Synchronicity

Rating:
Summary: Bad writing on a great subject
Review: The subject matter of this book deserves a 5, the writing deserves a 0. Jung should have taken a course on writing - he used typical psycho babble and unnecessarily complex wording to discuss the concept of synchronicity, which is an incredibly interesting topic. Unless you know latin, greek (yes he actually wrote some quotes in greek letters), and have a good understanding of astrology, I suggest you find one of the many contemporary books on the subject to read. If, like me, you feel you have to go to the source to get a better understanding of the topic, then I suggest that, at a minimum, you skip the chapter on astrology, or, better yet, skip the entire book, and read only the appendix. In the 10 or so pages of the appendix, he summarizes the entire book.

Bad writing on a great subject.

Rating:
Summary: COINCIDENCE DOES NOT EXIST ...
Review: Things in life happen, "facts occur" so accidentally or hasardous that a concourse of circumstances is so very much "particular", so curious, that one tries to look for a decent explanation. A cause with a VERY GOOD REASON however, is rarely found.

Carl Gustav JUNG (1875-1961), the only competitor as to me for "the genius of the 20th century", esteemed title that went to his friend Albert EINSTEIN, has studied this matter during some decades. By examinating this phenomenon of accidental facts that appear, he has been able to conclude that we may speak here about liaisons, about ACAUSAL connections and conjunctions, "something" almost every human being knows about. HE CALLED THIS "SYNCHRONICITY". He also found out THAT THIS CANNOT REPLACE THE FACT OF THINKING, REFLECTING IN A "CAUSAL" WAY, that is by means of causal thoughts and reflections.

BUT, it is very well possible that "THIS PARTICULAR APPEARANCE" ADDS A NEW DIMENSION TO OUR PERCEPTION. Jung got convinced about this the longer the more, persuaded as he was, that there is "ONLY ONE CLASSIFICATION" that exists as well for the human psyche as for the living matter (= physical substance). In this sense synchronicity refers to a classification apparently arbitrary. The duality between PSYCHE and MATTER has a COMMON BASIS, FOUNDING: A UNITY OF EXISTENCE (already known by the alchemists like Paracelsus and his colleagues as well). This FOUNDING, FOUNDATION IS ACCENTUATED, EMPHASIZED by symptoms, synchronistic phenomenons THAT EXPRESS THEMSELVES IN the unconscious psyche as well as in matter. JUNG DEFINED THIS UNIQUE EXISTENCE AS THE "UNUS MUNDUS".
Very probably we will never be able to clarify this undivided unity, but WE ARE SURE NOW that the empirical world of phenomenons is founded one way or another ON A TRANSCENDENTAL BACKGROUND. IT IS THIS BACKGROUND - CAUSED BY SYNCHRONISTIC PHENOMENONS - THAT PENETRATES, APPEARS "ALL OF A SUDDEN" IN OUR CONSCIENT WORLD.

Of course we heard before about this ENORMOUS GENIUS from Switzerland, a lovable and decent, studious man, ex-friend and student of Sigmund FREUD, friend also - among many others - of James JOYCE and of Albert EINSTEIN. He was however not only a psychanalist by excellence, but also a very devoted scientist, a cultural giant (esteemed connoisseur of China and India, not at least concerning the eastern religions) AND - what far too little people know - a grand, great philosopher of the highest importance, a man who will influence manhood for a long time to come.

THIS BOOK IS A HARD READ. BUT: FOR THOSE WHO "DO" IT, THAT HAVE THE COURAGE TO READ "SYNCHRONICITY", I CAN ASSURE THEM THAT THEY WILL SEE OTHER WORLDS AND OTHER DIMENSIONS. RECOMMENDED - WITHOUT ANY DOUBT - FROM THE BOTTOM OF MY HEART.

Rating:
Summary: A book which will make you think
Review: This book will forever be linked in my mind with the Police album, just like Lolita links with "Don't Stand So Close To Me." One of the things I like most about this book is that it is easy to read and not intimidating. For starters, it's not very long and the language is not challenging. Jung uses a lot of interesting stories to explain his theories of synchronicity, when unrelated things seem to happen together at the same time with a purpose. The first time I read this book, I found that while I was reading it, I would experience synchronicity. For instance, I was reading it on my lunch break from work and I ran into one of my coworkers that I had a crush on. Maybe that's just a coincidence, but maybe there are greater forces at work. I would say that if you are intimidated by reading huge books by Jung, this is a good book to get started with, and it will definitely give you something about which to think.

Rating:
Summary: A book which will make you think
Review: This book will forever be linked in my mind with the Police album, just like Lolita links with "Don't Stand So Close To Me." One of the things I like most about this book is that it is easy to read and not intimidating. For starters, it's not very long and the language is not challenging. Jung uses a lot of interesting stories to explain his theories of synchronicity, when unrelated things seem to happen together at the same time with a purpose. The first time I read this book, I found that while I was reading it, I would experience synchronicity. For instance, I was reading it on my lunch break from work and I ran into one of my coworkers that I had a crush on. Maybe that's just a coincidence, but maybe there are greater forces at work. I would say that if you are intimidated by reading huge books by Jung, this is a good book to get started with, and it will definitely give you something about which to think.

Rating:
Summary: So so effort to explain the inexplicable
Review: This is a difficult subject to write about and I have sympathy with anyone with the courage to make the effort. There is no doubt that Jung shows deep learning, or at least a wide search of literature, to illuminate his essay. I believe he is right to emphasise Kant, Schopenhauer, Swedenborg, J.B. Rhine.

But Jung was writing before much of the recent work on ESP and related matters, eg before McMoneagle, Radin, Bell's Theorem and non-locality,...and the essay is dated and incomplete as a result.

Moreover, Jung seems to confuse issues and to fail to state his case, and it's a vastly important case, clearly.

All in all however he needs to be congratulated for seeing that time and space are either illusions or capable of being suspended/circumvented and consequently that causation as we have traditionally understood it in the West, is an incomplete description of what goes on. More fundamentally it is my belief that causation may be said to operate in a subset of experience, what we might call everyday experience, but is underlain by and surrounded by an acausal context in which time and space do not exist. We are one.

Rating:
Summary: A sleep trance, a dream dance, a shared romance...
Review: This is probably one of the more interesting books that I've read this year. I would be hard pressed to say if it's about philsophy, about psychology, or even about the occult. I wanted to read it because I had heard about Jung's studies of Astrology, particularly of Moon signs in love. I ended up getting much more out of it than that.

Synchronicity deals with the concept of things which have no casual connection being nevertheless linked together in a strange way. Jung attributes this to the collective unconscious, which you may or may not buy in to. But it's fascinating to think of all those coincidences that make up our day to day lives and wonder why they do happen. Jung himself, at times the rational scientist, at times believer in mysticism and magic, describes situations that puzzled his understanding. It will make you think about your own life and those coincidences which seem to be more purposeful than mere probability would suggest.

Rating:
Summary: Jung's Synchronicity
Review: You are looking for a book that explains the inexplicable. You know, those little moments where your mind tells you that what just happened implies something more than what it seems to be, that there are forces at work beyond the boring mechanistic view whith which we are led to believe our lives exist. You are looking for a book that describes your life as more meaningful than you fear it might be. Carl Jung's "Synchronicity" may be just that book:~)

What Jung sets out to describe in "Synchronicity" is proof that there is a higher degree of meaningful coincidences in our Universe than probability allows for. His chief pieces of evidence are the Zenor Card experiments carried out by J.B. Rhine in the 1930s and 40s, and his own "Astrological Experiment." Following these two pieces of evidence, Jung touches on the history of intellectuals who have tried to explain the very same thing he sets out to explain, and here he draws heavily on the I Ching.

"Synchronicity" was a book that I was very interested in reading, but now that I've read it, I am wondering exactly what it is that I've just read (and whether I learned anything from it). Jung takes as proof the quantum idea that even at its most fundamental level, our Universe behaves in "non-linear" acausal ways. He draws on the scientific ideas of Einstein and Pauli in order to make psychic generalizations for the way the human mind and the imagination works.

The ideas are fascinating to consider, but may be all but impossible to prove. Some of the examples Jung uses to illustrate acausal "meaningful coincidence" behavior are startling. My only word of caution with this book is that it might be a little too dense for some readers. All in all, though it's as good an introduction into synchronicity and meaningful coincidence as any book of its kind. Chances are, after reading "Synchronicity," you may want a more clear explanation of the ideas Jung is describing here, and there are a wealth of resources that have elaborated further on Jung's original concepts. Check out Joseph Jaworski's "Synchronicity: The Inner Path of Leadership" or Stacey Hall's "Attracting Perfect Customers: The Power of Strategic Synchronicity" for a contemporary approach to synchronicity's role in our lives. And, of course, I hope this review is helpful to you!

Stacey

Rating:
Summary: One of his most important essays
Review: _Synchronicity_ is one of Jung's longer and better known essays. It contains fascinating accounts of paranormal phenomenon, such as ESP, and Jung provides numerous examples and well-organized scientific data to prove the existence of psychokinesis and telepathy. Such apparently miraculous phenomena are presumably the result of a purely subjective universe, in which seemingly concrete and objective happenings are created and altered within the confines of our individual subjective psyche. Jung provides compelling evidence to prove this phenomenon of subjective psychic control over the outside, physical world; in the ESP experiments he cited, subjects were placed hundreds of miles away from the site of the experiment (in which a sequence of five different images were randomly uncovered and recorded), and asked to guess the sequence of images days and even weeks later. Most subjects were able to guess what the images were at a rate that was statistically determined to be astronomically improbable. By conducting the experiments in this manner, researchers were able to prove that, not only does ESP exist, it is NOT an energetic, kinetic, or physical phenomenon in the traditional sense. The separation in time and space between the experimenter and the subject proves that ESP is not a phenomenon that can be attributed to wave motion or spacial transmission. It is a purely subjective and psychic phenomenon.

The highlight of this book, however, is Jung's discussion of Tao. Jung compares his synchronistic theory to the ideas of MEANINGFULNESS and HARMONY in the philosophy of Tao. Ideas like ESP and psychokinesis help bolster Taoism's theory of the inherent harmony and intelligent, purposeful design underlying the universe. Believe what you will, but this is a very interesting and very convincing book. It is somewhat of a departure for Jung, however, and is not exactly his quintessential work; it would be a mistake to judge Jung simply based on this one narrowly focused work. But it is very interesting nonetheless, and I highly recommend it to all readers.

Also keep in mind that _Synchronicity_ is reprinted in volume 8 of the Princeton/Bollingen series of the collected works of Carl Jung, entitled _The Structure and Dynamics of the Psyche_. Serious Jungians will probably want to go ahead and buy this full-length version, as it contains many other useful essays in addition to "Synchronicity".

Rating:
Summary: One of his most important essays
Review: _Synchronicity_ is one of Jung's longer and better known essays. It contains fascinating accounts of paranormal phenomenon, such as ESP, and Jung provides numerous examples and well-organized scientific data to prove the existence of psychokinesis and telepathy. Such apparently miraculous phenomena are presumably the result of a purely subjective universe, in which seemingly concrete and objective happenings are created and altered within the confines of our individual subjective psyche. Jung provides compelling evidence to prove this phenomenon of subjective psychic control over the outside, physical world; in the ESP experiments he cited, subjects were placed hundreds of miles away from the site of the experiment (in which a sequence of five different images were randomly uncovered and recorded), and asked to guess the sequence of images days and even weeks later. Most subjects were able to guess what the images were at a rate that was statistically determined to be astronomically improbable. By conducting the experiments in this manner, researchers were able to prove that, not only does ESP exist, it is NOT an energetic, kinetic, or physical phenomenon in the traditional sense. The separation in time and space between the experimenter and the subject proves that ESP is not a phenomenon that can be attributed to wave motion or spacial transmission. It is a purely subjective and psychic phenomenon.

The highlight of this book, however, is Jung's discussion of Tao. Jung compares his synchronistic theory to the ideas of MEANINGFULNESS and HARMONY in the philosophy of Tao. Ideas like ESP and psychokinesis help bolster Taoism's theory of the inherent harmony and intelligent, purposeful design underlying the universe. Believe what you will, but this is a very interesting and very convincing book. It is somewhat of a departure for Jung, however, and is not exactly his quintessential work; it would be a mistake to judge Jung simply based on this one narrowly focused work. But it is very interesting nonetheless, and I highly recommend it to all readers.

Also keep in mind that _Synchronicity_ is reprinted in volume 8 of the Princeton/Bollingen series of the collected works of Carl Jung, entitled _The Structure and Dynamics of the Psyche_. Serious Jungians will probably want to go ahead and buy this full-length version, as it contains many other useful essays in addition to "Synchronicity".