Waiting for my bus; still inwardly aware of pleasant sensation, but also receptive to the illustrious summer weather…a topic came to mind (something I researched a couple weeks ago), briefly I pondered it, then let go… Moments later woman sat down, she was distressed, and so open I thought she might be crazy; however, I didn’t feel any resistance toward her talking …Strangely, all her distress was focused around the same topic I had just dismissed. With frustration, she stared off into the distance expressing angst towards some difficult questions. Then I surprised her, by having a lot of answers she didn’t expect because a few weeks ago I had to answer all these difficult questions for myself. It felt really natural to pass on the information and easy to stay equanimous while doing so. Her attitude change from hopelessness, to skepticism, to appreciation, and then we parted ways.
Such strings of events seemingly grouped together by meaning rather then causality, have been coined as Synchronicities by Carl Jung, and they tend to happen to myself (and a lot of other meditators I’ve talked to) after leaving the center. S. N. Goenka touches on this as well, when he speaks about dhamma vibrations syncing up. In this case synchronicity may well be causal if we’re actually emitting vibrations that communicate on some subtle level. Perhaps down the path, I’ll develop a way to perceive such subtle communication directly, but for now what I have is mostly subjective, and sometimes shared perceptions of the result.
I’ve always experienced synchronicities, but they usually came during highly emotional moments, and often the same emotional vibration was mirrored by the others involved (like attracted like). Sometimes, it seemed very clear that the surrounding vibrations of others were tipping the scale on my own (not people I was interacting with, but within physical proximity to). Or everywhere I went people/groups exhibiting the same vibration would be drawn near me; this kind of thing happened really fast, and could take me by surprise (like a storm can while meditating), and it could be quite surreal and frightening too if the vibration was a negative one! Similarly, synchronicities happen when I’m isolated, but enthralled with creative joy. I once was contemplating the use of a very personal, obscure and specific line of poetry, only to take a break and see the exact line of poetry randomly appear as a comment in some hilarious facebook post….I felt very touched, very blessed at that moment. My feelings also compelled me to contact the person who wrote the comment. He liked being part of my synchronicity, but for him it didn’t really have a lot of meaning. I recall feeling slightly disappointed because a part of me was hoping for more magic.
The synchronicity the other day was different from all these because my vibration remained stable. Also, the lady didn’t show up as a mirror to my vibration. Jung would call what I had a “mundane circumstances” synchronicity, I think I’m going to call it a dhamma synchronicity because it coincided with my peace. I can see now my other synchronisities (Jung calls ”special circumstances” synchronicities) were all riddled with some level of craving or aversion.
“Synchronicities happen either during circumstances of emotional intensity and upheaval (often peaking right before a psychological breakthrough), or when we’re open, responsive, and attentive to both the world around and the world within.”
~Carl Jung