Dude was going to back right over my wife and I.
Only anticipatory evasive action avoided a nasty collision between ourselves and the reversing auto but what intrigued me was the perfectly coordinated occurrence of the situation.
Normally, this would be no cause for alarm but this was the second time that day and fifth time in the same week that we had perfectly intersected with vehicles entering or leaving their driveways. Over a three week period, this unnerving experience occurred eleven times and then something even weirder happened.
The effect stopped completely.
Walking now felt very strange – after several perfectly timed intersections between ourselves and driveway automobiles for weeks, we were now encountering vehicles two to three seconds before or after we passed. Something had changed and I couldn’t help but wonder what it was…
Everybody Look What’s Going Down
These incidents caused me to ponder whether there is an underlying time-line structure to reality, perhaps something similar to lunar tides but revealing itself only through coincidental events. To me, it felt like this impinging synchronistic force was acting upon our minds through an Emotional Grid that somehow allowed us to tune in to space and time and recognize unconnected yet meaningful coincidences.
My research on this subject turned up Professor J.E. Littlewood who totally disagrees with me. He says unlikely events are actually quite normal occurrences.
In fact, he has developed a theory called Littlewood’s Law which suggests that miracles happen regularly, its just that we don’t recognize them as being extraordinary so they do not register in our consciousness.
Its JE’s view is that exceptional events occur with a frequency of one in a million so if we imagine that humans experience one event per second for eight hours a day, Littlewood’s Law predicts it will take approximately 35 days to realize one miracle. That equals about 11 miracles per year and is quite a bit less than the pile of improbable events my wife and I encountered in our daily walks.
What Light Through Yonder Window Breaks
My hypothesis is similar with another more famous believer’s concept of the possibility of an underlying structure of space / time, the Swiss psychiatrist Carl Jung, who eighty years ago championed his concept of an similarly experiential force he called synchronicity.
Carl postulated that his mysterious organizing principle revealed accusal yet meaningful coincidences which might be indicators of a overarching structure which governs human consciousness. Today, quantum physics proves that observers definitely effect whatever they view so perhaps old Carl was onto something.
The Emotional Grid I am imagining resembles a steadily beating universal drum to which we can entrain ourselves and “go with the flow” or conversely, as in our vehicle intersecting example, can step “out of time” with. Maybe this is what we are talking about when we say “being in the right place at the right time”.
It is my contention that this force exists in the same manner of several other powerful and invisible forces we have discovered. For example:
- Move The World? Okay, Watch This – the discovery of leverage to multiply the force applied to another object has enabled mankind to perform feats of strength that previously would have been determined impossible.
- Y-Y-Y You Got The Beat – music exists as an invisible time based motivating force, more of which is discovered daily.
- Covert Killers Dropping Deadly Deeds – although bacteria were discovered in 1676 by Antonie van Leeuwenhoek, it wasn’t until the late nineteenth century that our understanding of them progressed to the point where we could counteract their effects on our bodies.
- They See Right Through You – X-rays were originally discovered by Fernando Sanford in 1891 and Nicolas Tesla warned against prolonged exposure to these new rays so that folks could live to understand how dangerously beneficial they could be.
There’s no doubt history has proven that we are surrounded by mysterious and unseen forces which, once discovered, can dramatically raise both our level of awareness of the true nature of reality and our enjoyment of life.
Bat Signal On Cloud Nine
Some folks who seem to be favored by evolution appear more attuned to existence which allows them to take advantage of cycles while successfully interpreting hints from from unfolding events. Without understanding what may actually be happening, we call these people lucky or blessed to describe their uncanny good fortune.
Regardless of the names we pin on it, I intend to explore the force I call The Emotional Grid because I get the feeling there is really something there worth understanding.
And maybe, when we are able to comprehend the power I have described, it will help us stay out of our own way.
Thank you, friend.
Barry out.
PS. Learn more about synchronicity and some of the other topics discussed in this story by clicking the links below. And get ready for stuff to start happening!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Observer_effect_%28physics%29
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Synchronicity
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Littlewood%27s_law
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bacteria
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/X-ray#History
Dr. John – Right Place Wrong Time Lyrics
I been in the right place
But it must have been the wrong time
I’d of said the right thing
But I must have used the wrong line
I been in the right trip
But I must have used the wrong car
My head was in a bad place
And I’m wondering what it’s good for
I been the right place
But it must have been the wrong time
My head was in a place
But I’m having such a good time
I been running trying to get hung up in my mind
Got to give myself a little talking to this time
Just need a little brain salad surgery
Got to cure this insecurity
I been in the wrong place
But it must have been the right time
I been in the right place
But it must have been the wrong song
I been in the right vein
But it seems like the wrong arm
I been in the right world
But it seems wrong wrong wrong wrong wrong
Slipping, dodging ,sneaking
Creeping hiding out down the street
See me life shaking with every who I meet
Refried confusion is making itself clear
Wonder which way do I go to get on out of here
I been in the right place
But it must have been the wrong time
I’d have said the right thing
But I must have used the wrong line
I’d a took the right road
But I must have took a wrong turn
Would have made the right move
But I made it at the wrong time
I been on the right road
But I must have used the wrong car
My head was in a good place
And I wonder what it’s bad for
Wow! You’ve excelled yourself with this one Barry. Always interesting to read your musings, but this is really, really good. 😉 I hope you write some more on this. 8)
I must have read the Carl Jung book I have, because I knew about “synchronicity”, but I took the wrong meaning out of it. I thought he didn’t believe in coincidences. I take your point about quantum physics interacting between observer and particle though.
More please Barry.
John
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PS. Here’s a “coincidence”. The “Brain Salad Surgery” line out of your Dr. John lyrics, was the LP Title for an album by ELP (Emmerson Lake and Palmer).
John
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As Affrikaans would say – Dankie, John.
Yes, I will be exploring this much more as I am writing a book about it – one page at a time, as you have noticed.
Over the years I invented several things I call intellectual technologies which deal with complaining, gossiping, coincidence and transferring smiles. My plan is to write a book on all these subjects so I can make more room for the voices in my head.
Pretty cool coincidence about the brain salad surgery line. Do you think it was borrowed rather than invented?
This concept I am discussing will also consider similar tunes developed by folks who are far apart with no connection. I’m hoping that by investigating this phenomenon I can prove Carl’s collective unconscious theory…
Thank you so much for your support, John. I really appreciate it.
Barry
@Barry Williams, Just checked with my good friend Google Barry. Dr John’s record was out in April 1973 and the ELP album was issued in December 1973, so it looks like ELP nicked the phrase from Dr. John.
Although according to wikipedia “Brain Salad Surgery” is a slang term for fellatio. 🙂
John
John McNally recently posted..BLOG HOPPING for TRAFFIC
Hey John,
Thanks for following up on that.
Just what we needed – another slang term for something we will never encounter… sheesh!
Still, perhaps interesting enough to write a story about.
Are you going to or should I?
Later, pal.
Barry
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@Barry, Definitely YOU Barry, there will be more laughs in it. 8)
John
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