Kym's House o' Paganism

[Avatar]

Syl, I would like to hear some about synchronicity... it gets mentioned sometimes. Does it have anything to do with coincidence?
I am a big fan of coincidence...

Then Synchronicity is definitely for you:

syn·chro·nic·i·ty (sngkr-ns-t, sn-)
n. pl. syn·chro·nic·i·ties
1. The state or fact of being synchronous or simultaneous; synchronism.
2. Coincidence of events that seem to be meaningfully related, conceived in Jungian theory as an explanatory principle on the same order as causality.

By all means, lets start a topic. Maybe Syl will split this thread for us?

--Avatar

[[Syl]]

I'd split, but Kym seems content with it here.

As far as synchronicity goes, Avatar's got the gist of it. Basically, things just don't happen. Or that they do, but sometimes they happen concurrently. It explains why sometimes you'll have a song in your head, then you turn on the radio and it's playing. That kind of thing. I'll do some digging later and see what I can find on it.

The book on Shamanism is huge. It is, literally, a text. I believe it's this one, but I'll find out for sure when I get home. About the only other book I have that compares to it is Zen and the Brain.

[Avatar]

It explains why sometimes you'll have a song in your head, then you turn on the radio and it's playing.

I'll be glad to see what you can find as well. It's an interesting concept, and one that fascinates me, but I fall down on the "why."

Sympathetic vibrations that affect the universe? An expression of Jung's "collective unconscious"? Something Zen-like about us all being part of everything?

I mean, it happens, but why?

--Avatar

[Kinslaughterer]

If you want some example of creepy synchronicities with a little mysticism thrown in try reading the Mothman Prophecies by John Keel. There was a movie made a few years back but it stands as one of the strangest stories I've ever read and its non-fiction. It details Keel's experiences in Point Pleasent WV in the late sixties during the UFO frenzy and Mothman sitings. It truth Ufology is a different kind of Paganism but it has very much the framework of a religious manifestation.

[[Syl]]

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Synchronicity

[Avatar]

Very interesting Syl, as I suspected, something to do with the interaction of people with the collective unconscious.

Of course, going by that article, anything could be "syncronicitus" as long as you have the relevant experience.

It's an interesting concept, even a freaky one, but is it more than mere coincidence? Hell, is any coincidence "mere"?

--Avatar

[Fist and Faith]

That's the shamanism book I assumed you meant, Syl. I knew it had the word Exstacy in the title, and the author was French. I saw it in B&N once, and will likely pick it up at some point.


Peter Gabriel's Lay Your Hands On Me says:
It's only common sense
There are no accidents 'round here

I love Peter Gabriel, but I don't believe it. Heh. I figure, it's not possible to count all the things that are happening in the world each moment. It's darned near impossible to NOT have the same thing happening at the same time in two places. And it's no surprise when the same thing happens at the same time in two places that are very near each other.

My favorite from my own experience: One day, I was humming Billy Joel's Scenes from an Italian Restaurant. I like the song, and could start singing it on any given day. This time, after it had been stuck in my head for maybe 15 minutes, I suddenly remembered someone telling me that they once had a song stuck in their head, and when they turned on the radio, it was playing. I rushed to turn on the radio, and heard the beginning notes.

[Kinslaughterer]

Often I find myself noticing the time 7:14 be it am or pm. I do it virtually everyday and its completely unconscious. That happens to be my birthday July 14th.

[Avatar]

That only works 'cause you guys have your dates backwards.

On the whole, I agree with Fist. Coincidences are usually just coincidences. But the temptation to make them into something more is sometimes almost overwhelming.

Face it, the world is a weird place, and it's great. Sometimes a mountain is just a mountain. But it often feels otherwise.

--Avatar

[Kinslaughterer]

Then perhaps by the very nature of our strange feelings toward it, isn't it significant? Our perceptions could be picking up on an abnormality in reality even.

[Avatar]

Agreed. Glitches in reality. And why not? No system is perfect, why should reality be any different?

The problem is, we can't know what sort of significance to attach to it. Or even if any should be.

Hell, I'm not even sure that it could be effectively studied, although it would be interesting to try.

--A

[Fist and Faith]

I notice 714 a lot, too. I notice it because of Babe Ruth. I wonder how often any other given number pops up, and I just don't notice because nobody hit that many homers. OTOH, I can't remember the last time I noticed 755. Maybe there really IS something to 714. Let's call it the Ruth/Kins Correlation.

[Rowan]

I notice 714 a lot, too. I notice it because of Babe Ruth. I wonder how often any other given number pops up, and I just don't notice because nobody hit that many homers. OTOH, I can't remember the last time I noticed 755. Maybe there really IS something to 714. Let's call it the Ruth/Kins Correlation.

I just noticed that 714 totals 12 if you add up the individual digits. 12 just happens to be the number of months in a year. If you add the individual digits in the number 12...they total 3. Divide 3 into 12 and you get 4 which just happens to be the number of seasons in a year. I don't think any of this is pure happenstance.....there is some deep mystical meaning to all this, don't ya'll think?



*removes tongue from cheek*

Seriously tho...I always seem to look at the clock when its 11:23 which just happens to correspond to my birthday. I wonder how many times I look at the clock at other times and it has no significance because the numbers have no significance, so I don't remember looking. Someone should do a study on that.

[Fist and Faith]

I saw an interview of identical twins who had been separated at birth. They never knew they had a twin. But they lived, or went to college, near enough to each other that people remember taking one for the other. The interviewer asked John, "Did you wonder why you heard people calling 'Hey Greg' all your life?" John said, "No. I never noticed that happening. My name's not Greg, so if people said it around me, I never noticed."

Useless story? I bring it up because I have been called Kevin more times than I can remember. (For those who don't know, my name's Eric.) My chorus teacher in 7th grade, after coming back from summer vacation. A co-worker when I worked at my previous job a few years ago. People who don't know me, but had been told my name. My 10th grade English teacher (10th was 25 years ago) lives across the street, and he told a guy he was talking to the other day to "Go ask Kevin across the street." And more more more more. Coincidence? You tell me!

[Kinslaughterer]

Don't worry Rowan, my earlier comments were also tongue in cheek just without the emoticons.

[Avatar]

Maybe you just look like a "Kevin"? Not that I think you really do, (having seen your pic), but hey, I'm looking at you from a different cultural perspective.

If it wasn't a coincidence, then what could it's significance possibly be? (Apart from the apparently obvious )

--A

[Fist and Faith]

Maybe I do look like a Kevin in my culture, and I'm the only one who doesn't see it. (I only rarely notice family resemblances.) I can't imagine what a Kevin looks like.

Or maybe I was a very powerful psychic named Kevin in a previous life.

Or maybe it does have something to do with a certain Landwaster, as you suggest. Maybe that's why I try so hard to make Furls see the truth about Kevin!! Maybe something big is coming, and the fate of the tri-state area (NY/PA/NJ) will be on my shoulders, and I'm supposed to dwell on Kevin so I learn some important lesson.

hmmmm

[duchess of malfi]

As long as you do not commit a RoD the week I am visiting you.

[Avatar]

Maybe I do look like a Kevin in my culture, and I'm the only one who doesn't see it. (I only rarely notice family resemblances.) I can't imagine what a Kevin looks like.

Nor do I, to tell the truth. But surely you've experienced the phenomenon of being introduced to a person, and thinking, "That's funny, he doesn't look like a George." It's the corollary of that, I suppose.

Only the Tri-State area? Think big man, think US, or even the World. Hmm, can't say that it would necessarily be a bad thing either. Just give us the same chance as the BloodGuard had, the chance to run for the hills.

--Avatar

[Fist and Faith]

OK, duchess. For YOU, I'll hold off.

Nor do I, to tell the truth. But surely you've experienced the phenomenon of being introduced to a person, and thinking, "That's funny, he doesn't look like a George." It's the corollary of that, I suppose.

I suppose. But, although I have said thought people didn't look like their name, I have never correctly guessed a name based on looks, nor have I ever thought someone looked like one particular name, and absolutely should have had that name.

Only negatives with this idea.

Only the Tri-State area? Think big man, think US, or even the World. Hmm, can't say that it would necessarily be a bad thing either. Just give us the same chance as the BloodGuard had, the chance to run for the hills.

Man, I tell ya... First duchess wants me to hold off until after a certain date, now you want advanced warning. I'm telling you, Desecration is hardly worth all this bother!!!