Sunday, October 18, 2015

SYNCHRONICITY? COINCIDENCE? SERENDIPITY?



                                                                 WHICH IS IT?


Looking over some of my recent blogs I noticed that my favorite topic seems to have been insects--Is it coincidence then or maybe a case of synchronicity that while reading a book on the Colors of Provence (Michel Biehn) the seemingly unrelated subject of the "Traditions, Recipes, and Home Decorations from the South of France" there were several passages related to the silkworm and in an earlier chapter a fairly long discussion of the metamorphosis of the Cicada from eggs through  many transformations until it emerges as a cicada
   

   Cicada Cocoon                                                
                                                         Cicada Hatch

                                                                 Cicada


                       where it has a very brief 2-3 weeks making music to attract a female--


 After reading these pages and realizing that I had blogged about caterpillars, moths and a butterflies several times, I started thinking that perhaps it was a case of synchronicity, or was it just coincidence? My first step was to look for a definition of synchronicity--One definition states synchronicity is: the simultaneous occurrence of events that appear significantly related but have no discernible casual connection--further browsing brought me to several articles about Carl Jung who it seems coined the term and definition of synchronicity; he relates the story of a patient who was so logical and rigid in her thinking that she was so caught up in her head, she made no progress in her therapy--in a session with her she talked about a dream she had the night before about someone giving her a golden scarab, a valuable piece of jewelry--at that moment Jung reported that he heard a tapping on the office window and when he opened the window a scarabaeid beetle flew in**-- a situation he defined as "Synchronicity"--

I went down the list of articles under the term of synchronicity and found post by Paul Levy entitled AWAKEN THE DREAM: Catching the Bug of Synchronicity!!Some would argue that it was just a case of coincidence that I blogged several times about insects and came across references in some of my reading of silkworms, cicadas and scarab beetles-- As I am examining all these possible explanations I decided to consider another, that of Serendipity: "the act of finding something valuable or delightful when you are not looking for it" ??  I guess I am no closer to figuring out if it is a case of any of these, but it certainly gives me something to ponder


**Jung caught the beetle in his hand and gave it to the woman stating: "Here is your scarab"


1 comment:

  1. Strange that you also wrote about the two S's and the C.....because on Feb 12, 2015
    in my blog I wrote on Serendipity or Synchronicity....same thing except different subject. It is strange how something we never know about, once we hear of it, it pops up all over in our life. Just like today, we spoke about the name Simmons at our book club and who is sitting at our table at lunch but a lady named Simmons!

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