The Group is a powerful entity. As a student of the group phenomena and counseling, I have been intrigued by it. One of the texts we read in my degree that deals with the group and the dynamic of the group was Didier Anzieu’s “The Dynamic of the small group”. I was surprised by his clarity and at the same time the cleaver notes he makes about it. Although his approach is psychoanalytical (and my degree is in the Humanistic branch) what I read really took my attention.
I started to read more about him and then, I found that one of his works was “The Skinned Ego” (Le Moi Peau in French). It is one of the most beautiful books I have read. His proposal, briefly speaking, is that the skin itself could represent a metaphor of the psychic configurations of the person. I will not get into the topic itself, but I hope soon something about it could be written
There is another book of his that came later on. The book is called “From the Skinned Ego to the Thinking Ego”. At the end of this last book there is a beautiful poem, thought or farewell as he himself entitled it.
It honestly made me cry by the deepness and sincerity of the thought that I perceived.. I share it because I consider it is beautiful, deep, strong, hopeful, and alive.
This is the farewell translated by myself from Spanish (although I have a minor in translation it has been centuries since I professionally translated something, hope it is good for the time) the original poem can be seen in the other post Mi Yo Piel. Mi Yo Pensante in this blog for those who read in Spanish. Hope you enjoy as much as I did, and still do, every time I read it. The lines in bold are those I feel the most. All comments are well accepted. Enjoy!
As a Farewell.
Didier Anzieu
The flaying without ascesis.
The truth without eloquence.
The comprehension, without the knowledge
The renunciation, without the resignation.
The love, without the painful conjunction of two masochists
The old wine, among other news.
The joy, in the greatest moments.
The humility of recognizing the misery blended with the remains of its greatness
The control of the thoughts rather than the others.
The spirit, with the flesh and the heart.
The grief, with the grace.
The intrepidity, without the intemperance
The madness, without its praise.
The clear and distinct idea, without separating it from the terror of confusing sensations where it embodies. *
*Translation by Marcia Hernandez-Arroyo.
References:
Anzieu, D. (1995). El Pensar: del Yo-Piel al Yo-Pensante. Madrid: Biblioteca Nueva.
The Journey Into Self 