http://www.timboucher.com/journal/2007/08/27/synchronicity-brain-hemisphere-communication/

another great post from Boucher on symbols, synchronicity and the unconscious. this time it's from the angle of how the left and right brain hemispheres operate - the left as a more verbal, rational, or reductionist mode with the right as more of a symbolic, image-oriented one. the hypothesis is that a large part of what Jung called the "transcendental function" (the interoperation of conscious and unconscious modes of awareness) could be tied in with the differing functions of the two lobes. and how synchronicity and symbol are integral to this process.

i think this theory goes a long way towards explaining certain experiences under the influence of entheogens, which can at times seemingly bring those symbolic complexes up and manifest them more apparently concretely in perception, blurring the unconscious contents into consciousness much more dramatically than otherwise.

This to me is just about the perfect explanation of why and how the “23 phenomenon” works, or for that matter just about any synchronicity. I feel like people who subscribe to more mystical “explanations” of things of this nature may not like the hypothesis I am about to put forth. But since it is a hypothesis, the point is to test it and re-test it under different circumstances, pick it apart and break it down. Or at least that is how science works though. And honestly, I think the best types of mysticism, that’s all they are: science. Do this and this other thing happens. Very simple. It’s a cause effect truth exchange.

My theory to explain synchronicities is basically this: you become, for a time, consciously fixated on a complex of interlocking words, images, etc. During that time, you will have certain innerly held images which begin to present themselves in the world at large, as if by magic. The world becomes like a magic mirror for the contents of your mind. At times it can be so strong of an effect as to be quite overwhelming and undoubtedly the cause of many a nervous breakdown.

If that is what synchronicities really are, then that explains so much. It would seem that the time synchronicities begin happening most strongly is during times of your life with heavy symbolic content. That is, times which are rich with imagery and other non-verbal types of human communication. The “unconscious” portion of your mind is good at making associative webs; that is simply its method of file-storage, unlike the linear left brain storage system which keeps things in lines and boxes (the place where they store the Ark at the end of Raiders). It annotates things that occur according, then, to thematic webs which are operating in your perceptual realm. If you have a fairly strong system of symbols in your life (usually they take the shape of people you know and things you surround yourself with…), then your perception will naturally seek out things which match itself, filtering against things that don’t relate. Thus you will start seeing things with 23 everywhere, because your non-verbal (not unconscious) mind is trying to assert communications through to the linear-verbal part/side/whatever. I have my doubts that the *whole* thing splits down a left-right brain hemisphere explanation, but certainly a good lot of it seems to hang very heavily on that within the limited field of my own experiences.

Because that’s what filters like the number 23, or even simply being in a bad mood do: they tell the non-verbal part of your mind what you want to see more of. Its job is to mimic as best it can the intentions of the verbal instructions it receives, translating them into non-verbal images, symbols, actions, characters and events (the terms in which its vision of reality operates: the “musical performance world-view” we’ll call it for self-referential purposes). So if you can communicate to it directly in the ways that it craves: images and symbols, then you’re going to establish a better working relationship with it: it will reward your investigations with better and richer imagery and allow you to direct it towards the completion of specific tasks which begin with internal images and manifest through the bridge of the body/mind into the world via the actions we take upon it. This is why your non-verbal part of your mind is so damned important: it is functionally closer to the level of concrete existence. But if you’re treating it like a non-entity, a non-exister, “un”-conscious, then yeah you’re not going to get much from it beyond the occasional blast of bizarre coincidences. But if you can get together on good terms, well then, that’s where all the *real* fun begins...