Signs: A New Approach to Coincidence, Synchronicity, Guidance, Life Purpose, and God's Plan

SIGNS by Robert Perry is a groundbreaking approach to the phenomenon of synchronicity and the search for guidance from transpersonal sources. As someone who has written and researched in these areas myself, I was deeply impressed with both Robert's hypothesis of the CMPE and the careful, deliberate way in which he analyzes and presents this phenomenon. No flighty, sensationalized metaphysical fluff here but a well-reasoned, well-researched approach to a topic meaningful to all of us. Robert Perry has definitely given us all a big step forward in understanding our relationship to the spiritual worlds. Just as importantly, he has given us a practical way to use his insights to bless our own lives and the life of our world. Excellent!

Robert Perry's "Signs" is an important book, though one suitably written with caution and modesty. In the Middle Ages, theology was considered the Queen of the Sciences. It consisted principally of the study of a God who ruled the Earth from on high and who was thought to periodically intervene on Earth. Theology was later dethroned by rationalism and scientism (the belief that the physical universe alone existed and that there were no worlds other than space-time). A new paradigm is now emerging, one which transcends both former limited visions. I believe that the science of spirituality may eventually become the most important science. The science of spirituality studies how non-space time (spiritual) realities interact with space-time and those of us who live in space-time. Per the new science of spirituality, God is not seen as a being separate and apart from space-time or us but as the Supreme Intelligence that guides all evolution from within, including the inner spiritual growth of humans. Perry's "Signs" is a significant contribution to this new science of spirituality. He documents the existence, in the lives of all humans, of CMPEs, Conjunctions of Meaningfully Parallel Events, a phenomenon that he describes more thoroughly and scientifically than the "synchronicities" discovered by the late renowned psychologist Carl Jung. CMPEs are two or more events that occur together in time, that share quite a number of objective commonalities, and that are designed to say something spiritually meaningful to us. They happen to all of us. Perry tells us how to recognize them and heed them. In a sense, CMPEs are waking dreams. All the major spiritual traditions, from time immemorial, have recognized the importance of dreams as a means through which the spiritual world connects with us and speaks to us. The Hebrew and Christian Bible recount many such dreams. But, from the vantage point of outside space-time, this world, our everyday space-time world, can be seen as a dream. So, everything that happens to us each day can be interpreted as if it were a dream. And, just as dreams are rich in spiritual guidance, so too are the events of everyday life - if we pay attention and have eyes to see. Native Americans say the most important dreams are "Big Dreams," powerfully spiritual dreams that we have all had and recognize as important. Perry's CMPEs are the "Big Dreams" of everyday waking life, the stunningly parallel events that occur to all of us to teach us spiritually but that we, all too often, fail to recognize or capitalize upon. Perry tells us how to recognize CMPEs and what to do with them to realize spiritual growth. I recommend "Signs" to all serious spiritual seekers. Jim Marion, author of "Putting on the Mind of Christ, the Inner Work of Christian Spirituality."

There are lives where signs, coincidences, and synchronicities abound for decades and perhaps for an entire lifetime, and there are lives such as mine where these signs are a transitional phase that may last only a few years. In whichever category you fit into, Robert Perry's "Signs" is a most valuable book to have, as a guide to understanding what is happening, and also to be able to compare, and logically deal with the many signs that sometimes come to us within minutes of each other. Perry's method of interpreting signs, or CMPE's as he calls them (which stands for Conjunctions of Meaningfully Parallel Events) and his method of lining up each event and matching them up is unique and useful. There are some people who see "signs" everywhere but they don't stand up to the test (and end up being rambling confusion instead). Perry has established an almost scientific way of evaluation, and it's a great guide to go by. It weeds out the coincidences that are just that, coincidences, and focuses in on what really matters, and what is being communicated to you with these CMPEs. I believe it's a way God makes known His presence and His best for our lives, and it's a good idea to be alert and cognizant of what a sign is and what it is telling us. Perry touches on forgiveness as a key to life in Chapter 10, and this always indicates to me that the author knows what he's talking about. Forgiveness for me is the central issue of life, that makes everything else fall into place; Perry's section on the subject is a guided vision, based on his teaching in a Course in Miracles class, that will turn the key in the lock for many. If you see yourself being surrounded with what seems like numerous "coincidences," or simply want to become more aware of any signs that may be happening in your life, this book will help you recognize them, sort them out, classify them and make sense of it all.

This book really surprised me. When I first started reading it, I was drawn in by Robert Perry's explanation of the signs and the examples he gives from his personal experience with them, but was pretty skeptical that what he was describing had any relevance in my own life. But the further into it I read, the more I began to appreciate that this book has something completely new to say about a universal intelligence that is not only present in my life, but also cares about me and wants to communicate with me. In fact, by the time I got to the final chapters, I felt like it was written specifically for me, and I couldn't put it down. Within a few weeks of finishing it, I experienced a series of signs myself: unlikely synchronicities that couldn't be written off as mere coincidence, that actually fit the model in the book, and that demonstrated incredible insight into my past, my present life experiences and relationships, my thoughts and feelings, and my questions about the future. So now I'm really curious to see what happens once word gets out about this book, and whether other people will have their own amazing experiences to report after they read it!