Ah, okay then.

lol

So I will be more upfront and quickly add my pov. Solely my own!

I really enjoyed your post but disagree with all the parts where you mention the personal success of therapists or other’s imperfections. Fortunately for me, I love disagreement (authentic types of course).

I think my perspective is just very different to your own. I guess I begin with the perception that there is no such thing as perfection. So I imagine that it’s very easy to take two very different paths after that, ay?

I don’t feel that a therapist needs to have their own life in tact to be useful to clients. In fact, out of personal darkness often comes clarity for OTHERS. Now, don’t misunderstand, I go along with the old, ‘physician heal thyself’, but I’m okay if said physician is tending his/her own wounds as s/he listens to mine. A therapist is not a mentor in my eyes. Now a mentor, yes, I’ll prefer she is more successful in her life than I am in mine, otherwise, why the heck am I after a mentor anyway? But I digress….

As someone, ahem, recently said, Jesus walked with the scum. As a non-Christian I really dig this about the guy.
I personally have found much to learn from amongst the ‘worse’ of the imperfects of this world. If nothing else, a reminder that I am no better. That once I begin to differentiate from them because of their imperfections – feeling superior – I am merely confirming my first belief, that I am no better afterall.
If I feel that a group’s energy is not of benefit to me, then that is MY issue. I own it. Many others have found that swimming in the mud is of benefit to them and to others. I saw this a lot on the streets of Sydney, with ’street’ preachers, shelter workers and their ilk.
And try to get a homeless drug-addicted teenager to talk to the squeaky clean therapist and you’ll see them march right out the door. But offer up a tasty ex-addict and middle-of-a-divorce therapist and they drop their defences, enough anyway.

In my family, we have what are known as curanderas, and similar ‘oddballs’. This is a subjective observation, but I feel that if their lives were too perfect, people would be suspicious of them. Or, they would be revered in some way, as people tend to do. Reverence is not a good thing for certain oddballs, it completely changes/lowers your status.

Being down in the trenches with the rest of us gives some healers credibility.

As an empathic person, I see how this colours my bias. A divorced therapist is fine by me when I get around to my own divorce (the latter a joke). I would feel understood. *shrug*

There you go. And if you could send some chocolate my way that would be very much appreciated.

I’m just glad that I know you well enough, I think, to realize that you know blaming someone else won’t really help. That and the little winky face.

The weird thing about this book is that it’s being published by a publisher who (in part) defines itself as secular humanist…so I keep waiting for the other shoe to drop in this book, for the author to proclaim what idiots all these theologians are. But then I see that the author is a professor of scriptural studies at a seminary, so that probably won’t happen

Thanks for the offer of brussels sprouts, but I think I’ll stick to my “The Kids Are In Bed So Now I Can Eat All The Chocolate I Want” evening routine.

I sometimes feel envious that you get to read such interesting books and edit them and get paid for it. I feel sorry for myself then, because I want to be paid to read too. But I’m too lazy to try to do anything about it.

I’m going to find someone to blame about that so I’ll feel better. ;o)

To your points, haha. You made *my* head spin! That’s just how it seems to work in so many churches.

Here’s a wash cloth for your head as you go lie down. I will bring you a nice little bowl of buttered brussels sprouts, too.

Heee heee heee!!!