Once in a while, something comes along right when you need it. Usually it’s when you have a decision to make, whether you realized it beforehand or not. You’re just getting on with life, and along comes this person, thing, book, idea or whatever. Suddenly your choice is clear. Suddenly it all makes sense. Where I come from we call it “auspicious coincidence” because we see it as an important thing.
OK. So maybe it doesn’t always happen like that. Maybe we see this “thing” and we ask ourselves: “Is there a message here for me?” Maybe we feel a bit startled, a little more awake, and perhaps somewhat curious. Then our rational, skeptical, scientific brains dismiss it and we say: “Of course it was just a coincidence.”
Coincidence? Absolutely. But who’s to say that just because two things weren’t connected by their causes that they don’t belong together? Carl Jung talked about synchronicity. He believed that just as two things can occur because of a causal relationship, they can also occur simply because they have a connection of meaning. Think about it: Who decides what something means? You do. And since meaning is made by your mind, if your mind says these two things are related, they are. They don’t have to be related by cause and effect to be related to each other in a important way.
The frequency and number of these events isn’t significant. What matters is that we’re open enough to see them. Right now. Too often we get caught up in our “gotta do…” lives and our “me, myself and I” mentality that we don’t see the little things going on around us. If these coincidences are based on their meaning to us, if they are projections of our own inner wisdom, then we need to give them enough “head room” to develop that wisdom. The more aware we are of the world around us, the more of these coincidences we see. So stop and ask yourself: “Is my mind open? Am I listening?”
So what do we do when we hear one of these messages? Sometimes it’s tempting to follow the path of our super rational culture and brush them off as meaningless. But deep down we know they’re not. If the wisdom of the coincidence exists because of its meaning to us, then we already have our answer. Our mind made the coincidence. Our mind already knows what it means.
Listening to their wisdom is an important part of becoming a true person. Experiences of coincidence can tell us things that we wouldn’t allow ourselves to hear otherwise. So go on, give yourself a gift. Ask yourself: Have I had any auspicious coincidences lately?
Care to tell us about a time when a coincidence changed your path? We’d love your comments!
4 Responses
February 16th, 2009 at 9:53 am
I agree, especially when you say that they are infrequent events, but when you follow them, there be magick
March 9th, 2009 at 8:34 am
Synchronicity is very important to me. People say ‘oh it’s only a coincidence’ but for me, it’s qualitatively *meaningful* coincidences that matter, not quantitative statistical ones. (i.e. I don’t care if, within a group of people, I share a birthday with someone. That’s just probability (unless there’s a personal ‘meaning’ to me!).
I like watching out for synchronicity, so I can come to a better (personal) understanding of what’s happening in my life. The trick is not to see coincidence and conspiracy everywhere (pareidolia)!
Apophenia is a good state of mind to cultivate when one needs to be creative, solve a problem, or understand the messages life is sending us.
P.S. I couldn’t see the filed for entering my comment - are the comment fields using white borders on white background? Perhaps my screen brightness is set too high…
March 16th, 2009 at 10:26 am
Everything always being “just a coincidence” makes life boring
I like a little magic - so I believe in auspicious coincidence!
November 13th, 2009 at 10:52 am
There’s an interesting Swedish book “Meaningful Coincidence - remarkable true stories in ordinary people’s lives and the search for answers” by Jan Cederquist now published in English available online. He was an advertising CEO who was moved to write about synchronicity because he had observed it so often in his life and the lives of his friends and family. You may find this of interest.
Leave a Comment