Non-Deterministic
Chaos and the Unconscious
Sensitive
Decision Points in the Unconscious
According to Dixon (1993):
Non-deterministic chaos is a
form of low-dimensional dynamics which is characterized by the existence of a
countable set of sensitive decision points. Away from these points, the dynamics
is well-behaved. Near these points, however, perturbation (e.g., thermal noise)
may cause the outgoing trajectory to be chosen randomly. (p. 1)
These sensitive decision points, or critical points, are bifurcation
points where the results (e.g. system behavior after an encounter)
are impossible to pre-determine.
The state space of a system is called its phase space; a mathematical
abstract space used to visualize the evolution of a dynamic system (Nicolis
& Prigogine, 1989). The phase space of a human being has not yet been
defined mathematically, but life itself can be envisioned as a human phase space
with time plotted along the x axis. Such a plot would begin at birth and end
with death as a fixed attractor. SDPs (e.g., college, marriage, having children,
careers, and so on) would lie at intervals along the x axis as we go through
life (this is discussed in more detail later).
The psyche, as a macroscopic system, can remain predictable and stable
even when its main subsystem, the ego, is unstable. When the ego enters basins
of instability, its trajectory through phase space becomes uncertain and
multiple possibilities or accessible states become available to it. In this way,
the healthy ego grows and matures in individual ways over time by learning from
personal experience. If an archetypal (chaotic) attractor encountered in phase
space cannot be assimilated, unhealthy states can develop. According to Jung
(1990), various forms of insanity can result from the failure to assimilate such
encounters.
Symbiosis
of Ego and Self
According to the symbiosis model shown in Figure 11, “ego-Self
separation, and growing consciousness of the ego as dependent of the Self, are
actually two aspects of a single emergent process continuous from birth to
death” (Edinger, 1973, p. 6). The third stage (at the bottom of Figure 11)
begins what Jung called individuation. Jung (1985) viewed the individuation process as the
ultimate goal of life.
Individuation “is a process of maturation or unfolding, the psychic
parallel to the physical process of growth and aging” (Jacobi, 1973, p. 107).
The ego’s separation process takes place during the first half of life. After
this, it’s task is to return back into the Self and integrate it. “The
integration of the self is a fundamental problem which arises in the second half
of life” (Jung, 1985, p. 265).
Because of symbiosis, under certain conditions individual behavior of a
subsystem can effect the collective or overall behavior of the entire system.
For example, when the heart stops beating, the entire body dies. The death or
retirement of a corporation president can effect the organization of which he
was but one member. This is also true of the ego, whose behavior can effect the
Self, and the entire psyche.
The more complex a system, the greater the number of fluctuations that
threaten its stability. Yet complex systems somehow avoid chaos. This is due in
part to the stabilizing effects of various diffusion processes, and on the
system's ability to communicate (Nicolis & Prigogine, 1989).
Communication assists stability while fluctuations assist instability.
The net effect is a competition of tension which establishes a stability
threshold for the system (Prigogine, 1980). This suggests that every psyche
has a stability threshold, within which the ego functions in a “normal”
manner, and beyond which ego functioning becomes pathological. Jung (1984)
summed up the symbiotic relationship when he wrote,
The unconscious can realize itself only with the help of consciousness
and under its constant control. At the same time consciousness must keep one eye
on the unconscious and the other focussed just as clearly on the potentialities
of human existence and human relationships. (p. 39)
This statement implies that the Self benefits by its relationship with
the ego. If so, then the relationship is one of continuous and obligate
mutualism. The primary feedback loop, operating in this system, is the dream.
Dreams are the daily feedback that the ego receives from the Self. The ego is
effected by dreams “mostly in more or less distinct alterations of mood”
(Jung, 1974, p. 24).
Jung (1974) taught that dreams serve as a “compensating function of the
unconscious” (p. 30). This suggests that the Self creates dreams as an attempt
to maintain balance within the psyche. It is the primary means of communication
of the Self, and to ignore dreams is to court psychological chaos within the
psyche. As feedback loops, dreams can be either positive (happy, peaceful, or
encouraging) or negative (nightmares or recurring disturbing).
The need for separation of the ego is discussed in great length by Jung.
“If the ego is dissolved in identification with the self, it gives rise to a
sort of nebulous superman with a puffed-up ego and a deflated self” (Jung,
1981, p. 225). He speaks of the necessity for a “critical line of
demarcation” between ego and Self (1978, p. 23). This strongly suggests the
“stability threshold” described in chaos theory for dissipative systems.
On the other hand, if the ego can assimilate its dreams and learn from
them, it can be healed of psychological problems because “Integration of the
unconscious invariably has a healing effect” (Jung, 1976, p. 433). Moreover,
the Self is able to accept all elements of psychic life, and “It is this sense
of acceptance of the Self that gives the ego its strength and stability” (Edinger,
1974, p. 40). Failure of the ego to assimilate this attribute of the Self
results in low self-esteem.
According to Edinger (1974), when the ego separates too far from the
Self, a sense of alienation develops. Therefore, “some contact between ego and
Self must be re-established” (p. 57). This suggests a need for the ego to find
a suitable ordering parameter. Edinger (1974) views the developmental process as
fourfold: (1) inflation (the awakening ego is too close to the Self); (2) alienation
(the ego has separated too far from the Self); (3) restitution
(the ego returns and re-connects to the Self); and (4) individuation (the ego and Self in a mutually harmonious
relationship). Individuation is the ideal symbiotic relationship in which the
ego is directly related to the Self without being identified with it.
Inflation is shown at the top of Figure 11. The bottom of Figure 11 shows
the ego and Self separate (alienation) yet touching (restitution). Individuation
is shown in the center of Figure 11, but only after the alienation and
restitution have been undergone. The center of Figure 11 illustrates the ego
emerging from the Self during the first half of life. During the second half of
life, this same figure illustrates the ego’s integration and mutual
cooperation with the Self.
Individuation is not achieved in the estrangement of the ego, but rather
in its return to the Self as a symbiotic partner. The Self apparently uses the
slaving principle to move the ego toward individuation during the second half of
life. According to the autopoietic paradox, although the ego at middle age may
appear relatively stable and independent, it is nevertheless in a dependent
symbiotic relationship with the Self. As such, its independence is an illusion.
Sooner or later, it must either move toward integration as an attractor
established by the Self for this purpose, or fall prey to an
“alienation neurosis” which usually leads to an inferiority complex (Edinger,
1974, p. 56).
The psyche is an open system, and its primary interface is with the
brain. The psyche may have a direct effect on the subatomic particles of the
body, especially those within the brain. However, if such an effect did exist,
it would be acausal rather than causal. Jung (1973) suggested that the
relationship between the psyche and the physical body was more apt to be found
through his theory of synchronicity than causality. Synchronicity, like quantum
mechanics, demonstrates the existence of acausal events.
A tiny change within the open system of the brain, for example, can
result in a vast change to the overall health of the body because of
amplification through feedback loops. Nonlinearity
exists at many scales throughout the brain. This increases the likelihood that
bifurcation and amplification at some point in the brain will take place.
Brain activity in its details is unpredictable--but it does have
tendencies. New thoughts/stimuli are chaotic but after repetition, become
orderly. This process is called recall or memory through neuron feedback
coupling. According to Mainzer (1994), “In
the complex system approach, mental states are correlated with neural activation
patterns of the brain which are modeled by state vectors in complex state
spaces” (p. 145).
Chaos scientists, focusing on the brain as a complex biological system,
are trying to correlate physical neuron patterns in the brain with mental
images. “Cognitive phenomena are referred to macroscopic properties of the
brain’s dynamics and to order parameters which govern the underlaying
microscopic processes” (Mainzer, 1994, p. 151).
According to Jungian psychology, much of this correlation is likely to be
acausal. This suggests that the psyche can cause neural patterns in the brain as
much as the brain’s neural patterns may influence the psyche.