This question came up today and I found myself captivated by it. Synchronicity is a word coined by Carl Jung to describe the situations where something or someone you have in mind actually surfaces spontaneously at the same time. You think of aunt Jane and a few hours later she calls. We’ve all had these experiences. If you keep a gratitude journal, you might be exceptionally aware of them. I find that when you write them down you actually see then AND the pattern/frequency which is lost when you don’t keep track.
How does this happen? Jung posited that our ‘unconscious’ was connected. Rupert Sheldrake called it morphic resonance. Even physics has gotten into the act with the experiment where paired photons were separated. They rotate in opposite directions, so scientists changed the rotation of one of the pair while a great distance separated them, and instantly the other changed rotation. How? The scientists posited a thing called non-locality – connection that does not depend upon contact or close proximity. Some people call this ‘background’ the Divine, Spirit, or God.
Grace: grace is defined in the Wikipedia as: (in Christian belief) the free and unmerited favor of God. I prefer to think of grace as the experience of being loved (by…God, Spirit, the Divine). Love can be expressed in many ways. As gifts (synchronicity), as a feeling (forgiveness, bliss, salvation), or even as a lesson (a difficulty that brings a treasured lesson or experience).
When I was young (in my twenties), I remember sitting on a porch with my first dog Jnani (wise one). Internally I was asked the question – what is grace? I no longer considered myself a Christian and was just beginning my spiritual search, so the question was both surprising and profound.
I’ve had many opportunities in my life to reflect on this word and its meaning. The most significant was when I was diagnosed with liver cancer in 2005. The tumor was the size of a grapefruit, I had no savings, and no insurance and I had no idea how I would deal with the situation. I remember thinking that I would only live if others cared.
I resisted immediate surgery and I started my journey back to health. I shared my story with my church, with my friends and with anyone who was curious. Amazing things happened. A friend I was on the board of a non-profit with and knew socially, volunteered to pay my mortgage. My church took up fundraising; people I didn’t even know donated money. I was SO taken care of for the eighteen months I worked at bringing back my health. Even the methods I sued just appeared out of nowhere. People offered ideas and tools they had heard of, I was given herbs and supplements to try and I had to use my own discrimination to choose. If I could feel the difference and afford it, I did it.
My lesson was that grace has two parts; love given and love received. If love is not received, then there is no way to know that it has been given. Not experiencing that love does NOT mean it wasn’t given, it only means it was not received. My healing story was SO full of synchronicity and grace it rather boggles my mind! I’m not ‘special’ but everyone is ‘special’, I’m not ‘important’, but everyone is ‘important’. I was not given help and support because I was so unusual or important, but because I needed it. I was helped by people I didn’t even know, so it wasn’t about ME, it was about being human and in need. Grace is everywhere; you only need to open your hands to receive it.
How does this happen? Jung posited that our ‘unconscious’ was connected. Rupert Sheldrake called it morphic resonance. Even physics has gotten into the act with the experiment where paired photons were separated. They rotate in opposite directions, so scientists changed the rotation of one of the pair while a great distance separated them, and instantly the other changed rotation. How? The scientists posited a thing called non-locality – connection that does not depend upon contact or close proximity. Some people call this ‘background’ the Divine, Spirit, or God.
Grace: grace is defined in the Wikipedia as: (in Christian belief) the free and unmerited favor of God. I prefer to think of grace as the experience of being loved (by…God, Spirit, the Divine). Love can be expressed in many ways. As gifts (synchronicity), as a feeling (forgiveness, bliss, salvation), or even as a lesson (a difficulty that brings a treasured lesson or experience).
When I was young (in my twenties), I remember sitting on a porch with my first dog Jnani (wise one). Internally I was asked the question – what is grace? I no longer considered myself a Christian and was just beginning my spiritual search, so the question was both surprising and profound.
I’ve had many opportunities in my life to reflect on this word and its meaning. The most significant was when I was diagnosed with liver cancer in 2005. The tumor was the size of a grapefruit, I had no savings, and no insurance and I had no idea how I would deal with the situation. I remember thinking that I would only live if others cared.
I resisted immediate surgery and I started my journey back to health. I shared my story with my church, with my friends and with anyone who was curious. Amazing things happened. A friend I was on the board of a non-profit with and knew socially, volunteered to pay my mortgage. My church took up fundraising; people I didn’t even know donated money. I was SO taken care of for the eighteen months I worked at bringing back my health. Even the methods I sued just appeared out of nowhere. People offered ideas and tools they had heard of, I was given herbs and supplements to try and I had to use my own discrimination to choose. If I could feel the difference and afford it, I did it.
My lesson was that grace has two parts; love given and love received. If love is not received, then there is no way to know that it has been given. Not experiencing that love does NOT mean it wasn’t given, it only means it was not received. My healing story was SO full of synchronicity and grace it rather boggles my mind! I’m not ‘special’ but everyone is ‘special’, I’m not ‘important’, but everyone is ‘important’. I was not given help and support because I was so unusual or important, but because I needed it. I was helped by people I didn’t even know, so it wasn’t about ME, it was about being human and in need. Grace is everywhere; you only need to open your hands to receive it.