Friday, March 03, 2006
Synchronicity in Craigslist Best Of
Sorry for the long intro about Synchronicity. If you already are familiar with the concept, or don't care, skip down to the Story below - that's really what I want to discuss.
Synchronicity
No, I'm not going to talk about that fabulous 'Police' album from the 80's that brought us such notable songs as the overplayed stalker ballad, 'Every Breath You Take', and the amazing, mystical 'Synchronicity I and II's".
This album did introduce me to the concept of Synchronicity, at a very young age, but I didn't really get it, nor did I really care, so I pretty much shuffled the information into the dark recesses of my brain and let it fester there.
Recently, for who knows what reason, I've become intrigued by this concept.
The idea of synchronicity was developed by C. G. Jung. I believe he wrote two books on the subject, so I'm not going to do it justice here. Basically, it's the conscious observation of two or more similar events and deriving meaning from the events. There seems to be an implied 'reason' for the events, perhaps you could go as far as to say a 'consciousness' behind the delivery of the events - who knows. It's different than coincidence, in that the events aren't exactly coincidental; they're planned. It's almost like a trainning tool from some supernatural source. If you are able to read the meaning behind the synchonicity, then you can actually learn something from them - perhaps a clue to something bubbling in your subconscious or if you are wondering what to do with your life, then perhaps a clue as to what path you should pursue.
Synchronicity is like looking at coincidences and having faith that something deeper is happening.
Other than some basic web-page browsing I've only read one book on the subject, just this past week in fact, called - "The Tao of Psychology - Synchronicity and Self", by Jean S. Bolen. I picked it up at the library when I decided that I wanted to study synchronicity a little more deeply, and since i'm totally into the Tao too, this book was my top choice.
It's a very interesting read - the author takes some forays into strange territory, and is/was (book was written decades ago), facinated by the paranormal - but she's a psychiatrist trained in the Jungian school of thought. Her basic premise is that Synchronicity is the western equivalent of the Tao. Very cool!
So, for the past week, with my new-found knowledge in hand, I've decided to pursue this idea, to remain open and conscious to events happening around me and try to figure out if it may be a synchratic message or not. Here's my story:
The Story
As some of you already know I've been finding the site, Craigslist, to be fascinting. It's an amazing idea, valuable tool, and humourus outlet for the masses. I'll admit I'm addicted to the Rants and Raves section, where pretty much anything goes.
Back in January I made a post to the Toronto R&R board about a situation that happened; a story I wanted to tell but had no where else to share - it's not the kind of story that you really share with friends. I thought about posting it here, but then figured Craigslist would be a more appropriate place.
To my pleasant surprise it was nominated to Best Of ( a collection of what people feel are the best postings on Craigslist) - go me. Here's a link. Be forwarned that the title is "Rant: Raging Hard-ons." and that it contains adult situations. There are many mistakes in grammar and spelling, but it's a Rant and Rave post, so who cares.
All postings are annonymous (which is why I chose Craigslist), but you can contact posters by clicking a link and sending them an email. Since my nomination to the Best Of, I've been receiving lots of positive feedback from readers - and actually no negatives. Seriously, I'm getting an ego boost.
Normally I wouldn't respond to the emails I've been receiving - I'd just read and enjoy - mainly because random email people tend to be creepy. But, then I thought 'what if one of these emails/people turns out to be some sort of syncratic event?' In my thinking to have a synchratic event you need to be active, and not passive, and so I decided I would go ahead and reply to a few. From this I've had some interesting email conversations with people.
One in particular, a woman who is an actual writer. One of my life's goals has been to write and publish stories. This woman who writes for technical magazines (no, I have no proof, but my gut tells me she's telling the truth), really complimented me on the story and urged me to write! Seriously. Now my ego was starting to explode. There's no better compliment for a sturggling writer than to be told by a published writer that you should write.
Except that I received a response from one of my critique group members giving back a critique on a short story I had recently written. He tore it apart and basically said it had no purpose. I was devistated.
So, I started to think - 'what am I being told here? Is there a connection?" This has been a very thoughtful, self-reflective time in my life, I'm in a hub and it's time to choose a spoke, so I started thinking about my goals and ambitions for writing and being a writer.
I thought back to all the successes I've had in writing - those times where people I've respected and looked up to have given me true to heart compliments on pieces I've written, and I discovered a fascinating fact about me.
My goal was to write fiction - I like writing ficition with a psychological edge, with a strangeness to it - an aura of crazy. But when I write fiction I usually force it - I write it because I want to be a writer, not because i'm enjoying the production of the story.
But, through my reflection, I realized that all of my successes as a writer have come from writing non-fiction - from essays to scientific papers to grant reports (yes I received a 'wow, this is so well written. You're a very good writer," from a boss on a grant report).
Lights turned on and bells sounded off.
I decided to experiment. I took a story idea, one that I had tried as a short fictional story recently, but gave up as it just wasn't working, and decided to write it as a creative non-fiction piece, writen in a similar style to my Hard-on story. You know what? I enjoyed writing it, it flowed it came together quickly and it worked! This was very exciting!!
But knowing myself the way I do, I knew I couldn't just rely on the immediate energy I was feeling. So I left off working for that day, woke up the next and decided to try writing another short piece. Again, I had fun writing it, it flowed really well and just felt amazing!! It felt amazing to be writing!!
It's still too early to tell if this is a new, true path for me, but I'm following it now. I've decided to give up on fiction, and I'm going to figure out how/where I can get my non-fiction work published. I actually need to tweak my style, but I haven't been this excited about writing for a long, long time.
You go, Synchronicty!! You rock!!
Synchronicity
No, I'm not going to talk about that fabulous 'Police' album from the 80's that brought us such notable songs as the overplayed stalker ballad, 'Every Breath You Take', and the amazing, mystical 'Synchronicity I and II's".
This album did introduce me to the concept of Synchronicity, at a very young age, but I didn't really get it, nor did I really care, so I pretty much shuffled the information into the dark recesses of my brain and let it fester there.
Recently, for who knows what reason, I've become intrigued by this concept.
The idea of synchronicity was developed by C. G. Jung. I believe he wrote two books on the subject, so I'm not going to do it justice here. Basically, it's the conscious observation of two or more similar events and deriving meaning from the events. There seems to be an implied 'reason' for the events, perhaps you could go as far as to say a 'consciousness' behind the delivery of the events - who knows. It's different than coincidence, in that the events aren't exactly coincidental; they're planned. It's almost like a trainning tool from some supernatural source. If you are able to read the meaning behind the synchonicity, then you can actually learn something from them - perhaps a clue to something bubbling in your subconscious or if you are wondering what to do with your life, then perhaps a clue as to what path you should pursue.
Synchronicity is like looking at coincidences and having faith that something deeper is happening.
Other than some basic web-page browsing I've only read one book on the subject, just this past week in fact, called - "The Tao of Psychology - Synchronicity and Self", by Jean S. Bolen. I picked it up at the library when I decided that I wanted to study synchronicity a little more deeply, and since i'm totally into the Tao too, this book was my top choice.
It's a very interesting read - the author takes some forays into strange territory, and is/was (book was written decades ago), facinated by the paranormal - but she's a psychiatrist trained in the Jungian school of thought. Her basic premise is that Synchronicity is the western equivalent of the Tao. Very cool!
So, for the past week, with my new-found knowledge in hand, I've decided to pursue this idea, to remain open and conscious to events happening around me and try to figure out if it may be a synchratic message or not. Here's my story:
The Story
As some of you already know I've been finding the site, Craigslist, to be fascinting. It's an amazing idea, valuable tool, and humourus outlet for the masses. I'll admit I'm addicted to the Rants and Raves section, where pretty much anything goes.
Back in January I made a post to the Toronto R&R board about a situation that happened; a story I wanted to tell but had no where else to share - it's not the kind of story that you really share with friends. I thought about posting it here, but then figured Craigslist would be a more appropriate place.
To my pleasant surprise it was nominated to Best Of ( a collection of what people feel are the best postings on Craigslist) - go me. Here's a link. Be forwarned that the title is "Rant: Raging Hard-ons." and that it contains adult situations. There are many mistakes in grammar and spelling, but it's a Rant and Rave post, so who cares.
All postings are annonymous (which is why I chose Craigslist), but you can contact posters by clicking a link and sending them an email. Since my nomination to the Best Of, I've been receiving lots of positive feedback from readers - and actually no negatives. Seriously, I'm getting an ego boost.
Normally I wouldn't respond to the emails I've been receiving - I'd just read and enjoy - mainly because random email people tend to be creepy. But, then I thought 'what if one of these emails/people turns out to be some sort of syncratic event?' In my thinking to have a synchratic event you need to be active, and not passive, and so I decided I would go ahead and reply to a few. From this I've had some interesting email conversations with people.
One in particular, a woman who is an actual writer. One of my life's goals has been to write and publish stories. This woman who writes for technical magazines (no, I have no proof, but my gut tells me she's telling the truth), really complimented me on the story and urged me to write! Seriously. Now my ego was starting to explode. There's no better compliment for a sturggling writer than to be told by a published writer that you should write.
Except that I received a response from one of my critique group members giving back a critique on a short story I had recently written. He tore it apart and basically said it had no purpose. I was devistated.
So, I started to think - 'what am I being told here? Is there a connection?" This has been a very thoughtful, self-reflective time in my life, I'm in a hub and it's time to choose a spoke, so I started thinking about my goals and ambitions for writing and being a writer.
I thought back to all the successes I've had in writing - those times where people I've respected and looked up to have given me true to heart compliments on pieces I've written, and I discovered a fascinating fact about me.
My goal was to write fiction - I like writing ficition with a psychological edge, with a strangeness to it - an aura of crazy. But when I write fiction I usually force it - I write it because I want to be a writer, not because i'm enjoying the production of the story.
But, through my reflection, I realized that all of my successes as a writer have come from writing non-fiction - from essays to scientific papers to grant reports (yes I received a 'wow, this is so well written. You're a very good writer," from a boss on a grant report).
Lights turned on and bells sounded off.
I decided to experiment. I took a story idea, one that I had tried as a short fictional story recently, but gave up as it just wasn't working, and decided to write it as a creative non-fiction piece, writen in a similar style to my Hard-on story. You know what? I enjoyed writing it, it flowed it came together quickly and it worked! This was very exciting!!
But knowing myself the way I do, I knew I couldn't just rely on the immediate energy I was feeling. So I left off working for that day, woke up the next and decided to try writing another short piece. Again, I had fun writing it, it flowed really well and just felt amazing!! It felt amazing to be writing!!
It's still too early to tell if this is a new, true path for me, but I'm following it now. I've decided to give up on fiction, and I'm going to figure out how/where I can get my non-fiction work published. I actually need to tweak my style, but I haven't been this excited about writing for a long, long time.
You go, Synchronicty!! You rock!!
