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Carl Jung’s Synchronicity Goes SO MUCH Deeper Than You Think — Transcript

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0:00You look at the clock and wow, it is
0:0211:11. It must be a sign from the
0:05universe. So, we'd better make a wish.
0:08If that is what you thought when you
0:10first saw the word synchronicity in the
0:13title, then I'm afraid that is a bit of
0:15an all too common and and massively
0:17misleading oversimplification
0:19about what Carl Jung actually meant. So,
0:22the idea of synchronicity is a very
0:25complex one, as you'll see. So, let's
0:26actually do it some justice by breaking
0:28it down and trying to understand it true
0:30depth and the the gravity of what I
0:32meant by a word like this. And this
0:34follows on directly from the previous
0:36lesson when we asked, is meaning
0:39created, given, or revealed? So, today
0:43we're taking that part of the question
0:45much further. Much, much, much further,
0:47as you'll see. What you're about to
0:49witness is a grown man get extremely and
0:52progressively more and more excited as
0:54we dive deeper and deeper into this
0:56fascinating theory. And if you haven't
0:58seen that previous lesson, then don't
1:00worry. You'll still be able to make
1:01sense of this one and I'll just pop a
1:02cleaner picture on the screen now if you
1:04want to have a look at that mind map in
1:06more detail. And I will let you know
1:08early on that I am pitching this
1:10conversation somewhere between the
1:13person who says, "Yeah, I know about
1:16Jung and I know about shadow work, but I
1:18want to know a bit more." and the
1:19advanced level Jungian student who wants
1:22to learn more about quaternios and the
1:24alchemical approach to the the the inner
1:25world. So, like I said, it can be a
1:27heavy concept looking at synchronicity.
1:30So, let's break it down bit by bit.
1:32First things first, let's make it clear
1:33what it isn't as well. So,
1:36like I was saying, it isn't looking at
1:38the microwave and seeing 11:11 or some
1:41other repeating number and then making a
1:44wish. It's not necessarily a sign from
1:45the universe either or angel numbers.
1:48So, let's establish why with two lovely
1:51quotes from this. So, first up from my
1:53fancy dictionary, it's going to be on
1:55page 595.
1:58I am quoting, by the way, Harper's
2:00Encyclopedia of Mystical and Paranormal
2:03Experiences. Very exciting as a title.
2:06So, it starts on here. Synchronicity,
2:08the unifying principle behind meaningful
2:11coincidences. Psychiatrist Carl Gustav
2:14Jung termed synchronicity an a causal
2:18connecting principle that links
2:20seemingly unrelated and unconnected
2:23events.
2:24Two important terms there I'm going to
2:25go into in a second. Meaningful coin-
2:28coincidence and a causal connecting
2:30principle. So, let's just take it one
2:32tiny little step further on page 596 and
2:35then we can I really, really dig into
2:37this.
2:38Jung said that synchronicity can be
2:40found in events that are meaningfully
2:42but not causally related. That is, they
2:45do not coincide with time and space, as
2:48well as in events that do coincide in
2:50time and space and have meaningful
2:53psychological connections. In addition,
2:55synchronicity links the material world
2:57to the psychic. Synchronistic events, he
3:00said, rest on archetypal foundations.
3:03So,
3:04just like in the previous lesson, let's
3:07start creating our mind map from here to
3:10track what's happening before we get
3:12overwhelmed because like I say, there's
3:14a lot going on on here. Just going to
3:16put my book on the ground and then we
3:18can make a good start on this.
3:20So, what I've done is just before this
3:21lesson started, I've made it really
3:23clear these three parts that we're going
3:25to go into a bit more detail on. So,
3:27if it is going to be a meaningful
3:30coincidence, let's start there. That's
3:32going to be our simple working
3:34definition for this lesson. Then it
3:36means that basically any connection that
3:38we make has to have or has to be a
3:41connection of meaning rather than cause.
3:45So, that is how we're going to start
3:47this entire journey. I'm going to put
3:49meaning here. I'm going to put the
3:51here. Like I say, we're making this
3:53visual, so it's a much easier to track.
3:55So, super super simple example for this.
3:57If you're playing snooker,
4:00that's going to be a good way to think
4:00about it. If you're playing snooker, one
4:03ball hits into another, and then the
4:05second ball moves because the first one
4:08hit it. There's no question around
4:10meaning here, like in an existential
4:12sense. There's just cause and effect.
4:15This happened, then that. There is no
4:18interpretation needed. Whereas if you
4:21compare that to something like a dream,
4:24then that's a different situation. So,
4:25one image in a dream doesn't strictly
4:28speaking cause another because the laws
4:31of cause and effect they just don't
4:32apply in that world. So, when you wake
4:34up, you don't think, "Oh, of course I
4:35dreamt of an octopus because before that
4:37there was a tattooed man, and he in turn
4:40had to be there because of that big
4:42snake." So, what what's more relevant
4:45for the dream is the connection to it.
4:49So, I'm going to start breaking this
4:50down bit by bit on here. In fact, I
4:52might even put connection over here.
4:56Just to give us a bit more room as we
4:57start to break all this down.
4:59So, what's more relevant, like I say, is
5:01the connection. There's the
5:02interpretation.
5:04That's another important word as we
5:06start to think about something like
5:07this.
5:08So, we need to investigate a dream and
5:11dialogue with it.
5:13Again, all of these words, they all
5:14start to come together to find that
5:16meaning. We need to dialogue with it to
5:18find the meaning. So, perhaps any
5:20particular image was just a coincidence.
5:22That's fine. What would raise and
5:24transform this coincidence for Jung
5:27would be the meaning factor. That's why
5:30noticing 11:11 on the clock isn't
5:33automatically a synchronicity. It's a
5:36coincidence, yes, but it's not laden and
5:40imbued with necessarily with meaning.
5:42So, just to be really really clear on
5:44this before we move on. Cause, so
5:46causality, that is snooker that explains
5:49how something happens. That's cause and
5:51effect. Synchronicity, the dream that
5:55reveals what.
5:57Just about sneaking that on there. That
6:00reveals what something could mean. So
6:03again, in terms of the connection over
6:04here, it's meaning driven, but it's also
6:07narrative driven.
6:09There's got to be an inquiry about the
6:11entire thing.
6:13So, if you want to be really fancy about
6:15this, it's non-causal meaningful
6:18alignment of the inner
6:21and the outer.
6:23It's definitely not random though. There
6:25must be an an intention in here
6:27somewhere. Just to throw a lot of other
6:29words on this just to make it all really
6:31clear. And already, we are absolutely
6:33flying. And don't worry, I'm not just
6:34going to drop a dense line like
6:37non-causal meaningful alignment without
6:40actually breaking that down in some way.
6:42And that is where we're going to turn to
6:44the wonderful Murray Stein, and we are
6:47going to break down and recreate this
6:49simple diagram on page 217.
6:53So, to understand Jungian dynamics
6:56properly, we need a way of viewing and
6:58making sense of the the inner and the
7:00outer worlds that we occupy. That's what
7:02these two parts are referring to here.
7:04So now, I said before in that
7:05definition, a causal connecting
7:07principle. It's a very confusing
7:09sentence or term. So let's break that
7:11down. So, if we draw out the Y axis
7:14first, we've got space
7:17and we've got time. Again, we're
7:19breaking all this out, it'll make sense
7:20towards the end. If you get a little bit
7:22lost in the meantime, don't worry,
7:23that's very very normal.
7:24So, to quote Murray Stein, we need to
7:27consider where and when the event
7:30happened. That firmly roots us and
7:33grounds us in our process. And just to
7:35be really clear on this, Jung was
7:37fundamentally a scientist, not a mystic.
7:41So, these explorations, they have to be
7:43grounded in the scientific method.
7:47So, if let's say for example with all
7:49this, a a rare insect lands on my page
7:53as I'm writing this and as I'm talking,
7:54there are factual elements to consider.
7:57Space, so where did this event take
7:59place? Time, when did this event take
8:03place? So, like I say, we're grounded in
8:06reality
8:07in this case, like an objective sense of
8:09reality.
8:10So, what's the x-axis then? Well, the
8:13x-axis, that ranges from causality.
8:17Again, we talked about causality just a
8:18second ago, and synchronicity.
8:22Just to bring in that word and make it
8:24really clear to how it all fits in. So,
8:26again, just to quote Murray Stein, uh we
8:28also need to think about what led up to
8:30this moment and what it means. That's
8:33what the x-axis is referring to. So, it
8:35goes back to this bit over here when
8:36we're talking about causes, so that's
8:38how and meaning, which is what. So, this
8:41is the element that raises something
8:44from a coincidence or a cause to a
8:47synchronistic moment.
8:49And I didn't just say um insect
8:52randomly, by the way, a second ago. Um
8:54I'm referencing a quite a a famous uh
8:58scarab beetle incident and and
9:00synchronicity from Jung's own accounts.
9:02So again, just to be really really brief
9:04on something like this, while in a
9:06conversation with Jung, uh a woman who
9:08had a lot of difficulty in therapy
9:10previously was recounting her dream
9:12about a golden scarab beetle. And then,
9:16as she was talking to Jung about this,
9:18Jung noticed that in the window, a small
9:21scarab-like beetle was trying to get
9:22into the room at that exact moment. And
9:25from memory, this wasn't a common type
9:26of beetle for where they they lived,
9:28either. So, in any case, just to be
9:30really clear on this, here's the key
9:31points. Because that woman felt that
9:35this coincidence was significant, it
9:37gave her a huge sense of meaning. As I
9:40was saying before, meaningful
9:42coincidence. It was acausal
9:45in the sense that it had no direct
9:48cause.
9:50I'll pop that on here. That's what the A
9:52before causal means. It means like not
9:54or or no.
9:56So, her talking about the beetle doesn't
9:59cause the beetle to appear, but it was a
10:02moment that felt meaningful to her as
10:05well as being bizarrely unlikely to
10:07happen. So, if we bridge these two
10:08points together, it was a meaningful
10:10coincidence and she connected to that
10:14particular moment, but not in a way that
10:16was due to cause and effect like the the
10:18snooker example from before. So, in
10:20fact, while we're here, let us just pop
10:22feeling
10:23on that map as well. But, let's take
10:26this theory further because Jung is
10:28absolutely not done yet. I'm getting
10:31excited just talking about something
10:33like this. So, I have used over here the
10:36word archetype. And I've also left a
10:38little bit of space intentionally in the
10:39lower left corner for a reason. So, I'm
10:41going to turn to these two aspects now.
10:43So,
10:44let's as much as possible keep things
10:46simple with archetype. So, archetype
10:48comes from two terms. arche
10:52And I believe it's pronounced tupos.
10:56But, spelled like this. So, arche, that
10:58refers to beginnings.
11:01Again, it all makes sense. And just just
11:03being first as well. Anything anything
11:06similar to that. And tupos, that refers
11:08to things like patterns.
11:11And if you are here from the previous
11:12lesson, we talked about blueprints as
11:15well. That's where this starts to come
11:16back. So, patterns and blueprints,
11:18impressions, anything else like that.
11:20So, when we combine arche and tupos, we
11:23get archetype. So, we get first patterns
11:25or original blueprints, something like
11:28that. So, for Jung, it is through the
11:31archetypes that we connect to something
11:34larger than us.
11:36So, we don't just exist as personal and
11:40individual selves, we also exist as part
11:43of a collective as well. And we can
11:46observe that we all share these same
11:49propensities or our potentials or we all
11:51fall into the groove of following these
11:54same basic patterns. So, just really,
11:56really simple example, if you watch, for
11:59example, a lot of the Rings and Star
12:00Wars and Harry Potter, you'll probably
12:03immediately recognize something deeper
12:04that connects characters like Gandalf,
12:07Yoga
12:08Yoda and Dumbledore. And that would be,
12:11for example, if we're talking about
12:12archetypes, the the wise old man or the
12:14or the magician or the sage. It'll
12:17probably one of those that you'd
12:18immediately go to. So, what you're
12:20seeing is the examples
12:24and then from there, you can tell what
12:26pattern it originally came from. They're
12:28clearly not, for example, warriors or
12:30kings. So, if we go back to that dream
12:33example from before, if you were to
12:35receive advice from a from a
12:36wizard-looking character, then it's
12:38probably a good sign that you're in a
12:40healthy connection to the archetype. And
12:43the reason why I am mentioning this is
12:46because Jung, he theorized that
12:48archetypes and synchronicities and a new
12:51word, as well as some space here, the
12:54self with a capital S, are all connected
12:58as part of a bigger theory. So, let me
13:01just put connection here cuz that's
13:03going to be extremely important when we
13:06go into the the the weeds of all of
13:08this.
13:09So, it's all connected as part of
13:10something bigger. The self here, that's
13:13referring to the the totality
13:16of the psyche.
13:18It's all of the the the conscious
13:22and the unconscious
13:25elements
13:27put together. So, when you think of who
13:29you are, or you're using the phrasing of
13:32I when we're talking about the ego, for
13:34example, that the self is considerably
13:36more than that. So, if you think about
13:38the ego, that'd be like the center of
13:40consciousness, but the self is the is
13:42the the conscious and the unconscious
13:43combined. So, the bigger task in life,
13:46especially in the second half of life
13:47for Young, it's about unification.
13:52Pop that on here cuz that's again really
13:53important. It's about unifying the ego
13:56with the unconscious and integrating the
13:59person's otherwise unlived life up until
14:02that point. That's how something like
14:04shadow work would fit in with all this.
14:07So, if we go back to the very very start
14:08of all this, if you thought of
14:09synchronicity and you thought, "Yeah, I
14:10know about Young. I know about shadow."
14:12That's one tiny tiny tiny element within
14:15all of this overall. It's absolutely
14:17huge. So, the self, just to be really
14:20clear when we're talking about the
14:20shadow and how all this connects, that's
14:23the self that is calling to us. It's
14:25driving us towards purpose, towards keep
14:29keyword here, wholeness. That's really
14:32important for Young.
14:33He's encouraging us to face and to
14:35realize and ultimately embody and
14:37integrate, where possible, the the
14:40unrealized potential that's lying
14:41dormant in us. All this has been pushed
14:43out of sight. Again, if we want to use
14:46one other fancy word here, come on to
14:48this another time,
14:50he uses the term individuation. That's
14:52how all of this would fit in if you want
14:54to think about it in terms of Young's
14:55idea. Now, it might feel like I've gone
14:57on a bit of a tangent there, but if you
14:59want to take Jungian theory more
15:01seriously than just like a casual glance
15:03at a shadow work video on YouTube every
15:05now and again, you need to grasp how the
15:07self, the archetype, and synchronicity
15:11are all intimately connected. That is
15:14absolutely key for something like this.
15:16So, to realize your full potential,
15:19you're going to need a personal
15:20philosophy, and that has to include
15:24Where can I fit this on here? I'm going
15:25to sneak it in the middle.
15:27It's going to have to include the
15:29rational
15:31and the irrational side of life.
15:36That's a key Jungian idea. Personally, I
15:39would prefer the term non-rational
15:41rather than irrational, but I am
15:42sticking with Jung's own wording for the
15:44sake of this lesson. And I'll go into
15:45that into detail on that a little bit
15:47more in a future lesson on exactly how
15:50they the the the archetypes, for
15:51example, they're actually biological in
15:53nature for Jung rather than mental cuz I
15:55know this sounds really abstract so far,
15:57but the archetypes are biological thing.
15:59It's just enough to know at this
16:02particular point in time that the
16:03archetypes are both physical and uh
16:06and and psychic. So, I'm going to
16:09actually use the word I was just
16:11debating whether to put it on, but I
16:12think it is relevant. It is psychoid.
16:14That's the that's the word that he uses
16:16in the sense that it bridges the gap
16:19between the uh the personal and the
16:22collective. That's why I'm just pop
16:24popping this on here. And again, it
16:25bridges us over
16:27towards wholeness and so on. Lots and
16:29lots and lots of links to be made. So,
16:31it bridges the gap between the personal
16:32and the collective, the conscious ego
16:34and the unconscious contents, the I and
16:37the self.
16:38It's massive. Can Can you see how all of
16:40this starts to come together?
16:42But also, how uh just how much more
16:44complex Jungian theory is rather than
16:47just, for example, like the persona
16:48versus the the shadow.
16:51If we pop back up to this little chart
16:52over here as well, um you can see all of
16:54this at work all at once. So, my
16:57conscious and aware sense of self with a
17:00lowercase S, that is located in a
17:02physical body. So, I have to take into
17:04account space and time. I have to take
17:07into account where those things happen.
17:09That's the Y axis. That's why it's
17:11physical, it's science, it's it's it's
17:14objective reality when we talk about it
17:16that way. But, if you want to raise
17:18something from just causality to
17:20synchronicity, then we're going to have
17:21to go beyond the rational into something
17:24more.
17:25Um so, at that stage there, again, I'm
17:28very much run out of room here. That'd
17:29be the realm of something like religion.
17:32Um maybe art as well that'd be relevant
17:34here. And again, that still also
17:37connects to reality,
17:39except the difference is that one is
17:40more of an objective reality, this one
17:42is a bit more of a subjective one
17:43instead.
17:44So, these ideas of synchronicity and
17:48self and the connection between the the
17:52personal uh or the individual and the
17:54collective and these all come through
17:57the archetypes. It's all part of the
17:59same theory. These aren't separate at
18:02all. They all support each other and
18:04they only make sense because of one
18:06another. Like that I said before,
18:08synchronicities, they rest on archetypal
18:11foundations. If you want one of one of
18:13the little quote edges like ground this
18:15even more.
18:17Can you Can you see how fun this is? Or
18:20Or is this just me? Like compared to
18:22where we started with like about what,
18:2415 minutes ago with like 11:11 and this
18:28super vague idea of of the universe
18:31speaking to us and we've ended up with
18:32something like this which is just so
18:34incredibly rich. It's like paths upon
18:37paths upon beetles upon beetles. It's
18:41It's genuinely it's soul-nourishing
18:44conversation. Conversation for the whole
18:46soul and nothing but the soul. Or should
18:48I say self rather than soul?
18:51There's so much with all this. Hopefully
18:52you'll Hopefully my excitement maybe uh
18:55maybe it radioactively emits to you via
18:58this video. But, let's land this Jungian
19:02plane because we're getting a bit
19:03carried away. So, to answer that
19:05original question that was posted last
19:07time, is meaning created, given, or
19:11revealed? Well, we've just done a pretty
19:13thorough examination of the revealed
19:16aspect.
19:17So, as we are looking at this, just to
19:19be really, really clear, the self, I'm
19:21going to bring it all together now, the
19:22self as the organizing principle of the
19:25psyche that drives us towards wholeness.
19:30But, we can only individuate, which
19:33means actualizing our potentials, by
19:35going beyond our ego and connecting to
19:38something bigger.
19:40And we can't fully integrate the
19:42archetypes because they're just so
19:44powerful and they're so vast, but we can
19:46activate certain patterns that are lying
19:50dormant within us if we learn, again,
19:52how to meaningfully connect with them.
19:55So, meaning
19:56that can be revealed to us, if we go
19:58back to that idea from before, revealed,
20:00can be revealed to us via the self or
20:03via this archetypal connection, just as
20:05long as we don't fall victim to traps of
20:08I'm going to pop this down here, of
20:10grandiosity. This is definitely
20:12something I'm going to talk about in a
20:13future video.
20:15>> [snorts]
20:15>> That'd be like claiming that we are the
20:16archetype or we are fully and
20:18consciously the whole self. So, it's
20:20just it's just not possible, basically.
20:22So, when we encounter an event or a
20:25coincidence and it feels [snorts]
20:27meaningful to us at that particular
20:29moment, then our inner and outer worlds
20:33are aligning at that particular point.
20:36So, again, that's important not because
20:38of cause and effect, but because of
20:40something that is non-rational. That's
20:42where a-causal starts to fit in with
20:44this. So, it's not cause and effect,
20:46it's non-rational. So, meaning is
20:48revealed to us, not created by us,
20:53according to this this theory. So, the
20:55self is trying to let us know something,
20:58but do we dare to actually listen to it?
21:01That's the question and that's the big
21:03task.
21:04So, that is a more detailed exploration
21:08of this revealed section that we that we
21:10gave a bit of an overview in the
21:11previous lesson. I've intentionally left
21:14out active imagination on purpose
21:16because I think that it needs a full
21:18video in itself and there's already as
21:20you can see quite a lot of terms. It's a
21:22really tough lesson to film that one. So
21:24I hope I hope that makes sense. I hope
21:26my passion for all this comes through as
21:28well because I genuinely get really
21:29really excited.
21:30You might need to go back over it
21:31because it's not easy to get your head
21:32around it first and it goes so much
21:34deeper than all this still. I've just
21:36decided just to stop there and that's
21:37it. So same as last time, I'll tidy up
21:40my diagrams and post them on here and
21:42I'm also keeping a log of them on
21:43Instagram as well. So by all means give
21:45me a follow over there because I'm going
21:46to build up this this database of
21:48visuals.
21:50The undiagrammed life is not worth
21:52living. That's what I've called this
21:54playlist and I'm enjoying creating these
21:55diagrams for you as well. So hopefully
21:57they're useful. Just let me know what
21:58you think. And even with all of this
22:00actually let's bring it relevant let's
22:01make it relevant for you. So
22:03have you experienced any synchronicities
22:06recently? Or
22:07even more than that, how might you be
22:09more open to synchronicities in the
22:11future? And is Young just making all of
22:13this up and reading too much into it?
22:15Are they just coincidences and that's
22:18it? There's a lot to think about. So
22:20let's keep this conversation going and
22:21I'll see you next time for our lesson
22:23three in this series.
22:25See you then.

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This page contains the full transcript of Carl Jung’s Synchronicity Goes SO MUCH Deeper Than You Think by Mr Clark's Classroom, generated from the public captions YouTube serves with the video. The transcript has 3,894 words across 600 segments, with the original timestamps preserved so you can click any line to jump to that moment in the embedded player.

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