Embodied Democracy
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.65828/7r7cqz12Keywords:
Focusing, Gendlin, Experiential-Existential Therapy, Embodied Democracy, Implicit Experience, Focusing-oriented Therapy, Activism.Abstract
This report evolved from contributions to the 2015 Society for Existential Analysis conference in London. I briefly describe opening the conference with a guided Focusing session since this practice is fundamental to my report on the other contribution, a Panel Discussion entitled 'Being at the Heart of Activism'. What follows is an account of my own interests in this area as an existential psychologist and Focusing therapist. I present Focusing as a source of democratic process that forms an experiential continuity from 'within' each person 'outwards' to interpersonal and community situations. For this publication I have incorporated some references to Eugene Gendlin's (1987) A philosophical critique of the concept of narcissism. Keeping with the ethos of the approach described below, this report is presented in first-person language to make it as direct and accessible as possible.
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References
Gendlin, E. T. (1981). Focusing. New York: Bantam Books.
Gendlin, E.T. (1987). A philosophical critique of the concept of narcissism: the significance of the awareness movement. In D.M. Levin (ed), Pathologies of the Modern Self. Postmodern studies on narcissism, schizophrenia, and depression. New York: New York University Press. retrieved from http://www.focusing.org/gendlin/docs/gol_2158.html (May 10, 2016)
Gendlin, E.T. (1990). The small steps of the therapy process: How they come and how to help them come. In Lietaer, G. Rombauts, J. & Van Balen, R. (eds), Client-Centered and Experiential Psychotherapy in the Nineties. Leuven: Leuven University Press. From http://www.focusing.org/gendlin/docs/gol_2110.html.
Gendlin, E.T. (1997). A Process Model. New York: The Focusing Institute. A corrected version (2001) is available http://www.focusing.org/process.html. DOI: https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctv47w48p
Madison, G. and Gendlin, E. (2011). 'Palpable Existentialism: An Interview with Eugene Gendlin.' In Existential Therapy. Barnett, L. & Madison, G. (eds). London: Routledge. DOI: https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203147658
