Wheatley Dialogue LO10767

Robert Bacal (dbt359@freenet.mb.ca)
Tue, 29 Oct 1996 22:04:43 -0600 (CST)

Replying to LO10756 --

On 29 Oct 1996, Rol Fessenden wrote:

> I heard a Rabbi today say that his job was in many ways similar to that of
> a therapist. Despite the similarities, he said, what he did was
> nevertheless quite different than what a therapist did. So for example,
> if you commit adultery and you want to talk about it, it is the Rabbi's
> job to tell you there are consequences. Impact on children, spouse,
> church and so forth. It is the Rabbi's job to tell you it is wrong. On
> the other hand, the therapist offers understanding. The therapist's job
> is not to tell you it is wrong, but to accept you.

I think this is a good notion of the rabbinical role, but NOT a good
characterization of the therapist's role. The therapist's role is to help
the client achieve certain goals (where they come from is an interesting
tangent), using whatever techniques fit. That can certainly mean being
very harsh or confrontational with clients, or it can mean being very
non-directive a la Rogers. the olre you postulate is common, part of a
dominant paradigm, but certainly there are many many others. Sometimes the
therapist does judge, and some models are not non-judgemental.

> Robert's examples may also fit. As an employee I must take a stand on
> workplace theft, even if I know the thief is only doing it to feed his or
> her family. The thief may also get vastly different judgements from a
> policeman & a social worker.

that is perhaps so, but it bothers me. Given people with shared
principles, and given the same BEHAVIOUR the judgment of that behaviour
should be the same. How it is conveyed, or IF it is conveyed is a
different issue. Theft is theft. The act is wrong, though there may be
extenuating circumstances. Do they make the act less wrong?

> forth. In this case, we may wish to condemn the behavior, but not the
> individual, especially if understanding will help alleviate the root
> causes of the behavior. Therefore, even within ourselves, we may wish to
> play different roles even simultaneously.

Sure, it makes sense...seperate out judgment from judgmental behaviour and
it all fits nice. I have just "judged" your writing ability (just dandy)
but if I had judged it terrible, and wished to help, conveying the
judgment to you would likely not help you, or me do the job of helping you
improve.

> > Does this make sense? > -- >

Robert Bacal - CEO, Institute For Cooperative Communication
Internet Address - dbt359@freenet.mb.ca
Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. (204) 888-9290
Join us at our Resource Centre at: http://www.winnipeg.freenet.mb.ca/~dbt359

-- 

Robert Bacal <dbt359@freenet.mb.ca>

Learning-org -- An Internet Dialog on Learning Organizations For info: <rkarash@karash.com> -or- <http://world.std.com/~lo/>