Transmittal
I finished my dissertation in 1997, and it was published as such in 1998. This is the first time I have re-read parts of it, and so I conclude, it will probably piss you off. What it was all about was an answer to the question of what is it like to have a meaningful coincidence.
Having said that, and accepting a sedimentation of a phenomenon into a rather academic, abstract level of description, I offer it as something to see whether or not your experience of coincidences and meaningful coincidences find themselves in part or (almost) wholly within what is called a descriptive analysis of Jung's synchronicity, narrowed by my work into what we commonly call a meaningful coincidence (Coincidence in the text).
This application of the adequacy of a Coincidence has not been done to my knowledge with my tiny contribution to understanding of what happens to many of us living in the west (western civilization). If you find some insight here, great. If academic bullshit, that's okay also. I'm just curious whether I got some or most of it right, or not.
Thus this post is open to comments from anyone who stops by and is interested in adding two cents to a discussion started and paused long ago.
Compare yours with . . .
The experience of a meaningful coincidence takes place in the course of an individual's life. S/he is on a path or way, and the Coincidence event is like an episode or moment in a larger story. The percipient experiences the Coincidence in a historically and personally meaningful context.
Prior to the Coincidence event, the percipient has had experiences which are related to it. They may be thoughts about familiar issues or concerns, or remarkable yet seemingly random events which become meaningful later. The percipient has experienced some change in the usual pattern of things. This may take the form of a complication or challenge. It may be noticing or doing something out of the ordinary.
Although s/he may not anticipate its occurrence, as the Coincidence approaches in time, the percipient progresses to a more alert and active awareness of what is going on inside and out. This movement can be from little or no awareness to distance and remoteness to eventual openness and allowing life to unfold. The percipient, who is holding matters of interest or concern in consciousness, may make conjectures about that such as, what if such-and-such were to happen? S/he may even take action to allow what is in consciousness to manifest in physical reality.
The perception of Coincidence involves three events. The first is an inner psychic state, something held in consciousness. The second is something observed in outer, physical reality. The third is that these two coinciding at the same time are immediately meaningful. It is at this moment that Coincidence is claimed, and sometimes exclaimed.
The inner event may be simple or complex, singular or multiple. That is, after growing awareness, what is held in consciousness can involve several thoughts and feelings woven together. The outer event can have the same dimensions, but it is also symbolic. The outer event signifies more than what it literally refers to.
The meaning seen at the moment of the Coincidence comes from somewhere deep inside. It is implicit or carried by the simultaneous occurrence of events. It is perhaps like intuition, an immediate grasp, or a kind of present knowing. The meaning at the time of experiencing a Coincidence is different from that articulated later. The second articulation is constructed from the first. It is a considered view with perhaps greater depth and breadth than what was expressed at first.
This reflexive meaning has significance for the percipient. S/he can place the Coincidence into the larger story of a life being lived. The Coincidence may then be part of a personal development process, or perhaps one among a number of Coincidences.
The Coincidence may be attended by other events which support its meaningfulness. These events happen at the same time or around the time of the Coincidence event. They are, in some sense, parallel to the primary Coincidence in meaning. They can be supportive of or complementary to the meaning. They can be other Coincidences, or coincidences which may not be as strongly interpreted as the primary one. They may even be on the order of self-fulfilling prophecies where the percipient takes a role in making them happen.
A Coincidence itself can function within the percipient's experience as a part of other Coincidences, or in a series of same. Sometimes the percipient gives a primary meaningful coincidence more credibility in view of other coincidences and anomalous events.
The language used to communicate the experience of a meaningful coincidence is connotative in addition to being denotative. Words and images strongly associate. There are metaphors and symbols which suggest themselves and extend or expand the possibilities for meaning. At the same time, this language leaves uncertainty as to saying definitively what the Coincidence is and what its full significance might be.
The experience of Coincidence has about it a perfect or almost perfect symmetry. It is like looking into a mirror. What you see is familiar and readily recognizable. If you approach the mirror and find there something a little different, your view is corrected, just as mirror images are supposed to show what is. But what you see might be reversed, as with a mirror, from the orientation of perceiving.
What the Coincidence encompasses may be more than single images. Inner and outer events can be accumulations which feel like they interconnect and constellate--just naturally are or come together somehow. They can be inextricable aspects of a force field and resonate, perhaps through the language and imagery in which they are expressed. A Coincidence, through complementing or counterbalancing, rests finally in oneness, synthesis, integration.
The inner and the outer and the meaning which seems independent of perceiver happening all at once appears anomalous. In the face of the extra-ordinary, the percipient tries to discern cause. S/he implicitly or explicitly asks this question in one form or another: Why and how did these things come together for me? Not being successful in the attempt to find causes, the percipient conjectures. Among the conjectures can be magic or synchronicity, terms for acausal phenomena. The conjecture ends with the cause as unknown or unknowable. But there may be lingering doubt as to what really happened. Is Coincidence what that was? That the events happened at the same time and spontaneously enhances the acausal aspect of the experience.
Feelings are a part of the experience, and they seem to be the result of experiencing something out of the ordinary. This can be astonishment, disbelief, irony. The feelings can be body-felt: laughter, visceral knowing, an uneasiness that comes with the suspicion of being tricked. The percipient can be mildly surprised and amused. S/he can feel like the object of a benevolent or whimsical god. One can also feel harmony and that all is well with the world. What one had in consciousness can be the way it turned out through the Coincidence. There may also be uncertainty about the experience, like a question that has been asked but no complete answer appears possible.
Part of the significance and meaning of the Coincidence seems to be that the percipient finds action implied or suggested. This may be seen as a message received, a wish or hope fulfilled, a new awareness, a personal truth (re)discovered. The Coincidence in this way can affirm, complete, define for the percipient something important along life's path. There is a kind of completeness and synthesis to any earlier disruptions to the pattern of the way things were.
The purpose of the Coincidence in retrospect is about self and fulfillment. If there is any doubt or uncertainty which remains, it seems to be part of the nature of meaningful coincidence. Along life's path, there are important and meaningful episodes which may be extra-ordinary and potentially transformative. But we are still on a path. There is still an open door to a future we choose to make.
