OTTO RANK BLOG: WELCOME
Greetings, students of and/or experts on Otto Rank, his work and legacy.
Forthcoming: a slow-motion summary of Beyond Psychology (1939), with comments as we go along.
Greetings, students of and/or experts on Otto Rank, his work and legacy.
Forthcoming: a slow-motion summary of Beyond Psychology (1939), with comments as we go along.
Like it! Highly recommended.
Otto Rank wrote an essay title “Life Fear, Death Fear,” as cited by Yalom. Does anybody know where this article can be found?
Wonderful to have a place where we can learn more about this amazing philosopher and therapist. Having seen the closing of The Otto Rank Society, Eastern US, in the early 1980s this site is a welcomed resource.
I don’t have the Yalom book handy but the essay sounds like a chapter title in Truth And Reality.
Until recently, the most elucidating book I had read in the last few years was Damasio’s The Feeling of What Happens; Body and Emotion in the Making of Consciousness. Now, however, for many reasons, that position has been replaced by Dan Siegel’s The Developing Mind.
Chapter 6 has the innocuous title “States of Mind; Cohesion, Subjective Experience, and Complex Systems.” It contains, in a sense, the thermodynamic, or dynamic system explanation of the basis of evolution, the mind, and politics to boot. I realize that sounds like hyperbole. Let me try to explain.
Siegel begins the chapter by defining and discussing states of mind, which in itself contains some interesting thoughts, including: “The regulation of emotion directs the flow of energy through the changing states of activation of the brain.” (p. 210).
He then discusses complexity theory: “The theory of nonlinear dynamics of complex systems, or complexity theory, provides several principles that will deepen our ability to understand many aspects of the mind, from emotions to human relationships. …[T]he spontaneity, unpredictability, and self-organizing properties of nonlinear dynamic systems are well suited to explain the notoriously spontaneous, unpredictable, and creative nature of human beings.… Dynamical systems have three major features: (1) They have self-organizational properties, (2) they are nonlinear, and (3) they have emergent patterns with recursive characteristics.” (p. 217). “… [E]motional responses constitute a primary value system that engrains patterns of neuronal firing and shapes the emergent states of activation of the system.” (p. 218).
There is a great deal more to the context, but I can’t reproduce the chapter here. The following paragraph is the one I considered most interesting and enlightening: “Stability of the system is achieved by the movement toward maximizing complexity. Complexity does not come from random activation, but instead is enhanced by a balance between the continuity and flexibility of the system. ”Continuity” refers to the strength of previously achieved states, and therefore the probability of their repetition; it implies sameness, familiarity, and predictability. ”Flexibility” indicates the system’s degree of sensitivity to environmental conditions; it involves the capacity for variability, novelty, and uncertainty. The ability to produce new variations allows the system to adapt to the environment. However, excessive variation or flexibility leads toward random activation. On the other hand, rigid adherence to previously engrained states produces excessive continuity and minimizes the system’s ability to adapt and change.”
This description of dynamic systems, I believe, applies equally to the evolutionary development of life, and its individual and social components, the brain whose function we call mind, and the interaction of populations we call politics. To discuss just the latter, we can see groups of people who focus more on continuity, and groups who focus more on flexibility. We might call them conservatives and liberals, respectively, if not respectfully. To achieve stability and its concomitant complexity, the system must contain enough flexibility to adapt to environmental changes, and also retain enough continuity that is does not become chaotic. The ideal for both the individual and society would seem to be a merger of the two extremes. Siegel goes on in the book to discuss how major deviations of the individual mind in either direction produce problems for the individual. ” Mental disorder can be envisioned in part as restricting the overall movement of the system in an adaptive manner toward complexity by an imbalance in continuity and flexibility.” (p. 220).
Describing further the characteristics of dynamic systems, Siegel discusses an area I think Rank would appreciate from the perspective of his discussion of will, and even “free” will: “[Non-linear] systems have both determinate (predictable) and indeterminate features to their behavior.” (p. 220). Then in discussion of the final aspect of dynamical systems, emergent and recursive properties, we also hear echoes of Rank: “”Emergent” means that each of us is filled with a flow of states that evolve across time. ”Recursive” means that the effects of the elements of a given state return to further influence the emergence of the state of mind. We are always in a perpetual state of being created and creating ourselves.” And with echoes of Damasio as well as Rank: “…the self is perpetually being created.” p. 221.
Pardon the length of this post. I was concerned that a shorter one would not convey the system of ideas.
Jim C