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Focusing Roundtable - Focusing on Politics, Part 3: Changing the Influence of Society’s Political Codes - Hosted by Dave Young and Gisela Uhl
Thursday, April 15, 2021 from 1:00-3:00 pm EDT (New York - US)
Times worldwide: convert to your time zone
Thank you for participating in the Focusing Roundtables entitled “Focusing on Politics Part 1: Focusing Needs a Structural Political Consciousness” and “Focusing on Politics Part 2: Focusing & Structural Oppression”. We invite you to continue your explorations of this important and timely topic by attending Part 3 of this Roundtable series which will focus on “Changing the Influence of Society’s Political Codes”.
Much of our out-of-awareness thinking and acting is shaped by society’s widespread “political codes” such as, “It’s OK for men to interrupt women when speaking” and “men shouldn’t feel, just act”. These codes are usually taught and maintained by example. And to challenge these political codes is to invite ridicule, as if something is wrong with you, individually. They are internalized controls which function to keep oppression in place.
Gene was concerned about the difficulties and dangers of ignoring these Political Codes. He wrote:
[L]et us bring home to ourselves the real problem of unconscious programming. Let us grant how deeply programmed our bodies really are. However concerned we are with social change, we might create conformity if we are not aware of being programmed. Gendlin, “Philosophical Critique of the Concept of Narcissism”, 1987, p. 5.
And Gene painfully realized that Focusing alone won’t always safeguard us from these effects of political codes. After giving several examples from therapy, he wrote:
We have seen that process-steps can sometimes exceed internalized control.... But focusing steps do not always exceed all internalized controls.... That leads us to formulate the following question: When do these process-steps change the internalized controls, rather than being dictated by the controls? This question takes us to the heart of the political problem…. Gendlin, “Philosophical Critique of the Concept of Narcissism”, 1987, pp. 36-37
In this Roundtable, we will explore:
- What factors determine the direction of change?
- Does social programming change Focusing results, or do Focusing results change social programming?
- Who benefits when we understand these political codes as merely our own inner psychology?
- What happens when we move from the ‘merely inner’ psychology of self to a self-understanding within the larger system”. (By the larger system here, Gene means the socioeconomic political system. )
Registration Details
Registration Closes: Thursday, April 15 at 9:00 am, or when the class is full, whichever is sooner.
Zoom: We use Zoom for all of our online offerings. Please attend by computer so that we can have your video presence as well as your audio. Calling in by phone is also possible but not preferred.
Price: The co-hosts are volunteering their time in order that this program may be brought to members of TIFI at no charge.
PLEASE NOTE: When you register, if your dues are current, your registration is confirmed. If your dues are not current or or if you are not yet a member, please go to the membership page to pay your dues or join and then return to this page to register. Membership page: http://focusing.org/membership. Because this is a members only program, your spot in the Roundtable is not held until your dues are paid. Thank you!