The Order-Disorder Paradox

This brilliant, wise, and profound book is a masterwork by one of the world's leading psychologists. Drawing on a vast array of sources and a lifetime's experience, Nathan Schwartz-Salant reveals a great truth hidden at the heart of the world's authentic mystical traditions: that all new order also creates disorder. This extraordinary work is a must-read for all those who want to understand the rhythms of life and the meanings of our contemporary chaos. -Andrew Harvey, author of The Hope: A Guide to Sacred Activism The Order-Disorder Paradox is the result of five decades of devoted investigation in the domains of mathematics, engineering, psychology, and mysticism. It is not only a cogent, elegant, and highly original theory but also an eminently practical way to understand the seemingly unpredictable oscillations of psychological healing and personal transformation. This book calls for powerful and immediate shifts in how we approach the clinical encounter as well as the life of the soul. -Lorie Eve Dechar, author of Five Spirits: Alchemical Acupuncture for Psychological and Spiritual Healing Schwartz-Salant offers a far-reaching and profound exploration of the dialectical interplay between order and disorder. Moving beyond the contemporary rationalist worldview that seeks to repress disorder in favor of order, he points us to a trans-rational alternative well suited to our tumultuous times-an alternative that, in harking back to our pre-rational origins in myth, does not merely regress to those origins but carries us forward into new territory. The Order-Disorder Paradox is a highly significant, compelling work that deserves the rapt attention of theorists, psychoanalysts, and laypeople alike. -Steven Rosen, Emeritus Professor of Psychology, College of Staten Island, City University of New York; author of Dreams, Death, Rebirth This long-awaited book comes at just the right time-not only for psychotherapists, who will benefit greatly from its clinical insights, but also for scholars of politics and culture. This is a deeply thought-out work, the fruit of many years of reflection and patient observation. -Murray Stein, PhD, author of Soul: Treatment and Recovery