Synchronicity

Defined: the simultaneous occurrence of events which appear significantly related but have no discernible causal connection

Movie poster from a 2015 film.

This word, and this concept, was first introduced by psychology guru Carl Jung, who put the ‘soul’ back in psychology.

Case in point: I had to postpone an eye doctor appointment until today, which, oddly enough, is the same day I ran out of my prescription and need it refilled. The pharmacist of choice is in the same building as the eye doctor, the clinic, the hospital, urgent care — it’s one huge complex. Pretty cool, really. Now if that’s not enough of a coincidence, add in the fall I took yesterday down 8 cement stairs, sliding in such a way that I now hurt in places on both the left and right. So I queried last night for an appointment this morning, and he’s giving me two minutes before my eye appointment to see if xrays are warranted.

If you’re going to fall, do it before another appointment!

The event was at a place I’d never been to before. It’s a complicated exercise complex where the Beloit International Film Fest just started using to show films. We parked in the parking lot and had to walk a very long way to get to the entrance. There was an easier way to get in, but it was “exit only.” Once inside a fellow told us we’d have to access BIFF through the second floor. So I sent my husband to the elevator and climbed the stairs, but at the top nothing was open. So I went back down, and inside, and we were given more directions that made no sense, so he went to another elevator while I went to the restroom. When I came out, I had no clue where he was but a vague idea where I was supposed to go, and just hoped he’d find his way there. Honestly, I think they had levels and half levels. Anyway, I started down the final flight of 8 cement stairs, maybe shifting on my feet as I did so, and missed a step. Down I went, frantically trying to stop the fall and hoping no one saw silly me.

And boy, did my butt get wet. Yeah, broke my water bottle and it soaked my behind. Who was gonna believe I’d just gone to the restroom!? I was shortly surrounded by lots of caring people, and a security agent checked my head, no, I didn’t really hit my head much, and took my statement. I won’t be suing. It was all my fault. I shouldn’t be here. I was still on pain killers for having a tooth pulled on Friday. Yeah, you guessed it. Handy for this pain now too!

Jung further developed the concept of synchronicity in collaboration with physicist and Nobel laureate Wolfgang Pauli through long correspondences and in their eventual 1952 work The Interpretation of Nature and the Psyche (German: Naturerklärung und Psyche) which comprises one paper from each of the two thinkers. It’s available at Amazon, but for some reason the Kindle is pricier than the paperback.

Synchronicity shows the relation that we have to everything around us, nature, time, the universe — that there is NO such thing as coincidence. My father once worked with Joe’s father, and because of that, Joe’s father made sure we got married so that Joe would have smart kids. He thought my dad was the smartest he’d ever met. The grandkids are pretty darned smart, too! (I suppose brains skips a generation.)

Anyway, falling almost felt like a warning, as I know I’ll be 70 this year. I had just finished vacuuming the basement, a room that the cats use more than either of us. I’ve fallen on those carpeted steps a few times, and told Joe we need to rip out that carpeting, which has gotten slippery from use, and put something non-skid down. But how much more money should we be sinking into this place?

There’s also this article: “Synchronicities: A Sure Sign You’re on the Right Path.” https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/passion/201712/synchronicities-sure-sign-youre-the-right-path

And that brings me back to — what is this telling me about my path? Well, one, I did the right thing sticking with Dean’s Health for my Medicare. I love that all-in-one clinic in Janesville. But two, it’s like I said to Joe on the way to Culver’s drive-through for dinner, not one good thing has happened to us in Beloit. Not one. Name one. Well, he liked his two jobs until he had to give them up. He’s fooling himself. Those jobs are what did him in. And he could not name one good thing that happened to me here. The good stuff, for me, is in Janesville. So it’s time for me to put my name in at a retirement village there. He won’t go, but that’s okay. He can stay where he is until he needs assisted living. And with his philosophy of don’t move when it hurts (as opposed to mine), that won’t take him long.

We are on opposing paths, and have been for a long time. Our children are synchronicity. Those who are meant to be.

The movie was a good one. I’m glad I didn’t miss it. But I don’t see any reason to go back to Powerhouse, and that’s just one more building in Beloit I’ll look at with disdain. Because what’s even funnier — and maybe they’ll change it next time — is that the exit we went out was on the same floor as their theater. We won’t have had to get lost at all.

Carl Jung believed that synchronicities mirror deep psychological processes and carry messages the way dreams do. “The primary reality of synchronicities is emotional, not intellectual,” says Mark Holland, co-author of Synchronicity. “The reason they’re there is to make us feel something, and the feeling that our lives are rich and worth our reflection comes in part from our sense of the depth and mystery of life.”

And as I noticed earlier, here’s how Gregg Levoy’s article ended up: “a crack in the door through which you can catch sight of the universe and its mysterious ways.”

Now, I need to find out how to watch that movie.