The Upward Trend

THE UPWARD TREND The Upward Trend is the first in a series of eight books by Harvey Jackins (the founder of Re-evaluation Counseling) that encompass developments in Re-evaluation Counseling (RC) from 1973 through 1995. The Upward Trend concerns the period from 1973 to 1977. It is a collection of essays, articles, and reports covering most of the important theoretical developments that emerged during those years, years in which there was a ten-fold increase in the numbers of people participating and in the organized classes and Re-evaluation Counseling Communities. It was a period in which RC expanded significantly beyond its beginnings in Seattle to the wider world. These years also saw the rapid development of "liberation" issues, the extension of RC theory into the arena of oppression and its elimination. To clarify the role of RC in liberation, Harvey wrote: "1. Re-evaluation Counseling is not a program for social liberation. The Re-evaluation Counseling Communities have a one-point program only, that is, the use of Re-evaluation Counseling to recover one's occluded intelligence and to help others do the same . . . . 2. Re-evaluation Counseling Communities do encourage and support rational attitudes on the part of all Co-Counselors on all questions, including the questions of resisting oppression and achieving liberation. . . ." In the following articles, Harvey defines oppression, describes its operations, and proposes the necessary actions to achieve liberation. In this period, RC moved beyond the white middle-class and was accepted and adopted by working-class people, blacks, Asians, young people, older people, Latinos, and women's groups. The basic practices for making counseling work between people in oppressor and oppressed roles were being developed. There are two early articles on freeing oneself from unaware racism. The theory of Re-evaluation Counseling views all human beings as inherently intelligent and good. It assumes that it is natural for a human to think well, to act wisely and successfully, to enjoy life, and to have good relations with other humans. In this view, every human being feels good and acts and cooperates well except where patterns of emotional distress interfere. Then poor behavior, bad feelings, and failure to cooperate or communicate replace the usual rational behavior. These patterns are the residue of physical or emotional hurts, many of them dating back to childhood, which we have never fully recovered from and which are triggered when something in the current environment restimulates ("reminds us too much of") the old distresses. These residual effects of past distress experiences could have been thrown off quickly and permanently through the natural channels of emotional discharge and re-evaluation. Instead, some of the social conditioning carried by our culture and inflicted rigidly upon us when we were children has interfered with, and prevented recovery from, these distresses. The inhibiting effect of this interference has increased the accumulation of distresses and tensions. By the time we have become adults, this has severely limited our original great abilities to succeed, to enjoy life, and to achieve good relationships with others. In Re-evaluation Counseling, the natural channels of recovery are re-opened. The prime requirement is a listener and counselor who is sincerely interested, who will remain relaxed in the face of our tensions, and who understands how the processes of emotional discharge and re-evaluation operate. Thus, Re-evaluation Counseling is a process for freeing humans from these distress patterns so that they may resume functioning in a healthy, caring way. Re-evaluation Counseling is practiced in pairs, by people listening to each other and assisting one another to release these painful emotions. Because no money is exchanged between people who counsel one another in these pairs, Re-evaluation Counseling can be used by individuals in all stratas of society.
ASIN: 0911214453
VSKU: RDV.0911214453.A
Condition: Acceptable
Author/Artist:Jackins, Harvey
Binding: Paperback