METAPSYCHOLOGY and PSYCHOLOGY,
        METAPSYCHIATRY and PSYCHIATRY,
        METAPSYCHOTHERAPY
and PSYCHOTHERAPY -
           A new Theory on the Psyche, Mental Disorders and Their Psychotherapy - in Particular Schizophrenia.
                                                                                                    Dedicated to my wife Helga.
                                                             Author: Torsten Oettinger 
New 9th improved Short Version. Last updated 2023-01-24 . You find the PDF-version with index in: http://new-psychiatry.com,
[I am constantly improving this publication.]

Abstract

Note: The `Summary table´ offers a very compressed textual and tabular overview. The links there allow the reader to quickly switch to the corresponding chapters and to keep the larger picture in mind.

In part 'METAPSYCHOLOGY', I develop a general classification of everything that is psychically relevant.
Firstly, I hypothesize that everything that is psychically relevant is not only best expressed in language but can also be differentiated in analogy to basic language patterns.
That´s what I name the `Differentiations´ .
• Secondly, I assume that it is decisive what "fundamental meaning" the psychological Relevant one has.
Every psychological Relevant can have three fundamental meanings for us humans: absolute or relative or no meaning (keywords).
This is what I call the 'Dimensions' of the psychical Relevant.
[1]
Since the respective Absolute is the determining factor for every psychical Relevant - as well as for every human being (!) - it is the focal point of this study.

In part 'PSYCHOLOGY', this general classification is transferred to the person. Again, I start from an analogy between language and psyche. This leads to some new interpretations of person and psyche.

In part `METAPSYCHIATRY´, I also use the classification shown in part `Metapsychology´ and start from the hypothesis that mental disorders are mainly caused by `Inversions´ of the fundamental meanings, the dimensions, mentioned above. I.e., if absolute, relative or 0 meanings (or similar fundamental meanings) are confused, I speak of inversion.
The confusion of such fundamental meanings is ubiquitous. Typical examples are ideologies. These, as well as similar dogmatic attitudes in families or in the individual, occur with
claim to absoluteness that absolutizes something Relative and at the same time negates and excludes others. This leads to fundamental reversals of meanings:  What was a Relative, now becomes a 'strange Pseudo-Absolute' (sA) and the negated becomes a `strange Nothing´ (s0).[2].
Strange Absolute and Nothing form pairs of opposites, 'all-or-nothing-complexes', which I have generally called
"It"and in the person "strange Self" (sS),  because these terms describe very well what is meant:
`it'= a general, unspecified cause of an occurrence (e.g. It makes me angry/ sad/ sick ...), `strange Self´= a strange personal center. 
[3]
These Its, or strange Selves, represent new, strange, independent entities which can cause  strange, second-rate realities general and personal and thus also mental disorders.
If the entire psyche (i.e. all aspects of the psyche) is involved in this process, psychotic symptoms may ensue.
If, however, these events only affect one or a small number of aspects, then, depending on the nature of these aspects, symptoms will arise which are 'merely' neurotic, psychosomatic, or of another category. In my opinion, these diseases can only be explained if they are based on disturbances in the absolute sphere of a person. If a person can accept problems as a part of life, considering them to be only of relative importance, it is highly unlikely that this person will succumb to a mental illness. However, when 'something' Relative is absolutized and becomes established as an Absolute, this Absolute will function as an It or strange Self which determines the person. This "something" will be given too absolute a status, whereas  the person will be attributed too relative a status. This “something“ will attain too much independence, whereas  the person will become too dependent. This “something“ will become the subject, whereas  the person becomes its object. This “something“ will become personified, whereas  the person will become 'something'. This “something“  will dominate the person and not the person the `something´. This is the “victory“ of the Relative over a person.
To understand the genesis of such disorders, it is important to look into a process, that I name 'Spreading and compression'.
By spreading, every inversion may cause multiple disorders, just as a disorder may be caused by a variety of different inversions.
This process is explained in more detail in part 'Metapsychiatry'.

As described in part 'PSYCHIATRY' and summarized in the 'Summary table', these 'Its' or strange-Selves can cause various diseases.
It is in particular at the example of schizophrenic psychoses that this becomes most obvious. From this point of view, I think the problem of the psychodynamic genesis of psychoses is
solved theoretically and in principle.

In part `METAPSYCHOTHERAPY´, I analyze the 'psychotherapeutic quality' of the most relevant worldviews and religions.

In part `PSYCHOTHERAPY’, I examine the most well-known psychotherapeutic schools of thought.
In the chapter `Primary Psychotherapy´, I introduce a theory that is free of ideology and which I believe to be the best against mental disorders.


Foreword

                            Motto: “He is a doctor who knows the invisible,
                            that has no name, nor matter but still an effect.” 
Paracelsus

About me, Torsten Oettinger, the author of this book: I am a psychiatrist-psychotherapist and publish here the experiences and knowledge which I have been able to gather throughout the decades that I have worked in this specific area. I believe that the following texts will open up new perspectives in psychiatry and psychotherapy for the following reasons:

1. In these writings, a new theory of the psyche and its disorders is developed.
2. I investigate the influence of different ideologies and worldviews on the psyche and on 'psycho-theories'.

Ad 1. I classify the psyche and the psychical Relevant (pR) in a new way: I derive their classification from basic patterns of language. This means that I use language as an analogy for the psychical Relevant (pR), since our language is the best tool which captures everything important to us and excludes nothing that is psychically relevant. Therefore, in this study, basic language patterns serve to differentiate the psychical Relevant in general and the psyche in particular. According to their fundamental meaning, these differentiations are then further divided into the "dimensions": absolute or relative - as keywords - (or nothing) or similar fundamental meanings.
[For the special role of nothing, see later.]
This classification includes everything that is psychologically relevant and, in contrast to university psychology, it goes beyond what can only be scientifically ascertained because that is only part of what the psyche is.

(This is thoroughly discussed in the parts `Metapsychology' and `Psychology´.)
"Inversions" (the confusion of existential, fundamental meanings) are seen as the main cause of mental illness.
In the section 'Metapsychiatry', I show how these inversions generate strange Absolutes, which then form second-rate, strange realities such as mental illnesses.

Ad 2. Although different ideologies and worldviews are of great importance to the psyche and psychological theory formation, this is hardly reflected from academic side.
(See more to this topic in `Criticism of materialist science and psychology´.)
The reason for this is that psychology and psychiatry are too one-sidedly defined as science. 
What is scientifically not accessible will be largely ignored.
[4]  But the exclusion of such topics leads to deficient theories and therapies and to a strong increase in psycho-practices (`psycho-boom'), which often gives people dubious answers to questions that are not answered by conventional medicine. (See more to this topic in `Esoterism´.)
In my work, I focus more on life itself than merely on science. Therefore, I attend to that which is of ultimate concern for the patients, regardless of whether or not it is scientifically ascertainable.
For me, the credibility of statements is the decisive criterion, not their provability - credibility which includes knowledge and experience but is super-ordinate to it. [5]
In this basic assumptions (such as philosophies resp. worldviews and religions), which are the foundations of current psychological and psychiatric theories, are critically examined as to their psychological and psychotherapeutic relevance and functionality. Furthermore, I develop a specific theory and psychotherapy which includes subjective and spiritual factors. Thus, the theory and therapy of mental disorders are substantially expanded.
    One might ask the polemical question whether our psychology and psychiatry themselves do not suffer from poor health. They seem to be affected by disorders which could be called “scientitis” or “dogmatitis”, since they are too focused on science. In scientific writings, reference is made very rarely to philosophical or even religious insights. According to the 'malicious' words of Karl Kraus: “Psychoanalysis is that mental illness for which it regards itself as therapy”
[6] we psychiatrists should ask ourselves in which way our theories might be wrong or even 'in ill health' - or even we have reduced "the diseases of the mind to mindless diseases" (Basaglia).
(For more details, see the unabridged German version.)


M E T A P S Y C H O L O G Y

Introduction

                                                                                             In the beginning was God,
                                                                                                             and the Word was with God,
                                                                                                             and the Word was God … (~ by John 1:1-4)

Definitions and Hypotheses

                Metapsychology is the theory of everything which is psychically relevant. [7]
               
Everything about which a person speaks or can speak is psychically relevant.                
               
• The
psychical Relevant is best expressed by way of language.
                • General language structures are very suitable as analogies for the division of the psychical Relevant.
                • Psychology is the theory of the personal psychical Relevant.

Based on the multiple meanings of the prefix 'meta' (above, between, behind, beyond), I define metapsychology as a level of analysis above psychology, from which the latter can be surveyed and scrutinized. At the same time, metapsychology comprises and permeates all subjects which are associated with psychology. Among the disciplines connected with psychology are, first and foremost, psychiatry, as well as sociology, neurology, biology, and linguistics. However, I also include philosophy and theology which are partly super-ordinate.
The main subject of psychology is the psyche. The subject of metapsychology is all that which is important for the psyche, which interrelates with the psyche, has an impact on it and is able to reflect upon it from a higher level. Therefore, metapsychology examines and reflects upon what I name the psychical Relevant (pR). The consideration of metapsychology and its subject-matter, the psychical Relevant, is very adequate since an isolated analysis of the psyche alone neglects very important connections.
In my view, the examination of all aspects of our human existence should be undertaken, rather than limiting our analysis to facts which are only accessible by scientific methods. This means that in addition to all scientific insights acquired by academic psychology, attention should also be given to that which transcends our experiences, which is beyond the demonstrable and perceptible. Thus, all relevant meta-psychical, meta-empirical, philosophical and religious phenomena of existential importance should be considered.
In contrast to this perspective, the notion "metapsychology" is used - following Freud - by scholars of psychoanalysis to describe the dynamic, topical and economic interrelations of psychical phenomena.
Regarding the area of topography, Freud was primarily concerned with the concepts of the Ego, Id and Super-ego; regarding the area of psycho-dynamics, he investigated the mental forces between these entities of the psyche; regarding the area of economics, he examined the benefits of specific psychical processes for the person concerned.
This study also discusses structural, dynamic and qualitative aspects similar to the psychoanalytic ones. However, these are merely a small part of metapsychology and psychology and are presented from a different perspective.
[8]

More generally, one might say, that none of the models provided by conventional medicine are able to transcend the anthropological perspective i.e. they look at the psyche and its illnesses only from a "horizontal point of view", considerably limiting the possibilities of analysis and therapy. In particular, questions that are most important for a person and which have existential meaning are therefore not answered or only inadequately answered. Existentialists, in particular, have pointed this out.
The part "Metapsychology" (similar to the other chapters) will first be discussed in general and then in more detail using concrete examples. At the end of this chapter, I will briefly address some metapsychological topics that are important for this publication. This will only be a selection of a variety of topics, since all topics relevant to the person and examined especially in philosophy, anthropology, psychiatry and psychology, are psychically relevant.
• The first section (general issues of psychical relevance) is subdivided into a horizontal and vertical structure.
Horizontal arrangement: Differentiation of that which is psychically relevant by presenting analogies of fundamental language structures.
Vertical arrangement: The psychical Relevant in its dimensions/ fundamental meanings.
• In the second section, important topics are discussed which are psychically relevant.
The psyche itself is the focus of attention in the next chapter 'Psychology'.

The General Psychical Relevant

Introduction and Classification


In this chapter, that which is relevant to the psyche is investigated. [9]
Abbreviations:
- The psychical Relevant = pR; or psychically relevant = pr.
    Synonyms: psychic(al)/ psychological/ that which is  significant, important to the soul/ psyche.
- Pseudoabsolute = strange Absolute (sA), The Absolute = A = +A or -A. The Relative = R.

Nearly all things are psychically relevant (pr). It is difficult to imagine an issue which might not be psychically relevant or which could not become so. The term 'reality' might come as close as possible to that which is psychically relevant. If reality were to be defined as that which affects us, then reality is not merely an objective but also a subjective matter.

It is about to differentiate the psychical Relevant (pR) and to arrange its meaning. More precisely, it is about an adequate classification of reality and world, person, psyche, and individual according to its importance for the human him/herself.
[Sometimes, I use in this work for world, person and individual/I the shortcut WPI.]

I divide the psychical Relevant (or the reality) in general after:
  • Differentiations
  • Dimensions.

Concerning the differentiations  I derive from the basic patterns of language both basic patterns of psychologically relevant forms and those of the psyche. I'm referring here to simple grammars of developed languages.
The differentiations represent the `horizontal classification´ of the psychical Relevant.
I use several stages of differentiation and would like to briefly introduce the first one:
The four "main aspects": forms of being, life, properties and their connections are derived from the three main word classes: nouns, verbs, adjectives and fourthly from syntax.
These will be further differentiated in the course of the study.


The dimensions represent fundamental meanings of the psychical Relevant.
I distinguish the following fundamental meanings:
- the Absolute (A) = absolute dimension
- the Relative (R) = relative dimension
      the Nothing(ness) (0). [For the special role of nothing, see later.]

I use these as keywords for similar fundamental meanings. (Later more)

The dimensions represent the `vertical classification´ of the psychical Relevant.
They show the meaning and position of a psychical Relevant  or rather of a respective differentiation.

Taking differentiation and dimensioning together, the following picture emerges:


This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is grafik-3.png

The psychical Relevant resp. the reality with its units is classified by differentiations and dimensions as by a horizontal and a vertical level. In the horizontal division, basic patterns of language differentiate the psychical Relevant in such as if one would lay a net with coordinates horizontally across that which is to be determined, to order it. This division is designated as horizontal since no evaluative assertion is to be made here as to a specific object's importance and position. Rather, it is the vertical division, the 'dimensions', that provides information about this. (See `The absolute Perspective´ in part Metapsychotherapy).
Thus, this graph shows the classification of the psychical Relevant through language patterns in specific dimensions.

One can also say: The psychical Relevant is derived from what one can say about reality (persons, environment, etc.) and whether that has absolute or relative meaning or no meaning.

Classification Levels

I distinguish the following 3 stages in the classification of the psychical Relevant
(dimensions and differentiations).                       

DIMENSIONS

DIFFERENTIATIONS

1st stage of dimensions:
the Absolute (A), the Relative (R) and
the Nothingness (0).

1st stage of differentiation:
4 main aspects: being, life, qualities, connections
(Abbr. BLQC)

2nd stage of dimensions:
7 synonyms of the Absolute and Relative

2nd stage of differentiation:
23 single aspects

3rd stage of dimensions:
All terms listed in the overview table, concerning fundamental meanings  or corresponding statements.
3rd stage of differentiation:
All terms listed in the overview table, concerning differentiations or corresponding statements.

Note: For the sake of simplicity, I usually only use the 1st dimension stage (AR0) in this script for the dimensions.
Concerning the differentiations, I usually use the 1st or 2nd stage. (More on that later.)

 

General Differentiations (Analogy Language and the Psychical Relevant)

Language and the Psychical Relevant

                                                        “Language is yet more than blood." Franz Rosenzweig

The differentiation of the psychical Relevant is based on the formation of analogies between patterns of language and patterns of that which is psychically relevant.
(This also includes the psyche →
Grammar of the psyche.)

I repeat: the psychical Relevant can be classified horizontally or vertically. The horizontal division differentiates the psychical Relevant and the vertical division, with its dimensions, provides information about their fundamental meaning.
The differentiations resemble a grid, such as the one we use to zone the earth's surface into longitudes and latitudes, so as to guarantee better orientation. In the analysis of that which is psychically Relevant, it is the language which offers these 'longitudes and latitudes' ('horizontal division'), whereas  the dimensions of the Absolute, Relative and Nothingness provide us with information about the 'altitude' (significance) of the subject-matter ('vertical division').


No other instrument gives us as much information as language about that which is psychically relevant.  Language has not only individual but also general meanings and forms of expression. The psyche with its connections can only be determined indirectly. One can draw conclusions about the psyche and that which is important to it from the behavior of people, their dreams, from culture and art, from the history of mankind, or even from their language and many other sources - but especially from language.
[
E.g. Victor Klemperer: "... language not only writes poetry and thinks for me, it also directs my feeling, it controls my entire soul being, the more self-evidently, the more unconsciously I surrender myself to it." (LTI, p 24)]

The content of psychology should be everything that concerns people. That which concerns people, however, is primarily made orderly, understandable and communicable by language. Don't we also learn most about the world and about ourselves as human beings through what we say? If we use language as the most important source to infer the soul life of our patients, then this also corresponds to the general practice that what our counterpart says, is in the foreground of the assessment of his person and situation.
The language is in this way, as I think, the most important medium of the people to express what concerns them. The language has also, in contrast to other sources, the advantage that it already has an outline and order which one can use to represent accordingly also contents and meanings of the psyche.  Moreover, as a rule, all psychological findings from other sources need language to make their contents understandable and communicable.
For these reasons, isn't language therefore best suited for drawing conclusions about our inner selves? I think so. Language thus appears as a first-rate metapsychological instrument/medium to structure psychic things and to make statements about their contents.

[The special importance of language for thinking and cognition of human beings was already emphasized by Nietzsche, Heidegger and Wittgenstein. Language as an "inescapable condition or matrix of thinking and cognition. Keyword: 'linguistic turn'.]

            Therefore, general, basic language components prove to be excellent analogies for the representation of general psychical relevant and psychical "basic elements".
Regarding the differentiations of language and psyche, Lévi-Strauss and Lacan already had a similar thought when they postulated a `homology' of language structures and (but only) the unconscious.
  [10]


I would like to expand and clarify their hypothesis. I believe:
• Basic characteristics of the language in relation to its structure, dynamics, and quality statements are similarly found in the psychical Relevant and the psyche. 

Regarding the psyche - This also means that the psyche shows similar characteristics to language in terms of its structure, dynamics, and meaning contents.
It seems obvious that in the development of language, general language components and rules of grammar  can be understood as reflecting what has been psychologically important to people for thousands of years.
That which is important to humankind has not only been defined by means of words but also by means of corresponding language patterns. By using language in this way, humankind not only denoted specific terms with specific phenomena but also reflected whose connections and functions as expressions of our psyches and their world experience. Therefore, general, basic language components, such as the parts of speech, prove to be excellent analogies for the representation of general psychical relevant and psychical "basic elements" - and the syntax, in turn, gives us in form of subject, object, predicate and their functions point to analogous psychic forms and their functions, and the semantics shows their meanings.
Like language, I also see the psyche as a highly-differentiated system that has certain characteristics on the one hand, but on the other is very flexible and always alive. In analogy to the grammar of the language, one could speak of a Grammar of the psyche.
As said, I use in this paper simple grammars of developed languages which are essentially the same in their rules. But here I can only briefly deal with this topic.

On the analogy of language structures and structures of the psyche, see there.→ Differentiations.
On the analogies between meanings in language and the psychically relevant, see Dimensions.

First stage of Differentiation

A basic classification which can be found in almost all developed languages is one which differentiates between nouns, verbs and adjectives, as well as, syntactically, between subjects and predicates. The table below shows the resulting psychically relevant analogies.  


1st stage of differentiation


F o r m s    o f    l a n g u a g e

P s y c h i c a l l y    r e l e v a n t    f o r m s


               `main aspects´                     correspond with        

 
                                               word class

nouns

I. forms of being

units

verbs

II. forms of life

dynamics

adjectives

III. qualities

qualities

                                                    syntax

IV. connections

connections,



subjects/ objects

 

Therefore, what is both psychically and linguistically relevant can be divided into the following four main components:  Being, life, qualities and their connections. In this book, they will be utilized as psychically relevant correlates. Their interplay takes place on different stages with different dimensions, which are particularized in a subsequent chapter.
By analogy with language, this differentiation is expanded to include 23 aspects. This is the “second differentiation stage” of that which is psychically relevant, and of the psyche itself.
At the end of all differentiations, one would find what all possible pr words represent in their infinite variety.
Thus far, the following analogies were made in the first stage of differentiation:

I. Nouns           =  being (= forms of being or pr units)
II. Verbs           =  life (= dynamics)
III. Adjectives  = qualities
IV. Syntax        = subjects, objects and their connections.
Abbreviation:  (BLQC)

In the first stage of differentiation, these four main aspects of that which is psychically relevant have been determined.
I believe they also reflect 4 important themes of humanity:
I. Being or not-being, II. Life or death, III. good or evil, IV. subject or object.
These in turn are embedded in the theme of the Absolute.

(See also:  Fundamental Problems in Metapsychotherapy).|

Second stage of Differentiation

If we further differentiate the four main aspects mentioned above, a different number of aspects will accrue, depending on the method employed and the stage of differentiation envisioned.
In my experience, further differentiation to the following 23 individual aspects is very helpful:           

Forms  of  l a n g u a g e

SINGLE ASPECTS

of  psychical relevant forms


I. NOUNS



                                                 




           
                                             
Articles

Forms of being              

Units

1 Everything / Something (Nothingness)

2 God / World

3 People / Things

4 I / Other(s)

5 Personal Spirit/ Soul, Body

6 - / Gender


II. VERBS

  
Modal  auxiliary verbs













                 Full verbs

Forms of life                   
                    Modalities







                             




                  Activities






                                                         



  
                Times

  Modalities

 7 to be

 8 to want

 9 to have

10  can

11 must

12 should

13 may, be allowed

    Dynamics
 
14 to create

15 to do, to produce

16 to perceive

17 to reproduce

18 to judge

19 past

20 present

21 future


III. ADJECTIVES

Qualities                        

Qualities

22 right, wrong

23 negative, positive

The single aspects of differentiation are differently dimensioned. In the 1st-5th unit in the above table, the aspects with absolute dimensionality are named first, whilst aspects with relative dimensionality are shown behind the slash. Further explications can be found in the unabridged German version.

    The 3rd stage of differentiation is presented in the Summary table.

The method employed here to categorize that which is psychically relevant or psychological, by determining analogies from language, has the advantage that the single aspects can be expanded indefinitely so that every psychically relevant term can be integrated into the system.
As said, in this study, I predominately use the 1st and 2nd stages of differentiation.

An objection raised against this kind of differentiation argues that there are languages with basic structures that are entirely different. In fact, even for the most advanced languages, there are very different grammatical theories, that differ from the usual simple "school grammar" used here. Doubtlessly, this is a valid objection.  However, I believe that, from a certain point, every kind of language and grammar can be used to express what is most important to a person. (Otherwise, adequate translation into many different languages could not be possible.) Therefore, the classification used here is merely one of many possibilities to infer that which is psychically relevant from general forms of language. I intentionally use simple grammar (“school grammar”), since it best reflects the every-day use of language.
Alongside language, that what is psychically relevant is reflected in many ways: It is obvious in our behavior, gestures, facial expressions, art and much more. Yet, none of these forms of expression is as differentiated and yet comprehensible, as is language.

Dimensions

"If names be not correct, language is not in accordance with the truth of things.
  If language be not in accordance with the truth of things, affairs cannot be carried on to success.” (Confucius)

"The word, according to its nature, is the freest among the spiritual creatures but also the most endangered and dangerous. Therefore, watchmen of the word are necessary." Hrabanus Maurus
[11]

Similar Ortega y Gasset: " ...  it is by no means indifferent how we formulate things. The law of life perspective is not only subjective but rooted in the nature of things ... itself. ... The mistake is to assume that it is up to our arbitrariness to assign things to their proper rank." [In: „Triumph des Augenblicks Glanz der Dauer“ DVA Stuttgart, 1983 S. 75ff. Tranlated by me.]

Explanation and Terms

In this work, the dimensions represent in the first stage of classification the hierarchy of the most fundamental meanings of what is psychically and psychologically relevant.
[
In language, too, similar differences in meaning are made with absolute words and absolute statements on the one hand and relative words and relative statements.]

`Fundamental meanings´ (dimensions) means that it is about primordial meanings, about most fundamental, very first meanings of existence, behind which one cannot go back, which are not further questionable, but at most credible, and which grasp every psychically relevant thing in its respective most fundamental meaning. Thereby the Absolute has the meaning of the very first, primary causes, to which all other causes can be traced back in the end. Therefore I try to reflect possible causes of mental illnesses from this last reason.

Hints
a)
The Absolute is the most important, the most decisive, and the first-rate thing.  
b) I use the term `meaning´ to denote the importance, rank and `sense of something. 

c) What fundamental significance a single psychically relevant thing has is ultimately a matter of faith. As a rule, however, there is agreement on many points. For example, that money, status, externals, etc. have no absolute significance.

 I mean that everything that is psychically relevant has one of these three meanings (rank): either something has absolute or relative or (almost) no meaning. 
This is a classification that involves every psychically relevant aspect and also says the most important thing about it. In contrast, for example, the categories 'right or wrong', 'pleasant or unpleasant', 'mature or immature', 'logical or illogical' and the like would not capture every psychically relevant thing, nor its most important, fundamental meanings.

Similar terms to `fundamental meaning´ are: primordial, very first, basic, existential, essential ranks, determining, meanings, significances, -reference systems, -scale, -positions, -standpoints, -perspectives, -importances, -priority, -order of precedence.
In the following, I will mainly use the term `fundamental meanings´ or basic meanings as collective terms for the dimensions.

(For inversions of these meanings, see the section Metapsychiatry.)

As mentioned before, I distinguish in the first stage of classification between these dimensions of the psychical Relevant (pR):

            • the Absolute (A)                 
            • the Relative (R) [12]          
            • the Nothing (0).
               The nothing plays a special role, which I will come back to. It only exists as a Pseudo-nothing (not²),
                   because there is no 'real nothing' (nothing1). (In my opinion, this would be a consequence of −A).
As said, I use these terms as guiding concepts for the later named `7 synonyms´ (2nd stage of dimensions).
More on Nothingness later.

.
The dimensions represent the 'vertical classification' of that which is psychologically relevant.
[ `Vertical´ means: from the highest and most fundamental point of view.  See `The absolute Perspective´ in part Metapsychotherapy].
They attribute the respective fundamental meaning to the pr units and differentiations: an absolute or relative meaning.

                Comparison of the most important `fundamental meanings´.

absolute
self
actual
whole
unconditional
primary
independent

relative
different
possible
partial
conditional
secondary
dependent


It is the absolute dimension which is the decisive factor. The Absolute and the Relative have thoroughly different characteristics and effects. This fact is important when considering the theory of the genesis of mental disorders.
The Absolute (and the Nothingness) have a primarily "spiritual nature", whereas  the Relative is more material.
Absolute or relative adjectives prove helpful in representing the nature of the respective dimensions. They provide information on whether forms of being and forms of life, qualities and their relationships have absolute, relative or no significance. In this study, the relative dimension is marked by gradable adjectives, whilst absolute adjectives serve to identify the absolute dimension.
[An absolute adjective is an adjective with a meaning that is generally not capable of being intensified or compared. The gradable adjective means we can have different levels of that quality.]
Classification Overview
Overall, I classify the dimensions according to the following categories:
• their `spheres´ (absolute, relative, null = 1st classification stage;
   or to the corresponding 7 synonyms = 2nd classification stage),
• their 'rank' (first-rate, second-rate)
• their 'orientation' (pro/+, contra/‒, null)
• their place of occurrence (e.g.,  dimensions of the world, the person, the psyche, etc.)
    (More on that later.)

In this way, each pr phenomenon can  be classified according to the following categories:
absolute, relative or null (0); first-rate, second-rate; pro/+, contra/‒ or null, and by its place.

The Absolute

                                                             Motto: The ground of things is the unconditioned, the Absolute.[13]

What concerns us absolutely? What is the original reason, the original cause of everything? What determines us the most? What is of the greatest importance for us and absolutely necessary?
Hunger and love? (F. Schiller). The drives and the unconscious? (S. Freud). The "chow"? (B. Brecht).
[14] Religion? (P. Tillich). Genes? Pleasure or reality? Ideologies? The laws of nature?
The views differ. I call it the Absolute
(A).

I distinguish
    • first-rate, actual Absolute (A)
[15]
    • second-rate, strange
Pseudo-Absolute (sA).

    • subjective Absolute (this is often, but not always, a Pseudo-Absolute).
    • objective Absolute (if it exists, which I assume, then it is always an actual Absolute).

All types can have positive or negative connotations. (The sA can also be ambivalent.)
That´s why I distinguish
    • an actual, positive/ or negative Absolute (+A/ ‒A)
    • strange, positive or negative (or ambivalent) Pseudo-Absolutes (+sA, ‒sA or
±sA).
       (More in the section `Metapsychiatry'.)

- I believe: The Absolute is the determining spirit of everything psychical Relevant (pR).
The Absolute is the decisive instance according to which everything in its sphere of influence is ultimately directed. It is primal reason and primal matter of everything. Therefore, everything is ultimately to be traced back to an Absolute. Since it is the foundation of our spiritual life, it is always with us. Our live rests upon it. We stand or fall with our Absolutes. We live or die through them.
But, it is (like the nothing) neither provable nor comparable, in the best case credible, but nevertheless of existential importance.
Of course, what is most important to people, or even the Absolute, is very diverse. I believe that every person has their own Absolutes. Subjectively and individually, we have thousands of Absolutes: Gods that we love with all our heart, or devils and enemies that we fear and hate. Some people think safety is paramount, whilst others believe that health is the greatest good. A third group might say that the meaning of life is realized to be good people, whilst yet others are convinced that progress is of the highest significance. Others consider certain individuals to be the most important etc. In this way, every one of us has its own outlook on life and a frame of reference, in the center of which there is an Absolute. Mostly, an individual's parents and the environment have a great influence on the development of this `framework´. Some of these worldviews are known by a certain name, as is the case regarding religions and ideologies but others are not. I have experienced that even individuals who are members of a particular church have a variety of private beliefs which often strongly contrasts with their relevant confession. Therefore, a formal profession of belief in God due to an individual's affiliation with a Church might not be specifically meaningful. Besides their formal religion, they may also believe in money, power, progress, a political party, their father, mother, their wife or simply themselves - and is there someone of us who does not?
[16]
However, the most important may also be negative. It may seem most essential to a person not to be immoral, unfaithful, dependent, or not to become like another person. This negative goal then needs to be avoided at all costs, it is considered to be the worst possible outcome, an unacceptable condition, the unforgivable, mortal sin, or the like.
- In my view, all approaches to life, all worldviews, whether formalized or private, conscious or unconscious, have different Absolutes which are the basis of these worldviews and ideologies.
- Furthermore, the simple conclusion follows that these Absolutes determine also to which extent an individual is able to cope with their own person, with other people and the world around them. Therefore, these respective Absolutes are also crucial for the genesis and therapy of psychical illnesses.
- Considering the Absolute as the core of the psyche is not a new concept. The philosopher Karl Jaspers claimed that the kind of God a person believes determines his true being. (More precisely, one might say that the kind of God and the kind of devil a person accepts determines their true being.) S. Kierkegaard expressed similar thoughts.
[17] Especially psychotherapists of the “Viennese School”
(W. Daim and I. Caruso) were convinced that misabsolutizations are decisive of the emergence of mental disorders. Unfortunately, their work is little known.

Summary

The Absolute (A) also determines the identity of a person. (This concept can be summarized in the mottoes:
“I am like my A” or alternatively, “my A is my life”). In addition, the A is the ultimate creative sphere. Whatever a person places above themselves becomes an Absolute. Though the Absolute cannot be proven, it can be experienced and it is more or less apparent and plausible. It is not possible to prove the Absolute in general, nor is it feasible to prove the Absolute of a person (their Self). It is only possible to believe in it.
In principle, the Absolute is a metaphysical or spiritual category, which means that we can only describe it in words or portray it by using analogies or metaphors, etc. In this sense, it is unspeakable, elusive. It is a priori, a basic assumption. The Absolute is only defined by itself.  It is self-explanatory.
18]  Different rules and characteristics apply to the sphere of the Absolute than to the sphere of the Relative. (This statement will prove particularly relevant when examining the effects of inversions and the genesis of illnesses, as will be explained in the following chapters.) An investigation of the causes of mental disorders is ultimately (!) a quest for the Absolute.
Similarly, the main and most important answers (therapy) are also found in the area of the Absolute.

The 7 Synonyms of the Absolute (2nd stage of differentiation)

The character of the Absolute (A) becomes more apparent when looking at the origin of the word:
It originates from the Latin word “absolutus” and
denotes a matter or subject which is detached and independent.
In this study, I use the following 7 synonyms:

 
               1. absolute          
                2. self
                3. actual
                4. whole, complete
                5. unconditional
                6. primary, first-rate
                7. independent

    The term `absolute´ is the keyword.

Expressed nounically: The absolute is the solved, the self (the with-itself-identical), the actual, the unified, the unconditional, the primary and the independent, the most important, the most essential and existential. It appears as the primary, the primordial reason, the primordial thing, primordial leap, the ultimately determining, the incomparable, unquestionable, basic, fundamental, main, basic and elementary.
It is the core, center, heart, switching point, center of the subject, etc.

For the `Core-Absolute' these properties apply unconditionally and for the `Also-Absolute' only conditionally.
To `Core-Absolute' and `Also-Absolute´ → next section.

Short Systematic Overview

Rank of the Absolute

After the rank I distinguish actual first- and strange second-rate Absolutes.
    [Hint: first-rate and actual, and second-rate and strange are synonyms! I use these different names depending on the topic.]
• To the first-rate Absolutes (A¹):
         - the first-rate positive Absolute (+A¹)
         - the first-rate negative Absolute (‒A¹)
         - Especially: the personal "attitude toward the Absolute", which I will discuss later.
[19]
To the second-rate, strange Absolutes (sA) = the Pseudoabsolutes
            -  positive/pro and negative/contra-sA (+sA and ‒sA)
            -  strange nothingness (s0 or only 0).
[20]                
            They play an essential part in the emergence of mental disorders and
will be discussed in greater detail in             the later chapters.

Spheres of the Absolute

The first-rate actual Absolute (A¹) has the following parts:

                              A-center = the `Core-Absolute´ is only and exclusively-absolute.
[Other possible synonyms: absolute, self, whole, unitary, unconditional, primary, independent Absolute].
                             
A-external = the external Absolute is relative an `Also-Absolute´.
[Other possible synonyms: relative, different, possible, partial, conditional, secondary, dependent Absolute.]


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In the first-rate reality, the Relative is co-absolutized by the Absolute, so that this Relative is here `also- absolute´.

             Preview: Areas of a second-rate strange Absolute (sA) resp. Pseudo-Absolute.

                   
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Representatives, Places of Occurrences

• Representatives of the 3 actual Absolutes

- Representatives of +A¹:
  
God1/ love as the +A¹; Personal: the + `absolute attitude´ toward the Absolute´.
- Representatives of −A¹: `the absolute evil' and its choice.
- Representatives of the `absolute attitude´: the absolute sphere of person.

    [Hint: I partly write God1 to indicate my own conceptions of God, which do not necessarily agree with definitions of official theology.]


• Representatives of strange
Pseudo-Absolutes (sA)
   +sA: general or individual +sA parts e.g.
                        ideal of itself = 'Ideal-I' or 'Self-Ideal',
                        ideal of others (e.g. ideal of other people, of the world as idol, ideologies, etc.)
   ‒sA: general or individual ‒sA-parts with absolutely negative connotations (e.g. taboos etc.)
   0 : negated or repressed first-rate matters.

Overview and Preview of Important Terms and Abbreviations

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A = the Absolute                                                                     
sA
= strange Pseudo-Absolute
sS = strange Self (= the personal sA)

= strange All (in an all-or-nothing relations)
0 = Nothingness
It = complex of strange All and 0 (`dyad') or of pro and contra and 0 part (`triad') in the core.
C = general abbreviation for complexes that dominate personal and other areas of reality.
[21]

[Pro-sA and +sA on the one hand and contra-sA and ‒sA
on the other hand will be viewed as equal throughout this book.]

The terms will be explained in detail in the section 'Metapsychiatry”.

The Relative

The Meaning of the Relative [22]

The Relative is created by the Absolute. The Relative is subordinate to the Absolute. It has a relative meaning in relation to it. Other than the Absolute, which only has one meaning and is first-rate, the Relative has a great variety of meanings. Relative would, strictly speaking, only be described in comparative terms. It could be compared to the interpretations of dreams or of symptoms, which are also not limited to one single specific meaning. So basically, you cannot think of the Relative as an independent. When we use the term “the Relative”, we should actually say “the Relative of the Absolute”. (Or something Relative of a Relative of an Absolute). Therefore, the Relative is not as independent as the term might have you expect. The word relative mainly describes a relation. The Relative cannot exist without the Absolute, in a similar way as there is no part without the whole - just as no illness exists in isolation from the affected person - or it is said, it would have a relatively independent existence. The Relative can be proved, the Absolute may only be believed. [23]  But the (actual) Absolute is more credible than a Relative one.
The Relative is best defined from the Absolute.
The first-rate relative sphere forms a continuum with its components but our language divides this continuum into separate entities. This also applies to the classification of diseases, which are also something Relative.
Contrary to the Absolute, the Relatives can only be in a relative opposition. I.e., two Relatives can only be set in relative opposition to each other. Therefore, there is no dualism or absolute opposition of body and soul, health and illness, subject and object and so on in the first-rate reality.
Absolute opposite and separation only exist between the positive and negative Absolute +A and ‒A. (More on this later).
The Relatives as strange Pseudo-Absolutes (sA) however, can be of absolute relevance to the individual. Then they are not only ambiguous but often appear to be contradicting and paradoxical.
    The qualities of Relatives are not absolutely distinct, which means that something that usually has a negative meaning, can appear positive (and vice versa) - i.e. everything Relative has one relative positive (+) and one relative negative (‒) side, or several of these sides. There is no Relative that is solely positive or negative. Then it would not be relative but absolute. The sayings: “Everything (Relative) has two sides” and “Everything has its advantages and disadvantages” are well-known. This fact is also important when it comes to mental disorders, which are also Relatives. It relativizes the statement that illness and its causes are solely negative and health and its causes are only positive. Only
God1, more or less also the first-rate Self, spirit, and life can be seen as actual Absolutes. The terms “person”, “personality” and “self” can be used best to show the Absolute part of a person. Also, terms such as sense, truth, fairness, dignity, freedom, and love are indicators for the actual Absolute.
Terms such matter, body, thing, object, the worldly or functions are important representations of the Relative.
    [Hint: I partly write God1 to indicate my own conceptions of God, which do not necessarily agree with definitions of official theology.]

7 Synonyms of the Relative (2nd stage of differentiation)
Just as I named 7 synonyms of the Absolute in the 2nd stage of differentiation, I also name 7 synonyms of the first-rate Relative:
The Relative (compared to the Absolute) is:

1. relative, relational
2. different
3. possible
4. partial
5. conditional
6. secondary
7. dependent
[24]
The term `relative´ is the keyword. 

Preview: For comparison, the most important characteristics of second-rate Relatives (R²).
(See also in the Summary table  columns I and L, lines 1-7. Character of the sA ibid. Column K, lines 1-7).
For their identification I mostly use the left, first mentioned forms here.