Autism and Synchronicity

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Synchronicity is when two or more events, that seem to be causally unrelated, occur together in a meaningful manner. The events are unlikely to occur together by chance.

A simple example would be walking into a store and seeing someone that looks like someone you know and then actually seeing the person you know a few minutes later.

I think some of the people on the autism spectrum may experience this phenomenon more frequently than others because of their enhanced ability to see patterns in life.

It always gave me a positive feeling that we may be part of a larger order than what we are normally aware of. I've experienced it many times in my life in simple and complex ways.

Have you had this experience often? Do you think it is just coincidence or evidence of something in the human experience that can't be fully explained?

Wow, I've never thought about that properly before, but this does seem to happen to me a lot compared to other NTs (I'm as yet officially undiagnosed but I intend to seek a diagnosis soon because I have strong suspicions concerning Asperger's Syndrome)...interesting. I am a strong believer in 'coincidence' but sometimes when things happen to me again and again and again, it's difficult to consistently label them as coincidences. What else could it be, though?

I went through a phase where I experienced a great many in succession. Really bizzare ones; I don't think they are coincidence. I don't really know what they are, but I always like a new theory.

You might be onto something...of course, since the phenomena is somewhat intangible it's hard to quantify. But there are certainly some anomalies associated with ASD that are distinct. True, we are acute at spotting patterns, generally.

As I read your post, it occurred to me (OK to reveal, I guess) - I experience Déjà vu a lot. Important to note that I am not, at all, a superstitious person. In fact, the opposite. When I have a deja vu experience it's intense. As I understand, this is relatively rare/uncommon for most people, or if they do, it's just fleeting and vague - not what I experience. At times, just like the precise events, in that sequence, are as they have already happened - as if scripted/choreographed.

I never thought about this, but now I think about it, it happens a lot to me, at least more often than it happens to people I know.

There's a certain kind of anger I feel--a deep smoldering resentment that I entertain myself by rolling around in the back of my mind--that always seems to end up contaminating the rest of the world. Cars crash, tree limbs fall, lightening strikes, checks get lost and contracts breached, the long awaited septuplets are born with six fingers per hand and every airline ticket is snapped up at full price until finally I wake up and say, "Stop! No more chaos," and let go of my anger. I calm down, the world calms down and everything is normal until something reminds me of my resentment and I decide it would be "fun" to nurse it again for awhile. I really wish I could do this privately, and rationally speaking, it seems I should be able to, but it just never works out that way.

The fact that something is unlikely doesn't mean that it's caused by some supernatural force. Unlikely things still happen, they just happen less often than likely things.

Your example doesn't really prove anything, except perhaps that humans have an exxaggerated ability to imagine a connection where there is none.

I'm good at noticing patterns and connections, I give you that, and my coincidences are more along the line of what I believe are miracles than anything else. (Please don't say I'm irrational on this part...) I was a premature baby, born two months early and suffering from apnea and cyanosis, with severe digestive problems and jaundice, and, for a lot of babies like that, they end up going on to have severe learning disabilites or behavioral problems (or that's what I read from paranoid moms on the internet), and I'm actually pretty intelligent. I haven't suffered any severe effects, apparently, because of both the doctors' treatment and miracles....

I don't think he used the word supernatural.

The example isn't very good, though, I agree.

An experiment in physics popularly known as the “most beautiful experiment” in physics is one that simply demonstrates how observation affects quantum systems: The double slit experiment. The double slit sets aside causality, determinism, and the notion that reality is “out there” as it blurs the line between the observer and the system being observed.

This experiment proves that human observation can change the behavior of electrons and is the closest empirical evidence I can find of synchronicity.

I don't believe in the supernatural, but I do believe there may be natural forces in our existence that none of us are aware of and some that we may be only partially aware of.

I think the closest human experience that relates to the double slit experiment is a very common one that most everyone has experienced. It is probably the simplest example of synchronicity. The experience is sitting in a crowded room and focusing on one person turned away from you and that person suddenly turning around to look back at you.

Before I found out about the "beautiful experiment", I would of never believed our observation could affect electrons. I would not discount the possibility that there may be some kind of natural human energy process that enables us to sense someone observing us from a distance other than what we consider our normal senses. I also don't doubt that this energy process may go on between all mammals.

This process might explain part of the reason why folks on the autistic spectrum have a hard time being around crowds; "People Energy" could be overwhelming their sensitive nervous systems.

Does anyone have any ideas of how this process, if it exists, might affect other areas of our life: mental and physical health, spirituality, sports, politics, etc.?

This is my most rtecent one. Does this count?

I was obsessed with growing my calves. I've been training them for years with weights with some growth but not that much. I was also sure I had social anxiety disorder not Asperger's. I did a search and found this video:

http://www.nowloss.com/best-calf-muscle ... t-home.htm

My wife thought I was nuts as I was walking on my toes constantly around the house and even outside. At about the same time my friend and a few posters at another site suggested I may have an ASD. I did a search and found that walking on the toes is found occassionally in people with Asperger's.

As a child I had lots of deja vu's/synchronicities, now I have them atleast once a year - I can't tell if it is coincidence, but it's strange non the less.

I do am bothered by moods of other people if I can't block it out, self-victimizing people are besides the annoying behaviour really the worst for me.

A well known fallacy: Post hoc ergo propter hoc

After this therefore because of this.

This is an easy error to make.

ruveyn

When I feel rested, mentally calm, and physically bouyant, I notice more patterns of events, words, people, etc. In those times, the "people energy" feels good; validating that all is right with the world. If I'm feeling off at all, everything bothers me more. I do believe that the energy we put out into the world is reflected back to us. (Autie or not)

I call this 'thing' 'the flow'; and it's like a river, if you are going with it, it's a lovely ride; but if you go athwart it, it batters at you with all the force of tons of weight of water.

In other words, confusing correlation with cause-and-effect. Two things could happen with "synchronicity" a million times in a row, a billion times in a row, but still have no connection to each other whatsoever.

This has been the source of pseudo-sciences like astrology and like-minded things throughout the ages.