ABSTRACT
This chapter introduces the concept of the strange attractor and its relevance to the study of the mind. The idea of a strange attractor comes from the theory of complex non-linear systems. It refers to a pattern of cyclical dynamic motion towards which such a system tends when responding to external stimuli, which disturb its internally determined processes in some way. If the strange attractors are seen as reflecting situations providing a context for object relations, then a more complete description of an individual's psychic reality can be established. The concept of fractional dimensions is strange indeed. It is a concept emerging from the study of potentially chaotic complex systems, which can seem strange because they are unpredictable. The mind can be thought as an epi-phenomenon of the central nervous system but it is also a means of defining what it is about the human being that experiences, as well as simply reacting.
