Synchronicity

Concept · Acausal meaningful coincidences bridging psyche and matter

First attested

1952C.G. Jung, Naturerklärung und Psyche (1952).

The principle of meaningful coincidence connecting internal psychological states with outer physical events.

Coined by Carl Jung in collaboration with quantum physicist Wolfgang Pauli, Synchronicity denotes an acausal connecting principle wherein an internal psychic state (such as a dream, vision, or premonition) coincides meaningfully with an external objective physical event, with no demonstrable causal link between them. Jung illustrated this with the famous golden scarab beetle incident in clinical therapy. Synchronicity implies an underlying psychophysical reality (the Unus Mundus) where mind and matter are unified aspects of a single cosmic order.