Synchronicity, Destiny, and Free Will

I'm sure all of us have had times in our lives where events come together in a way that makes us look up and take notice. "Hey, that's strange," we might say and then think nothing of it. You're thinking of a particular song and then that song comes on the radio. You're interested in a particular subject and then in the near future a documentary or other show about that subject comes on television. A lot of people will pass these off as just coincidences, but sometimes they stand out so much that it's impossible not to say "Maybe something strange is happening here."

There is an occult maxim that states "Like attracts like." Perhaps this is how synchronicity works. When we have something in our minds that we are focused on then maybe it will manifest in our external reality through this occult principle. This same idea is seen in sayings like "Misery loves company," and brooding on your misfortunes is likely to send you deeper into despair. Listening to upbeat music will put one in a positive mood. We are more likely to find something that we are specifically looking for. These are just basic examples of like attracting like, but they get the point across.

So, we draw to us what we focus upon. What about things that we focus upon unconsciously? Things beyond our conscious awareness? Perhaps destiny is synchronicity taken to the next level.

If we incarnate on the physical plane to have experiences and to learn things, how can we be sure that we will learn the things we mean to learn when we choose (or when someone else chooses) for us to incarnate? Sure, we may be able to choose where and to whom we are born to get us on the right track, but could we really take into account every permutation of reality and plan accordingly before setting our (re)incarnation into motion? This is where a "higher self" might come into play. If there is a correlation between the unconscious mind and the higher self, the part of us that abides outside of our incarnated state, that part that is our link with the higher realities, then maybe destiny is just synchronicity on a larger, deeper, and more complex scale determined by the focus of our higher self.

In this view synchronistic experiences and destiny may be the same process but just orders of magnitude apart, both designed to attract to us what we are focusing on either consciously or unconsciously. What does this mean for free will? If our overall destiny is determined by a higher aspect of ourselves then are we really in control of our lives? How do we reconcile a higher plan with personal free will? Maybe we're given free reign within certain parameters that are set out for us within this lifetime. Maybe this gentle guiding is why we find some things to be so difficult, maybe impossible, and yet other things are effortless even though they don't vary much in general intensity or difficulty.

An example would be a career path that one just cannot break into, everything goes wrong, and it just does not seem to be feasible no matter how much a person may try or seem to desire it on the surface. However, success at another career (or in another area of life) may be smooth and relatively easy. Maybe this is the nudge of our higher self, the superconscious self, the soul, guiding us through the things that it is focused upon, the things that we need to accomplish in this life to learn the lessons we were placed here to learn. In this case it would seem that the higher self's focus overrides the conscious self's focus. Or maybe we were supposed to fail at this thing as part of our learning experience. Without the benefit of insight it's hard to know whether it's a learning experience in itself or guiding us toward a learning experience. Maybe it's both.


Basically, the big picture would be unavoidable but we would be in control of the details. That is, if any of this holds true. This has just been me musing on synchronicity, destiny, and free will as I find myself in my own life feeling more and more like I'm being guided down a certain path by the things that take place around me and my own strengths and weaknesses. Hopefully you found this interesting and it inspired you to give it all a little thought.