Synchronicity as an expression of the Unknowable God. The limitations inherent in the scientific method.

Synchronicity as an expression of the Unknowable God. The limitations inherent in the scientific method.

José Delgado González. Psicólogo y terapeuta de orientación junguiana 

Synchronicity, as posited by Carl Gustav Jung, represents a profound and radical challenge to the foundations of our rational understanding of the world. It is a concept that invites us to reconsider the way we conceive connections between events, introducing a perspective that transcends the causal logic underpinning Western science. This principle suggests that certain events are linked not by cause and effect, but by a shared sense or meaning, operating within a cosmic structure and dynamic that defies our capacity to comprehend through traditional modes of thought.

The ineffability that emanates from this proposition inevitably leads us to the notion of the "Deus Absconditus" or "hidden God," and to the figure of Abraxas, which in Jung’s thought and the Gnostic tradition symbolizes an entity that transcends conventional dualities. In this context, God, or the ultimate consciousness underpinning the cosmos, governs variables and forces that are not only beyond our control but also beyond our capacity for conceptualization. It is a "logos" that transcends our logos, an intelligence situated in a dimension beyond human logic.

The idea of a "consciousness" capable of integrating these levels of reality confronts us with the incomprehensible. How can we understand an intelligence capable of operating under principles that, for us, are utterly unfathomable? This question touches on the depths of philosophy, theology, and transpersonal psychology. From the Jungian perspective, this consciousness should not be understood as something external or separate from ourselves but as an intrinsic dimension of the psyche—the very core of what Jung called the collective unconscious. Within it lie the archetypes, the primordial images that structure our experience and that, through synchronicity, can manifest directly in the external world, breaking the boundaries between the internal and the external.

In this sense, synchronicity not only suggests the existence of a higher principle of order in the cosmos but also compels us to confront the mystery of our own nature. The "Deus Absconditus" is not solely outside us but also resides in the depths of our psyche, in the Self, which for Jung represents both the center and the totality of the personality, being both individual and universal.

Jung’s efforts to connect these ideas with science are especially significant in this context. His collaboration with physicists like Wolfgang Pauli exemplifies his attempt to bridge psychology and the natural sciences, mysticism and reason. Pauli, a quantum physicist deeply interested in psychological and philosophical questions, shared Jung’s belief that phenomena of synchronicity could offer a key to understanding the profound connections between mind and matter. This effort to integrate seemingly opposing perspectives not only reflects Jungian thought but also mirrors the process of individuation that Jung so highly valued: the unification of opposites within the individual.

However, it is important to acknowledge the limits of these attempts. The New Age movement, for instance, has perpetuated the idea of seeking logical, rational, and scientific justifications for transpersonal phenomena in quantum physics—a line of thought that Jung himself explored in collaboration with Pauli. Jung sought to unify science and mysticism, attempting to find in quantum mechanics a common ground for phenomena such as synchronicity, but these efforts, while valuable, did not achieve the desired objective. The failure of these experiments should not be viewed as a loss but as a learning experience. It demonstrates that the cosmic consciousness, the mind that organizes synchronicity, operates on a plane and with variables that completely escape current scientific methods, even when directed by a quantum physicist. This failure provides a paradigmatic foundation for reflecting on the limits of our knowledge and the profoundly mysterious nature of these phenomena.

Science, grounded in statistics, repeatability, and universal laws, seeks to understand and explain phenomena through coherence and statistical averages. However, this approach focuses on what is repeatable, on what represents the average or the greatest proportion of cases, leaving out those margins of exceptionality where the singular and the synchronistic operate. These processes have not been integrated into institutional science nor studied in universities precisely because they manifest within a small margin of cases, outside the realm of statistical dominance. This is also the case with astrology, whose effectiveness may be precise and accurate on occasion but is neither universally applicable nor consistent.

Astrology, which Jung explored in his to find meaningful patterns, works and does not work simultaneously: it operates within a logic that exceeds scientific logic. Astrologers have tried to universalize their oracles, seeking proof that certain celestial events produce uniform effects across humanity. But this does not hold. Experience and experiments show that astrology can be valid in certain contexts and for certain individuals but is not uniformly applicable. The same logic applies to synchronicity, which "blows where it will" and cannot be systematized or guaranteed.

This recognition reminds us that, while it is essential to investigate, experiment, and explore these phenomena, we must also learn to relinquish the pretense of controlling or fully explaining them. Individuation is neither a uniform nor a universal path, and synchronicity does not inevitably manifest in everyone’s life. Each experience is unique, and each transpersonal phenomenon responds to an order that, for now, remains unfathomable.

Finally, by considering synchronicity as a manifestation of this integrative principle, we can begin to glimpse a different way of approaching knowledge and reality. Synchronicity is not merely a strange or anomalous phenomenon but an invitation to open ourselves to a broader vision of the world, where the rational and the irrational, the visible and the invisible, the human and the divine, can coexist and complement one another. 

Ultimately, it serves as a reminder that the mystery of Abraxas, of the "Deus Absconditus," lies beyond our reach, although it calls to us constantly from the depths of our psyche and from the seemingly chaotic patterns of existence. At the same time, this Deus Absconditus reminds us that there is a Mystery that completely transcends the capacities of science and reason, escaping the spatiotemporal qualities of our rational consciousness and residing on a plane that defies all human conceptualization.