Friday Lunchtime Reading Group

1st Friday of the month, 3 March 2017 from 12.45 - 1.45 p.m

SPONTANEITY AND THE TRUMP FACTOR: A ROLE TEST FOR THE WORLD

"This is the way the world starts

This is the way the world starts

This is the way the world starts,

Not with a whimper, but with a bang."

Dr J. L Moreno, revised T. S. Eliot's poem for the occasion of the world's starting, rather than its ending. Psychodrama, Second Volume, Foundations of Psychotherapy. p.228. J. L. Moreno in Collaboration with Z. T. Moreno. 1959. New York: Beacon House.

Moreno, in Who Shall Survive?

"The universe is infinite creativity. But what is spontaneity? Is it a kind of energy? If it is energy it is unconservable, if the meaning of spontaneity should be kept consistent. We must, therefore, differentiate between two varieties of energy, conservable and unconservable energy. There is an energy which is conservable in the form of "cultural" conserves, which can be saved up, which can be spent at will in selected parts and used at different points in time ; it is like a robot at the disposal of its owner. There is another form of energy which emerges and which is spent in a moment, which must emerge to be spent and which must be spent to make place for emergence, like the life of some animals which are born and die in the love-act.

It is a truism to say that the universe cannot exist without physical and mental energy which can be preserved. But it is more important to realize that without the other kind of energy, the unconservable one-or spontaneity-the creativity of the universe could not start and could not run, it would come to a standstill.

There is apparently little spontaneity in the universe, or, at least, if there is any abundance of it only a small particle is available to man, hardly enough to keep him surviving. In the past he has done everything to discourage its development . He could not rely upon the instability and insecurity of the moment, with an organism which was not ready to deal with it adequately; he encouraged the development of devices as intelligence, memory, social and cultural conserves, which would give him the needed support with the result that he gradually became the slave of his own crutches. If there is a neurological localization of the spon- taneity-creativity process it is the least developed function of man's nervous system. The difficulty is that one cannot store spontaneity, one either is spontaneous at a given moment or one is not. If spontaneity is such an important factor for man's world why is it so little developed? The answer is: man fears spontaneity, just like his ancestor in the jungle feared fire; he feared fire until he learned how to make it. Man will fear spontaneity until he will learn how to train it.

When the nineteenth century came to an end and the final accounting was made, what emerged as its greatest contribution to the mental and social sciences was to many minds the idea of the unconscious and its cathexes. When the twentieth century will close its doors that which I believe will come out as the greatest achievement is the idea of spontaneity and creativity, and the significant, indelible link between them. It may be said that the efforts of the two centuries complement one another. If the nineteenth century looked for its "lowest" common denominator of mankind, the unconscious, the twentieth century discovered, or rediscovered its "highest" common denominator - spontaneity and creativity.

The Doctrine of Spontaneity in WSS? p.p.47-48.

“The oldest and strongest emotion of mankind is fear, and the oldest and strongest kind of fear is fear of the unknown”― H.P. Lovecraft, Supernatural Horror in Literature

The Lunchtime Reading Groups

First Friday of the month from 12.45 to 1.45 p.m

This group is designed to suit those with an hour to spare at lunchtime. Budding writers, trainees and practitioners are welcome! We will discuss psychodrama works; DVD’s and literature and other related material. A moderator who will send the material, or give it out at the previous meeting for reading or viewing, will lead the discussion.

On Friday March 3, 2017 Sue Daniel is reading her new brief essay, "Spontaneity and the Trump factor", in light of Dr J. L. Moreno's twin canon of Spontaneity and Creativity.

Dates: 3 March, 7 April, 5 May, 2 Jun, 7 Jul, 4 Aug, 1 Sep, 6 Oct. & 3 November 2017.

Fee: $10.00 per session includes freshly brewed coffee and selection of teas and goes towards building up the PIM and MPS library. BYO lunch.

Text or email for enquiries or material:

RSVP to Sue Daniel by Thursday 2 March 2017: 0417 586 791