Robert H. Hopcke

How many times have we thought that, if only we hadn't missed that bus or had to walk home after our car had died, perhaps we might have never met the love of our life with whom we have gone on to spend the rest of life? And how many times has a family member or a friend given us the perfect gift that we always wanted but had never spoken to anyone about? These amazing coincidences can be explained as mere "chance" or even "fate" and perhaps even "cosmic connections." But one thing is for sure: dismissing them with an amused smile doesn't come close to doing them justice. Such events happen to us all at crucial junctures in our life stories, and unbidden, these coincidences change everything. Just at the moment we have a critical decision to make that will shape our future, they bring our attention to the transcendent bonds we share with those we love, our spouses, our children and our families. After the extraordinary popularity of There Are No Accidents: Synchronicity and the Stories of Our Lives, Jungian psychotherapist Robert H. Hopcke returns once more to an even deeper exploration of the phenomenon of meaningful coincidences, this time within the ambit of that most intimate area of our lives--our love life and our family connections. Drawing from the stories of clients, friends and colleagues, as well as disclosing some of his own experiences that have led him to pursue the topic of synchronicity for the past 20 years of research and writing, he looks at how we ourselves make meaning out of these chances events and thereby enrich our lives in ways we might not otherwise find a way to do. Such occurrences lead us to a deeper appreciation of those we love but likewise lead us to a greater intimacy with our own unconscious, illuminating who we are through who--and how--we love.

How many times have we thought that, if only we hadn't missed that bus or had to walk home after our car had died, perhaps we might have never met the love of our life with whom we have gone on to spend the rest of life? And how many times has a family member or a friend given us the perfect gift that we always wanted but had never spoken to anyone about? These amazing coincidences can be explained as mere "chance" or even "fate" and perhaps even "cosmic connections." But one thing is for sure: dismissing them with an amused smile doesn't come close to doing them justice. Such events happen to us all at crucial junctures in our life stories, and unbidden, these coincidences change everything. Just at the moment we have a critical decision to make that will shape our future, they bring our attention to the transcendent bonds we share with those we love, our spouses, our children and our families. After the extraordinary popularity of There Are No Accidents: Synchronicity and the Stories of Our Lives, Jungian psychotherapist Robert H. Hopcke returns once more to an even deeper exploration of the phenomenon of meaningful coincidences, this time within the ambit of that most intimate area of our lives--our love life and our family connections. Drawing from the stories of clients, friends and colleagues, as well as disclosing some of his own experiences that have led him to pursue the topic of synchronicity for the past 20 years of research and writing, he looks at how we ourselves make meaning out of these chances events and thereby enrich our lives in ways we might not otherwise find a way to do. Such occurrences lead us to a deeper appreciation of those we love but likewise lead us to a greater intimacy with our own unconscious, illuminating who we are through who--and how--we love.

The writings of C. G. Jung himself are the best place to read about all his main ideas—but where to start, when Jung''s Collected Works run to more than eighteen volumes? Robert H. Hopcke''s guide to Jung''s voluminous writings shows exactly the best place to begin for getting a handle on each of Jung''s key concepts and ideas—from archetypal symbols to analytical psychology to UFOs. Each chapter explains one of Jung''s principal concerns, then directs the reader where to read about it in depth in the Collected Works. Each chapter includes a list of secondary sources to approach for further study—which the author has updated for this edition to include books published in the ten years since the Guided Tour''s first appearance.

A woman is set up on a blind date with the same man twice, years apart, on two different coasts. A singer's career changes direction when she walks into the wrong audition. A husband gives his wife an unexpected gift--after she repeatedly dreams about that very same item.... It was Carl Jung who coined the term "synchronicity" for those strange coincidences, when events seem to conspire to tell us something, to teach us, to turn our lives around. They are the strange "plot developments" that make us feel like characters in a grand, mysterious story. How do we identify these coincidences as something special? How do we recognize their significance and use them as turning points toward a more meaningful life story? In There Are No Accidents, Jungian psychotherapist Robert Hopcke explores the nature of the human conciousness and the role of synchronicity--teaching us to examine our own stories, and tap into its power to strengthen our work, love, and spiritual lives.