The Lifwynn Foundation is a small group of people
dedicated to exploring the pathology and the promise of the human
situation. This pathology fragments our lives and separates us from
ourselves, from others, and from the needs of the planet. The purpose of
The Lifwynn Foundation is to investigate the
causes of this world-wide human predicament. At present, society is
riddled with violence, addiction of all sorts, ethnic conflict,
environmental degradation, inequality of distribution, etc. Our work
addresses these problems. It is aimed at furthering human transformation
and social healing.
Our
activities are based on the research of Trigant Burrow, an early American psychoanalyst.
Burrow introduced group analysis in the nineteen-twenties, a forerunner
of group therapy and other group approaches. It was a scientific
investigation of the causes of human conflict and alienation in which
the feelings and motivations of the investigators provided the material
to be investigated. Burrow and his co-workers recognized that the
societal pathology they were examining was embodied in themselves as
individuals and as a group. They developed the ability to observe the
disorder within their own interrelational
processes, and find a healing response within the observation
itself.
Dr. Burrow's group saw humankind's dysfunction as part of its
preoccupation with symbols and language. As a result of our growing
dependence on the word and the habit of objectification, people have
come to deal with themselves and each other as symbols and objects –
rather than living, reactive bodies. Each of us is primarily concerned
with our own self-image – with what Burrow called the "I" persona. This
"I" is a separative sense of self that sets
individual interests and concerns against those of others and the wider
community.
A crucial aspect of the "I" is its assumption of the rightness of its
beliefs. Due to inherent factors and the process of socialization, there
arise in each child precepts of "right" and "wrong" that are not
supported by verifiable experience. Certain beliefs and values become a
central feature of one’s identity: I belong to the only true Church; I
belong to a superior race, and to the best political party; "I know the
right way to raise children; I wear the right clothes, drive the right
car, listen to the right music; and so on, ad infinitum. The "I," this
entity that each individual comes to experience as himself or herself,
has assumed an autocratic dictatorship over the attitude and behavior of
us all. "My" private gain versus "your" private gain is now the
unconscious motive of every one of us.
Group analysis, or social self-inquiry, as it is now called, involves
analysis of the symbolic self and its psychopathology. In our group we
take initiative in identifying the operation of this authoritarian,
imperialistic "I"- persona as it occurs in the midst of our
transactions, and we share these observations with each other. We take
note of the whole spectrum of emotions – anger, anxiety, sentimentality,
elation and depression, etc. – and their related behaviors:
aggressiveness, defensiveness, manipulativeness, self-aggrandizement, ingratiation
etc. Directing our attention to the bodily sensations that accompany
such emotions, we become aware of the neuromuscular tensions associated
with such mood states common to our society.
When we question the validity of the dogmatic beliefs of our autocratic
self, and direct our attention to the sensations that go with
self-biased beliefs and emotions, we sometimes become aware of a broader
frame of reference: the organism as a whole. At this point it is the
organism which is doing the observing of our conflictual behavior, and which becomes aware of our
thoughts and imagery, discovering how they are linked with feelings and
sensations.
Awareness
of one’s own organism leads to recognition of the commonality of all
human organisms. As Burrow and his associates learned to shift from the
narrow, symbolic mode of attention (which Burrow called "ditention") to the broader, organismic mode of attention (which he identified as
"cotention") they found that brainwaves,
eye-movements, and respiration showed marked changes in instrumental
recordings. And they experienced an enhanced sense of solidarity with
other members of our species, as the SSI group does
today.
The work of the Lifwynn Foundation is aimed at
facilitating a healing of human society through revitalizing this basic
way of relating. In this mode we can listen and communicate with each
other more openly and with less projection, be more honest in
self-disclosure, and more authentically present for self and other.
Where a group of people has persisted in this technique over a
sufficient period of time, the barriers set up by the socially prevalent
"I" are let down in behalf of the common interests and activities that
make for the well being of the individual and the group or
species.
We invite all who are concerned about the fragmentation of human society
– and who are willing to help examine this process as it occurs within
themselves – to learn more about our work.
Begin by reading the articles available at this site. There is also a
list of publications which can be requested from The Lifwynn Foundation. Or write to our E-mail address
at trigburr@lifwynnfoundation.org for further information or
comments.