Beyond Jung 2024 – Synchronicity and Jung’s Holistic Epistemology

Jung developed his concept of synchronicity to address the scientific, spiritual, and social crises he saw as stemming from the one-sided rationalism of modern Western culture and its concomitant ‘disenchantment’. With his concept of synchronicity, Jung provided a holistic approach to knowledge that aimed to undo disenchantment by reinstating mystery, meaning, and connection to the sacred at the heart of our scientific and scholarly as well as therapeutic and creative practices. In this presentation, I shall first clarify the holistic character of Jung’s proposed epistemological contribution with his concept of synchronicity. I shall then illustrate how this holistic approach to knowledge informed Jung’s scientific and scholarly work, including on synchronicity itself. Finally, I shall indicate some of the ways in which my own work as a researcher and educator has been influenced by holistic epistemological principles based on the concept of synchronicity.