So here’s something weird. Today I was thinking of a theme for a blog, and the subject of coincidences came to mind – you know, when, for example, you’re thinking of someone and they choose that moment to call you out of the blue, or you accidentally run into your best friend in Hannaford’s and you both happen to be wearing the almost exact same outfit, or the person with whom you share a cab in a city where you were each booked by your bosses in totally different companies in completely different states turns out to be your one true love – and as soon as it popped into my mind I got an email from a dear friend about… coincidences. Not only that, but this friend (who is a wonderful psychic as well as an incredible human being and may be found at https://www.sealedwithlove.com ) included pictures of three Angel cards in her email – “Expectancy,” “Celebration,” and “Birth.” I am expecting the birth of my first grandchild in the next few months, which will definitely be a celebration! Was this “meaningful connection” something divine, or simply random chance? The answer, it seems, depends on who you are and what you believe.
If you consider yourself a spiritual or religious person, are open-minded and have a good memory, you’re more likely to believe in “meaningful coincidences;” that is, a coincidence (literally – incidents happening at the same time) involving something that has a strong personal meaning to you. Let’s say, for instance, that you do some weather research and it turns out that it has rained every day for the past seven years on July 7th. That may be interesting (and statistically significant), but not particularly meaningful. But if your birthday happens to be July 7th, and you plan a picnic every year that gets rained out, then it becomes meaningful to you. But then you overhear a colleague at a new job (where you’re feeling a bit isolated) talking about how it always rains on her birthday, realize you were both born on the same day, and you become fast friends. That, according to noted analytical psychologist Carl Jung, is a synchronicity, defined as “circumstances that appear meaningfully related yet lack a causal connection,” or interconnectedness theory. Jung and his followers recognized and studied the tendency of people to see patterns in events and attempt to ascribe meaning and connectedness to them.
Current day researchers have not given up on the idea of the interconnectedness theory of meaningful coincidences. Dr. Bernard Beitman and his colleagues have begun the Coincidence Project to further study the phenomenon. They see instances of synchronicity as an indicator of an invisible network that connects everyone and everything. Beitman suspects humans transmit some unobserved energetic information, which other people then process or organize into emotion and behavior. Although he’s not the first to postulate this or similar theories, the scientific evidence that such a network exists is, so far, elusive. But those of us who are pattern-seekers and spiritualists know it’s there, and we have experienced more than our share of synchronicities. At the Coincidence Project website are links where you may take a survey regarding your belief in synchronicity, and to submit a synchronicity story to help further their research, if you’re so inclined. I’m in no way affiliated with either Dr. Beitman or his research, and only provide the link because I think it’s interesting, and thought you might, too.
When I do my readings, I often talk about events – including, and perhaps especially distressing and difficult events – as “meant to be.” I truly feel that our lives have the purpose of teaching our souls to be better beings, and that usually the uncomfortable parts are the ones that are teaching us to grow in the best and fastest ways. Some of us (myself included) are just slower learners! I believe that our highest selves are with us and apart from us at the same time, and guide us on our journey. They see our plan, and try to keep us on the path to our greatest good, usually involving others that come and go in our lives, and they have their own path. Sometimes that leads to a glitch in the Matrix – our lives bump into someone else’s in a way that feels like “WHOOAAA!!” Synchronicity.
Some of my psychic friends also teach about and read the Akashic records, which hold all events past, present and future across all realms; and/or life contracts which serve as the spiritual blueprint for our time on Earth in any given life cycle. My personal belief is that things aren’t so organized. Because we are beings endowed with free will while here, we may deviate from our life path at will, even (especially) when it’s getting too difficult for one lifetime, and make different decisions. This isn’t going to derail our life’s purpose, but it may delay it a bit. Which is fine – we have an infinite amount of time to work it out.
Many people who are open minded to metaphysical phenomenon believe that they have felt the synchronicity network on many occasions. Scientists and statisticians tell a different story. They ascribe coincidences, meaningful or not, to be easily explained by the Laws of Large Numbers and the workings of chance. Seems to me like a plausible (when you do the math, which I try to avoid) explanation for why people win the lottery more than once, or why in a room of only 23 people there is a 50% chance of two having the same birthday (truth), or why you have to say “Dibs! You owe me a coke!” a lot (if you know, you know… and you’re probably a Boomer).
But what about those eerie meaningful coincidences that can’t be chalked up to numbers? Such as the times that someone is just late enough for a flight that they miss it, only to have it crash? Or “right place, right time” serendipitous events that just seem too crazy to be mere coincidence? Or those times (like my husband and I did upon seeing one another for the first time) when two people meet and just know they’ve met before, …but haven’t? There are just some “coincidences” that can’t really be explained in any concrete way. Lots of spiritually-minded people see this as divine intervention, or a guardian Angel stepping in to protect their charge, or the Universe (or a loved one who has passed on) sending us a sign, or fate. Are they wrong? Is it wrong to trust our feelings because we just know, without being able to prove or explain it? There are some things in this life that science just can’t explain. That’s the magical part of our existence. How boring things would be without it.