Spooky Synchronicity

by Dr. David Sanders

How is it that three scientists, one from Walnut Creek (California), one from Paris and one from Vienna are sharing the Nobel prize for physics this year? They have all been pioneers in the field of quantum mechanics and have all disproven an assertion by Albert Einstein. Their experiments, since the 1970’s have highlighted a phenomena that they all consider “crazy”–which seems to contradict how we would expect objects (no matter how small) to operate. The phenomenon is called “quantum entanglement.”

Daniel Kabat, a physics professor in New York, explained that “We are used to thinking that information about an object — say that a glass is half full — is somehow contained within the object.”  What entanglement means is that objects “only exist in relation to other objects.”

If you don’t get what this means, you are not alone. There is someone out there that is as “independently” clueless as you. But when it comes to particles, there is no independence—no matter how far apart they are they impact each other–simultaneously. Everything is interconnected—as one particle cannot be fully described without considering the other. However you spin this (and spin is one of the key ways to experimentally measure the entanglement of quantum particles) we can extrapolate from this that there are connections we can’t see or even have imagined.

In human terms this leads us to appreciate how interconnected we are and when synchronicities, which means a simultaneous event occurs, we appreciate the spiritual entanglement we are experiencing.  Why has Kabbalah focused so much on our developing an awareness of synchronicity—on paying attention to when, in the words of Julie Beck, “a feeling that the fabric of life has rippled. and the threads of our lives collide.”

Along with other spiritual teachings, Kabbalah puts forth the notion that our souls have a guidance mechanism that seeks out opportunities for our growth to realize our fullest potential and for the pieces of the puzzle to come together which help to heal any tears in the fabric. How many stories have we encountered of siblings (often twins) separated at birth discovering each other in the most “random” way imaginable or a couple who were childhood sweethearts reconnecting after decades (and other partners) to rekindle a romance.

This is our first awareness practice of Transformational Kabbalah: Pay attention to who and what shows up. What has appeared as separate, distant and unrelated has been spinning with you all along.