Scary Coincidences, Synchronicity, or Chance?
Is it meaningful coincidence or just chance that starts of a chain of events? Our brains are programmed to find patterns in things, but some chains of events involve so many coincidences that they are impossible to ignore.
Do you believe that life is a series of disconnected, meaningless coincidences, or do you feel that it is all part of a pattern and that is designed to a blueprint, or a plan? There has been a lot of research on this over the years and famous people like Charles Fort and Carl Jung have come up with their own theories on what has become known as synchronicity, or meaningful coincidence.
Jung first used the word ‘synchronicity’ which refers to several seemingly unrelated events occurring together in a meaningful manner. The basic idea behind this concept is that if events can be grouped by cause, they can also be grouped my meaning. So, a group of events may point in a particular direction. Some find these often scary coincidences intriguing but others see no particular pattern in them.
We have all experienced synchronicity, meaningful coincidence (if that’s what we choose to call it) and chance events have set off a whole chain of things that would never have taken place without the first event.
Take, for example an experience of my own. I went out to catch a bus into the City but I missed it and had to wait a further fifteen minutes. As I finally arrived at the City centre, I met a neighbour who told me that she felt quite unwell and didn’t know how she would get home. At that point a bus that would take us home arrived, so I went with her. I walked her to her door and decided to go home. A whole chain of meaningful coincidences was put into action here.
As I walked into my kitchen there was black smoke billowing out from underneath the washing machine which I had switched on to wash before I went out. This was followed by sparks and the flooring beneath the appliance burst into flame. Fortunately I managed to put out the fire. If I hadn’t missed that bus, I wouldn’t have met my neighbour and the end result would have been devastating. To my way of thinking, this is a clear cut case of synchronicity, or meaningful coincidence. It was designed and planned that I should go home in time to avoid this potential disaster.
This is also seen on a more global level too. Some pretty strange scary coincidences have taken place. For example, in 1930, a New York commuter train plummeted off an open bridge and ended up in the sea. Thirty people were killed. When the photograph of the incident appeared in the paper the number 932 could be seen on the side of one of the coaches. A lot of people selected that number for the New York numbers game and they all won.
Another strange scary incident too place in the city of London in 1911. At Greenberry Hill in the city, three men were tried and convicted of the robbery and murder of Sir Edmund Berry Godfrey. Their names were Robert Green, Henry Berry and Lawrence Hill. Put them together and you get Green, Berry, and Hill. Meaningful coincidence, or not?
Writer Mark Twain was born in 1835 on the day that Halley’s Comet appeared. He died when it reappeared in 1910. He is said to have predicted his own death when he wrote that he came in with the comet and would go out with it.
A search of the internet will uncover thousands of reported instances of meaningful coincidence, or synchronicity. For me there is a power at work in our universe which gives these seemingly chance coincidences meaning. There is a great deal of proof around us that leads to the conclusion that coincidence alone does not exist. The events that happen in our daily lives are designed. They form part of a complex system of meaningful coincidence and synchronicity.
Then there is the other side of the argument which has been put forward by psychologists. They often state that our brains are pre programmed to find patterns in things and this is how and why we come up with these instances of synchronicity. We are capable of finding patterns in most things according to them. I would agree that some connections cited as meaningful coincidence are quite difficult to fit together and accept but in my view, there is no doubt about the connection between events as described in my examples above. A quick search of the internet will uncover many more instances that can’t easily be explained away.
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User Comments
goodselfme
On January 12, 2009 at 6:03 am
I am glad you were guided home to save your home. I love a composition that has some personal reflections in it. this is done so well, my friend. I have had things like this take place that I was thankful for in my life.Thank youfor this post.
Patrick Bernauw
On January 12, 2009 at 8:00 am
Synchronicity really is “thought provoking”. It’s one of these things (like déjà vu… but here you have a possible psychological explanation) that keeps you thinking, and wondering, and dreaming, and asking yourself if there is more between heaven and earth… Carl Gustav Jung has written some fascinating stuff about it, and I had… well, some really freaky “encounters of the synchronicity kind”.
Liked your article very much!
lanne
On January 12, 2009 at 10:55 am
I really enjoyed this one Louie. I have had things like this happen and it always leaves me wondering.
Clay Hurtubise
On January 12, 2009 at 11:22 am
Good piece, I just happened to stumble upon it…
Thanks,
Clay
Glynis Smy
On January 12, 2009 at 11:33 am
How fascinating, I too am glad you made it home. A lot to discuss here. Great work.
MC
On January 12, 2009 at 2:08 pm
I would have found it infinitely more interesting, had the cosmos found a way to convince you not to start the washer in the first place.
Betty Carew
On January 12, 2009 at 2:15 pm
wonderful article Louie. I truly believe that there are forces beyond our knowledge that influences our actions. You were so lucky that day
Mys Lyke Meeh
On January 12, 2009 at 2:29 pm
I was figuring out that myself too…is there really coincidence? Or destined…
Good article…it helps me to lead into some answers…
Joe Poniatowski
On January 12, 2009 at 2:50 pm
Great story. Of course, you wouldn’t have missed the bus had you not tried to get in a load of laundry before work.
I really do believe most things happen for a reason, and our challenge is to discover these meaningful patterns. Very interesting article.
Word Smythe
On January 12, 2009 at 3:06 pm
I don’t believe in synchronicity, but I still enjoyed the article. Very well written.
larcha 51
On January 12, 2009 at 5:32 pm
Great article, this deserves a stumble!
Bren Parks
On January 12, 2009 at 6:03 pm
There is a lot to be said for synchronicity. Very well done as usual my friend.
valli
On January 12, 2009 at 7:08 pm
Thank God! You were guided home to save it. Fascinating article.
PR Mace
On January 12, 2009 at 7:41 pm
Thank God you made it home in time. I think it is a angel that causes all the events to unfold as they do. Excellant article,quite thought provoking.
Inna Tysoe
On January 12, 2009 at 8:32 pm
I too am glad you made it home in time
Best,
Inna
Uma Shankari
On January 13, 2009 at 12:03 am
Loved this one. Origin of life – is it chance or design? This question has bogged all thinking minds. Is life, or the first instance of a cell, a random assembly of right substances and a chain of favorable circumstances?
R.B. Parsley
On January 13, 2009 at 1:21 am
Louie,
I enjoyed your article. When I was 19 years old, I’d gone out with my cousin and some friends of ours. We had gone to Hollensburg Ohio for New Years Eve. I got in a small argument with one of the other guys about who was going to sit next to the window in the back. The other guy won. I ended up sitting in the middle. It was snowing pretty bad, which was one of the reasons we left the place we went. On the way back my cousin attempted a curve and lost control of his moms new Road Runner. We went up a bank and back across the road where we were stopped by a snow drift. As we came into the curve, the back end slid and hit a telephone pole The guy that won the argument, slumped down in the seat. Had he been sitting up straight, he would have have been killed instantly. Had I won the argument, I would not be here today. We didn’t know it until after the snow cleared, but where we landed in the snow drift was a fence, and just a few feet on the other side of that fence, was a pond! I felt like god has his hand on each of our shoulders that night.
Great article Louie! Your article reminded me of this event.
Randy
Anne Lyken Garner
On January 13, 2009 at 3:44 am
Fascinating finds, especially the one about Greenberry hill.
As for the washing machine incident, I’ve had quite a few of these in my life as well. I think that, as the bible says, we’ve all got our guardian angels to protect us if our time has not yet come.
Don’t pay attention to the nay sayers.
lindalulu
On January 13, 2009 at 12:35 pm
I am a true believer of this, great article.
denus
On January 14, 2009 at 4:35 pm
Really great article.
Keep up the good work.
cheers,
denus
Genevieve Horrall
On January 15, 2009 at 8:33 pm
I really liked your article. I love the law of attraction which is what I call this annd it is how I live my life.
Laura Smith
On January 17, 2009 at 4:04 pm
I’m a believer in everything happens for a reason, great article, really good.
Laura
DD
On January 21, 2009 at 7:18 pm
I don’t think everything happens for a reason, it’s just chance.It’s bound to happen that two events happen at the same time and can be connected, doesn’t mean that some Force is behind it. It’s this type of thinking that let’s people think some Imaginary dude in the sky has a plan for them, they think they are important and the ego accepts it.
Just look at the other comments, from angels to whatever. You can compare this to ghost stories, and it was probably the wind or something else. A logical explanation. Here it’s just…chance, that is all.
Sam Wambu
On May 5, 2009 at 1:47 am
Great article.
It is scary,really,when you sit back and think over all the events that have happened in our lives and the reasons why we are in the present situations.
everything happens with a reason and its interelated.
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