Gestalt Experience vs Gestalt Theory

• Mission Statement by Brian O'Neill, 10/31/96
  • (...)
    
    • Gestalt techniques vs. Gestalt therapy by John Bush, 11/13/96
      
      

AH! The heat of the hot seat... in cyberspace now. I hope I can contribute to this thread and this forum and not make a fool of myself. AND I feel like bringing this thread to some more basic or root issue.

I recall Fritz Perls' "Awareness is enough" and the Human Potential movement's focus on "experiential" training. My experience of Gestalt was just that.. I was in training (in the early 70s for eight years, seven days a week, 24 hours a day. I don't recall reading any theory or technique until the mid-80s. This is the way my mentors chose to train. I had to "loose my mind to come to my senses."

To the frequent question, "what is Gestalt," I wasn't taught a dogmatic answer. Each occasion and my response was a tough learning experience. Once my answer was "painting this wall is Gestalt" or "cooking vegetables is a Gestalt" or some other form of "I am that I am."

In the late 80s and recently, I have read a great deal of writings of Jung, Carl Rogers, many pioneers of the 60s and 70s, and even more ancient literature from east to west. I began to understand, in an intellectual way, what I think of as roots of Gestalt. Fritz synthesized everything from Zen to Psychodrama. He gathered not only from life but from ancient wisdom. Our pursuit of Gestalt theory, I think comes from our basic life issues: meaning, purpose, and social ethics. It is a way of life for me.

So, I'll say, Gestalt IS about a way of BEING in the world. And Gestalt therapy is a way of BEING with another Being in the world. Gestalt is not theory or techniques!

Theorys and techniques are about understanding and integrating Life's Experience. They are not the experience.

Now, I do love to theorise! Let's have a cup of coffee or tea and talk of many things. How about the changing paradigm of the human experience? How about the Holographic Universe? How about us looking at how we've abused ourselves and each other for 5,000 years?

• To be or not to be....eh? by Gunter O. Swoboda, 11/23/96