Author

Subject: Synchronicity in a Coffee Cup

Jane Teresa Anderson

15:37 22/09/2002 

Here's a lovely simple synchronicity - on the surface:

In my 1998 book "The Shape of Things to Come" I named Chapter 9 "Thoughts in a Coffee Cup". I suggested the reader gently shake a cup half filled with coffee until the ripples going out to the edge of the cup met the ripples coming back into the centre at a frequency (of shaking) that makes the waves stand still.

(There was a purpose! To illustrate the relationship between energy and matter .... and my outlook on this based on my experiences and research into synchronicity and precognition.)

A number of people since then have referred to that shaking coffee cup in conversation with me .... basically along the lines of how much coffee they've spilled trying to recreate this!

A while back Geoffo (the very Geoffo on this forum) sent me a book on loan, Victor Mansfield's "Synchronicity, Science & Soul Making". I hadn't read it. I'm now reading it in a kind of dip in/ occasional chapter fashion.

This morning I read, on page 201, "consider the coffee in my cup with wave motion on its surface..." as part of his argument on the nature of synchronicity.

Victor's book was written before mine, but somehow we've both chosen a similar metaphor ...

What was synchronous was that I was recalling my coffee cup ripples only a couple of days ago, shaking my cup ... something I haven't done for years.

Ideas (thoughts) exist in the collective unconscious for us all to share, extend and contribute to.

But, of course, there's also the very grounded explanation that writers (and perhaps especially metaphysical writers) spend many hours deeply searching their coffee cups for ideas .....

Jane Teresa

(Two cups a day as long as they're black and strong.)

julianne

16:14 22/09/2002 

Hi,

That's interesting - today I finished a book on Universality - the idea that complex patterns (like those in coffee cups) arise from simple rules of thumb. While I was reading it, I was reminded of another book on a similar topic that used the example of a coffee stain. These days things like coffee stains are receiving enormous attention among physicists...

julianne

Geoffo

16:30 22/09/2002 

Nice one, JT.

The book by Victor Mansfield that Jane Teresa refers to is my favourite book on synchronicity by a considerable margin (out of the 8 or so that I've read, and that includes Jung's original book). [I don't count Jane Teresa's 'The Shape of Things To Come' in that group because although it includes a section on synchronicity, it casts a considerably wider net of focus.]

If anyone's interested further in the Mansfield book, it's available on amazon.com or in Australia it's listed in www.adyar.com.au (in both cases enter 'Synchronicity' and press Search and it's in the search results). Unfortunately, it's not an inexpensive paperback, but it's a beautiful book.

And there's a bonus resonance for me in this - my 'new special someone' and I had our first cup of coffee together this morning (with milk).

Geoffo

WHAT IS
SYNCHRONICITY?

Jane Teresa's Explanation

Jane Teresa Anderson

WHAT IS SYNCHRONICITY?

________

Synchronicity occurs when you experience a coincidence, or several coincidences, that seem so bizarre that you feel they must be meaningful in some way.

Some people believe that synchronicities are signs to follow, to lead you to where you are 'meant' to be. My understanding, however, is that not all synchronicities are to be followed, because ...

Synchronicities are SYMBOLS of where you're at, not signs to follow.

Synchronicities speak the same symbolic language as dreams.

When you experience a synchronicity, you are witnessing a change within yourself, an insight, a birth of something that has been unconscious bubbling up into consciousness.

At such times of change we see, all around us, symbols that reflect our shift in perception and self-understanding. This is synchronicity.

To understand this fully, and to see why it is not always appropriate to follow synchronicity, you can read my book, THE SHAPE OF THINGS TO COME. This way you can also discover how to read the synchronicities in your life and how to act on them in positive, life-enhancing ways.

Reality may never feel the same again!

______

P.S.

In Jungian terms all synchronicities begin with a dream.

The dream comes first, then the symbol from the dream appears in waking life in ways that seem incredibly meaningful - though, classically, it is hard to understand, consciously, what that meaning is.

This is because the dream is painted by your unconscious mind in advance of your conscious mind 'catching up'. When the insight (unconscious shift) is big, synchronicities follow.

What happens is that your incredibly powerful unconscious mind (far more powerful than your conscious mind) manifests its insight physically into your waking life. (You have changed - the world, as you experience it, changes in accordance.)

It usually takes up to a couple of weeks before your conscious mind understands the symbolic dream manifesting in your waking life as synchronicity.

Being human, as we all are, we often forget the original dream but still experience the synchronicities.

There are many excellent reference sources on Jungian synchronicity.

My approach is largely Jungian, but slightly shifted.

Again, if you are seriously in-depth interested, I suggest you read my book "THE SHAPE OF THINGS TO COME" to understand where I am coming from.

Quite simply, synchronicity is a waking dream and interpreting it as such is immensely enriching.

Jane Teresa Anderson