Sunday 11 October 2009

Synchronicity

Synchronicity is a psychological phenonmenon of seeing random unrelated events occuring in a way that gives the impression of causality- as if there is a benevolent force in the universe.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Synchronicity

I have been introduced to this as part of the artists way course. Whilst I remain a fan of the "stone cold reason" school of Unitarianism, I find this idea quite appealing. As part of writing daily pages I have started clocking images that appear in dreams. I remember in particular seeing an image of two autumnal trees through the window of a building that happened to be an art gallery. I was fairly certain I would see this image appear if I kept my digital camera handy. Whilst I had an interesting walk through a park looking at trees, I think the closest thing to the image in my dream is the one featured, which is slightly blurred and action shot, as indeed memories of dream like images are. Whilst I am aware of the pitfalls of looking for circumstantial signs or messages from the universe I think there may indeed by truth in religious experiences comming as part of the collective subconscience. I think the most moving example of this is Jim's story of how he inexplicably found a newly lit candle on Christmas morning having faced the depths of dispair the night before. Like Jim I would not speculate on how that candle mysteriously became lit. But it brings to mind Thomas Hardy's poem about the Oxen...."I would go with him in the gloom, hoping it might be so".

1 comment:

Eleanor said...

This reminds me of a story I heard about a partisan woman who was in prison in occupied Italy. She was afraid for herself and her loved ones and tortured daily by the Gestapo. Mysteriously in the darkness somebody passed her a very short candle and a box of matches. Inside the box was just one word, scralled with the dark side of a match 'coraggio'-courage. She never found out who gave her the candle but the light she lit in secret kept her going and to survive. Rumour has it that was the origin of the Amnesty International Symbol but I haven't found that corroborated anywhere. Usually it's just interpreted as 'better to light a candle than to curse the darkness'. I think that's a pretty good motto for unitarianism too. Thanks for the post!