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The Interface As a practitioner and teacher of Body-Mind CenteringR and a psychotherapist I have long been interested in the subject of boundaries. In psychology the skin is often referred to as the ‘primary boundary’, that which differentiates self from other at the most fundamental of levels, the edges of the physical organism that I call ‘me’. From the Body-Mind CenteringR perspective the cellular membrane can also be included as primary boundary, being the first membrane of containment and definition as we source back to the earliest origins of embryonic selfhood. Other secondary boundaries evolve as the membranes of distinct tissues and organ systems develop. Physiologically these boundaries are semi-permeable and responsive membranes, places of meeting, communication and transformation. Psychologically we are talking about boundary not as something solid and impenetrable, but boundary as awareness - awareness of what is self, what is other, and the quality of relationship between them. I prefer the term interface for this subtly shifting experience of containment, differentiation and contact. At the interface two worlds meet and interact. Consciousness arises as awareness is brought to the interface. I am still always amazed at the precision of information that is often revealed when a person focuses awareness within the layers of their skin and cellular membranes. Embodying these membranes can reveal the condition of psychological boundaries in intimate detail; through bringing awareness to this, subtle but important psychological changes sometimes occur as cells and tissues respond to the attention and intention focused towards them. Protection I have also had a long-time interest in the lymphatic system, initially because of my own health problems in this area. As the essential system of the immune response it is the lymphatic system’s task to protect the body in order to maintain the integrity of the organism. Embodying lymph can also engender an experience of being psychologically boundaried, contained, of filling one’s personal space in a way that protects from ‘attacks’ from outside. It is a deep concern that humanity, at this point in time, is collectively suffering a weakened immune system. Many drugs and surgical methods have been developed which protect us from diseases which would once have killed many of us in our early years, and in this we are very fortunate. But some believe that our natural immunity can be weakened by overuse of the ‘knives, guns and chemical warfare’ of modern medicine. Seeking the unnatural but powerful and effective methods of attack, we may lose some of our innate ability to protect ourselves. This might be a contributing factor in the proliferation of diseases specifically related to immune system dysfunction or failure, such as untreatable cancers, AIDS, MS, chronic fatigue syndrome, allergies and autoimmune disorders. The particular stresses of modern life can also weaken the immune system. Mental, emotional, nutritional, environmental and trauma-related stress all put the body into the resistance phase of the stress cycle, which entails a heightened activation of the sympathetic nervous system at the expense of the recuperative processes of the parasympathetic. As Alfred Hassig’s research has shown, excessive and prolonged sympathetic stimulation increases production of the immune system’s B-cells, those which ‘attack the enemy without’ through the production of antibodies (antibody-mediated immunity). At the same time the presence of T-cells is reduced; they are responsible for the ‘housekeeping’, the management of the internal environment, clearing up and removing damaged and infected ‘self-structures’ (cellular immunity)1. Helper and suppressor T-cells also regulate both B-cell and T-cell activity. At the psychological level, sympathetic stimulation reflects and enhances a frame of mind where the problem is seen as coming from outside of us, and the solution is to attack and get rid of it. Parasympathetic stimulation, which encourages the activity of the T-cells, is that process of attending to the internal ecology of the bodymind - the processing and digestion of difficult experiences and emotions, taking responsibility for our own shadow rather than projecting it out and attacking it in the form of the ‘other’. The Collective Body and Planetary Body When I look at what happens in the cell, then see its structures and life processes reflected in the organism as a whole, my attention widens to the macrocosm of the planetary body and I see how this, too, reflects the internal processes, the deep ecology, of cell and organism. And as I reflect on the psychology of embodied skin, cellular membranes, and lymphatic system, and all the problems that we as individuals experience in protecting and maintaining healthy psychological boundaries, I wonder about the collective body2 and what we can learn from our individual experiences that might have relevance to the overwhelming problems of our world today. I think of the earth’s ozone layer as a kind of energetic outer membrane which is comparative to the energetic sense of boundary around us, the membrane of the aura that we each develop. Our energetic skin can be damaged, weakened, rigidified and at times lost altogether as a result of physical and psychological imbalance, excess, trauma and toxicity, reflecting the condition of our primary skin and cellular boundaries. In the macrocosm of the planetary body the ozone layer is also being damaged - we are now quite sure of this - by the excess and toxicity being created here, on earth, by we humans. As a result the ecology of the planet is beginning to suffer, the integrity of its structure starting to change. The planetary body may be, like the collective human body, on the verge of a breakdown of its immune system; its own processes for maintaining its integrity in the form that we know it are threatened by our excesses and pollution. Psychologically, we can see how the process of ‘attacking the enemy without’, instead of owning our own shadow and attending to the internal ecology of our own psyches, is magnified in our relationships, social groups, and between nations on the political world stage. And as in medicine, so too in warfare: as more and more powerful weapons of mass destruction, unnatural methods of defence, are developed to defeat the enemy without, our innate capacity to protect ourselves and resolve conflicts through humanistic approaches seems to be diminished. Individually and collectively our capacity to maintain healthy psychological boundaries, and attend creatively to the internal ecology of our mind, is undermined by the dehumanising of conflict resolution processes. |
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Boundaries, Defense and War |
