The Order-Disorder Paradox: Understanding the Hidden Side of Change in Self and Society

by Nathan Schwartz-Salant

Increasing order in a system also creates this seemingly paradoxical idea has deep roots in early cultures throughout the world, but it has been largely lost in our modern lives as we push for increasing systematization in our world and in our personal lives. Drawing on nearly five decades of research as well as forty-five years working as a psychoanalyst, Nathan Schwartz-Salant explains that, in a world where vast amounts of order are being created through the growing success of science and technology, the concomitant disorder is having devastating effects upon relationships, society, and the environment. As a Jungian analyst with training in the physical sciences, Schwartz-Salant is uniquely qualified to explore scientific conceptions of energy, information, and entropy alongside their mythical antecedents. He analyzes the possible effects of created disorder, including its negative consequences for the creator of the preceding order as well as its potentially transformative functions. With many examples of the interaction of order and disorder in everyday life and psychotherapy,  The Order-Disorder Paradox  makes new inroads into our understanding of the wide-ranging consequences of the order we create and its effects on others and the environment.

Genres: Philosophy

176 pages, Paperback

Published April 11, 2017

About the author

Nathan Schwartz-Salant (1938-2020), PhD is a Jungian analyst and author of Narcissism and Character Transformation and The Borderline Personality: Vision and Healing. He was also co-editor with Murray Stein of the Chiron Clinical Series.

Reviews

[K Tsang · Rating 3 out of 5]

While the energetics lens to psychotherapy and core hypothesis was compelling (with broad synthesis from physics, history, anthropology and jungian psychology) I felt impatient for the slow start and density, it took half the book to get into the meat of the theory and tying it together in the last several chapters. My favourite chapters - cases studies and subsequent chapter was reminiscent of Irvin Yalom’s approach to unveiling the psychotherapist process, but with less warmth and intimacy.

I’d recommend it for the gain in the order-disorder guiding framework of thought.

[Ken Hall · Rating 5 out of 5]

Not an easy read, but well worth it. Nathan relates the science of thermodynamics with the psychological (and alchemical) realm. This is one of those books that will be marked and returned to time and time again. This is a book about making sense of the world, and understanding the hidden forces of chaos and creativity. I am pleased to realize there is so much more available from this author. Excellent.

[Jelena Milin · Rating 4 out of 5]

I found myself reading it less as a clinical argument and more as a lens on life itself: relationships, identity, even personal crises. Living organisms are not equilibrium systems. They stay alive because they constantly exchange energy and information with the environment, breathing, eating, thinking, adapting, interacting with other people. Stability isn’t permanent, it exists because certain conditions are supporting it.

Reading it made me think about life differently.

[Geoffreyjen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wonderful book with both practical info and deep theoretical insights into dealing with paradoxical aspects of the psyche.

[Alex Brown · Rating 5 out of 5]

Interesting union of mathematics, mythology and esoteric thinking that gave me a new look into the workings of the universe and human psyche. Not easy to digest but it was worth the work.

[Sophia Parker · Rating 5 out of 5]

good and engaging