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Can Synchronicity be a guide?

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Wikipedia defines synchronicity as the experience of two or more events which occur in a meaningful manner, but which are causally unrelated. Carl Jung has a very popular book on the subject and many other authors have written about this "phenomenon" as well. Sometimes my friends and I discuss the synchronistic events that occur to us and I've often wondered (or felt like) it might be a guide...something telling me I'm on the right path. Or maybe not. Here are several small examples that have happened to be over the last couple weeks:

1) While listening to Pat Benetar's song "Hit Me With Your Best Shot" I find myself wondering if she is married. For some reason I tell myself she probably isn't and I can better relate to her since I'm single as well. Immediately after the song goes off the DJ says "In 1971 Pat Something graduated from High school and married her high school sweet heart Something Benetar...and the rest is history." So here we either have synchronicity, or I mentally projected my question to the DJ, or it's completely a coincidence. (Though one finds it strange when for the first time in their life they wonder about Pat Bentar's relationship status and directly after that one time the question is answered...).

2) I'm an avid collector of butterflies and did not have a Zebra Swallowtail in my collection. In fact I had only seen very few (maybe 2 ) in my life. My father told me they used to be all around when he was young but he hasn't seen one in a long time either. So I'm on the front porch discussing with my friend about Zebra Swallowtails and where we could go to find one (perhaps a nearby park that is populated with paw paw trees) and as we are discussing this a Zebra Swallowtail flies by. We chase it but can't catch it but it was definitely a Zebra. Strange that at the moment we are talking about Zebras and how they seem so rare one would fly right by us.

So there are a couple examples, but these things seem to happen all the time to varying degrees. Sometimes events don't happen for months at a time, sometimes a few happen in a week, I always find it to be an enjoyable experience that makes me think. During a discussion with another friend on the subject we wondered if maybe there was a way to induce these events. If we wrote down where we were, our thoughts, our emotional state, the time...we wanted to find some pattern to the synchronicity. We felt that maybe these events happened to show us that we were at the right place at the right time, that we are on the correct path in life and the more frequent the events the closer to our "correct" path we are...the fewer the events, the more we have strayed. Back to my original question then, can synchronicity be used as a guide?

Now I know there may not be a true answer to this, but I wouldn't mind other's thoughts. Feel free to include the occurrences that have happened to you but at least answer the main question! Thanks.

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  1. Since I'm a Christian, I'll answer the question from that perspective. I fully understand what you're saying. There's a saying in Christian circles, "Coincidence is when God chooses not to take the credit." I have had many things happen like you describe. Absolutely fascinating. However, for me, I see it as a confirmation of something I've been asking God about. When too many of thesse "coincidences" happen, I take it as my answer from Him as my go-ahead to do something, or that He's pointing me in a certain direction.


  2. Mystically speaking, the sychronicities occur when an important insight is at hand ...

    It may seem totally unrelated to how the incidents appear...

    You are supposed to ask "what is the meaning of this?" and observe what is going on simultaneously within and without...and notice the correlations...

    The path is a train of thought...a trail of insights...a series of experiences...

    Stay focused on the train of thought that leads you to self-discovery...ask many questions...

    If a train of thought takes you off on a tangent....backtrack until you pick up the trail again and insights about what, which, where, when, why, how, and who you are will re-occur along with the seemingly random coincidences which serve as confirmations...

    Stay focused....look neither to the left or to the right....don't get distracted...

    Truth has been described as an 'elusive prey', and following that analogy, we must learn to stalk truth the way an expert hunter/tracker would stalk wild game...led by the spirit of the chase....sometimes following a trail for days and days, looking for signs and clues of truth having passed this way....doing the math, doing the math...sometimes camping right on the spot and then picking up the trail again in the morning....sometimes wrestling with the temptation to give up and turn back...

    I hope you carry on...

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