Your World as a Stage, Continued

In my last blog posting, I ruminated around the idea that, in actuality, each of us has their own personal World within which they live. As such, that World is thought of as being, the same as everyone else's World. Additionally, it functions as one's reality--what is real and unchanging. A family, or group, can be seen as a collective World.

If, however, an individual begins to question any part of that reality, to that degree that person begins to wake up. What does it mean to, "wake up"? It, in part means to stop holding, (believing in) as irrefutable some aspect of that personal World. As one's personal World has been created through Indoctrination and Programming throughout one's life, such questioning can create a sense of that World crumbling down upon one.

If one, instead, builds a mind set that all of what one believes--one's Belief System--is nothing more than a set-up stage upon which one is an actor acting a given part/role, it then becomes conceivable that one can begin to play another kind of role--change one's life.

Around the middle of the 20th Century it was considered unethical for the same therapist to work with more than one individual in a relationship; to work with an entire family was unheard of. Marriage Counseling was not available; for that you were usually advised to talk to your Pastor or Priest. Family Therapies are an outgrowth of Marriage Counseling.

It was discovered, at some point after family therapy was created, that a child who, "acts out" in a family situation and elsewhere, is actually playing a role. For example, it was found that when such a child was put into therapy to, "fix" him/her, and, if in the course of such therapy the child is able to stop, "acting out" and begins to behave in a more, "normal" fashion that, subsequently, another one of the children began acting badly. In other words, that family matrix required one of the members to, "act out" the dysfunction of the family.

I am, also, put in mind of an article I read some time ago about a school program somewhere which coached young people to take control of their lives by changing their family roles. These were, as are many these days, kids who lived in dysfunctional families. One boy, who, apparently, lived in a very messy household, decided to take it upon himself to clean-up the family's living environment. It was reported that, after a time, the whole family began to participate.

Many individuals are participating in a collective World of one kind or another, (more than the individual self). Whatever role one is playing in one's collective World, that role can frequently be changed by an act of will. (If the relationship involves abuse, however, it is best to arrange outside support before making any such changes.)

As indicated, for some, it may mean leaving that particular collective World entirely. Firstly, one must actively understand that in such a collective World, you are playing a role, (except in rare relationships) regardless. Each person's role is in-tandem to everyone else's role in that collective World. Any change in one person's role will require all other members to adjust their roles accordingly.

One example of a change in collective Worlds, is what has been called the, "empty nest syndrome." A whole collective World changes when there is a change in membership, for whatever reason, as well as when a member changes their role; it is like an earthquake happening. Wikipedia defines, "Empty nest syndrome," as, "a general feeling of loneliness that parents or guardians may feel when one or more of their children leave home...." In actuality, it is far more than that. It is the requirement that the parent(s) must redefine his/her/their role to one degree or another.

A major example of such a role change was when women began to work outside of the home for one reason or another around the middle of the 20th Century. It was a sea-change, or major transformation of society, over the balance of the Century, the ramifications of which are still reverberating throughout Western Society.

By looking at your life as role playing, you may then feel a little more free to decide to make some changes in that role, whatever those changes may entail.

With that, I end this blog.

Shirley Gallup