Synchronicity: Nature and Psyche in an Interconnected Universe (Carolyn & Ernest Fay Series in Analytical Psychology) (Carolyn and Ernest Fay Series in Analytical Psychology) - Hardcover

Cambray, Joseph

3.84

89 ratings by Goodreads

9781603441438: Synchronicity: Nature and Psyche in an Interconnected Universe (Carolyn & Ernest Fay Series in Analytical Psychology) (Carolyn and Ernest Fay Series in Analytical Psychology)

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1603441433 ISBN 13: 9781603441438

Publisher: Texas A & M University Press, 2009

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In 1960 C. G. Jung published a paradoxical hypothesis on synchronicity that marked an attempt to expand the western world's conception of the relationship between nature and the psyche. Jung's hypothesis sought to break down the polarizing cause-effect assessment of the world and psyche, suggesting that everything is interconnected. Thus, synchronicity is both 'a meaningful event' and 'an acausal connecting principle'. Evaluating the world in this manner opened the door to 'exploring the possibility of meaning in chance or random events, deciphering if and when meaning might be present even if outside conscious awareness'. After contextualizing Jung's work in relation to contemporary scientific advancements such as relativity and quantum theories, Joseph Cambray explores how Jung's theories, practices, and clinical methods influenced the current field of complexity theory, which works with a paradox similar to Jung's synchronicity: the importance of symmetry as well as the need to break that symmetry for 'emergence' to occur. Finally, Cambray provides his unique contribution to the field by attempting to trace 'cultural synchronicities', a reconsideration of historical events in terms of their synchronistic aspects. For example, he examines the emergence of democracy in ancient Greece in order 'to find a model of group decision making based on emergentist principles with a synchronistic core'.

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Review:

"Cambray''s book offers a different view of synchronicity than Jungian readers are used to encountering and his cutting-edge research and scholarship in physics, neuroscience and cultural history make this book a fine extension and contribution to the synchronicity literature."--;/div>--Susan Meindl "C.G. Jung Society of Montreal " "Cambray's book offers a different view of synchronicity than Jungian readers are used to encountering and his cutting-edge research and scholarship in physics, neuroscience and cultural history make this book a fine extension and contribution to the synchronicity literature."--;/div>--Susan Meindl "C.G. Jung Society of Montreal " " . . . one of the finest books in the Fay Series. . . Cambray has written the clearest and most coherent study to date on the subject of synchronicity. This book deserves to be widely read and disseminiated because in the past 'synchronicity' has been enshrouded with confusion and prejudice and the general reader has not been able to find a suitable point of entry into the debate. . . What is remarkable about this book is that Cambray takes synchronicity out of the confines of Jungian studies and links it to current research taking place in a variety of new and exciting fields in physics and the natural sciences."--;br> --David Tacey"Journal of Analytical Psychology" (08/01/2010)

About the Author:

JOSEPH CAMBRAY, who holds a doctorate in psychology, is the honorary secretary of the International Association for Analytical Psychology, co-editor-in-chief of the Journal of Analytical Psychology, and author of Analytical Psychology: Contemporary Perspectives in Jungian Analysis (Brunner-Routledge, 2004). He resides in Providence, Rhode Island.

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