Synchronosophy (Prelude)

a preconceptual beginning

“Here is the deepest secret nobody knows.

here is the root of the root and the bud of the bud

and the sky of the sky of a tree called life;

which grows higher than the soul can hope or mind can hide

and this is the wonder that's keeping the stars apart.

I carry your heart with me. I carry it in my heart.”

E.E. Cummings

12th of January. It was only after publishing my first post in this new Synchronosophy channel on substack, I noticed the date. January 12th is the day Jakob died, my youngest brother. He’d been travelling the world for five years when the terrible news arrived. That day he’d gone diving off the coast of Union Island in St. Vincent and the Grenadines ~ which was to him like popping out to the supermarket to get some groceries ~ and didn’t find his way back.

Jakob was not only an adventurer in the outer world, cycling solo through Africa, developing acrobatic skills to entertain tourists in Senegal, sailing across the Atlantic to Brazil on a small vessel, having all his belongings stolen on Martinique, sending letters home from far away places. He was also an intronaut. He wasn’t afraid to face the monsters in his inner world, which gave him courage and resourcefulness and inner strength to live a nomadic life.

A few days after we received the notice of his death, Jakob visited me. I was living in Switzerland at the time, pregnant with my third child. The grief was unbearable. It still wells up decades later, as soon as I think about it.

I don’t consider myself ‘psychic’ or gifted with ‘paranormal’ talents. Seeing my brother’s beautiful face and sunny smile, while drowning in floods of emotional pain was my only experience ever of communicating with someone who ‘is no longer with us’ as they say. I have no idea where that euphemistic expression comes from, and I can’t disagree more. Since the day of Jakob’s death I have never been without him!

In the brief conversation I had with my brother in mid January 1987 he told me not to worry about him. He was fine. The reason for his visit was to tell me, “Now it’s your turn!”

I instantly understood what he meant. He had carried the baton of living an authentic life since the age of 19 when he left home. He had been uncompromising in his approach to life, which takes a tremendous amount of courage and inner strength.

Others envied his free spirit and ability to find friends where-ever he happened to drop by. But inside he was on a solitary journey. Struggling to make sense of the world. Fighting for his birthright to be human. Caught up in the entangled web of social and cultural ties of unprocessed family trauma, just like everyone else. The difference was, he went and did it. He followed a dream and dealt with the nightmares along the way.

After Jakob’s visit, I knew my life was about to change. The life I was living wasn’t my dream. My commitment to the inner journey had been only half-hearted ~ my brother’s message a diaphanous reminder. I knew he was right.

If not now, when? my Inner Wizard whispered.

If not me, who? my Inner Sovereign echoed.

It was this realisation that gave me the courage, commitment and determination to step into my adventure, to track down my inner truth, to follow in Jakob’s footsteps. The journey has not always been easy. I’ve had to navigate some serious nightmares along the way, before steering my boat into more gentle waters.

The realisation that I’d published my first post on this day was triggered by a brief comment from fellow substacker

Jamie Millard

. It was only one word ~ Kairos.

Oh, Kairos! The deeper personal meaning hit me, as my eyes picked up the fateful numbers 12-01-2024.

Synchronosophy [from synchrony = coincidental events + sophia = wisdom] literally means gathering wisdom from synchrony. The synchrony between Jakob’s deathday, the date of publishing my first post as I’m entering a new cycle of living an authentic life by sharing my work, and Jamie’s meaningful word prompted me to share this story.

It won’t be as meaningful to you as it is to me, but that’s not the point. It is meant as an illustration and reminder that synchrony is everywhere. Meaning is personal. Inner wisdom can be found in the space between the experience of synchrony and personal meaning. That is the essence of synchronosophy.