Signs and Portents

The category of Signs and Portents seems to, as far as mentalism is concerned, fall under the category of synchronicity and coincidence. In aetheric theory, this is about the connection between all things and how we can trace the cause of some happening back through sometimes seemingly unrelated phenomena. I'd like to write up an activity or exercise to illustrate this point. Perhaps Jung's got something about it in his book on synchronicity.

Moments of synchronicity seem to happen more often under particular circumstances. Two of these I've recognized in my own life are times of intense study (wither for school or writing or for esoteric delving itself) and times when I am falling in love. Both of these activities involve a heightened sense of awareness. It's difficult to define what one's attention is focused on during these times. In study, one is obviously paying attention to the material, and if one is writing about the topic, then there is a good deal of mental connecting going on. The scholar is making links between established and new concepts. In esoteric study the linking is often between concepts and one's own life, or one's outlook on life. This is the creation of significance, and it's the same practice undertaken by poets and essayists, as well as by any artist who works in metaphor.

When one is falling in love, one's eyes are equally open, although the attention is on the object of one's desire and how they relate to one's self. A budding lover has his eyes open for signs and portents in everything, and he sees them often, too. This is, again, the creation of significance.

What does it mean to have a life where significance is so subjective? Can we find any truth, any objective reality in such a means of observation? I believe we can, although the findings may be a "soft objectivity" of general truths applicable to all people. Do the findings in synchronicity studies have any significance outside our own experience?

How does fortune-telling fit in? What are the considerations the mentalist should keep in mind when predicting the future?

[I wrote this on Tuesday 8 May, and paraphrased my theories on the conditions for seeing portents to a friend that night. He seemed to agree that study, especially esoteric study, and the process of falling in love were good ways to open ourselves to this kind of clairvoyance, but indicated that when falling in love we really have no idea what we're seeing.]