Brad, So talk to me about it.
Do not assume that your interpretation was my intention. My first life teacher, after leaving the reservation, had a PHD in psycho-somatic medicine, an MA in Shakespeare and literature, was a painter/potter and a keeper of the ancient techniques of Cherokee paintings done on wood, and while in NYCity for her husband's work completed a degree under Paul Tillich in systematic theology. She worked in many academic situations and medical schools and was one of the therapists assigned after the Korean War to work with the returning POWs. Like my piano teacher, she understood that I had no idea what the purpose of a psycho-analysis would be, coming from such a different cultural place. So she taught me as if it was another language. I studied psycho-analysis with her for three years, reading the medical texts as well as many of the writings and exploring in delightful conversations the ins and outs of "off reservation" non-Indian culture. I called it therapy, she called it counseling but either way it was wise and saved my life and college career from my first experience of "culture shock." Many years later when I discovered that she and her family were traditional Cherokees, like me, I realized that she also knew life to be the mastery of systems and that all of life was filled with "facts" and "truths" and that they were both arbitrary but specific to the time and place from which they sprang and that each grew from that "search" that Ed Weick noted in his last post on Herbert Schiller. Facts to her, were "mutual agreements" that changed over time and negotiation. "Truths" on the other hand, were the legs that held a cultural universe together. Like the billions of possibilities in Quantum Universes or the circles on a hishi necklace (a physical metaphor for quantum realities in native thought) "Truths" are universal only to the Universe from which they spring. If you change a "fact," that is evolution. If you change a "Truth", more than slightly, you have changed Universes. Artistry begins in all professions when they accept responsibility as keepers of "Cultural Truth" (NOTE: not ALL Truth.) and when they have the Mastery to change it gradually over time while maintaining the sustainability and stability of their family, community, nation and culture. That, in a very short paragraph was some of what I took away from three years, three days a week, two hours a session with my second Cherokee Teacher after my father. Many years later I was to work, study and be certified by Ilana Rubenfeld, an Israeli Sabra, who was one of the Founders in the Gestalt psycho-physical movement. Ilana was a conductor graduate from Juilliard and was the administrator of the NYCity 92nd Street Y Music School and had the finest choral ensemble in NYCity when she began studying psycho-physical techniques as a result of a back injury. Her inquisitive mind went from Alexander Technique to work with Fritz and Laura Perls, Moshe Feldenkrais until she herself became one of the "stars" in the psycho-physical universe. I bring Ilana into this conversation only to say that she taught me never to assume that I KNEW what anyone else meant by what they said. Gestalt techniques are filled with small succinct formulas and the one for this runs: I heard (read) you say this.................... Was that what you meant? Brad, I would be interested in what you heard (read) and I will tell you whether that was what I meant or not. REH ----- Original Message ----- From: Brad McCormick, Ed.D. <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: Ray Evans Harrell <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Sunday, January 06, 2002 7:38 AM Subject: Re: For Dan George > Received. > > Read. > > Respected. > > Not altogether agreed with. > > Respectfully, > > \brad mccormick
