Foreword
by Harvey Jackins, June 15, 1973
The basic theory and practice of Re-evaluation Counseling were worked out in the 1950s and ‘60s in Seattle and were communicated verbally among the Seattle area Co-Counselors. The first general publication of theoretical material came in the middle 1960s.
Rapid growth of the Re-evaluation Counseling Communities began in the late 1960s, not so much in response to the publication of theory as to the personal communication of theory by experienced Co-Counselors who had left Seattle and settled in new localities. Once substantial numbers of people were Co-Counseling away from Seattle, however, a desire for more written theory was insistently expressed.
Theory and practice have continued to develop, and it has been a continuing problem to get this backlog of knowledge and new developments on paper and into wide distribution. The lag has been met to some extent by the informal but wide-ranging discussions of theory in Rough Notes from Buck Creek I and Rough Notes from La Scherpa I. These are transcripts from early workshops and have been invaluable sourcebooks for developing teachers of Re-evaluation Counseling classes. Tape cassettes such as Introductory Lecture and the memorable Affection, Love and Sex at the University of Maine have also been useful, and many more of these are in preparation. Short articles and pamphlets have been published at intervals. The demand for published material, however, has continued to exceed the supply.
The present volume, The Human Situation, contains the short essays and articles that appeared between 1962 and early 1973, with some revision and some new material. Together with The Human Side of Human Beings and the Fundamentals of Co-Counseling Manual, this book should round out the basic theoretical knowledge necessary for students of Re-evaluation Counseling to become functioning members of the Co-Counseling Communities.
The written word, however, is no substitute for the actual experience of Co-Counseling. Everyone who has learned to use Re-evaluation Counseling has done so by first having a “session,” that is, being counseled by an experienced Re-evaluation Counselor, and Re-evaluation Counseling is not something to read about but to use. One-to-one contact will undoubtedly continue to be the basic method of first communication, but once that has been achieved, then the theoretical material in the present volume will be of vital use to developing Co-Counselors, teachers, and Community leaders.
If you, the reader, are not presently in contact with the Re-evaluation Counseling Communities and would like to be, you are most welcome to write to me at 719 Second Avenue North, Seattle, Washington 98109, USA, and I will be happy to put you in touch with the experienced Co-Counselors who are nearest you.
Thanks to the Reference Persons, teachers, and members of the Re-evaluation Counseling Communities, to the counselors and workers at Personal Counselors in Seattle, and to my family for requesting this book and assisting it into print.
Foreword to the 1991 Revised Edition
by Harvey Jackins, June 15, 1973
The “Postulates” of Re-evaluation Counseling were revised in 1990 after much discussion in the Communities. “Multiplied Awareness” and “Allow Ourselves Time to Grow” were revised in 1991 to bring some of their organizational implications up-to-date. Otherwise, this book continues in its classical form, already a part of history, but a living, continuing influence in a growing number of lives.
Foreword to the 2010 Revised Edition
by Tim Jackins August, 2010
This edition of The Human Situation contains only a few, modest changes. This book is a very important source of some of the basic ideas and theory of Re-evaluation Counseling. It is also an important source of historical information on the development of Re-evaluation Counseling‘s theory and practice. We have updated language in only a few places. We have also added both footnotes and notations to the original articles.
Re-evaluation Counseling continues to develop in both theory and practice. A few of the developments discussed here were used for a period of time and were then superceded by other developments and are now no longer used.