Jedi Simon Research
A Theory and Use of Meaningful
Coincidences , Synchronicities
by Gibbs A. Williams, Ph.D.
ABSTRACT
The purpose of this paper is to scientifically investigate the phenomena
of meaningful coincidences (synchronicities); specifically, to determine
their nature and to delineate some purposes they serve - particularly
as they occur in working with some patients receiving psychoanalytic
psychotherapy. It is proposed that these apparently a-causal
occurrences obey laws of psychodynamic causality and are therefore
determined. Further that the principle issues associated with
synchronicities are those having to do with the development of the self
as it naturally aspires to increasing expansion of individual
consciousness.
It is concluded that meaningful coincidences are the
surface manifestations of an individual's creative process
accommodating the 'best' available resolution of a problem initially
experienced as being trapped in a seemingly intractable psychological
dilemma. From this perspective, there is nothing mystical or divine
about the origins of these anomalous events. While this analysis does
rob the 'magic' associated with only reacting to the surface; it
nevertheless affirms a wondrous appreciation for the creative
capacities of each person to order his own internal and external chaos.
The following is based on a personal letter written to Robert G. Jahn, Dean of
School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Princeton University. I share this
letter and my findings with you, the reader.
Robert G. Jahn, Dean
School Of Engineering and Applied Sciences
Princeton University
Princeton, New Jersey 08554
Dear Robert,
To say that I was impressed with yours and Brenda Dunne's paper, On the
Science of the Subjective, is a gross understatement. Better to describe it
as a synthetic (in the sense of complex, integrated, and unified) tour de
force.
As you know, I have been interested in investigating the mysteries and
intellectual challenges of synchronicities (meaningful coincidences) for about
40 years. On the back burner for a few years, my interest has recently been
re-stirred. Stirred up enough that I have written a book proposal tentatively
titled:
Seeking The Golden Thread: The Evolving Self, Meaningful Coincidences,
and The Creative Process.
The purpose of this letter is to review the findings of my first paper (a copy
of which was sent to you nine years ago) and to offer a summary of
additional observations, and conclusions to date.
In my first paper,The Demystification and Use of Meaningful Coincidences, I
introduced the topic with the following statement:
''The purpose of this paper is to propose a new theory of meaningful
coincidences which attempts to demystify these seemingly a-causal
events by viewing them in the framework of the psychodynamics of the
self; and to offer a constructive use to which an understanding of these
events might be put.''
Psychodynamics is defined as ''mental or emotional forces or processes
developing especially in early childhood and their effect on behavior or
mental states.'' (Webster's Dictionary, 1963)
I began my paper with a summary of the Jungian theory of synchronicities,
operationally defining them as a subjective event A conjoined by a parallel
objective event A' (A-prime) by means of an apparent ''a-causal connecting
principle.'' This structure, common to all synchronicites, may be illustrated
as follows:
The Structure of a Meaningful Coincidence
(Synchronicity)
Self
Nexus
Object World
Psychic State
Causal or A-Causal?
Material State
Internal Reality
Intervening Variables
External Reality
Subjective Event A
Objective Event A'
Diagram 1
When ruling out causality as the linking principle connecting A and A', Jung
says that all we are left with is an equivalence of meaning and an
appearance of simultaneous occurrence.
What I found remarkable at that time, and find even more remarkable nine
years later, is Jung's provocative categorical assertion that "a causal
explanation of these phenomena is not even thinkable in intellectual terms."
(Jung, 1955, The Nature and Interpretation of the Psyche).
If my own experience had not changed so radically over my forty year study
of this subject, and if I had remained in the same state of 'Jungian"
consciousness as I was initially, I would have never have written my first
paper on synchronicities, as well as this additional material. However,
during a lengthy course of psychoanalytic psychotherapy, followed by an
intensive eleven year psychoanalysis, I found that I went through three
different (although overlapping) perspectives with regards to my attempts
to understand the nature and function of meaningful connections.
In other words, as my own consciousness changed (evolved?), - I believe in
large measure accelerated by my therapeutic experiences, - so too did my
perspectives concerning my reactions to, explanations of, and conclusions
about the nature and function of these anomalous events.
I would characterize the sweep of my changing consciousness from one that
was initially 'relatively reactive' to one which became 'relatively reflective'
as I made a slow but steady progression in growing a self-structure. In my
attempts to objectify my own subjective, I found meaningful coincidences
making seemingly important but mysterious contributions in my dedicated
identity questing.
Unwilling to accept Jung's dismissal of causality as 'unthinkable' as an
explanation of these events, I set out to study them scientifically. Aiding in
this effort I was particularly impressed by Kuhn, who states:
Discovery commences with the awareness of anomalies i.e. with the
recognition that nature has somehow violated the paradigm -
induced expectations that govern normal science.
(Kuhn, 1962, The Structure Of Scientific Revolutions)
In this light I observed that:
Synchronicities appear to violate (in part) the "paradigm" - induced
expectations of Freudian psychodynamics in appearing to defy laws
of psychic determinism transcending the conventional categories of
time and space.
An Example Of A Particularly Meaningful Coincidence:
Lazarus Rising
Representative of the kind of coincidence examined in my first
paper is the first of nineteen synchronicities recorded over a period
of twenty-five years, referred to as Lazarus Rising.
Later that night, following a seance, where the researcher had met a
friendly woman, he was alone in his apartment reading the New Testament
for the possibility of receiving spiritual guidance as he was accustomed to
doing at that time in his life.
Excited, but skeptical, about the experience at the seance (contacting dead
spirits and master teachers) he consciously mulled the question of the
reality of divinity and personal intercession. For this to be valid, he
reasoned, would mean that the conventional laws of cause and effect would
be inadequate at best, in attempting to explain such miraculous
happenings.
While mulling this over, he had randomly turned to the story of Lazarus
being raised from the dead and was struck by the story's implications. He
thought if events like this were true in the literal sense, then such
phenomena as contacting 'dead' spirits and spiritual guides at a seance
(initially judged to be as preposterous as they were seductive) may in fact
hold validity.
Now feeling excitedly agitated he called the woman from the seance to
share his experience with her. Responding to his apparant revelation,
excitement, and conclusion, she exclaimed: "How uncanny! That very
afternoon she had taken a walk with her (unconventional) psychiatrist. He
was also a believer in spiritualism and a student of the esoteric occult. He
had claimed to have received direct messages from both Freud and Jung
while in a trance state. Who also told her that he had been present at the
raising of Lazarus in a previous lifetime.
Upon hearing the coincidental reference to Lazarus rising, the researcher
experienced a rush of awe (Jung would refer to it as a numinous
experience). He felt in touch with mysterious forces which for him verified
the possibility that so called occult forces might in fact be real and that he
and others might personally be able to contact them.
I added:
Experiences like this one stimulated and reinforced an interest in the
researcher to attempt to answer the question which Freud had raised in
his own studies of the occult. - ''Are what they are telling us true or
not?'' (Freud, 1953. Dreams and the Occult, from
Psychoanalysis and the Occult Devereaux, G. - Editor, International
University Press)
The following question arises:
With events such as the Lazarus coincidence (the first of nineteen
personal synchronicities which I had found particularly meaningful) has
the science of psychodynamics reached its limits of explanation?
My first paper was an attempt to reconcile the mysteries of these seemingly
a-causal events, utilizing an alternative causal linking principle (synthetic
causality), enabling one to view the production of synchronicities from the
perspective of the psychodynamics of the self.
To this end, Jung's three anti-causal arguments were described and
examined.
These are:
(1) The problem of rare and spontaneous events,
(a problem of methodology);
(2) The problem of necessity and relativity (a problem of meaning); and,
(3) The problem of simultaneity (a problem of time).
The point will be made that none of Jung's arguments is sufficiently
compelling to obviate a scientific examination of these anomalous events.
Jung's Three Anti-Causal Arguments:
Methodology: The Problem of Rare and Spontaneous Events
Jung reasons that because these events happen only rarely and
spontaneously, they therefore are incapable of being scientifically examined
as in controlled experiments requiring controlled conditions.
(1) While it is true that each synchronicity differs from each other; they
nevertheless, all share a common structure. (see diagram 1)
This repetition of pattern suggests a potential intellectual explanation of
these odd events.
(2) Rare and spontaneous events may be viewed as abstracted data lifted
and highlighted out of a particular and potentially knowable continuum of
personal experience. (Thus a given synchronicity is to a particular flow of
personal experience as text is to subtext, or figure is to ground.)
Helen Deutsch offers a key methodological attitude in the pursuit of
subjecting these elusive events to scientific scrutiny.
Deutsch states:
One has the impression that only by fitting such "occult" incidents into a
continuum can one deprive them of their mystical features. Deutsch, 1945,
Occult Processes Occurring During Psychoanalysis.
This approach led me to view my own and others' synchronicities from the
perspective of overlapping contexts. I named these overlapping contexts:
(1) The situational context, and
(2) the psychological context(s):
(a) conscious context, and
(b) inferred unconscious context.
These contexts were provided in detailed journal notes preceding the
experience of the reported synchronicities of this author as well as some of
his patients.
An examination of the contextual contexts of the 19 meaningful
coincidences cited by this author indicated that there was a common thread
running through all of the relevant contexts of this subject. Meaningful
coincidences were associated with unresolved conflicts concerning a
fragmented self in search of wholeness.
Causality and Equivalence of Meaning: The Problem of Necessity and
Relativity
Jung argues that conventional physics believes that there are necessary
relationships connecting events with each other. That is, that objective
event A' could be demonstrated to invariably follow from subjective event A.
Modern physics has demonstrated that necessity is replaced by probability
theory. Thus Jung concluded that the connection between A and A' has to
be explained by some other principle than that of causality. By removing
causality as an explanatory linking principle, what is left is only an
equivalence of meaning and apparent simultaneity.
With respect to the causality issue, Jung refers only to the conventional
definition of causality, omitting any reference to alternative conceptions,
obviating a potentially valid causal explanation of these events. Among
them is teleological causality, which Robert G. Jahn and Brenda Dunne refer
to in their paper.
With respect to equivalence of meaning, Jung assumes that in addition to
personal generated meanings there is a realm of absolute meaning 'out
there' able to be tapped into, leading to a connection with potentially
derivable divine wisdom. Synchronicities in this view are coded messages
from this realm of unmediated absolute meaning (archetypal knowledge).
My experience indicates that meaning is not static and passively received
but is a by-product of an active process of interpreting the raw data of
experience, utilizing one's conscious and personal unconscious. Thus,
references to meaning implies an active process of meaning making,
wherein something personal is always added to the raw data of experience,
resulting in meaningful connectedness.
Thus it follows, that the process for generating meanings, consists of the
raw data of experience being filtered through the idiosyncratic contents and
structure (whole, partial, or missing) and is interpreted according to the
degree of attained consciousness of a given individual.
Simultaneity: The Problem Of Time
With respect to the problem of simultaneity (a time) problem, Jung is
referring to linear time (clock time: past, present, and future) obviating
other concepts of time. In my view, synchronicities are intimately involved
with both linear time and durational time. Durational time refers to the
subjective experience of no time, or timelessness, or ''play time'' - the time
that is associated with early childhood.
My analysis of synchronisitic phenomena indicates that with respect to time
there is an overlapping of linear and durational time. This is an important
observation as it directly connects degrees of consciousness with the
production of meaningful coincidences. Thus related to your thesis about the
major contribution of consciousness creating "reality".
Bach states:
space and time appear in synchronistic events as if they were
related to conditions of the psyche, as if they were only demanded
by consciousness and did not exist in their own mind (1972, Jung's
Relationship to Synchronicity).
Implications for an Understanding of
The Psychodynamics of Meaningful Coincidences
After rebutting Jung's three anti-causal arguments with my own points of
view, I spelled out an alternative account of the psychodynamics of
synchronistic events. In this connection, I made use of Spitz's concepts of
psychic organizers particularly the smile response of the baby at about five
months old; mirroring; overlapping of two modes of consciousness
(durational timelessness and no spatial boundaries/linear time and bounded
space); compromise formations utilizing Waelder's concept of the principle
of multiple functions; Noy's concept of developing primary process - a hint
as to how consciousness expands?; and Winnicotts' concepts of transitional
phenomena, negotiating transitional space, and transitional objects. All of
this flows together in the psychodynamics of the creative process.
I concluded:
What is seen in synchronisitic events and the awe response is the
deification of one's own psychological processes. This process is
perceived as magical by those who are unable to feel validated as
having a cohesive self (i.e., unable to make a meaningful
connection with their own personal unconscious).
For those individuals who have a cohesive self it is suggested that
the psychological process leading to (the production of)
synchronicities is experienced as synonymous with what is
commonly called the creative process. Thus people with a cohesive
self do have synchronicities, but their experience of synchronicities
is likely to be registered as a by-product of their own creative
unconscious and conscious.
I ended my paper with the following remarks:
In this connection: the awe experience associated with experiencing
meaningful coincidences is like the author of an epic play who
somehow forgot he is the author and who in watching an
enactment of his production exclaims in wonder: "Marvelous! I
wonder who wrote that?" Quoting Wittenberg, 1978 personal
communication).
Finally, viewing meaningful coincidences as derivatives of the personal
unconscious, taking the form of projected transitional objects, supports
Freud's conclusion regarding occult phenomena:
The differences between myself and the superstitious person are
two: first, he projects outwards a motivation which I look for
within; secondly, he interprets chance due to an event, while I
trace it back to a thought. But what is hidden from him corresponds
to what is unconscious for me. Freud, 1919, The Uncanny)
That was nine years ago. The following material is new.
In part, I used your papers: On The Quantum Mechanics Of Consciousness,
With Applications to Anomalous Phenomena and The Science Of The
Subjective as a guide to what is new with my continuing work.
You state:
Some attempt to represent the experiences of human
consciousness as it turns inward towards its center, rather than
outward toward its environment, {might} be a worthwhile next
step.(On The Quantum Mechanics of Consciousness, p.769 Jahn
and Dunne)
Responding to your challenge, the following is a diagram of a map of the
psyche (internal reality) associated with the production of meaningful
coincidences, otherwise known as synchroncities (a class of anomalous
phenomena).
The Common Structure of Synchronistic Phenomena
The Subjective Event
Nexus
The Objective Event
The Intrapsycic
The Connecting Matrix
The Interpersonal
Linking Principle
(Causal?)
(A-Causal?)
Diagram 2
While all synchronicities are likely to have idiosyncratic meanings,
nevertheless they share a common structure. A is associated with internal
reality or subjective experience (intrapsychic). A' is associated with external
reality or objective reality (interpersonal). If one views intrapsychic reality
together with interpersonal reality, the resulting combination may be
thought of as a 'systems perspective' of reality.
The Subjective Matrix
This next section will focus on the nature of the subjective, intrapsychic
matrix. Following is an outline of the salient contents, structures, and their
interrelationships that appear to be most relevant to the production of these
anomalous events. These include the contents of psychological inner space,
the structures of inner space, some interrelationships between contents and
structures, and some implications towards understanding the production of
meaningful coincidences.
The Contents Of Psychological Innerspace:
The contents of psychological inner space are: physical sensations, feelings,
thoughts (fantasies), intuitions, judgments.
The Structures of Psychological Inner Space:
While there are a number of models of the psyche, the one that seems to
me to be the most inclusive of the relevant facts and the most exclusive of
extraneous material is that of Freud's structural theory.
Following is an overview of the central organizing concepts comprising the
essence of the structural theory.
The Id
reservoir of basic instincts which may be broken down into two: libido (love
- binding - moving towards fusion); and aggression (extension in space
moving against - in the service of separation and differentiation). The Id
may be inherently strong or weak, seeks immediate discharge, is expressed
in fantasy and or in actions, may be allowed free sway on the one hand to
actively squelched (suppression, repression) on the other. The id is under
the sway of the pleasure principal that asserts 'I want what I want when I
want it' and 'I will tolerate no frustration'.
The Superego
representative of 'the law' (shoulds/should nots) which is internalized in the
developing child and becomes the voice of moral authority. The superego
ranges from primitive to mature; moderate to rigidly punitive; and in some
cases, missing altogether. The superego is the representative of inevitable
limitations. It often says 'No' to the Id. It is out of the clash of I want vs.
you can't have it or can't have it now that the ego is born.
Note:
Between the forces of id and superego, internal reality is characterized by a
state of seemingly never ending psychological conflict. Out of the inevitable
clash between the desires of the id and the restrictions of the superego,
another psychological structure is born, referred to as the ego.
The Ego
(the voice of reason) is the internal traffic cop which mediates the desires of
the id with the real or imagined restrictions of the superego. The ego is
under the sway of the reality principle which assesses the realistic
possibility/probability of obtaining desired gratification in the context of real
or imagined prohibitions. The ego may be profitably viewed as being
globally ego strong to ego weak.
Further, the ego may be broken down into a defensive ego which is the
repository of defense mechanisms whose function it is to protect the system
from psychological overload (i.e., panic anxiety). Defenses range from
primitive (denial, projection) to sophisticated (sublimation).
Along with the defensive ego are the autonomous ego functions, whose
responsibility is to connect the whole person with external reality. Among
the autonomous ego functions are thinking, organizing, and synthesizing.
Under certain conditions the autonomous ego, initially thought to be conflict
free, becomes conflicted itself.
Current psychological mapping suggests that it is profitable to include the
self as a separate psychological structure along side the id, ego, and
superego. Previously, what is now referred to as the self, was considered to
be part of the ego.
The Self
is operationally defined as something solid at the core of an individual that
endures in the midst of internal or external confusion. It is also the prime
moving force in the individual that would commonly be thought of as the
person's vital essence. Using Kohut and Spitz as guides: the self is thought
to grow and develop out of an undifferentiated matrix.
According to Spitz the self spontaneously grows to the degree that the new
born develops the capacity to tolerate increasing dosages of frustration.
Thus the self learns to sustain continuity despite internal and external
threats to the integrity of its beingness.
Note: It is important to note that this is but one view of the self.
In this view, the self ranges from cohesive to incohesive to practically non
existent. The self can be strong (able to remain constant, steady, and
continuous even under great internal and external pressure) to highly
vulnerable (easily fragmented, decimated, destroyed, with little capacity to
bounce back).
How Content and Structures Interact
According to classical depth psychology, there are six concepts utilized to
comprehensively understand how content is processed through form. These
six concepts are: the structural (id, superego, ego), the topographic or the
iceberg model, the dynamic, the economic, the genetic, and the adaptive.
The topographic depth psychology model (also referred to as the iceberg
model) of the psyche asserts that like an iceberg, psychic productions may
be best viewed as originating out of unconscious experience passing
through preconscious to consciousness. Consciousness may be thought of
as the tip of the iceberg signifying 'that experience' of which we are most
aware and focused upon at any given time.
The dynamic model asserts that the contents of consciousness (feelings,
thoughts, sensations, intuitions, fantasies, judgments, actions, observed as
verbal and non-verbal behavior) are actively processed through the
structures of id, superego, ego, and the self. This processing is dynamic
(kinetic) as differentiated from static and fixed.
The economic point of view asserts that there is a certain quantity of
psychic energy associated with this processing which is either used
synergistically (like an efficient motor that hums) or is constricted (ranging
from bottled up to short circuited, as in neurotic or psychotic personalities).
The adaptive point of view asserts that all psychic behavior serves knowable
conscious and unconscious purposes including behavior which seems most
random or apparently non sensical. Thus, all behavior is considered to be an
attempt (though perhaps an inefficient one) to resolve a psychological
conflict.
The genetic point of view: points backwards to the historical origin of all
behavior. It also takes into account the fact that growing and developing
individuals pass through identifiable psychological stages of development
(Erikson, Freud, Spitz, Mahler, Piaget, Kohlberg et.al )
Implications Of This Particular Model of
The Psyche for The Production of Synchronicities
This model of the mind is one which is highly complex and multi layered. It
is also one that appreciates psychic origins, thus emphasizing determinism
but also takes into account intentionality (purpose) hence teleology.
(Proponents of this theoretical perspective believe that behavior is both
caused and is purposeful Thus there is a joint acceptance of both classical
causality and 'modern' teleological causality. (The genetic plus the adaptive
points of view.)
Acceptance of this multiple point of view model of the psyche suggests that
contents processed through a given individual's structure (or lack of
structure) is idiosyncratic (relative) to the individual in question, and is
therefore constantly in motion (capable of development.)
The idiosyncratic ways in which a given person will attempt to organize his
chaos, utilizing his particular complex of contents of consciousness
processing through his particular structures, is the operational definition of
psychodynamics.
In this view, the more a person is aware of (cathects: makes an abstract
concept come alive) his own unique complex of contents and structures,
and the ways in which they work, together is an operational definition of
degrees of consciousness.
Extending this idea - a person who is increasingly aware of his
psychodynamics (both in the sense of understanding how he gotten to be
the person he is, as well as utilizing this information for making increasingly
better informed judgments) might be thought of as being conscious of being
conscious. {Consciousness of consciousness}.
In this view, consciousness is neither staic nor equal in all human beings;
but, instead it is more or less developed and developing and is,
therefore,capable of expanding..
Summary:
Developmental psychology indicates that there is a layering of the psyche
ranging from the most primitive preverbal sensory realm of consciousness
to the most highly evolved integrated synthetic consciousness. Analyses of
thousands of people suggest that if the pre-verbal child could share his view
of reality. he might well describe it in William James' terms that the world
appears to be "a busy buzzing confusion of sensation," of which, it is each
person's life long task to order his own chaos. This task might operationally
be defined as proactive meaning-making.
Undeveloped (preoedipal/ pre-verbal /unmediated) experience is
characterized as stimulus - reactive, (S-R) reflexive responses;
differentiated from developing oedipal/verbal/mediated ) experiences
characterized as stimulus - organism - response (S-O-R) reflective
responses.
Each level is associated with its own organization of consciousness and may
singularly and collectively be regarded as a filtering system allowing in or
screening out what it deems as significant stimuli (raw data or information)
utilized in generating meaningful connections.
An Additional Transformational Point of View:
To account for the fact that individuals, under conditions yet to be specified)
can expand their consciousness: the organizing concept of a
transformational point of view might be helpful. Personal and professional
observations indicate that conflicts are resolved by utilizing a more complex
logic than linear logic {conventional 'scientific' logic} alone, e.g.,a logic of a
different order.
This logic of a different order is composed of feelings, ideas, intuitions,
sensations and contributions of the personal unconscious. Further, it is
expressed in the form of Hegelian dialectic. Thus this complex layered logic
might best referred to as a logic of experience (wherein: experience is
operationally defined as a combination of affects, ideas plus intuitions,
sensations, and additional information from the personal unconscious.)
The essence of experiential logic begins with the recognition of a felt
problem that seeks resolution (the thesis). This surface problem (thesis) is
embedded in a 'negative' matrix (antithesis). Resolving a given problem
involves finding some way to obtain what is desirable (or to stop doing what
is undesirable) by negotiating the mix of thesis and antithesis resulting in a
psychic compromise. This psychic compromise, then, may be viewed as a
tertiary blending of thesis and antithesis which in turn becomes a new
thesis {starting point for the next leg of a person's life journey}.
To amplify the concept of transformation, I think it valuable to divide the
whole of experience into two qualitatively distinct realms of experience.
These are the realm of being and the realm of doing. In this connection note
the following figure:
Realms of Experience
Being
Point of Transition
Doing
A
B
C
Passive Self
Active Self
Task:
Attain Object
and
Self Constancy
Task:
Attain
Self Directed
Actions
Diagram 3
The realm of Being (A) is associated with the first two years of life
(preoedipal:pre-verbal) hence preconscious at best and probably mainly
unconscious experience. According to Spitz, Kohut et.al the first two years,
particularly the first, is crucial to the development of a cohesive self.
In order to grow a cohesive self structure, the child has to learn how to
bear increasing dosages of frustration and other so called negative affects.
Among these negative affects are: anxiety, depression, ambiguity,
confusion, ambivalence, not knowing, uncertainty, increasing complexity
and the like.
Tolerating increasing dosages of frustration leads to the automatic
development of a cohesive self. Failure to begin to process the capacity to
tolerate frustration means that the chronologically advancing child is
devoid of the psychological prerequisites for spontaneously growing a
cohesive self. This results in a chronological grownup, but who at the time,
is psychologically unable to regulate his self-esteem. This problem has
crucial implications for the quality of life for people suffering from this
difficulty.
Those who are unable to regulate their self-esteem (irrespective of
intelligence and drive) are utterly dependent upon the object world to
regulate their self-esteem for them. To the preoedipal child (under 3 years
old) the object world functions as a reflecting mirror.
Thus, their self-esteem rises or falls in direct proportion to the degree to
which they experience a harmonious connection to the projected
authority(s) of the moment. If perceived worthy by the projected
authority(s) of the moment, they will correspondingly feel all is right with
themselves and the world; whereas, if perceived as disapproved of, they
will feel depressed sometimes to the point of feeling crushed by an
internalized negative judgment of unworthiness. In the grips of perceived
negative feedback they often experience themselves as if they were to
suddenly plummet into a deep hole and lose whatever hard won identity
they have been able to muster.
Successfully negotiating the developmental task leading to the
spontaneous growth and development of a cohesive self is a two step
process technically referred to as (1) object constancy leading to (2) self
constancy. It is in the realm of being that the central issues of object and
self constancy must be initiated and worked through as necessary
conditions for a cohesive self to form and to develop. An explanation of
object and self constancy follows.
Overview of Object and Self Constancy:
Children are under the sway of the pleasure principle. That is, they want
what they want when they want it and brook no frustration. When the
mother's response matches the child's desire, the child experiences a state
of blissful at-one-ment with the 'good' mother. This state of being is, of
course, ideally desirable but doomed to inevitable a periodic disruptions, as
no 'mother' can be quite so perfectly understanding all the time.
When the imperfect authority figure (usually the mother) inevitably fails to
provide the expected 'perfect' response, her child experiences the missed
expectation {disappointment} with frustration and anger. The child now
experiences the same angelic good mother of the recent past as presently
frustratingly withholding, pain inducing and therefore bad. It is normal for
the disappointed child to turn his derived fury against the frustrating
'object' usually in the form of actively hating and or rejecting the perceived
'bad' parent.
Object constancy is the capacity of a person to experience the frustratingly
'withholding' object as bad, hated, and 'killed off'; yet, somehow, at the
same time, managing to tolerate the destructive negative affect enough to
be able to repair the broken circuit, thus emotionally reconnecting with the
frustrating but loved parental object. Self constancy refers to the same
situation, except that the person who falls short of his expectations of
himself is able to be disappointed without "completely" destroying himself
(psychic or literal suicide), keeping solid, and maintaining focus and
fortitude.
Thus the realm of being is primarily concerned with growing and
preserving the integrity of the self structure. The 'job" of the baby is just
to be - required only to be given to in the form of recognition, validation,
and unconditional acceptance. In the countless small but, cumulative daily
disappointments (frustrations) of normal living, the developing child
hopefully learns how to experience a missed expectation (disappointment)
as only a disappointment and not as a sign that the end of his world
(complete destruction of loving feelings towards his main connections or to
himself) has actually come about.
Successfully negotiating the tasks of object and self constancy leads
directly to the growth and development of a cohesive self. An operational
definition of a cohesive self is the capacity of a disappointed person to
experience internal and external cohesion while still remaining solid at the
core. Attaining self constancy is a necessary condition to enable the
developing child to move from overreacting to glitches (as like a
paramecium might react to a live 'wire) to being able to reflect upon them
in a balanced, even manner. A person, in this state, is able to shift from
automatically reacting to acting from within).
Summary
The psychological process of self-esteem regulation has been highlighted.
This process starts with newborns reacting automatically and emotionally
to internal and external stimuli which frustrate them. As they gradually
learn how to bear increasing dosages of 'negative' affect (including
frustration, anxiety, depression, ambiguity, confusion etc.) they learn to
delay, and think through problems so as to be able to make increasingly
more effective problem solving choices. Towards this end, attaining self-
constancy is a necessary condition to enable the developing child to move
from simply reacting to glitches (as like a paramecium might react to a live
wire) to being able to reflect upon them.
Now, finally, we come to the relevance of this discussion to the topic of
meaningful coincidences. The development of a cohesive self, by learning
to bear increasing dosages of frustration leading to object constancy and
then self constancy is, I believe, the core psychological process involved in
what speculative philosophers are describing when they refer to a human
being's need to order their personal chaos. The psychological progression
from automatically reacting to being able to act from within is, I believe, a
statement about the existence and development of consciousness.
In this light there is, then, a necessary connection between the attained
level of psychological development and the degree of attained
development of an individual's consciousness.
This means that if a person has failed to negotiate the tasks of either
object constancy and / or self constancy, attempts by them to order their
personal chaos will be necessarily filtered through the predominance of
that state of being associated with the attained level of incomplete self
development. Thus it is not coincidental that in the analyses of adults who
are seen to be fixated (developmentally stuck) in the stage of preoedipal
development, to observe them predictably preoccupied with fusion wishes
and fantasies echoing the theme and variation of continuously needing and
searching for uninterrupted at-one-ment (fusion) experiences.
Thus reported psychological conflicts centering on derailed dialogues, and
attempts to mend broken relationships, (either with the object world or
with the self), are the norm. Additionally, such people are very concerned
with issues of essences and ultimates expressed as a preoccupation with
binary opposites including those of keeping the faith/faithlessness;
trust/mistrust; hope/hopelessness; persistence/collapsing; cathecting
meaningful relationships vs. cynically throwing cold water on even the idea
of having, let alone sustaining meaningful connections.
Additional Developmental Layers
The preoedipal (preverbal) level of psychological development has been
further subdivided by M.Klein, who first named and described the
depressive position, (2nd quarter of the first year). Klein, Winnicott et.al.
adding the even more primitive position named the paranoid-schizoid
mode (first quarter of the first year). And the most primitive organization
of experience beginning with birth: the autistic-contiguous mode (Bick,
Meltzer, Tustin, Bion, and synthesized by Ogden).
The Depressive Mode
Allows the person to symbolize reality allowing "one to experience oneself
as a person thinking one's thought and feelings one's feelings. In this way,
thoughts and feelings are experienced to a large degree as personal
creations that can be understood (interpreted)." (Ogden, The Primitive
Edge, 1989.)
Paranoid-Schizoid Mode
Whereas the depressive position ''operates predominantly in the service of
containment of experience, including psychological pain, the paranoid-
schizoid mode is more evenly divided between efforts at managing psychic
pain and efforts at the evacuation of pain through the defensive use of
omnipotent thinking, denial, and the creation of discontinuities of
experience.'' (Ogden, 1989) In this mode there is no space between the
symbol and what is symbolized, experience is taken as concrete. That is
what appears to be is all there is. Thinking is two dimensional. (Ogden,
1989) There is no experience of choice only a sense of being at the mercy
of forces (internal or external) that are beyond one's control.
The Autistic-Contiguous Mode:
is a sensory dominated mode of generating experiences which is
essentially dominated by "a relationship of shape to the feeling of
enclosure, of beat to the feeling of rhythm, of hardness to the feeling of
edginess.... There is practically no sense of inside and outside or self and
other: rather, what is important is the pattern, boundedness, shape,
rhythm, texture, hardness, softness, warmth, coldness, and so on... It is
the ''sensory floor'' of experience. (Ogden, 1989)
Filters Of Experience:
It is suggested that each of the above modes of experiencing (individually
and collectively) be viewed as filters through which the raw data of
experience is selected and organized. In this perspective, each mode,
singularly and in combination, has its own conscious and unconscious
organizing concepts which may be expected to filter the raw data of
experience in predictable ways. If this idea be extended to attempts to
understand the nature and function of consciousness, it is hypothesized
that consciousness is actively dynamic (not static) and ranges from an
unfifferentiated sensory base, gradually to quickly, expanding into ever
increasing states of awakeness and awareness. The penultimate state of
awake and aware might be thought of as consciousness of consciousness.
Filters of Experience and Primary Process: Time and Space
With respect to the way in which connections are made, evidence indicates
that it is done so by means of primary process linkages. Primary process
logic is akin to the Salvador Dali painting: Time Bending. In this painting
there is seen a large pocket watch that seems to have melted and thus
would be incapable of functioning; yet, at the same time, there is the
sense that somehow it is still able to do so despite apparent linear logical
impossibility.
Considering time and space, (the mediums in which cause and effect are
conceptualized) there is a radical departure from conventional scientific
causality. For the baby there is no such reality as a sense of time. There is,
instead, a sense of timelessness, no clock time, no awareness of a past,
present and/or future, but in its place only play or vacation time. There is
also no sense of clear boundaries as for example; being able to distinguish
internal from external reality (differentiating all that is in the body 'me'
from all that is outside the body 'not me' ) but rather, is a sense of fusion
particularly with the primary mother. (In an important experiment at New
York University it was concluded that the core concept dominating the
inferred unconscious of the year one baby is "My Mother and I are One").
(L.Silverman). In the light of these findings it seems fruitful to refer to this
realm of preoedipal experience as durational consciousness.
Oedipal/Linear Consciousness (three-seven years)
The oedipal mode of consciousness organizes chaos utilizing the organizing
concepts (psychic filters) of linear time, and bounded space. {conventional
causality} The language used to express cause and effect linkages is often
characterized as scientific, rational, objective, (exclusively of the intellect).
The logic of this form of consciousness is governed by laws of secondary
process. Time is thought of as clock time with a clear sense of past,
present, and future. Space is clearly demarcated as defining and limiting
one object from another as in the differentiation of inside from outside.
Preoedipal consciousness is characterized by unmediated linkages (s-r)
reactive responses to stimuli; whereas oedipal consciousness is
characterized by the beginnings of mediated (s-o-r-) reflective linkages.
Oedipal consciousness is also associated with the realm of doing as
differentiated from the preoedipal realm of being. In this realm of
consciousness desires converted into ideas are now galvanized into
proactivity towards the attainment of a desired goal.
Thus passive wishes of the preoedipal state (give me) is converted into
active intentionality in the doing oedipal stage of consciousness. (Bear in
mind that the categories of being and doing, are not absolutely black and
white distinctions but are better thought of as a continuum.
Summary: Implications of Alternative State Of Consciousness
(Pre-Oedipal: Oedipal Being-Oedipal Doing)
In a given individual at any one time (past the age of two? years) there
exists not one consciousness (linear) rather two (linear and durational)
expressed in the form of two distinct logical processes. One process is
usually more predominant than the other. Additionally, these two logics
may either be independent of each other or more or less overlapping. An
overlapping (blending) of consciousness a: (durational), and consciousness
b: (linear), results in a synthetic or tertiary consciousness having its own
unique stamp and coloration when placed upon the raw data of experience.
It is conjectured that meaningful coincidences are an external
manifestation of an overlapping of durational and linear consciousness.
Fertile Conditions For The Appearance Of Synchronisitic
Phenomena
Research has established that synchronisitic phenomena are intimately
associated with attempts to resolve psychological problems. What has not
been done is an analysis of the specific nature of the problems associated
with the production of synchronistic phenomena. Following is an attempt to
do so.
The first issue is to be clear about the nature of a psychological problem.
Psychological problems are experienced when a person either (a) tries to
initiate or sustain some activity (mental or physical) but is thwarted; or
(1)) tries to stop some ongoing activity but is thwarted. In other terms,
psychological problems are operationally defined as the inability to
continue smooth functioning in either state of positive or negative inertia
having encountered a discontinuity (stuck point, glitch) in experience.
In a problem solving model of learning, it is assumed that people prefer a
state of balance (homeostasis) to imbalance. When the balance is
markedly upset, a need is generated for redressing the grievance (process
of adaptation). Providing a person has access to thinking through a
problem, there will be an attempt to assimilate an answer searching for
relevant past experience to be used as a model for current problem
solving. This is equivalent to pouring new wine into old bottles = taking the
substance of the present problem and fitting it into a familiar structure for
the purposes of applying what was learned from the past to solve the
present problem).
When assimilation fails to work, as when the present presents a unique
challenge to the person in question, there then is a need for a creative
solution (an accommodation). (New wine is put into a new bottle = taking
the substance of the present problem and fitting it into a new structure = a
creative solution.)
In this light it is interesting to examine the consciousness of pre-
synchronistically prone individuals.
NOTE: The following examples of synchronicities and the contexts in which
they are embedded are culled from detailed session notes of some patients
receiving psychoanalytic psychotherapy.
Contextual Analyses of Meaningful Coincidences
The quality of the psychological stuckness or grid lock is dependent upon
the attained level of the psychological development of a given individual. If
the grid lock occurs in a person who is stuck in a preoedipal developmental
stage years one and two), the experience of dead lock will be one of
fundamental physical/psychological survival - (preservation of being).
Whereas, if the point of stuckness is experienced by an individual at a
higher level of psychological development, the stuckness will be
characterized by issues of intentionality, focusing, initiating, executing, and
following through - giving ideas substance - (issues of doing).
(a) A representative example of presynchronistic consciousness of
a patient stuck in the pre-oedipal stage of psychic development
In her present state of consciousness C feels as if she is in touch with what
is real but is unable to sustain it. Thus she often finds himself shifting from
clarity to confusion, turning 180 degrees in an instant. "It is one thing to
have the courage of my conviction when I am in my right mind; but what
do I do when I experience myself as mindless?" when in a state of
mindlessness, she feels as if there is nothing, she is nothing. At such
points, unable to access her own will, her frustration turns to rage, which
is turned back onto herself eventually converting to panic anxiety,
unbearable tension, and culminating in explosive hysteria.
(Note the sense of desperation, feeling utterly stuck in the psychic state of
the moment, unable to utilize any of her powers to free herself of
overwhelming 'negative' ego states. She feels as if she is in the grips of
external and internal forces that are beyond her control.)
C details vivid memories of childhood when she was subjected to extreme
physical and psychological abuse. Whatever she did resulted in stinging
criticism. To survive she had to deny her own sense of reality pretending
that decidedly abnormal conditions were normal. "All roads led to bad,
mad, sad, ineffectualness."
All she wanted to do was to curl up in a ball and go to sleep but that was
dangerous as well. Eventually this nonstop suppression of her natural self
eroded her spirit causing a wide splits in her sense of self and a de-
vitalization of spirit at her core. (I noted that at this time she was
beginning to experience that which heretofore she had only been partially
aware.)
It was now clearly established that it was difficult for C to confront
distasteful external realities. Thus, when feeling put upon, disappointed or
angry at some other person's attitude or behavior toward her, she denied
their part; instead, feeling as if she is somehow to be blamed for creating a
conflict. To survive she blocks out, denies, dissociates her ever present
horror story, coupled with a confusion of perpetual uncertainty as to what
she is responsible for, from that which is independent of herself.
In this context, it should come as no surprise that she has had a learning
deficit all of her life, selectively unable to concentrate. "If I am lucky I will
get caught up in the magic of the day by erasing 'the horror' until that time
comes back again."
At a point during the session the researcher mentioned the fact that when
Jung was three years old, his mother was committed to an asylum which
left his father bitter. (Thus the founder of synchronicities has an intimate,
traumatic) connection with the years: 2 and three 3.)
C's Synchronicity: As soon as I mentioned the numbers 2 and 3, C
immediately related a dream of the previous night. She is in a room.
Someone comes in and gives her the numbers 238 or 328. One of these
combinations is supposed to be G's room (G = her therapist) who C tries
to get to despite many obstacles. She says she feels like a small girl and
has to reach up high and touch them to figure out which number is which.
She has a clear mission to get to G. But on the way, she encounters many
difficulties (these are both real and of her own construction for the
purposes of the dream). I associate to myself that she is talking about
always feeling in between: one half in and one half out. C is wedged
between being born and dying; to be or not to be; dead and/or alive;
between her mother/father; between her parents/and herself; between the
unconscious wish to be dependent and her dread and self hatred of it;
between her wish to be autonomous and her fears she will be discovered
as a fraud and so on in all areas of her life. She seems caught in a
psychological cleft stick of seemingly unresolveable binary black/white, all
or nothing-dead locks. She easily gets short circuited, drained of all of her
libido, feeling utterly stuck, trapped, zero pointed, devitalized at the core;
nothing solid, either external or internal to hang on to; stuck between pre-
oedipal consciousness and oedipal consciousness.
In the dream her friend is taking her around a mall. C drifts into a shop
and sees an intricate little mechanical pig. It is amazing but frightening. It
comes alive, opens up and splits apart. She wants to send it to a child, so
she hands the salesperson $20.00 expecting change. Instead of the
change she gets back a book of coupons worth $50.00. She is outraged
wanting her money not the coupons. Once again C is frustrated beyond
belief. Then she realizes she is late for her appointment with G. It is now
1:30 and the session was scheduled for 10:00. She panics. She goes to an
office and asks for help to locate G.
This is when they give her the numbers 238 or 328. Her friend wants to go
down the escalator, but C needs to go to see G in a different direction. She
is stymied but instead of feeling hopelessly caught in the horns of a
dilemma, she uncharacteristically chooses to take a position,
spontaneously saying to herself,''the hell with her I'll meet up with her
later.'' She then goes down a long tunnel confronting additional obstacles
along the way to finally get to G.
Post Script to C's Synchronicity
I wonder if she is talking about her experience of rapprochement at 2-1/2?
Something always went wrong. She is cheated, or dismissed, or brushed
off or ignored. All of this makes her feel crazy and stirs up hysteria. She
grew to hate normal conflict and would easily short circuit at even the hint
of it. What would and should be a relatively innocuous problem for most
people, for C has turned out to be a matter of life and death stirring up
seemingly unresolveable internal and external conflicts. In an instant her
whole physical and psychological systems can freeze up, which she
experiences as a no choice, no exit, terrorizing state of affairs. In such
states (frequently stirred up) she feels ''trapped for life.''
At the very instant she chose to go her own way leaving her friend on the
escalator, C believes that all might be lost because of her choice to go her
own way. But uncharacteristically, C let her desire to see G override her
intense separation anxiety and fear of abandonment.
She appeared to make a true autonomous choice despite anticipated
dangers. This uncharacteristic action was interpreted to be a significant
development. It is known that a novel act in a dream usually means that
the person is capable of doing the same act when conscious; but,
awareness of the fact is initially in a preconscious state. When awakened
from the dream, the change in attitude had yet to be experienced
consciously.
C associated more to the dream, ''Obstacles every step of the
way...{always} experiencing ultimate frustration.'' (Perhaps here is a key:)
To survive, she has had to endure whatever frustrations she encounters or
else she dies. 'No way out ''I have no where to go... no other purpose--I
don't know where I came from or where I am to go.''
It truly seemed to C that she was not born of this earth; rather, that she
was a deposited alien who has no earthly history, nor shares in any of its
rewards and purposes. Living in a foreign world her existence is almost
completely devoid of meaningful connectedness and pleasurable
significance. (This is how she felt as a child and by force of negative
aversive conditioning this same feeling of estrangement has persisted until
this day).
C feels that what is left is nothing and concludes that ''it's all my fault''. I
indicated that her 'nothing' is filled with terror, guilt, rage and the like. ''I
have no mind - and all is lost.''
This statement is the quintessence of despair, one short step from suicide.
As all attempts to find herself were thwarted at every turn - totally blocked
- all she could anticipate for certain was predictable frustration. As a result
of suppression and then repression of her natural self she gave up
expecting to have any faith, trust, hope, love, significance, libido,
meaning.
Thus a life devoid of meaningful connectedness has culminated in a sense
of utter futility and cynicism that is dramatically expressed in the form of a
repetitive organizing question she often asks himself: ''Why hope?, why
get out of bed?''
Her experience that both her inside reality and external reality are
'nothing' (no-thing-ness - without substance} being the major symptom of
her central problem, the cure then, is to fill the insignificant nothing with a
significant something. In this light she suffers from an impoverishment of
spirit needing an effective' spiritual psychology' equivalent to cure her.
In a paper called The Psychodynamics of Spirituality, the researcher
locates the psychological origins of spirituality in the year one experience
of the new born child. This is the area that is central for the baby to either
obtain or failing to obtain a cathexis with basic trust, faith, hope, love, the
capacity to persist and the beginnings of making meaningful connections
with the object world.
A child begins cathects these vital experiences to the degree to which
he/she is unconditionally accepted, i.e., loved without strings attached.
Thus the 'job' of the baby is essentially passive-that is, to be loved. If the
child experiences enough love he/she will spontaneously grow a cohesive
self structure (solid identity.) Failure to experience enough love obviates
the natural growth and development of a cohesive self.
C concluded the session saying: ''I can't pursue my own mind - my own
goals {an autonomous self}, one who can take pleasure in his own
choices.'' G replied: ''yes and there you have why you came into
treatment, why you stay, and what you want to accomplish.''
C notes: ''If cumulous clouds of terror weren't bad enough there is also
intense guilt for being late.'' She associates to the dream.'' I am older now.
Three years old then jumps to 15 or 16 years old. A variation on the same
theme. I feel unequal to everyone. I can't see the numbers up high. If I
feel them I will know what they are. I feel caught in a mysterious maze.
The familiar becomes unfamiliar. I couldn't find you. I had to ask for
directions to find your room. I became lost and frightened.''
The researcher concluded that C is now more conscious of the intricate
process that happens in her internal reality, intimately affecting her
outside reality by blocking the expression of her natural self. This blocking
prevents her from initiating and sustaining meaningful connections with
herself and others.
Note: In retrospect, it is seen that what at first what was thought to be a
true autonomous choice may have been in fact, less. So, as she was also
frightened to show up late to see G. Nevertheless - with respect to the
analysis of synchronistic happenings - this session marked a major shift in
this patient's consciousness as she was finally able to get outside her
material by cathecting experientially that which she is really up against.
(Soldiers in battle may be killed if exposed but, while still alive they are
better off knowing the size, position, and other salient details of the enemy
than being blanketed by an omnipresent fog.)
A Second Example: Pre-synchronicity Consciousness Of A Patient
Struggling To Maintain A Cohesive Sense Of Himself.
D's present situational context has to do with his heretofore attitudes
about disappointing others versus himself As his identity has been based
on others opinion of him, the idea, let alone the act of disappointing
important people, has been a potential threat to his self-esteem.
This has been so because D has equated disappointment with withdrawal
of love. And withdrawal of love, by a love object, has been experienced as
a loss of his own identity. It is as if he has felt that without a continuing
experience of at-one-ment with the love object of the moment he would
quite literally die of a broken heart. Therefore, whenever disappointment
has entered the picture, D has tried to avoid directly dealing with it at all
cost. At such 'danger points' he has tended to break connections literally
by leaving the scene or by cutting off his feelings.
D's disappointment allergy is a symptom of an inability to regulate his self-
esteem - that is, it is virtually impossible for him at the present time to
experience himself as his own final authority. To grow a cohesive self he
must first experience himself as worthy to have one. D, aware of his
problem, describes his therapeutic task in the following way. ''To have self-
worth, I have to trust myself or I choose on the basis of avoiding a lesser
fear than a greater fear - the fear of abandonment or fear of hurting
someone I love.''
Everything is now up for grabs as the first assumptions about his core
attitudes have been successfully challenged in his therapy resulting in his
facing those feelings he automatically avoided. But, in squarely facing
them at present, he feels trapped between untenable alternatives.
D reacts to these feelings of entrapment with intense frustration. The
frustration stirs anger which in turn is turned back on himself culminating
in feelings of depression, depletion, futility, and low self-esteem. It is as if
he is surrounded by a psychological wall that bars him from moving in any
direction: foreword, backwards, sideways, or even remaining in idle.
This fundamental stuckness may be thought of as psychological grid - lock
equivalent to Jung's concept of debaisement. For D to stay or to leave,
threatens him with a loss of identity. Thus perched midway between the
untenable past and a fear of the unknown future, D is in the midst of what
might be referred to as a BB experience (the mid point of a creative
process of psychological transformation. (see diagram 3)
D's Synchronicity
''Now comes a situation where I am forced to be disappointing.''
D's Reaction to This Synchronicity
D is impressed how life conspires to present material that is absolutely on
mark with respect to the psychological issue at hand, ''as if fate were
constantly presenting tests in the great laboratory of real life.... Life seems
to arrange for pertinent events to occur. Last session I could have had
potentially disappointing news. The difference is that instead of us talking
about it in the abstract it now becomes a very real vital event.''
I asked him his reaction to this and other synchronous events. He said it
was acknowledgment of some of the messiness of life. He is interested in
not so much how they arrive but what can be learned from them. In this
case he feels he has to make a choice. But why now? ''we create in our
own lives what we need . . .I needed to understand this more and come to
terms with it- and will continue to until I face it and move through it or I
won't progress.''
Discussion: Parallels in the Presynchronicity Consciousness of the
Two Examples
Contextual analysis of the presynchronicity consciousness of the two
examples C and D reveal parallel contexts. Both C and D found themselves
caught on the horns of an unsolvable dilemma - irretrievably stuck in the
middle of a binary lock, causing each of them intense personal distress.
These conflicts are experienced as deadlocks {existential facts of life}
because each and every conceived of alternative solution feels inadequate
to resolve the problem of the moment. Thus C and D both felt squeezed
between the vice of what appeared to be two mutually exclusive attitudes,
ideas, fantasies, actions. It is as if each person was a hero in a movie
serial who suddenly finds himself in a steel chamber with no visible way
out. Bad enough he is trapped. Worse is when the walls start to implode
threatening the hero with death by crushing.
Both C and D initially experience the deadlock with a sense of helplessness
and hopelessness. In preoedipal consciousness this feeling is one of
despair, perhaps best thought of as a zero point. What in inner space is
referred to as a stuck point or psychological zero point might in speculating
about the nature of outer space be parallel to the concept of a black hole.
It is not unusual for people experiencing the zero point (such as C and D)
to imagine they are going to implode leading to catastrophic annihilation.
(Jung's debaisement.)
The Stuck Point: Psychological Grid Lock
There are essentially two different and opposing attitudes people have with
respect to being stuck between two apparently mutually exclusive feelings,
ideas, principles, etc. One is despairing - and giving up - waiting to be
rescued; the other is hope affirming - holding firm - pro actively wishing to
find some creative way out of the apparent deadlock.
The fact of a passive or active attitude to the perceived zero point has
important ramifications with respect to the production of meaningful
coincidences. While psychological grid lock is a necessary condition for the
production of meaningful coincidences, it is this researcher's observation
that it is not a sufficient condition.
For a meaningful condition to arise out of psychological grid lock there
must at some point in the process a pro active attitude to find some novel
solution to the seemingly unresolveable stuck point. This means, that while
the subject may initially - and for a long time after- be in the grips of
despair, believing he is a victim of crushing forces beyond his control
(passive attitude), only, if and when there is an active wish to initiate a
process to change the deadlock, will a synchronicity occur.
Summary:
While all synchronicities examined by the researcher are embedded in
contexts in which the subject experiences him/herself as hopelessly
trapped in the middle of two seemingly mutually exclusive binaries, there
are two fundamental attitudes to this state of affairs. The first attitudinal
reaction is usually one of depression and passivity. The second attitudinal
reaction is a combination of depression and passivity shifting sooner or
latter into an active wish to find a way out of the deadlock at all costs.
Thus combined response to a state of psychic imbalance is to initiate a
process whereby balance can be restored. This process is characterized by
a proactive attempt to problem solve. I believe that this mixture of basic
stuckness experienced as depression combined with a proactive wish to
find an adequate freeing solution is the psychological soil from which
synchronicities flower.
The Psychodynamics of Synchronistic Phenomena
In this light, all examined pre-synchronistic contexts are similar in that
they reflect a person who has a felt sense of imbalance seeking an
elusively rebalancing resolution. It is proposed that this need for
redress of imbalance initiates a process whereby failure at assimilating
a solution changes to accommodating a creative solution.
It is further proposed that the central psychodynamics of this creative
solution consists of an overlapping of two distinct forms of
consciousness (preoedipal/primary process/durational) and
(oedipal/secondary process/linear). The combination of these two
different forms of consciousness takes the form of a synthetic or
tertiary consciousness that is able to find an alternative solution to the
seemingly opaque problem. Analogously, this is like the trapped person
in the steel room either finding or creating a door to escape. Other
names for this dialectic of experience might be psychodynamic
consciousness, synthetic consciousness, and/or instinctual
consciousness.
The negative vs. positive set of attitudes with respect to the stuck
point occurs on two levels of experience being and doing) and may be
illustrated in the following figure outlining the process of psychological
transformation:
Diagram of the Creative Process Implied in the
Psychodynamics of Synchronistic Phenomena
A
Nexus (B)
A' = (C)
Subjective Matrix
Some form of
causality/acausality
Parallel Objective Event
Intervening variables
yet to be specified
AB
B
BC
ABBC
b
b
BB is the mid midpoint of a transformative experience. At this points it
feels to the initiate as if all (his whole life) is up for grabs. There is an
altered state(s) due to the fluidity and newness of significant changes
going on. This is also a time when there is an overlapping of two states
of consciousness;
(1) durational:
dominated by the fantasy of at - one - ment - perfesion - perfect ease
- all harmony - no conflict (frustration free) perfection; and
(2) linear consciousness:
dominated by a rational or mental feeling that all has its certain place -
all is understandable in the form of abstract concepts. Whereas the
blending of the two states of consciousness forms a tertiary, synthetic
consciousness in which the person is in touch with a mix of often
contradictory feelings and mixed thoughts - the whole mix being
experienced as complexity with all of its attendant uncertainties and
ambiguities and unknowns.
The B, BB, b, b, points
The B point is the area of transition midway between A (the subjective
event) connecting with A' (the parallel event).
The bb point is the exact crossover point between A and A' {where A'
= AB - BC}.
It is at the bb point where the person experiences both an overlap of
intense frustration felt as a triad of helplessness/hopelessness/along
with a burst of creative energy taking the form of the partial birth of a
synchronistic event. (This double experience of extreme negativity
straddling positive creative energy is referred to in common' ordinary
experience, as despair just at the point lifting).
It finds expression in the phrase; it is darkest before the dawn. Reality
may appear to be hopelessly bleak one moment yet, at the moment of
significant change, opaque bleakness can turn into numinous release.
Analogous experiences of this doubling phenomena are found in
expressions such as: a phoenix rises out of its ashes; or, under certain
conditions something seemingly appearing out of nothing.
Dr. R. Wiittenberg (a personal communication 1984), speaking about
making meaning, said to the researcher:
"human beings can make meaning (find patterns) in any selected raw
data that is seemingly neutral." (It might be a fruitful undertaking to
review the origins of projective testing, starting with the so called
occult sciences: Kabala, I Ching, numerology, astrology, Tarot, and
moving on to Rorschach's attempt to divine a test that could
adequately differentiate obsessive compulsive personality types from
schizophrenics utilizing ink blots that came about as the result
(smearing ink on half folded paper}.
In this light, once a person is psychologically ready, that is able to
objectify that which previously has been a mystery, an objective
parallel event is likely to occur which mirrors and confirms that which
is now pre conscious. This implies that, once a person is in a state of
psychological readiness: if a meaningful event doesn't happen today,
one would surely occur tomorrow.
The concept of readiness enables researchers to understand the
process that leads to the production of a synchronistic occurrence from
a naturalistic perspective (utilizing the filters of psychodynamics
outlined above). This attitude is in marked contrast to that of Jung and
his followers (who have about a ninety percent lock on the
synchronicity theory market).
Jung and his followers conclude that utilizing psychodynamics only
explains the subjective side of the synchronicity equation but does not
and cannot explain the mysterious parallel objective, external event.
Thus, they reason, since these events apparently happen a- causally,
It Is evidence that the universe is spiritualized (equated with Plato's
concept of nous).
Thus, with respect to the stuck point, they have no other option than
to treat it as if it is intractably existential. Thus there is nothing else to
do but passively surrender, hoping that a connection can be made to a
higher power which will somehow transmit knowledge into the
passively receptive self seeking divine guidance.
By contrast, utilizing the concept of readiness, the psychodynamics of
projection, and the process of accommodation (creative problem
solving): this researcher believes it possible to understand the
production of synchronistic phenomena from a naturalistic perspective.
To achieve this objective, the first task is to shift one's attitude to the
stuck point, from one of passive existential intractability, to one that is
views them as an active problem to be resolved.
A Crucial Pre-Condition for the Ememence of Synchronistic
Phenomena:
A State of Active Readiness
Static Inertia to Kinetic Energy
While it appears true that all synchronicities are associated with a
given subject's experience of feeling psychologically deadlocked, it is
equally true (in this researcher's experience) that the attitude towards
the deadlock of the moment is crucial to the timing of the appearance
of a given meaning & coincidence. Specifically, for a synchronicity to
actually be experienced it is necessary for the subject to shift his
attitude about the deadlock from passive to proactive. That is, as long
as the deadlock is thought of as hopeless the person spins around in
place so to speak like a snake biting his own tail. What must occur to
generate a meaningful coincidence is that the subject has to move
from judging his condition as hopelessly existential to hopefully
problematic to proactively desiring significant psychological change.
Thus, for many sessions, previous to his synchronicity described above
p.14, C had been wrestling with attempts to experience autonomy with
no particular progress either in 'real' life or even in his dreams. The
synchronicity associated with autonomy occurred at a point when and
where C affirmed a pro active decision to risk the worst fantasies of
potential and actual threat to his being. Along with the proactive
decision to act despite the perceived threat she also asked herself the
organizing question: what would be the worst thing that would happen
to him if he in fact did upset his friend? This allowed C to attempt to
objectify her intense feelings by reality testing instead of just over or
under reacting as a result of giving into a hyper subjective emotional
state.
The same observation holds true for the timing of the appearance of
the researchers' synchronicity referred to as: Saved at the Eleventh
Hour. For many months he had been in the grips of despair previous to
the appearance of this synchronicity. Try as he might to free himself
from psychological bonds, all roads led to inactivity and negative
inertia. This state of affairs continued until he generated a head of
steam' and proactively committed himself to proactively changing his
reality come hell or high water. In this light, I believe it no coincidence
that he had a meaningful coincidence the next day validating the
observation that when he was ready to really act and not just pay lip
service to changing, the conditions were finally ripe for a synchronicity
to occur. {The organizing question accompanying his readiness to act
was does he have the power to preserver despite major set backs?}
The fact of active readiness associated with the appearance of a
meaningful coincidence cited in the two examples above, may be
generalized to the production of all meaningful coincidences. Thus, in
this view, readiness has to traverse its own process ranging from
passive readiness (a wish to attain something desired that is
conflictualized but energized only to the point of its a good idea) to a
state of active readiness (wherein the passive idea is now convened
into the initiation of an active process potentially leading to significant
change so that what was originally only passively wished for is
convened into proactively seeking a creative solution.
Further, it is noted that soon following a proactive wish to find a
solution to the seemingly intractable binary will be the creation of an
organizing question. This organizing question will be suffused with
libido {libidinized} or 'magnetized' enabling it to both identify and to
draw into its domain resonant material (information) derived from the
flow of seemingly random events (the raw data of personal
experience). This magnetizing or libidinizing process may be referred
to as proactive meaning making.
Iron Filings Experiment In General Science
Proactive meaning is operationally defined as a process which
combines contents from the creative unconscious and consciousness of
a given human being and filters them through the form of a defined
structure. The structure in each case is equivalent to an organizing
concept which captures and synthesizes relevant raw data of
experience, Capturing and synthesizing relevant raw data of
experience takes the form of perceiving meaningful patterns in
seemingly random bits of experience. Note the iron filing experiment in
an eighth grade science lesson. The teacher takes a piece of plain,
white 8X10 paper pouring iron filings on top of it. Then she lifts the
paper to chest level. Next she places a strong magnet underneath the
paper containing the iron filings and moves it around. As the magnet
was moving, one could observe the iron filings correspondingly moving
on top of the paper arranging themselves into swirling patterns. The
point of the experiment is to demonstrate the reality and power of
electromagnetism. I believe this process has application to
understanding the psychodynamics of synchronistic phenomena.
The white paper = the state of psychological deadlock. The magnet =
the derived combination of the essence of the particular deadlock in
question which generates a magnetizing organizing concept. The iron
filings = the raw data of experience out of which meaningful patterns
will be derived.
Summary or The Psychological Conditions Leading To The
Production Of Meaningful Coincidences
Assuming the conditions surrounding the production of synchronistic
phenomena are (I) a perception that one is caught in what feels to be
an unresolveable existential dead lock (trapped between two mutually
exclusive (untenable) positions, states of mind, alternative choices
etc.); and, (2). A person in such a state of existential stuckness moves
from a state of resignation to a felt desire to proactively find a way out
of the trap: initiates a creative process whereby what is first
experienced as hopelessly existential is now perceived as hopefully
problematic. {As I am hopelessly trapped I might as well die - to I
refuse to give up, there must be a way out of this maze.) Formula:
psychological deadlock + a desire for a creative solution = magnetizing
an organi2ing concept. wherein the particular organizing concept to be
magnetized is derived from the essence of the psychological deadlock
in question. (In a well - defined statement of a problem lies an
embedded solution). Another name for this process is proactive
meaning. Analyzing this synchronicity it 'might be said that the
subject, once having cathected his conscious desires plus activating his
will and determination to do something about actualizing his desires
into fact was in a state associated with the production of meaningful
coincidences.. Now that the goal was clear it had the effect of being
like a magnet drawing together any and all resonant material
(information, ideas, leads, etc.,) towards the production of a creative
solution to his seemingly intractable problem.
(In the process of psychoanalytic psychotherapy it is clear that
synchronicities occur at the end of a three step process. This process
begins with a patient indicating they have reached a point of deadlock
with respect to their despair about ever being able to either start some
action which will lead them to a desired goal or stopping some action
which causes them great distress. Whether a sought after change be
either starting something or ending something, the patient subjectively
feels stuck - spinning around in a psychological dish washer - like a
snake biting its own tail. The process which must occur which is
associated with the production of meaningful coincidences is that what
is first considered to be by the patient as hopelessly existential shifting
to hopeful problematical. He then has to commit himself to some
proactive choice in which he demonstrates a willingness to struggle
with struggle. Once committing himself to action, an organizing
question will be generated which will be used in the service of a
'magnet' attracting resonant material into its space. Once the deadlock
Is thought of as problematic instead of intractably existential: the
solution then, is found in resolving the issue at hand
An Example Of Magnetizing or libidinizing An Organizing
Concept.
Once a commitment is made to actively struggle to change what
seems to be an intractable dilemma it takes the form of generating an
organizing question. This organizing question in turn becomes
libidinized or magnetized (cathected). The magnetized organizing
concept acts to draw into its orbit resonant raw data of experience.
what determines resonance is the degree to which a piece of raw data
helps to further a solution to the dilemma at hand. An example of
magnetizing or libidinizing the organizing concept follows.
Syncronicity: Saved by the Rabbi at the 11th Hour
The second major synchroncity of the researcher some three years
after the Lazarus Rising From The Dead synchronicity.
The Situational Context
G is impacted seeing Munch's paintings, particularly identifying with a
man shrieking on a bridge. He is feeling hopelessly stuck at a dead end
civil service job - vocationally trapped, and psychologically paralyzed.
He desperately wants to leave but despite a masters degree in
psychologically feels underqualified to look for a more challenging job.
However, despite his stuckness he feels as if he is reaching a breaking
point.
The Immediate Context
A conscious decision is made to go back to graduate school to get a
Ph.D. in psychology but as money is needed he reluctantly asks his
family for help. This request leads to a critical meeting with his brother
in law who assumes the role of the family spokesman. The brother in
law tells G that the family thinks he is profligate, and expecting too
much from others" and therefore his request is denied. The brother in
law also disparaging G's apartment says to him: "How can you stand
to live in this s... hole? This remark {the straw that breaks the camel's
back) induces a powerful internal reaction of rage in G but because he
is too insecure he is uncertain as to whom it is directed - the family or
himself. Thus he while longing to lash out, paralyzed by crippling self-
doubt - all he does in fact, is to remain head bowed and mute.
The Psychological Context
Although G Initially identified with the aggressor (joining forces with
the attackers) he also felt that he had been abandoned coupled with a
powerful reaction of resentment which took the form of a wish to
avenge himself. Thus despite feeling lost and confused in both love and
work he was determined that he would exert every effort to find a
more suitable job and to find the money to go to graduate school no
matter what the cost and do it soon. Thus, now ready to commit, he
shifted from passive inert resignation to proactive kinetic action. This
shift from passive to active generated an organizing concept which he
became conscious of in the middle of the restless night following the
encounter with his brother in law.
At some point while mulling his options, G had a creative flash. He
thought: stay where he was to maintain financial security but begin to
look for a possible part time job as a psychologist. This idea
represented a compromise- 'bridge' position- between suffocating at
the job he hated versus risking financial insecurity to look for a
dubious full time job as a psychologist
The Synchronicity: Saved By the Rabbi at The Eleventh Hour
With that idea in mind, the next day, he turned to a co worker/friend
and said that if she were ever to get a position as a part time
psychological tester, please tell him right away. Remarkably, Only five
hours later, the co worker said to G: "You will never believe what just
happened." She then said that a Rabbi, a friend of hers who also
happens to run a drug addiction center, called her, asking if she knew
of anyone who could give psychological tests part time.
Reactions to this Meaningful Coincidence
Though feeling deserted, there was also the feeling of being at the
right place at the right time. Once again G experienced an eleventh
hour reprieve in the form of a stroke of good fortune. He noted a
connection between his troubled state of mind, his feeling deadlocked;
his wish to be saved coupled with a conscious willingness to change
and the experience of a particularly meaningful coincidence. The
synchronicity was experienced as if it was an answer to his prayers.
Years later, G would view his good fortune from a more naturalistic
perspective. For,at the time of the 'amazing' synchronicity, he never
considered the possibility (probability) that the source of his good
fortune had been a combination of his asking for specific help from his
co worker friend and her likely good turn in soliciting a job for him
from her Rabbi friend- never revealing her good natured secret to him.
Commentary
From a naturalistic perspective, the production of synchronicities
(meaningful coincidences) may be explained by substituting synthetic
causality in the place of conventional 'scientific' causality as the link
connecting the intrapsychic event A with the parallel external event A'.
To repeat, synthetic causality is a hybrid concept composed of
conventional causality plus psychodynamics. If this substitution is
accepted then linear logic (of the mind) is transcended by experiential
logic (of thoughts, feelings, intuitions, and physical sensations). This
more complex logic would be akin to Hegelian dialectic plus the
unconscious. The basic assumption of experiential logic is, that the
world is held together not because of linear causality alone, but by
linear causality and durational causality working in concert. This view
of a hybrid causality shifts the origins of meaningful connections from
the dry mind only, to creations of sentient, passionate whole selves
attempting to forge meaningful connections with themselves and with
the object world.
Synthetic causality takes as its starting points individuals mired in the
'real' world -struggling to order their own chaos but often feeling
intractably stuck between a seemingly endless progression of mutually
exclusive positions. No sooner than the struggle with struggle results
in springing the dead lock of the moment, sooner than later many
individuals predictably find themselves 'trapped' In another seemingly
intractable dilemma.
In this light, It seems valid to state that every man's existence is
composed of moving from one problem to another. Or In the words of
the instructive children's song: "A bear went over the mountain, a bear
went over the mountain, a bear went over the mountain to see what
he could see. He saw another mountain..." To effectively negotiate
scaling mountains - mastering problems- requires individuals to
become increasingly adept in adapting, both with respect to
assimilation (pouring new wine in old bottles) and accommodating
("pouring new wine into new bottles")
Bearing the above in mind, it is this researcher's opinion that the key
to understanding the nature of the process that leads to the production
of synchronicities from a naturalistic perspective entails treating them
as by products of human beings need to accommodate creative
solutions to seemingly intractable dilemmas. Additional names for
accommodation are effective problem solving and/or creative problem
solving.
The Creative Process as An Evolving Series Of Additive Links Of
Expanding Consciousness on Causal Chains
Viewing the production of meaningful coincidences from the vantage
point of a science of psychodynamics indicates that it is centrally
associated with attempts to induce significant change. Change in this
connection refers to the perception that present "stuckness" (an
experience of existential entrapment with no hope of release) is only
illusory; and if so inclined, generates a proactive process whereby a
failure to assimilate an adequate solution to a problem is converted
into a cathexis of accommodation (creative process) producing
alternative choices both in attitudes and in behavior. In short, static
energy is converted into kinetic energy. Or, in other terms, negative
reverberation oscillation is converted into positive reverberation
oscillation. In the language of depth psychology synchronicities are
intimately related to the working through process. The working
through process refers to the time spent by therapist and patient in
thoroughly understanding the nature of a given problem complex so
that once understood informed choice replaces automatic impulsive or
compulsive or frozen behavior.
Further, if as hypothesized, synchronicities are correlated with the
working through process of objectifying the subjective - (either as an
outcome of a life of natural self reflection, or the outcome of an
accelerated process of systematically working on the self - e.g. being
in psychotherapy, then a string {run} of synchronicities for a given
individual would signify that a significant degree of problem resolution
was taking place. If this is so, then the examination of a cluster or
string or run of synchronicities for a given individual should evidence a
progression of graduated consciousness (consciousness expansion).
{With respect to the process of psychoanalysis or psychoanalytic
psychotherapy an operational definition of consciousness is to verbalize
previously unspoken thoughts and feelings. Hence the unconscious
stands for unspoken words and feelings.} Thus one would expect with
each additional synchronicity on a string of meaningful coincidences
that each one reflects a common theme but that each additional
coincidence adds its own more complex perspective of the matter at
hand.
Thus runs of synchronicities (particularly occurring over a relatively
compressed amount of time (hours, days, weeks) serve the function of
providing additional clues in a psychological scavenger hunt whose
combined task is to provide the combination for springing the
idiosyncratic lock of the moment, initially experienced as hopelessly
entrapping.
It also appears that consciousness does indeed expand on a moment
to moment basis. Witness the amazement of sensitive parents as they
attune themselves to the remarkably fast changes their new-born
makes as he/she adapts to internal and external reality.
Consciousness expansion may, of course, be readily seen over the
course of many days, months and years. The shift from a fetal position
to standing upright unsupported is an enormous developmental leap to
make in the pace of only 365 days more or less.
Piaget acknowledges the expansion of consciousness with his concepts
of psychic organizers. Conscious expansion may evolve as in
maturational steps such as moving from the oral to the anal period.
Or, it can occur as the result of a revolutionary responses to trauma
(crisis). The expansion of consciousness can also be accelerated by
engaging in systematic work on the self as for example a dedication to
a three times a week psychoanalysis over a ten year period.
In this light consciousness expansion occurs in incremental steps
wherein one becomes gradually aware of individual pieces of what will
eventually turn out to be a synthesized complex jig saw puzzle.
Synchronicities in this view may at one and the same time be regarded
as a synthesized puzzle in its own right and is also the awareness of
the first piece of a new puzzle. The following diagram is an illustration
of this idea.
A Progression of a Run Of Synchronicities Equivalent to A
Wedge Of Consciousness Expansion
Each box = an individual synchronicity; box a is connected to box b
and so on in ascending order = all synchronicities in a thread of
synchronicities similar in reflecting a common theme and different in
that each additional synchronicity reflects an increasing complexity of
variation of the theme. The line throughout all of the synchronicities
reflecting a representation of a consciousness in the process of
expansion.
To illustrate the above; consider the following notes on D, a 38 year
old male patient suffering from Avoidant Personality Disorder. This
material summarizes his experience of key marker experiences
motivating him to seek out professional help.
During the summer of 1991, D experienced himself hopelessly stuck. "I
wasn't going anywhere and I felt empty." A major problem for him was
his interpretation of this unpleasant state of affairs as existential; that
is, it's the way it was. Seeing no other options, the patient sank into a
deepening depression. Once in treatment he transformed his closed
ended, just-so 'existential attitude' to one which viewed his depressed
state as the surface symptom of some deeper set of unresolved
psychological conflicts yet to be identified, hence unconscious.
During his treatment, at this time, D began reporting a number of
meaningful coincidences. The essence of one of these has been
previously noted in this paper.
Synchroncitiy I: He is forced to disappoint
The net effect of this synchronicity was that D now experienced
(became consciously aware) of the core reason why he sought out
treatment. This awareness enabled him to focus on present and past
and anticipated future events which were in any way associated with
the potential for disappointing others.
Up to relatively recently, D automatically avoided any direct encounter
with disappointing others. This was so, as his sense of self depended
on the perception of approving authority figures. Therefore, he couldn't
take the chance of alienating important people. {He dared not risk
biting the emotional hand of people he depended upon.} So he would
either acquiesce, or act out his diagnosis (avoiding conflict by either
leaving the scene, or by detaching himself internally). His problem in
recent days is that he is aware that to avoid or to acquiesce results,
not in relieving him for the moment, but creating additional psychic
pain. For to acquiesce now makes him feel as if he is a hypocrite and
sell out; to avoid makes him feel isolated, depressed, filling him with
an empty dead feeling.
D summed up his therapy experience to date as: ''initially needing
crisis management but now I am now looking to improve the quality of
my life.'' In that connection, he spontaneously began speaking about
the correlation between being psychologically ready and the
appearance of meaningful coincidences. D speculated about ''unseen
forces that we don't understand but clearly influence our lives. But that
perhaps we don't really need to understand them. Just the realization
that there are other unseen dimensions. Like radio waves and
electricity. What is important is to harness the power and the energy
so it can be focused and utilized". (He is, I believe, talking about
cathecting his personal unconscious}.
Said D: "I am much more comfortable with being than doing. The
process of doing is different." So D straddles a new place between
being and purposeful doing which permits him increasing but still
qualified freedom to act. Logically he feels he should feel free but he
doesn't entirely. This is so because the problem (how to stay with
uncomfortable feelings which lets him preserve a solid continuous self)
is solved but raises the next issue which is what does he want to do
with this new continuous self. He is free to choose but he is uncertain
about what choices to make. He feels that he should know what that
choice is but does not as yet (which depresses him), so he is back once
again to the same attitude about not knowing, except on a higher
level. This is an example of what is referred to as the golden thread. D
is clearly developing a solid self - one that is able to make informed
choices that are experienced as organic, real, and meaningful. But it is
a step by step process, connection by connection, non magical in the
sense of it not happening in a twinkling of an eye enabling him to be
passively perfectly transformed to live happily ever after.
It is important to note that those like D who take meaningful
coincidences seriously, not uncommonly describe the aftermath of their
experiencing a meaningful coincidence, as an expansion of their
consciousness, signifying a reorganization of their self structure. This
suggests that synchronicities do indeed occur when the unconscious
has been made conscious; but, that which is made conscious may be
viewed as a partial solution of a still larger problem seeking total
resolution. In this light, it is hypothesized that when there is a run of
coincidences it likely signifies that a complex psychological problem is
in the process of being worked through - wherein, each coincidence is
like an attained clue that partially reveals the solution to a complex
psychological puzzle.
D's second coincidence in a run of coincidences:
Background Material
D indicates that there are now three possibilities for new work all
converging. For him the meaning of this convergence is that he wishes
to have' the maximum amount of freedom to make the best decision.
The next vocational choice then is a test of true autonomy.
The Synchronicity: Another direct reference to what he was
mulling over in his consciousness.
D indicated that he once again turned to the same book he has been
reading C.Wilson's New Pathways in Psychology and was surprised to
read Wilson quoting Sartre, "seeing yourself through other's eyes"
(implying it is difficult to be truly objective about oneself).
The Significance of this Material
The convergence of three others all wanting the whole of him forces D
to confront the primary issue of his treatment: who is D really and
what does D really want, independent of what others singularly or
collectively want from him. Said D: ''All separate issues we have been
discussing {the wish for autonomy; his dependence on others to
approve and validate him - the world as a reflecting mirror; his fear of
disappointing projected authority figures lest they withdraw their love
and abandon him} are converging.... Life seems to conspire to bring
these elements together in me so that it becomes a test of where I
really am at.''
The lesson he extracted from this experience is you can't have it all,
but if you can accept realistic limits you can at least have a gratifying
choice. He went on to rework past material. He has been afraid to
make independent choices (add) risking incurring the displeasure of
important others. At the same time, he has risked disappointment in
himself for failing to risk taking independent positions. He has
previously dealt with this dilemma by compromising, which for D has
meant deferring to the most important projected authority of the
moment rationalizing that he has made a free choice. But he has
known all along that the compromise was too great a price to pay
resulting in him feeling insecure and unreal.
This synchronicity and the material associated with it had the net
effect of strengthening his sense of wholeness as if sections of a multi
leveled jigsaw puzzle have been joined together. This has led to an
increase of energy, vitality, excitement, hope, and faith in the
possibility of accessing his creative self. All of this has resulted in a
notable increase of self - esteem and elevated confidence. His relative
sense of passive readiness has shifted into a state of active readiness
resulting in his experiencing an increasing resonance - attunement -
between his whole self and his 'true' self.
(Freud's comment comes to mind: that what is occult and out there for
Jung is unconscious and in the depths of inner space for Freud). D's
Golden Thread has been to access and to come to terms with his life
long tendency of having compulsively escaped dealing with
unavoidable conflicts. In so doing he has been making a 180 degree
turn towards a transformation allowing him to fully engage his vital
core so as to have the freedom to choose what for him is the
attainment of a quality life. D is considerably better able to experience
and to process realistic complexity (internally and externally) having
become increasingly more aware of the process by which he makes
order out of chaos.
I asked him why it has apparently been so important for him to seek
true knowledge of himself. Why has he been knocking his head to feel
such pain? He reiterated that he came to realize that his life was no
real life instead, he felt dead. Thus even though painful it is better to
face the complexity of his life than to escape it and experience
continual nothingness. So all of his life he has been seeking a method
whereby he could begin to fit the mixed up pieces of his personal
jigsaw puzzle into a quality work of art.
In this light D has experienced his treatment as growing a structure
(the self) to be able to harness his heretofore aimless energy. The
method is of course him and me session by session identifying,
exploring and systematically working through his major problems. We
are like Plato and Socrates walking in the woods of his interior reality.
We dialogue together, always trying to objectify his subjective with
myself doing the same with myself as well. We gradually gain
knowledge of his particular cause and effect connections which
collectively detail the soul and substance of his experiential logic. To
repeat: experiential logic is operationally defined as a combination of
feelings, thoughts and judgments action plus transference positive and
negative plus an overlapping of durational and linear logic plus what
one uniquely brings to bear in generating creative meanings.)
Up until the last few days D's conscious attitude to disappointing was
let it ride - patching the difficulty at best. Now it is get underneath it.
He now talks about himself as having been a great disappointment to
himself. But having learned to better tolerate his imperfections he now
wishes to get underneath the material. He is now aware that he is
responsible for his choices and decisions. To patch means to expend
little effort in trying to solve the problem of the moment. He can no
longer shrink from the fact that if he avoids disappointing others then
he will inevitably disappoint himself. Thus "while it hurts to face
disappointment, it hurts worse not to."
Another Synchronicity In A Run of Sychronicities
In the next session, D reported that once again he randomly turned to
a page in the book he had been reading and found a striking
attunement between that which had been a problem in his mind with
that which was being reflected back to him on the page. It struck D.,
that he has been using the book and, indeed the whole world, as a
reflecting mirror. He concluded that he must take more responsibility
for mirroring himself. Once again this synchronicity is a marker that he
is becoming increasingly more conscious of himself now having greater
access to his own powers.
Runs of Meaningful Coincidences Associated with Childhood
Traumas.
Analyses of runs of meaningful coincidences indicates that what is
being worked through may likely be a trauma, confluence of traumas,
and/or a climate of trauma having its origin in childhood.
For example: D's coincidences are embedded in psychological and
situational contexts which originate with the sudden disappearance of a
loved relative (who actually died but D didn't know that fact for a long
while) leaving him utterly confused, bereft and overwhelmed with
unexpressed and un-understood mixed feelings. In order to keep
himself intact, D developed a style of muting internal or external
conflict culminating in his diagnosis of avoidant personality disorder.
Synchronicity Prone Patients Associated with a Multi-
Perspectival Point of View
It is noted that patients like C and D (synchronicity prone and
synchronicity aware) order their internal and external chaos utilizing a
multi-perspectival process. This process accesses a variety of streams
of information (ideas, feelings, intuitions and sensations) filtering them
from a variety of perspectives (philosophical, psychological,
psychodynamic, physiological, scientific, artistic, spiritual, {esoteric
occult}, and political). This means that these people attempt to
organize the raw data of their experience holistically rather than in
parts.
In other words, these people have the capacity of viewing any piece of
reality (internal and or external) from a multiplicity of points of view
utilizing various streams of information and often experiencing it as if it
was all happening, in them or to them, simultaneously. However, what
should be experienced by them as a treasured gift is, instead,
experienced as an overwhelming burden, particularly so at the start of
their treatment.
In this light, synchronicities (meaningful coincidences) are the
externalized concretization (synthesis) of idiosyncratic processes
working through the priority psychological problem of the moment. The
most current synchronicity, then, is a marker that the problem of the
moment has attained an adequate resolution although it is still in
coded form (preconscious). Being coded, it needs to be decoded. {B.
Honneger suggests that synchronicities be treated as though they were
waking dreams, decoding them in the same way that dreams are
analyzed, i.e., assessing the situational, psychological, and historical
contexts in which they are embedded and associating individual
elements of the coincidence to them.}
Predictions
An analysis of relevant contexts in which a synchronicity is embedded
will reveal a psychological dilemma which initially is experienced as if it
is unresolvable.
Synchronicities will not occur until and unless there is a shift from
passive helplessness and hopelessness with respect to the attitude of
entrapment to one that is proactively dedicated to initiating a process
whose aim is aim to discover or create an adequate resolution of the
problem at hand.
A run of meaningful coincidences should likely reveal 'a golden thread'
in which each synchronicity is like a clue in an elaborate psychological
scavenger hunt, each one providing significant understanding to
collectively work through a major psychological problem (trauma,
traumas, or climate of trauma originating in childhood).
Conclusions
Synchronicities grow out of the soil of psychic conflict. In this view
they are the end result of a psychological process which has as its aim
the creation of a constructive resolution to what previously seems to
have been an unresolveable stuck point. Thus synchronicities are
intimately involved with a felt need for significant psychological change
and transformation.
But, for synchronicities to be born, the attitude about the stuckness
has to shift from passive to active. Once doing so, it is hypothesized,
that the energy used in the service of depressing the subject is now
freed up to be available for 'creative' purposes.
Analytically, it seems reasonably clear that synchronicities are
intimately associated with creative decision making which is initially
experienced as unresolvable dilemmas seeking resolutions. In this
light, the psychoanalytic psychotherapy {and the psychoanalytic}
process actively encourages these phenomena to occur as it both
arranges the atmosphere to be that which is most conducive for
synchronistic phenomena to appear, and implicitly and explicitly
concentrates on identifying, exploring, and working through a given
patient's stuck points - which is, in this researcher's opinion - the
essential fact of meaningful coincidences.
Synchronicities are associated with the 'working though process'
indicating that a synthesis of various streams of information
(cognitions, feelings, sensations, intuitions), filtered through a variety
of perspectives (philosophical, psychological, physiological, scientific,
spiritual, occult, political) has been attained and is crystallized in the
form of the most current meaningful coincidence.
The resolution to the problem, initiating a process leading to the
production of a synchronicity is one which reflects the whole person's
best answer to the problem at hand. In this connection, a quotation
from C.Rycroft commenting on the nature and function of dreams
states parallels a similar conjecture about the nature and function of
meaningful coincidences.
Rycroft states:
''the existence of some mental activity which is more preoccupied with
the individual's life span and destiny than is the conscious ego with its
day - to - day involvement with immediate contingencies.''
Decoded meaningful coincidences indicate that there has been a
notable expansion of consciousness. This expansion of consciousness is
noted in a release of neutral energy (libido) which may be used for
creative purposes. Indicators of expanded consciousness include: a
subjective experience of shifting from fragmented to cohesive; fusion
to separated; projected authority to experiencing oneself as their own
final authority; passive to active; diffuse to concentrated; black white
thinking to complexity; an over-reliance of linear logic to synthetic
{instinctual} logic; subjective to objective; relatively imprisoned to
relatively free; relatively inadequate to relatively confident.
Viewed in the light of this paper, meaningful coincidences are
naturalistic by-products of human beings utilizing the totality of
available informational streams filtered through multiple perspectives
to arrive at the 'best' resolution possible at a given time to free
themselves from what initially seems like a never ending entrapment
in the horns of a psychological dilemma.
From this perspective, there is nothing mystical or divine about the
origins of these anomalous events. While this analysis does rob the
'magic' associated with only observing the surface; it nevertheless
affirms a wondrous appreciation for the creative capacities of each
person to order his own internal and external chaos.
Practical Applications of the Paper
As a test of the validity of this paper, it seems worthwhile to utilize its
major assertions in reviewing at the Lazarus Rising Synchronicity and
the second synchronicity in a series of nineteen: Saved by the Rabbi at
the 11th Hour.
Presynchronicity Consciousness of the Lazarus Rising
Synchronicity
(November 1963)
Situational context
Army discharge pending; breaking up with a girlfriend (7/8th's
engaged to); introduced to the esoteric occult; meets fascinating
people: an artist, a psychiatrist, a spiritualist leader; (a search for a
role model who represent substitute good father figures).
Immediate context
At a crossroad with a dead end job at a New York State employment
service; no place to go; attend a seance and have what appears to be
a vision of a grandmotherly figure.
Psychological Context
The break up and the dead end job parallel my inner sense of
fundamental stuckness: I cannot tolerate where I am but, am
uncertain how to leave and fell I have no place to go. Stuck between
the old and the new. I am stuck between the identification of myself as
self sufficient versus a need for external guidance. I feel dominated by
"sickly emotions". I couldn't sustain the relationship due to swings of
ambivalence. I feel spiritually bankrupt and in need of salvation.
A Synchronicity Occurs
The Lazarus Rising Synchronicity gives me a sense of hope holding out
the possibility that there is in fact divinity that may be personally
contactable. I reacted to the synchronicity with intense awe and
excitement I felt in touch with the essence of a mystery that holds the
possibility of connecting with divine guidance.
I believe that I hit bottom and admitted and surrendered to the need
for external help thus cathecting (making meaning) of my own wished
for unnamed higher power concept, (L) the Psychiatrist and D his
patient were for me, transferred idealized good parent substitute
figures who unconditionally accepted, valued and invited me into their
special elitist group. Their acknowledgment of me - the whole me -
stirred up remarkable feelings of perfesion (perfect ease) and at-one-
ment altered states.
Synchronicity Two follows directly from Synchronicity One. On the
surface Synchronicity One is a wish for the possibility of a personal
connection with divinity for the purposes of receiving good guidance.
Synchronicity Two moves this idea along by seemingly validating the
actuality of apparent appearance of a personal divinity in the form of
what is experienced as an amazing coincidence (a perfect match
between a desired job description with a near perfect position in a very
small space of time).
On a deeper level: Synchronicity one reflects the need of my basic self
to face up to splits by finding a way to reconcile them by aligning
myself with effective earthly guidance ...Synchronicity two
demonstrates the power of my creative unconscious in finding a
creative solution in the midst of a crisis which at the time I was unable
to validate.
Addendum to Jahn Letter RE: Synchronicities
A Contribution Towards Attempting To
Understand The Effects Of Consciousness and Cosmology
In listening to a Professor of Physics (Dr. Greene) on National Public
Radio discussing the theory of a hypothesized anti-gravitational force,
the idea came to me of processing this idea through the filter of
psychodynamics.
From this perspective, it occurs to me that while conflict is at the heart
of primary inner and outer external experience - there is also a
powerful human desire to avoid it at all costs. A chief way of avoiding
conflict (a denial of complexity) is an appeal to the so-called
inscrutable workings of God, particularly at those times when
something overwhelmingly terrible, or 'miraculous' undeniably happens
which boggles our minds.
Indeed, a majority of people polled believe that God is conscious, and
is personally concerned with individuals (all or a few?) and will, under
selective conditions, intervene in a salutary way to the point of defying
conventional laws of time and space. Thus I wonder if the construct of
an anti-gravitational force is also a way of jumping onto the God
bandwagon that seems to be gaining increasing momentum as we
move towards the year 2000 wherein historically that same tide of
belief happens in predictable fashion.
An anti-gravity force would psychologically be equivalent to the idea of
transcendence. In the best sense transcendence would be directed to
the attainment of enlightened understanding; in the narrowest sense
transcendence would be an attempt to over simplify reality by an
appeal to a union with God's will - a thinly veiled denial of and escape
from mundane complexity - perhaps even a denial of messy
ambivalent feelings and the like.