The Law of Harmony
Psychology
Anyone who finds anything, even a small fraction of the entire reality, [...] understandable, acknowledges that the enigmatic reality exists as a structure of order, i.e. as harmony. This knowledge of order and harmony is the knowledge of meaning. Max Lüscher
The longing for harmony is a longing for unity and wholeness. In contrast to this, our ideas about this unity, the needs, interests and desires regarding a harmonious cooperation and a harmonious design of a common world usually drift far apart. Even if the interpersonal dialogue succeeds in conveying the different points of view, the question of inner experience, i.e. the question of whether we ourselves, quite individually, experience a harmonious world, usually remains unaffected. The question "How do we experience the world?" is closely related to the question "How can we experience the world? Which possibilities do we have and what are the prerequisites and conditions? Max Lüscher takes up the question of the conditions of the possibility of experiencing and finds the solution in the unity of self-feelings.
The self-feelings and self-regulation of the psyche
On the basis of the anthropological basic relations, four possibilities of the self-world-relationship become apparent. These four fundamental basic relations turn out to be four inner states or inner attitudes in the field of psychics. These attitudes are more or less consciously experienced as feelings of self. As parameters, the feelings of self regulate all psychological processes on all levels: the physical, the psychological, the mental as well as the communicative-interactive level. Health is thus based on the functional equal weighting of self-feelings: inner satisfaction, self-esteem, self-confidence and inner freedom.
The harmonious interplay of these self-feelings means that normally the psyche, as a self-regulating system, enables the person to adapt optimally to the requirements of the environment and fellow humans. If one of these self-feelings is under- or overestimated, e.g. self-esteem, the self-regulating system of the psyche becomes dysfunctional. Since the law of the equilibrium of the self-feelings nevertheless continues to apply, the psyche regulates the dynamics of the inner-psychic forces by establishing a balance. This compensation, however, also impairs the other self-feelings due to the systemic nature of the system.
To stay in the picture: The overestimation of self-esteem shows itself as an egocentric claim for recognition and respect, which has its cause in the deficit of one's own self-esteem. To compensate, this inner deficit is demanded from the outside in the form of a self-affirmation. The dependence on self-affirmation by others, however, leads to a certain degree to a loss of inner freedom; in addition, it impairs inner satisfaction and weakens self-confidence.
This is only a small insight into the self-regulation system and its dynamics. The Lüscher diagnostics can make the specific disturbance visible by the Lüscher colour test. It shows the cause of the disorder as well as the possibility of therapy.
Literature: Max Lüscher (2009), The Law of Harmony in us. Berlin, Ullstein