The previous post largely posited the problematic side of uncertainty.
However, a major up-side of uncertainty spreading through society has been that creativity became available to the general public.
The old certainty that only educated or well-connected people could be creative was shattered.
Like many aspects of humanity, creativity was once thought to be confined to brilliant minds, prodigies, and highly intelligent or highly educated people.
When mass communication (first radio, and then TV, and now the Internet) came along, the democratisation they offered opened up opportunities for people who never had such opportunities before. Creative individuals whose recognition would never have spread beyond their own village now had the possibility of becoming world famous.
Relevant to the subject of this website, person centred therapy (and the human potential movement) is the embodiment of the principle of uncertainty in emotional healing, which is fundamentally different to the traditional medical model that assumes that someone is a closed system, not an open, living, emerging, autonomous being.
Consider the practitioner’s implication that is at the heart of person centred therapy, that is, ‘you know better than me what’s best for you’.
What can be more uncertain?
What can introduce more complexity into the relationship?
What can be more challenging both for the person in distress and the practitioner?
Even to consider vulnerability (and fragility) as capacities that can be creatively tapped into rather than undesirable qualities thought to be weaknesses is to challenge the traditional meaning of such terms.
Person centred work also implies the democratisation of creativity in healing of distress, i.e. of the psyche. This is particularly evident in the research (readily available) which shows how little our qualifications matter in respect of easing distress – and how important relationship is.
While we would love to be absolutely certain that our distress will be eased, we intuitively know that it is our responsibility, and no matter how many external, professional experts we go to for help, the ultimate decisions in respect of healing are our own.