9781630514402

Mathematics is built from the natural integers 1, 2, 3, etc. Numbers are fundamental ordering elements and possess qualitative aspects that are widely present in many traditions such as the Pythagorean or the I Ching. During the building process of mathematical construction, these factors—which physicist Wolfgang Pauli called "primary possibilities" of the unconscious—abandon their symbolic meaningful charge to become quantitative mathematical numbers. Since then, although quantity and significance have been deployed in independent fields of knowledge, qualitative unconscious halos of the numbers have not disappeared so far. Pauli met them in his quest towards the famous "exclusion principle". They might seep into the scientific discourse that has reached the limits of its method, which sees the observer "coming in through the back door," as an integral part of the phenomenon "whole universe" modeled by contemporary cosmology. Through the reflection of the archetypal number, detected as "rhythmic configurations of energy" in the history of the universe, the author reveals unprecedented links between certain events in this story and raises the questions of their use in theoretical physics as an aid in interpreting and in suggesting new avenues of research.

These amazing coincidences can be explained as mere “chance" or even "fate" and perhaps even "cosmic connections."  But one thing is for sure:  dismissing them with an amused smile doesn't come close to doing them justice.  Such events happen to us all at crucial junctures in our life stories, and unbidden, these coincidences change everything.  Just at the moment we have a critical decision to make that will shape our future, they bring our attention to the transcendent bonds we share with those we love, our spouses, our children and our families.

After the extraordinary popularity of There Are No Accidents:  Synchronicity and the Stories of Our Lives, Jungian psychotherapist Robert H. Hopcke returns once more to an even deeper exploration of the phenomenon of meaningful coincidences, this time within the ambit of that most intimate area of our lives—our love life and our family connections.  Drawing from the stories of clients, friends and colleagues, as well as disclosing some of his own experiences that have led him to pursue the topic of synchronicity for the past 20 years of research and writing, he looks at how we ourselves make meaning out of these chances events and thereby enrich our lives in ways we might not otherwise find a way to do.  Such occurrences lead us to a deeper appreciation of those we love but likewise lead us to a greater intimacy with our own unconscious, illuminating who we are through who—and how—we love.

 

About the Author

Robert H. Hopcke is a licensed Marriage, Family and Child Counselor in private practice in Berkeley, California.  Along with his numerous articles and reviews published over the last 30 years, his national best-seller, There Are No Accidents:  Synchronicity and the Stories of Our Lives, has been popular throughout the world and since been translated into a dozen different languages.  Known for his landmark work in Jungian psychology on issues of human sexuality and social justice such as Jung, Jungians and Homosexuality; Men's Dreams, Men's Healing; A Guided Tour of the Collected Works of C.G. Jung; and The Persona:  Where Sacred Meets Profane, he is currently on the clinical faculty of Pacific Center for Human Growth where serves as supervisor, and has been enjoying an active career as translator of works on spirituality and religion from the Italian, including a contemporary American English rendition of The Little Flowers of St. Francis of Assisi.