Synchronicity

“I am open to the guidance of synchronicity, and do not let expectations hinder my path.”
Dalai Lama quotes

I was introduced to fractal geometry and the Mandelbrot set recently. Mandelbrot discovered that geometric shapes look the same when you break them down into smaller components. For example take the cauliflower, whose smaller and smaller buds mirror the whole bunch. As these components are magnified and enhanced you begin to notice new smaller branches on the tree .

Fractal geometry and the Mandelbrot set are patterns that can be magnified forever and have infinite precision. Some have even gone as far as to coin the Mandelbrot set the thumbprint of God.





I have only posted two videos here but do yourself a favour and watch the whole set .

The brain likes all kinds of patterns ; audio - visual - syntactic - logical formulas. The human body on the other hand is made up of its own metabolic patterns (respiration, hormonal pulses etc). Humans are created out of ordered patterns of (DNA), which arose out of the perfect conditions within ordered patterns of water and minerals settling on the surface of the earth, moving in ordered revolutions around the sun, spinning in the ordered web of the greater cosmos.

For me the Mandelbrot set was a good visual and scientific explanation as to how/why synchronicity - deja vu - and all other psychic related phenomena can influence and effect our reality.

Quite a beautiful concept when we view the universe more like an amazing and intricate tapestry - everything bound and united within the confines of each others threads - all singular components that make up the whole.


Perhaps we should look at the whole of creation more like a duplicate of the original formulae ( pattern ) - even allowing for the smallest deviations in evolution the formulae remains constant. Perhaps this is exactly how intuition - and prophetic dreams work - through the subconscious or collective unconscious ? by tapping into the historical / archival database and then applying the pattern ( formulae ) we have the ability to predict future outcomes. The Mandelbrot set continues on into infinity - one could compare this ideology to multi-universes - the microcosms and macros - I believe synchronicity is a connection between two polar states - in my case synchronicity always feels like a door opening - a bridge that connects one dimension / realm with another.

According to Jung synchronous events reveal an underlying pattern, a conceptual framework which encompasses, but is larger than, any of the systems which display the synchronicity. Sometimes synchronicity occurs through symbol or word associations but sometimes the experience will actually manifest as an actual phenomena or event in our timeframe / dimension and it is in these moments that I believe the most profound / spiritual and in some cases magical experiences occur.



I also wanted to mention how I found many of the theories pertaining to synchronicity and lets say the Mandelbrot set tie in with some Indigenous groups mythological accounts of the creation story. According to Native American Indian mythology Spider Grandmother was responsible for all the stars in the sky. According to myth she took a giant web she had spun, and laced it with dew. She then threw it into the sky, and the dew became the stars. Some liken her to the Creatix ( Matrix ). Spider Woman served as a messenger for the Creator and was an intercessory between deity and the people. Perhaps we could also group this myth in with that of the Moirae AKA The Fates, in Greek mythology.

The Greek word Moirae literally means "Parts." "Shares" and by extension one's allotted portions in life or destiny. They were known as the weavers and controlled the metaphorical thread of life - At the birth of each man / woman they appear spinning, measuring, and in our final hours cutting the thread of life.





The ancient Greeks believed in Fate. They said there were three sisters of fate, the Moirae, triple Moon-goddesses robed in white, whom Erebus begat on Night. They were not the children of Zeus, but parthenogenous daughters of the Great Goddess of Necessity, against whom not even the gods contend.



In Athens, Aphrodite or Urania was also known as "the oldest of the Fates." She was the Goddess of DESIRE who rose naked from Chaos and danced on the surface of the sea. ( All things are born or manifest from the SEED OF DESIRE - DESIRE is a precursor to evolution )

Jung coined the word Synchronicity to describe what he called "temporally coincident occurrences of acausal events." Jung variously described synchronicity as an "acausal connecting principle", "meaningful coincidence" and "acausal parallelism".

He believed that many experiences that are coincidences due to chance in terms of causality suggested the manifestation of parallel events or circumstances in terms of meaning, reflecting this governing dynamic.

One of Jung's favourite quotes on synchronicity was from Through the Looking-Glass by Lewis Carroll, in which the White Queen says to Alice: "It's a poor sort of memory that only works backwards"

He wrote, after describing some examples, "When coincidences pile up in this way, one cannot help being impressed by them -- for the greater the number of terms in such a series, or the more unusual its character, the more improbable it becomes.

I just wanted to share one of my own personal synchronistic experiences with you which occurred in 2003 I arranged to meet my family at their house - at which point we all planned to follow each other to the coast. The city I live in is some 300 km's away from the beach but we decided to make our first stop my fathers property which is situated about 15 mins inland. When I arrived at my families house I found to my dismay that they had already gone. Furious I decided to make my way to the beach regardless. I was so determined ( will ) to meet up with them and give them a piece of my mind - my whole focus for three hours was on making that deadline but I also knew that if I did not catch them at the property my chances of finding them would be slim. So the trip took three hours - my family decided to take the scenic route but ended up getting lost - as I neared the property I slowed to allow a vehicle approaching from the opposite direction to pass - as it got closer it too began to slow - In disbelief I found myself staring into the very shocked faces of my family - when we drove into the property my father was not there - so had I not met them at that exact location at that exact point in time I would of missed them entirely. Mathematically the odds of us meeting up at all - were - in our minds -a million to one.

The French writer Émile Deschamps claims in his memoirs that in 1805, he was treated to some plum pudding by a stranger named Monsieur de Fortgibu. Ten years later, the writer encountered plum pudding on the menu of a Paris restaurant and wanted to order some, but the waiter told him that the last dish had already been served to another customer, who turned out to be de Fortgibu. Many years later, in 1832, Émile Deschamps was at a diner and was once again offered plum pudding. He recalled the earlier incident and told his friends that only de Fortgibu was missing to make the setting complete—and in the same instant, the now senile de Fortgibu entered the room.[10]

In his book Synchronicity (1952), Jung tells the following story as an example of a synchronistic event: "A young woman I was treating had, at a critical moment, a dream in which she was given a golden scarab. While she was telling me this dream, I sat with my back to the closed window. Suddenly I heard a noise behind me, like a gentle tapping. I turned round and saw a flying insect knocking against the window-pane from the outside. I opened the window and caught the creature in the air as it flew in. It was the nearest analogy to a golden scarab one finds in our latitudes, a scarabaeud beetle, the common rose-chafer (Cetonia aurata), which contrary to its usual habits had evidently felt the urge to get into a dark room at this particular moment. I must admit that nothing like it ever happened to me before or since." [11]

A good friend of mine - someone I feel has been a huge guiding light in my life - especially over last few months ( String ) recently suggested I catalogue all my synchronicities and dreams - so I could get a clearer picture of all the events that have transpired in my life - which in turn has prompted memories , that at the time I deemed insignificant but now in retrospect believe were extremely important.

So I started by writing about the first synchronicity that I ever became CONSCIOUSLY AWARE OF ( in the essence of impact and effect ) - this event occurred a few years ago ( toward the end of 2005 ) an event that shook the foundations of my life to its very core and it all began with a dream about a Wind God. In the dream a huge storm rolled in and the front door of the house was blown open - an Asian / Oriental woman was frantically screaming at me that a Wind God had just entered the house and that it was important I find and open a door on the exact opposite end of the house in order that the wind God could exit -she said if I did not do this the God would wreak havoc on my life.



A few days later my sister came over and found an old terracotta plaque ( of a Wind God ) she had gifted me a few Christmas's prior and wanted to know why I never bothered hanging it up ? I told her that I had completely forgotten about it but the truth is I always felt the face looked a little menacing and after alot of very careful thought and consideration decided to leave it in the box. Much to my dismay she went outside and hung it on the wall right beside my front door - during the early stages of this synchronicity - I did not make any connections between this event and my dream - that realisation came later in the afternoon when a fierce wind whipped up and blew my front door open -that is when I finally drew the parallels between the dream and the event - I am superstitious by nature lol and ran to the back door and opened it but the back door was to the side of the house - technically I did not have a back door as such, so all my efforts were in vain and a few weeks later my whole life did quite literally turn upside down ( the events that unfolded truly were life altering and I believe a continuing stream of strange synchronicities were definitely the catalyst that prompted my own personal AWAKENING the realisation that there is far more to each and every one of our lives than meets the eye - unseen forces that for the most part the vast majority of us are totally oblivious too ) I would even go as far as to say that for the spiritually minded synchronicites could be viewed as messages that originate from a Divine source via a vast network ( web ) which would correlate with the creation story of Spider Woman who served as a messenger for the Creator and was an intercessory between deity and the people.

It was the Oriental / Asian factor that I carelessly dismissed in the first instance - not only the Asian womans appearance but it also dawned on me that there was a real emphasis in the dream on the front door having a proportionate relationship with the back door ( which made me think of Feng Shui ). Feng Shui takes doors very seriously in many different areas as in the Black Sect Tradition, they are considered “voices.” Feng shui is a discrete Chinese belief system involving a mix of geographical, religious, philosophical, mathematical, aesthetic, and astrological ideas. It literally means "wind (feng) and water (shui)". The source of the term is purported to come from the Burial Book written by Guo Pu in the Jin Dynasty. Qi rides the wind and stops when it meets the boundary of water. The ancients manipulate Qi so that it did not dissipate, and directed it so that it was retained. In feng shui, the main door is the most important aspect because it allows the energy, or "chi", to enter the home. It is the "mouth" of the house, taking in positivity and nourishment. It is unlucky if you can see the BACK DOOR from the entryway of the front door. Chi flows like water, so all positive energy would flow right out the back the moment it flows in the front - but remember this only applies to ( positive ) Chi energy . Roads to and from ancient Chinese towns were often curved and windy, an attempt to disorient and keep away evil spirits, who were believed to travel in STRAIGHT LINES.

About the Wind God in the dream - Fūjin is the Japanese god of wind and one of the oldest Shinto gods. He was present at the creation of the world and when he first let the winds out of his bag, they cleared the morning mists and filled the Gate between heaven and earth so the sun shone. ( Did the mists represent being ASLEEP and the wind clearing the mists represent an AWAKENING ) ? He is portrayed as a terrifying dark demon, resembling a red headed black humanoid wearing a leopard skin, carrying a large bag of winds on his shoulders.

Some myths identified the wind god as a kind of monster or dragon named Fei Lein, and it was this dragon, they said, who walked so swiftly. In these stories, the wind dragon worked as a wicked minister in the tyrannical Chou dynasty. In the guise of this dragon, Feng Po had the body of a stag , the head of a bird, and the tail of a serpent.

The oriental aspect of this God seemed relevant so I was pondering more exploration into Japanese / Chinese mythology when ironically the very next day whilst doing some research on synchronicity I stumbled across an article by Radmila Moacanin which I now feel is the key to the next stages of my own personal journey - growth and discovery. In the article Radmila states that all of Jung's discoveries were accompanied by dreams of synchronistic events that either pointed the way or gave him confirmation that he was proceeding in the right direction. At the time whilst he was drawing mandalas, he created a painting of a golden castle. What caught Jung's attention was the Chinese quality evident in the painting, and apparently he was puzzled by it. Shortly afterward he received from the sinologist Richard Wilhelm a copy of an old Chinese alchemical text, which marked the beginning of his fascination with alchemy. This striking coincidence, incorporated both the mandala symbolism and the principle of synchronicity, namely, the double expression of unus mundus - psychological and parapsychological.



Unus Mundus is when the individual psyche touches eternity, the identity of the personal with the trans-personal. In his dreams as well as those of his patients, he could at times discern a portrayal of the mandalas. symbolizing the multiplicity of the phenomenal world within and underlying unity. The mandala symbolism represents the psychological equivalent of unus mundus, while its parapsychological equivalent fits Jung's concept of synchronicity. And indeed Jung felt the powerful effect one experiences in moments of encounter with the unus mundus. The critical factor is the meaning, the subjective experience that comes to the person; events are connected in a meaningful way, that is events of the inner world and outer world, the invisible and the tangible, the mind and the physical universe. The coming together at the right moment can happen only without the conscious intervention of the ego. Instead it is prepared in the unconsciousness of the psyche, and it is as though the psyche had its own secret design, irrespective of ego's conscious wishes. Such synchronistic events, of smaller or larger proportions, occur to most people in daily life, but as with dreams, if we do not recognize them and pay attention to them, they remain insignificant.

I want to finish with some favorite quotes of mine from Joseph Campbell


We must be willing to get rid of the life we've planned, so as to have the life that is waiting for us. The old skin has to be shed before the new one can come.





Follow your bliss. If you do follow your bliss, you put yourself on a kind of track that has been there all the while waiting for you, and the life you ought to be living is the one you are living. When you can see that, you begin to meet people who are in the field of your bliss, and they open the doors to you. I say, follow your bliss and don't be afraid, and doors will open where you didn't know they were going to be. If you follow your bliss, doors will open for you that wouldn't have opened for anyone else.



And this above all: to thine own self be true,
And it must follow, as the night the day,

-- William Shakespeare