Thanks for your kind words. :)
I think that meaning and probability are probably closely related concepts. If things go as expected in the routine sort of way, meaning is usually very low. But when there is more uncertainty or something unexpected or more opportunity for choice, then meaning increases. I've said this a few times on here and maybe I sound like a broken record to some, but I think that meaning is generated by story and story could be thought of as the "4-D line" we trace out throughout our lives. We use spatial terms to describe stories. When the storyline is boring we say it is "flat." When the storyline takes a "plot twist" (through the 5th dimension) meaning is high. Think of an author writing a novel... the author might scatter foreshadowing clues throughout the book and begin arranging things in chapter 1 that affect the climax in chapter 33. The key events in chapter 42 would also have lines tracing back to the climax in chapter 33. If you were to draw out the storyline as a timeline and draw arcs from the point of the climactic event back to all these foreshadowing clues and all the key points in the plot that were actually setting it up, y.
Another very impressive post by you, Hurmanetar, but I feel the need to bring this conversation somewhat closer to earth :), I hope you and all the others here won't mind. I understand your reasoning because you base it on what for me is a pretty abstract definition of the concept of "meaning". Basically if I understand correctly, you see meaning and improbability as highly correlated ("If things go as expected in the routine sort of way, meaning is usually very low"). For me, on the contrary, meaning is related to intelligibility and communicative intention, so the more unlikely or bizarre the coincidence the "crazier" it feels to me (like a schizophrenic confabulating - no meaning to be extracted there, sadly, at least with reference to the kind of the meaning I am looking for) and the less likely I am to interpret it as "meaningful".
After all, as I said in a previous post, based on current data synchronicities may or may not be "caused" by some entity having intentions or just be ripples emerging due to the very nature of the fabric of reality that you, among other, postulate (btw Jung used the term "constellate" to avoid the contradiction in terms inherent in using the verb "to cause" in connection with synchronicities, which are by definition "acausal events" - at least based on the causes science recognises at present) That's why I do not endorse the use of the expression "meaningful coincidence" as a synonym for "synchronicity": I do not see synchronicities as necessarily imbued with meaning, in the sense that the word "meaning" has for me. If it is just an echo in mind-matter, it is not communicating anything, apart from showing me how the universe functions. So one particular synchronicity would not convey additional, specific and intentional meaning. It's only another piece of evidence. Like another apple falling on the ground is additional evidence that gravity exists. But of course some apples may fall for a specific, meaningful purpose while the vast majority of them doesn't (that's also impossible to disprove: some apparent synchronicities may in fact just be coincidences, regardless of their implausibility, who knows....).
I like examples because I feel they help grounding discussions so here's one which I hope will bring back the focus our discussion on the "why" once again :) The "how" is of interest to me, too, but certainly less than the "why". In one of your latest posts on your blog you pinpoint what you appear to consider synchronicities in connection with the Pope's visit to the US. I copy and paste a particularly relevant passage in the context of this discussion:
"
This is the 266th Pope from the first – St. Peter. The Pope decided to arrive at Washington D.C. on 9/23 which happens to be the 266th day of the year. Why is that significant? On average, a woman is pregnant for 266 days before going into labor. In Genesis, it is said that labor pain is the first judgment God gave to mankind. The evening of 9/22 to the evening of 9/23 is 7/10 on the Jewish calendar which is the Day of Atonement. This was the day that God decided how he was going to judge a person for the rest of the year and on 7/11 he would issue that judgement. (Side note: SEPT-ember was originally the 7th month so 9/11 could be thought of as 7/11. And 9/11 in Roman numerals is IXXI which is a re-working of the sign of Saturn and was engraved in Jesuit rings for a time. Pope Francis is the first Jesuit Pope, so he is thus “Lord of the IXXI Rings” and therefore kind of like the eye of Sauron/Saturn between the twin towers… Oh and don’t forget tower 7… 7/11). This year, 9/23 also happened to be the fall equinox – which doesn’t mean much to modern man, but recall that the ancients (and modern secret societies) were all about the Sun worship. Fall equinox is thus symbolic of the time when the powers of darkness overcome the powers of the light. Thus, what is “birthed” on 9/24 is something wicked."
Here are my very straightforward questions:
- do you believe that these dates were deliberately chosen by some kind of "illuminati cabal" which orchestrated this visit in order to make it numerological significant ? (in which case they would not be syncronicities but rather man-made constructs) - I am sure you know that the Internet is rife with similar theories (often considered as "conspiracy theories") about lots of significant world events. Would you subscribe to them wholesale if they feature similar reasonings to yours, or would you look at the numbers and other details to be able to endorse each individual one, even if they should come to very different "political" conclusions to yours?
- or do you believe that some/all things in the universe "line up" like this, a bit like the planets in our solar system do (some even believe that they are there for a purpose and have an influence on our character, destiny and events on earth - I try to be agnostic about this, though of course my rational mind rebels against this idea)
and, if you believe that "it is no coincidence" that things syncronistically line up like this, at least for "major events", why do you think they do? Is the universe/God/call it what you will some kind of author writing a compelling novel (I dislike it intensely, but then again, we all have different tastes) using us as unwitting characters and disseminating clues (which however the vast majority of people are not seeing)? Or are there many authors out there competing and pulling this story in different directions, maybe? Is it really a story or does it only occasionally feature moments of "alignment" (like the one you described) amidst a chaotic and meaningless plot (which doesn't even deserve this name)?
- last but not least, does the fact that you feel you have discovered the synchronicites underlining this particular event make you feel that this is meaningful to you, in the sense that this will guide your life and your choices (say, about which presidential candidate you will vote for) and that therefore it was not just some kind of "striking alignment" but a meaningful message (from whom exactly?) to you and perhaps other fellow Americans, in order to influence the choices in your life?
I would have gazillions of other questions but I'll stop here for the moment. Thank you so much for enabling me to ask these questions which are of great importance to me. I appreciate your take on these things.