Synchronicity is a word coined by the Swiss psychologist Carl Jung to describe the "temporally coincident occurences of acausal events". Jung also spoke of synchronicity as being an "acausal connecting principle" (ie. a pattern of connection that is not explained by causality). Plainly put, it is the experience of having two (or more) things happen simultaneously in a manner that is meaningful to the person or people experiencing them, where that meaning suggests an underlying pattern. It differs from coincidence in that synchronicity implies not just a happenstance, but an underlying pattern or dynamic that is being expressed through meaningful relationships or events. It was a principle that Jung felt compassed his concepts of archetypes and the collective unconscious, in that it was descriptive of a governing dynamic that underlay the whole of human experience and history—social, emotional, psychological, and spiritual. Jung believed that many experiences perceived as coincidence were due not merely to chance, but instead, suggested the manifestation of parallel events or circumstances reflecting this governing dynamic¹.

Examples

A well-known example of synchronicity involves plum pudding. It is the true story of the French writer Émile Deschamps who in 1805 is treated to some plum pudding by the stranger Monsieur de Fontgibu. Ten years later, he encounters plum pudding on the menu of a Paris restaurant, and wants to order some, but the waiter tells him the last dish has already been served to another customer, who turns out to be M. de Fontgibu. Many years later in 1832 Émile

Study

A recent study within the Princeton Engineering Anomalies Research Lab has suggested that there is a small though statistically measurable link between human thought and patterns that occur in random data sets. There is no evidence as to whether this is caused by individuals unintentionally recognizing complex patterns and then moulding their thoughts towards an unconsciously known result or the thoughts of the individual are themselves affecting the random patterns in a manner of individuation. This study's results have not been replicated, and its methodologies are disputed.

Criticism

Since the theory of synchronicity is not testable according to the classical scientific method, it is not widely regarded as scientific at all, but rather as pseudoscientific or an example of magical thinking. However, it is doubtful that Jung would have considered the theory to be scientifically testable.

Probability theory can attempt to explain events such as the plum pudding incident in our normal world, without any interference by any universal alignment forces. However, the correct variables required for actually computing the probability cannot be found. This is not to say that synchronicity is not a good model for describing a certain kind of human experience, but, according to the scientific method, it is a reason for the refusal of the idea that synchronicity should be considered a "hard fact", i.e., an actually existing principle of our universe.

Supporters of the theory claim that since the scientific method is applicable only to those phenomena that are

A synchronistic event appears like just another meaningless 'random' event to anyone else without the unique prior history which correlates to the event. This reasoning claims that the principle of synchronicity raises the question of the subjectivity of significance and meaning in the sequence of natural events.

Alternative explanations

The feeling of making a connection where there is none has been described as apophenia.

Aspects of the subjective experience of schizophrenia have much in common with the subjective experience of synchronicity, in the sense that ordinary events are seen as having a direct personal relevance to the schizophrenic, but are seen as 'normal' by non-schizophrenics. Many psychoses are similar to schizophrenia but can last for a very short time, such as in rare instances from nicotine withdrawal (as an example) causing the same effect even with a non-schizophrenic.

Those who have experienced a near-death experience or mystical awakenings (such as kundalini awakenings) report an increase in synchronistic events happening to them. This is also common in the study of mystical symbol systems such as Kabbalah.

A religious analogy³ of this experience might be attributed to the fulfillment of prayer or miracles, however Jung did not describe it in these terms.

Correlation can also be described as an 'acausal connecting principle' and so has been proposed as an analogy to the phenomenon of synchronicity. Though correlation does not necessarily imply causation, yet, correlation may in fact be a physical property shared by events without there being a classical cause-effect relationship, as shown in quantum physics, where widely separated events can be correlated without being linked by a direct physical cause-effect (see nonlocality, EPR paradox).

Synchronicity has been proposed as a corollary phenomenon of the many-worlds or parallel universes theory of quantum physics, in that the subject is somehow 'navigating' to those particular alternate worlds that are correlated to their past history, among the myriad possible other worlds that are not as correlated to their past history.

Although this idea has made it into the popular press, it is considered pseudoscience by most scientists as the parallel universe theory states that all possible futures exist simultaneously, therefore the subject indeed lives out all possible futures in parallel.

Further reading

• Mardorf, Elisabeth, Das kann doch kein Zufall sein
• Note especially the foreword by Carl Jung. (The I Ching is a type of oracle, or 'synchronicity computer', used for divination.)

See also

• Coincidence
• Littlewood's law - which states that individuals can expect a miracle to happen to them at the rate of about one per month.
• Miracle
• Ontology
• Pauli effect - refers to the mysterious failure of technical equipment in the presence of certain people.
• Serendipity - the act of finding something unexpected and useful while searching for something else entirely.
• The 23 enigma - belief that the number 23 is of particular or unusual significance, especially in relation to disasters.
• Dark Side of the Rainbow - effect created by playing the Pink Floyd album Dark Side of the Moon simultaneously with the film The Wizard of Oz.

Principio de sincronicidad Synchronicité シンクロニシティ Synchroniczność