Week Three - Synchronicity

What evidence can you find for synchronicity?

I like to joke that the radio is divine.  I often find that the lyrics pouring out of the stereo confirm or deny a recent thought, or trigger a memory or remind me of something I’ve been meaning to do.  These are the audible coincidences that set the course of my day, and occasionally ignite a radical trajectory change.  I personally notice synchronicities like these all over the place.  When I do, I try to express some gratitude for the spark and move on.  The skeptic in me would be embarrassed to take such a thing too seriously.  After our discussion on Tuesday, I realized that this was going to be a fun week! 

As an audiophile, I naturally turned to podcasts to look for evidence of synchronicity.  This week, two of my favorites came into play.  As episode of Invisibilia was mentioned in class.  Titled “Entanglement” and dated January 29, 2015, it examined some of the concept we discussed in our group.  http://www.npr.org/podcasts/510307/invisibilia 

The episode actually begins with a description of a physics experiment that demonstrates the quantum concept of entanglement, and the narrator goes on to state that the US Government is funding such research.  Government research – is that evidence?  The scientist admits that the guys who do the research don’t even understand how it exists, but tell us that quantum entanglement probably happens all the time in the natural world.  Then the narrator suggests that a particle of me right now could be entangled with a person I pass on the street… that resonates. 

The main subject of “Entaglement” is the story of a woman who experiences Mirror Touch Synesthesia, which means she can physically feel what she perceives others are experiencing – physical and emotional sensations alike.  After listening to her story, I would describe it as a state of extreme empathy.  She describes a life full of unwanted sensation, nausea upon seeing other eat, fear and heavy or depressed “down” feelings when a strong presence was in the room, loosing herself in others.  In one example, she describes falling into a catatonic state when a loved one was in a coma, and later being unable to focus and sort out which feelings are her own.  It sounds like a terrible way to live.  The episode describes the elevated activity in the brain centers that appear to be the cause of this disorder, and tells us it is genetic.  In fact, her brother and daughter have it too.  I listen, I feel and I am convinced.  

The story of synesthesia tells me more about connectedness than synchronicity though.  I would describe connectedness quite the same – an extreme capacity for empathy activated by a spark of entanglement.  I do believe it’s possible that something physical could happen when we connect with others.  And I know without knowing that we are capable of tuning in to changes that are more distant than it would appear are physically logical. 

Turning to the skeptics, I chose an episode of  Stuff to Blow your Mind, called “The Science of Coincidence.”  http://www.stufftoblowyourmind.com/podcasts/the-science-of-coincidence/

This episode focuses on the perceptual element of a coincidence... or perhaps that’s just what I chose to focus on.  They make a very strong case for bias.  They also present the story we discussed where Carl Jung uses the Golden Scarab incident to illustrate that attached meaning to a physical occurrence can be the catalyst for change in the therapeutic setting. This is the explanation for synchronicity that resonates the most with me – if we choose to attach meaning to them, such occurrences have significance.    

In the episode an interesting list was presented when the narrators, Robert Lam and Joe McCormic ask:  How do you measure coincidence?  For the skeptics, I offer their list, from “Methods to Measure Coincidence,” a paper presented by Presi Diaconis and Frederick Mosteller at UC Berkeley in 1989.  http://stat-www.berkeley.edu/~aldous/157/Papers/diaconis_mosteller.pdf

In this paper they present four main categories of explanation for seeming examples of synchronicity:

1.  There is an actual Causal Link, or a cause that is more obvious than we might see or think.

2.  Multiplicity of End points, having to do with how we count something as a hit.

3.  Law of Truly Large Numbers, referring to the actual probability that something may happen, which is not something we easily grasp.

4.  Psychology, describing how our tendencies are to notice things and assign meaning, based on what we’ve learned about how our brains work. 

This post is getting way too long, so I’ll leave it to you to listen to their through and entertaining descriptions of how each of these work.

I personally found that both episodes highlight valuable concepts that we can apply to our practice of TCM.  First, we must understand our bias.  We humans have a tendency to seek confirmation for the patterns we favor. Knowledge of this should help us avoid jumping to conclusions, and be aware that we may be seeking/seeing only the factors that reinforce our assumptions. Next, understanding the human tendency to notice synchronicity and attach meaning might help us understand our patients and their perceptions and perhaps even affect cause and effect. We might use these opportunities to guide our inquiry and support our patients in making changes in their lives. Finally, and most importantly, awe.  Quantum entanglement is such a cool phenomena - and a reminder to not underestimate any experience that a person might report.  I am quite certain that regardless of their explanation, the hidden forces are forces none the less.