Betty, L. S. (2004). Jung's synchronistic interpretation of near-death experience: An unnecessary mystification. Journal of Near-Death Studies, 22(4) 261-268.
Abstract: In his long essay on synchronicity, Carl Jung enlisted the help of a relatively complete but little known near-death experience (NDE) to illustrate his thesis. This NDE was not the famous one he himself had in 1944, but one related to him by a patient. It contained all four of Bruce Greyson's NDE components, most notably the paranormal. Jung regarded the patient's experience as a good example of synchronicity, by which he meant “the simultaneous occurrence of a certain psychic state with one or more external events.” What is remarkable, and problematical, about his view of synchronicity was that it was acausal. I develop and defend an alternative epistemology involving causality: While paranormal knowledge is hard to explain, there is no good reason to remove it from cause-and-effect discourse. I close by speculating why Jung chose to conceive of sychronicity [sic] in a manner so mystifying.
Copyright: © 2008 International Association for Near-Death Studies
Link: http://www.iands.org
Topics:
Explanations of NDEs—Parapsychological
Science and NDEs
Theories, NDE-Related, Psychological—Jung