Home PageAustralasian Centre of Chinese Studies (ACCS)
(School of Chinese Languages in Melbourne and Sydney)
Article from our newsletters:
(For our free quarterly newsletter, be on our mailing list!):
From our previous newsletter
(Vol7No2):
THE TAO OF COINCIDENCES
For many years I have been interested
in coincidences. I often wonder is it because of the Taoist in
me that I seemed to pay more attention to coincidences than most
people whom I worked with. But then, those who worked with me
at the university were very scientific and decried anything that
smacked even vaguely of mysticism. Anything that could not lend
itself to scientific scrutiny was suspect in the great corridors
of learning. I often mused about the possibility of measuring
love scientifically since these scientists were often the same
people who were in hot pursuit of that mysterious magical feeling.
Coincidence, chance or is it an anonymous message from God, your
Higher Self or the universe? Several years ago, a book called
the Celestine Prophecy became an international bestseller. It
was a rather trite plot about a man in search of something, like
many of us. As he went along his journey, he received many insights.
Written by an unknown writer by the name of Redfield, the book
touched a cord in many of us. As I read the book, I recognised
some of Carl Jung's ideas, chief of which was his idea of synchronicity
or meaningful coincidence. There is a difference between mere
coincidences and synchronicities.
As Jung would have said: if you walk out of your house, a bird
jumps in front of you - that is a coincidence. When you get to
work, a colleague tells you a story about a bird that jumps in
front of the hero and so on.... that is a synchronicity. Synchronicity
is a coincidence that has a meaning for you. In other word, synchronicities
are events that connect the subjective state, ie. the mind of
a person to an objective event. Once the mind is involved, it
is usually the hidden mind, in other words the unconscious. We
need to look for the underlying message when synchronicities
occur. It is much like deciphering a dream. It is my belief that
all of us have encountered many synchronicities in our lives.
They occur mostly when we need them but may be too busy to hear
the message. Someone said that synchronicities are anonymous
messages from God. Or your Higher Self. Synchronicities suggest
that the Tao is the underlying unifying principle of all things
under heaven or tian. Invisible, mysterious and mystical, the
Tao of life and love is simply that: we are all connected forever
and ever in the universe and in a deeply profound sense, we are
the universe.
May all your coincidences be deep and meaningful and may the
Tao bring you joy always.
In Australia? |
Top of PageMANDARIN CHINESE USING ACCELERATED LEARNING TECHNIQUES