First, what is "spirituality?" As I recently wrote in a letter to the British Gestalt Journal [2001,Vol 10,#1, pp 43-44], it is defined [at least in my dictionary, Funk & Wagnall,1969] as either: 1)spirit as opposed to matter; 2) the immaterial nature or soul of man [and I suppose woman]; 3)pertaining to God; 4) sacred or religious; 5) characterized by highest moral or intellectual qualities.

Only the last definition can be of any interest to a therapist who is concerned with the obvious, as I presume [and hope] most Gestalt therapists are. Incorporating "spirit," "soul," "God," sacredness or religion into Gestalt Therapy can only serve to blur our theory and inapproriately direct our practice [since our theory directs us to pay attention to what is, and not to myths, stories and wishy-washy concepts, which all of the above are].

I can manage to live with the notion of high intellectual or moral values provided we operationally define them and understand that even here there are "different strokes for different folks." For instance revenging one's-self through violence when a family member has been "insulted" may be viewed as admirable loyalty by my New Jersey neighbors, "The Sopranos," whereas I might view it as despicable narcissism or the result of rigid introjection. In any case, at least there is some possibility of defining what we are talking about in behavioral and theoretical terms. But to promote, suggest, introduce or influence clients to find their "spiritual selves" weakens and waters down our down-to-earth approach. For example [and again quoting from my letter to the BGJ], Ruth Wolfert, in a chapter in our recent book of case studies [Feder & Ronall,1996], talks of telling a client who suffered severe early traumas that she"must focus on the ultimate questions about the nature of reality and herself in order to heal her breached grounds of safety and find new connections to the universe." Talk about introjects! Give me a break!

None of the above means that I suggest getting into debates with clients who harbor "spiritual" notions. On the contrary, if present, I suggest working with those beliefs. I have a client, for instance, who was raised in a very constricted Catholic environment. Although she no longer practices that religion, she still has one residual belief, that "God" will punish her for certain aggressive and sexual thoughts [as a teenage girl she went through a year or two of very painful misery because she "unscrupulously" had sexual feelings, impulses and fantasies. I accept this is her belief and I work with it, such as asking her to dialogue with her "God", or examine her purpose[s] in turning away from those difficult feelings, or to notice what she feels bodily or emotionally when she is in "contact" with her "God," etc

In short, our profound theory gives us all the tools we need to help clients deal with the mysteries and ambiguities of life without resorting to vague ideas and concepts which do not harmonize with our own basic ones.

Call for Papers for Gestalt!:

We are always looking for good writing, interesting developments to share with the Global Gestalt community, and ways of sharing the wealth of Gestalt therapy with a wider audience. If you have an idea for an article, a piece of news, or if you have a bug in your bonnet and need to unload with a letter to the editor, please contact Philip Brownell, Sr. Editor, to discuss it (phil@g-gej.org).

Authors will find useful information at the Masthead for the journal, located at http://www.g-gej.org/masthead.