A “Touch” of synchronicity

You have to watch Touch on Fox on Thursday nights. It does a fantastic job addressing seemingly random- but hugely beneficial human connections. Similarly, in Man and his Symbols, conceived and edited by Carl Jung, M.-L. von Franz describes Jung’s concept of synchronicity as “a meaningful coincidence of outer and inner events that are not causally connected.”

While I do not want to limit Touch to being about synchronicity, it is the best illustration of this abstract concept that I have ever encountered.

The episode two weeks ago showed one of the two main characters, a gifted boy who does not speak, hold the cross-walk button to alter the timing of a person so she gets on the same elevator with someone. It turns out that meeting each other helps each of them heal. Meanwhile, his loving father, Kiefer Sutherland, keeps trying to connect with his son all the while discovering more of his son’s unexplainable brilliance.

And now back to synchronicity… Von Franz continues in Man and His Symbols with an example, “If I bought a blue frock and by mistake, the shop delivered a black one on the day one of my relatives died, this would be a meaningful coincidence. These two events are not causally related, but they are connected by the symbolic meaning that our society gives to the color black.”

Jung observed that when synchronicity happened, they are was an archetype, or symbolic theme, activated in the individual concerned.

In my Communication with Self class series, I explain synchronicity as our inner consciousness trying to communicate with our conscious mind in a manner similar to when we dream. Why wouldn’t the part of us connected to all of life be able to energetically collaborate with other parts of life to help us understand life? What?

I guess that is why I like Touch. It points to human connections that transcend logic and causality. And I find that downright refreshing.

6 week class Series: Communication with Self- Understanding Dreams, Symbols and Coincidence

What are your dreams trying to tell you? The part of you that knows what is best for you is trying to communicate with your conscious mind all the time. It does this through dreams, metaphors, and coincidence and uses the language of symbolism.

This class series will show how to interpret your dreams and experiences to get guidance from the ultimate teacher- yourself.

Michael Hoffman is a transformational speaker and psychotherapist who has specialized in interpreting dreams and symbols for the past 25 years.

Classes are Wednesday nights, 7:00 to 8:30pm, September 29, 2010 through November 3, 2010 at the Unitarian Universalist Church of Spokane, 4340 West Fort George Wright Drive, Spokane, WA. This class is free. It is designed so people can retake it and still get value. Child-care may be provided with advanced registration.

For more information call 509-850-7694 or email: info@michaehoffman.info.

So come find out what you are trying to say to yourself.