Editing Synchronicity (section)

== Paranormal ==
{{Paranormal|para}}
[[File:Brescia Piazza della Loggia Torre dell'Orologio Ziffernblatt 4.jpg|thumb|[[Astrological aspect|Astral configurations]] in [[astrology]] represent for Jung an example of synchronicity, that is, of a parallel, non-causal relationship between the development of celestial phenomena and those marked by terrestrial time.{{sfnp|Jung|1973|p=[https://archive.org/details/synchronicityaca00cgju/page/44 44]}}<ref>Liz Greene, ''Jung's Studies in Astrology: Prophecy, Magic, and the Qualities of Time'', Routledge, 2018.</ref>]]

Jung's use of the concept in arguing for the existence of [[paranormal phenomena]] has been widely considered [[pseudoscientific]] by modern [[scientific scepticism]].<ref name=TSEOP/> Furthermore, his collaborator Wolfgang Pauli objected to his dubious experiments of the concept involving [[astrology]]—which Jung believed to be supported by the laboratory experiments behind the [[uncertainty principle]]'s formulation.<ref name=Kerr2013/> Jung similarly turned to the works of parapsychologist [[Joseph B. Rhine]] to support a connection between synchronicity and the paranormal.<ref name=Kerr2013/> In his book ''[[Synchronicity: An Acausal Connecting Principle]]'', Jung wrote:

<blockquote>How are we to recognize acausal combinations of events, since it is obviously impossible to examine all chance happenings for their causality? The answer to this is that acausal events may be expected most readily where, on closer reflection, a causal connection appears to be inconceivable.{{sfnp|Jung|1973|p=[https://archive.org/details/synchronicityaca00cgju/page/8 8]}}

It is impossible, with our present resources, to explain ESP [<nowiki/>[[extrasensory perception]]], or the fact of meaningful coincidence, as a phenomenon of energy. This makes an end of the causal explanation as well, for "effect" cannot be understood as anything except a phenomenon of energy. Therefore it cannot be a question of cause and effect, but of a falling together in time, a kind of simultaneity. Because of this quality of simultaneity, I have picked on the term "synchronicity" to designate a hypothetical factor equal in rank to causality as a principle of explanation.{{sfnp|Jung|1973|p=[https://archive.org/details/synchronicityaca00cgju/page/19 19]}}</blockquote>

Roderick Main, in the introduction to his 1997 book ''Jung on Synchronicity and the Paranormal'', wrote:<ref>{{cite book|last1=Main|first1=Roderick|title=Jung on Synchronicity and the Paranormal|url=https://archive.org/details/jungonsynchronic00carl|url-access=registration|date=1997|publisher=Princeton University Press|page=[https://archive.org/details/jungonsynchronic00carl/page/n8 1]|isbn=9780691058375}}</ref>

{{Quotation|The culmination of Jung's lifelong engagement with the paranormal is his theory of synchronicity, the view that the structure of reality includes a principle of acausal connection which manifests itself most conspicuously in the form of meaningful coincidences. Difficult, flawed, prone to misrepresentation, this theory none the less remains one of the most suggestive attempts yet made to bring the [[paranormal]] within the bounds of intelligibility. It has been found relevant by psychotherapists, parapsychologists, researchers of spiritual experience and a growing number of non-specialists. Indeed, Jung's writings in this area form an excellent general introduction to the whole field of the paranormal.}}