a message from Caroline Myss

Sunday, 28 February, 2010  (posted 12 March, 2010)

 

Now how many people would think to ask you that?

As soon as I heard the question, I almost swayed into another dimension: Am I more fascinated by what I can see or by what I cannot see? I replied that I was more drawn to the dimension of the unseen. He asked for an example and that’s when I submitted as article number one: The Mystical Law of Synchronicity. I said that I was fascinated by that law and how its alchemy comes together within each of our lives. As a visual, imagine this law as an alchemical dynamic comprised of several chemicals that may or may not create a spark overhead. Conditions have to be perfect – but what exactly are those conditions? Imagine, then, that you want to interact with those conditions – you want to become an active variable in the creative dynamic of the law of synchronicity. Is that even possible and if so, what would you have to know and become – not do – but become in order to interact with the law? How intriguing is this? (Said another way, how could such a question not intrigue someone?)

Carl Jung brought the mystical law of synchronicity into common parlance and then it made its way into mainstream awareness. Commonly understood, it refers to a coming together of events that happen to coordinate or parallel with something that you are experiencing at that same time. Sometimes a synchronistic event is localized, meaning that the psychic event and the physical event occur in the same place at the same time. Jung called that the first category of synchronistic events. Thinking of someone and then seeing that person one minute later or receiving a phone call from them five seconds after you thought of his or her name are examples of what he would call the second category of synchronistic events; that is, two people having mutual thoughts of each other separated by distance.

We have all experienced synchronistic events – some on a small scale, some on a grand scale. They happen all the time. Can a person influence the Law of Synchronicity? How fascinating is that question? What makes a synchronistic event or moment come together? And are some people more receptive to synchronistic events than others? All of those questions are worthy of an afternoon’s lecture (which is why I’m doing a workshop on the Mystical Laws in April), but I’ll address each one in brief. (Other Mystical Laws include the laws that govern Fate and Destiny, the Mystical Laws of Healing and the Mystical Law of Transformation).

Why is knowledge such as this so important? Because you interact with these laws with every breath you take. Nothing about your life is casual or happenstance. On the other hand, literature abounds about how you can “create your own reality” just by thinking “positive thoughts”. How many positive thoughts? One? Two? Is creating your whole reality really that simple? What about all your negative unconscious thoughts – what happens to them? The tendency in this contemporary spiritual society is to take these extraordinary Mystical Laws and reduce them to a user’s guide to happiness - not that there is anything wrong with happiness. But you miss the whole galaxy by focusing on only one planet, if you see what I mean. These laws govern the invisible universe and suggest that an ideal harmony (not happiness but harmonious balance) coexists between the soul realm and the physical. That same relationship in the macro realm is what each person contains in the micro as an individual and thus these laws operate as a mini-universe within each human being.

We are born knowing this truth, though not in the intellectual detail with which I am now communicating it. Rather, we are born with an inherent awareness of these Mystical Laws. We are born with a type of yearning to experience awe and to be blown away by greater-than-ordinary events. And if they do not happen naturally or supernaturally (as in Divinely inspired), then we create them just to get our adrenalin going at max speed because that part of us longs to break through the barrier of “earth speed” in order to touch mystical weightlessness. Ask anyone who pushes the envelope why they risk their lives doing the most outrageous sports, for example, and their responses hint at a longing for a mystical experience. Many speak of “losing themselves in the moment” or “feeling weightlessness” just for a second, as if time stands still. That’s a description of a mystical experience, not a physical one. It’s the best a person can achieve on his or her own without the addition of maximum “grace speed”, but it’s most certainly a taste of the thrill of “mystical weightlessness”. No wonder athletes get addicted to the “high” of those experiences. They literally and symbolically are “highs”.

The Law of Synchronicity, then, is one of many Mystical Laws that govern the invisible world. These Mystical Laws work in partnership with the laws of the physical realm, such as motion, speed, gravity, etc. The Mystical Laws work in subtle ways, but they are as intimate as our breath. When are we not “thinking” or “emotionally reacting” or stressed or unstressed or creating or angry or not angry or in love or broken hearted? We are, in other words, always “in psychic motion” and our energy is at least a part of the substance these laws use to function within our lives.

Just like the athletes experiencing a weightless high during a peak experience, it’s possible to sample that same sensation when you become aware that you are in the midst of a synchronistic event. Immediately your senses become more alert as you shift from just glancing over the environment you are in to scanning in for miniscule details, each one on reserve for potential symbolic significance. Instantly you begin to wonder about the “meaning” of that particular moment over the other ordinary moments of that day when nothing synchronistic occurred. Such questions lift your thinking above the ground. Where? To mystical heights – a synchronistic event ultimately makes you wonder about purpose, meaning, significance, fate, and destiny. Granted, your wonderment will not always be overwhelming with each synchronistic event but because these are, in essence, mystical sparks – a merger of the psychic and physical realms coming together – you are experiencing a mystical law in motion acting directly through the corridor of your life. And that is awesome.

As I briefly describe my own observations about the Law of Synchronicity, I want you to think of yourself as an active variable. You are the X-factor in your own life, an active ingredient that can initiate a synchronistic event or dispel the energy of one. You are the object, then, that needs to be understood in addition to the Law of Synchronicity.

1. Can a person influence acts of synchronicity; that is, are some people more likely to experience synchronistic events, and if so, why? We can and do influence all the Mystical Laws, including the Law of Synchronicity. This particular law seems to be far more animated around a person who lacks a heavy emotional/mental/psychic history. Said another way, a person who lives primarily in “present time” is living in harmony with the natural energetics of this law.
2. Adaptability and respond-ability are two qualities that seem to magnetize synchronicity. A person’s willingness to adapt to the opportunity that a synchronistic event presents with minimum hesitation jumps right into the magic of the moment. That person has “respond-ability”. This is a big deal as most people hesitate out of over-caution and fear of the consequences of their actions. As a result, most people continually look to their past for inspiration as to what to choose next, and many times they end up stuck. The ability to recognize an opportunity as a synchronistic “Divine set up” and then respond to that moment in a way that grounds that opportunity ensures a person of a “follow-up” synchronistic experience, if not a series of them. This is a person who is now living in the flow of a mystical law.
3. A person cannot make a certain type of synchronistic event happen. We have no control over the types of events or the timing of them.
4. Why and when synchronistic events happen seems to be connected to greater or lesser choice points in a person’s life. The significance of these choice points varies but the common thread is that a synchronistic moment or experience is a choice point.
5. You as the active variable should take time to reflect upon whether you are a psychic anchor in your own life or someone who is capable of an immediate and dynamic response. That is a question worthy of hours and hours of reflection and not just as regards the Law of Synchronicity, but all the other Mystical Laws as well. Specifically, someone who fights change, who fears the unknown and new ideas and suggestions weakens or depletes the energy field required for synchronistic events.

Continuing on with my conversation:

My friend and I chatted for quite some time about the Law of Synchronicity and my observation about how being in present time increases the likelihood of synchronistic events. How can that not happen? It’s so energetically logical. Of course, our conversation had to include this question: Can and do people know when they are sabotaging a synchronistic event? Fascinating question. I’ll have to ponder that one and save the answer for my upcoming workshop on the Mystical Laws.

Meanwhile, let me leave you with this insight: When a synchronistic event/moment occurs, it does so because certain elements of the psychic realm and the physical realm match. I always take that as a signal that I am standing at a crossroads, a choice point. That choice may not be huge – or it may be. But I always ask myself during a synchronistic moment, “What choice occurs to me?” and then I act on it.

This Universe is a mystical wonderland, to say the least. So I will leave you with the question that started my conversation with a dear friend, “Are you more fascinated by what you can see or by what you cannot see?” Reflect upon that, now imagining that there is no such thing as empty space.

Love, Caroline

© 2009 Myss.com - Caroline Myss is a New York Times best-selling author whose books include Anatomy of the Spirit, Why People Don’t Heal and How They Can, Sacred Contacts, and Entering the Castle. Defy Gravity: Healing Beyond the Bounds of Reason, will be published by Hay House in October 2009.
Listen to Caroline every week on www.HayHouseRadio.com