Thoughts on Synchronicities
After reading Robert Anton Wilson’s, Cosmic Trigger I (a fun, thought-provoking journey into our universe), I was presented with a compelling perspective on synchronicities. At first blush, I was skeptical of the book’s scientific nature given the frequent nods to characters like Alesiter Crowley and the Free Masons. Magick and the like have always seemed to me fictional theater for those incapable of accepting “normal” life. Initially, the idea that coincidences can be recategorized as “synchronicities” seemed like needless commentary to me. Even Wilson acknowledges the idea of synchronicities as challenging. However, as the book progressed, the idea began appeal to this skeptic. Enough so, that I decided to pen the following thoughts.
I can define for you synchronicities as such: more than convenient coincidences occurring in our reality. Synchronicities and coincidences are not mutually exclusive. Coincidences most certainly exist. However, sometimes they seem too coincidental to be accidental.
To make a simple example: you are scrolling through your phone’s pictures from years back when you come across a trip with an old friend that sends you down memory lane. You had such a great time on the trip. It was truly one you’ll remember for the rest of your life. However, life has done what life does and you and the friend you vacationed with have fallen out of touch. You truly miss them and think about how you should reach out and see how things have been. It’s been months since you’ve talked. Just then, a notification ding announces itself on your phone. You stare in shock as you see it’s from the friend you just thought about. They, too, miss you and hope you are well and want to catch up.
This would be a great example of a synchronicity. Why? The chance that friend, of all your phone contacts, messaging you moments after you thought of them is quite unlikely. Coincidence would say this was just a happy, accidental occurrence. Synchronicity would suggest that a strong emotional connection triggered something in the cosmos to tie you and your friend together at that moment. It’s as if the same notification ding you got on your phone rung deep in their psyche due to you thinking of them. Of all the things that could’ve happened right at that moment in time, your desire to make contact was satisfied by the person you want to make contact with. More than convenient.
The torus and the multiverse
Partially why Cosmic Trigger I is so interesting to me is that it does bring in science and legitimate theory. It also reinforces theories from another author I’ve read: Itzahk Bentov. Specifically, his novel Stalking the Wild Pendulum. In it Bentov argues that the shape of our infinite universe is actually a defined shape: a torus. Think of the torus structure like a ball with two holes bored into its poles that meet in the center. From one hole comes all matter–a white hole. The other consumes that matter–a black hole. Why this connection is so riveting is that Wilson entertains the idea of the multiverse, that potential infinite universes exist simultaneously and sometimes interact and can influence each other. Upon reading this, I immediately thought of the torus structure. Bentov’s version of the white hole is equivalent to theory of the Big Bang. The white hole is the genesis and the closer we get to it, the further back in time we must go. As we follow spacetime away from the white hole (see image below), we move towards the end of the universe–the black hole. We’ve all heard in science class that space is always expanding, like a balloon being inflated. This is due to matter pouring out and away from the white hole. Eventually, spacetime will again condense as it approaches the black hole. This is also known as The Big Crunch (the end of the universe). To further visualize the form of the torus, think the image below as a fountain. It is symmetrical along its X axis and its Y axis. From the center, water spews upwards to form a hollow cone. Where the water exists acts as reality, our universe. The space it does not touch lies true nothingness (in potentia) and not the space between objects within the universe. The water is called back towards the center , however. At some point the call is too great and the water, now wide in area, falls back towards its source. As it falls, it gains speed and flies past the center (i.e., the white hole). The white hole’s gravity, of course, now pulls again on the water. Eventually, the gravity regains control on the matter and begins to draw it in back into itself–forming another hollow cone.
In potentia (non-reality) vs. reality
With this shape, we established everywhere the torus touches is our observable universe. If there is observable universe, then there is non-observable universe. As alluded to above, this is termed as in potentia, or non spacetime where all realities are possible as they both exist and do not exist. Calling on Bentov again, he suggests that with waves and consciousness, we can explore these non-reality spaces by achieving omniscience via omnipresence. Wilson entertains the same idea, but includes the multiverse condition (as does Bentov in his later book). I think a helpful visual to understand this is an orange. If you consider the entire orange as the multi-verse, peel away the rind and you have the sub-universes that give it shape (the slices). There are infinite slices (universes) within the orange. Quick aside: Bentov postulates that yes–there are multi-verses, but they exist in helixes in sets of 49 and not in a nebulous, disorganized manner. However, there’s a film of non-space that separates each universe. When you eat an orange, and you peel out a slice, does the entire thing come with you or just the slice? It separates, of course. And from the multi-verse, you can consider each universe is independent of another. Let’s say that we live in Slice A. That’s not to say there’s anything sequential about this. It’s simply convenient for explanation. In Slice A we have the Milky Way, the Boöetes Void, Andromeda, etc. The entire history of our universe (including us, of course) exists in this slice. Slice B could be a slightly different universe. It’s independent as it is its own slice, but is different only by the tiniest of degrees. In Slice B, you could have been born a day earlier, or gone with a different major in college. Hitler could’ve been in a boy band and the Earth could be spinning the other way around the sun. The variables are obviously infinite. We will assume that both universes can be observed via light. Light provides parity between Slice A and Slice B. For humans to perceive observable light, time must exist. Without it, everything would simply be freeze frame. Remember that Slice A and Slice B are separated by true nothingness–in potentia. In the non-reality, there is no light. There is no time. There is no matter. It is truly a void. However, the place isn’t completely bare. Here, all potential realities exist. They just have no tangible universe to express themselves in. With this in mind, let’s recall the example from earlier about what synchronicity is. In the example, you had a thought about a friend on a wonderful trip you went on. We know the thought, like the potential realities in the in-between spaces, are intangible and yet exist. You nor I can hold it in our hands and manipulate it like we could a rock. They are sparked to life by neurons and small bouts of electricity, but don’t necessarily exist as such. By eliminating the matter consideration, we are left with energy. However, if thoughts are simply physical and nothing more, you and I should quit now. If not then it is indeed energy-less and something that can inhabit the in potentia space.
A transcendent beacon
As mentioned earlier, Bentov suggests that it’s possible to wield wave energy to become omniscient through omnipresence. Simply put, if you can be everywhere at once, then you can know everything instantly. If that omnipresence can be sustained, then one is essentially a god. Bentov argues that the shape of a wave gives us this understanding. Imagine a simple sine wave (as shown below). At the crests and troughs of the wave, speed is decreases to nearly a standstill. Like a car on the arc of a roller coaster, it has 100% potential energy. Then when the line makes its way to the next curve does it have 100% kinetic energy (the rollercoaster cart barreling down the track). At those moments of rest, the energy has to go somewhere. These incredibly brief moments yield infinite speed; faster than the speed of light. When you have infinite speed, you can be everywhere at once and thus have infinite knowledge. This provides a window. It offers passage out of our universe slice and into the potentia. It is a transcendent beacon.
Perhaps here, when you were thinking of your friend, did that thought–that energy–barrel from our universe and into non-reality. When the thought arrived, it met infinite stillness. It realized there was no time, no history, no matter. However, while it was suspended in the nothingness, it altered ever so slightly.Much like the fountain, the pull of our universe still acted upon it and it was summoned back from the non-reality. On its way, however, the altered thought did not come back to its origin, but to your friend. Like a seed dropped from the sky, it eventually took root and sprouted in its parent consciousness. Since it was strong enough to enter the potentia space, it was strong enough to resonate with its receiver and thus triggered the synchronicity.
Another, wilder consideration is that the thought did not originate from Slice A, but rather, Slice B. In both universes, you indeed went on the trip and had identical experiences. Your Slice B thought plowed through non-reality space and here into Slice A. The antennae that is your friend’s brain received the transmission and fired back, either to you in Slice A or the you in Slice B. Though the distance seems unfathomable, when something reaches infinite speed, distance becomes irrelevant. Plus, if universes are actually stacked on one another, like multiple projections playing out simultaneously, then speed is not necessarily a measure to consider when traveling between them. This is to suggest that synchronicities are trans-universal.
Conclusion
If you don’t think I’m insane or have done more LSD than the MK Ultra participants, then thank you for getting to this point. It’s fun to prod these ideas with an open mind. Both books by Wilson and Bentov were influential enough to change how I think. The latter even more so. Does the multiverse exist? Possibly. Can energy, disambiguated from matter, travel between them? Who knows. What I do know is that I’ve experienced synchronicity. At the very least, I’ve experienced things that seem too convenient to be coincidence. Perhaps you have, too. Whether it was in the form of deja vu or compelling coincidence, I’m sure you have. Maybe it’s the human need to understand its environment that we try to explain why such things happen. We must consider, though, that convenient coincidences are how reality chooses to operate. I find it more fun to think our thoughts and memories aren’t solely tied to chemical matter in our brains, but are free to roam the bounds of reality.
