The Archetype of Wholeness

May 31, 2016 / The Twelve Mysteries / carl jung / synchronicity / coincidence

Coincidences happen all the time in our lives. As I continue to read up on the topic of synchronicity, I’ve been wondering about this: why is it that some coincidences are synchronistic and some are not?

I just finished reading a book entitled The Are No Accidents by Robert Hopcke. I started reading about this topic after that coincidence I had a few weeks ago. As a recap, synchronicity is a meaningful coincidence wherein two unrelated events that do not have any causal connection nevertheless have a symbolic meaning to the person experiencing it. Hopcke offers an answer to this question, and it comes down to our capacity to sense wholeness.

One such mode of perception, and perhaps one of the most important that Jung identified, is the archetype of wholeness, the ability to perceive the fundamental unity of the disparate parts of our experience. The perception of wholeness derives not from our ego, our conscious sense of self, but instead from the way in which the meaning unites all of who we are, parts of our experience we were unaware of, potentials we have that have lain dormant or undeveloped, elements our personality that we didn’t know existed.

It seems that the answer comes down to the subjective and internal sphere. I envision it to be some sort of puzzle. There is some form inside of you, say a circle. If the external event “the coincidence” is a square, then that event is not synchronistic, but if it happens to be a circle, then it resonates with what is inside of you, and then you consider the event synchronistic. So something is synchronistic when the external mirrors the internal. Then we feel something, we feel whole. Our perceptions are heightened and we see one alternative for how we can move forward.