May 14, 2001
Coincidence
or Meaningful Coincidence? Synchronicity Is The Answer
Part 2 – Listening & Acting
Chance is always powerful. Let your hook be always cast; in the pool where you least
expect, there will be fish.
Whatever you think you can do or believe you can
do, begin it. Action has magic,
grace, and power in it. Goethe
If you have reflected on Part 1
of this message (see Weekly Message - May 7th) dealing with the
formal identification of synchronicity by C. G. Jung, then I trust you have
begun to identify examples of this phenomenon in your life.
Like me, you might have begun to question the source of synchronicity and
also if it’s frequency can be controlled.
Julia Cameron is the author of
many books including The Artist’s Way: A Spiritual Path to Higher
Creativity. The book is divided
into weeks and in “Week 3: Recovering A Sense Of Power”, she discusses
synchronicity as it relates to the creative process. Cameron contends that synchronicity is the manifestation of
our own prayers to God. She writes:
“Answered prayers are scary. They
imply responsibility. You asked for
it. Now that you’ve got it, what
are you going to do? Why else the
cautionary phrase “Watch out for what you pray for, you might get it”? Answered prayers deliver us back to our own hand.
This is not comfortable. We
find it easier to accept them as examples of synchronicity.”
I can think of many times in my life when I felt that
synchronicity played a role in the direction my life took and on more than one
occasion I have given God credit. Those
who credit divine intervention to explain the source of their synchronicity say
things like: “I could have been in that accident on the highway, but for some
reason I changed my route today. God
must have been looking out for me!” Or,
“I have been praying for a new job and out of the blue I got a call today from
an old boss I lost contact with five years ago!”
Tanis Helliwell writes in Take
Your Soul To Work: “Over the years I have come more and more to trust
synchronicity and have created a kind of “soul rule.” If something is mentioned to me more that once I pay
attention and take any action that’s needed.”
Rachel Harris, Ph.D. discusses
synchronicity in her book 20 – Minute Retreats.
“On the subject, I don’t know if some people are more turned in to
such coincidences [synchronicity], and so notice them more, or if synchronicity
simply occurs more frequently in some people’s lives than others.
It’s also possible that the more we respond to synchronous events, the
more they appear in our lives. Whatever
the dynamics of synchronicity, we can always invite it into our lives by
intentionally looking for unusual juxtapositions of events, by timing or
pattern.”
The opening quotes by Ovid and
Goethe imply that action on our part has a role in future outcome.
In particular, I can relate to the German writer Goethe (later 1700’s)
when viewing examples of synchronicity at work with Awaken The Soul.
Because I believe Awaken’s simple message and I stopped thinking about
it and began to “just write”, there have been a plethora of moments of “magic,
grace, and power”. The more I
pay attention to the synchronicity in my life, the more it is appearing.
The results of following the messages behind these coincidences are
definitely awakening my soul.
With respect, acceptance, and
love,
Richard
For additional information on the books mentioned, go to the Suggested Reading Page