COINCIDENCE: PARANORMAL EVENT OR JUST THE LUCK OF THE THROW?

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: STARGATE
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP96-00787R000200080017-6
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 3
• Document Creation Date: November 4, 2016
• Document Release Date: November 5, 1998
• Sequence Number: 17
• Publication Date: October 1, 1978
• Content Type: NSPR

Approved For Release 2=~/~A~ L CIA-RDP96-00
Coincidence: paranormal eve? t
or just the luck of the throw?
Things that happen at the same time have a special
relationship to each other; researchers ask why
By Elaine Kendall
M ost of us live on such familiar terms
with the idea of coincidence that we
think of it in offhand catch phrases and
react to it with stock responses. We describe
coincidence as funny, fantastic, weird, or
bizarre; dismiss it as "mere," "only," or
"lucky"; use it for small talk. Of all the
paranormal phenomena, coincidence re-
mains the least controversial and the easiest
to accept. It's not as intimidating as pre-
cognition, as unsettling as dEjd vu, or a
nuisance like psychokinesis. Coincidence is
just a capricious old friend, amusing but
undependable. responsible for "I was just
about to phone," "Imagine meeting you
here," and "How odd that three new books
about Napoleon were published this week."
On any sliding scale of extrasensory per-
ception, coincidence would rate no more
than a comfortable two or three. Whenever
it's startling or dramatic enough to discon-
cert us, we explain away our unease by the
laws of chance and probability, which are
elastic enough to accommodate the most
unwieldly circumstances. The odds may be
a million to one; but odds are odds, and
it's reassuring to know that they're there,
keeping the world in bounds and in per-
spective. We don't consider ourselves in an
altered state of consciousness every time we
run into a classmate at the movies, win the
daily double, or miss the plane with en-
gine trouble. We call it chance and let it
go at that.
Coincidence functions so unpredictably
that it could never draw the crowds that
come to see demonstrations of levitation or
psychic healing. Because it has no charis-
matic gurus and makes literature on New
the pop
es
i
,
s
or prom
Frontiers of Mind tends to slight it.
Coincidence doesn't televise as well as key
bending or even dowsing. It's not as titil-
lating as UFO's nor as pretty as Kirlian
photography.
Coincidence supplies the novelist's plot,
Distinctive Original
Distinguish yourself-with the superb craftsmanship of
St. Thomas. Sleek, glazed whipsnake accented with a polished
gold frame. Handturned edges,
impeccable detailing and inno-
vative design lend lasting qual-
ity to a classic. A distinctive
accessory for the discerning
woman.
TO HAVE AND TO HOLEY*
v R a miracle, s
1 an miracle, the
vita I riy
,
.,
artist's inspiration, the statesman's manifest
destiny. and the philosopher's unity. Very
often, it's also responsible for the scientist's
success, and that may be why science orga-
nizes to fight back.
Coincidence is, in fact, the most protean
of all phenomena, changing shape and form
to operate on every level of existence, ap-
pearing in such elaborate masquerade that
it often goes unrecognized. We could hard-
ly manage without it.
Explicit information about coincidence
seems curiously skimpy and dated, and even
the newest books about paranormal ex-
perience depend rather heavily on incidents
reported a half-century ago. There was a
the
h
at
flurry of interest at about the time t
Titanic sank, and a great many people re-
membered feeling chills as the ship went
down; but equally dramatic and verifiable
examples have seemed increasingly rare
ever since. Coincidence seemed to decline in
direct proportion to transatlantic boat
travel.
Train wrecks also produced some fine
examples of coincidence, but cars and
planes have not added much to our knowl-
edge. Danger alone is not enough. Co-
incidence seems to require an element of
romance to function well. The most re-
markable examples have always seemed to
pertain to disaster and death, which may
partially explain why investigation has
lagged in favor of cheerier topics. More-
over, people tend quite naturally to attrib-
ute happy and fortuitous occurrences to
their own worthy efforts, instead of to out-
side forces. As a result, the Society for Psy-
chical Research hears much more about
unpleasant ones. The official records are full
of intimations of assassination, earthquake,
fire, and flood, but the routine synchronicity
that constantly bends our lives is hardly
noted at all. And that may be just as well.
There's so much of it around that selectivity
is essential to keep the topic interesting.
Because coincidence is still the nearest
thing we have to a universal phenomenon,
it has engaged the attention of some ex-
tremely notable minds, but usually privately
and generally with inconclusive results. Un-
til very recently, however, these informal
experiments were carried on rather quietly.
among congenial friends, but now the sub-
ject is no longer confined to parlors.
In February 1974, Professor John
Wheeler, the eminent nuclear physicist,
lecturing a group of his colleagues at Ox-
ford, said that "there may be no such thing
as 'the glittering central mechanism of the
universe.' Not machinery but magic ma>
be the better description of the treasure
that is waiting." Such a statement would
have been unthinkable fifty years ago.
Even in an area like psychiatry. where an
exploration and understanding of how
coincidence works would seem most re-
warding. the Establishment attitude has
continued to be somewhat aloof. "There's
INTERLUDE COLLECTION. WHIPSNAKE WITH MATCHING COWHIDE AND GOLD POLISHED FRAME IN RUBY,
Y
CURRY. AS SHOWN, GL RESp U SE $18,00. KEYVFOBRi .'50. ALSO, CROE~DITT CARD CASEC E .00.3,E HOOK Y KEY
`p ;.vWA ?
2 1'/Cf3~2 ' eti~-~2b '6~6-Ob787Ri
tegSk
a divinity that shapes our ends,/Roug -
hew them how Ine hel 1950s fine when drama Cabut
rl
poor therapy.
Jung published his thoughtful essay on
synchronicity and its effect upon person-
ality development, other psychiatrists were
curiously unresponsive to this phase of his
work. Their attitude was adamant, but
understandable.
)O Qtucudo0ce makes a wonderful excuse
017e~nrinuedanpage274)
vOGUt. VC?o?r,
268
 ~` - _Cpproved For Re sa a 2001/03/26 : CIA-RDP96-007478000200080017-6
WILLIAM
S61r"W,d1W111r ~Pwl
The gentle classic ... a sweater collection in
31 exquisite colors. All are color related with our
skirts, pants and jackets as well as the finely
detailed blouses in prints, solids and jacquards.
The possibilities are infinite ...
The small photo shows the "Couturier" look by
William Kasper for your other moods. A knit Georgette
fabric, 411 xclusive with us, in rich subtley hued paisleys.
WILLIAM KASPER AT
BULLOCK'S WILSHIRE: SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA
MARSHALL FIELDS: CHICAGO
SAKOWITZ: HOUSTON
WOOLF BROTHERS: KANSAS CITY, MO.
AllltsReIease 2001/03/26: C
AS WELL AS OTHER FINE DEPARTMENT AND SPECIALTY STORES
COINCIDENCE
(Continued from page 268)
for irresponsible behavior of all kinds. Adultery, for instance, would
be difficult if not impossible without it. Moreover, coincidence
does tend to boggle the mind and to resist interpretation, thus
making the work of the psychotherapist even more tedious than it
already is. Perverse, tricky, and intriguing, coincidence reduces the
most carefully constructed and logical argument to a shambles.
The speculative sciences find it hard to tame; the exact sciences
cannot be blamed for wanting it to go away.
The greatest single trouble with coincidence has always been the
fact that it cannot be produced upon demand. Because accounts of
coincidental happenings are invariably what scholars disparagingly
call anecdotal, the whole topic suffers from a competitive disadvan-
tage. Anecdotal evidence, no matter how persuasive, is difficult to
duplicate and verify but very easy to exaggerate. It leaves the seri-
ous intellectual community cold. Coincidence, therefore, has always
had an anomalous place in research; and, until very recently, it has
remained there, an embarrassment and a menace to almost every-
one concerned. The parapsychologists were welcome to it, and
it became theirs by default.
Now, reconsidered as another kind of causal event, coincidence
is suddenly attracting a fair share of attention from the more ortho-
dox scientists as well. New tests and more imaginative experiments
are luring it out of its corner. Physicists and mathematicians, who
routinely deal in imperceptible aspects of the universe, have always
known that coincidence could not be ignored or dismissed, though
not all of them were eager to admit it. Philosophers and psycholo-
gists have become more receptive than before; and there is con-
stant experimentation in all these fields, controlled and cautious
attempts to excavate what Arthur Koestler calls The Roots of Co-
incidence.
At UCLA, Thelma Moss, Ph.D., and her colleagues at the Neuro-
psychiatric Institute conducted a variety of tests that show that
"coincidence" can be encouraged if one provides the proper condi-
tions. Emotion, for example, seems to be a definite factor in its
occurrence. If one person attempts to guess the subject matter of
a picture that another person is being shown, his chances of being
right seem best when the scene is violent or tragic, only fair when
it's pleasant or even sensual, and merely average when it's bland.
And if the two people participating in the experiment are related
in some way, they seem to be significantly more adept at this exer-
cise than total strangers. Somewhat inadvertently, this particular
project also seemed to prove that bad news travels fast, just as
millions of ordinary people have always suspected it did.
Ongoing research, with more dramatic implications, is currently
being performed at SRI International in Menlo Park, California,
by Russell Targ and Harold Puthoff, Ph.D., both physicists with
impressive academic credentials and solid backgrounds in traditional
scientific research.
Targ and Puthoff have been producing coincidence more or less
on order since 1974, and have documented their results in their
book Mind-Reach (Delacorte). The Targ-Puthoff trials are hard to
classify exactly, since they cross the arbitrary boundaries that have
always separated coincidence from its more eccentric relations-
telepathy, clairvoyance, and that most troublesome connection of
all, the out-of-body experience. Mind-Reach deals with what its au-
thors prefer to call "remote viewing," but the elements of coinci-
dence are strong and the family resemblance is unmistakable.
Remote viewing, a nice neutral term for an astonishing blend of
phenomena, works this way. The subject is comfortably established
in a soundproof, electrically shielded room and given a set of map
coordinates indicating a specific place on the globe. Any area will
do, as long as an adequate description of it is available and can be
verified. The location is chosen at random. The subject then draws
a sketch of the site, indicating as best he can its significant features-
its outline, buildings, bodies of water-whatever comes to mind.
Remote viewing is not telepathy, because telepathy is mind to mind:
nor is it clairvoyance, which is mind to event. It comes closer to
something that has been extravagantly called "astral travel," but
that sounds too bizarre for what has become a normal everyday
exercise for a group of normal everyday people.
The remote viewers are getting the facts right; not always exactly,
but generally in the essential particulars, putting rivers, lakes, trees.
hills, structures, and roadways in the proper places and more or less
details as window
c
in proportion, and often including such ssppeeciifi
b
y
i
y
I~k7lSQ~141fe~M~~dltiq(c-6 buts more
liable. Photographs of the actual sites taken at a later date ana
(Continued on page 276)
 {
Approved For Rela a 2001/03/26 : CIA-RDP96-0071000200080017-6
Sonsatlonal Far-East Inspiration
Our brand new Betmar Sherpa jacket with hood and
toggle buttons in 100% acrylic natural wool color.
(Unlined) Sizes S-(6-8), M-(10-12) only. $36.00.
Matching cuff hat, one size fits all, $9.00.
Mail orders: MF&S, PO. Box 640, Delray Beach,
Fla. 33444. Order by phone [phone],
American Express, BankAmericard/ VISA, Master
Approved For
COINCIDENCE
(Continued from page 274)
reproduced in the book next to the drawings show startling
correspondences. people, and
Targ and Puthoff have now tested more than fifty they maintain that the majority of their subjects have been able to
accomplish the assignment. Skeptics are no worse at it than true
believers; and, although some subjects are far more adept than
others, no one has failed entirely. Distance seems to make little
difference in accuracy or the lack of it. A school building in the
neighborhood is no easier to reproduce than an airport in Central
America or an island in the South Pacific.
The experiments have been continually escalating in difficulty
with no decrease in efficiency. Some participants have even been
taken undersea in a submarine where their perceptual abilities seem
to function as well as in the lounge chairs at Menlo Park. Most
people seem to improve with practice, getting more proficient at
this curious job just as they might get better at backhand volleys or
Beethoven sonatas.
The boredom that usually afflicts such research projects has not
been a problem with this one. Remote viewers, once aware of their
new ability, seem delighted to exercise it. One veteran of the Stan-
ford experiments, a Los Angeles photographer, has offered to assist
a team of archaeologists; and the buried ruins are turning up where
she says they will be, thereby saving a great deal of time, trouble,
backbreaking labor, and foundation money. A forthcoming book
by Stephan Schwartz, The Secret Vaults of Time (Grosser & Dun-
lap), shows that archaeologists have long made use of such special
help, though the information has not been generally bruited about
until the recent surge of interest in such matters. If this particular
strain of coincidence could be tamed, directed. and applied, its
implications would be enormous. So far, none of the remote viewers
has reported locating an oil field or a uranium mine, but the poten-
tial is there.
Russell Targ provided an elementary demonstration of remote
viewing by asking me to describe an object on his desk. At that
point, I had neither met him, been to his office, nor yet talked to
any of the subjects. The only connection between my office in
Santa Monica and his in Menlo Park was the Pacific Telephone
Company line, which works no better than its counterparts else-
where and often not as well. "Describe what I'm looking at." he said.
"Color, size, kind. Draw it. Don't try to read my mind."
"Something natural," I said. "Not manufactured. No particular
color-maybe beige or grey. Neutral. Not completely round but
no sharp corners."
"Not bad," Targ said. "I've got a quartz globe on a rectangular
stand on a tan blotter." Pens, pencils, a typewriter, pictures, books.
or the phone itself would have been more logical guesses and easy
outs. I could have chosen them, but I didn't.
It has since occurred to me that Russell Targ may have a table
piled with so many objects of every description that it could be
impossible to miss; but, then again, he may not. Scientists usually
prefer an uncluttered work surface, and though one correct guess
is surely coincidence, it's also a score of 100 percent.
All of us, of course, have learned to exploit coincidence to some
extent. We give it other and more acceptable names-opportunity,
accident, hard work, talent, even faith-because we need to feel
responsible for our lives. But suppose, for a moment, that we could
train ourselves not just to take advantage of these happy conjunc-
tions when they happen but to generate them? The Mind-Reach
subjects have apparently made considerable progress in this direc-
tion, within a relatively short time and without interfering With
ir other duties or obligations.
th
e
Floridareidentsadd4%sales tau. In Janus (Random House), his newest book of speculative e%-
Florida t the human brain is a " lu~urv
t
MARK/FORE &\SSTRIKE
Resort fashions for Ladies and Gentlemen
PALM BEACH ?DELRAY BEACH NAPLES
SARASOTA - WINTER PARK ? CHATHAM
OSTERVILLE ? EAST HAMPTON ? BAYHEAD
la jEilg~fi~wlninj..sr(tiF
nerne and address to Mark, Fore
Box 640. Delray Beach, Fla. 33441. &
Vie.
a
says, Arthur Koestler maintains
organ," one "developed in advance of the needs of its possessor."
Koestler derived that notion from Alfred Russell Wallace, the man
h
i
e
n t
who developed a theory of evolution by natural selection
same year that Charles Darwin proposed his, an intellectual feat
that remains one of the greatest intellectual coincidences of all time
The brain has not changed at all since we were loping around in
the primeval ooze, though the uses to which-we have put it have
expanded significantly. According to Koestler, the Cro-Magnon
crouching in his cave chipping stone and bludgeoning game already
possessed the incredible organ that would eventually put men on
no notion of its possibilities. Little by
however
He had
h
,
,
e moon.
t
Dish>i~?~$171~0'~~f fi`g"-tiy hits and horrendous
misses, centuries o success ul t to d 6i My error, he learned.
A little. There is no reason to believe that we have yet made every
one of the possible connections. None at all. V