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Synchronicity, Coincidence, Choice: Ask Dr. Kirby Surprise

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Gene Steinberg

Gene Steinberg

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In the tradition of our fascinating visits with Mike Clelland and Walter Bosley, we explore these topics even further with Dr. Kirby Surprise, author of "Synchronicity: The Art of Coincidence, Choice and Unlocking Your Mind."

According to his bio, "Dr. Kirby Surprise received his doctorate in counseling psychology from the Institute for Integral Studies. He works in an advanced outpatient program for the State of California where he assesses, diagnoses, and treats clients with psychotic and delusional disorders."

This will be yet another fascinating exploration into the whys and wherefores of synchronistic events. Are these things we subconsciously (or consciously) create ourselves?

Postponed: We'll be recording this episode on the evening of Tuesday, January 19.
 
I'd like to know if Kirby has read Gibbs Williams "Demystifying Meaningful Coincidences", what his feeling is on it and how he feels his "slant" differs from Gibbs if it does at all.

I think among the baggage surronding synchronicity is it's defintion, despite Jung's best attempt, indeed even the definition for a coincidence is nebulous (imho) and is open to interpetation and personal perspective and in some cases dependent on a number of outside factors as one person's coincidence could mean nothing to another person as he or she may have witnessed the same occurance a number of times for a variety of reasons, could Kirby offer an alternative definition for both ?

Does Kirby think that maybe another sticky issue may be that maybe we've minimized "simple coincidences' and that maybe we shouldn't dismiss things "as just a coincidence?"

( i read a post by Christopher Knowles some time back that seemed to suggest that very thing, that if one noted what seemed to be a coincidence , but not especially meaningful, it should be disregarded. i personally disagree with that sentiment BUT it may be helpful in that it arguably may give the percipent some credibility by showing he or she has the capacity to filter out some events which are inevitable due to the resounding consequences of determinitive chaos theory.
 
I'd like to know how Kirby believes anything is coincidental in a physical [ir]reality that is entirely created by yourself.
 
I would like to ask Dr. Kirby if he believes there is an deep rooted need for us humans to believe in synchronicities?
 
I'm wondering what Dr. Suprises's most amazing cases of synchronicity or coincidences are and what his explanations for them are?
 
Are there no real improbale and meaningless coincidences in nature, like Einstein thought there was no real randomness?

If there are real coincidences, how do we tell the difference to synchronicities? (I've had lots of improbable coincidences happen to me, once a whole wave of them, but I just couldn't find any deep meaning or message).
 
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Do you feel that serendipity is joined at the hip with synchronicity in that they can both achieve the same internal response?


Please feel free to pop in for the after episode follow up thread as I'll probably come up with some questions between thursday morning and Monday morning.
 
Well...let's start my first post/message ever, with a question. (This may already be covered during the show - that would be even better) What does Dr. Surprise feel the implications are, with regards to the fact that after...not a large amount of time...he purportedly created what would effectively be called a tulpa? Has he "created" anything else along those lines since he's written the book? Any tulpa related talk with regards to his previous experiences would be great. #tulpatalk
 
You've got to be kidding me. I was just watching Adventure Time - a cartoon of all things...and they start talking about tulpas. 20 minutes after posting the above. Good stuff.
 
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