Authored by Logan on 4 January 2024
If we accept the premise that the universe and everything contained within is an expression of itself and experiencing itself in infinite possibilities. That the universe is one giant simulation, much like a computer, running all possible scenarios and their respective outcomes, then are synchronicities or meaningful coincidences as Carl Jung defines them, evidence of simulation theory? Further does it give credence to our ability to manifest tangible items or experiences as creators and co-creators ourselves giving additional credence to the theory we are an extension of the source itself?
Tool, Triskelions, Tattoos and Wine
Albeit anecdotal, I have had several experiences in the last year that have given rise to this thesis statement. In my first example early in 2024, I was seriously considering my first tattoo, I spoke about the concept out loud to several friends and acquaintances but was on the fence of what to get. I wanted something that was inspired by the band "Tool" but also something with deep meaning and cultural significance. I was seriously considering the triskelion given the lyrics of Lateralus "Swing on the spiral...Spiral out" and its origins to the ancient Celts whom I share lineage with. Leaving San Antonio, Texas with a short layover in Austin, I rushed to grab coffee and hit the head, en route to accomplish these tasks, B lining it towards the bathroom, moving with purpose through a sea of people in the crowded terminal, I was stopped dead in my tracks as I noticed a bottle of wine out of the corner of my eye. On that bottle of wine was a Triskelion. The Triskelion is not an overly popular or well-known symbol in the modern age, and thinking about this symbol and talking about it just a mere week before, what were the odds of running across such an item? Especially on a bottle of wine, a passion I discovered mere months before after a visit to Merkin Vineyards in Arizona. Merkin Vineyards being owned by Maynard the lead singer of Tool makes this connection even stronger. I wanted a Tool inspired tattoo; the fabric of this experience became woven even tighter with the combination of the symbol and that it also appeared on a bottle of wine of all things, what are the odds?
Was this a manifestation of my sub consciousness? Did I physically project this bottle of wine into my reality somehow by speaking it into existence and an internal need for an external confirmation to permanently brand myself with this marking? Was it a Sign from the universe or a glitch in the Matrix so to speak, placed there by an architect? Or was it simply an ordinary coincidence set forth by the mathematical laws of the materialist? One thing to note, I have not been able to find a bottle of this particular wine since, and I look on a semi-regular basis, not to say I could not source one online but given the scarcity of the make gives the synchronistic event even more meaning to me. It is almost like it was deliberately placed in my path, I liken it to when targeted advertising picks up on your conversation and puts those words into pictures on your phone in the form of advertisement. In a universe of Infinite possibilities maybe this universe my life is a version of the Truman show and this bottle of wine was a targeted ad? The rabbit hole can always deepen! I almost feel like we can go off on a Jim Carey connection from here but I would digress.
Synchronicity in a Foreign Land
During my deployment to the Middle East, I experienced two significant events I classify as synchronicity. The first one was marvelous and beautiful and the second one dabbles with the paranormal and makes one question if different dimensions may bleed together sometimes or if our subconscious mind is really running the show and creating our perceived reality.
The Account of the Dragonfly:
While working with a close friend of mine, Andy, at an entry control point or military checkpoint, Andy suggested we play a game to pass the time, naturally to cure the boredom I agreed. The game basically entailed doing random things to have fun at the expense of people coming through the checkpoint. One of the tasks was to take a random word selected by the other player or generated by a random word generator and use that word five times in the course of our brief interactions with people as we checked traffic onto the installation. Andy was tasked with working the word "Hummingbird" five times casually into the conversation, during his attempt to tactfully integrate his chosen word he mentioned "dragonfly" in his attempt to explain how a hummingbird hoovered. As I watched and listened to their conversation, I remarked on his choice of words, I recall saying "dragonfly" in my head several times before dismissing the thought and laughing at his dismal attempt to nonchalantly work the word hummingbird into a conversation with a stranger at a military checkpoint. The very next day on patrol, less than twenty four hours later, I was relieving a post for breakfast, the sun was barely cresting the horizon when seemingly out of nowhere a dragonfly appeared in front of me, the first one I had seen in country and mind you I had been there at least four or five months at this point. This dragonfly hoovered just above my head, directly in my line of sight for what seemed like a minute or more before disappearing.
Was this simply an example of the Baader-Meinhof Phenomenon or red car theory, in that since it was put on the forefront of my mind I started noticing these dragonflies that were always there? I don't believe so, because I asked numerous people if they have seen dragonflies and none of which said they have. I must admit I did spot another one about a month later and know they did exist in that region but again, it was far from a common occurrence, and given the impact of those words had on me when Andy mentioned dragonflies as an analogy to how hummingbirds hoover and then seeing one within such a close time frame makes a man wonder if it was mere coincidence or something more, especially given the rising encounters of synchronicity in my personal life, the totality of the combined experiences calls into question any counter argument that a materialist might make. Given the resonance of the word "dragonfly" and the rare sighting of one less than a day later I felt like this was a meaningful coincidence, especially reflecting back now with 20/20 hindsight as this was another chapter in my life of great change, not only physically but also in my perspective of life and self-realization, both of which are consistent with what the dragonfly represents in many cultures across the globe.
Again, was my sub consciousness foreshadowing what was to come in a case of a micro clairvoyance / ESP. Did this dragonfly enter from another dimension when my subconscious mind brought it to the forefront of my conscious mind? Did Andy manifest its existence by his very utterance of the word? After all, all matter is sound or vibrations if you will. These are questions I cannot answer just yet.
Before I move on let me add one more interesting event that transpired upon my return to the states that correlates to this experience. While sharing a bottle of wine and dinner with another friend of mine and her family, her mother presented a wine stopper to me, and low and behold it had a dragonfly on it! Remember the wine connection? She offered to let me have one which I graciously accepted. Again, what are the odds? I have never given dragonflies a second thought in my life, never have I been interested in studying insects and have been most impartial to the species my entire life, so why have they now become a bigger part of my world? One might say it is a symbolic manifestation for the path I've walked the last few years, I would say the world is filled with grey and I imagine there is a great deal of duality in this synchronicity as well.
Paranormal Encounters of the Carl Jung Kind
During my deployment I spent a fair amount of time working in a secure area, during this assignment, we had a fair amount of downtime so naturally I attempted to squeeze a couple hours of reading into each shift. At the time of this event I am about to regal, I was reading a collection of writings by Carl Jung entitled: 'Synchronicity and the Paranormal.' The chapter I was reading was about Carl Jung and his personal encounters with the paranormal, specifically he was talking about tables splitting in two, knives exploding into multiple pieces and other ghostly activities he experiences as an adolescent. Literally as I read his words about the paranormal and things falling to the ground and the like, a sudden crash happened as a computer speaker fell from a desk and hit the ground. Everyone looked at each other, the Officer in Charge remarking on how strange it was. No one knew how the speaker got knocked off the desk, everyone was seemingly at their work stations minding their own business and no one could explain how it fell, it was a shock to everyone. I waited a minute, hesitant to tell them but finally told the crew the oddity of what just happened as it coincided with me literally reading about similar activities we prescribe to being paranormal! What are the odds, even if there is a scientific or logical explanation for the speaker falling off the desk, that it would happen the moment I am reading about uncannily similar events happening in 19th century Switzerland?
Less Meaningful but Still Odd
The most recent incident of a strange coincidence, though less personally significant happened just the other day, but I mention it as it relates to the original premise of the potential of manifestation of our own reality and in this simulation. I was regaling a harmless story the day before to a couple co-workers of when I worked the night shift and how the Jehovah's Witnesses would always wake me up by knocking on my door every week for months on end. Again, less than 24 hours had elapsed before the synchronicity occurred. I went to conduct my routine checks in different areas of the facility and as I was signing documents I discovered a Jehovah's Witness book next said documents that I check daily. I do not recall seeing it the day before either. This book is completely out of place and in a common area. I asked my coworker where it had come from and she shrugged saying she did not know where it came from, why it was there and that there was a different book sitting there the day before. While it is plausible and not unlikely that a religious volunteer left it behind, it is unique that it happened within 24 hours of me telling the story about Jehovah’s Witnesses and it just happened to be right next to a document I have to check. I did not take this as a sign to convert, but do find it to be strange timing. Again, did I manifest this, was it a form of clairvoyance/synchronicity that I would find this book the next day? After all it was this discovery that led me to write this article, was that by design and if so, whose design? This rolls into one last example that bears a similar occurrence of synchronicity / clairvoyance / ESP whatever you wish to define it as.
The Surge Soda Prediction of 1997
One of my earliest memories as a child was when I was eight years old, I remember asking my brother if they would ever make a new flavor of soda pop and within ten minutes or so a commercial for Surge Soda came on the television, I was ecstatic and amazed how as soon as I thought about such a thing and asked the question it came to be, just like that! Granted I was young, and maybe I had heard of it subconsciously on the TV as background noise while I was fixated on doing something else and the idea entered my skull this way eliminating the wonder of the tale but also maybe my young soul was able to tap into the collective unconscious or again the frequency that allows one to have a micro episode of precognition/clairvoyance. The coincidences stuck with me all these years cause I remember thinking how crazy it was asking my brother and then just minutes later seeing this commercial. Could be benign right? But how often did a new brand of soda come to the market back in the 90's? Did I bring it into reality, probably not, but it is one of those moments that makes you ponder what reality actually is, and if this is an example of a young child tapping into the collective it certainly serves as a small sliver of anecdotal evidence. If you are not familiar with J.B Rhine's experiments on parapsychology, I would encourage you to explore his works for more information on this subject. I know people have had similar experiences and that also begs the question if this is a simulation, do we have shared experiences, are we co-creators of this reality or is everyone else a NPC or is it a mix? Certainly, we are not at the center of our own universe, but if the many minds theory is true then maybe we are to some extent? Perhaps there are billions of Truman shows on an intergalactic network and we all have our own show, it would stand to reason in the multiverse.
"Black then white are all I see in my infancy
Red and yellow then came to be, reaching out to me
Lets me see" -Maynard James Keenan (TOOL)
I know one thing stands true, the deeper you dive the more questions arise. The more knowledge you gain the more black and white cease to be. From quantum mechanics, to NDEs, to the paranormal, the synchronicities, and beyond, when you start expanding your mind, the world opens up, the interconnectivity of our lives becomes more discernible and the wonders that abound us we can only marvel at and be grateful to be alive and have the opportunity to experience whatever moment in the illusion of time we may be experiencing.
Summary and departing thoughts:
This article is not intended to draw any definitive conclusions, but to speculate on the awe that is life and ponder the possibilities. I Share my personal experiences that have profound and deep meaning to me and hope they may resonate with you as well.
In the words of Maynard, "Spiral out, keep going!"
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