A new book by a prominent New Age writer is promising to change your life by introducing you to the greatest guiding light of all time – an alignment of universal forces or “falling together” of  physical and psychical events known as synchronicity. Buy that and the New Age will sell you another one - literally. I just learned that Good Health magazine is featuring “Synchronicity Expert” Mary Soliel, author of I can See Clearly Now: How Synchronicity Illuminates Our Lives, in their June issue. Soliel is making a living off of convincing people that they should trust their lives to the Jungian concept of “meaningful coincidence.” As Soliel explains: "The universe is literally beaming synchronicities in all aspects of our lives, through song lyrics, numbers, cloud shapes, a seemingly random statement from a stranger - anything can serve as a vehicle that delivers a sign . . . . Synchronicity comes to us in many different ways so it's about looking outside the box, seeing the world with wonder as a child does and maintaining a playful attitude – have fun with it!" says Soliel. Much like the law of attraction touted in Rhonda Byrne’s book, The Secret, Soliel claims that people can create their own reality with their thoughts and attract either positive or negative synchronicity into their lives. "If you match your thoughts, feelings, words and actions with your greatest desires, you'll attract more positive synchronicity to fulfill those desires," she says. People are actually buying this concept and attempting to put it into practice! The whole concept originates with Carl Jung who invented the term synchronicity to describe the alignment of "universal forces" with the life experiences of an individual. According to the New Age Spirituality website, “Jung believed that many experiences perceived as coincidences were not merely due to chance, but instead reflected the creation of an event or circumstance by the ‘co-inciding’ or alignment of such forces. The process of becoming intuitively aware and acting in harmony with these forces is what Jung labeled ‘individuation.’ Jung said that an individuated person would actually shape events around them through the communication of their consciousness with the collective unconscious.” Examples of synchronicity might be thinking of friend just as the person calls or meeting someone on a trip overseas from your own hometown. Believers in synchronicity say this isn’t just chance but attests to a hidden order in the universe that one can tap into and gain direction. The Magical Mysteries website quotes Robert Hopcke, Jungian psychotherapist and author of There are no Accidents, who claims episodes of synchronicity often happen during times of transition. “Our psyches appear to send us assistance in the form of a seemingly random event that occurs at precisely the right time. When we experience synchronicity, a life change may be on its way and it could take a random event to convince us that a new path lies waiting for us.” Notice that the Creator of the Universe – who is responsible for these episodes – is conspicuously absent from these explanations. In fact, He is replaced by the New Age's most popular false god -  an ambiguous "force" that supposedly inhabits the universe and all living things. And just as Gnostics (those who believe that salvation can be obtained through knowledge) have been teaching since the earliest days of the Church, we can all learn to control and guide our destinies by acquiring some kind of special knowledge - in this case about hidden forces in the universe with which we need only align ourselves in order to have a great life. Everything is up to us. All we have to do is learn how to “tune in.” This is just another version of the same old New Age marketing pitch known as the human potential movement, which includes a variety of self-help and motivational training programs that promote a human-centered psychology based on the belief that a person is in complete control of their destiny. In addition to The Secret, the list includes other bestsellers such as Dianetics, The Power of Positive Thinking, The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People. The list goes on and on and on. Rest assured, next year, it will be something new. For more information about the dangers of the human potential movement, read “The Dangers of Landmark” at /?p=59 and “New Age Seminar Blamed for Woman’s Death” at /?p=8. Send your New Age question to newage@womenofgrace.com