Seemingly-manufactured synchronicities

[Stillwater]

This has been something I have seemed to experience for more than a decade, and I am not sure what to attribute it to, be it chance, some quirk of evolutionary psychology, or some more metaphysical explanation.

The situation goes like this:

-I see or experience a datum somewhere in my environment: it can be a new and exotic word I am sure I never consciously encountered; it can be a very old song I would only hear by chance, and never heard before; it can be a novel idea which suddenly I thought of, or was exposed to; it might also be a piece of art that was new to me ( the common thread is that the datum is new and novel ).

-The next thing that happens, after a lull of hours, or days, or sometimes a week, is that I will in uncany fashion encounter several instances of that same datum, which I believed I had never encountered before in my life, in rapid succession, one after another.

For instance, the most recent one that happened to me, is that I saw a shirt someone was wearing that was representing a visit Johnny Cash made to Folsom prison. I knew Johny cash, but did not know about the Folsom prison, or his connection to it, so that was the novel part. No more than 8 hours later, I see a home video posted on MSN about 2 toddler's dancing to music made on that occasion. So the only two instances of that datum I encountered in my life happened within mere hours of one another.

Similar instances of that occurence happened when I learned the word "tenebrous" (in shadow); I saw no less than 5 or 6 instances of it all in the same week or so, in film, in books, etc.

I have been fascinated with this phenomenon for a while now. From time to time I get the fanciful idea that these may be intentionally unlikley happenings built into reality to tell me something about the constructed nature of our experience if I am attentive to details/hints like this.

What do you guys think?

[w]

I experience this too, and it happens to me more and more often over the last few months. I agree with you, it is fascinating, but I'm not sure what causes it.

Some people I've talked to about it simply respond: "synchronicity".

I have a theory that I like, but I'm not sure where it came from, so it's difficult to back up:

Thought creates reality, perhaps in waking life as well as in a dream / the astral. You see / hear / experience something new and you notice it. It's now in your mind, in the form of thought, which causes it to be again... and again...

I guess I'm thinking along the lines of The Law of Attraction here.

I'd be interested to hear other people's theories about this.

[Killa Rican]

Glad to see you posting again Stillwater! 

Yes I know what you mean, I've had it happen plenty of times as well. I learn a new word, idea, concept or exposure, and all of a sudden rapidly it seems like the whole world is crazy over it, every where I go, while I never once been aware of it up to a certain point lol.

I think what we call "synchronicity" has a large impact on the environment metaphysically, in correlation to our consciousness, and thoughts etc.

Astral/Dreamscape

I have a dream of seemingly random, chaotic sequences of "subconscious fluff". I then see a man with a purple Mohawk riding a bicycle. I wake up, take a walk in the park next day with family, at some point in my day I come across a guy riding a bicycle with a purple Mohawk riding around a track. Clothes are different from the dream, but the features and facial structure are similar, along with everything else. I was intrigued.

Random Event, Coincidence or Synchronicity?

[CFTraveler]

In the past three days I've had the experience with the word "actuary".  The word came up in conversation, and I had to explain it to my son.  The very next day, the want ads featured a company looking for one.  Now, I'm not looking for a job, I just looked that day because they were in my news feed.  For now it means nothing, can be coincidence.  Then today, in a book I was reading one of the supporting characters claims to be an actuary.
Weird, yes?

[Szaxx]

Hi,
I think we all do this and it gets noticed only when its prominent.
Then your awareness is tuned to it and you see it more.
Uncanny....

[Lionheart]

 Synchronicity is just another effect of "awakening". There are no coincidences in life. How many times have you met someone by chance and they turn to you and give you some kind of info that leads you to your next direction. You can call them mentors, physical guides, angels, whatever label you are more comfortable with, but they are real. When it keeps coming back again and again then you know there is something in there directed towards you.

[Stillwater]

Glad to see you posting again Stillwater!

Yeah, I have always been around, just rarely have things to add that have not been said; CFT or Stookie usually say around what I would have said, and say it first, haha 

[CFTraveler]

Don't worry, I've been kind of quiet lately.
 

[Stookie_]

I'm not so sure synchronicity effects anything or means anything. You just notice it, then apply your own special meaning, whatever you want it to be and say "whoaaaa, that's weird". The end.

I do feel it's connected with the non-physical, but then again, I believe everything is.

If someone has ever made use of synchronicity, not just noticed it or applied meaning to it, I would like to hear that story.

[Stillwater]

Yeah, that is the oher side of things. I was never sure what to make of it...

As I say, sometimes I suppose there might be some intended meaning behind it, from I know not whom, but it is only suppositions, afterall.

I have wondered, perhaps there are so many kinds of facts and data points we accumulate, that maybe it is statistically likely that some of them will occasionally correlate.

When it happens with me though, it does seem to happen in astromomicly unlikely ways, so I am left unsure what to think.

[Stookie_]

When it happens with me though, it does seem to happen in astromomicly unlikely ways, so I am left unsure what to think.

I had one a few days ago where I had been watching some George Carlin stand-up, and he was talking about how when he sees a really obese person he wonders how they... nevermind, watch the video... and then later that day I saw this advertisement made 15 years later for a product that addressed the exact issue.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=crfGXmxJ1vM&feature=player_embedded#!

A true spiritual experience indicating I'm in the process of awakening?

When I was in my late teens and early twenties it drove me so crazy I quit paying attention to them. A lot of them, like looking at a clock at a particular time, completely went away when I stopped caring. Other more "themed" sychronicities like what you and CF mentioned still happen all the time. I stay open minded to them, but still can't attribute them to anything special.

[Stookie_]

One more thought: say a particular concept (an energy) starts in the non-physical, and this energy is making it's way towards your physical life at a particular point in space and time. My guess is it's going to push through the path of least resistance. If there are multiple paths that the energy can take, it will manifest in those different ways.

I would also guess that sometimes these energies could be meaningful, but they could also just be following universal laws and have very little significance... it's just the way the energy is filtered through the physical into your particular life. They have to go somewhere, and there can sometimes be multiple points they can slip through.

Just an idea.

[Killa Rican]

Good point. I think they also could be ways of just saying "Pay Attention" or "Keep Believing" when they happen, they don't necessarily need to hold a special meaning, only show you that there is more going on then you realize IMO. Otherwise even when they do happen, what next?

[Stillwater]

I had another decent one today, lol.

I was sitting at my computer, listening to an MP3 from my playlist, and I was starting a video on youtube at the same time as the song was ending. Right near the end of the song, David Bowie sings the words "Sick and Tired" right as the person in the youtube video speaks the same  literally at the same exact time.

Sort of turned my head sideways...

[Stookie_]

That happened to me a couple days ago... I was listening to a song in my car and there was a not-so-often-used word in the lyrics (I don't remember what it was now), and it was the name of a street I passed at the same moment. I thought of this thread.