The Compleat Psychotherapist
John L. Waters
November 08, 2005
Abigail sits back in her soft chair and listens to me talk. Her large wall clock ticks along with my tick tock tick tock tick tock writer's monologue. One session is quite like another session, Mary Poppins-like, and a spoonful of sugar makes the good nanny's medicine go down in a most delightful way. Only Abigail's spoonfuls of sugar are cupfuls of liberally sweetened cocoa, and many of her clients are up into their sixties or seventies.
Abigail's simply an unassuming and non-intimidating psychotherapist. After I ask her to tell me her secret, her words ooze like golden honey from a provident worker bees' tongue. Although Abigail holds a PhD in psychology, this fact never goes to her head. She says,
"Without denying my own perceptions, I invite and respect the other's. I may learn more when the other differs from me, because the disparity invites exploration of my own history and perceptions."
Wow! Talk about saccharine Words from a supreme Master! Buddha never coulda said it better.
Abigail secures her solid track to truth by driving in another golden spike. Soon many a mighty engine will move along this railroad. She continues,
"I suspend my own place in the world and welcome in the other's way of being.---not losing myself--- being beside and with the other."
With its blazing lantern of a third eye, the legendary Locomotive God comes rollin' through goin' clackety clack clackety clack WOOO WOOOOOOOOOO!
All hype aside, and canning the puerile humor, one can't help but realize that Abigail's practical attitude is needed in every village and town not only in my town but in other places as well, places where today the leaders are intent on imposing their "one true belief" on others. Indeed, in an age without bullets and bombs the very attitude humanity needs is being presented right here and now to me by Abigail in her tiny downtown office!
Allow me to trumpet this message out for more and more persons to hear!
Note that this message isn't a revelation to me from God. This message is a revelation to you directly from Abigail. As an interviewer, writer, and teacher, I am simply the channel pipe, the conduit tube through which Abigail's message flows directly to you. A mighty breath of life blows me hard and I trumpet out these words.
Abigail had quite a lot of training before she became a professional psychotherapist. She also had a couple of children, and after they were older, she taught for several years in a preschool. Indeed, Abigail has many stories to tell about her parenting experiences and her experiences as a preschool teacher!
One story is about the boy whose rage was uncontrollable until the teacher placed him in front of a large easel and gave him a bucket of red paint and a large brush. Art then worked a divine magic on this boy and cast the rage-demon out of him. He splattered paint wildly across the white surface.
Abigail tells of how the boy's seemingly intractable rage suddenly disappeared as he took an interest in the paint dribbling down the white canvas. The natural movements of the glistening red fluid intrigued him so. Art and science suddenly had become one, and taken the boy's attention far away from his own intense self-centeredness and rage.
This, of course, is the one and only universal peace message and the cure for generations of intractable war-mongering hatred and rage:
"Without denying my own perceptions, I invite and respect the other's. I may learn more when the other differs from me, because the disparity invites exploration of my own history and perceptions."
The angry boy had expressed his rage by splattering red paint across the blank face of the empty page. Physics had answered him with subtle movements. Taken aback, the boy had quite suddenly become curious and responsive. In studying Nature's answer, the boy had forgotten all about himself and his rage. The little man just stood there, with his teacher looking on in amazement.
Nature herself sometimes splashes the whole landscape with a spectacle of destruction, so that the conflict-ridden people all stand back in awe at Nature's power, and the people forget their rage and destructiveness. During the crisis, former enemies make up and cooperate! It is exactly the same messianic message presented on a grander scale. Formerly destructive people become converted by the messianic message into peaceable cooperative individuals! It was the same with this raging boy. His brain activity was dramatically altered! So can't we apply Abigail's maxim and "learn more when the other differs from [us], because the disparity invites exploration of [our] own history and perceptions."
Applying Abigail's maxim, we can watch the movie "The Diary of Anne Frank" and see if we can find the messianic teaching being applied in Amsterdam during those difficult times. We can devote ourselves to this psychotherapeutic study.
We can also search through old prophecies about the coming of the actual peacemaker-Messiah, and see if anywhere the messianic prophet was as clear as the psychotherapist Abigail. We can apply Abigail's maxim and invite other persons, not necessarily Jews, to repeat this same exercise. Notice that to complete this exercise we do not need to worry too much about the Jewish idea of God, or any idea of God for that matter.
Many an angry boy or girl finds a distraction away from rage, and becomes a devoted student of numbers, or plants, or some other activity that ultimately leads each devoted follower into a lifelong endeavor. The happy child, on the other hand, may not require such a focus. The happy child just goes along and has a good time. Joan of Arc was such a happy child, up to a certain point. Then rage consumed her both to madness and to fame. This led eventually to Joan's total consumption by fire. All humanity is likely to follow Joan, unless Abigail's teaching is taken seriously.
As the angelic messenger of Abigail, I trumpet the messianic message without letup, like her wall clock ticking along with my tick tock tick tock tick tock writer's monologue. Note that only some people say that I am cuckoo. I note in passing that Abigail doesn't ever call the authorities and have me committed.
Copyright 2005 by John L. Waters. All Rights Reserved
LINKS
My website at Humboldt State University
My search for a publisher
My letters of recommendation
Abigail's simply an unassuming and non-intimidating psychotherapist. After I ask her to tell me her secret, her words ooze like golden honey from a provident worker bees' tongue. Although Abigail holds a PhD in psychology, this fact never goes to her head. She says,
"Without denying my own perceptions, I invite and respect the other's. I may learn more when the other differs from me, because the disparity invites exploration of my own history and perceptions."
Wow! Talk about saccharine Words from a supreme Master! Buddha never coulda said it better.
Abigail secures her solid track to truth by driving in another golden spike. Soon many a mighty engine will move along this railroad. She continues,
"I suspend my own place in the world and welcome in the other's way of being.---not losing myself--- being beside and with the other."
With its blazing lantern of a third eye, the legendary Locomotive God comes rollin' through goin' clackety clack clackety clack WOOO WOOOOOOOOOO!
All hype aside, and canning the puerile humor, one can't help but realize that Abigail's practical attitude is needed in every village and town not only in my town but in other places as well, places where today the leaders are intent on imposing their "one true belief" on others. Indeed, in an age without bullets and bombs the very attitude humanity needs is being presented right here and now to me by Abigail in her tiny downtown office!
Allow me to trumpet this message out for more and more persons to hear!
Note that this message isn't a revelation to me from God. This message is a revelation to you directly from Abigail. As an interviewer, writer, and teacher, I am simply the channel pipe, the conduit tube through which Abigail's message flows directly to you. A mighty breath of life blows me hard and I trumpet out these words.
Abigail had quite a lot of training before she became a professional psychotherapist. She also had a couple of children, and after they were older, she taught for several years in a preschool. Indeed, Abigail has many stories to tell about her parenting experiences and her experiences as a preschool teacher!
One story is about the boy whose rage was uncontrollable until the teacher placed him in front of a large easel and gave him a bucket of red paint and a large brush. Art then worked a divine magic on this boy and cast the rage-demon out of him. He splattered paint wildly across the white surface.
Abigail tells of how the boy's seemingly intractable rage suddenly disappeared as he took an interest in the paint dribbling down the white canvas. The natural movements of the glistening red fluid intrigued him so. Art and science suddenly had become one, and taken the boy's attention far away from his own intense self-centeredness and rage.
This, of course, is the one and only universal peace message and the cure for generations of intractable war-mongering hatred and rage:
"Without denying my own perceptions, I invite and respect the other's. I may learn more when the other differs from me, because the disparity invites exploration of my own history and perceptions."
The angry boy had expressed his rage by splattering red paint across the blank face of the empty page. Physics had answered him with subtle movements. Taken aback, the boy had quite suddenly become curious and responsive. In studying Nature's answer, the boy had forgotten all about himself and his rage. The little man just stood there, with his teacher looking on in amazement.
Nature herself sometimes splashes the whole landscape with a spectacle of destruction, so that the conflict-ridden people all stand back in awe at Nature's power, and the people forget their rage and destructiveness. During the crisis, former enemies make up and cooperate! It is exactly the same messianic message presented on a grander scale. Formerly destructive people become converted by the messianic message into peaceable cooperative individuals! It was the same with this raging boy. His brain activity was dramatically altered! So can't we apply Abigail's maxim and "learn more when the other differs from [us], because the disparity invites exploration of [our] own history and perceptions."
Applying Abigail's maxim, we can watch the movie "The Diary of Anne Frank" and see if we can find the messianic teaching being applied in Amsterdam during those difficult times. We can devote ourselves to this psychotherapeutic study.
We can also search through old prophecies about the coming of the actual peacemaker-Messiah, and see if anywhere the messianic prophet was as clear as the psychotherapist Abigail. We can apply Abigail's maxim and invite other persons, not necessarily Jews, to repeat this same exercise. Notice that to complete this exercise we do not need to worry too much about the Jewish idea of God, or any idea of God for that matter.
Many an angry boy or girl finds a distraction away from rage, and becomes a devoted student of numbers, or plants, or some other activity that ultimately leads each devoted follower into a lifelong endeavor. The happy child, on the other hand, may not require such a focus. The happy child just goes along and has a good time. Joan of Arc was such a happy child, up to a certain point. Then rage consumed her both to madness and to fame. This led eventually to Joan's total consumption by fire. All humanity is likely to follow Joan, unless Abigail's teaching is taken seriously.
As the angelic messenger of Abigail, I trumpet the messianic message without letup, like her wall clock ticking along with my tick tock tick tock tick tock writer's monologue. Note that only some people say that I am cuckoo. I note in passing that Abigail doesn't ever call the authorities and have me committed.
Copyright 2005 by John L. Waters. All Rights Reserved
LINKS
My website at Humboldt State University
My search for a publisher
My letters of recommendation
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