Getting Back to RC
I would like to tell about getting back to RC.
I knew RC since 1995. When I met Harvey,1 we became very close. He treated me in a special way. I could call him whenever I needed to, and he would call me to counsel me. He sent me books to enrich my knowledge of RC. I met many RC leaders, learned from them more about the theory, and experienced it myself. I believed that RC would change the world. I laughed with Harvey all the time about how we would change the world.
After Harvey died I felt that I had to keep going, because I had given him a promise. But the circumstances in my country made it not safe for me to make contact with people by phone. And because of hard circumstances in my life, I couldn’t keep going. I was poor, I had to work, I had children—so I stopped practicing RC. Sometimes in my hard moments, I tried to be my own counselor. I reminded myself that it was a feeling or a pattern, but I couldn’t discharge because I had to keep going. I might be able to control the behavior, but I still had the distress because I couldn’t discharge.
Two years ago I became a manager in a company. I got restimulated during the meetings (“I’m less, I’m bad, I’m stupid”). I had to deal with many men. Their sexism made my co-workers, who were all women, and me feel weak and like easy targets.
Then I got a phone call from Jo Saunders2—just like an angel who came. When she said, “How are you?” I started crying and insulting all the men in the world. She listened to me for an hour and a half, leaving me with full energy and power, which I was able to pass on to my co-workers and the other women around me. She gave me the contradiction,3 “We are indestructible women.” I was able then to listen to the women. After that session they noticed the change. The men around us also noticed it, and they got terrified.
Two days later, Diane Balser4 gave me a call and we had a long session. She continued with how Jo had counseled me. They both succeeded in making me discharge and notice how good the reality is that we live in, separate from all the oppression and patterns.
Since I learned RC, I have believed that RC theory is the solution to all the messes in the world, such as racism and sexism, and all the patterns that limit our goodness. Now I’m seeing that I have become a model for the women around me. What a difference the phone sessions made. I want to say thank you to Harvey for discovering RC theory, and thank you to the people who have believed in it and have kept trying to change the world.
Anonymous
1 Harvey Jackins
2 Jo Saunders is the International Liberation Reference Person for Owning-Class People and the Regional Reference Person for the South Coast and Channel Islands, in England.
3 Contradiction to distress
4 Diane Balser is the International Liberation Reference Person for Women.