Form and Content

• Divergence in Gestalt therapy? by Timothy C. McNamara, 3/8/97
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    • From Poetics by J. Richard White, 3/23/97
      
      

Richard,

I'm responding to your quote that "form is never anything more than an extension of content". This stikes me as a peculiar phrase as it gives primacy to that which is called "content". Or from our field theoretical perspective the quote is saying that a figure "form" emerges from ground "content"? What strikes me is that "content" here could be anything.

In considering this I'm reminded of a video of Perls where he said that EVERYTHING IS AWARENESS. He even points to a chair and said the chair is composed of awareness. Now as a reader of Swedenborg, I can accept this perspective of Perls, particularly if I equate Awareness with Swedenborg's concept of Wisdom. For Swedenborg the "content" or substance of the Universe is Love and Wisdom... in short, God.

• Content as Figure by J. Richard White, 4/12/97