Toward the Rising Sun

My best friend and I have lived in different countries, thousands of miles apart, for many years. Since around 2009, we have regularly noticed strange coincidences, or “recurrences,” as we began calling them back then.

Around 2016, I discovered that Carl Jung had studied this phenomenon. I read his work on synchronicity and was stunned by it.

Several days ago, I was lying in front of the TV, not really paying attention. At some point, though, I began catching a few words and piecing them together in my mind. I do not remember what was said before or after, but the segment briefly discussed the words “orientation” and “orientate.”

I learned that they come from the Latin oriens, meaning “rising” or “morning.” That is also where the idea of “the Orient,” or the East, comes from.

I thought, Oh, cool. Interesting. I had lived for 38 years and only just discovered this.

The next day, I wrote to my best friend about it. As always, he was thousands of miles away.

He replied, “I discovered that just yesterday.”

Wide-eyed, I thought, What?

We had independently discovered the same unusual fact on the same day, from completely different sources.

It is not even the most overwhelming coincidence we have experienced since 2009, but it is a good one.