Synchronicity: Meaning in Coincidence

Last April, I saw a flyer for a panel discussion of scientists and their views on coincidence titled "A Scientific Look at Synchronicity." I was very interested in the idea of meaningful coincidences, and I regretted missing the event. Luckily I found the video yesterday:

Synchronicity is a term coined by Carl Jung to describe "meaningful parallels" that exist between seemingly unrelated events in our lives, such as a rare beetle flying into a patient's room just after the patient dreams of an Egyptian scarab. Jung believed that these coincidences hinted at a deeper order that connected everyone in the world on a psychological level (I'm not sure how this is supposed to work...Jung wrote a whole book on it though). Synchronicity is supposed to be something we can control by being aware of synchronic events and expecting them, in this way receiving more "consistent feedback" of coincidences that would otherwise be rare. If you open up to it, you'll experience it more.

Of course, to me this is all too similar to the idea of prayer and divine petition--seeking a miraculous or meaningful result, looking for it, and receiving consistent feedback once we know how to look. I am disappointed that the video doesn't have the scientists describing a more orthodox or reliable way of explaining this phenomena, as I hope they did in the event. I feel skeptical about "directing miracles," so to speak (as does Skepdic.com apparently)...I've always thought of looking for meaning in coincidence as a sort of horoscope effect or Chinese fortune cookie effect, where "intentional" things only happen to you because you notice it, not because there is another responsive dimension you are interacting with.

Coincidentally (ha), I was watching a film about lightning called Act of God, where victims of lightning strikes and families of lightning strike fatalities struggle with a feeling of [divine?] intention behind the incidences. Paul Auster, whose friend was struck by lightning and violently died of asphyxiation, said this about his consternation: "I can't accept that it happened for a reason, nor can I reallly accept that there is no reason. The only way to carry on is to be humble and look at in awe of these things that you really can't understand." Our reasons want to bridge the gap between chance and intention, and assign intention to random acts like lightning hitting a friend standing next to us but not hitting us. We can't make any sense of it, but we want to.

So in conclusion...no conclusion.