Synchronicity, Science, and Soulmaking: Understanding Jungian Syncronicity Through Physics, Buddhism, and Philosphy

by Victor Mansfield

The central motif running through this thought-provoking book is Jung's most misunderstood concept, synchronicity. By deftly meshing his interpretation of synchronicity with key concepts in quantum physics and Middle Way Buddhism, Victor Mansfield brings fresh insight to our understanding of synchronicity.

Genres: Psychology, Philosophy, Science, Nonfiction

270 pages, Paperback

First published December 31, 1998

Reviews

[Gerbik · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is about the integration of Quantum Theory, Middle Way Buddhism, and Jungian Depth Psychology. It brings all these strands together into a network that contextualizes the uncanny experience of synchronicity. Synchronicity is a word that has a lot of cache in pop-spirituality circles, but it's actually a very poorly understood phenomenon - in fact, it's the author's position that Jung himself, who first defined synchronicity, had it partially wrong. Essentially, the author sees synchronicity as the irruption of the true order of space and time into our consciousness, and he argues that mind and matter are in fact indivisible: we live in a participatory cosmos wherein the "self" is an operative fiction. Both nihilism and idealism are refuted in this argument in favor of a radically inclusive model of reality.

At times, the argument is annoyingly evasive: he repeats points for emphasis yet fails to contextualize them until much later. As such, the book can leave one cold and confused; many sentences veer into generalities that seem insupportable and contradictory. Nonetheless, the material is extremely slippery by nature, and there aren't many books on the topic. As it unfolds, things come into focus in a rather astounding and satisfying way.

If nothing else, you get a good, thorough survey of Jungian thought, Quantum Theory (esp. Einstein v. Bohr) and Mahayana Buddhism - a worthwhile ticket.

[Jennifer Jones · Rating 5 out of 5]

Some of these synchronicity stories give me chills! I don’t get quantum physics at all, but the universe is just so cool and I love trying to figure it out.

[Michael · Rating 3 out of 5]

A well rounded look at synchronicity phenomena from perspectives of science, psychology, and spirituality. The author is a physicist so he got the science part right. Somewhat dry reading, except the real-life synchronicity anecdotes at the end of each chapter are wonderful.

[Whysper · Rating 1 out of 5]

Unscientific. Useless.

[Bözsi Claussen · Rating 4 out of 5]

I found this book to be an excellent attempt at integrating Jung's idea of synchronicity, contemporary quantum physics and mechanics, and the Middle Way of Buddhism. Well worth reading and, although I don't quite agree with Manfield in some of his conclusions, in the main he convincingly brings these three different ways of approaching time/space so as to accommodate both Jung's ideas and contemporary scientific ideas, set very much, eventually, in the context of Buddhist ideas of nothingness or emptiness.

[Becky · Rating 1 out of 5]

Honestly, I couldn't get through the book. Not even to chapter 3. I felt like I was reading a different language since I had to decipher every sentence, so I have no idea about the theories discussed in this book. That is disappointing since I am very interested in the idea of synchronicity. The sentence structure was just too heady for me, I guess. Shakespeare wasn't even this hard. Maybe I'll go check out Hop on Pop.