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Going through changes

Posted November 18th, 2010 by Christophe Witz

Hi Integral People.

I've been away for a while. I don't know about you, but I had a rather disturbing time lately. I had ups and downs, laughs and tears, progress and defects. I have lost my coolness (Gelassenheit) once again and found myself struggling (hustling) for safe ground. Even right now I feel alone, misunderstood and unsure how to make a difference. Time to come back to the integral life.

I've enjoyed the audio take with Dave Riordan and Daphne Rose Kingma a few weeks ago. There are some fantastic insights in there. I've had the opportunity to learn a few more things about love myself lately, since I met a dear human being who reactivated all the mess and all the glory of a love relationship in me. Holy Shit. I almost forgot how this feels like. So amazing. And so much pain.

Argh. No time for Zardoz, he gets a holiday until the world needs him again (which will be soon no doubt). In the past year I have been involved in the greenest environment I ever lived in, apart from my parents (I work in a psychosomatic clinic). Its been a delight and a constant learning experience, expecially concerning emotional processing, psychotherapy in group settings and diagnosis of mental illnesses with a focus on attachment disorders. On the other hand, the unhealthy aspects of non-integral green have been a source of frustration and suppressed anger. Most annoying was the anti-intellectual stance from colleagues and supervisors and the lack of recognition for stage development.

I am very pleased to see the Integral Therapy paper in this week's Update. There is so much good work to do in this field. My experience from the past year is that healthy green is superb in dealing with emotional shadows, that means therapeutic regression in order to release anger and grief, and to enable altered states of consciousness which can dramatically change calloused patterns and help heal old wounds. An Integral Approach would take nothing away from this, but add to the accuracy of the diagnosis and the post-hoc classification of the peak experiences.

So yeah. The Glass is half bloody full I guess. BTW the coolest thing I learned this year is to hypnotize. I'm still learning, but I can already induce small relaxation trances. Amazing eh. Milton Erikson, you rock.

This song's for you, Babe.

Christophe

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one more thing

Posted November 18th, 2010 by Christophe Witz

In group settings in the context of psychotherapy that use the attachment theory as a reference frame, it is quite usual to prefer everybody to be safely attached to the source, or the safe place, or mommy. All fine. But guess what, not everybody is born with a safe attachment, not even close, so setting a standard here and condemning or even accusing all deviators feels inapproriate to me.

IOW, the 'lonesome cowboy' archetype is being ridiculed and demonized, calling men of that type emotional cripples and idiots and bringers of evil, not able to engage in meaningful relationships and romantic love business, not worth a dime etc. and so on.

This view IMO is overlooking something: The lonesome cowboy rides into the sundown. Historically, he rides into the West, into the Wilderness, beyond the border of civilzation. In general he had nothing to lose, owned only his clothes and a Smith & Wesson, and usually died in some more or less useful dangerous undertaking. As an effect, the border of civilization moved a little bit more westward, and enabled the families to build new farms and towns and Tea Salons. So all in all the lonesome cowboy is not only the idiot to be chased away, but also the bringer of new teritory. Not only the lost son, but also the sun of the morning.

In the end it all comes down to dignity. Come on, ladies. Just a little bit respect for this men's business would be nice. Thanks.

C.

--

>Five Star General of the Seven Armies, Archon of Atlantis<

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changes

Posted November 19th, 2010 by Ambo Suno

Hi Christophe - glad to hear that you are going through such dynamic changes and that you have been in such a rewarding job/learning experience. I feel a little momentary envy when I first hear a bit of your clinic's work - interesting.

Yes, Erickson rocked. Cool that you are formally learning. One thing I liked about what he did, in my words and if I remember correctly, was often to not worry so much about a trance procedure but that in certain circumstances and with indirectly induced or existing inner states a casual suggestion can penetrate powerfully. It has seemed to me, not at the same scale as he addressed, that a few even off-hand maybe tangential seeming words, ideas, images, metaphors offered with personal salience for the other person, conscious or unconscious, at the right distance from where a person is in a moment can be powerfully perspective-altering and deeply supportive. Well, daahh. Of course. As in everyday life. Yet somewhat rewarding, eh, to feel that maybe vistas opened up now or suspect that a potent seed entered her/his soil for the future. One (and I) can sometimes be deluding oneself of its import, but there it is, eh. With so often non-obvious immediate therapeutic affects require maybe is some faith and maybe just winging it plenty, no? Maybe masters at an approach don't wing it so much - hmm, I don't know.

Even only half empty or half full the glass not infrequently spills. (Damn and smiles.)

IMO, no hurry on Zardoz - he may be changing too and needs the time off. No, I guess not - Zardoz springs eternal.

Perhaps a little envy of you too with your painful and transporting love affair. And also at my age and kosmic addresses the richness sounds almost too much for me to endure. Keep the cheesecake, give me a little wholewheat bread and cheese. But, then ... Good journey to you, Christophe.

I should check out the therapy paper in the update. Ahh, to regress or not to regress, that is the question. I have been much confused by those ideas.

Non-sequitur, I can't imagine now what it would be like to reside in a state/stage where all holds together with dynamic and fulfilling wholeness.

Blessings for us, eh, Christophe.

ambo