My relationship to synchronicity has evolved across three stages. Initially, on rare occurrences of coincidence, I’d be dismissive and mildly freaked out. I was “scientifically-minded,” atheistic, and intellectual. If coincidences were shared (suggesting a song a friend was about to play was eerily common on car journeys), we’d pause, hold bemused eye contact, we’d say, “that’s weird,” forget about it, and move on with our lives.
Below is an edited transcript of my responses to questions during the panel discussion with Bernie Beitman and Joanna Bauer-Savage. The full discussion is available on YouTube all popular podcast platforms.
Fate unfolds in infinite ways; chance meetings, serendipity, sliding doors, chain-of-events arranged in meaningful order, as if an intelligent design operates behind life’s exterior. People you were destined to meet. Places and times planned to perfection. An intelligent whole able to, against all probability, provide meaning to each individual part.
If the universe conspires, do atoms, too? Does quantum probability make fate possible?
Erik Erikson’s life’s work occurred during the golden age of depth psychology. The Danish psychologist built upon Sigmund Freud’s theories of ego development as a student of Freud’s daughter, Anna. Erikson’s legacy, the psychosocial stages of development, explains psychological growth as the result of navigating conflict between individual and social needs.
Erikson’s model has eight stages, with each stage focusing on a theme and age group. The model presents two outcomes, one desirable, one undesirable. Stage six, intimacy vs. isolation, occurs roughly between the ages of 20 and 30. The conflict of this stage is balancing intimate relationships with self-connection. The theme reached a pinnacle in my life between 29 and 32.
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Wave. /weɪv/. Noun: 1. a long body of water curling into an arched form and breaking on the shore.
August 2020. I tilt my birthday card back and forth. Waves, formidable and frozen behind plastic, shift, ever-so-slightly. They’re foreboding and grandiose, captured at their peak, foam overlapping seabed before the inevitable crash.