Synchronicity can be a useful means of getting back on track as we try to find our way forwards in midlife. It is one of those amazing things that happens from time to time to move us gently onto a better path, and without any particular effort from us!
Unlike most of life, where our results are directly related to the effort we have put into the project, synchronicity seems to come from outside us or our energy. It effectively removes the ’cause’ part of the ’cause and effect’ sum, and simply gives us the effect. In religious language, such effects are seen as acts of God or miracles, depending on the intensity of the effect.
There have been theories about what causes these sudden occurrences for centuries. In the middle ages the idea was known as ‘unus mundum’ – a collective knowledge that exists independently of us, yet available to us. Synchronicity exists beyond our conscious awareness and egos, located at the place where our psyche or spirit and the outside world touch.
This knowledge is believed to be beyond the intellect since it cannot be learned, just accessed when we need it. As a result the knowledge is entirely instinctive, and helps us find our way forwardss. If you find that something like this has happened, don’t dismiss it, it has happened for a reason.
How does this work? You have almost certainly experienced synchronicity! Think of the ‘coincidences’ that have happened in your life – the times the phone has rung when you were about to call someone, and they are calling you; times when you’ve suddenly run into someone you wanted to see in an unexpected location or learned something important when you were doing something completely unrelated. These are the sort of things that have come to be known as synchronicity – the place where a need you haven’t even expressed is met – and very satisfactorily.
Karl Jung brought the term into greater use when he presented a paper about synchronicity in 1952. Amongst his findings were the idea that numbers have much deeper significance than simply for counting items. He said that this is why so many divination systems like the I Ching use numbers to synchronously provide the knowledge and answers we need to know.
Jung also saw synchronicity as the reason why two completely independent researchers can come up with the same results or knowledge at the same time. Bubbling beneath both of their research was the need for answers, and so both went about finding them in their own way, yet getting to the solution at the same time. This is known as ‘simultaneous discovery.’
You might also be familiar with the idea of serendipity, which is a close relative. In the case of serendipity you are looking for one thing, and suddenly come across something else that is important and unrelated that you weren’t looking for. Again, when events like this pop up, take notice of them. Your passport suddenly appeared because it needs to be renewed, and you had completely forgotten and have a trip in a month. A letter from a friend falls out of a book as you move it, and on a whim you call her only to find she really needed to talk to you.
Whatever you call or think of things that happen unexpectedly, notice them. See if a pattern appears. When you’re looking for direction, you might be surprised where it comes from!
