There’s Something Happening Here

Synchronicity has been coming up time and again as a theme on this site, which is not unlike Yogi Berra’s déjà vu all over again. I can’t shake it. A premonition here, an impression there, a repeated phrase that submerges, swims underwater for a while, and then pops up in the most unlikely of places like a loon. And, like a loon, it’s expected. You know the phrase will come up eventually; you just don’t know where or when. Prepare to be amazed. Look—there it is, breaking the surface on the other side of the lake.

I think of Orson Welles, and he appears in a YouTube or X feed. And not because of an algorithm. A word like hoplite pops into my head. I hear it repeated by someone with no interest in ancient Greek military strategy and who could be forgiven for thinking I meant ShopRite. I imagine rats and all of a sudden see one darting along a fence. I think of someone and discover that, completely out of the blue, they have looked me up on Google. This time, I know where and when.

Something is afoot.

Confirmation came the other day when the doorbell rang and I was greeted by a group of Jehovah’s Witnesses. It was like they were caroling. I was surprised to learn that they have changed tactics. Instead of direct questions meant to throw me off guard and get them to the kitchen table, they simply handed me a pamphlet and directed me to a link where I could find some event they were hosting. Then they left. That was it. I have to confess I much prefer this kinder, gentler version of the band from Kingdom Hall.

Still, I knew why they were there. Jehovah’s Witnesses function as a sign for me. At nearly all of the low points in my adult life, they have shown up with a ready smile and a pastel-colored handout. They showed up years ago when I was struggling as a young husband and father. I even studied with them for a month before realizing that the central question of Christianity was the Trinity. Their answer left me cold. Sent me pdq to a parish confessional.

I remember a particularly awful patch working for Greenpeace, handing out brochures outside Grand Central Terminal and meeting yet another group of Jehovah’s Witnesses. I can still picture one woman with sparkly eyes and a grandma’s smile. We exchanged material and chatted for a minute. It was pleasant enough, but it was obvious that I needed to do something other than street canvassing in Manhattan for Greenpeace.

I don’t mean to make this about Jehovah’s Witnesses or even religion. It’s about the feeling that something big is about to happen. I don’t mean just for me personally but for society as well. That’s not exactly a revelation. Doomsayers and self‑proclaimed prophets abound. Most of what they spread is either propaganda or excited self‑delusion. Often, what they spread would be of better use in the garden. Take it from someone who worked at Home Depot. Okay, it was only for three months, but even so.

But the feeling is real. The way synchronicity has been playing out lately involves three broad categories: events, decisions, and communications (see Synchronicity).

Events could be bumping into someone supposedly at random but with meaningful consequences. This has happened enough for me to believe it’s not a coincidence. Decisions usually involve writing. For instance, I take the characters in a different direction based on how they develop naturally and the intuitions I get about them. Communication is probably the most common. I think of someone and they appear, either in written form or in person. Often, I don’t even think of them. Like my Jehovah’s Witness friends, they come a‑knocking.

All of this tells me that something big is about to break (see Waiting for the Other Shoe to Drop). I can feel it, and not because I fell on my head in judo, although that might explain some of it. How I react to whatever happens, understand it, and move with it will depend on whether I see it as friend or foe. Actually, it will probably be both, because it will be me. We have met the enemy, and he is us (apologies to Pogo).

There’s definitely something happening here.

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