As human beings, we are all faced
with
the necessity of learning and growing. The reason that growth and
learning are a necessity for human beings, and not a luxury, is that
the instincts of Homo sapiens are
few in comparison to the instinctual endowments of other animals.
The paucity of inborn, unconditioned responses creates both advantages
and problems for our species. What is beyond question is that the
comparative lack of instinctually determined behavior patterns in
humans is correlated with a significant increase in the role of
learning in the life of each person. In order to survive,
individuals must adjust themselves to the demands of their
environment. Especially during the formative years of childhood,
such adjustments help to shape the personality of the growing boy or
girl. If the early environment - including the parents - is
excessively frustrating, unresponsive, and distressing, the child will
reach adulthood with habitual ways of acting and being that are
essentially self-restricting. Indeed, such a person may at some
level feel himself or herself to be trapped in a virtual prison of
"obsolete responses." This prison, or trap, is the character
structure of the individual. Ironically, the very character
structure that has been formed as an optimal response to less than
satisfactory circumstances comes to represent the most significant
obstacle to positive growth and personal development.
The word "character" is derived from Greek and Latin terms meaning
"engraving tool" or the mark made by such a tool. The personal
development of each individual is engraved in that person's
character. To recognize that this is the case is to appreciate
the challenging nature of attempting to make significant changes in
personal experience and behavior. The individual who has been
forced to adjust to distressing circumstances during the early
childhood period of dependency will come to view himself or
herself - as well as the world at large - through the distorting
lens of a restrictive characterological attitude. Since the
attitude in such a case becomes second nature, any suggestion that an
habitual pattern of responses ought to be surrendered will be perceived
as threatening. This will be true even if the attitude in
question is obviously self-defeating. Perhaps the most striking
example of such a dilemma is represented by the individual who is
terrified at the prospect of success or pleasure in life. How can
such an attitude arise, we may ask, since it seems so contrary to what
is natural? The answer is that when faced with a choice between a
painful, chronic restriction of oneself and a loss of oneself
altogether - as in the case of an overwhelming punishment - children
will naturally opt for the former. What appears in the adult to
be a fear of pleasure is, in truth, a fear of the pain and anxiety that
have come to be associated, through early conditioning, with behavior
considered to be unacceptable and dangerous. The most widespread
instance of such anxiety-producing behavior in our culture may simply
consist of taking the risk associated with "being oneself."
Under the circumstances, any attempt to re-educate ourselves with
respect to a more meaningful and fulfilling way of being must take into
consideration certain inner obstacles that impede the establishment of
improved functioning. This raises the issue of an inevitable
resistance to personal growth and change when such growth and change
pose the possibility of genuine characterological transformation.
The word "resistance" may be understood in a variety of ways. In
medicine, resistance denotes a positive condition in which the organism
has the strength to ward off disease. In the politics of war,
resistance refers to the struggle of an indigenous population against
an invading army, such as in the case of the French resistance to the
Nazi occupation. In the psychoanalytic terminology of Sigmund
Freud, resistance signifies a struggle on the part of an individual
against allowing painful memories and realizations into
consciousness. Interestingly, there are elements of all of these
meanings that can be discerned in the resistance to personal growth and
change that is rooted in a restrictive character structure. Every
individual will resist the anxiety that is associated with effecting a
true change of character. This is so because the existing
characterological attitude, however restrictive, has provided a genuine
resistance to dangers in the past. Carrying on such a resistance to
significant change, the individual adopts a posture analogous to the
stance taken by resistance fighters attempting to sabotage a hostile
force. The rationale for such resistance is to be found in the
pain which an individual fears may occur if he or she should act "out
of character."
From a functional vantage point, we may say that the character of
significant growth and change requires that we recognize and overcome
self-defeating resistances. Such a task involves gaining an
understanding of the habitual manner in which we organize our
self-perception. This is an enterprise involving more than just a
change of mind. Soma as
well as psyche is at
issue. Layers of resistance are engraved in characteristic ways
in the body of the individual. Patterns of chronic muscular
tension, deficiencies in energy level, and constrictions in the range
and quality of movement are all evident in somatic functioning and must
be addressed, either directly or indirectly, if real personal growth
and transformation are to be promoted.
It is one of the ironies of life that in pursuing serious, constructive
alternatives to the limited patterns of action and experience that we
have adopted in the interest of self-preservation, we must come face to
face with that which we most wish to avoid. In a sense, we must
experience the original state of conflict that caused us to limit our
functioning so that we can resolve the conflict in a satisfactory
manner. The conflict between our human need for genuine
self-expression and our fear of punishment, for example, must be
settled in a mature fashion. Doing so involves dismantling the
archaic defenses against rejection and despair that were erected during
the helplessness of a childhood endured under adverse
circumstances. Indeed, this is the very process which allows us
to regain our courage as adults. Paradoxically, it is only by
confronting our resistance to change that we can allow change to
happen; for in our very resistance is embodied, literally, the energy
that must be made available for a more directed, vital, and integrated
approach to life.
*
This selection is
excerpted, with very minor changes, from The
Affirmation of
Life: A Reichian
Energetic Perspective (Portland, Oregon: Ardengrove Press,
1991), pp. 86-89.
