One response is to do nothing and let the unhappy individuals figure it out for themselves. If someone dislikes not being quoted, then perhaps they should write something so compelling that no one dare ignore it. Or, maybe it's not that any material lacks salience as much as it lacks attention. One author cannot quote another he or she has not read, and it's hard to read something one cannot understand or has not realized even exists. Getting a book published is only half the battle. One has to translate it. One has to market it and then find a way to get it into the hands of those who are interested. Writers usually lack the kinds of business savvy it takes to accomplish the last two of those processes; writers who are first therapists are in a deeper deficit, and writers who are therapists, who are Gestalt therapists, might as well just whistle against the stark walls of their little gorges and strain for the wonder of their own echoes. That will be one of their few pleasures. Ultimately, no one is responsible to create affirmative action for disgruntled Gestalt writers who have suddenly realized they are alone in their literary canyons and have done nothing to get their works before those preoccupied with the echoes in other ravines.

Another response might be to wonder about the processes of the publishing system in our global Gestalt community. We are in a "both-and world." While some in the early days of the internet predicted that hard copy publishing would give way to electronic formats, what is emerging is more a synthesis of the two in which a symbiosis takes each to places neither would have imagined. That means that fixed gestalts about the way books should be published, marketed, and distributed change as well. We see this in the business plan behind such entities as Amazon.com or Barnes and Noble. One of the largest brick-and-mortar bookstores in the world, Powell's Books of Portland, Oregon, has gone on-line with a wonderful web-site; it provides a formidable model for the future. In this same way, perhaps it is time for the individual Gestalt publishing establishments in various geo-cultural areas to look toward a symbiosis of their own. Such a both-and solution might result in the relaxation of proprietary restrictions in favor of collaboration. Creative bundling of media could extend the selection of means by which any given audience might be influenced by Gestalt therapy. A deliberate effort might be made to translate selected works so that one geo-cultural group might experience the perspective of another. Access to the training in one area might be made available in new formats to the trainees in another.

There is much more to the story of Gestalt therapy worldwide than the American market might be aware, and some kind of publishing response does seem in order. A start in this direction has already been undertaken by the people associated with Gestalt! in the formation of collaborative agreements with hard copy, geo-cultural Gestalt journals (see introduction). Even though we understand that we cannot caretake other writers, we are diminished by their anonymity. In each place the flavor of Gestalt therapy is seasoned by the culture, the history, the economic opportunities, and the overall values of the therapists who live there. Gestalt therapy in Australia is not radically different from Gestalt therapy in Italy or Germany, but it is different. The practice of Gestalt therapy in Brazil, Argentina, or Uruguay is not radically different from the practice in the United States, but it is different. On the other hand, the Gestalt therapy in America, circa 2000, is very different from what it was circa 1967, and there are bits and pieces of the evolution of Gestalt therapy here and there all around the world. We are not only every place we've been, but also every time of being. To split off any moment or place is to disown elements of ourselves as a global Gestalt field. We cannot do that. We may not like the fact that some of us are still living in Nimbin, but that's the way it is, and whatever mechanism is used to disseminate Gestalt therapy needs to encompass the whole of it.

We are in the the early stages of a publishing revolution. That is not something unique to Gestalt therapy. We are being swept along by the same forces in the world at large that also shape other professions. In 1998 I wrote, "One may be acted upon by forces in the boundary that have no conscious corollary, yet that considerably effect an individual, or one may perceive the impact of a significant schema or the pull of a desperate need in one's organization of the boundary and be moved from within. Both constitute force." (Brownell, 1998) The force of field dynamics drives change. Some people are internally motivated and have a sense of direction about all this, while others are trying to keep up. Whether of one type or the other, we're all part of the same revolution, and it's resulting in new kinds of publishing. For instance, Bob Costas, an American sports announcer and analyst, is currently pushing the second book in a series of two featuring great moments in sports history. The first book appeared in 1999 (Garner, Costas, and Gretzky) and was so popular publishers have followed with another in 2000 (Garner, Costas, and Foreman). These books come with CD-ROMs in which Costas narrates and actual media coverage of the events is includes. This multi-media mixing and matching increasingly involves the reader as an active participant with authors, publishers, and other professionals and breaks down the gulf that has existed between active creator and passive consumer. The roles of the artist, work of art, and observer of artistic accomplishment are not so clearly bounded anymore. The publishing revolution is moving toward increasing interactivity, and if we imagine, as Gesaltists comfortable in an experiential mode, what might be possible, we could appropriate the benefits of this revolution, perhaps even contribute significantly to it, and expand our own horizons to include the perspectives across geo-cultural positions while we are at it.

Whether or not that will result in more quoting of non-English speaking resources in forthcoming American literature, who knows. Who knows what people will do? Maybe it is more important to make the Gestalt literature compelling to the non-Gestalt audience in each seperate geo-cultural area than it is to connect the dots between the Gestalt communities around the world. Perhaps, even when we are all holding hands and appreciating one another for our Gestalt beauty, we will only still be a very small series of canyons in the larger system. The character of the response depends on one's belief about the problem.

Resources

Brownell, P. (1998) Condensing the field: Internet communication and Gestalt community. Gestalt Review 2(2), p. 143-53.

Garner, J., Costas, B., and Gretzky, W. (1999) And the crowd goes wild : Relive the most celebrated sporting events ever broadcast. (ISBN: 1570714606)

Garner, J., Costas, B., and Foreman, G. (2000) And the fans roared : The sports broadcasts that kept us on the edge of our seats. (ISBN: 1570715823)