The blossoms are fragile

[Mr G]

Your whole forum is a paranormal experiment for me. I have not had any really noticeable synchronicities for about a year.

Postulate: Post to your forum => synchronicities follow.

[ju4o]

Well I have a theory about that kind of thing, which is that a good situation for synchronicity is where there is a confluence of skeptics and believers.

If there is just a bunch of believers, then is the universe going to put any effort into conjuring up synchronicities?  Maybe not so much.  I mean, there would be not much point and it would end up being just for the believers' entertainment.  Entertainment is all very well of course (thank you for reminding us, tosk) but I hardly think the universe is going to feel that it is it's job supply it.

And if there is just a bunch of skeptics, then likewise, I think the universe might not feel like going to the bother of creating synchronicities, since the skeptics would simply not notice them or, if necessary, force themselves not to notice them, and it would be wasted effort on the universe's part.

But when you have skeptics and believers together, then everything changes.  If the universe lets slip a synchronicity in such a context, then the believers are going to try their hardest to make sure the skeptics notice it, and the skeptics are going to try their hardest to make sure the believers do not rejoice.  That is what I would call creative tension.  Which, according to Darwin and numerous other scientists of the first rank, is what leads to change.

[ju4o]

Just after sending that post yesterday I was startled to hear a quotation being read out of a book, which said

"Those of greater capacity may rest in non-duality; those of middling capacity may rejoice in the miracles of the heavenly realms; those of lesser capacity may bind up their aggregates and make a food offering of them".

At first it was the word "rejoice" there which startled me and made me prick up my ears since it's not a very common word and I had just used it in a post.  Indeed, according to the forum database, the word "rejoice" does not occur at all in the forum until in yesterday's post.

So, ears pricked up, I paid attention to the meaning of the quote ... and was even more startled!  (Insofar as the quote is understandable at all, which I would have to say is not very).  "Rejoicing in the miracles of the heavenly realms" seems like a very good description of what I had just moments before mentioned that skeptics would try to prevent believers from doing.

So I think that counts as a nice synchronicity.

[Mr G]

Since you shared yours...

Last Sunday, on a visit to my parents, I was curious about the origin of the term "blue blood". I used my mom's computer to google it, and in stead came upon the wikipedia entry for "Sacre Bleu". I learned for a second time that "zounds" is a contraction of "God's wounds", like "Gadzooks" is a contraction of "God's hooks" (the nails from the cross). Not an hour later, my father started watching a very depressing documentary about fetal alcohol syndrome or something like it. I suggested we watch The Simpsons, my father in stead randomly picked an episode of Futurama from his computer. I had seen it before, but never realised that Calculon says "God's wounds" in it. (Season 7, episode 20)

Yesterday, I watched "Anchorman 2". In it, a guy has a restaurant that serves deep fried bats to people. After the movie, I flipped over to a news channel just in time to hear that an outbreak of the Ebola virus in Guinea may have been caused by people eating bats. Their government has banned bat soup.

I had another good one today, but you get the idea. It's been an interesting week.

[ju4o]

The bats that live in the loft are just waking up, glimpsed this evening for the first time this year.

Did you know they have a protector website called EUROBATS (spelt in all caps, like FORTRAN)?  I am not joking.  http://www.eurobats.org/ (http://www.eurobats.org/)

[Mr G]

So... in your opinion (or the opinion of Tosk, Merlin or Mr X), do synchronicities generally have a particular meaning? Or is it generally only a "cosmic wink"? My "God's wounds" sync refers. It seems like the kind of thing that may have significance, but it's not obvious to me.

Also... what kind of word is FORTRAN? Portmanteau? It shouldn't be all caps either, right? Perhaps "ForTran"? Merlin's "Grammar Nazi" link refers.

YOURSFAITHFULLY

[ju4o]

Bats flying around again at dusk today so they are definitely waking up.  But the big news this evening is......Nightingale!!  I cannot emphasize enough how extraordinarily early this is to hear it here.  They winter in southern Africa.  Well, this definitely gives meaning to "rejoice in the miracles (or wonders) of the heavenly (sky) realms".

"in your opinion ... do synchronicities generally have a particular meaning?"

I think they are reaffirmations from the world around us.

[tosk]

I think they happen all the time,
but we only notice the most blatant synchronicities.

In my opinion,
the external world is simply reflecting the internal world.
It doesn't have a choice.
It's how things "work".

This may or may not be what  ju4o (and DJ) means
by "reaffirmations from the world around us".

[Mr X]

hello,

while it seems nice to be exquisite, i have not dissappeared, if anyone has been absent it is merlin.

the other day, i read mr g post with anchorman 2 in it, during the few minuites i had between cooking dinner and tuning into an tv show i wanted to watch. immediately after reading the thread, i closed the tab, and loaded the tv guide to confirm the show i wanted to watch was on, when the guide loaded my eyes landed on anchorman 1, on after the show i wanted to watch.

my reaction was literally "huh", then i got on with my day. i also noted in my mind that i should mention it to mr g, and note that even though it happened, i couldnt see any meaning in it. it sounds far fetched that the entire universe wants me to watch the anchorman movies, maybe it just meant that synchonicites do happen.

it is an slippery slope. if there is meaning to random coincidence it also means there is an intelligence in the universe micro managing everything that happens to us. but to claim at all that their is an intelligence in the universe that matters, that effects things with purpose, is like claiming there is an god. it is like saying "humans have wondered about this for many thousands of years, yet i, due to an chance happening, can safely say there is an god. all those people in histroy, such as theologists, only ever had to ask me, because i figured it out, because anchorman."

so i too am not sure of the meaning of such happenings, and am not sure if there even is any meaning more than that they happen. i dont know. still interesting.

mr x.

[ju4o]

Well this is getting unexpectedly theological ... a subject about which I know very little but here is a suggestion:

I think orthodox theology says that signs and marvels do not prove the existence of god, but at most suggest to a person that god might exist, and it is then up to the person to move on to the next stage, the details of which depend on whatever religion it is that they belong to, and which somehow may lead them to the state of believing.

i.e. people aren't supposed to believe in god because startling synchronicities occurred, but startling synchronicities (if they seem to be signs or marvels) can be one way in which people may be set on a road that might lead towards belief.

As to whether synchronicites have meaning, I think it's a question that can be addressed scientifically.

If synchronicities cluster around emotionally charged situations, then they have meaning.  If they occur randomly and regardless of the involvement of emotions, then they don't have meaning.

[Mr G]

Hello Mr X, perhaps the universe is telling you, through me, that there is no need to waste a valuable evening watching Anchorman 2. It might be good for 2 or 3 laughs, but if you have other viewing options you might want to explore those first.

ju40, I'm glad you posted that final statement. I have had synchronicities clustered around emotional situations - of which I'll tell more later - but most seem quite random and very trivial. I had a question in mind before I read your post, which I would still like to ask of all the members:

I think they are reaffirmations from the world around us.

But a reaffirmation of what?

PS - Since we're talking of theology, I have a cynical habit of randomly looking at the TBN (religion) channel to see if they're talking abour money. I have so far had a more than 50% hit rate. A synchronicity in the Christian context would be called a "miracle", correct? These people are so blatant... the preacher says he offered to preach for free at another church, then God paid for his petrol. The owner of the petrol station said God told her to do this. The sermon was about Jesus multiplying the loaves and fish. Clearly all of these stories are calculated to make people think they will get more back from God if they donate to TBN. Merlin, does this count as a conspiracy?

[tosk]

They only seem to have more meaning when things get emotional.

They only seem to hint of an outside intelligence.

They are simply the product of the reflective nature of reality.

[ju4o]

"They only seem to have more meaning when things get emotional."

Yes that makes sense if synchronicities happen at random intervals by chance.

On the other hand, if synchronicities happen more often than chance expectation would indicate when in the vicinity of emotionally charged situations (which is what I meant by "if synchronicities cluster around emotionally charged situations") then that is reason for inferring that they have meaning ... not only seem to have meaning, but really do have meaning.

[Mr G]

Okay this is quite freaky... when ju4o posted FORTRAN I immediately tried to figure out the capitalization rules for abbreviations and acronyms and my very first thought was...

What did U.N.C.L.E. stand for?

When did you add that picture, Tosk? Has it been there the whole time?

Edit: Okay now I'm thinking it must have been there all along and that's why I thought of it. But anyway, here's another one. I was visiting a friend tonight and she happened to mention that her father used to bring them ostrich eggs from his hunting trips in Namibia. I just checked all my usual internet favourites including a certain linux blog, where someone's posted an April fools' recipe for homemade ice cream. First ingredient: one ostrich egg.

[tosk]

No Mr. G, it was not there before.

I thought about adding an avatar around the time of the FORTRAN post,
but I just added the UNCLE avatar in the past day.

So yes, freaky.

Mr. ju4o,

It's possible synchronicities happen more often in the vicinity of emotionally charged situations
(due to larger energy fluctuations),

but I don't see why increased frequency infers increased meaning.