The thread that binds
Things are connected to other things. I fully believe this. Jung called it synchronicity, and I think his hypothesis is accurate. And once you start paying attention to seemingly random elements in your life, you’ll believe it, too.
Anyway, Torah study this past week was followed by a discussion of Lamentations, a book of the Tanakh that is a bit unusual because it’s written from the perspective of a woman and is filled with imagery involving things like sexual violence. An interesting topic, to be sure, but also an example of synchronicity because I had just finished a manuscript where Lamentations 1:16 featured in a prominent spot.
For these things I weep; my eye, yea my eye, sheds tears, for the comforter to restore my soul is removed from me; my children are desolate, for the enemy has prevailed.
Why? Because the book is about sexual exploitation and violence. I didn’t pick it out of a hat. But I didn’t have any idea we’d be talking about it! Coincidence? Or synchronicity? You decide, but I choose the latter because it is too much to be a coincidence. I’d pored over Lamentations for my work, only to have Rabbi S do a deep dive from a religious/historical perspective. It’s like it was meant to be… and maybe it was.
Look around you. Watch and listen. What threads in your life are being brought together, and for what purpose? Examine them. You may find meaning there.