The Psychic System

“A system is a perceived whole whose elements ‘hang together’ because they continually affect each other over time and operate toward a common purpose.”  – Peter Senge

The psychic system is described as a closed system, existing as an environment that gives shape to the whole social system. Operations within the psychic system take the form of consciousness and experiences. The psychic system is constantly connecting to its own observations to create a Way of Being that works in the world.

Think of human beings as systems within systems. The nervous system exists in relationship with the body’s biological system which has a relationship with the environment’s ecosystem that exists within our solar system. Social systems too break down into family groups, races, religious affiliations, genders, wealth categories and social classes. The relationships exist inside and outside the boundaries of their own system because they have common characteristics, functions and a “psychic identity”.

The diagram below shows how we take on different psychic identities (combining roles) within bigger systems. As we can be in any one of these identity systems at the same time it’s our mind that is making the distinctions of who we are being in what context.  For example, in a team, “YOU” can also be “US” when the identity is shared. Those outside the team are “THEM”, working in an environment that we relate to as  “IT”. We wear many different masks as we perform different roles in our life movie.

They are called “psychic identities” because they are complex cognitive and emotional maps that we generate unconsciously inside ourselves as we grow up. For example, if “ME” and “YOU” don’t get on, then our relationship will change depending on where we focus our attention. We can make different distinctions in our identity system in order to fit the context we find ourselves in. For example, With our children we can adopt a adult role in one context and a child role in another.

Relationships between different Psychic Identities

So what does this mean?

How we perceive these relationships is of interest to systems thinking, where boundaries are dynamic (always shifting and creating different patterns) that generate different interpretations. We make more distinctions to refine our identiies. But relationships also have a psychic identity that involves the “emotioning” of our reality.

Each of us has a different perception of what and where those boundaries should be and what they mean to us.  We can hold beliefs about ourselves that are only revealed through conversation or inferred by our observations. It is expressed as our “psychic identity” observed as a mood state.

“You don’t see something until you have the right metaphor to let you perceive it.” James Gleick

Because these boundaries are mind created they can be perceived, shaped and reframed differently at any time. We just have to want to explore what these relationships mean and what we want from them. For example, President Trump in America and Brexit in the UK shifted the mood of nations, affecting their identity and how they feel about themselves and how they choose to express it. Suddenly, long-standing beliefs and values are challenged and reframed as we become aware of what other people want from “me” that that is “not me”.

Some of us want to cross the boundaries by empathising and considering people’s needs, whilst others want to strengthen the boundaries by making more overt distinctions to clarify identity. Black/White, Christian/Muslim, Male/Female. LBGT/Straight, Young/Old, Rich/Poor, etc. Whilst others become detached observers, noticing what is a shared identity/concern shared by both sides.

Now what can you do?

You can see relationships more clearly when you can observe your own and other people’s “psychic identity” in a constructive and respectful way. One way is to identify the “Energy Producers” that are driving different relational behaviours. For example:

• INSIDE-OUT ENERGY – If you had a more positive and resourceful sense of who you are, and clarity about what is important to you, how would share your beliefs and actions? Different types of conversation can be used to identify perceived similarities and differences.
• BOTTOM-UP ENERGY – What emotions or mood state would you need that would predispose you to cross the system’s boundaries to find new possibilities and opportunities for engaging with others in the world? You may want to be inspiring/motivating, whilst in other relationships being supportive/compassionate.
• TOP-DOWN ENERGY – What characteristics, strategies, and relationship structures would you adopt to influence others? In some situations, you are required to be authoritative/knowledgeable, whilst in others caring/questioning
• OUTSIDE-IN ENERGY – How your sense of who you are, changes when you’re taking on a different identity to fit into a different world? When at work you could enter the world identifying as a colleague/boss, whilst at home, you enter the world of partner/parent.