"Listen to your life. See it for the fathomless mystery that it is. In the boredom and pain of it no less than in the excitement and gladness: touch, taste, smell your way to the holy and hidden heart of it because in the last analysis all moments are key moments, and life itself is grace." - Frederick Buechner
When I was a child I loved my colouring in and connecting the dots books...especially the latter. Much to the consternation of my teachers I seemed to have had more fun colouring outside the lines and connecting the wrong dots! Seeing pictures in inkblots and tea leaves were just as intriguing. Later in life came Fuzzy Logic and Quantum Entanglement! It's what Einstein called "spukhafte Fernwirkung – spooky action at a distance"!
Connecting the "Dots"
Synchronicity
For many years I have been conscious of synchronicities in my life. They have become a fascination. Some have been quite dramatic. Many can testify to their own experiences. Swiss psychiatrist, Carl Jung, who coined the term, wrote....
Synchronicity takes the coincidence of events in space and time as meaning something more than mere chance, namely, a peculiar interdependence of objective events among themselves as well as with the subjective (psychic) states of the observer or observers. ~ C. G. Jung, I Ching or The Book of Changes (Richard Wilhelm, translator)
In a way, the "Ichthys Cybernetics" logo above embodies something of this enchantment. The fish emblem derives from Garvie heraldry whereas the scallop shell from Methodism. They come together in my logo. I see it as the conjunction or coincidence of two beautiful marine symbols full of historical meaning, spiritual import, and personal significance. See my blog "Of Sprats and Scallops".
Asynchronicity
The fish-scallop logo is not a synchronicity in the strict sense which implies a meaningful coincidence of something in time. Instead, here is something that occurs across time. Perhaps we can call them "asynchronicities", that is, "meaningful connections not occurring or existing at the same moment".
In cybernetics or information processing, engineers also speak of synchronous and asynchronous modes of transmission of information. This could well apply to biological and psychological systems such as in cognitive processes. Asynchronicities are "happenstances" sprawled across space and time such as when say, something written years ago, suddenly "jumps out at one" now. Sometimes it is called the "see (or catch) you later effect". "Instant Messaging" might not always be instant!
The phases of the Moon illustrates what we mean by synchronicity and asynchronicity. New Moon and Full Moon are synchronous moments when Sun, Moon, and Earth align or coincide. These are numinous moments of considerable awe. Sometimes, however, the coincidence is such that we have something very special occurring, a portend, which we then experience as either a lunar or solar eclipse.
Asynchronicity, on the other hand, are all those phases in between the News and the Fulls, including First and Last Quarters...the "boredom and pain" times of Buechner. While eclipse moments are striking and momentous they are no more meaningful than every other stage of the Moon in its endless rounds around the Earth. Each moment evokes its own emotion and vibes. Like the Seasons of the Sun, Spring-Summer-Autumn-Winter we have here one of the most ancient of cosmic quarternities:
First Quarter
New Moon + Full Moon
Last Quarter
Here is another personal example of what I've called an asynchronicity...dots along the road of my life. It has been a source of much wonder and pleasure for me...
baKoni Ruins
baKoni Ruins (Photo: Google Earth)
As a child I grew up in an mysterious region near Machadorp called the baKoni Ruins. The hills around the area are terraced with thousands of ancient stone walls which form part of a vast complex of settlements, fields and roads. Traditional archaeologists and historians believe the ruins were settlements of the baKoni people going back to at least the early 18th century. Recently, others such as Michael Tellinger, have suggested that these ruins are far more ancient than supposed.
Boskop Man
Boskop Man compared to a Modern Human Skull
Later as a teenager I found myself at school in Potchefstroom where, at nearby Boskop, fossils of the so-called "Boskop Man" were discovered in 1913. The fossils have long mystified anthropologists and palaeontologists. The unusually large endocranial volume of 1800 ml led to considerable speculation round who this mysterious big-brain Boskop Man was?
Kromdraai
Kromdraai (Photo: Wikimedia Commons)
On leaving school I worked at the Hartebeesthoek Tracking Station in an area that is today called the "Cradle of Humankind" near the famous fossil hominid sites at Kromdraai and the Sterkfontein Caves. It is a region that has caught the imagination of the human family.
Just three of some of the asynchronous serial events in my early life, baKoni-Boskop-Kromdraai, that profoundly affected me. It engendered an interest in astrobiology and the origin of humans. I often wondered why this repetition of subliminal circumstance in my life? Was it providential? Chance? Kismet? Prejudice might have unconsciously made me connect dots in my life's journey that really had no common, causal relationship at all. While it might have no significance for others, for me it was a clarion call no less compelling than the repeated call on the life of the boy Samuel at Shiloh...
One night, around the age of 13, Samuel heard a voice calling his name. According to the Jewish historian Josephus, Samuel was about 12 years old. He initially assumed it was coming from Eli and went to Eli to ask what he wished to say. Eli, however, sent Samuel back to sleep. After this happened three times Eli realized that the voice was God's, and instructed Samuel on how to respond.
Confirmation Bias
Critics correctly speak of "selection bias", "sample bias", "confirmation bias", and many other "cognitive bias" fallacies. The discerning mind must certainly bear these in mind when determining the truth of any hypothesis.
Confirmation bias (also called confirmatory bias or myside bias) is a tendency of people to favor information that confirms their beliefs or hypotheses. People display this bias when they gather or remember information selectively, or when they interpret it in a biased way. The effect is stronger for emotionally charged issues and for deeply entrenched beliefs. They also tend to interpret ambiguous evidence as supporting their existing position. Biased search, interpretation and memory have been invoked to explain attitude polarization (when a disagreement becomes more extreme even though the different parties are exposed to the same evidence), belief perseverance (when beliefs persist after the evidence for them is shown to be false), the irrational primacy effect (a greater reliance on information encountered early in a series) and illusory correlation (when people falsely perceive an association between two events or situations).
While my early fortuitous exposure to at least three fascinating pre-history locations is a good example of "confirmation bias" it cannot be argued that for me personally they had a formative significance and had deeply affected me. It had the effect of opening me up to a sense and awareness of wonder, destiny, providence, and vocation.
I would therefore agree with Dimension1111.com that...
In psychology and cognitive science, confirmation bias is the tendency to search for or interpret new information in a way that confirms one's preconceptions and avoids information and interpretations which contradict prior beliefs. Many critics believe that any evidence for synchronicity is due to confirmation bias, and nothing else.
Wolfgang Pauli, a scientist who in his professional life was severely critical of confirmation bias, lent his scientific credibility to support the theory, coauthoring a paper with Jung on the subject. Some of the evidence that Pauli cited was that ideas which occurred in his dreams would have synchronous analogs in later correspondence with distant collaborators.
Meaning
Sometimes, the dots we connect or the way we string words together, no matter how surprising or disconnected, may open doors or take us down roads less travelled, roads that we may never have explored or even considered before. Asynchronicities become a means of meaning and sometimes a means of grace as we press or project patterns and order upon the chaos and confusion that seeks to engulf us.
I am reminded of William Cowper's beautiful hymn...
God moves in a mysterious way
His wonders to perform;
He plants His footsteps in the sea
And rides upon the storm.
Deep in unfathomable mines
Of never failing skill
He treasures up His bright designs
And works His sovereign will.
Ye fearful saints, fresh courage take;
The clouds ye so much dread
Are big with mercy and shall break
In blessings on your head.
Judge not the Lord by feeble sense,
But trust Him for His grace;
Behind a frowning providence
He hides a smiling face.
His purposes will ripen fast,
Unfolding every hour;
The bud may have a bitter taste,
But sweet will be the flower.
Blind unbelief is sure to err
And scan His work in vain;
God is His own interpreter,
And He will make it plain.
oOo
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