A noted Jungian, Ira Progoff (1973, pp. 13-14) has drawn an important distinction:
“. . . Jung’s work . . . enables him to deal with “psychological facts” without making them “nothing but” psychological. There is a dimension of human experience that is not external to us in the sense that it can be directly and tangibly grasped. Rather, it is within us, but the word within must also be understood metaphorically. It reflects a depth in us as human beings and also depth of the universe. Perceiving one, we perceive the other. But we cannot do so directly, as we would in laying our hands on something and grasping it. We can only do so indirectly, or symbolically.”
Findings from the physical sciences leading to the formulation of Quantum Theory have been identified by some Jungians and non-Jungians as justification for synchronicity since the causal relationship between particles and waves is often indefinite or even simultaneous. At an extreme, Quantum Theory has even produced a bio-centric view of the world that is solipsistic, meaning that the world is constantly being recreated by us with acausal or simultaneously generated relationships being created between images and events (Lanza, 2010).
Soft and Hard Synchronicity
I want to “soften” Kurt Jung’s concept of synchronicity by suggesting that there is both soft synchronicity and hard synchronicity.
Weak and Strong Synchronicity: I would also suggest another addition to (or perhaps modification) of Jung’s concept of synchronicity. I would differentiate between what I would call Weak Synchronicity and Strong Synchronicity. The weak form is manifest in the way we are attuned to specific events in our world because of the dynamics occurring in our psyche. There is the sparkle that we experience when some object or person in our outside world aligns with something that we are dwelling on inside ourselves.
For instance, Lewis, Amini, and Lannon (2000) write about the limbic resonance (emotional attunement) that occurs when we are drawn to another person. Several events might be tied together because they similarly resonate. They make us feel honored, hopeful, or loved. Or, on a more negative side, they produce similar fear or sense of hopelessness or helplessness.
These weak connections can be strengthened if they frequently recur. While there might not be any causal connection between these events, they may have a long, well-established psychic connection based in part on their ongoing association with specific schema (Paul, 1966: Bartlett, 1995) such as a place of sanctuary and safety, or a pathway to success. The schema might, in turn, be affiliated with a specific archetype, thus giving it additional emotional charge and making the weak synchronicity that much more impactful (perhaps becoming a strong form of synchronicity).
While the Weak form of synchronicity can usually be captured with psychological terms such as limbic resonance and schemata, the Strong form of synchronicity holds a transcendent meaning that is definitely related to a specific archetype, as well as being expanded and reinforced by other elements (such as anima and animus) in the human psyche. Jung identifies several internal psychic structures as critical to many synchronistic occurrences. The archetype which I have mentioned often in this essay is frequently the meeting ground for several, seemingly independent events.
According to Carl Jung (1960, p. 20):
“. . . archetypes are formal factors responsible for the organization of unconscious psychic processes: they are “patterns of behavior.” At the same time they have a “specific charge” and develop numinous effects which express themselves as affects. . . .[C]ertain phenomena of simultaneity or synchronicity seem to be bound up with archetypes.”
