Synchronicity

Jung was intrigued from early in his career with coincidences, especially those surprising juxtapositions that scientific rationality could not adequately explain. He discussed these ideas with Albert Einstein before World War I, but first used the term 'synchronicity' in a 1930 lecture, in reference to the unusual psychological insights generated from consulting the I Ching. A long correspondence and friendship with the Nobel Prize-winning physicist Wolfgang Pauli stimulated a final, mature statement of Jung's thinking on synchronicity, originally published in 1952 and reproduced here. Together with a wealth of historical and contemporary material, this essay describes an astrological experiment Jung conducted to test his theory. "Synchronicity" reveals the full extent of Jung's research into a wide range of psychic phenomena. This paperback edition of Jung's classic work includes a new foreword by Sonu Shamdasani, Philemon Professor of Jung History at University College London.

Jung was intrigued from early in his career with coincidences, especially those surprising juxtapositions that scientific rationality could not adequately explain. He discussed these ideas with Albert Einstein before World War I, but first used the term 'synchronicity' in a 1930 lecture, in reference to the unusual psychological insights generated from consulting the I Ching. A long correspondence and friendship with the Nobel Prize-winning physicist Wolfgang Pauli stimulated a final, mature statement of Jung's thinking on synchronicity, originally published in 1952 and reproduced here. Together with a wealth of historical and contemporary material, this essay describes an astrological experiment Jung conducted to test his theory. "Synchronicity" reveals the full extent of Jung's research into a wide range of psychic phenomena. This paperback edition of Jung's classic work includes a new foreword by Sonu Shamdasani, Philemon Professor of Jung History at University College London.

To Jung, synchonicity is a meaningful coincidence in time, a psychic factor which is independant of space and time. This revolutionary concept of synchronicity both challenges and complements the physicist's classical view of casualty. It also forces is to a basic reconsideration of the meaning of chance, probability, coincidence and the singular events in our lives.

To Jung, synchonicity is a meaningful coincidence in time, a psychic factor which is independant of space and time. This revolutionary concept of synchronicity both challenges and complements the physicist's classical view of casualty. It also forces is to a basic reconsideration of the meaning of chance, probability, coincidence and the singular events in our lives.

In Synchronicity Paul Halpern tells the little-known story of the unlikely friendship between the Nobel-prize-winning quantum physicist Wolfgang Pauli and the father of psychoanalysis, Carl Jung. In the 1930s, Pauli and Jung began collaborating on a unified theory of quantum and the mind, the result of which was Jung's synchronicity principle-the idea that events connected by meaning need not be explained by causality. Pauli's work on entanglement theory, which allowed for instantaneous cause and effect relationships, was particularly appealing to Jung, as it seemed to give weight to his controversial theory of a collective unconscious. Casting their relationship within a larger intellectual history of entanglement theory, Halpern poses a question that has mystified physicists and philosophers alike since the times of Aristotle: Is the speed of light finite, as Einstein posited, or is it, as Pauli and the proponents of entanglement theory asserted, variable across time and dimensions? As Halpern works his way through the history of the physics of cause and effect, he shows that this centuries-old debate is not only relevant at the smallest scales of particle physics but also at the largest scales of the cosmos itself.

In Synchronicity Paul Halpern tells the little-known story of the unlikely friendship between the Nobel-prize-winning quantum physicist Wolfgang Pauli and the father of psychoanalysis, Carl Jung. In the 1930s, Pauli and Jung began collaborating on a unified theory of quantum and the mind, the result of which was Jung's synchronicity principle-the idea that events connected by meaning need not be explained by causality. Pauli's work on entanglement theory, which allowed for instantaneous cause and effect relationships, was particularly appealing to Jung, as it seemed to give weight to his controversial theory of a collective unconscious. Casting their relationship within a larger intellectual history of entanglement theory, Halpern poses a question that has mystified physicists and philosophers alike since the times of Aristotle: Is the speed of light finite, as Einstein posited, or is it, as Pauli and the proponents of entanglement theory asserted, variable across time and dimensions? As Halpern works his way through the history of the physics of cause and effect, he shows that this centuries-old debate is not only relevant at the smallest scales of particle physics but also at the largest scales of the cosmos itself.

Synchronistic events can be explained fully in naturalistic terms. They comprise an instance of the uncanny as they return the individual subjectively to a period when the world, as the good parent, was sympathetically attuned to the individual's wishes and requirements. Jung invoked the spiritual, or the supernatural, or the paranormal to explain synchronicity rather than exploring the early stages of human existence. Faber offers a critique of Jung's theory of synchronicity that develops an alternative to demystify synchronistic happenings by explaining them in purely naturalistic terms. The book's larger purpose is to demystify Jung's archetypal psychology and to explain the whole Jungian approach to human behavior in naturalistic terms. Because Jung's psychology is ultimately religious in nature, the book touches generally upon the implications of religion and religious conduct. The book offers the reader an opportunity to ponder the psychological nature of synchronicity either as a spiritual occurrence with paranormal overtones or as a return of the repressed, a mnemonic trace of events that actually transpired in the life of the individual.

Synchronistic events can be explained fully in naturalistic terms. They comprise an instance of the uncanny as they return the individual subjectively to a period when the world, as the good parent, was sympathetically attuned to the individual's wishes and requirements. Jung invoked the spiritual, or the supernatural, or the paranormal to explain synchronicity rather than exploring the early stages of human existence. Faber offers a critique of Jung's theory of synchronicity that develops an alternative to demystify synchronistic happenings by explaining them in purely naturalistic terms. The book's larger purpose is to demystify Jung's archetypal psychology and to explain the whole Jungian approach to human behavior in naturalistic terms. Because Jung's psychology is ultimately religious in nature, the book touches generally upon the implications of religion and religious conduct. The book offers the reader an opportunity to ponder the psychological nature of synchronicity either as a spiritual occurrence with paranormal overtones or as a return of the repressed, a mnemonic trace of events that actually transpired in the life of the individual.