Customer Reviews

The Syndetic Paradigm: The Untrodden Path Beyond Freud and Jung (Suny Series in Transpersonal and Humanistic Psychology)

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This work is a closely argued explication of a set of ideas with which the author has been concerned both theoretically and practically for the last twenty plus years. As such, it is impossible within the space of a short review to do justice to the range of ideas and experiences synthesized therein, (e.g. complexity theory, dream interpretation, natural morality, religious symbolism, sex, spiritual experience). And while it remains to be seen as to whether or not the author's ambition to foster a new paradigm comes to fruition, I can say unequivocally that he has produced a work not only of exceptional rigor and clarity, but also of passionate faith.
Building on the ideas of Freud and Jung and his own work as a practicing psychotherapist, Aziz goes beyond merely arguing for an expanded model of analytical theory and practice, i.e. "for paradigmatic shift from a closed-system model of a self-regulating psyche to an open-system model of psyche in a self-regulating totality," (page 36), to call for a fundamental change in our perspective of the nature of reality and our place in it - "From it's very depths the collective soul of our psyche cries out to be released from its entrapment in that which has been the legacy of humanity's secular and religious ideologies,"(page 293). This book should be inspirational not only to practicing therapists but to us ordinary mortals struggling with what it means to be fully human.

In C. G. Jung's final work, the Mysterium Coniunctionis - a book which many Jungians have not even bothered to read - we find the following in graph 675: "If the demand for self-knowledge is willed by fate and is refused, this negative attitude may end in real death. The demand would not have come to this person had he still been able to strike out on some promising by-path. But he is caught in a blind alley from which only self-knowledge can extricate him. If he refuses this then no other way is open to him. Usually he is not conscious of his situation, either, and the more unconscious he is the more he is at the mercy of unforeseen dangers: he cannot get out of the way of a car quickly enough, in climbing a mountain he misses his foothold somewhere, out skiing he thinks he can just negotiate a tricky slope, and in an illness he suddenly loses the courage to live. The unconscious has a thousand ways of snuffing out a meaningless existence with surprising swiftness. The connection of the unio mentalis with the death-motif is therefore obvious, even when death consists only in the cessation of spiritual process."

This demand for self-knowledge, as Jung puts it, unfolds in a process Jung calls "Individuation." The call to individuation, if willed by fate, as Jung says, begins sometime in the early thirties and can escalate from there, becoming acute as one enters one's final third of life. This path can be a ferocious one, bewildering in its complexity and compulsion, and usually it is heralded by a flurry of synchronicities that intensify with time. To negotiate the subtleties of this path successfully, one needs a guide, and in this regard, the work of Robert Aziz is indispensable. His two books - The Syndetic Paradigm and Jung's Psychology of Religion and Synchronicity - are the preeminent works in the field - the most practically useful, bar none - since Jung first disclosed his synchronicity theory to intimates on November 28, 1928. If you are someone who is struggling at the edge, bewildered yet compelled, you may find precisely the sustenance you need in these two potent works. I can't recommend them highly enough.

This remarkable work is first and foremost the establishment of a wholly unique psychological paradigm, and secondarily a critique of its Jungian and Freudian predecessors. Though the Syndetic Paradigm is obviously influenced by the Jungian worldview of the compensatory psyche, it cogently demonstrates that the intrapsychic model is fundamentally flawed and incomplete. Of noteworthy importance, it also asserts that the sexual reductionism of conscious psychological phenomena under the Freudian view, and the myopic rejection of the sexual instinct in its entirety by the Jungian view, is fundamentally incorrect and untenable. Most importantly, both the Jungian and Freudian models have significant shortcomings when applied to real-world case studies and analyses. Further, it asserts that the archetypal reductionism of the Jungian paradigm is antithetical to a proper clinical understanding.

The Syndetic Paradigm is born out of the need to consolidate the phenomena of synchronicity with the intrapsychic model. In doing so, it critically rejects the intrapsychic model for a model that incorporates the psyche into a "self-organizing whole" that is nature (this point is conclusively explained in the first chapter). Self-organizing nature is a necessary balance to the second law of thermodynamics (the law of entropy); however, it should not be conceived of as a strictly physical law of the universe. It is similar to the concept of Tao. Synchronistic phenomena, then, are not simply fortuitous occurrences (in the Jungian view, synchronicities, although meaningful in themselves, are simply isolated occurrences without any greater import). By moving from a closed-system intrapsychic model to an open-system model of the psyche that incorporates all of Reality, the significance of synchronistic phenomena becomes clear. Jung himself noted that archetypes underlie synchronistic phenomena. He states, "By far the greatest number of spontaneous synchronistic phenomena that I have had occasion to observe and analyze can easily be shown to have a direct connection with an archetype." In conceding as much, Dr. Aziz states, "Jung wished to identify the archetype as a psychophysical factor coextensive with nature in its entirety." Since the archetypes are relegated to the psyche in the Jungian paradigm, there is no basis for integrating synchronistic phenomena into an intrapsychic model; and thus Jung stops short and is unable to understand the wider implications. The Syndetic Paradigm, however, makes the critical step of asserting that "the archetype is not the foundational basis of what is occurring (i.e., synchronicity phenomena)." Rather, Dr. Aziz states that archetypal synchronicities are simply that through which self-organizing nature finds expression. The implications of an open-model of the psyche in a "self-organizing totality" are then immediately apparent. Indeed, the First Principle of the Syndetic Paradigm states:

"The self-regulation of the psyche is a manifestation of the compensatory interaction between, not simply the conscious and unconscious, but rather consciousness and nature in its entirety."

Under this view, synchronicity is conceived of as a compensatory phenomena present in nature as a whole. However, the Syndetic Paradigm clearly asserts that the compensatory activities of self-organizing nature should not be subject to "archetypal reductionism." Furthermore, the compensatory activity of nature is an expression of its intrinsic morality. As concerns sexuality, the Fifth Principle of the Syndetic Paradigm states, "The ultimate objective of human sexuality, accordingly, is for us to deepen our experience of consciousness and life by aligning ourselves directly with the life-giving energies of the sexual instinct in its own right." In stark contrast to the Jungian paradigm, in the Syndetic Paradigm, the process of individuation is therefore "conceived of as a compensatory interaction between the ego and the complex system of nature in its entirety in a process of unfoldment."

The Syndetic Paradigm thus establishes an independent psychological worldview that is as unique as it is powerful. The immediate implication is that the life experience as a whole carries with it profound meaning and significance. Meaning is not simply to be found in the inner world, but must actively be sought through engagement with Reality. It is only through this engagement that we achieve a higher level of development, and ultimately happiness.

I cannot recommend this book more highly. Dr. Aziz, thank you.

EDIT -

I've read this brilliant work several times now since I originally wrote this review. The depth of this work is truly awe-inspiring. It demands thoughtful, direct, deep engagement. Each successive reading has provided me with new realizations and understanding.