Thanks for your comment. You raise the interesting issue of authority.

I do think these organisations exist for the sake of authority. This is the other side of the argument that the members are trustworthy (because they are members). They also usually control the way that dissent and disagreement is expressed (eg. no criticism of others in the same profession).

I think I’m pretty much an outsider too.

Thanks for your comment, you raise very important issues.

Evan’s last blog post..What Do You Say?

Thanks for your comment. Professionalism seems to me dedicated to getting people to behave in accord with those external motivators. That is why it exists.

Thanks for your comment.

Evan’s last blog post..What Do You Say?

Wonderfully astute statement !

My experience with professionalism is that of a committed “outsider”.

I’ve been a professional astrologer and Tarot/I Ching practitioner for over 40 years.

I brushed up against the prevailing professional organizations many years ago and was repelled by the tenets and dogma of the members.

Most people don’t understand or actively ignore the psychological nature of the work I do. They (and their ego-structures) would much rather be “authorities” who predict good/bad for their clients–despicable behavior !

~ Alex from Our Evolution

Alexander M Zoltai’s last blog post..Path Toward Peace – Step Seven

for me professionalisation is a problem when we start acting according to those external conditions and our motivation subtly changes…

re organisation. The form of an organisation doesn’t reduce to its members. There are rules and obligations involved with any form. My case is that the professional form impedes healing. As to changing them it is usually necessary to be both inside and outside what you are wishing to change – if you are inside you get co-opted if outside you have no authority. That is you would need another organisation with something the professional associations wanted (eg. members, credibility etc).

As to education. The cognitive assumptions which academia is based on are largely insane in my view. The ‘education’ that occurs at conferences is largely in the academic mold. There are of course excellent exceptions eg. the kind of mass workshop you spoke of. My own commitment is to wholism the academic assumptions and practice are inconsistent with this. This is why I say the education is dreadful. If continuint education is so great people will turn up to it voluntarily – they won’t need to be compelled by requirements. There is an easy way to find out how worthwhile the continuing education is: stop compelling peoples’ attendance.

My experiences of conferences is that they are a great opportunity to talk and meet. Apart from this they are like supermarkets: people passively consume information told to them by others.

I take it that a major difference has been made to your practice once (and that this was a different kind of conference). Do we agree the others were largely a waste of time? (in terms of their professed purpose)

I agree wholeheartedly that discussion on the business side of therapy would be great. Especially in breaking down the guru status of therapist. This would be excellent I think (beneficial to all involved).

Evan’s last blog post..What Do You Say?

my point regarding professionals and professionalism is that the two are related.

when i was a teenager, everyone (including me) would talk about how bad “the system” was. “the system”, like “the government” and, yes, “professional organizations” don’t all of a sudden spring up out of thin air. they are made up of people with flesh and blood.

the upshot for me personally is that i can only complain so much about professional organizations – if i REALLY don’t like how they operate, i need to at least try and get involved. hence my talk about democracy.

you say, “I do think that healers should say up-front that ‘my income, lifestyle and vocation sometimes take priority over my client’s needs’. This is what taking out insurance effectively means. I just want this stated.”

i agree that discussing this openly would bring about fruitful discussions. it’s all about balance, in many ways. for example, if there was more of a recognition that a business relationship exists between most clients and healers, the sometimes excessive authority that is given to professionals might come down to a more realistic level.

why is continuing education dreadful? or do you mean conferences are dreadful? i’d say that some conferences are awful, some are amazing. it all depends.

i DO prefer conferences, though, that go right to the heart of practice. the best one i’ve been to so far was a multidisciplinary conference on chronic pain which was attended by persons with chronic pain as well as health practitioners.

i don’t know how you define conference. i’ve been to a “mass workshop” (about 300 attendees) once that made a HUGE difference in my practice (with scott miller).

what is your experience with conferences?

Thanks for your response.
1. I stressed that this was not about professionals. As your first response is about the desires of professionals (which I never questioned) it is simply beside the point. The form of an organisation constrains what is possible. My argument is that the professional form of organisation constrains healing and so is inappropriate for healers.

2. Insurance is a big problem for me too. I’d like to see other ways of dealing with this problem (though I can’t think of any). I do think that healers should say up-front that ‘my income, lifestyle and vocation sometimes take priority over my client’s needs’. This is what taking out insurance effectively means. I just want this stated. It would generate a fruitful discussion I suspect.

3. Continuing education. Firstly it is dreadful education. I want to know how much use it actually is: how many times has your practise been revolutionised (OK fruitfully somewhat modified) by what you learned at a conference? I am absolutely in favour of education. My problem with conferences is that they aren’t particularly educational – and so impede healing instead of improving it.

Looking forward to seeing what others have to say (as well as any responses you may have of course).

Evan’s last blog post..Why Professionalism (not professionals) Is Of The Devil