The blues-punk quintet Cage the Elephant, features singer Matt Shultz, his brother; guitarist Brad Shultz and a pack of high school buddies from Bowling Green, Kentucky.
The song talks about three particular instances in which the narrator realizes “there ain’t no rest for the wicked.” First, he encounters a prostitute asking if he desires to spend the night with her. The narrator proceeds to ask her why she does what she does. The chorus (her response) analyzes the main reasons why individuals follow the paths they follow (“…Money don’t grow on trees, I’ve got bills to pay, I’ve got mouths to feed…”). The narrator, fifteen minutes later, is robbed by a criminal, whom he asks the same question and from whom he receives the same answer. Finally, upon turning on the television, the narrator sees a preacher being arrested for stealing the funds of his church. This is followed by a third chorus saying that everyone is the same and we all have no rest “until we close our eyes for good.”Lead singer Matt Shultz stated the song was inspired by an old co-worker of his who at the time was a drug dealer. When Shultz asked him why he dealt drugs, the co-worker told him that “there’s no rest for the wicked.” Shultz was a plumber at the time, and said that he wrote the lyrics on a piece of drywall while working at his co-workers house.
Learning styles classify different ways people learn and how they approach information.
Learning style refers to the ways you prefer to approach new information. Each of us learns and processes information in our
own special style, although we share some learning patterns, preferences, and approaches. Knowing your own style also can
help you to realize that other people may approach the same situation in a different way from your own.
Perceptual Modalities
The learning styles assessments I find most helpful examine how you take in information through your senses. Researchers call these sorts of assessments “perceptual modality assessments.” They look at how you see, hear, feel, and move through the world. Those perceptions deeply affect your ability to learn. Whether you tend to rely more or less on one sense than another has a tremendous influence on how you interpret new experiences and succeed in whatever you work with each day. Take a perceptual modality assessment now.
Multiple Intelligences
Howard Gardner asserts there are at least seven modalities (referred to as intelligences) that can be used to describe your individual style. His work encourages everyone to think about learning in new and creative ways.
This work suggests people can be:
Verbal-linguistic: sensitive to the meaning and order of words
Musical: sensitive to pitch, melody, rhythm, and tone
Logical-mathematical: Able to handle chains of reasoning and recognize patterns and order
Spatial: perceive the world accurately and try to re-create or transform aspects of that world
Bodily-kinesthetic: able to use the body skillfully and handle objects adroitly
Interpersonal: understand people and relationships
Intrapersonal: possess access to one’s emotional life as a means to understand oneself and others.
Mind Styles
According to Anthony Gregorc, there are four basic learning styles. Gregorc’s Mind Styles model categorizes learners as Concrete Sequential (CS), Abstract Sequential (AS) Abstract Random (AR) and Concrete Random (CR).
Concrete Sequential (CS) learners are hardworking, conventional, accurate, stable, dependable, consistent, factual, and organized.
Abstract Sequential (AS) learners are analytic, objective, knowledgeable, thorough, structured, logical, deliberate, and systematic.
Abstract Random (AR) learners are sensitive, compassionate, perceptive, imaginative, idealistic, sentimental, spontaneous, and flexible.
Concrete Random (CR) learners are quick, intuitive, curious, realistic, creative, innovative, instinctive, adventurous.
Learning Styles Indicator
David Kolb’s Learning Style Model classifies learners as having a preference for 1)concrete experience or abstract conceptualization (how they take information in), and 2) active experimentation or reflective observation (how they internalize information).
Type 1 (concrete, reflective). A characteristic question of this learning type is “Why?” Type 1 learners respond well to explanations of how course material relates to their experience, their interests, and their future careers. To be effective with Type 1 students, the instructor should function as a motivator.
Type 2 (abstract, reflective). A characteristic question of this learning type is “What?” Type 2 learners respond to information presented in an organized, logical fashion and benefit if they have time for reflection. To be effective, the instructor should function as an expert.
Type 3 (abstract, active). A characteristic question of this learning type is “How?” Type 3 learners respond to having opportunities to work actively on well-defined tasks and to learn by trial-and-error in an environment that allows them to fail safely. To be effective, the instructor should function as a coach, providing guided practice and feedback.
Type 4 (concrete, active). A characteristic question of this learning type is “What if?” Type 4 learners like applying course material in new situations to solve real problems. To be effective, the instructor should stay out of the way, maximizing opportunities for the students to discover things for themselves.
Myers-Briggs
The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator, based on the work of Carl Jung identifies 16 personality styles based on:
How you relate to the world (Extravert or Introvert)
Extraverts try things out, focus on the world around
Introverts think things through, focus on the inner world of ideas
How you take in information (Sensing or iNtuiting)
Sensors (practical, detail-oriented, focus on facts and procedures)
Intuitors (imaginative, concept-oriented, focus on meanings and possibilities)
How you make decisions (Thinking or Feeling)
Thinkers are skeptical, tend to make decisions based on logic and rules
Feelers are appreciative, tend to make decisions based on personal and humanistic considerations
How you manage your life (Judging or Perceiving).
Judgers set and follow agendas, seek closure even with incomplete data
Perceivers adapt to changing circumstances, resist closure to obtain more data.
For example, one learner may be an ESTJ (extravert, sensor, thinker, perceiver) and another may be an INFJ (introvert, intuitor, feeler, judger).
Others
There are other ways to organize learning style models. These fall into general categories such as information processing, personality patterns, and social interaction.
Information processing distinguishes between the way you sense, think, solve problems, and remember information. You have a preferred, consistent, distinct way of perceiving, organizing, and retaining information. Kolb’s Learning Styles inventory, Gregorc’s Mind Styles Model, and Keefe’s Human Information Processing Model.
Personality patterns focus on attention, emotion, and values. Understanding these differences allows you to predict the way you’ll react and feel about different situations. The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator and the Keirsey Temperament Sorter are two of the most well-know personality pattern assessments. A lesser known assessment is Dellinger’s Psycho-Geometrics.
Social interaction looks at likely attitudes, habits, and strategies learners will take toward their work and how they engage with their peers when they learn. Some learners are independent, dependent, collaborative, competitive, participant, and avoidant. Reichmann and Grasha as well as Baxter Magolda have developed assessments.
… frustrating, just like these signs posted when you try to pick someone up. What certain procrastinators may not realize is that someone is waiting for them and that person can’t park, stand, or wait.There are things that have to be done, and they have to be done now.
Procrastination is like stopping a train that left the station: when we procrastinate, we hold others up. We are telling the conductor, “Stop here, stop where I want you to stop” or even “I will get on that train when I want to get on that train.” Eliminating procrastination from our lives is like trying to stop a moving train; it’s not easy.
The fundamental particles of the universe that physicists have identified—electrons, neutrinos, quarks, and so on—are the “letters” of all matter. Just like their linguistic counterparts, they appear to have no further internal substructure. String theory proclaims otherwise. According to string theory, if we could examine these particles with even greater precision—a precision many orders of magnitude beyond our present technological capacity—we would find that each is not pointlike but instead consists of a tiny, one-dimensional loop. Like an infinitely thin rubber band, each particle contains a vibrating, oscillating, dancing filament that physicists have named a string.
Enlarge Photo credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Harvard-Smithsonian CfA
Are the fundamental particles that comprise galaxies and everything else in the universe made of tiny, vibrating loops? So say string theorists.
Although it is by no means obvious, this simple replacement of point-particle material constituents with strings resolves the incompatibility between quantum mechanics and general relativity (which, as currently formulated, cannot both be right). String theory thereby unravels the central Gordian knot of contemporary theoretical physics. This is a tremendous achievement, but it is only part of the reason string theory has generated such excitement.
Field of dreams
In Einstein’s day, the strong and weak forces had not yet been discovered, but he found the existence of even two distinct forces—gravity and electromagnetism—deeply troubling. Einstein did not accept that nature is founded on such an extravagant design. This launched his 30-year voyage in search of the so-called unified field theory that he hoped would show that these two forces are really manifestations of one grand underlying principle. This quixotic quest isolated Einstein from the mainstream of physics, which, understandably, was far more excited about delving into the newly emerging framework of quantum mechanics. He wrote to a friend in the early 1940s, “I have become a lonely old chap who is mainly known because he doesn’t wear socks and who is exhibited as a curiosity on special occasions.”
String theory is sometimes described as possibly being the “theory of everything.”
“I have become a lonely old chap,” Einstein told a friend in the early 1940s. This photo was taken in 1940, when Einstein was deep into his ultimately futile search for a unified field theory
Einstein was simply ahead of his time. More than half a century later, his dream of a unified theory has become the Holy Grail of modern physics. And a sizeable part of the physics and mathematics community is becoming increasingly convinced that string theory may provide the answer. From one principle—that everything at its most microscopic level consists of combinations of vibrating strands—string theory provides a single explanatory framework capable of encompassing all forces and all matter.
String theory proclaims, for instance, that the observed particle properties—that is, the different masses and other properties of both the fundamental particles and the force particles associated with the four forces of nature (the strong and weak nuclear forces, electromagnetism, and gravity)—are a reflection of the various ways in which a string can vibrate. Just as the strings on a violin or on a piano have resonant frequencies at which they prefer to vibrate—patterns that our ears sense as various musical notes and their higher harmonics—the same holds true for the loops of string theory. But rather than producing musical notes, each of the preferred mass and force charges are determined by the string’s oscillatory pattern. The electron is a string vibrating one way, the up-quark is a string vibrating another way, and so on.
Far from being a collection of chaotic experimental facts, particle properties in string theory are the manifestation of one and the same physical feature: the resonant patterns of vibration—the music, so to speak—of fundamental loops of string. The same idea applies to the forces of nature as well. Force particles are also associated with particular patterns of string vibration and hence everything, all matter and all forces, is unified under the same rubric of microscopic string oscillations—the “notes” that strings can play.
The way a string-theory string vibrates may confer the properties of various fundamental particles, just as the way a violin’s string vibrates confers the resonant frequencies we recognize as different musical notes
A theory to end theories
For the first time in the history of physics we therefore have a framework with the capacity to explain every fundamental feature upon which the universe is constructed. For this reason string theory is sometimes described as possibly being the “theory of everything” (T.O.E.) or the “ultimate” or “final” theory. These grandiose descriptive terms are meant to signify the deepest possible theory of physics—a theory that underlies all others, one that does not require or even allow for a deeper explanatory base.
In practice, many string theorists take a more down-to-earth approach and think of a T.O.E. in the more limited sense of a theory that can explain the properties of the fundamental particles and the properties of the forces by which they interact and influence one another. A staunch reductionist would claim that this is no limitation at all, and that in principle absolutely everything, from the Big Bang to daydreams, can be described in terms of underlying microscopic physical processes involving the fundamental constituents of matter. If you understand everything about the ingredients, the reductionist argues, you understand everything.
According to reductionist string theorists, everything, from the Big Bang and the formation of the first stars (depicted here) to the daydreams we humans have 13 billion years later, can be described in terms of microscopic physical processes involving strings.
The reductionist philosophy easily ignites heated debate. Many find it fatuous and downright repugnant to claim that the wonders of life and the universe are mere reflections of microscopic particles engaged in a pointless dance fully choreographed by the laws of physics. Is it really the case that feelings of joy, sorrow, or boredom are nothing but chemical reactions in the brain—reactions between molecules and atoms that, even more microscopically, are reactions between some of the fundamental particles, which are really just vibrating strings?
In response to this line of criticism, Nobel laureate Steven Weinberg cautions in Dreams of a Final Theory:
At the other end of the spectrum are the opponents of reductionism who are appalled by what they feel to be the bleakness of modern science. To whatever extent they and their world can be reduced to a matter of particles or fields and their interactions, they feel diminished by that knowledge….I would not try to answer these critics with a pep talk about the beauties of modern science. The reductionist worldview is chilling and impersonal. It has to be accepted as it is, not because we like it, but because that is the way the world works.
Some agree with this stark view, some don’t.
Others have tried to argue that developments such as chaos theory tell us that new kinds of laws come into play when the level of complexity of a system increases. Understanding the behavior of an electron or quark is one thing; using this knowledge to understand the behavior of a tornado is quite another. On this point, most agree. But opinions diverge on whether the diverse and often unexpected phenomena that can occur in systems more complex than individual particles truly represent new physical principles at work, or whether the principles involved are derivative, relying, albeit in a terribly complicated way, on the physical principles governing the enormously large number of elementary constituents.
The discovery of the final theory would not spell the end of science. Quite the contrary.
My own feeling is that they do not represent new and independent laws of physics. Although it would be hard to explain the properties of a tornado in terms of the physics of electrons and quarks, I see this as a matter of calculational impasse, not an indicator of the need for new physical laws. But again, there are some who disagree with this view.
Greene sees our inability to explain the properties of a tornado in terms of the physics of its constituent particles as a matter of “calculational impasse” rather than an indication that we need new physical laws.
A fresh start for science
What is largely beyond question, and is of primary importance to the journey described in my book The Elegant Universe, is that even if one accepts the debatable reasoning of the staunch reductionist, principle is one thing and practice quite another. Almost everyone agrees that finding the T.O.E. would in no way mean that psychology, biology, geology, chemistry, or even physics had been solved or in some sense subsumed. The universe is such a wonderfully rich and complex place that the discovery of the final theory, in the sense we are describing here, would not spell the end of science.
Quite the contrary: The discovery of the T.O.E.—the ultimate explanation of the universe at its most microscopic level, a theory that does not rely on any deeper explanation—would provide the firmest foundation on which to build our understanding of the world. Its discovery would mark a beginning, not an end. The ultimate theory would provide an unshakable pillar of coherence forever assuring us that the universe is a comprehensible place.
This feature originally appeared on the site for the NOVA program The Elegant Universe.
Brian Greene is a professor of physics and mathematics at Columbia University and a leading string theorist. He is author of The Elegant Universe: Superstrings, Hidden Dimensions, and the Quest for the Ultimate Theory (Norton, 1999), from which this article was adapted with kind permission of the publisher.
The Unified Field | Quantum Physics and
Cosmological Understandings of Universal Forces
You’ve heard of quantum physics, right?
Quantum psychics, science dealing with the behaviour of matter and light on the atomic and subatomic scale. It attempts to describe and account for the properties of molecules and atoms and their constituents—electrons, protons, neutrons, and other more esoteric particles such as quarks and gluons. These properties include the interactions of the particles with one another and with electromagnetic radiation (i.e., light, X-rays, and gamma rays).
Quantum theory – fundamental theory of matter and energy that explains facts that previous physical theories were unable to account for, in particular the fact that energy is absorbed and released in small, discrete quantities (quanta), and that all matter displays both wavelike and particlelike properties
The behaviour of matter and radiation on the atomic scale often seems peculiar, and the consequences of quantum theory are accordingly difficult to understand and to believe. Its concepts frequently conflict with common-sense notions derived.
Quantum Physics is also the study of the forces that act on atomic and subatomic entities.
There are five main ideas represented in Quantum Theory:
Energy is not continuous, but comes in small but discrete units.
The elementary particles behave both like particles and like waves.
The movement of these particles is inherently random
It is physically impossible to know both the position and the momentum of a particle at the same time. The more precisely one is known, the less precise the measurement of the other is.The atomic world is nothing like the world we live in.
Quantum Physics also studies the fields through which forces move. Example of fields are the gravitational field and electromagnetic field. A field can extend throughout a large region of space so that its influence is all-pervading.
Standard quantum physics has three primary areas of focus:
Quantum mechanics: The study of the structure and behavior of subatomic particles.
Quantum electrodynamics: QED – A “field” theory of the interaction primarily of electrons and the electromagnetic field; a theory of light (photons).
Quantum chromodynamics: A theory of the strong force, and the interactions of quarks and gluons.
Quantum Physics Models: There is not one quantum theory, but many theories, each interpreting the same body of experimental facts:
The Standard Model (the most widely accepted theory)
Space Resonance Theory (Wave Structure of Matter) (wave- dominant theory)
Quantum theory evolved in an endeavor to understand the fundamental properties of matter. Albert Einstein coined the term “Unified Field Theory,” which describes any attempt to unify the fundamental forces of physics between elementary particles into a single theoretical framework.
It was Einstein’s deep conviction that the laws of nature had a simple, geometric, unified foundation and that this unification could be understood by the human intellect. In an attempt to construct such a unified theory, he devoted the later part of his life to extending his geometric theory of gravity, known as general relativity, to include the electromagnetic force. Unfortunately, the theoretical tools and understanding needed to achieve such a unification were not yet available.
Progress during the past decade has led to a more unified understanding of the laws of nature in the recent discovery of completely unified field theories. The parallel discovery of a unified field of consciousness raises fundamental questions concerning the relationship between the two.
The discovery of the Unified Field occurred in several steps. First, progress in quantum physics brought to light that all phenomena in nature can be understood in terms of different, underlying quantum fields. In particular, physicists discovered that all the known, dynamic interactions in nature can be described in terms of four separate fundamental force fields—the force fields of the electromagnetic, weak, strong, and gravitational interactions. With progress in unified quantum field theories, however, it was realized that all these different force fields (as well as the different matter fields) are simply different aspects of one single Unified Field of Natural Law, the holistic transcendental field underlying all manifest phenomena found in Nature.
The discovery that the Unified Field is a field of complete self-referral dynamism at the basis of nature’s functioning gives rise to a new, unified understanding of the fundamentals of creation. Since self-referral is the characteristic quality of consciousness, and since the Unified Field of Natural Law is a completely self-referral field, it is natural to conclude that the unmanifest, quantum-mechanical Unified Field of Natural Law is identical* with the field of consciousness in its pure, self-referral state. The self-referral state of consciousness, Transcendental Consciousness, or pure consciousness, is a state in which consciousness knows itself in a completely self-sufficient manner; consciousness is its own subject, its own object, and its own subject-object relationship.
The Unified Field is an intelligent field of energy that permeates everything.
This living energetic essence is the seat of the soul and is the
container within which our life and the entire universe exists.
The Unified Field is a scientifically proven intelligent field of energy
that permeates and connects everything in the world and universe.
We, ourselves, are part of this vast dynamic field of inter-connectivity and energy exchange.
It is an unseen energy source, multidimensional in nature, and permeating all space. It is above and around our planetary body, in the atmosphere, near the ground and reaches deep into the very core of our Earth. It connects human consciousness and even bridges our planet with the universe.
The Unity Matrix gives the Unified Field its form. It is likened to the meridian pathways of the human body through which electrical impulses travel from point to point throughout the entire nervous system.
In acupuncture, the use of needles communicates the intent and sensation to create positive change in the energy flow of the nerve meridians. Likewise, thought and feeling intention by individuals and groups sent into the Unity Matrix create change in the nature and flow of information transferred within the Unified Field.
Through a real life experiential program, Children of the Sun Foundation also discovered just how profoundly powerful a tool it can be in the transformation of consciousness by ordinary people.
Scientific Resources:
Scientists and quantum physicists have produced a plethora of quantifiable research that offers sound evidence that the Unified Field exists and that our thoughts and emotions are capable of profoundly affecting all aspects of our lives and world.
It is also through proven research that the quantity of collectively focused, meditative people needed to affect major change for a given population is the square root of one percent. This means that only 8,000 of us engaged in collective meditation are needed to affect transformation on a global scale! Can you now begin to understand the impact we can have with the Unity Transmissions. We are well over this mark in the numbers of people joining us in collective global effort!
The Unity Matrix
OUR NEW FOUNDATION FOR CONSCIOUS LIVING
According to the cutting-edge scientific theory of quantum physics, there is a direct relationship between our physical reality and an energy field known as the Unified Field or “field of possibility”. This field is affected when focused thought and feeling intention is projected onto it. The Unity Matrix is the means of sending these thoughts and intentions.
“Unity Matrix” is the term used to describe the complex grid-like pathway or matrix of high-frequency energy transference that is part of the Earth’s energy field. Much like a telecommunications system, its energy travels from one “power cell” of consciousness to another. Examples of these power cells are mountains, pyramids and vortexes, places on the Earth with high-energy concentration.
When individuals or groups consciously connect with the matrix, it’s like making a phone call. Your phone connects you to the power cell and allows communication to take place. On the Unity Matrix, these “calls” are acts of intended energy transference. Instead of talking, one thinks and feels from the purity of heart intention. In so doing, profound changes can be manifested.
THE PURPOSE AND KEY FEATURES
The Unity Matrix is a pathway of communication and energy transfer. This worldwide energetic web, can be viewed as a transitory bridge, leading us from one grid of consciousness to another.
Its purpose is to support the planetary evolution of consciousness leading us away from the program of separation and into a truer reality of union, harmony and goodwill towards all life
Collective unified intention through meditative focus is the most potent transformation tool that is being encouraged through this influential program.
If everything you see, taste, touch, smell and hear is a part of your consciousness and consciousness is a form of energy, then what is the world we see? It’s called the Unified Field, which suggests everything is energy and therefore everything is connected. It is influenced by something called the Global Consciousness. The Global Consciousness is in simplest terms, a collective consciousness. The collective energy of thoughts, feelings, emotions, beliefs, experiences, etc. Each of us contributes to it. It acts mostly as a governing force to the world and how the world operates according to how we think and believe.
The “Unity Transmissions” is a proven program that joins thousands of people together every new and full moon to enter into heart-centered group consciousness and to strengthen our connection with the Divine Presence.
By synchronizing our thoughts into a matrix of pure intention, we are co-creating a harmonic resonant field that vibrates as a living entity of influential intelligence.
Further, this Unity Matrix holds the frequency encodments to our greater human potential because it has been built by people who have awakened and actualized Divine Consciousness!
Serving as an extension of this powerful unity network, we can each receive and transmit pure, love-based frequencies to and from the geographic locations in which we live. We build our own networks of light and the channeled webbing expands into greater fields of global coherence.
This extraordinary field of unification creates an influential forcefield capable of healing and transforming the multitude and reaching into every corner of the world.
The goal of the Unity Transmissions is to amplify the power of love on Earth to such a degree that the resultant global shift in conscious frequency will eventually eliminate the program of conflict and suffering from our planet.
How it Works –
The Unity Transmissions are focused acts of energy transference, uniting and linking our collective consciousness to become one purified, highly tuned vibrational field.
It uplifts us into a higher vibrational frequency where new conscious perceptions can be discovered. It is then that we can truly heal and be transformed.
The Unity Transmissions occur over a full 24-hour period on each day of the new and full moon. There is a synchronized meditation period from 8-9 pm in all time zones. This creates a building unified wave of energy, sustained for a 24-hour period and rippling across the globe.
On these days:
Consciously set your intention to connect and receive.
Hold this intention throughout the entire day, a full 24 hours.
Set aside some private time to enter into a calm and silent space, preferably at 8 pm. If you cannot make the unified mediation at 8 pm, choose another hour for a dedicated meditative space.
Stay consciously aware of the Divine Presence within throughout the entire day.
Feel this Divine Presence as one with the entire group energy field.
When we discover that all beings are part of the seamless fabric of creation, it naturally awakens in us a sense of connection with and compassion for the rest of life. We automatically broaden our scope of empathy and concern when we realize that we are inseparable from all that exists. We
no longer see ourselves as isolated entities whose being stops at the edge of our skin, and whose empathy stops with our family, or our race, or our nation. We see that, because we all arise simultaneously from a deep ocean of life-energy, a vital connection always exists among all beings.
The new paradigm that is emerging represents a convergence of insights from modern science and the world’s spiritual traditions. At the heart of the new paradigm is a startling idea — that our cosmos is not a fragmented and lifeless machine (as we have believed for centuries) but is instead a unified and living organism. Although it is new for our times, the idea that the universe is alive is an ancient one. More than two thousand years ago, Plato described the universe as “one Whole of wholes” and “a single Living Creature which encompasses all of the living creatures that are within it.
Although there is no clear agreement among scientists as to what constitutes a living system, it seems reasonable that if our cosmos
is alive, it would exhibit specific properties that are characteristic of all life — such as being a unified entity, having some form of consciousness, and being able to reproduce itself. As we shall explore, these are among the properties of our universe that are emerging from modern science.
Duane Elgin
Related:
A Scientific Programme to Create Lasting World Peace
This document offers a practical, scientifically proven programme for peaceful conflict resolution and for the creation of lasting World Peace. This approach to World Peace eliminates the root cause of conflicts and wars—lack of coherence due to accumulation of stress in collective consciousness—and thereby establishes a permanent state of peace and harmony for all nations.
My answer is: Yes. While some may think that procrastination is part and parcel of everyday living and it will be experienced in everything we do, this belief comes from not truly understanding what causes procrastination. Life is certainly not about procrastinating and putting off doing things. By fully understanding what causes procrastination and dealing with the problem at the root, it is the first step to overcoming it.
So if that’s the case, how can you address procrastination?
Procrastination: Symptom of the Issue
To overcome procrastination, you must first realize that procrastination isn’t the real issue.
Procrastination is just the symptom of the issue. The same goes for laziness, poor time management, or lack of self-discipline.
Most people are quick to pinpoint these as the root causes of problems because these are the most accessible answers. The real
reason is something underneath that.
“There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio,
than are dreamt of in your philosophy.”
~ William Shakespeare
It happens to people all the time these days. Something prompts you to look at a digital clock at exactly the same time of day or night—1:11, 3:33, 4:44. You think of someone and soon thereafter that person contacts you. Or you’ve just read an article, you get into your car, and while driving along you notice that the numbers and letters on the license plate in front of you reflect the subject of the article you’ve just finished reading. Or, you see spelled out on the truck driving along in the lane next to yours the actual words or names that appeared in the article.
The odds against such occurrences are so great that when we notice them, they tend to stop us dead in our tracks. Like scenes of exquisite beauty, they take our breath away. Playing back the sequence of events in our minds, we realize that had we left home one minute later, or had the red light lasted 30 seconds longer, we would have missed the license plate or the sign on the truck. The more we think about it, the more we realize that such perfectly choreographed events cannot happen randomly. And if we think about it long enough, we come up against the limits of the rational mind.
Interestingly, it was the power of synchronicity to overwhelm the rational mind that held significance for Carl Jung (1875-1961), the Swiss psychiatrist who coined the term and brought the phenomenon to light. Jung recognized that synchronicity, which he defined as meaningful coincidence, had the effect of breaking through the “rationalistic shell” of the modern scientific mind. It is a form of coincidence powerful enough to shatter the notion that material science has discovered all there is to know about the universe. To the person having an experience of synchronicity, the realization dawns that a mysterious force is at play in the world—a kind of “cosmic clock” whose gears operate on a more subtle plane.
Modern science—based on the physical laws of cause and effect—measures and validates the relationship between cause and effect in the dimensions of time and space. What fascinated Jung about synchronicity was its acausal nature. He defined it as an “acausal relationship of events,” as there is no apparent explanation for the occurrence of two simultaneous events, one subjective and one objective. Further adding to the mystery, Jung noted that the occurrence has special meaning for the person who experiences it. This implies that unknown forces in our universe have the capacity to make visible, in the world of concrete form, the contents of the invisible realm of consciousness.
A classic illustration of synchronicity presented by Jung involved one of his patients, a woman with a highly developed rational mind— a fact that made her psychoanalytic treatment difficult. One day she was telling Jung about a dream she had had in which she received a golden scarab, a beetle with significance in Egyptian mythology. Just at that moment, Jung reported, he heard a noise “like a gentle tapping” on his window. When he opened the window, a scarab-like beetle flew in. Jung caught the beetle and presented it to his patient saying, “Here’s your scarab.” The stunning impact of this synchronicity overwhelmed the defenses of her rational mind and led to a breakthrough in her treatment.
Remarkably, Jung’s pioneering exploration of the phenomenon of synchronicity appears to have been an extraordinary synchronicity itself with regard to the unfoldment of human consciousness. His first writings on the subject were published in the 1950s, a pivotal time in the evolution of consciousness, when individuals around the world first began to report experiences that surpassed the limits of the concrete mind. Jung’s ideas on synchronicity added fuel to the revolution in consciousness that exploded in the 1960s, as growing numbers of educated people began to glimpse (whether through spiritual methods or psychopharmacological drugs) invisible dimensions of reality.
By the 1970s, the idea of synchronicity had begun to filter into films and novels, and by the 80s, into popular music and games. The extraordinary worldwide success of The Celestine Prophecy, published in 1993, revealed that millions of people on our planet were by then familiar with the experience of synchronicity. The first of the book’s nine “Insights,” presented by author James Redfield as fundamental to the process of spiritual unfoldment, was the importance of meaningful coincidences. He wrote:
The First Insight is a reconsideration of the inherent mystery that surrounds our individual lives on this planet. We are experiencing these mysterious coincidences, and even though we don’t understand them yet, we know they are real. We are sensing again, as in childhood, that there is another side of life that we have yet to discover, some other process operating behind the scenes.
For many awakening souls, the phenomenon of synchronicity provides a direct and unmistakable encounter with the mysteries of the spiritual realm. Because the experience has particular meaning to the individual involved, it has the power to open a portal to “the world of meaning,” which is the world of the soul in the wisdom teachings. Through a dramatic convergence of internal and external realms—in time and space—a kind of rending of the veil occurs for the one experiencing it. It is as if a “wormhole” into the realm of the soul and the invisible dimensions of the universe suddenly appears.
The invisible, subtle dimension of spirit that is closest to our personalities (on the other side of the veil) is the realm of the soul, a realm technically related to the higher dimensions of mind, but one which also provides access to the plane of higher intuition.While the personality exists in a world of constantly changing circumstances and events, the soul dwells in a world of meaning. From the perspective of the soul, the world of outer circumstances is a kaleidoscopic collection of symbols. Everything that we experience on the material plane is symbolic of something hidden within the deeper folds of consciousness.
As the soul awakens, it turns to the “task” of uncovering the meaning of life experiences, attempting to discern what each new circumstance may be trying to teach us. The discernment of meaning is integral to advancement in this schoolhouse of life. Once the needed learning has been extracted from difficult lessons, they no longer have to be repeated. By observing synchronicities and trying to fathom their meaning, we are drawn into the world of the soul, thus accelerating our progress on the path of transformation.
Just as the material world functions according to physical laws of cause and effect, the laws that govern physical science, there exist spiritual laws of cause and effect—on subtle levels of consciousness—that govern our existence as souls. What we experience on this earth, as individuals, communities, nations, and civilizations, is conditioned by the law of karma, or cause and effect. With the soul’s awakening, we become aware of the functioning of this law, and we learn to mitigate the effects of causes previously set in motion. We do this by learning to see the contents of our outer lives as symbols, distilling their meaning, and assuming responsibility for changing harmful patterns.
Given the present state of our world, the wisdom of the soul is more urgently needed than ever. Could it be that increasing incidences of synchronicity are intended to direct the attention of awakening humanity to the realm of the soul? By rending the veil between the world of material living and spiritual realms—even for a fleeting moment—these experiences appear to be catalysts for spiritual evolution, acting to accelerate our transition into the new era. Inexplicable by physical laws, they draw our attention away from the outer world, towards the more subtle realm governed by spiritual laws. These happenings are propelling us forward to the time when the soul will emerge into the foreground of human consciousness, to become the foundation of a truly new civilization and culture.
The fact that synchronistic phenomena are growing and spreading seems irrefutable. Compared to the era when Jung first wrote about them, a half century ago, the occurrence of these mind-bending experiences has become almost commonplace. Recently, a radio program that features cutting-edge topics devoted two hours to a discussion of them. People called in to share uncanny incidents, many of which involved numbers, such as 1-1-1. One caller, a trucker, said that he saw three ones everywhere he looked—on digital clocks, license plates, restaurant checks, street addresses. His tone of voice conveyed a sense of wonder, like all the other callers, sounding like awestruck 21st century mystics.
The how and why of these events remain great and unsolved mysteries. But we do have some hints about how synchronicity may work, both from physical science and esoteric science. In the science of electricity, one of the meanings of the word “synchronous” is “having the same frequency.” In esoteric science, we learn that the key to opening a portal to a higher dimension of consciousness lies in attaining the same frequency as that higher dimension. The Tibetan Master has written: “Only synchronous vibration to that which lies on the other side of the door produces its opening.
In some mysterious way, synchronicity seems to be heightening the sensitivity of large numbers of human beings to the reality of a higher dimension of consciousness. When the experience occurs, it causes us to register the objective reality of a more subtle plane of existence. When it occurs in our lives repeatedly, and with growing frequency, we realize that an invisible, intelligent force is trying to attract our attention. This force, by whatever name we call it, appears to be actively involved in thinning the veil between spirit and matter—for those who are responsive to it. Perhaps the phenomenon of synchronicity is serving to smooth the way from an age mired in the vibration of dense matter into an age that will flower in resonance with the vibration of the Soul.
