SYNCHRONICITY

Synchronicity is the term we apply to things which seem to be related to each other with no discernable reason why they should be.

A sort of example of this would be when someone mentions a song which is rarely if ever played on the radio these days and a day later we hear it played on the radio.  We might explain this by saying that because it had been mentioned in conversation our minds were attuned to hearing it on the radio.  Had we not heard it mentioned the day before, it would have been still played on the radio but we wouldn't have given it particular notice.

However, not all of us are entirely comfortable with that explanation.  We cannot help but feel at a strange level that both events might somehow be connected.

I'll give you an example of synchronicity.

L. Frank Baum

L. Frank Baum (1856-1919) wrote the children's classic The Wizard of Oz.  When the Judy Garland film version was made, the actor chosen to play the Wizard was Frank Morgan (1890-1949).  Morgan could not find a jacket that he thought appropriate for the part.  Clearly, whatever the studio could provide didn't measure up to his expectations.  He searched diligently for the appropriate garment.  Then, one day, he went into a secondhand clothes shop and saw a jacket which he felt was absolutely ideal.  He purchased it and, later in the day, saw there was a name tape on the inner lining.  The name tape read L. Frank Baum.

Can such things be put down to sheer chance?