It is the manifestation of a significant coincidence in time.
But what does this mean? In simpler terms, it is about linked facts that seem to have no cause. In other words, coincidences or connections between events that seem improbable and that are not related in origin. For example, when you think of a person and, at that moment, they send you a message, there is no causal relationship between the two events.
In this sense, they are opposed to causality, which implies knowing the origin of events. Unlike the link between cause and effect, in this type of significant synchronicity, simultaneity and meaning are linked. Ultimately, it is not possible to explain why phenomena occur, but only to know that they are linked by their meaning and the moment in which they occur.
Forms of synchronicity
In one of Carl Jung’s books , this term is distinguished from synchronicity. The latter is “the mere simultaneity of two events.” Meanwhile, as we have seen, synchronicity is a simultaneous succession of two events that are not causally related. In turn, it can take three forms:
- Coincidence of a psychic content with an event that occurs simultaneously: for example, thinking about someone and meeting them at the same moment.
- Coincidence of a dream or vision that is a more or less faithful reflection of an event: and that the same occurred more or less simultaneously, but at a distance. For example, dreaming about something and it happening almost at the same time as the dream, but in another place.
- Same as above, but the perceived event occurs in the future: and is represented in the present by “a phantom.” For example, having a thought or desire for something and then having it happen in the future.
According to the meaning of Jungian synchronicity, events would be divided into two types of connections: objective and causal connection, and subjective. Consequently, physical phenomena influence psychic phenomena and vice versa, so each person would be the architect of his or her own history and also of others.
Relationship with archetypes
Synchronicity is often related to emotional states or archetypes . These are patterns of behavior charged with energy. In emotional states, repressed or unconscious contents emerge or manifest.
Significant coincidences would therefore have a direct relationship with an archetype and every emotional state would produce a modification of consciousness. This means that these events are not the result of chance , but of people’s desire, their setting of goals and their work to achieve them, as suggested in an article published in Temas magazine .
Based on this, the conscious and these events can be influenced by unconscious or instinctive impulses or content. And these everyday events that are related or that we consider as strange coincidences are connected thanks to the energy of the archetypes.
Examples of Jungian synchronicity
Carl Jung provides some examples from his own experience to explain the theory of synchronicity. In all cases, there seems to be a pre-existing knowledge that has no causal explanation. However, the psychologist points out that even in curious events, certain regularities occur.
In everyday life, you may notice that during moments of emotional tension or crisis, misfortunes occur, such as a broken appliance. This is what happened to one of the psychologist’s collaborators, Wolfgang Pauli. Here are some other cases described in Jung’s texts:
- One of his examples is finding that a train ticket has the same number as a theatre ticket he buys immediately afterwards.
- An acquaintance saw in his dreams the death of a friend who was on another continent. The next morning, he is informed that this friend has passed away. The time of death occurred at least one day before his dream.
- On one occasion, he went to a dinner where fish was served and remembered that during the morning he had written a sentence about fish. At the same time, a patient whom he had not seen for months showed him pictures of fish that he had painted during that time.
- A patient dreamed that he was given a gold beetle. While he was telling this, Jung heard a noise behind him, where there was a window. Then he noticed that a beetle had crashed into it and he opened the window to catch it in flight. Thus, it was a perfect analogy of the gold beetle in the dream.
- After a woman’s relative died, a large number of birds gathered in front of the windows of the mortuary chamber. At the same time, her husband collapsed in the street and she was already distressed because, after he had left, a flock of birds came down from the roof. She then feared the worst. For Jung, it is possible that the woman’s subconscious already sensed the danger.
Its role in daily life
Jung points out that not every event with an unknown cause should be called “acausal.” In fact, it can only be conceived as such when the cause is not even conceivable. Significant coincidences that occur at different stages of life cannot be considered as pure chance, but as significant arrangements.
But for this phenomenon to occur, an energetic invocation is needed through the desire, work and thoughts of the person. The reality is that we cannot control it, but we can invoke it by setting a goal and working to reach it. It also works to be alert to notice these events.
Consciously, it is possible to construct our possibilities and realities. Thus, when the elements synchronize and make sense, we obtain a better view of spiritual nature. In turn, experiencing this phenomenon is associated with finding a state of transcendence.
Coincidences happen, even if we don’t notice them
Trying to be more receptive, being aware of the environment and invoking certain goals helps to experience more of these events that are related to each other, but without an apparent cause. These phenomena occur every day, although sometimes we do not notice them.
Recognizing them is useful for understanding how different significant events in life occur at critical moments. In addition, it helps to find relationships between what happens and what is not clearly understood. Although it is a difficult thesis to prove, the belief in these energies that connect the objective with the psychic mobilizes millions of people every day. Have you noticed any in your daily life?