The First Presidential Address

Our International Primal Association has attained the reality of formal structure. But that is hardly good enough. The existence of the I.P.A. can only be justified if the novel set of hopes expressed at the founding convention in Montreal are realized. The realization of these hopes now devolves upon all of us.

In this first Presidential message, I would like to offer my perceptions and feelings about some of the convention hopes:

1) To share with each other our burgeoning body of feeling-knowledge as opposed to abstract head dances. This can be accomplished by programs, meetings, workshops, and publications which are open to fresh forms and content. But this, like visiting each other at work, requires an openness that defies typical "professional" protocol and guardedness. The more we can trust our feelings, the more we will trust each other.

2) Our woefully manipulated "civilization" does not need still another organization of "experts." lf our primal method and philosophy are truly egalitarian then the I.P.A. will be an association of all primalers, primalees, students, and friends of the primal orientation. All must be invited to join and to contribute according to their means. We hold that the primalee's thoughts and feelings are crucial for theory and practice. Indeed, the primalee has always been the first to obfuscate the living, immediate experience under a pile of anal-ytic jargon in order to defend himself against intense feeling and in order to take charge of his "patient." Instead, we pledge not to talk their, or our own fears and tears away. We will feel with them and weep with them, for we are they and they are us. We are all, more or less, infants hurt by an inhumane society and its unfeeling mommies and daddies.

3) The primal way is not a mere technique, nor just another and better kind of therapy. Instead, it is a very special expression and application of the rising counter-culture. "Therapy" was Janov's unfortunate choice of terms. It defines an authoritarian, expert-patient relationship, and it implies a body of knowledge to be practiced exclusively by the properly ordained professional. Today's generation is tired of being manipulated for its own good, and has learned to distrust the "experts" who have made such a shambles of life on earth. "Maturity" has meant the repression of childhood pain and anguish. This was the verdict of the experts who feared that civilization might not otherwise survive its discontents. Now, we are dedicated to the fullest expression of all human discontents for we are convinced that not the expression but the repression of feelings is the most destructive process in the human world.

4) Now, Arthur Janov: bravo for your guts and singleminded push to rediscover the primal way. You helped mightily to confirm and focus the less bold experiments many of us were involved in for years. You exhumed Breuer and Freud's "cathartic method," rejuvenated Reich's attack on the "body armor," and provided an intensely emotional setting for C. Roger's "locus of evaluation and responsibility in the client." Indeed, you put so many things together with compelling clarity. We are indebted to you for your admirable contributions. However, yours are not the final words, nor are you the ultimate authority for the theory and practice of primal. At best, we are all students.

Many of us are not certain about the utility of a three-week intensive. Perhaps two, four or five would be better. Certainly, some individuals seem to require less and some more intensive work. Further, experience has demonstrated that some go very far in pre-intensive group work. Some of us are far less persuaded than you are that primal leads to a "cure." A cure may exist in theory, but seems hardly possible outside the womb. Perhaps we can help to start the primal process, but, can we ever really enter into someone else's growth flow, let alone decide the rate, direction, or completion of such growth?

Understandably, you are apprehensive about the rise of revisionism since yours is quite a total vision. Yet, ironically, the subversion of every new movement begins with the fear and suppression sown by its self-appointed guardians. There is no better remedy for the corruption of ideas and institutions than the fullest and most open expression of viewpoints. If we are ready to learn from our primalers, we should be equally open to learn from each other. So, Arthur Janov, join us to build a non-monopolistic and non-totalitarian primal movement throughout the world! Don't split the movement and isolate yourself from it. Instead, take your rightful place at the head of it.

Herman Weiner, Ph.D., was one of the IPA founders and its first president. In 1954 he started practicing psychotherapy in New York, and he received his doctorate in clinical psychology at NYU in 1959. Dr. Weiner directed the Primal Center of Toronto from 1973 to 1981 and then returned to New York City to practice and play tennis. Thanks, Hy.

This article appeared in the Summer 2002 IPA Newsletter.