Allison writes:
<< But my question is: Phenomenologically, in a methodology that
claims to function apart from transference, what is showing up?
Yes, guys, it¹s transference.
So my second question is: Wouldn¹t it be better to let this excluded
therapeutic forebear into the field and see how it feels?
And would doing that change our way of working? If so, how?
How would owning our own transferential dynamic with Hellinger as
part of our work on self change our relationship to Hellinger and to
the teachings?
How it would it change our relationship to fellow practitioners if we
acknowledged that transferential dynamics occur in this community?>>
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Thomas writes:
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Right on, Allison! Thank you so much for articulating the issue of
transference. D'oh! Of course! Everybody's transferring on to Bert!
Now in physics, we have Newton's 3rd Law of Motion that states "for
every reaction, there is an equal and opposite reaction."
In psychotherapy, isn't the analogue equally true? That "for every
client transference, we have an equal and opposite therapist counter-
transference?"
In fact, isn't it the denial of that omnipresent counter-transference
that has been the reason psychotherapy has not really been able to be
a healing force in our Western culture up to now? Now I really ask
the question: "Quis custodet ipsos custodes?" especially in the
therapist's office!
(I'm reminded of the book from a decade ago by James Hillman &
Michael Ventura called _We've Had a Hundred Years of Psychotherapy
And the World's Getting Worse_
Here's an interesting excerpt & discussion about it
http://www.personal.usyd.edu.au/~apert/hillman.html ;)
So isn't the hidden dynamic here among constellators not ***OUR***
transference dynamics to Bert; but rather ***HIS*** counter-
transference on to all of us?
That's a much more elegant way to express what I was slashing around
for in my previous post. I really don't care about Bert's personal
life, but if his personal life is part and parcel of the very hidden
counter-transference trip he's laying on me, then I have a right to
know about it so that I can become conscious of those hidden dynamics
and become a better facilitator, not to mention a Mensch!
All righty then, has anyone ever dared to put up a constellation with
Bert Hellinger himself represented? Maybe that's how we might
proceed to deal with the transference---counter-transference issue.
Burn me at the stake, Allison! Thank you! Nothing like a juicy taboo
to confront the College of Cardinals with. On with the Inquisition!
And I like my heretics well-done, don't you?
Thomas
