CONSIDER THE BUTTERFLY, by Carol Lynn Pearson, Gibbs Smith, 160 pages, $12.95.
The subheading to the latest book by the prolific Carol Lynn Pearson is "Transforming Your Life Through Meaningful Coincidence." Picking up on a nationwide trend, Pearson deals with "synchronicities," those strange little coincidences that happen in all of our lives, and which seem to be giving us guidance or comfort.
Pearson offers the book, she says, "with the excitement of a child who runs in from a morning at the creek, holding something in her hand. She doesn't know exactly what she has found, but she knows it is so unusual, so beautiful, that she has to say, 'Look! Look!' "
To Pearson, this book is a highly personal show-and-tell, as she recounts experiences she has saved in her diary as examples of synchronicity. It was the psychologist Carl Jung who coined the word, and several writers have discussed it since.
"Synchronicity!" says Pearson. "Ah, that's how I can explain that delicious evening I spent with my college boyfriend when both of our watches stopped. And running into the same man on his honeymoon in New York City twice, both of us having come there from thousands of miles away. And my daughter Katy starting her first menstrual period while I was having my very last one. And that time my computer kept switching into "underline" when I was angrily writing in my diary and practically yelling."
The book is Pearson at her best — conversational, colloquial and personal. As I was reading it, I could hear her distinctive voice, as if she were talking from the next room. Her examples of meaningful coincidence cover a wide range — from "Mama's Cinnamon Rolls" and "Wally's Tie" to "Mormons and Hindus" and "Emily Dickinson." Some are more substantial than others, but all are interesting.
While reminiscing with her sister, Marie, about their childhood, Pearson asked Marie, "What food did mother prepare that I liked, and what food did she prepare that I did not like?" Marie said, "Well, I know what food you hated. The split-pea soup." That was correct. Then Marie remembered her sister liked — "cracklings" — pieces of baked fat straight from the oven. Pearson agreed, but then added that the food she liked the most was cinnamon rolls.
The sisters went to a movie together — "Music of the Heart," starring Meryl Streep — and the first thing that happens is, Streep pulls out a pan of cinnamon rolls made by her mother. "My elbow hit my sister's elbow as we both poked an exclamation point onto this delicious synchronicity!"
A second example concerns Pearson's desire to meet Mother Ammachi, a holy woman from India, at the Hindu ashram. She was visiting California for a week-long celebration with 700 followers. But when Pearson called the ashram, she learned a terrible kitchen fire had closed the place down. At the time, Pearson was rewriting "The Order is Love," her musical play about the early Mormons, which included a fire in a dining hall.
Naturally, Pearson thought about the synchronicity of two religious communities, a century apart, each trying to cope with the disruption of a kitchen fire. When she discovered that the Hindus might not have a place for their large meeting, she checked with two LDS stake presidents about whether the LDS buildings could be used for the Hindu conference. They all agreed, but in the end, the Hindus were able to use their own building.
Finally, Pearson discovered that Mother Ammachi and Pearson shared the same birthday — Sept. 27th.
E-mail: dennis@desnews.com