gonzo therapy? run that by me again…
“Today a young man on acid realized that all matter is merely energy condensed to a slow vibration, that we are all one consciousness experiencing itself subjectively, there is no such thing as death, life is only a dream, and we are the imagination of ourselves. Here’s Tom with the weather.”
Bill Hicks said that…
Okay, this might take a while, so if you’re in a hurry click on.
What… is… Gonzo Therapy?
Let’s start with Wikipedia.
“The word Gonzo was first used in 1970 to describe an article by Hunter S Thompson, who later popularized the style. The term has since been applied to other subjective artistic endeavors. Gonzo journalism is a style of journalism that is written subjectively, often including the reporter as part of the story via a first-person narrative.
Gonzo journalism disregards the ‘polished’ edited product favored by newspaper media and strives for a more gritty approach. Use of quotations, sarcasm, humor, exaggeration, and profanity is common.”
Get the picture?
Then I started thinking about my lifelong heroes and that began to make sense of something, especially as I realised there was a commonality, a thread. Hunter S Thompson, Bill Hicks, John Lennon, Mick Jagger and Bob Dylan are a few that immediately come to mind.
Challenging people.
Creative people.
Gonzo people.
People who, you could argue – well I am anyway – in medieval times might well have had the role of The Fool.
So I began to look at the role of The Fool in historical culture. And a quote from some obscure site struck me as pertinent:
“The fool constantly questions our perceptions of wisdom and truth and their relationship to everyday experience, readily applying metaphysical abstractions to attack the routine taken-for-granted aspects of the daily rituals of the audience becoming an important conduit for determining meaning and clarifying abstractions which rule our lives. The fool lifts the veil of authority, devoid of decorum, acting irreverently, unmasking the unpleasant aspects of power.”
Now, bear with me and remember that I’m trying to explain to you (and me – we always write for ourselves) the meaning of Gonzo Therapy.
Okay?
This led me to Heyókȟa, and then things started to get really exciting.
“The word Heyókȟa refers to the Lakota Indians’ concept of a contrarian, jester, satirist or sacred clown.
(Keep Thompson, Hicks, Lennon and Jagger in mind as you read on).
Their satire presents important questions by fooling around. They ask difficult questions, and say things others are too afraid to say. By reading between the lines, the audience is able to think about things not usually thought about, or to look at things in a different way.
Principally, the Heyókȟa functions both as a mirror and a teacher, using extreme behaviors to mirror others, thereby forcing them to examine their own doubts, fears, hatreds, and weaknesses. Heyókȟas also have the power to heal emotional pain; such power comes from the experience of shame – they sing of shameful events in their lives, beg for food, and live as clowns. They provoke laughter in distressing situations of despair and provoke fear and chaos when people feel complacent and overly secure, to keep them from taking themselves too seriously or believing they are more powerful than they are.
In addition, sacred clowns serve an important role in shaping tribal codes. Heyókȟa’s don’t seem to care about taboos, rules, regulations, social norms, or boundaries. Paradoxically, however, it is by violating these norms and taboos that they help to define the accepted boundaries, rules, and societal guidelines for ethical and moral behavior. This is because they are the only ones who can ask “Why?” about sensitive topics and employ satire to question the specialists and carriers of sacred knowledge or those in positions of power and authority. In doing so, they demonstrate concretely the theories of balance and imbalance. Their role is to penetrate deception, turn over rocks, and create a deeper awareness.”
Now that to me… is proper Gonzo.
Knew a thing or two did those Lakotans.
I feel this is important to explore because it has been suggested that I am demeaning psychotherapy by using the word Gonzo, that it is silly, teenage, drug related. And yes, I did come to Fear and Loathing whilst immersed in drug culture, but to me it was its braveness, its brutal, savagely honest style that turned me on, not the fact that “the trunk of the car looked like a mobile police narcotics lab.” And if you’ve got half a brain left after doing all those drugs you will have realized that Fear and Loathing is a savage indictment of the death of the American Dream.
Gonzo means THE TRUTH AT ALL COSTS.
Take this passage from Fear and Loathing:
Attorney: Let me explain it to you, let me run it down just briefly if I can. We’re looking for the American Dream, and we were told it was somewhere in this area. Well, we’re here looking for it, ‘cause they sent us out here all the way from San Francisco to look for it. That’s why they gave us this white Cadillac, they figure we would catch up with it in that…
Waitress: Hey Lou, you know where the American Dream is?
Attorney (to Duke): She’s asking the cook if he knows where the American Dream is.
Waitress: Five tacos, one taco burger. Do you know where the American Dream is?
Lou: What’s that? What is it?
Attorney: Well, we don’t know, we were sent out here from San Francisco to look for the American Dream, by a magazine, to cover it.
Lou: Oh, you mean a place.
Attorney: A place called the American Dream.
Lou: Is that the old Psychiatrist’s Club?
Waitress: I think so.
Attorney: All we were told was, go ‘til you find the American Dream. Take this white Cadillac and go find the American Dream. It’s somewhere in the Las Vegas area.
Lou: That has to be the old Psychiatrist’s Club, but the only people who hang out there are a bunch of pushers, peddlers, uppers and downers, and all that stuff.
Attorney: Maybe that’s it. Is it a nighttime place or is it an all day…
Waitress: Oh, honey, this never stops.
It’s enough to make you weep.
Hunter S Thompson.
Gonzo journalist.
Heyókȟa.
Now I’ve been mostly going on, and on, and on about the importance of The Fool. But I also need to include another hero of mine, yet another Heyókȟa, George Ivanovich Gurdjieff.
“George Ivanovich Gurdjieff (Armenian: Գեորգի Իվանովիչ Գյուրջիև, Greek: Γεώργιος Γεωργιάδης, Russian: Гео́ргий Ива́нович Гюрджи́ев, January 13, 1866? – October 29, 1949) was a mystic and spiritual teacher. He called his discipline “The Work” (connoting “work on oneself”) according to Gurdjieff’s principles and instructions, or (originally) the “Fourth Way“. Gurdjieff claimed that people cannot perceive reality in their current state because they do not possess consciousness but rather live in a state of a hypnotic “waking sleep”.
“Man lives his life in sleep, and in sleep he dies.” As a result of this condition each person perceives things from a completely subjective perspective. Gurdjieff stated that maleficent events such as wars and so on could not possibly take place if people were more awake. He asserted that people in their typical state function as unconscious automatons, but that one can “wake up” and become a different sort of human being altogether.”
Now, if you’ve made it this far, you’ll probably have got your head around the connections I’m making between The Fool, Heyókȟa, and Gonzo. And if you took in the stuff about Heyókȟa then you will get the connection I’m making with Gurdjieff, Thompson, Hicks etc.
So – what is a Gonzo Therapist?
§ A Gonzo Therapist asserts that people in their typical state function as unconscious automatons, but that one can “wake up” and become a different sort of human being altogether.
§ A Gonzo Therapist questions our perceptions of wisdom and truth and their relationship to everyday experience, challenging the routine taken-for-granted aspects of the daily rituals of the client, determining meaning and clarifying abstractions which rule the client’s life.
§ A Gonzo Therapist asks difficult questions, and says things others are too afraid to say, encouraging the client to think about things not usually thought about, or to look at things in a different way.
§ A Gonzo Therapist functions both as a mirror and a teacher, thereby enabling the client to examine his or her own doubts, fears, hatreds, and weaknesses.
§ A Gonzo Therapist doesn’t care about rules, regulations or social norms. Paradoxically, however, it is by violating these norms that they help to define the accepted boundaries, rules, and societal guidelines for ethical and moral behavior. This is because they ask “Why?” about sensitive topics. In doing so, they demonstrate concretely the theories of balance and imbalance. Their role is to penetrate deception, turn over rocks, and create a deeper awareness.
Use of quotations, sarcasm, humor, exaggeration, and profanity is common…
I hope this has helped. It’s helped me. I don’t claim to have nailed it, nor have I nailed what I preach, but I’m working on it.
It’s hard work staying awake.
I’ll leave you with a scene from one of my favorite movies, No Country For Old Men. If you’re still here you’ll get the reference.
Chigurh stands chewing cashews, staring while the old man works the register.
PROPRIETOR
…Will there be somethin else?
CHIGURH
I don’t know. Will there?
Beat.
The proprietor turns and coughs. Chigurh stares.
PROPRIETOR
Is something wrong?
CHIGURH
With what?
PROPRIETOR
With anything?
CHIGURH
Is that what you’re asking me? Is there something wrong
with anything?
The proprietor looks at him, uncomfortable, looks away.
PROPRIETOR
Will there be anything else?
CHIGURH
You already asked me that.
PROPRIETOR
Well…I need to see about closin.
CHIGURH
See about closing.
PROPRIETOR
Yessir.
CHIGURH
What time do you close?
PROPRIETOR
Now. We close now.
CHIGURH
Now is not a time. What time do you close.
PROPRIETOR
Generally around dark. At dark.
Chigurh stares, slowly chewing.
CHIGURH
You don’t know what you’re talking about, do you?
PROPRIETOR
Sir?
CHIGURH
I said you don’t know what you’re talking about.
Chigurh chews
… What time do you go to bed.
PROPRIETOR
Sir?
CHIGURH
You’re a bit deaf, aren’t you? I said what time do you go
to bed.
PROPRIETOR
Well…
A pause.
…I’d say around nine-thirty. Somewhere around nine-
thirty.
CHIGURH
I could come back then.
PROPRIETOR
Why would you be comin back? We’ll be closed.
CHIGURH
You said that.
He continues to stare, chewing.
PROPRIETOR
Well…I need to close now–
CHIGURH
You live in that house behind the store?
PROPRIETOR
Yes I do.
CHIGURH
You’ve lived here all your life?
A beat.
PROPRIETOR
This was my wife’s father’s place. Originally.
CHIGURH
You married into it.
PROPRIETOR
We lived in Temple Texas for many years. Raised a family
there. In Temple. We come out here about four years ago.
CHIGURH
You married into it.
PROPRIETOR
…If that’s the way you wanna put it.
CHIGURH
I don’t have some way to put it. That’s the way it is.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vXAhbwlWt1A&feature=related