astronomy

Synchronicity (book)

Synchronicity (book) is a astronomy topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Synchronicity (book) rather than just read about it. In short: Synchronicity: An Acausal Connecting Principle, by Carl Gustav Jung, is a book published by Princeton University Press in 1960. It was extracted from Structure & Dynamics of the Psyche, which is volume 8 in The Collected Works of C.

Key takeaways

Synchronicity (book) belongs to astronomy; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Synchronicity (book) to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Synchronicity (book) from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Synchronicity: An Acausal Connecting Principle, by Carl Gustav Jung, is a book published by Princeton University Press in 1960. It was extracted from Structure & Dynamics of the Psyche, which is volume 8 in The Collected Works of C. G. Jung. The book was also published in 1985 by Routledge.

Summary Jung sees synchronicity as a meaningful coincidence in time, a psychic factor which is independent of space and time. This revolutionary concept of synchronicity both challenges and complements the physicist's classical view of causality. It also forces a basic reconsideration of the meaning of chance, probability, coincidence and the singular events in our lives. Jung was intrigued from early in his career with coincidences, especially those surprising juxtapositions that scientific rationality could not adequately explain. He discussed these ideas with Albert Einstein before World War I, but first used the term synchronicity in a 1930 lecture, in reference to the unusual psychological insights generated from consulting the I Ching. A long correspondence and friendship with the Nobel Prize-winning physicist Wolfgang Pauli inspired a final, mature statement of Jung's thinking on synchronicity, originally published in 1952 and reproduced in this book. Together with a wealth of historical and contemporary material, this essay describes an astrological experiment Jung conducted to test his theory. Synchronicity reveals the full extent of Jung's research into a wide range of psychic phenomena.

Editions Jung, C. G. 1973. Synchronicity: An Acausal Connecting Principle. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press. ISBN 978-0-691-15050-5. Jung, C. G. 1985. Synchronicity: An Acausal Connecting Principle. London: Routledge. ISBN 978-0-415-13649-5.

See also Coincidance, 1988 book by Robert Anton Wilson

References

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Synchronicity (book)

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Synchronicity (book) claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In astronomy, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Synchronicity (book) before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Synchronicity (book) ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Synchronicity (book)

In research: Synchronicity (book) appears in astronomy research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Synchronicity (book) in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Synchronicity (book) is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1960 non-fiction books, Princeton University Press books, Psychology book stubs, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Synchronicity (book) outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Synchronicity (book) in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Synchronicity (book) means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Synchronicity (book) out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Synchronicity (book) in simple terms?

Why does Synchronicity (book) matter?

Because it connects several astronomy ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Synchronicity (book)?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Synchronicity (book).