Synchronicity: An Acausal Connecting Principle. (From Vol. 8. of the Collected Works of C. G. Jung) (Jung Extracts) Paperback – November 14, 2010

They say there are 10 levels of awareness for those of us on the earth plane. This book has certainly lifted me up a couple of levels. It can be deep and take me a while to ponder the concepts, but it's really a great book!

Excellent book.

This work by Jung is a fascinating look at the subjective experience of being a human mind in a physical universe. He begins the book with the following statements:1) Natural laws are statistical truths, which means that they are completely valid only when we are dealing with macrophysical quantities.2) The philosophical principle that underlies our conception of natural law is causality.3) Their [Acausal events] existence - or at least their possibility - follows logically from the premise of statistical truth.4) But if the causal principle is only relatively valid, then it follows that even though in the vast majority of cases an apparently chance series can be causally explained, there must still remain a number of cases which do not show any causal connection.5) Chance groupings or series seem, at least to our present way of thinking, to be meaningless, and to fall as a general rule within the limits of probability.6) Should this proof (of acausal events exceeding the limits of probability) be forthcoming, however, it would prove at the same time that there are genuinely non-causal combinations of events for whose explanation we should have to postulate a factor incommensurable with causality.7) Because of this quality of simultaneity, I have picked the term "synchronicity" to designate a hypothetical factor equal in rank to causality as a principle of explanation.8) Meaningful coincidences - which are to be distinguished from meaningless chance groupings - therefore seem to rest on an archetypal foundation.From this basis Jung explores paraphychology, astrology from an archetypal basis, the I Ching and other forms of divination, near-death experiences, and radioactive decay. From this and in discussion with Wolfgang Pauli he formulated the tetradic schema of our quantum based physical existence: Indestructible Energy-Causality-Synchronicity-Space Time Continuum.We are all aware of both meaningless and meaningful coincidences in our daily lives. They are the basis for surprises and superstition, and decision making. For instance, in business we deal with staffing issues in the retail environment. Managers determine by experience and analysis the number of employees needed to serve the average number of customers that will enter the store. However, we also know that they come in random clusters or retail statistical fluctuations that necessitate additional personnel to maintain customer service levels and avoid losses in sales during these surges. These represent meaningless coincidences but ones which we must prepare for.As a reader I often experience what seem like meaningful coincidences like a new vocabulary word suddenly occurring in each new text I read. Or picking up books in my library that I have owned for years that I only now feel are relevant for the zeitgeist. Perhaps these are instances of awareness but I often wonder at their significance.However, I decided to write this review today because I feel I am in the midst of a synchronous experience. At three in the morning of November 10th of this year, the town of Marlinton (the countyseat of a neighboring county) began to burn and lost a block of its business district due to constant winds that made it impossible for the firefighters to contain the blaze. That morning I awoke to learn of this ongoing event and to also learn it was the anniversary of the wreak of the Edmund Fitzgerald which as the song reminds us occurred "...when the gales of November come early". Unable to sleep in the early morning hours of the 11th of November I picked up "The Skrayling Tree" by Michael Moorcock, a writer who incorporates the archetypes of Dr. Jung as the basis for his fantasy multiverse. As I turned to Chapter Two of the book I was stunned by its title: "On the Shores of Gitche Gumee" - the Chippewa name for Lake Superior where the men of the Edmund Fitzgerald lost their lives. Are these meaningful coincidences, a synchronicity?If you are interested in science of synchronicity or the role of archetypes in the mystic arts you should read this insightful work by one of the great thinkers of psychology and the nature of the human experience.

Book is in excellent condition and very well packaged. Fast and efficient shipping too!

I read some of this work on Synchronicity when I was very young. Now, I find the mindset of the previous late 19th early 20th century rather narrowminded. For example, Jung speaks of time in a limited cultural way. The surrealist art of the times sometimes used clocks and watches as symbols. Jung speaks of a train ticket, a house number and I think a taxi, it doesn't matter which, because he fails to notice these are constructs based on an arbitrary agreement. These things would not apply as "synchronous" in a non-watch culture and environment. The numerals we currently use are based upon an ancient Arabic system which replaced Roman numerals. To test the groundwork he is laying, what of any of this applies to non Arabic, non Roman schemes of measurement? I realize he is trying to use models of the then everyday life in a relatively modern European environment, and then to show how people will associate the recurrence of some characters of articles, perhaps to make decisions based upon those recurrences. If the number 4 appears in one's everyday life, does it mean a bet should be placed on the fourth horse in the fourth race? Yes, it seems some people do that. I have the rest of the book to go through. It's not nearly as large as some of his other tomes that I've read through. Still I think for today, the old style of writing is something younger readers will need to get used to, although, it is still valuable to read. For me a 'synchronistic' thing might be saying an unusual word, and then at nearly the same moment, it is said on the tv. I think synchronistic events occur, but it is their significance or lack of, that a person that notices them and what they ascribe to them determines the their subsequent behavior. It's worth reading, because he touches upon Quantum subjects, having discussed with the physicist Einstein opinions on "time".