Abstract

The motivation to explore the subject matter of this thesis arises from two interlinked processes: the experience of the power and pervasiveness of a "basic split" experienced in therapy in the unity of the individual, the tendency in the unitary discipline psychology for theorists to adopt views which are polar opposites. In trying to understand these phenomena one has to explore the basic paradox of being which has fascinated thinkers and mystics down through the ages, the paradox of the One and the many, and thus the phenomenon of change. This paradox is explored in mythology, in the "philosophia perennis" and as encountered in high-energy sub-atomic physics. Out of this emerges the awareness of Being as One but as embodying a dynamic polar process, the first of whose manifestations is the male and the female process . The male/female process is defined and explored and it is shown that the female process has been progressively ignored and largely repressed in the West. I demonstrate this process in a metabletic study of Greek sacred architecture. Metabletics as defined by its originator, J.H. van den Berg, is "the theory of change" or a psychology of history. It is thus a particularly suitable method of analysing the cultural-historical process of the repression of the female process in Western society. The emergence of the male process as predominant in the West is explored hermeneutically through the emergence of the individual and the suppression of the old unity centred in the Mother Goddess, and the receding of the Father God to the heavens. The choice by the great Greek philosophers of the male process is particularly important because of their emphasis on the Logico-Mathematical Sequential mode of knowing and perception at the expense of the female process, Intuitive-Creative Holistic mode.The dominance of the male process in the West is traced from the aboriginal female-process state through neolithic village culture to the rise of the first cities. Processes studied are the rise of kingship, war, private property and the splitting of labour. The roots of anomie and alienation are described. The emergence of god as powerful ruler and lawgiver is shown. The splitting of the male/female process leads to the splitting of the individual from him/herself, from others, from the world and from the divine. This is traced in the mystery religions, in religious dualism, in the rise of the Judaeo-Christian tradition and Gnosticism. The split and its effects are demonstrated in Western science and psychology. The necessity and possibility of integration in science and in psychology is demonstrated through the integration of our process of knowing and perceiving which is used as a model for the integration of psychology. The effects of the male/female split on the individual in Western society are shown. The split in our society leads to anomie and alienation, which produce "socioses". These affect the child born into the society and lead to a "Parent/Child" split. The possibility of healing the split in the individual, between people, between humankind and the world and in re-establishing our unity in the One is illustrated. The unity of the One is experienced through the dynamic polar interaction of the male/female process