Was It More Than Just Coincidence?

Mark Thurston

We live in an orderly universe. Our lives are governed by universal principles and laws, none of which is inconsistent with the physical laws known to traditional science. All of these universal principles are underlying, unifying patterns from which our experiences spring.

This book is a study of how certain laws and principles shape our experience of personal guidance as we try to deal with practical decision making. Each and every day we make choices, most with little forethought or any sense that guidance is required. But on certain occasions we face a decision which has such importance or such a high degree of ambiguity that we clearly feel the need for help. It is in situations like these that universal laws can help us find a source of wisdom and understanding.

The Law of Oneness is probably the most important universal principle. It asserts the primary connectedness of all things. It suggests that the seemingly independent aspects of our lives are really part of a greater whole. They are linked by shared patterns of energy and fields of consciousness that may not always be immediately evident to our normal waking awareness.

Consider this example of interconnectedness. It involves four aspects in the life of a woman named Beth, none of which seems at face value to be linked to any other: her son, her secretary, a person met randomly in line at the bank, and a discussion she viewed on a late-night television show. The story of her day unfolded this way:

One morning at the breakfast table Beth listened to her son talk about his interest in fishing. It didn’t seem particularly noteworthy, although it was unusual for her son to bring up this topic because he had not previously shown such interest in it.

Several hours later Beth was at her office desk when her secretary came in and asked for a day off the following week so that she could go on a fishing trip with her family. After nodding her approval to the secretary’s request, Beth paused only briefly to note the match with her son’s breakfast conversation, then she quickly got back to work.

At the end of the work day, Beth stopped at the bank on the way home. Standing in line for a teller, she struck up a conversation with the man in line ahead of her, only to discover that his occupation was charting deep-sea fishing excursions. She was surprised but didn’t know what to make of this third occurrence.

Finally, that night as she was getting ready for bed, she flipped on the television remembering that a favorite celebrity was scheduled for a late-night talk show. Within the first three minutes of her watching, the talk show host told a story about his recent fishing trip.

Another story illustrates the same kind of coincidental occurrences. As Chris tells it:

"The other employees in my office were throwing a birthday party for me. They had put up balloons and streamers and they bought gifts and a cake. About ten o’clock we stopped work and commenced the festivities. However, this celebration was interrupted shortly after it started by moving men from an office supply company. My new desk had arrived, the new desk and chair which had been ordered for me a month before. They were delivering it at that very moment. Suddenly the whole office was astir with the commotion of shifting furniture around and getting me relocated and installed. In the middle of this activity my phone rang and on the other end was my wife Sharon telling me that she had just gotten news of a special gift. We had that morning received an invitation to do a conference together in England later that year. I knew that these separate events had no causal relationship. The office supply company had no knowledge of the fact that they were delivering my long-awaited new desk on my birthday, let alone at the very moment of my office party. The invitation to do the conference in England certainly wasn’t timed by the sender to coincide with the other two events. Yet these events all did coincide to bring me a very meaningful message, Happy Birthday."

We have probably all had an experience like these two in some form or another—perhaps with four coinciding events as in Beth’s example; or three, as in the story of Chris. The experience leaves us with the feeling that some force or influence is at work in our lives. It may leave us feeling that there is a "message" being delivered to us from many directions (e.g., Beth might interpret these events to mean that she ought to take up fishing). Or we may conclude that the content of the coincidences is of minor import, but that the real meaning is the reminder of how life is connected in its many aspects.

The Swiss psychiatrist Carl Jung coined the word "synchronicity" for this phenomenon of meaningful coincidence. It’s a principle of connectedness which does not rely on cause and effect. Jung, of course, had no doubts about the validity of cause and effect as a law which governs most of our daily experience. However, his observations led him to the conclusion that there was surely more to the story of life. A complementary law was also a part of life. In Beth’s story, it would be far-fetched to assume that the events with her son, her secretary, the man at the bank, and the talk show host had any causal relationship to each other. And yet, she experienced the events as similar in nature and linked in time (i.e., all in the same day).

Of course, not every coincidence is an example of synchronicity and its non-causal principle of connectedness. Consider this account from Chris who was cited in one of the stories above. "One day, while driving to work, I had to step on my brakes suddenly as I came to an unusually long line at the red light. When I finally got my chance to make the left turn, I suddenly had to brake again to avoid hitting a man on a bicycle who was ignoring the traffic lights. Within minutes, I had another near-miss from a car whose driver wasn’t looking.

"Suddenly I asked myself, ‘Am I experiencing an example of synchronicity? Is the universe trying to tell me something?’ But I realized that these events were not ‘synchronistic’ in the true sense of the word. Although they contained a clear message to be careful on the road today, I could also identify a common cause. The summer season had begun in Virginia Beach, and the streets were full of tourists. My drive into work had suddenly been transformed into a summer obstacle course." These events were meaningfully related, to be sure, but they were also causally related—that is, the product of the law of cause and effect.

Synchronicity and Guidance

The stories of Beth and Chris share the feature ofbeing spontaneous and seemingly unrelated to any pending decision. If there was any guidance to those synchronistic events, it would require some backtracking and self-study to identify the question or problem being addressed. On the other hand, individuals have known for millennia that guidance is available when one seeks help with a pressing concern. The orderly nature of the universe can often provide guidance and direction in the form of signs and synchronistic events.

Various forms of oracles and omens are excellent examples, and they can be found in most historical periods worldwide. Astrology is another good example, since one of the best ways to understand the validity of astrology is by seeing it as an expression of synchronicity.

From the very dawn of recorded history we find evidence that many people have assumed the existence of meaningful coincidence. Archaeologists have found written records dating as far back as 1830 B.C. which document the belief in astrology. From that time they have found tablets which list over 7,000 celestial omens and observations recorded by the first dynasty of Babylon. In other words, these ancient Babylonians believe that events in the sky such as the movements of planets had a meaningful relationship with events here on earth. Since there is no evidence that the planets physically cause events to happen, astrology is best understood as a complex expression of the synchronistic principle.

This fundamental belief that the movement of the planets are related to the course of human events seems to be practically universal among early civilizations. It can be seen in the legacy of Egypt, Greece, Rome, and China. The ancient stone monuments on the Salisbury plain of West Britain and the giant zodiac sculpted into the hills around Glastonbury demonstrate that as far north as the British Isles people in the ancient past believed there was a connection between events in the sky and events on earth. This belief also existed in the Americas. It’s reported that when the Spaniards landed on the coast of South America the natives immediately welcomed them as visiting gods. They told their visitors that their ancient calendar foretold their arrival and they had been expecting them. Even the New Testament story of the birth of Jesus includes a special star which synchronistically heralds the event.

Astrology is probably the best-known example of the belief in synchronicity throughout history. However, it’s not the only one. Throughout the primitive tribes of Northern Europe, tribal leaders sought guidance through the reading of runes. The leaders would go to a particular oracle or shaman and pose their question. The oracle would then cast on the floor a handful of stones on which were written various runes or letters which had symbolic meaning. The specific runes which turned up and the order in which they fell combined to provide insight and advice which the oracle then interpreted to the leader. This practice demonstrates the belief that the random arrangement of the runes had a meaningful relationship to the question that was posed. Since there is no clear causal relationship between the question and the casting of the runes, this relationship, if it exists, is clearly synchronistic.

A later version of this practice is the reading of tarot cards. The cards as we know them today probably came to Europe from the Middle East by the Crusaders of the eleventh and twelfth centuries. The cards contain pictures which carry symbolic meaning. The seeker or questioner shuffles the deck of cards and then hands them to the reader who lays them out according to a specific pattern. As in the reading of runes, the cards convey meaning according to which cards are turned up and where in the arrangement they fall. The reader of the cards interprets all of this information for the seeker who thereby gets guidance on a particular question. The principle of synchronicity operates here in the same way as it did in the reading of runes. The random arrangement of the cards determined by the shuffling of the deck is presumed to have a meaningful relationship to the question at hand, even though there is no logical or causal reason for this to be true.

Personal Examples of Synchronistic Guidance

In my own decision making I have often found synchronicity to be an ally. Often it comes when I’m least expecting it; on other occasions it arrives with a piece of an answer I am earnestly seeking. Two stories stand out in my memory, and I frequently share them with participants at workshops on spiritual guidance.

The first story was a powerful lesson to me about the need to be more alert for the signs and synchronistic occurrences all around me. It concerns a Native American medicine man and shaman named Rolling Thunder. Born into the Cherokee tribe, Rolling Thunder later moved to Nevada, where he served as the senior medicine man for the Shoshone and an eloquent spokesperson for Indian rights.

Rolling Thunder had an interest in Edgar Cayce’s healing practice, and he said that before learning any of the particulars of Cayce’s life and work, he had had an intuitive sense of a great medicine man who had worked on the East Coast in this century. Because he felt that something about Cayce’s healing ministry resonated to his own, he made several trips to Virginia to learn more about Cayce and to speak to audiences assembled by the Association for Research and Enlightenment.

I first heard Rolling Thunder speak on New Year’s Eve, 1971. As a part of his evening program for about three hundred people, he performed a healing ritual ceremony and worked on three individuals. It was a profoundly moving event for all who attended.

Rolling Thunder returned to Virginia the following summer to speak at a gathering of sixty-five college students and young adults at the A.R.E.’s camp in southwestern Virginia. In this setting, Rolling Thunder was able to take us out in nature, and he gave us instructions on how to be alert for and to recognize the signs of guidance found there. I had, of course, read about indigenous people’s sensitivity to the ways that Spirit reveals itself to us in nature. But it was inspiring to get such firsthand teaching from a wise, skillful man like Rolling Thunder. He didn’t call it "synchronicity," but I knew that Jung’s term was just another word for the same thing. The flight of a bird in a certain direction was a sign of weather changes to come. The growth of a plant in a certain way was a sign about our group and the purpose of our being together at that very spot on that day.

Two years later I had a chance to build on this understanding. The memories of the A.R.E. camp lesson were still with me, but I had always assumed that those kinds of synchronistic indicators required being out in a natural setting, such as the wooded hillside of the camp. Somehow it seemed to me that the Great Spirit wasn’t too fond of shopping malls, six-lane highways, and suburbia—the surroundings of my everyday life. It hardly seemed worth looking for such guiding signs unless I could get out into a more natural setting. But I was in for a surprise.

Now I was on the staff of the A.R.E. in Virginia Beach and Rolling Thunder was scheduled to return. He agreed not only to give some presentations at the A.R.E. headquarters but also to travel afterward to a couple of other cities and meet with A.R.E. members. To my surprise it worked out for me to accompany him!

By the time we left Virginia Beach for our two-city tour, we had gotten to know each other a little bit, and I was starting to feel more comfortable playing the role of host for the upcoming programs. Traveling together on the airplane ride to Florida gave us a chance to talk at length, and I found Rolling Thunder to be very humble and personable, with a wonderful sense of humor but a determined vision about his work in the world. It certainly had to do with his healing work—but it was more than just fixing broken bodies. He realized that it was time for a healing within our nation among the various races and ethnic groups, and there was also a need for that kind of change worldwide.

When we arrived at our destination, local helpers drove us to the hotel where we would be staying that night and conducting a workshop the next day. No sooner had we checked into our respective rooms than I got a call from Rolling Thunder. Knowing that the hotel restaurant menu wasn’t likely to include foods that he knew he needed, he thought the supermarket across the street looked inviting. He wanted to walk over with me right away.

Five minutes later we were ambling down the aisle of the grocery store. I was pushing the cart and he was walking along beside me, watching the shelves for needed items. But during those ten or fifteen minutes we were shopping, a remarkable conversation (for me, at least) went on. Rolling Thunder started pointing out to me situations and conditions in the store that he interpreted as meaningful signs. It was just like at A.R.E.’s camp in the woods, but this time in the middle of modern city life. The position or arrangement of food items was a message about their appropriateness for purchase; the movement of people at certain locations in the store—something that looked random to me—was seen by Rolling Thunder with a synchronistic flavor. I learned that day that signs and synchronistic occurrences can be found anywhere.

Another story stands out in my memory of ways that synchronicity has been helpful to me. Whereas the story about Rolling Thunder had more to do with grasping the scope of how signs and synchronistic events could be recognized, the second account has to do with an important question. I was clearly in need of some guidance, and synchronicity played a big part in getting my answer.

It came at a time in my life when I felt like my spiritual growth had stagnated. I wasn’t slipping downward but I was at a plateau and didn’t seem to be able to continue in my progress. For many weeks I prayed about this and asked for guidance.

One morning I went into the kitchen. On our windowsill we had a little "word for the day" calendar, and I tore off yesterday’s word to see what the new one would be. It was "vulpine." I closed my eyes and tried to think if I already knew what that meant. It looked a little bit like "lupine"—related to wolves, but I really had no idea about the meaning of this new word. So I opened my eyes and read the fine print on the calendar page. The definition of "vulpine" is "foxlike—of or related to a fox." I enjoyed the feeling of learning a new word, but I doubted that I would have occasion to show off my new vocabulary addition any time soon.

Thinking no more about it, I had my breakfast and finished getting ready for my workday. As I came into my office about an hour later, my secretary greeted me and then said, "You have just one appointment this morning. It’s at nine o’clock with a man who’s here to tell you about all the things A.R.E. has been doing wrong for the last ten years."

"Okay," I responded, " I’ll be ready for him."

Sure enough, a man with just such an agenda showed up at nine. Upon sitting down to talk with me, the first words out of his mouth were, "When Hugh Lynn Cayce, as president of the A.R.E., allowed this Library and Conference Center to be built by Mr. Fox and his associates, he set in motion the forces of the anti-Christ into the A.R.E." He was referring to the very building in which the two of us were sitting at the moment.

I tried to think back some ten years to the time when construction was underway. In fact, I could remember the construction management trailer on the site, and it had the names Fox and Sadler, co-owners of the company.

But even though I could confirm in my memory this man’s statement about a Mr. Fox being involved, I had no idea what he was talking about. "Why does that have anything to do with the anti-Christ?" I asked.

"Because Fox is 666 if you work with the letters of the alphabet numerologically. F is the sixth letter of the alphabet, and 0 and X also become 6s in the system that almost all numerologists use. Mr. Fox brought the 666 into this organization, I tell you."

At this point, with a part of my mind I was thinking, "How quickly can I get this appointment over with?" But with another part of my mind I realized, "How curious! The word for the day was vulpine, meaning ‘foxlike.’ And here synchronistically is ‘fox’ coming up again."

Soon thereafter the appointment ended. I was unable to give the man any information or promise of remedial action that would reassure him, and he left rather frustrated with me. The appointment ended with my still marveling at the coincidence.

Nothing else about a fox happened that afternoon, but as I was driving home about 5:30 I thought about the coincidence and tried to determine if there was a deeper message. I decided to challenge the Creative Forces, and I said silently within myself, "If there’s really something to this, it’s got to happen a third time."

When I got home I walked in the front door, and even before I went back to say hello to family members, I looked at the day’s new mail that was stacked on a little table in the entrance foyer. One envelope caught my eye. From the return address on the outside I could see that it was from an organization in Washington, D.C., that we often supported with our contributions. It was a Christian-based hunger relief group. I thought maybe it was a letter with some good news that would lift my spirits because they often sent updates on successful new programs.

As soon as I opened the letter, I realized it was merely an appeal for additional funds because a return envelope was enclosed. But I began to read the letter anyway. I was immediately startled by the way it began: "Dear Friend, Foxes have their holes and birds have their nests, but Jesus had no place to rest His head . . . " It was an appeal for money to support a new shelter for the homeless, and they had chosen to use imagery from the Bible that began with a fox.

At that point I surrendered to the series of coincidences. There must be something to this. Three times in one day a fox has figuratively crossed my path.

That evening I began to try to work with that image symbolically, like a dream image. What was it saying to me about my problem, about feeling stuck on a plateau with my spiritual growth? As I worked with that image I began to see it had a message for me.

A fox, to my own consciousness, represents something clever; and there’s a side of my mind that’s very clever. In being willing to take a good, hard look at myself and my behavior patterns, I saw that in many ways I had begun to out-trick myself. In my cleverness I was finding ways of avoiding the sides of myself that I needed to confront in order to grow further. I was going to continue to be stuck on that plateau until I could disarm this foxlike nature in myself. Synchronistic guidance had clearly come to help me with a specific question that I had prayerfully worked on.

 

Chapter 1 of Synchronicity as Spritual Guidance. ARE Press