Chaos and Order in the World of the Psyche (PDF)

Chaos can enter our lives in many different ways - through death, divorce, conflict with family, friends or at work. Joanne Wieland-Burston, through her work as a Jungian analyst is no stranger to chaos, and frequently acts as companion, support and guide to those whose lives are in turmoil.
She shows that the experience of chaos is generally both negative and frightening, destabilizing the individual and provoking feelings of insecurity. People, therefore, often deny and avoid chaos - but chaos that is blocked off does not disappear. It manifests itself in depression, fear, anxiety, and various physical symptoms, often making us incapable of performing the simplest daily tasks. The author describes how she helps people to learn to meet the chaos, to accept and see it in a different way - as the starting-point for a new order in their lives. This `organic order' is better suited to their needs and personality, and provides them with the basis to come through their chaos and to lead fuller, happier and more satisfying lives.
Joanne Wieland-Burston explores the modern attitude to chaos , showing how we shun and deny it whilst at the same time overestimating the importance of orderliness. Contemporary western society has no tools to deal with chaos, unlike `primitive' cultures whose myths, tales and rites reveal a deep commitment to developing and transmitting to future generations models of chaos confrontation. Wieland-Burston draws upon these ancient cultures and upon modern scientific findings of chaos theory to show how we can regain the wisdom that we once possessed and have now lost.