As I was talking to a friend on the phone the other day, I was trying to recall the Esalen-originated "Gestalt Prayer." I couldn't get the first part, but now I have the gist of it:
"I am not in this world to meet up to your expectations;
and you are not in this world to meet up to mine.
If we get together, it's a beautiful thing;
if not, it can't be helped."
This of course is not so much a prayer as a humanistic credo. Neverthe less it seems pungently helpful for many situations: in which the problem is, "Behind every upset is an unmet expectation." Maybe we would get along better if we expected less than perfection from our fellow humans; because that is the one expectation you can count on...
Text of "prayer"
ReplyDeleteI do my thing and you do your thing.
I am not in this world to live up to your
expectations,
And you are not in this world to live up to
mine.
You are you, and I am I,
and if by chance we find each other, it's
beautiful.
If not, it can't be helped.
(Fritz Perls, "Gestalt Therapy Verbatim", 1969)
In my youth I always thought that it would be interesting to visit the Esalen Institute. Did you spend any time there?