A Bibliography of Coincidences
My solo show, The Balls of Philadelphia, will be premiering on August 2nd at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. The story I tell in this show covers a year and a half of my life where I experience A LOT of coincidences with another person and try to answer the question: Am I spiritually connected to an idiot?
To answer this question, I bring in some research on spirituality and the brain. So, in this post, I’d like to outline a few of the researchers and their work that aided me. This is not an exhaustive list of the work that’s been done; it’s what I focus on in the story I’m telling.
Dr. Carl Jung :: Synchronicity: An Acausal Connecting Principle
In my story, I wonder if the coincidences I experience are merely coincidences, or could they be synchronicities? Carl Jung was a psychoanalyst who posed a useful answer.
When two things or events happen that seem to have no explanation that one caused the other, that could be a coincidence. What would make it a synchronicity is if someone also finds meaning in the occurrence.
Jung believed that if someone finds meaning in such an occurrence, the meaning they find in it is a window into their psyche. It can help them (and their analyst) understand them more deeply. For this reason, synchronicity is invaluable in the psychoanalytic process.
Dr. Andrew Newberg & Dr. Mark Robert Waldman:: How Enlightenment Changes Your Brain: The New Brain Science of Transformation
Dr. Newberg is a neurotheologian, meaning, he’s a neuroscientist who studies what happens in the brain during religious and spiritual experiences. Dr. Waldman is a therapist who also studies spirituality and the brain. In this book, they unpack what enlightenment is, the different types humans experience, what happens in the brain during enlightenment, and what conditions tend to bring on enlightenment.
For the purpose of my story, I pulled from their work to understand what could be going on inside my brain, and in the brains of different characters at different points of the story, to explain the seemingly unexplainable.
Dr. Lisa Miller :: The Awakened Brain: The New Science of Spirituality and Our Quest for an Inspired Life
Dr. Miller is an award-winner psychologist who studies spirituality and psychology. Her work uncovers what is happening in the brain during spiritual experiences. She also includes stories of real patients who found clear benefits through spirituality.
Additionally, Dr. Miller builds on Jung’s work to show how people have deepened their experience of life through experiencing synchronicity. Her work helped me understand both the mental and physical health benefits to the experiences I was having. And that what I was experiencing was a benefit to me, not something negative.
Dr. Bernard Beitman :: Meaningful Coincidences: How and Why Synchronicity and Serendipity Happen
Dr. Beitman is a psychiatrist who has spent his career studying coincidences. He has organized and systematized all the different types of coincidence experiences people can have.
His work helped me understand the exact types of coincidence experiences I was having, and offered a sense of legitimacy to them (so I didn’t think I was going crazy).
