Bob Log #10: A Synchronous Moment

Tonight I experienced what Jung called 'synchronicity'. Synchronicity is Jung's idea of two events, typically one physical and the other psychic, with no plausible connection occurring near or precisely at the exact same time, and thus evoking a meaningful response to the person(s) perceiving these events. They are 'meaningful' coincidences. An example would be of someone fantasizing or dreaming of a particular house being on fire while that house is on fire on or around that exact same moment. This is arguably the most radical of Jung's theories, because in it he is basically suggesting an organizing principle in nature that goes beyond typical cause-and-affect explanations bound by space and time.

I went to London this evening, partially to make amends for spending all of last week in bloody Colchester, also to lift my moods. I was feeling a bit melancholic at the time. Now, whenever I get off at Liverpool St. Station, the song 'Baker Street' immediately comes into my head. Why? I don't know. There's already the actual Baker Street Station elsewhere in London, so you'd think I'd associate the song with that location instead. But there's something about the architecture to Liverpool St. Station- huge glass ceiling contrasted by dark brick walls- that evokes a feeling that also goes off when I hear 'Baker Street' the song. I also associate this song with certain other emotions that may or may not be obvious. Basically, my mood at the time fit all this perfectly. I let it sink in before I went about my night.

A few hours later I was trekking across the walking bridge between Whitewall and the Eye of London. The eye of London is lit up on one side of the Thames, Big Ben on the other; to be standing over the river and taking this all in on a autumn night is absolutely marvelous. So I pause to do just that, to enjoy the moment, when I hear a saxophone in the distance. A saxophone playing a very familiar melody. Ludicrous, I think at first. But after an underground train passes on the adjacent bridge, I can hear it clearly. I'm listening to some performer on the walkway play Baker Street.

Random chance? That's the strongest rebuke against any idea of synchronicity. But it certainly was a meaningful coincidence for me.

Baker Street~Gerry Rafferty