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Synchronistic mind‐matter correlations in therapeutic practice: a commentary on Connolly (2015)
Author(s) -
Atmanspacher Harald,
Fach Wolfgang
Publication year - 2016
Publication title -
journal of analytical psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.285
H-Index - 23
eISSN - 1468-5922
pISSN - 0021-8774
DOI - 10.1111/1468-5922.12196
Subject(s) - synchronicity , psychology , psychodynamics , epistemology , point (geometry) , dual (grammatical number) , cognitive science , linguistics , philosophy , psychoanalysis , mathematics , geometry
This commentary adds some ideas and refinements to the inspiring discussion in a recent paper by Connolly ([Connolly, A., 2015]) that makes use of a dual‐aspect framework developed by us earlier. One key point is that exceptional experiences (of which synchronicities are a special case) cannot in general be identified with experiences of non‐categorial or acategorial mental states. In fact, most exceptional experiences reported in the literature are experiences of categorial states. Conversely, there are non‐categorial and acategorial states whose experience is not exceptional. Moreover, the psychodynamics of a synchronistic experience contain a subtle mesh of interacting processes pertaining to categorial, non‐categorial and acategorial domains. We outline how this mesh may be addressed in particular cases of synchronicity described by Connolly.