| |
| |
| |
| |
The book is very emphatic about this:
“It is important to make explicit that 3rd position is not a dissociated position in the sense that there are no kinesthetics involved in 3rd position. A well-formed 3rd position always involves strong kinesthetics.” (p. 255)
“We have been astonished to discover with alarming frequency an interpretation of 3rd position in which participants in training programs are being instructed that 3rd has no kinesthetics. Little wonder those participants find it difficult to operate effectively from their so-called 3rd position.” (p. 266)
In my view, “observer position” does just that, it observes—a dispassionate observer and nothing more. In Heinlein’s classic science fiction book, Stranger in a Strange Land there is the concept of the “fair witness” who reports only what s/he observes, without conclusions or evaluations. A fair witness would describe a brown horse as “A horse which appears to be brown on this side.” In the crime novels and movies of the 30s and 40s the detective would often say, “Just give me the facts, ma’m, just the facts” (no interpretations). In a carefully aligned observer position, the person feels the perceptual kinesthetics of being in that position, but no evaluative emotional feelings about the events being witnessed, except perhaps a soft feeling of compassion for the people being observed if they are involved in a difficult interchange. One possible explanation for our difference of opinion may lie in the book’s description of other position.
| |
| |
| |
|
|
