FEST Writing Group

Mike Kerr’s recent book “Bowen Theory’s Secrets” contains a chapter on the potential 9^th concept that clarifies points such as:

• Bowen theory is about things, and not about the existence or non-existenceof the supernatural.
• The 9^thconcept should be about the function of unproven beliefs rather than the validity of their content. This is the key to bringing supernatural phenomena into the realm of science.
• A systems theory of the supernatural would explore how the belief in the supernatural functions, within the context of a wider science of the function of subjective belief.
• Beliefs in a spiritual realm can have strikingly positive effects.
• “Belief in a supernatural realm is not a pathology but part of human nature.”
• There exist carefully documented facts about the healings that have been associated with the Catholic spiritual site at Lourdes.
• Bowen’s interest in a 9^thconcept was influenced by his relationship with Gregory Bateson, who seems to have believed that a spiritual healer influenced his cancer remission.
• Beliefs can also be destructive as with voodoo curses.
• “The mind stretches beyond the brain to include the body, the environment, and the people other than oneself, so the study of the mind cannot be reduced to the study of the brain.” -Sloman and Ferbach
• Beliefs are impacted by social-emotional process.
• Groups vary in the degree to which the togetherness force dictates the content of their beliefs.
• In groups with togetherness-based beliefs, the beliefs can function in a destructive way (Nazi propaganda) or a constructive way, as when they help members live by an important but challenging principle (such as “There but for the Grace of God go I”).
• Beliefs can have similar content but be lived in very different ways.
• The scale of DOS is useful in clarifying variations in the quality of beliefs.
• Bowen spoke of Jesus Christ as a model of selflessness that is consistent with differentiation of self. This quality is often left out of discussions of DOS.
• (Laurie Lassiter spoke about this at our Vermont conference last fall.)
• Differentiation involves the ability to “act for self without being selfish and the ability to act for others without being selfless.”

When discussing “beliefs that are unprovable but extremely influential” Kerr displays his characteristic inspiring neutrality.  Near the end of the chapter he writes that “Humans are capable of thinking they know things that they do not know.”  For example, if a scientist states that they know a spiritual realm does not exist, they are lost in a biased world view, or scientism. We Bowen thinkers, like other scientists, are as vulnerable to this as any other group.

In order to maintain science as an open social system, we remember that unprovable ideas might be accurate.  Some unscientific beliefs are false.  Some might be true.  As with politics, both sides of a polarization between science and spirituality distort the others viewpoint.  It remains possible that a reason Bateson was cured is, in part, because he influenced a currently unmeasurable “spiritual” realm that was part and parcel of his material tumor, as the once unknowable fields of physics influence perceivable light.

So many ideas and dogmas have gathered around the word spiritual, that it can be difficult to communicate a reasonable mindset when using it.  Along with Bowen’s emphasis on functional facts, I wonder if he was open to the possibility of a real but unprovable spiritual world?  Did this curiosity have some influence on his interest in Bateson’s cancer remission story?  Did it contribute some motivation to his interest in a 9^thconcept?  This would be a deeply human impulse.

At last year’s Vermont conference on the sciences of meditation and family, Dr. Fred Travis spoke about his decades of research on the neurophysiology associated with ancient Vedic meditation practices, which are accompanied by a belief system. He calls his work Vedic science.  Surely a theory can become a belief system.  This can be observed in the Bowen network, where participants sometimes seem to chant the mantra “thinking”.  Conversely, can a belief system become a theory?

I understand Kerr’s point, that a science of the supernatural must proceed along the pathway of exploring the function of beliefs.  It is exciting to think about where that path could take us.  But there is another valid road. For example, the Vedic belief system, which is becoming a Vedic science, may prove relevant to Bowen theory.

The functioning of the brain cell cannot be understood without including the network of brain cells it functions within.  So with the individual brain- it cannot be understood outside the context of family brains.  The family exists within a multi-generational context, which exists within the context of the evolution of mammals, social groups, collections of primordial cells.  Is there a context within which evolutionary biology exists?  Are there systemic forces older than life which shape it?  Einstein theorized that time is curved, relative, not absolute.  Are there forces older than time?  How would science ever measure such forces?  Hope is not irrational, since science has progressed by measuring what which was previously immeasurable.  Not long ago the existence of radio waves was unprovable.

Lynn Margulis’ Gaia Hypothesis seems to reflect a view of the earth as a living being. Does that imply consciousness?  (I wonder what She is trying to tell us with global warming?) It would seem arrogant to be overly sure that human consciousness is the apex of awareness in our universe.

Kerr writes: “Panksepp states that chimpanzees, human beings, and a few other species have self-awareness, but Homo sapiens has awareness of awareness.” (49)  This quote resonates with the Vedic tradition which asserts that abstract awareness is the hidden root of matter.  It also asserts that humans can be aware of this root, which is also referred to as “Self”.  These seemingly far-fetched ideas become more plausible during the exploration of awareness that occurs during deep meditation.

The ability to be aware of awareness may have refinements not currently considered part of science, and Bowen theory.  It is possible that refinement of the intellectual system includes a capacity to glimpse a root which lies just beyond itself.  If matter is a fluctuation of an abstract field of awareness, it would not render the insights of Bowen theory false.  It would enrich science, not capsize it.

I’m interested in the biologist Rupert Sheldrake, and his idea of morphic fields.  Sheldrake proposes that evolution is guided by subtle “fields of memory” that influence the development of natural forms.  Is the multi-generational family a morphic field, partially mapped by Bowen theory?  Perhaps the ancient practice of honoring the ancestors was based on recognition that we can alter that field.  Sheldrake argues that science should avoid a blind faith in the unprovable belief that matter is not conscious.

The philosopher of science Karl Popper defined a fact as a subjective observation that is “intersubjectively verifiable”.  Along with concepts that clarify the function of belief, a Bowen theory of the spiritual might eventually clarify how the family system is part of a wider system which has abstract features as yet immeasurable by science.