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CMPEs: A new way of seeking guidance

Posted February 23rd, 2009 by Robert Perry in Integral guidance

I have just released a book that I thought might be of interest to the Integral community. I have never heard the topic of inner guidance addressed in one of Ken Wilber's works, but I know that many Integral people are very focused on seeking guidance. Yet once you rely on guidance, you are inevitably faced with questions of how much what you hear is just an expression of your own unconscious biases, expectations, and desires. To use Freudian terms, you don't want to just be following your own superego, or your own id.

I've been working with a phenomenon for about thirty years now that in my experience solves that issue. It is an extreme form of synchronicity that I informally call "signs" (a very non-standard usage) or more formally call CMPEs (Conjunctions of Meaningfully Parallel Events). These are relatively unusual occurrences in which two independent events come together in time that have not just one striking thing in common (how we usually think of synchronicity), but rather a long list of things in common. This list then comes together to tell a story. And this story, in my experience, is intended as commentary on some relevant situation in our lives.

The commentary that results is of an unbelievably high quality. It displays a remarkable depth of insight into people and situations. It can be extremely practical. It often foretells the future. And it seems to be totally independent of the opinions of the people involved. It definitely has a mind of its own. And it is quite consistent--revisiting the same situations again and again, and saying the same basic things about them. It really has to be experienced to be believed. In the book, I relate the story of a great many CMPEs (about fifty), just because without the stories my observations about the phenomenon would inevitably sound overblown.

How does it relate to Integral philosophy? That's a very good question, one that I'm not quite sure how to answer. One aspect that feels Integral to me is that it is essentially a spiritual phenomenon, but one with a real empirical "footprint." It doesn't require any faith assumptions and can be investigated in a scientific manner (I'm actually in conversation with a team of experienced researchers who are discussing doing the first study of the phenomenon). You could say that it is a kind of "orange meets blue" phenomenon. Also, it addresses issues in all four quadrants: inner development, personal behavioral decisions, as well as collective social and cultural issues. On the other hand, it is definitely not post-metaphysical. It clearly implies, and indeed provides concrete evidence for, the existence of nonphysical realities. So I really can't tell you if it is Integral or not.

Anyway, the book is entitled Signs: A New Approach to Coincidence, Synchronicity, Guidance, Life Purpose, and God's Plan (it is available on Amazon). Please check it out if you’re interested. I would be happy to answer questions here about it or discuss the phenomenon with anyone interested. My hope is that people will learn how to work with this form of guidance and thereby receive its benefits. I also hope that this phenomenon will be scientifically investigated and will become a player in the science and religion debate. I would love to see people in the Integral community take interest in it.

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Very cool!

Posted March 9th, 2009 by Corey deVos

This is really great, Robert, thanks for sharing. I can't wait to take a look at the book. As you may or may not already know, i have a significant fascination with synchronicity, and have even tried to pick Ken's brain around the subject. Here's a post i recently made to Facebook about that discussion, just in case you might be interested enough to take a listen. (i should really try to do some writing on the subject and turn this into a real Integral Life dialogue....)

.....

Several months ago i recorded this piece with Ken Wilber, during one of the live conference calls at Integral Spiritual Center, and i found the discussion to be absolutely fascinating. Synchronicity has long been a defining texture in my own spiritual path, and was a topic which, until this call, i had never heard Ken speak or write about. Although i can certainly understand his silence around the subject, still i believe that the Integral vision can give us a much more lucid understanding of how synchronicity actually works, beyond the deeply confused interpretations offered by New Agers, Quantum Meta-Physicians, and peddlers of various consciousness-scams such as The Secret.

Listen Now! (right click to download)
http://in.integralinstitute.org/podcast/synchronicity.mp3

My question to Ken:

"Synchronicity has long been an intrinsic part of my own spiritual path, something i have come to regard as a sort of "experiential faith", and i have long desired to find a place for it within the integral model. For me, synchronicity feels almost like a collapse of the four quadrants of my holon into a singular experience of tetra-emergence, in which my UL intention, my UR actions, my LR circumstances, and my LL sense of meaning and context all fall into perfect symmetry with each other. In these moments, there is a sensation that the totality of my subject suddenly becomes object in my awareness, a sort of bird's-eye-view of self--and perhaps more profoundly, there is usually a sense of presence of and sometimes even subtle interaction with an intelligence that is undeniably greater than my own.

In the twenty tenets, there is a wonderful description of the relationship that exists between junior and senior holons, namely that the lower determines the possibilities of the higher, the higher determines the probabilities of the lower--so that of all the things that could possibly happen, certain things become more likely to happen. Could this have something to do with synchronistic experiences? Would this explain why there have been so many different names for this synchronicity throughout history: magenta fate, red destiny, amber miracles and grace, orange luck and coincidence, green "interconnectivity of the web-of-life".... And if there is indeed a higher holon determining the probability fields of my human experience, what/where/who is that higher holon?"

Previous interpretations of Synchronicity, according to altitude:

Magenta: fate, omens
Red: destiny, the "law of attraction" (e.g. The Secret)
Amber: miracles, divine providence, grace, karma
Orange: luck, chance, coincidence, “statistical anomalies”
Green: web-of-life interconnectivity, Celestince Prophecy version of Synchronicity, Hippie Karma
2nd Tier: symmetrical collapse of intention (UL), behavior (UR), meaning (LL), and circumstance (LR)

Listen Now! (right click to download)
http://in.integralinstitute.org/podcast/synchronicity.mp3

Corey W deVos
(dj rekluse)

Writer, Content Producer, and Webmaster
Integral Life, Integral Naked
Managing Editor, KenWilber.com

"Include the Values, Negate the View!"

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Synchronicity Discussion With Ken

Posted March 10th, 2009 by David Sunfellow in response to Very cool!

Corey, thanks for sharing the discussion you had with Ken about synchronicity. It was interesting to hear Ken's thoughts on this and also to learn a more about you, your path, and life experiences. Fascinating world we live in.

............

Integral Rising
Integral NHNE
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"An intelligence that is undeniably greater than my own"

Posted March 10th, 2009 by Robert Perry in response to Very cool!

Corey,

I really appreciated receiving this. I'm so glad to hear of someone in the integral world really wrestling with this topic. I relate to a lot of what you are saying. I too don't go in for "the deeply confused interpretations offered by New Agers, Quantum Meta-Physicians, and peddlers of various consciousness-scams such as The Secret." I too feel that the phenomenon I am experiencing encompasses and brings together all four quadrants. And I too definitely experience a "subtle interaction with an intelligence that is undeniably greater than my own."

I'll be very interested to hear your reactions to the book if you get a chance to read it, and also how it relates to what you have been observing. As I say above, the book is not about synchronicity per se, but about a very specific and extreme form. As a result, I am almost unable to find examples of this phenomenon in books on synchronicity (though I have found a few). But the positive side of that is that, when it happens, there is little doubt that a real phenomenon is occurring, something that goes beyond chance.

And yes, please do some writing. I would very much enjoy a real Integral Life dialogue.

I'll try to find time to listen to your exchange with Ken. So far, my computer can't seem to open it...

Thanks again for writing.

Robert

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thank you for sharing this

Posted March 12th, 2009 by Almu in response to Very cool!

Corey, thanks for sharing the podcast. Amazing amount of information and reflection on the subject! Enjoy the synchronicity and wake up to your Higher Self every moment, that is a new and exciting take on life.

Cheers

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Thank you, Corey

Posted March 12th, 2009 by kyle in response to Very cool!

Really appreciate this dialoug--

Kyle

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Ken's perspective on synchronicity

Posted March 13th, 2009 by Robert Perry in response to Very cool!

Corey,

I did have a chance finally to listen to your dialogue with Ken. Is it just me, or are you two coming at the phenomenon of synchronicity very differently? Unless I misunderstood him (clearly a possibility), he was saying that there is nothing out there that is actually organizing events into meaningful patterns--that would be narcissistic magic-level thinking. Rather, the experiencing of events that seem organized (but are really just the occasional anomoly expected by chance) can be a trigger to move one up the spiral. I mean, he didn't come out and say it, but he did seem to be tactfully trying to correct your between-the-lines implication that there is an actual organizing force, law, or intelligence at work in synchronicity, emphasizing instead the usefulness of your experience. In other words, your experience of synchronicities could validly move you up the spiral without anything actually paranormal going on. That seems to be where he is coming from, but that is not the impression I get from what you said. You, for instance, seemed to think that there was some sort of intelligence at work that somehow, for instance, made your conversation about dropping out of college coincide with the birth of the kittens. So, am I missing something?

Robert

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seeking and finding

Posted March 12th, 2009 by Charles Bowling

Hi Robert,

As apparently the only member here at IntegralLife who is a publicly self-acknowledged 'sign' reader, my interest in your book was more than casual; enough so to buy a copy and read it for myself. After having done so it's easy enough to see how its subject matter is not inconsistent with an integral framework. Especially in that it not only adopts but insists on testing its central tenets, while offering clear guidelines for so doing.

And i remember well the conversation between Corey and KW on the subject of synchronicity; and at the time i probably posted what your book describes as an CMPE, an event from my own experience. As you may or may not know conjunctions (the C in CMPE) and parallels (the P in CMPE) are terms in the astrological syntax i call astrospeak. The difference between these two is that conjunctions occur in longitude while parallels occur in latitude. (if these two happen simultaneously in the orbits of the sun and moon -as viewed from earth- it results in a solar eclipse.)

For the most part my experience with CMPE's has shown them to be confirmatory in nature, as in, "Well Charles if you're wondering if you're on the right path, cancel your doubt." Maybe the phenomenon would include more predictive elements than what i've experienced so far, except for the fact that for many years i've been deeply involved in other forms of divination; which meant that there was no necessity to wait for a sign or CMPE when other excellent guidance was always available to me, primarily through the ancient oracle of change. One of the chief features of this form of divination is that it is always highly moral, something that cannot be said for the Ancient Craft (my term for astrology) which tends to be outside of morality. Although this latter craft has an uncanny way with the timing of events, which tend to be a very minor feature of the oracle of change, which seems to have its source in a place beyond time.

But regardless of signs, CMPE's, and other various forms of 'guidance', i must say that from an integral perspective what is most important is the stage development (or state development if it's a transitory experience) of the 'experincee', because its central to the quality of the interpretation that follows.

But at the deepest level readily accessible to me, signs are available from moment to moment to moment; although at less than that level i must admit to enough occasional dis-quietude with the present moment, to inquire about the next.

Thanks for your work on the subject. It does not go unrecognized or unappreciated.

Warmly,

Charles

41N58'02" 88W18'28"

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Thank you, Corey

Posted March 12th, 2009 by kyle in response to seeking and finding

Really appreciate this dialoug--

Kyle

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Yes, confirmation, but also more

Posted March 13th, 2009 by Robert Perry in response to seeking and finding

Charles,

It's good to find someone who seems to be barking up the same tree here. Just a couple of thoughts. If indeed what you've been experiencing are what I would call CMPEs, then my experience, too, is that they are usually confirming. That being said, they have a tremendous freedom to comment. They often criticize, offer completely new ideas, and, as you mention, make predictions. As I have learned better how to work with them, I've found that what initially seems like a kind of simple confirmation may actually contain a wealth of counsel, some of it under headings other than confirmation. So you might want to delve more deeply into the experiences you've had that fit this model.

Robert

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an example CMPE with a stab at context

Posted March 14th, 2009 by Charles Bowling in response to Yes, confirmation, but also more

Hi Robert,

For the sake of clarity (both for you and others who may read this) what follows is an example of what you have called a CMPE.

Shortly before retirement i was running a bicycle group, called aptly enough Trail Riders. We took advantage of the fact that our locality, the Chicago area which as a former railroad capital of the nation, now finds itself blessed with many rail-to-trail conversions, transformed into what are now called linear parks. Ours was a 26 week schedule from May through October, interspersed with the many local Sunday morning rides were occasional out of town trips, sometimes two days sometimes three.

Late one winter when i was planning the upcoming year's schedule i drove west to scout a portion of what is called the Grand Illinois Trail (it's a big loop that links Northern Illinois from Lake Michigan to the Mississippi River). Part of the scouting meant finding a motel with ready access to the trail, as well as a place for breakfast, and also a restaurant suitable for an after ride group dinner. Things started to fall into place when i located a motel on the Iowa side of the Mississippi easily accessible via an interstate highway. But then it was time for breakfast so i went back to Illinois and located a parking spot where we could start to pedal; as well as a nearby restaurant.

I went in and ordered some typical fare. My waitress asked me if i was a vegetarian. "Yes", I replied. And encouraged by her openness explained something of my mission for the day. Her response interested me in that she offered that she was from southern Illinois, near to a spectacular natural area called "garden of the gods" that also holds a rail-to-trail conversion that features a hill with a 1/4 mile tunnel. (at the time i did not know it but later that season we actually went there, and it turned out to be a fitting climax to my trail riders career). But after breakfast, i started up my truck, planning to head north on a road that parallels both the Mississippi and the trail; when i punched the button on my radio. Much to my surprise the FM station was playing a program that had been produced by WFMT my favorite radio station at home. The announcer said that the next selection was to be by Frede Grofe (famous for his Grand Canyon suite); but what astonished me was that he had also composed another suite of thematic music, depicting yet another geographical location, this time stretching from Lake Itasca in Minnesota to the Gulf of Mexico, just outside New Orleans. It was called the Mississippi Suite.

It left me with a sense of extraordinary appropriateness, in that as i drove along, listening while keeping an eye on the road, looking for signs of the trail, as well as the great river, that everything was just as it most fittingly could be!

So perhaps you can see how i primarily took this to be confirming experience; although it did contain a hint of prediction, in that later in the year not only did we ride along the Mississippi but took a second outing to Southern Illinois, that not only included a tunnel trail, the vistas of the gardens of the gods, but a stroll along a dike designed to protect a small town from the occasional ravages of a flood of the Ohio River -which of course like the Illinois River is also a tributary to the mighty Mississippi.

Exactly how this CMPE phenomenon fits into an integral framework is likely to be as much of a question to me as it is to you. But one thing is quite clear, it's a real phenomenon. It's not something that either you or i dreamed up; on the contrary, my own view is quite the opposite, in that i tend to view this phenomenon as part of an ongoing 'waking up' process. I'm reminded of this quote from Henry David Thoreau, "Our truest life is when we are in dreams awake." One interpretation might be to see it in terms of god in the third person; although i'm never quite comfortable using the g-o-d word, preferring something less loaded with baggage and more neutral; when i encounter 'it' my felt sense is that it's a 'touch' from the 'hand' of the invisible world. And finally i can't quite escape from the 'god in the first person integral notion', that somehow in some way that the 'hand' is rightly my own.

Warmly,

Charles

41N58'02" 88W18'28"

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Very likely a CMPE

Posted March 17th, 2009 by Robert Perry in response to an example CMPE with a stab at context

Charles,

That may well have been a CMPE. Here are the parallels I see between the two events (you scouting out the Grand Illinois Trail, you hearing Frede Grofe's Mississippi Suite on the radio): 1) A man (you, Grofe) is leading others in an apreciation (via bike ride, via musical piece) of a certain part of the country; 2) This part is specifically a geographic route or course (trail, river); 3) This route covers a sizable area in the Midwest (is this correct?); 4) It starts in a northern lake (Lake Michigan, Lake Itasca); 5) It includes (or is) the Mississippi River.

That's a bit thin on the parallels, but it's quite likely over the bar, and my guess is that if I had full access to all the details of both events, there could well be a few more parallels. Usually, when you have five parallels of this quality (both specific and coherent), there will be at least a couple more. So yeah, I think this very likely fits my model of CMPEs.

Assuming this was a CMPE, I would say that it not only was meant to confirm your choice of the Grand Illinois Trail, but also affirm (through the symbol of Grofe's Mississippi Suite) your role in leading others in an aesthetic appreciation of the Grand Illinois Trail. You are likened to a composer leading others into a deeply satisfying aesthetic experience. (If I knew more about Grofe and this particular piece of his, the symbol might be even richer.) So in the end, it may be more about your role in leading the Trail Riders than about this particular trail. That is often the case with CMPEs--while commenting on some specific thing they are also, and mainly, making a larger comment.

Thanks for the example!

Robert

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One more parallel

Posted March 17th, 2009 by Robert Perry in response to an example CMPE with a stab at context

I just re-read your account and saw one more parallel, a sixth. You said, "i started up my truck, planning to head north on a road that parallels both the Mississippi and the trail." So you were driving along a road that paralleled both routes. Based on that, I added a sixth parallel: "6) a man is driving on a road that parallels this route" ("this route" referring both to the Grand Illinois Trail and the Mississippi).

I feel more confident now that this was a CMPE. That sixth parallel, for a couple of reasons, put it over the top for me.

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more mining and refining

Posted March 17th, 2009 by Charles Bowling in response to One more parallel

Hi Robert,

Having read your book, there was little doubt in my mind that the example from my life previously posted fit your description of a CMPE; but now that i have your kind response it's clearer to me exactly what you mean by a parallel.

Grofe was a conductor as well a composer; and in addition to leading the Trail Riders group i was also the author (composer) of our annual Ride Book -a production that over the years increased in complexity and comprehensiveness. It was thematic in content, mapping place to place, parallel to the thematic content in the music that provided a similar mapping the from the headwaters of the Mississippi to its mouth. Typically conductors use a baton when leading an orchestra, mostly so that the orchestra members don't stray from the tempo he sets. It was also my custom to ride at the head of the line while pedaling with the Trail Riders; while my bike was equipped with a pennant mounted on baton-like rod that the members often relied on to keep both tempo and on track.

And unknown to you there was a particularly poignant esthetic experience later in the year when we cycled along the tunnel trail in Southern Illinois. It happened on a bridge-like overpass where we stopped and looked down, not at rail, water, or some valley vista, but the tops of trees! They were so close we could almost reach out and touch them; experiencing them in a way that only a bird coming in for a landing has opportunity. Collectively we were so touched by this scene that each and every one fell into silence, and marveled at the moment.

I don't exactly know what to do with this phenomenon -this CMPE business; but i'm happy to have it in my armamentarium. Sometimes when i'm in a one-to-one situation, a parallel from my past (or wherever) often comes to mind; and if i tune into it and the situation (and the other) a field of rapport opens up between us. I suppose it could be thought of as an energy field, and maybe it is, but the most obvious and usual effect on the other is a reluctance to part company.

So i thank you for making this phenomenon more clear to me, as it's likely sooner or later to be put to good use; and what i've had to say here may have some additional confirmatory value for you. The image that comes to mind's eye is that of one hand washing the other.

Warmly,

Charles

41N58'02" 88W18'28"

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Great example of how CMPEs work

Posted March 18th, 2009 by Robert Perry in response to more mining and refining

Charles,

I really appreciated what you shared above. It does seem that, as the leader of the Trail Riders, you were strikingly like Grofe's composer-conductor figure. How interesting! The CMPE really seems to have tapped into the heart and soul of your role as leader of the bicycle club. This is very much how they operate. They tap into central things about us, often things that help others understand us better or even help us understand ourselves better.

By the way, your comment that the "thematic content in the music [the Mississippi Suite]...provided a similar mapping the from the headwaters of the Mississippi to its mouth," slightly strengthens the parallels, for it means that both you and Grofe were leading people serially along that geographic course.

Anyway, thank you so much for your example and your willingness to go back and forth about it. Would you mind if I used it on my website? I am eager to find examples of CMPEs that come from outside my circle of friends and colleagues. So this is definitely, as you say, a case of one hand washing the other.

Robert

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Fascinating thread

Posted March 18th, 2009 by Linda Hollier

Dear Robert

Thank you very much for sharing this material. I have been giving it quite a bit of thought lately. Found it fascinating too that you posted your reply to Charles on how CMPEs work at exactly the same time that Kamm was replying to my thread about her queries re synchronicity.

Regards

Linda

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