Now … not only is that a fascinating post, with a lot in it to ponder, but it reminded me of this weird little book I love called Synchronicity: The Bridge Between Matter and Mind. We discussed it a bit in the comments section over there. It’s by F. David Peat, and it’s one of my most treasured books because it is one of those science-lite books – ha ha – but it looks at the phenomenon of what he calls “synchronicity”. Things like: coincidence, deja vu, dream symbols, random moments when some sort of pattern is discerned. You learn a new word, and suddenly you start seeing it everywhere. You have a dream about someone you haven’t seen in 10 years. The next day, that person calls you. Kneejerk skeptics brush this off as “coincidence”. That’s fine, maybe it is. But – er – how can you be SURE? What’s the harm in entertaining the possibility that there is some sort of pattern? Why does this piss people off so much? I like to ponder the possibility that these things are not JUST coincidences. I try not to make a religion out of it, however, as in: seeing “signs” everywhere, and reading meaning into EVERYTHING. In my opinion, that leads to paralysis (I’ve seen it in a really good of friend of mine. Everything to her is a sign. Everything. But the end result in her case means that she feels very little sense of agency in her own life. Whatever happens is supposed to happen. So it’s very difficult for her to take ACTION. She has made a sort of religion out of coincidences and signs.)
I, for one, love it when these synchronicity moments happen (for the most part – sometimes they are awful) – and I love the book for taking this very common human experience seriously.
I picked up the book last night, and leafed through it, getting all excited all over again by it.
Get ready for a bombardment of excerpts.
