Complexity
and the Personal Unconscious
The
Personal Unconscious
The unconscious, the inner ‘environment’ of the psyche, is a
different medium from the conscious. There is usually not much change in the
near-to-conscious areas because of the rapid alternation between light and
shadow. Jung (1981) calls this fluid area a "no man's land" and
designates it as the personal unconscious (p. 187).
Jung (1981) asserts that there is no clear demarcation line between the
conscious and unconscious, "the one beginning where the other leaves
off" (p. 200). This terribly thin demarcation line is suggestive of the edge
of chaos which is being investigated today in complexity theory. He (1981)
points out that the personal unconscious is, in fact, located at the
"fringe of consciousness" (p. 185) which suggests an analogy between
the personal unconscious and the regions of complexity at the edge of chaos.
This analogy is strengthened when he says, "Our personal psychology is just
a thin skin, a ripple on the ocean of collective psychology" (as cited in
Jacobi , 1973, p. 39).
Jung (1989) also points out that the ancient alchemists described, in
very symbolic terms, the transformation of consciousness from, and the
integration of consciousness with, the unconscious, which was viewed as
"the spirit of the chaotic waters of the beginning" (p. 197). Their
message was that consciousness needed to "return to chaos" and that
"the spirit of chaos is indispensable to the work, and it cannot be
distinguished from the ‘gift of the Holy Ghost’" (p. 197). This idea
can be understood in the light of chaos theory which asserts that order arises
from chaos just as chaos arises from order. Both poles are necessary.