The Meaning Factor in Synchronicity by Nora Mindell
Lecture held in Guarda, Switzerland, on February 24, 1994 (this transcript incorporates Marie-Louise von Franz’s corrections from June 13, 1994).
Mindell: C. G. Jung and M.-L. von Franz emphasize the fact that synchronistic events are characterized not only by an equivalence (and relative simultaneity) between inner and outer events which cannot be explained causally, but also by the factor of meaning.
This occurs when an “observer is in the fortunate position of being able to recognize the tertium comparationis,” to quote Jung.
Von Franz even goes so far as to state that it is essential to interpret the meaning of a synchronistic event correctly.
Therefore, I have begun to study the meaning factor more carefully and would like to summarize some of its general aspects this evening.
Tomorrow night, I will attempt to amplify the meaning factor within the context of my own personal experience of synchronicity.
It is evident when one reads Jung’s works that meaning plays a key role in his general philosophical outlook and approach to the study of the unconscious.
When he tackled the problem of synchronicity, he focused on the issue of meaning by distinguishing between two aspects relevant to understanding it better—namely, the nature of acausal orderedness, in which latent meaning exists, and synchronicity, in which the observer plays a key role by perceiving the meaning that manifests.
In Psyche and Matter, von Franz clarifies this distinction when she points out that acausal orderedness and meaning represent two aspects of the archetypes. Page 135-147
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