The Consciousness Of Synchronicities

If you are interested in spirituality and consciousness, you are bound to have come across the subject of coincidences and synchronicities. So, what are they and what do they mean?

What is the difference between a coincidence and a synchronicity?

A coincidence is when two or more events happen in a short space of time that seem related but not obviously causally connected. For example, an idea pops into your head and then you hear someone talking about it on the radio. Or, you read about a song and then you go into a shop only to find the same song being played.

Many people use the word “coincidence” to mean that, although it seems spooky, there is no deeper meaning or real connection between the two events. In other words, it’s “just” a coincidence.

The word “synchronicity”, on the other hand, tends to be used by people who believe that all coincidences are meaningful. You may also hear these people say that there is no such thing as a coincidence – meaning, in their view, that there is no such thing as a meaningless random coincidence.

The word “synchronicity” was coined by Swiss psychoanalyst Carl Jung, to refer to meaningful coincidences that have no discernible cause-and-effect relationship. In his view, a synchronicity revealed an acausal connecting principle linking the inner world of consciousness with the outer world of external events.

When we experience a synchronicity between our inner thoughts and our outer experiences, it can often seem profound because it suggests that “something” is responding to our thoughts. But a synchronicity can be equally profound when it is between two external events, especially if they seem out of the ordinary. For example, back in 2005, after I had been made redundant and was wondering what to do next, someone said to me, “you know how to build websites, don’t you?” and then someone else said the same thing to me a short while later (these two people did not know each other). The funny thing was, I didn’t know how to build websites, which made the synchronicity seem more meaningful. On the basis of this synchronicity, I taught myself to build websites and then ran my own website-building business for the next 12 years. If only life could be this simple whenever we ask for guidance on what we should be doing!

Two years earlier, having reached the end of a relationship, I was thinking of going away for a short break. I thought of Avebury in Wiltshire (UK). Then I went to see a friend who said, out of the blue, that Avebury might be a good place for me to go. While I was in Avebury, a chance occurrence led me to finding somewhere to live, with hardly any effort on my part.

These occasions were some of the few times when I was able to “follow the signs” in a way that seemed to make sense. On many other occasions I have tried to follow the signs, only to find that they come to an abrupt end. To explain why this is, I need to outline my explanation for why synchronicities occur.

The hidden order within the chaos

Here’s how I see it…

Everything in the entire universe (or multiverse, if you prefer) is connected but we mostly don’t see the connections. Most of the time we see a world of seemingly disconnected and separate parts. However, sometimes our consciousness shifts and we start to see glimmers of the hidden order within the chaos.

To put this another way, in some states of consciousness, the world appears random and chaotic, whereas in other states of consciousness, it seems ordered. Coincidences and synchronicities occur when our consciousness shifts into a state where the order becomes apparent.

Imagine a bicycle wheel with spokes radiating out from the centre. The closer you get to the centre, the more obvious it becomes that all of the spokes are connected. The further out from the centre you go, the more distant the spokes appear from one another. If you have a dream about a song and then you turn on the radio the next morning to find that song playing, it will seem meaningful because the two events are close together. If you have the same dream but don’t hear the song on the radio until 3 months later, it won’t register in your mind as meaningful because the two events are too far apart.

So, the way I see it is… when I experience synchronicities, they are a sign that my awareness is centred and I am in a beneficial state of consciousness. Another way to describe this would be to say that I am “in the zone”. However, if I notice a synchronicity and try to “follow it” by consciously thinking about it and trying to find its meaning, my awareness will stop being centred, I will no longer be in the zone, and the flow of synchronicities will come to and end.

Another reason why “following the signs” doesn’t work is because it is a way of applying the concept of linear causality to a phenomena that is non-linear. Synchronicities reveal to us a hidden order within life, but that order is not one you can explain in linear terms – it is multidimensional.

So, what’s the difference between staying in the flow of synchronicity and slipping out of the flow? Well, in my experience, it’s the same as being in the zone and anyone who has ever had that experience will know that, as soon as you start thinking about what you are doing and trying, you slip out of the zone. Therefore, the best way to stay in the flow of synchronicity is to continue to do what comes naturally rather than slipping into a state of thinking and trying.

In Summary

To summarise, when you experience synchronicities, it is a sign that:

• You are in the zone, centred or in alignment with your Inner Being / Higher Self
• You are experiencing an elevated state of consciousness
• You are more aware of how consciousness affects your experiential reality