Many years ago, I described a series of unlikely coincidences to a First Nations artist I was having a drink with. It was mostly about how my art practice, over a period of 10 years, provided me with opportunities outside of art but, remarkably, aligned with my core values. After I finished telling her the story, she replied with some simple words: “Matt, they aren’t coincidences. The ancestors are speaking.”
As someone who deeply values scientific inquiry and knowledge, I’ve always interpreted events that lack any obvious causal connection as the chaotic nature of the universe. That if I just keep making work and the world keeps turning, atoms will continue to crash into each other in interesting ways and create chain reactions of other events, which will lead to others, and so on. Occassionally, those chain reactions will provide me with an experience; both good ones and bad ones.
In many ways, it’s a comfortable way to live – I can do what I do, and we’ll just see what happens. Take it as it comes. Roll with the punches. But, this approach to life is also (largely) a passive one.
What my friend touched on from a First Nations viewpoint is what Carl Jung would call “synchronicity.” The idea that events can appear meaningfully related to one another even if they lack a discoverable causal connection.
Science can’t prove or disprove synchronicity because it’s not observable using scientific methods of 3rd party inquiry. You either believe in synchronicity or you don’t.
The longer I practice art, the more I see the chain reaction of events that stem from doing the work. The louder the voice of the ancestors become. My growing acknowledgement of synchronicity has got me out of my comfort zone and has caused me to take action in ways that a belief in chaos has not. The more I’m listening to the ancestors, the more I feel guided by them and, in turn, the clearer the path seems.
In the end, if I can tell myself a more meaningful story because of a belief in synchronicity which in turn provokes more positive action than a belief in chaos, then perhaps that’s all that matters, whether science agrees or not.