User:Patricia/notes

Literature review (draft):

In this text, Carl Jung explores the concept of synchronicity, which he defines as a “simultaneous occurrence of a certain psychic state with one or more external events which appear as meaningful parallels to the momentary subjective state- and, in certain cases, vice versa” (p.34), so to speak, a simultaneous occurrence of events that are meaningfully related but not causally connected. He argues that certain phenomena, including ESP (extrasensory perceptions) and meaningful coincidences, cannot be fully explained by notions of cause and effect, which are only based on energy transfer: “a phenomenon of energy” (p.28). Instead, he talks about synchronicity, “hypothetical factor equal in rank to causality” (p.28).

Jung puts synchronicity within a psychological framework, taking into account “the archetypes, which constitute the structure of the collective unconscious” (p.29). He emphasizes that space and time are not absolute realities but “psychically conditioned” (p.29) concepts that change depending on the observer's psyche. He argues that without consciousness, “space and time consist of nothing” (p.29). In this way, coincidences can reveal connections between the external world and unconscious psychic processes or “psychic conditions” (p.29) (such as feelings, emotions, or dreams), without needing rational and logical causal links.

The author illustrates his ideas with examples based on his experience to support his claims. In one example, one of his patients dreams of a golden scarab, and the same moment she tells him this, a beetle resembling the scarab flies into Jung’s office. In another example, the appearance of birds coincides with the death of a patient. In both examples (and more clearly in the second) these events are an indication of “how meaningful coincidences usually present themselves in practical life” (p.32). These instances demonstrate synchronicity as an event in which external events and internal psychic states connect meaningfully. According to Jung, coincidences become meaningful (and thus distinguished from “meaningless chance groupings” (p.33)) when they “rest on an archetypal foundation” (p.33) of the collective unconscious.

Jung then highlights that the “emotion” and “affectivity” (p.33, 34) play an essential role in bringing unconscious elements to consciousness. He compares the “impossibility” (p.34) in Rhine’s ESP experiments, the scarab symbolizing rebirth, and the flock of birds symbolizing souls or death, showing that in all these situations where an emotional intensity is created (surprise, fear, hope…), archetypal symbols are found, which then manifest as synchronicities or meaningful coincidences. When a task seems impossible, that “fixes the subject's attention on the processes going on inside him” (p.34), his unconscious, and makes him more prone to consider a miracle possible.