LETTIOR

 

The concept of Jungian synchronicity has been swim-
ming around in my noggin for the past week. For the
uninitiated, synchronicity is more than just an album
by the Police, it’s a term coined by Swiss psychologist
Carl Jung to describe the idea of “meaningful coinci-
dence.”
Basically, Jung said that what is commonly per-

ceived as “coincidence” by most people may instead

be an underpinning of some sort of universal intelli-
gence or order co-inciding with the life experiences of
the individual. Watch the Bill Moyers interview with
Joseph Campbell called, The Power of Myth for a much
smarter person than I explaining the concept in more
readily understandable language, but I digress...

The synchronicities began with the Other Press
from two-weeks back. David Suzuki took a vacation
from his weekly article, Science Matters. Our own
Brandon Ferguson decided that he would do a parody
of the column entitled, Science Means Something, where
he would come up with outlandish ideas for solving
environmental problems. Simple enough, huh?

Well, for his article last week, Brandon wrote about
discovering that he was an oil vampire.
Hahaha...funny. Well, this week’s copy came in, and
what is David Suzuki talking about? Vampire bats in
Brazil, that’s what. I took notice of the weirdness of
the two events and began thinking about synchronici-
ty, which has long interested me. I even decided that
Vd write about it for this week’s Leftitor.

Now get this: The next morning I woke up with
two red bumps on my neck, which look like the
stereotypical vampire bite marks. No shit. Come ask
me about it and Pll show them to you.

But more than just a little tale about the nature of
coincidence, ve got a question. Some synchronicities
have a fairly obvious meaning: You dream about an
old friend, and then see them two days later; you
notice you’ve parked behind the same make and
model of car three times in a week, then get in a
fender-bender with the same kind of car; that kind of
stuff.

But what is one to do with the enormous catalog
of synchronicities whose meanings aren’t readily
understandable? If the principle of synchronicity were
scientifically proven tomorrow, what would we do
with all the ones that don’t make sense? Things like
what happened this week with David Suzuki, Brandon
Ferguson, vampire bats, and me.

Maybe the bulk of the meaningful coincidences
out there aren’t intended to guide us on life’s path at
all. Maybe they’re just there to remind us that “logi-

cal” and “rational” are merely words; words that stand
for concepts that people dreamed up eons ago. Maybe
synchronicity is one of the X-factors in the uni-
verse—there to remind us that every so often, magic
happens just because.

I dunno, but speaking of magic, the intrepid OP
Crew won't need any smoke and mirrors to convince
you that you’re holding a quality publication right now.
Their words and images will do the convincing for
them.

News pulls a rabbit out of its hat in the form arti-
cles on the DSU’s Tree of Need and an exposé on the
Kashechewen Reserve. There’s also turtle news, and
everyone knows that turtles are totally magical. And
delicious.

Opinions has the droids you’re looking for this
week, including the vampire bats that got me thinking
and a new column called B-Sides, by Brandon
Ferguson. There’s also a great article on being single,
loving sex, but not being a total slut. Damn, last time
I was single, all I wanted was cheap, meaningless sex
with anonymous partners in seedy hotels-that and a
deeper understanding of the underlying mechanics of
the universe.

A&E is review central this week, with the 411 on
Shindig at the Railway Club, Broken Social Scene,
Rent, the movie, and Frankenstein here at Douglas.
There are also beards galore. Maybe one day, I'll magi-
cally be able to actually grow a beard.

Features has girls that dress up like boys and the
low-down on some low-down dirty deeds done to a
Langley housing complex. Like my Lucky Charms,
Features is magically delicious.

Sports has got the Douglas Men’s Soccer team ris-
ing up to capture the National Title. No magic needed
here; the boys won on merit, hard work, and skill. Go
Royals.

So, here you have it...The Other Press: It’s the
kind of paper you can really sink your teeth into, then
saw in half, then put back together to the wonder and
amazement of your viewing audience. Enjoy.

—cColin Miley, Managing Editor

 

 

 

 

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