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                                                   G.A. WILLIAMS’ THEORY: My Synchronicity Theory Works (part ) 

… The key to understanding the nature of the process that leads to the production of synchronicities from a naturalistic perspective entails treating them as byproducts of human beings accommodating creative solutions to resolve seemingly intractable problems.   

                                                                                                                        G. Williams ¹

09/25/72   My father dies…

09/25/72   Synchronicity - a gap of 6 Days - Age 35

          #10   “Spinoza, Myself and the Will”   

            Immediate Situational Context:

I experience a need for both fusion and realistic boundaries simultaneously. I speculate that synchronicities may be naturalistically explained utilizing a combination of Waelder’s (1936)  principle of multiple function; ² concepts from ego psychology; and self psychology – incorporating Jung’s emphasis on teleology [purposeful goals] resulting in a totally psychodynamic interpretation]. My father dies. My marriage worsens. [It is very difficult for me to keep focused.] I am aware that I need to put my will [desires, intentions, aims] under the control of my ego, that is, I have to be able to harness and focus them at will.

          The synchronicity:

            At the very moment that I have the thought that I need to put my will under the control

of my ego, I randomly turn to a page in Spinoza’s Ethics (1954 )  alighting on a section that describes the concept of  controlling one’s will. ³

           My Reaction:

       I again experience myself as being on the right path. That is, I should continue to thoroughly understand this concept as it resonates to my own direct experience.

Follow up:

Although certain that my priority task is to continue to do all I can to further attain synthesis by harnessing and directing my powers, I am equally as certain I unable do so alone. I also am intuitively aware that although I am learning a great deal in my supervisory experience it is mainly cognitive. I sense that I have to somehow bring my negative feelings into the picture to obtain the total integration I have been longing to have. However, this means risking once again an intimate experience with another real person in an intimate relationship wherein I am required to be absolutely open and honest.

Whereas I feel as if I have no other choice but to try this path once again, I am painfully aware that my track record has been poor. In this connection, I experience myself locked in an internal civil war: one side daring, adventurous, open to discovery; the other fear ridden, insecure, and closed. The net result was that once again I felt stuck in a cleft stick quintessentially doubting my chances of significantly effecting significant change.

 I was stuck between the need to find a good father substitute and a belief that such a relationship was probably not in the cards for me. Thus, although only one day passed since my last meaningful coincidence, once again – only a day later- I found myself at another fork in the road.

Situational and Psychological Contexts Pre Synchronicity # 11

(September 25th^t, l972 – September 26^th, l972)   a one day gap 09/23/72   I Realize My Father is Really Dead – All Men are Mortal, Including Myself

Upon the death of my father I felt simultaneously more free and more enslaved.  I was freed forever from his negative judgment but not freed from my own. I wondered if I would ever truly be free enough to take my ideas seriously. Part of my difficulty in doing so was a difficulty I was having understanding the psychodynamic understanding of the meaning of meaning. I consulted my supervisor as to his understanding about the meaning of meaning. My supervisor gives me a cogent answer to my question: what is the   psychodynamic understanding of the meaning of meaning? He explains that the problem of meaningfulness in terms of psychoanalytic metapsychology are its  preconditions. To have an experience of meaningfulness a person has first to experience the internalization of positive inner objects. A pre condition to have good internalized objects is the necessity to have had a relationship with one or more objects that have been substantially warm,  and responsive to hold onto. ⁴

Later that day I record into my journal my thoughts about two types of people, each one with a distinctly different attitude towards the unknown. Type one views the unknown as bounded, expressed as a just so story – this is the way it is – an existential point of view; the other, type two, views the unknown as a never ending mystery – a jumping off point for generating additional questions. Type one stops action; type two explores.

         The synchronicity:

I turn at random in a book called The Unobstructed Universe (1988) to page 45 that draws a distinction between the obstructed universe that is limited and the un- obstructed universe that is unlimited. ⁵ 

           My Reaction:

This synchronicity reinforces my ideas about the nature of synchronicity prone individuals of which I am familiar. In my experience such people have suffered from a deprivation of meaningful connectedness that predisposes them to tirelessly search for pathways to meaningful connections as a life theme. [I added]: This is story of my life.

Follow Up:

My priority was clear that I had to find an atmosphere in which I would experience an openness allowing me to bring out my best. Realizing I could no longer do it alone, I knew I would have to ally myself with someone but I wasn’t ready to do so until now.

Although I knew exactly what I had to do I was gun shy, fearing that I would repeat the same negative experience that I had with practically every important male authority I had worked with in the past. I felt caught between the need to reach out once again versus keeping myself guarded.