I expect we’re all familiar with synchronicity. You mention the name of a person you haven’t seen for years and the next day you bump into them. You start humming an old song and the next moment it’s on the radio – that sort of thing. Yesterday I mentioned Dostoevsky and today he was the answer to a crossword clue which, annoyingly, I didn’t get. These things happen too often to be dismissed as mere coincidences, and yet it is not clear whether something more profound is happening. It may be that we are more aware of something and notice it simply because it was mentioned in conversation the day before, yet it’s hard to escape the feeling of having summoned it (or them) up.
I do actually believe in some sort of thought transference – lots of times I’ve known what OH is thinking without having any actual contact (a bit like Harry Potter with Voldemort) – and everyone knows what it’s like to walk into a room and feel an ‘atmosphere’; what’s that if not some kind of thought transference? Speaking of which, last night we watched Yesterday, a film about a world in which by some freak accident everyone’s memory of the Beatles is wiped out. Only one man remembers them; Jack Malik, a failed musician whose career has just come to an abrupt end. Could it be revived by passing the Beatles’ songs off as his own? It could; he becomes the most successful musician in the world but his success makes him deeply unhappy because he knows himself to be a fraud. In the end he releases all the tracks online for free, causing his manager to have a meltdown, and goes back to Lowestoft to be a teacher.
It’s not a particularly good film – the acting is quite lame and most of the characters wet and unconvincing, but it set me thinking: surely a more interesting scenario would be one where he pretends to have written all the Beatles songs but nobody actually likes them? Where everyone listens and then says, ‘Yeah, but it’s not Ed Sheeran is it?’ I think I might put that in a story.
Incidentally, can anyone explain to me the appeal of Ed Sheeran?
Anyway, have you had any experiences of synchronicity? I’d like to hear about them.
Kirk out
Sarada Gray 
For all that it was a bit cheesy, I quite enjoyed Yesterday; I agree about Sheeran though. I have a feeling that there was a John Peel connection in the film, but can’t for the life of me think what it was. Same with instances of synchronicity: you know what it’s like when you want to think of something, but nothing comes…….. Cheers, Jon.
My wife is a huge Sheeran fan. She owns every CD he has released, and has been to see him three times in concert. I can take or leave him, mostly leave. He looks like someone who needs a good wash and shave to me! In his defence, he does a lot for local charities in Suffolk, where he comes from. Though his near-neighbours are not so keen on his sprawling £4 million ‘estate’ that he has had built in Framlingham. He is currently worth around £225 million, so I doubt he cares if I think he needs a shave. 🙂
Best wishes, Pete.