Hopcke, Jungian psychotherapist, explores moments of synchronicity surrounding our lives if we'd only look around. It's organized well with some good food for thought. unfortunately, it's drier than stale bread. ( )

Knowing ahead of time that this book was about synchronicity, I was happy to have “accidentally” found it on the sale shelf of my public library and finally remove it from my wishlist. I had expected something completely different from this book, though. Before reading it, I thought it would be the explanation of why synchronistic experiences happen. I expected some paranormal or New Age type of reasoning. What I got, though, was a thorough explanation of the psychological aspects of synchronicity explained through the ideology of Carl Jung.

I’m not sure I understood everything I read, but I thoroughly enjoyed the descriptions of sychronistic events related to the author by others and which he describes at length throughout the book. He explains that the basis of sychronicity is the fact that two related experiences, one internal and one external, are not caused by each other but are related in a meaningful manner. How we react to them is based on how we subjectively interpret them. I was almost disappointed in the intellectualization of this description even though the author's in-depth discussion about this topic fascinated me.

My reprieve, however, came in the book's closing chapters. There the author goes on to say that so much energy is involved with the process of dying that synchronistic events at that time cannot be explained merely through psychology alone. Phew! At least I got that.

I’m not sure I’ll undertake reading Carl Jung’s theory of synchronicity, but this was quite a nice introduction. I agree with the author who suggests taking note of synchronistic happenings and giving them a nod. Not always do they need to be explained. ( )

Book Description: Riverhead Books New York 1997. Soft cover Near Fine in soft covers.

http://www.deathcookie.com/node/259 ( )