Walking In Two Worlds: The Relational Self In Theory, Practice, And Community

Self-Relations Therapy is, in part, a synthesis of theory and practice from various prior traditions. However, the approach is more than an amalgam of ideas; rather, SR offers a meta-framework in which multiplicity – of form, meaning, presence, and so on – can be contained within an actively adaptive, aware, and present relational self.

Editors Stephen Gilligan and Dvorah Simon have gathered in a mosaic of content and communication to explain the perspective and to show how it can be applied across contexts. Divided into five broad sections – The Self-Relations Approach, Applications of Self-Relations, Self-Relations and Spiritual Paths, Dimensions of Self-Relations, Self-Relations and Expressive and Somatic Approaches – the book can be dipped into or read from beginning to end. Like a rich and colorful mosaic, the material can inspire or invoke whether you come in very close to follow specific themes or you stand back to take in the whole.

Stephen Gilligan first presented the theory and practice of Self-Relations in his book The Courage to Love in 1997. In the years since, the work has continued to evolve through workshops and presentations, as well as through the dialog and sharing of ideas that he has invited along the way. Just as the approach itself is a kind of collaboration of entities, whether within an individual or between people or in the midst of a community, this new book encourages the multidimensionality of voices. The contributors are not confined by rigid structural or editorial requisites; they are invited to address their topics in the language that befits them. Thus, a sense of the SR ideal of "multiple truths at the same time" is embodied in the work.