Your response blew me away and I really appreciate your perspective on entropy.
My issue is this:
During the worst of my illness not that long ago, I became obsessed with synchronicity. I believed that EVERYTHING I saw, touched, read, heard, etc. had some sort of hidden or deeper meaning. It got to the point that I could not throw one single item away that I had come across. I saved everything. It got so bad that I very quickly filled my room completely with useless items I had hoarded. There was no room to move- and I had to sleep on only one half of my bed because that became a storage area too. 3 months into my obsession and hallucinationsâŠmy mom finally dragged me to the hospital- and they told me I was psychotic.
Before I went away, I became just as obsessed with both scientific, and supernatural phenomenon like synchronicity. In my research I stumbled upon the term âApopheniaâ which can be quite common in psychotic disorders.
Apophenia /ĂŠpÉ”ËfiËniÉ/ is the experience of seeing patterns or connections in random or meaningless data.
The term is attributed to Klaus Conrad[1] by Peter Brugger,[2] who defined it as the âunmotivated seeing of connectionsâ accompanied by a âspecific experience of an abnormal meaningfulnessâ, but it has come to represent the human tendency to seek patterns in random information in general, such as with gambling and paranormal phenomena.[3]
How can one differentiate between synchronicity (which is a relatively accepted belief) and apophenia (which is not)?
I have been wrestling with this for quite some time. What do you think?
I touched on apophenia in one of my writings. This is what I wrote:
âApophenia is a component of positive schizotypy, and involves a general human propensity (tendency) to see meaningful patterns when they donât really exist. Apophenia is a natural part of human nature. Some examples include wearing good luck charmsâŠâ
This is just my interpretation. Wearing a charm that you believe will help keep you calm or safe may be apophenia where as synchronicity would involve two or more separate things being connected?
I think a lot of people have apophenia. I just got my husband for Christmas a necklace with a Saint Christopher charm and charm with my name on it so that he will always have both of us protecting him.
You shouldnât seek meaningful connections in your environment. You have the choice to ignore it as opposed to seeking it, as there can be a lot as to become overwhelming to the mind and body. Simply accept that it is part of life. Everyone is its instrument when it wants to. It has no meaning other than nature knocking on you to act on your FREE WILL. To act on your personal truth, and your values - or simply what you think is RIGHT (remember the quote, âdamned if you do, damned if you donât. Just do what is rightâ as the force is very inconsistent). Not being tied with the suggestions it gives, because its appears to be so powerful, as to bring subconscious fear, or becomes ego boosting.
Choose to ignore it for free will. It, the force, will surprise you time and again.
Knowing that the disorder could have this nature has brought me to a way way better mental state, that along with acceptance of synchronicity as part of life which If you donât will bring you into much more trouble.
I donât give meanings to things anymore in my environment and in my thoughts like I used to. But that doesnât mean iâm not inquisitive like I should be as a human. Just try and you will magically be left with ones you actually need.
Iâm very happy that my drugged look is gone and also especially the flat effect. It has given me a lot of confidence in social situations although the anxiety is still there. But Iâm getting more comfortable with it.
My memory and comprehension (reading and listening) is way way way better as well. Before I struggle reading long posts and couldnât keep up watching documentaries. It way way better now!
It has also significantly help with the voices. But I choose to not fully comment on this yet as I think it still is premature. Iâm still waiting for somethingâŠ
