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Here is an article by Flemming Fuench that was posted by Ant on the Ivy mailing
list. you may find it interesting.
Pete
Recursion
Recursive techniques consist of doing or saying the same thing
repeatedly. For example, one can ask the same question over and over. Not
because one doesn't get an answer, but to elicit all possible answers to
the question.
The idea in recursive processes is that repeated viewing of an area will
eventually resolve it. It will break through any social mechanisms and
force one to look at what is actually there.
In processing an area we are working on uncovering the truth about it.
The truth is usually not directly available, particularly not if it is a
loaded area. Layers of untruth, misunderstanding, and so forth are found
around the truth. When asked about the area, one is likely to respond
with one of the many layers around the subject. By repeating the question
loop, one will gradually peel off the layers and be able to see what is
really going on.
Recursive techniques might consist of one direction or question or
several directions or questions. If there are several directions, they
are given sequentially over and over.
Recursive processes can be subjective (introverted) or objective
(extroverted). Subjective processes ask one to examine one's beliefs,
views, feelings etc. Objective processes ask one to examine one's
environment.
Recursion works by exhausting the available responses. By repeatedly
putting attention on a narrow area, one will run out of responses to it.
One will then be forced to look deeper and to deal with it in a new way.
Recursion is one technique that could be administered robotically and
still get results. That is, one could quite easily instruct a green
facilitator to do nothing but asking the same question until a result
appeared. That would not be very smooth or pleasant, but it would to some
degree work, if both the facilitator and client agree to carry it
through.
This is also a technique that can with benefit be done by oneself. It
requires very little thinking to just do the same thing over and over, so
one is not likely to distract oneself by thinking about what to do next.
Meditation is essentially a recursive technique one does by oneself. One
sits down with a simple direction in mind, such as being present, or
paying attention to one's thoughts, or to a particular outcome. Then one
notices the responses that take place. And then one gets back to the
objective again. It is a repetitive loop. Eventually all the responses
will quiet down and one will simply be there, cleanly being aware, with
no more reactions to it. And, in principle, that is the end of the
process. But such a process can be done to various depths, so one could
continue and do it to a deeper level.
In a session recursion is a simple way of covering a certain area. In
itself the repeated questioning will tend to bring different aspects up
for examination. Also it is likely to bring up stuff that is suitable for
other techniques.
If something more heavy duty than just different viewpoints comes to
light, it might be very appropriate to branch off to a technique that
fits it. For example, an unwanted kinesthetic reaction calls for the
Re-Experiencing technique, polarized personality parts calls for Polarity
Integration and, so forth.
After branching off and resolving a specific phenomenon you can probably
go back to the recursive question and continue it. Unless it is clearly
apparent that it has been resolved with the deeper technique we switched
to.
Recursive questions are usually quite general. They don't ask for a
specific answer, but will naturally have many answers to them. They don't
converge on anything in particular, they diverge into many different
viewpoints. All on a certain subject, but we want many different angles
on it. Also, the subject should not be very specific to the client, but
would be worded as a more general phenomenon.
These are some examples of valid questions to use for recursive
questioning:
"Tell me about sex"
"What would be interesting?"
"What have you succeeded at?"
"Think about relationships"
If the client walks in and tells you about a loaded area, you generally
don't have much use for recursive questioning. Unless you absolutely
can't think of anything else to do. It is always safe to repeat questions
like:
"Tell me about ___"
"What have you thought about ___?"
"What has happened concerning ___?"
"What don't you understand about ___?"
but it is much better if you can do more interactive dialoguing or you
isolate a phenomenon that you can use a more comprehensive technique for.
But it is comforting to have a simple technique one can always fall back
on.
Generally, recursive questioning is more in its place as a way of
bringing up material when the client doesn't particularly notice anything
special going on. If the client presents you with a specific complaint or
some specific material, you probably would not think of using recursive
questioning on it.
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from http://worldtrans.org/TP/TP1/TP1-69.HTML
Incidental Flemming uses the word "direction" (paragraph 3 and
a few more times). It brought me up with a start - under I realised he
was using the word with one of its meanings which I rarely think of.
(Ant)
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