ABSTRACT
It might seem appropriate to begin my exposition by defi ning the concept with which it deals. But I would rather approach the subject the other way and fi rst give you a brief description of the facts which the concept of synchronicity is intended to cover. As its etymology shows, this term has something to do with time or, to be more accurate, with a kind of simultaneity. Instead of simultaneity we could also use the concept of a meaningful coincidence of two or more events, where something other than the probability of chance is involved. A statistical – that is, a probable – concurrence of events, such as the ‘duplication of cases’ found in hospitals, falls within the category of chance. Groupings of this kind can consist of any number of terms and still remain within the framework of the probable and rationally possible. Thus, for instance, someone chances to notice the number on his street-car ticket. On arriving home he receives a telephone call during which the same number is mentioned. In the evening he buys a theatre ticket that again has the same number. The three events form a chance grouping that, although not likely to occur often, nevertheless lies well within the framework of probability owing to the frequency of each of its terms. I would like to recount from my own experience the following chance grouping, made up of no fewer than six terms:
On April 1, 1949, I made a note in the morning of an inscription containing a fi gure that was half man and half fi sh. There was fi sh for lunch. Somebody mentioned the custom of making an ‘April fi sh’ of someone. In the afternoon, a former patient of mine, whom I had not seen for months, showed me some impressive pictures of fi sh. In the evening, I was shown a piece of embroidery with sea monsters and fi shes in it. The next morning, I saw a former patient, who was visiting me for the fi rst time in ten years. She had dreamed of a large fi sh the night before. A few months later, when I was using this series for a larger work and had just fi nished writing it down, I walked over to a spot by the lake in front of the house, where I had already been several times that morning. This time a fi sh a foot long lay on the sea-wall. Since no one else was present, I have no idea how the fi sh could have got there.
