ABSTRACT

This chapter discusses some ideas about synchronicity and individuation that emerged from contemplating a series of fairytales, dreamlike stories that have served for centuries as dreams for the collective. Mansfield states that in synchronicity, outer events meaningfully relate to a subjective psychological state, such as a dream, fantasy, or feeling. C. G. Jung understood causal connection through meaning, or synchronicity, as complementary to causal explanations, and as an expression of the guidance of the Self. Synchronicities and dreams are both experiences in which unconscious forces alter our perception of something. The dream is a "uniting fact," a focal point for a complex of inner and outer events occurring at a meaningful time moment. A particular symbol or archetype may play a pivotal role in our individuation, and its appearance often occurs through synchronicities. Like synchronicities, some dreams have the character of spiritual interventions and awakenings.