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Secondary Worlds

These are the worlds that are created at points in our chronological life when we are forced, through an event, circumstance or a defining moment in our lives (usually trauma), to change our sense of being, our ontology1) to such a degree we can no longer be who we were. Metaphorically the boundary conditions (rules and structures) that made up and protected our Primary World have been broken.

Trauma

Donald Winnicott had his own idea about this concept. He said that when the environment impinges to this degree, it is an ‘annihilation of being’, hence that original ‘beingness’ can no longer ‘be’, and another has to take its place, one that has sufficiently developed to allow for this unpredictable event (impingement).

;#;

“Trauma is an impingement from the environment and from the individual’s reaction to the environment that occurs
prior to the individual’s development of the mechanisms that make the unpredictable predictable.” D.W.Winnicott

Quote from Boundary and Space (pg. 58) - (1967) ‘Clinical Regression Compared with Defence Organisation’ ;#;

At this moment of creation, a new Primary World is conceived out of the metaphorical landscape of this younger you whilst in that defining moment.

These Secondary Worlds then become ’Lost Worlds’, and our prior ontology (the beliefs and resources that used to be our Primary World) is held within them. It is as though the internal construct/set of boundaries had to break, as they could not contain or classify the new information that had impinged upon the individual. It is at this point we re-evaluate and build new boundaries, new constructions, and new categories to allow for this radical shift in our world.

These Secondary Worlds contain the information that we need, and can be helpful to us in resolving the problems in the here and now. However, we do not have direct access to them, they are outside of our Primary World.

Fragmentation

Also held within these Secondary Worlds are aspects/fragments of ourselves that were split off and left behind (frozen in time) when the new Primary World was created. It is these ‘lost’ parts of us that communicate, through symptoms in the here and now. These symptoms are simply unsuccessful attempts from the mind-body at resolving the issue.

During the journey of Emergent Knowledge these parts of us are given the opportunity to communicate through other channels, the semantics or words we use, non-verbal gestures, visual metaphors, somatics or feelings and the scribbling and drawings of the client. These younger manifestations of you are already indirectly communicating through these channels. In fact before Emergent Knowledge processing nearly all of our general communication is from these younger manifestations of you.

This concept of being ‘frozen in time’ makes perfect sense when considering the moment of trauma, because this younger you stays back in that moment just prior to the trauma as a natural defence against the trauma of an unthinkable anxiety, hence it is a way of relating to reality without betraying the ‘True Self’ or The Pristine.

next –> Tertiary Worlds

1)
The science or study of being; that department of metaphysics which relates to the being or essence of things, or to being in the abstract.
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