July 23, 2008
Once, I was only a tangent to Systems Theory. It was when I was spiritual director (honest, that’s what they called it because they thought “chaplain” sounded too religious ) for an addiction treatment program based in a medical school and hospital. One of my colleagues, a skilled therapist very much in touch with his own humanity in a way quite rare for his kind, was something of an expert on Systems. He did his best to get me up to some workable speed on the principle. My clearest memories are his illustrations using a mobile, rather like those associated with Alexander Calder. When the mobile is hanging in place, touching one of its elements causes all the others to move, no matter how many. He said that this is the way families work. If one member reacts to or initiates some stimulus or crisis, then all the others respond in ways appropriate to their place in the family. This is especially noticeable if one is addicted. When one is practicing or, indeed, recovering from his or her addiction all the others in the family are affected. It is an important piece of evidence to watch for, indeed, to expect in counseling families or individuals.My twenty-two year-old quite recently graduated granddaughter has come back to our town to look for a job in public relations. She arrives with highest academic honors to encounter a job market with lowest employment potentials. We’ve a neat upstairs qua apartment which we’ve offered to her, and that’s where she’ll live for a time. She’s a splendidly competent young woman, seemingly capable in many respects and very much in touch with her own humanity in so far as her years allow her to be. Her presence brings to mind for me my fonder memories of Systems Theory.
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