The curious phenomenon of synchronicity
José Fernando
“The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear the sound of it, but cannot tell where it comes from and where it goes.” (John 3:8)
Who could imagine the existence of a city founded around citizens with similar genetic characteristics, a true twin city? And yet, such a place really does exist. It is the city of Twinsburg, whose name could literally be translated as “the borough of twins,” or more naturally, “the city of twins.” Located in the American state of Ohio, it is such a unique community that every August it hosts the famous “Twins Festival,” recognized by the Guinness Book as the largest annual gathering of twins and multiples in the world. There, everyone knows one another, celebrates together, sings, competes in sports, and concludes the festivities with a spectacular fireworks display.
It is also interesting to note that this festival attracts scientists and researchers from all countries, who take the opportunity to conduct scientific studies involving twins. Participants share their life stories and even volunteer as subjects for cutting-edge genetic tests. Here, we will highlight one of the most striking cases of behavioral “coincidence” involving twins separated shortly after birth.(1)
Studies initiated at these festivals by psychologist Thomas Bouchard and Dr. Nancy L. Segal, a psychologist and Ph.D. specializing in twin behavioral studies, brought to public attention the story of two twin brothers whose behavioral similarities were both unusual and extraordinary. In her bestselling book Born Together—Reared Apart, winner of the 2013 William James Book Award, Dr. Segal recounts her interviews with the brothers and describes in detail the extensive clinical examinations to which they were subjected. What stands out most in the narrative is the astonishing number of coincidences, not only in their personal inclinations, but also in external events that seem almost impossible to have occurred independently.
Born in 1939, the twins entered the American adoption system and were raised by different families: the Springers and the Lewises. Despite having no connection with one another, both families gave the boys the same first name: James. Thus, they became James Springer and James Lewis, and both were nicknamed “Jim.” Yet this was only the first of countless coincidences. Time passed, and in 1977, after thirty-eight years of separation, Jim Lewis obtained information about the other Jim from court records in Ohio. Following a few phone conversations, the brothers finally met. Astonished, they later told the The New York Times (1979 edition) about their physical similarities: the same height and weight, asymmetrical smiles, and virtually indistinguishable voices. Up to that point, such similarities could be expected of identical twins, also known as monozygotic twins, who originate from the same fertilized egg.
Our reflections are drawn not merely to genetic coincidences, but especially to factors that lie beyond the physical body. More striking still is the abundance of behavioral parallels and simultaneous life events experienced by the brothers, material and psychological events that seem to have unfolded without any obvious causal connection.
Among the most intriguing examples were the following: both men married women named Linda and later had sons named James Alan. Both divorced and subsequently married women named Beth. Their childhood dogs were both named Toy. Their preferred vehicle was a blue Chevrolet. They smoked the same brand of cigarettes and drank the same brand of beer. Professionally, one worked as a security guard at a power plant, while the other served as a deputy sheriff. They lived approximately 70km apart and vacationed in the same seaside town without ever encountering each other.
From the perspective of conventional science, such coincidences may be explained through genetic determinism and environmental influences. Yet a systemic perspective, that is, one that considers the interconnectedness of all things, suggests that we may also be subject to “invisible loyalties” within family systems and perhaps other influences not yet fully understood by science.
Therefore, it lies a crucial point that urges us to look beyond family ties and genetic inheritance, inviting us to consider a greater reality, one not yet fully comprehended, but whose possibility was already glimpsed by both psychological science, through Carl Gustav Jung, and Spiritist thought, through Allan Kardec.
Carl Gustav Jung, the Swiss psychiatrist and psychotherapist who founded Analytical Psychology, came closer to understanding these mysteries of repeated coincidences when he coined a neologism and now-famous term synchronicity. Prior to this, the adjective synchronous simply referred to events occurring at the same time or within the same period, such as live classes or real-time communication.
According to Jung, synchronicity rests on three fundamental pillars: simultaneity (events occur at the same time or in close succession, yet without any causal relationship), subjective meaning (the emotional or symbolic impact is perceived by the individual experiencing the phenomenon, often leading to insights or guidance that promote positive changes in daily life), and psychic and external connection (a relationship emerges between the inner states of the psyche and external events, despite the absence of any apparent logical explanation).
Some scholars have described common experiences as examples of synchronicity, such as opening a book at random and finding precisely the message one needed to read; or thinking about a friend that you have not seen for years and then meeting them the following day or receiving a phone call from them. In his 1952 work Synchronicity: An Acausal Connecting Principle (2), written near the end of his life, Carl Jung consolidated his theory through a personal experience.
While attending a patient in his consulting room, Jung found that the therapeutic process had reached a standstill and he struggled to bring the treatment to a satisfactory conclusion. Suddenly, the patient recalled an event from the week and described a dream in which she had seen a scarab beetle, recounting its details with remarkable detail. At that very moment, Jung heard a loud tapping against the windowpane. He walked over, opened the thick glass window, and was astonished to find a beetle strikingly similar to the one his patient had just described from her dream.
Let us consider the symbolism of this event more closely. In Ancient Egypt, the scarab beetle represented the god Khepri, the rising sun, resurrection, and the eternal renewal of life. From that point onward, the therapeutic process flowed smoothly, enabling Jung to leave an important legacy to humanity.
In another work (3), after extensive scientific and technical reasoning, Jung states:
Matter therefore would contain the seed of spirit and spirit the seed of matter. The long-known “synchronistic” phenomena that have now been statistically confirmed by Rhine’s experiments point, to all appearances, in this direction.
Echoing this Jungian line of thought (4), Allan Kardec presents, in the Introduction to The Gospel According to Spiritism, an elegant and profound reflection on the authority of Spiritist Doctrine in relation to human thought and its scientific, philosophical, and religious implications. According to the master from Lyon, if Spiritism were merely a human conception, it would have as a guarantee only the enlightenment of the one who had conceived it. Consequently, had these teachings originated from a single man, they would have appealed only to his followers, while those who disagreed would naturally oppose them, often relying on their own uncertain and incomplete judgments.
Kardec emphasizes that the strength of Spiritism lies in the universality of the teachings of the Spirits. He argues that:
The only true guarantee for spirits’ teachings is in the overall agreement amongst revelations made spontaneously through a large number of mediums unknown to one other and in several places.
In conclusion, Carl Jung came close to identifying an order that transcends materialistic rational logic. Allan Kardec went a step further, proposing that this still little understood and unknown to science order actively influences our lives. It operates simultaneously across the globe, manifests itself universally, and is perceived subjectively, stimulating within each individual an evolutionary impulse toward the inevitable progress of the Spirit.
Nothing could be more encouraging for us, Spirits indebted to Divine Law, than the conviction that intelligent and loving beings, invisible to our physical eyes, carefully influence our thoughts while respecting our free will. Through suggestions—some seemingly without any definite cause—they encourage us toward genuine happiness and help us recognize the need for growth and self-improvement.
And yet, we still think they are mere coincidences, don’t we?
- AVENTURAS NA HISTÓRIA. Jim Springer e Jim Lewis: os gêmeos separados ao nascer que tiveram vidas incrivelmente parecidas. Available at: https://aventurasnahistoria.com.br/noticias/reportagem/jim-springer-e-jim-lewis. Accessed on: [date].
- JUNG, Carl Gustav. Synchronicity: An Acausal Connecting Principle. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1973, p. 115.
- JUNG, Carl Gustav. The Archetypes and the Collective Unconscious. Translated by R. F. C. Hull. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1969.
- KARDEC, Allan. The Gospel According to Spiritism. Rio de Janeiro: FEB, 2010, Introduction, item II.
