Thesis

The rise of the Systemic Paradigm, together with quantum physics and theories of non-equilibrium and chaos, signified a shift in the definition of the human being and the processes that define the “world.” It also gave rise to the autopoietic cognitive theory where the processes of life and cognition were joined. Part I explores a systemic description of the functioning of the human mind:

Human being is a living, cognitive system, capable of self-organization, the latter being the function that maintains it in a balanced state far from equilibrium. We can examine a living form as a network of organized life force, with a tendency toward creation of new forms of behavior. In Deleuzean terms, a life form is a multiplicity. This multiplicity, dynamic systems theory claims, begins to behave as a whole at its thresholds of stability, where it can give rise to new forms of simpler order with an increased level of complexity. Crossing the thresholds of stability results in becoming, while the history of structural changes corresponds to being and memory. What we call consciousness refers to the organization of the structural compounds, while the unconscious is made of the rules of the organization of the processes of production in the living system.

In this work we are going to examine the link between the mind and the model, between the elements of the model and the elements of the mind, between the rules of appearance and of organization of elements, and the overall process of folding and unfolding of mental worlds and artwork. The interaction of discourses, their proliferation, the sets of symptoms they produce, the rules they express, may outline the silhouette of that civilization syndrome named – a human being.

“The Crystals of the Unconscious” contains a bricolage of approaches from scientific, philosophic and psychological perspective. Physics, chemistry and neurosciences view different living systems as specialized models of connectivity in self-organizing processes. Ilya Prigogine described dissipative structures far from equilibrium, their behavior at thresholds of stability, and the emergence of higher levels of complexity and order out of chaos. Autopoiesis discerned between the organization of processes of production and the organization of structure. The systemic, complex, and autopoietic behavior was applied in human sciences that deal with individuals and social systems.

Post-Freudian psychology and Post-structuralist philosophy redefined the notion of identity and introduced the subject-position in the language-(de)centered worldview. Discourse, becoming, map-making became more adequate tools in approaching works of mind and nature. New therapeutic approaches (1) emerged to utilize the new paradigm in practical work. The models of the mind, human consciousness and being, transformed within the systemic thinking strategy. Natural sciences show how a living cognitive system functions; philosophy examines how the human discourse works; systemic therapy offers a full affective experience of the implications of the paradigm shift.

Each form of expression is a node infinitely connected and resonating with the sum of discourses that make that node possible. Further on, each node is a convergence of a particular set of discourses. Each form expresses a model of reality, and is an aspect of a more inclusive model of reality. Elements are expressions of wider discourses, and each discourse is an expression of a particular set of discursive rules.

The human mind is a process or a function of discernment: it establishes distances between differences, or vice versa, it establishes differences by imposing distances between them. Differences and distances emerge together. The mind is what enables us to create spans and organize relations. Relational organization makes possible coexistence of differences. Relations represent coordinated processes of production that take place in-between differences, and thus this organization gives rise to emergent elements and properties. The elements are the visible surface (constellation or map) of a unifying plane created by their invisible relational organization. The existence of elements in a mind owes solely to their ability to be different: elements are linked by this single quality of difference. The mind is the opening space that makes possible representation and mapping of represented realities; it is deployed through a set of flexible and abundant connecting patterns, in potential or actualized form. A set of connectivity patterns gives rise to a model of the world, where each aware (communicating, or perceiving) life form builds up a different one. These models of connectivity enable interaction, structural encounters and cognition. The latter processes create the model, which the observer cannot leave without expanding it. It can be said that the mind unites the observer and its inner/external environment. The environments express the relation of the observer to himself, and the processes that create the observer. These mental processes continuously imprint themselves upon each other and thus are engaged in co-creation, co-cognition and co-evolution at each moment of experiencing.

The mind can be seen as an open discursive process regulated by invisible rules that make the functioning of the mind possible; a creative mind engaged in proliferating “minor” possible realities as a practice and variation of these rules. Organization, mapping, crystallization of patterns and potentialities, proliferation and actualization, are how the mental discourse practices its modes of existence.

An artwork is a self-consistent, self-supportive model that explores alternative realities of abundant differentiations, which cut across “unlived and perhaps unlivable” discourses (Deleuze). An artwork can be seen as a relational map of connectivity patterns, or a set of them in interaction, where its most intensive, most artistic components are not the elements of the set but the modifications between maps – the processes of particular changes and transformations. An artwork transposes a singular process expressed primarily in relations of span and movement between different degrees of affects and qualities. The visible surface elements are of secondary importance: these are conveyors, or bearers of the relations they embody. A singular consistent set of relations produces intensities of a singular kind. Each set of relations produces different intensities; movement across patterns of connection triggers liberating flows of creative life force. An artwork is a steady construct of modulations between sets, which induce plateaus of connectivity patterns in the receiver and thus it can perpetually trigger ever-different affects and processes of cognition. The intensity of an artwork, its power to affect depends on the quality and the kind of processes it can initiate.

If taken as a content-free act, creative writing and reading are expressions of a systemic process of bringing-into-existence, which may offer the intimate experience of becoming-existent. In this line, the Four Zoas and the work on human mind meet: they both investigate processes of coming-into-existence. “The Crystals of the Unconscious” explores the framework of Blake’s ontological goal of living Eternity, compared to Deleuze’s ethical concept of embodying immanence.

(1) All examples and statements concerning psychology and psychotherapy in this work are drawn from the school of Systemic Coaching and my experience from practical work with clients.

Бackground graphics developped by