Synchronicity

Synchronicity – defined in the online Webster’s as:

the coincidental occurrence of events and especially psychic events … that seem
related but are not explained by conventional mechanisms of causality -- used
especially in the psychology of C. G. Jung

Since Dan’s death we have encountered numerous “coincidental events”. We wonder, have such events always been present in our life but not noticed; or do we notice them now because in the context of our loss such events are given subjective meaning beyond mere coincidence?

Last week we went out to dinner and talked about Danny along the way. As we pulled into the restaurant parking lot the first car we saw had a license plate that read, “DannyXY”. Danny Boy, not just a reference to my stepson’s name, but a song that was played at his memorial service, a song that continues to move us each time we hear it.

Last night I was on this blog and I hit the “Next Blog” button above, which took me to a somewhat unstructured blog about Japan and Japanese culture. Dan was fascinated with all things Japanese and was seriously studying the language at a college level with a tutor who became a family friend. His reward for completing his second round of chemo in June 2001 was a two-week trip to Japan – Tokyo, Kyoto, Nara, Hiroshima, and Himeji – an experience he called the “highlight of his life”. Dan’s intense interest and that trip opened our family to a vista that continues to enrich us.

One of the entries made on the “next blog” yesterday was a five-star review of The Last Samurai, which the unidentified blog writer had seen on Friday evening. On Friday evening, my wife stayed up late and watched that movie for the second time, but experienced much of it as if seeing it for the first time. Yesterday morning, she gave it a five-star review. Day before yesterday, and again today, the "next blog" had nothing to do with the one we saw yesterday.

Small occurrences, to be sure. The purely rational mind will almost certainly view them as mere coincidence and attach no added meaning to them. But the mind that has traveled a long and seldom-trod path and has emerged before a new and seldom-seen vista, may view these subtle alignments with a touch of open wonder.

After all, a broken heart is an open heart, into which new things enter and from which new things emerge.