Ignacio Matte Blanco - The Symmetrical and The Asymmetrical

The Symmetrical and The Asymmetrical

Matte-Blanco divided the unconscious into two modes of being: the symmetrical and the asymmetrical. Asymmetrical relations are relations that are not reversible. For example, “Jack reads the newspaper” cannot be reversed to the newspaper reading Jack. In this way, asymmetrical relations are logical relations and form everyday logic and common sense. They make up the conscious sphere of the human mind. Symmetrical relations, on the other hand, move in both directions simultaneously. For example, “Josephine is the spouse of Daniel” can be reversed without being untrue. Symmetrical relations, are part of the unconscious mind. Matte-Blanco states that the symmetrical, unconscious realm is the natural state of man and is a massive and infinite presence while the asymmetrical, conscious realm is a small product of it. This is why the principle of symmetry is all-encompassing and can dissolve all logic, making the asymmetrical relations perfectly symmetrical.

To show the illogical nature of symmetry, Matte-Blanco said, "In the thought system of symmetry, time does not exist. An event that occurred yesterday can also occur today or tomorrow...traumatic events of the past are not only seen in the unconscious as ever present and permanently happening but also about to happen'.

Matte Blanco points out that "We are always, in a given mental product, confronted by a mixture of the logic of the unconscious with that of the preconscious and consciousness". Matte Blanco gives this mixture of two logics the name bi-logic and points out that our thinking is usually bi-logical, expressing the both types of logic to differing extents.