2. Caring for our societies and communities Gabe Phillips
Every Story is Us
Caring for our societies and communities
Gabe Phillips

3. Overview of Presentation
The idea of community I am referring to is plural and includes all societies and their constituent communities. My focus is mostly global even though at times I will refer specifically to the GANZ community gathered here.
Firstly, I will share an idea about the nature of our contemporary psychological distress. And illustrate how this distress is mirrored in our societies and communities.
I will suggest that our familiar way of managing distress and difference has become the problem. Following from this I will offer a new way forward.
Finally, I will overlay gestalt with the concerns of our time and see what it can offer. And to wrap up I will offer three suggestions for how we can care for our GANZ community.

4. Symptoms of the new Psycho-Social Madness
Actions done to the body
Performative enactments
Lacking complexity in meaning making
Disconnection from personal history
Distrust of relationships

5. Excluding and Including Mindsets A Psycho-Social Political View

6. Views of Reality: Duality
1st Turning GT
Particulars are separate and unrelated
The whole is greater than the sum of the parts
Hierarchical view
one ultimate
Supports
fundamentalism and encourages practices of exclusion
Realises the psychological dimension – ego development
Care is individualised, transactional and scarce

7. Views of Reality: Non-Duality
1st Turning GT
NON-DUALITY
2nd Turning GT
Particulars are separate and unrelated
Particulars are one and connected
The whole is greater than the sum of the parts
The whole and the parts are one
Hierarchical view
one ultimate
an ultimate
Supports
fundamentalism and encourages practices of exclusion
Supports unity (sameness) and encourages connectedness
Realises the psychological dimension – ego development
Realises the boundless dimension – unity and oneness
Care is individualised, transactional and scarce
Care is personal, expressive and infinite

8. Care as Unity and Inseparability

9. Views of Reality: Totality
DUALITY
1st Turning GT
NON-DUALITY
2nd Turning GT
VIEW of TOTALITY
3rd Turning GT
Particulars are separate and unrelated
Particulars are one and connected
Particulars are different and one
The whole is greater than the sum of the parts
The whole and the parts are one
The whole is each part and each part is the whole
Hierarchical view
one ultimate
an ultimate
Non-hierarchical view
no ultimate
Supports
fundamentalism and encourages practices of exclusion
Supports unity (sameness) and encourages connectedness
Supports irreducible difference and encourages practices of inclusion
Realises the psychological dimension – ego development
Realises the boundless dimension – unity and oneness
Realises freedom - equalness and completeness
Care is individualised, transactional and scarce
Care is personal, expressive and infinite
Care is space and multifaceted presence

10. Qualities of Care as Presence
SPACIOUSNESSLOVENOURISHMENTACCEPTANCEVALUE CLARITYINTUITIONABSORPTIONALIVENESSTRUTHAUTH ENTICITYPLEASUREINTELLIGENCEIMPECCABILITYPURIT YFULFILLMENTCONTENTMENTSATISFACTIONSWEETNES SWARMTHSYNTHESISFRIENDLINESSEMPATHYCLARITYKI NDNESSDISCERNMENTDISCRIMINATIONSTEADFASTNES SCOMMITMENTPERSONALNESSHUMANNESSCONTACTG ENTLENESSSUBTLETYOPENNESSREFINEMENTHAPPINE SSENJOYMENTEXQUISITENESSCURIOSITYBALANCECOU RAGEJUSTICEGENEROSITYDETACHMENTOBJECTIVITYEX PANSIONPRECISIONEXISTENCECAPACITYDEPTHINDIVID UATIONPASSIONIDENTITYENERGETICATTUNEDBOLDVU LNERNABILITYGRATITUDEPOWER

11. Gestalt Origin Stories: Remembering
Close your eyes, take a breath and reminisce with yourself about your Gestalt Origin Stories
What experiences enduringly touched your heart in any of the following situations:
Your therapy experience with your Gestalt therapist
Your training experience with your Gestalt teachers
Your therapist/practitioner experience with your clients

12. Expressions of Distress and Needed Experiences of Care
Actions done to the body Performative enactments Lacking complexity in meaning making Disconnection from personal history Distrust of relationships
Embodiment Awareness and inquiry Holism and inclusiveness Context and perspective Relationality, contact and dialogue

13. Features of Attuned Attending
It privileges aware embodiment that is holistic and inclusive of all emergent experience.
It encourages understanding that is inseparable from its context and perspective.
It expresses relationality with an emphasis on contact, presence and dialogue.

14. A Twofold Challenge
We must vacate the comfortable armchair of our traditional ways of practicing, and we must vacate the comfortable armchair of our conventional ways of perceiving.
Bring the view of totality into the foreground and support its realisation personally and its expression communally.

15. Challenge 1: Learning for T0morrow
We must develop a new curriculum for our young people and for gestalt therapists. It’s time to establish a dynamic, unfolding curriculum focussed on emotional intelligence, relationship and the intersubjective arts.

16. Challenge 2: Stay Engaged, Reach Out
We must not GEXIT! It’s time for outreach within our own gestalt counselling, psychotherapy and other practitioner communities, and beyond.

17. Challenge 3: Create Learning C0mmunities
We must not vacate the field as training providers. It’s time to redouble our passion and commitment to training and mentoring the next generation of gestalt therapists and tribal leaders.