Synchronicity, The Curious Science Of Coincidences

“The world is a handkerchief” or “how small is the world!” They are expressions that you have surely used or heard at some point. They are said when a casual or singular situation happens. A chance meeting with someone you know in a big city can be a good example of chance. But what if we knew that it might actually have to do with a science called synchronicity?

Although it seems incredible, important researchers have studied and tried to identify the relationships that could exist between two phenomena that are labeled very unlikely or that seem unrelated. And they are not exactly unknown names those who have tried to give an explanation. We can talk about people of the stature of Carl Jung, for example, who coined the term synchronicity.

What is synchronicity?

Sometimes we think that the universe sends us signals when coincidences happen that we find amazing. However, for Jung it was simple synchronicity, which could be defined as the simultaneity of different events linked by a sense other than causality.

That is, we can summarize this singular science in a temporal coincidence of a series of events (two or more), which despite being related to each other, are not one cause of the other. However, there is a content relationship.

To try and make it easier, imagine that you have a good friend. One day, chatting with your father, you tell him about this friendship and you tell him his name, who his relatives are, etc. Thus, pulling the thread, your parent observes that you and your friend have a distant family relationship because it turns out that your grandfather and grandmother were second cousins.

We note in the example that the fact that you and your friend are distant family has nothing to do with your friendship and how it came about. However, there is a content relationship, but not a causal one.

More curious details about synchronicity

Many authors have studied or spoken even without knowing about this peculiar science. For Friedrich Schiller, for example, chance arises from deep sources, so there would be no chance. However, the surrealist André Bretón considered the existence of objective chance, when your desires converge with everything the world offers.

But according to Jung, when we speak of synchronicity, we mean the union of internal and external events. Thus, the individual who experiences these events finds meaning in the unification of both.

Although we resort to metaphysics to justify these events, such as chance or luck, even magic, in reality they would take the form of non-conscious attraction. An unconscious attraction that causes them to occur or so at least Jung considers it. This leads us to pattern recognition.

That is why this theory of the author, which is born from psychoanalysis, collides with rationalist and materialist movements. However, the famous psychologist established times more given to the appearance of synchronicities than others.

Pattern recognition

It should be noted that Jung established synchronicity or occurrence as a search for recognizable patterns. Therefore, according to the psychoanalyst, phases after the death of loved ones or job changes cause greater energy for chance. All this is because the changes that are caused in us after these situations lead us to look for recognizable patterns that give meaning to our search. Thus, that impulse of recognition that we all seem to have would be the basis of synchronicity.

According to some studies, in moments of high amount of dopamine in the brain, in stressful situations or of great emotional depth, we tend to magical thinking. However, that magic, which would be chance, is actually synchronicity.

However, the need to search for patterns should not be demonized. It is something natural that we have in the human mind since the days of the caves. What’s more, this type of thinking is linked to anhedonia, the absence of which could lead to the inability to experience pleasure. In other words, it is actually a skill that has helped us survive for thousands of years.

So don’t think about the insanity of chance and causality. We are prone to looking for patterns and on many occasions our brain manages information unconsciously. However, it is a valuable mechanism that helps us in making decisions. The magic of chance may not exist, but it can be nice and useful to think there is.