Zen and the Heart of Psychotherapy by Robert Rosenbaum PhD 1st Edn

Podstrony

[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
.ServingA minister serves the lord, a son obeys the father.Not obeying is not filial, and not serving is no help.When two arrows strike each other in midair both turn incandescent in the sparks that fly.Still, each travels in the direction it was aimed; each of us is a separate dart with its own agenda.We must pursue our individual courses as minister or lord, parent or child, teacher or student,therapist or client.When the different courses of our lives collide, must one arrow subordinate itsinterests to the others? Or is it possible that, by following its trajectory faithfully, each arrow canserve the other by helping it find its target in itself ?Neither psychotherapy nor Zen practice can be just for ourselves, or our arrows will be onsolo flights and miss each other.At the same time, if our practice is not for ourselves, we stand indanger of feeling subordinated or dominated by others: then we may stop serving and fall intoresentful servility.If we mostly serve ourselves, we may cloak ourselves in a "professional" detachment whichcan become insensitive to the needs of others.If on the other hand we do not watch out for ourown interests, we may feel drained by the importunities of clients who feel needy, or we can feeloverwhelmed by the demands of employers seeking to increase our productivity.Facing a massof fire in our daily work, we stand a risk of burning out rather than being warmed andilluminated by the flames.On spiritual paths, if we mostly serve ourselves we may become securebut arrogant in a narrow faith.If on the other hand we do not pay sufficient attention to ourselves and think spirituality isidentical with self-abnegation, we may fall into a different trap: if we adopt the role of faithfuldevotee without any self-interest, we may avoid making our own personal choices.If we don t dothe necessary hard work to make our individual selves a lamp, this can leave us forever dependenton reflecting others light.In its images of minister and lord, child and parent, the Song of the Jewel Mirror Samadhiraises the question of who we obey and how we serve.We want to know what are the ultimateaims of our endeavor, so that we can tailor our efforts relative to those ends.Therapists in thesedays of managed care are finding the issue particularly confusing since there is considerableconflict about who is our master.Often we feel caught between a client s needs and an insurancecompany s limits; more and more, the marketplace intrudes into the therapeutic setting.Theseeconomic issues make the problem of conflicts of interest in the therapeutic setting very concrete.However, there has always been some friction about whose interests should rule when clientmeets clinician.As therapists, we often prefer to avoid acknowledging that clients needs also serve to advanceprofessional interests.Our clients money provides us a source of income; our clients admirationand gratitude provide us a source of narcissistic gratification; our clients problems provide ustopics for research studies and journal articles to advance our professional prestige.When clientsare seen as patients and research subjects, therapists are usually viewed as experts with privilegedknowledge of what constitutes problems and what qualifies as treatment.Then, as lords of theclinic, we set the times our clients can come, the fees they must pay, and determine thequestionnaires they are supposed to fill out.Of course there has always been a counterweight to this trend, which places clients needsforemost.In client-centered therapy, the client is the source of wisdom, growth, and health; thetherapist exists only to support and follow the client.The problem here is that it is possible tobecome overly concerned with clients individual hurts and needs so that their personal desiresbecome the rulers of the process.This can ignore the legitimate interests of people outside theimmediate therapy who have a relationship with the client (e.g.family members, employers, etc.)or with the therapist (e.g [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

zanotowane.pl

doc.pisz.pl

pdf.pisz.pl

bezglutenowo.pev.pl