A Dark Side to Synchronicity Interpretation
And a story from music history
Over the past few years, I’ve been coming across a lot of synchronicities in my life. I’m not exactly sure why they started appearing so suddenly, but the event that seemed to trigger them was the death of one of my coworkers, which was very likely a suicide. That event in itself involved a few coincidences, which are still some of the most unbelievable that I’ve come across to this day. Ever since then, I’ve been coming across synchronicities on a fairly regular basis. Strangely, before my coworker’s death, I rarely ever came across any.
In this article, I want to talk about some of the potential pitfalls of trying to interpret a meaning from certain synchronicities. Specifically, these are interpretations that can cause one to feel paranoid or more fearful in their life. I don’t want to make it seem like synchronicities are something to be suspicious or afraid of. They are really exciting and can add meaning to a person’s life, especially when one is feeling nihilistic about the world in general. It is the mind and its interpretation of the synchronicity that needs to be questioned, because it can really work against you if you’re not careful. I have a feeling that I’m not the only person who has come across challenging synchronicities, which is why I wanted to publish here. I’m also curious if any readers had additional wisdom that they wanted to share on this subject, as synchronicity is still a relatively new concept to me.
I went through a rough period a couple of years ago where I was in a not-so-great state of mind and was also coming across a lot of synchronicities, and it seemed like most of them caused feelings of paranoia. Most of these synchronicities that I came across were minor in nature and not deserving of a story of their own. But to illustrate how the mind can work against a person when it comes to synchronicities, I’m going to tell a story about Brian Wilson, a member of the Beach Boys. His famous story shows how a seemingly harmless interpretation of a synchronicity can cascade into paranoia and, in his case, a period of psychosis.
Brian Wilson and “Fire”
It was 1966 and the Beach Boys had just released their Pet Sounds album, which is now regarded by many to be one of the greatest albums of all time. Brian Wilson was the genius behind the album, which used many new and innovative recording techniques for its time. Being an early psychedelic album, there was also unsurprisingly quite a bit of cannabis and LSD usage during its conception, which is pretty apparent if one listens to the album.
Soon after Pet Sounds was released, the ideas for a follow-up album, SMiLE, were conceived. SMiLE was intended to be an even more ambitious undertaking than Pet Sounds. A lot of different ideas were explored, including a suite of four songs dedicated to the elements (earth, wind, water, and fire). It was during the recording of “Fire (Mrs. O’Leary’s Cow)” that a bizarre coincidence occurred, which proved to be very unsettling to Brian.
The “Fire” sessions were recorded under very peculiar circumstances. To set the mood for the recording, Brian instructed his bandmates to wear fire helmets and had a bucket of burning wood brought into the studio. There are videos online that help give a good idea of what the atmosphere was like. The song itself is very eerie and Brian believed that it would scare a lot of people. A large portion of the song has a string arrangement that was made to sound like a siren. It was inspired by the Great Chicago Fire of 1871, which killed several hundred people and destroyed a large area of the city.
According to Brian and his bandmates, a couple of days after recording the song, a building just down the street from the studio burned down. Brian was very disturbed upon hearing this and believed that the song was witchcraft music and had caused the fire. He was worried that the song would bring a bad vibration into the world if released and supposedly had the recording destroyed, but a version still survives to this day.
Many of Brian’s friends and colleagues point to this synchronistic event as the pivotal point in his mental health decline and the unraveling of the SMiLE album. Several months later, the album was shelved, not to be completed until a few decades later. Brian also became more reclusive, gradually becoming less involved with the band after abandoning the album. These events, combined with his use of several types of drugs, likely worsened his depression and led to his eventual development of schizoaffective disorder. His struggle to recover after this has been lifelong.
Final Thoughts
This is just one famous example of how two separate but synchronistically-related events (the recording of a song called “Fire” and a nearby building burning down) can be interpreted in an unhealthy way. In Brian’s case, his interpretation of the synchronicity led to severe consequences for himself. It probably did not help that he had been using psychoactive drugs, like LSD and cannabis, which for some people can worsen their paranoia.
I think it’s very important to note that it wasn’t the synchronicity itself that ultimately helped lead to Brian’s mental health decline, it was his interpretation of it. Personally, if I could put myself in his shoes, I would have tried to apply a more neutral or positive interpretation to it. Some people like to take a more neutral approach to synchronicities, and simply use them as an indicator that they are on the right path, without labeling them as good or bad. I prefer to find a positive interpretation to synchronicities whenever I can. For Brian’s case, I would have looked at that synchronicity as a sign that I needed to relax, as in maybe take a few days off. He was under an immense amount of pressure at the time: he wanted to create an even better album than Pet Sounds, was competing with The Beatles, and appeared to have a few toxic people around him. Taking more time to relax would have no doubt been good for his mental health.
Another thing to consider was his cannabis use. From my experience, I would caution certain people about using cannabis. Cannabis seems to have a unique effect on everybody, but some people, including me, report that it can bring on paranoid thoughts. I also found that it can really open my mind, allowing me to find meaning and connections among different things (synchronicities) in my life that I would not be aware of in a normal state of mind. Usually this had a positive effect on me, except when it overlapped with the paranoia. This is when I would notice the negative synchronicities, which was one of the main reasons I stopped using cannabis. I often had trouble finding a good set and setting. Brian could have been experiencing similar issues during the recording of SMiLE. In many of his interviews, he has stated that he regretted getting into drugs.
The appearance of synchronicities in one’s life can be very exciting and should not be something to be afraid of. A useful idea I like to keep in mind is to be paranoid of your paranoia. Then when you come across a synchronicity that causes feelings of paranoia, question those feelings and ask yourself whether your interpretation of the synchronicity will make your life better or worse. Treat these types of synchronicities as opportunities for personal growth instead of reasons to become more afraid. I’m happy to say that for me personally, I have actually become less paranoid overall because of them!
