‘Once upon a time there was a large mansion. It used to run harmoniously – but it has turned to wrack and ruin. A long time ago the master went away. In his/her absence the servants have taken over. Without master/mistress or a steward to look after them, they do what they like; none of them does his own work. All the servants try to do someone else’s work – which they are not competent to do. The cook works in the stables, the coachman in the kitchen and so on. Whenever someone knocks on the door, a different person answers each time. It is complete chaos. The only possibility for things to improve is if a certain number of servants notice what is going on and begin to set things straight, with everyone once again taking their appropriate roles in preparation for the return of the master.’ (a paraphrased version of G.I. Gurdjieff as quoted in ‘The Fourth Way’ by P.D Ouspensky)

This is an elegant analogy for our present state, for our general lack of integration. Psychodrama, Gestalt, Internal Family Systems and Voice Dialogue all work with parts, but none have such a simple over-riding analogy for their approach as this story of Gurdjieff’s.

I trained in Voice Dialogue in the mid-eighties and though I have worked in many ways since, I keep coming back to this approach, for its capacity to effectively honour the above story’s map of the human condition. There is now contemporary neuroscientific research that affirms the effectiveness of this approach, both in terms of healing trauma, mending the brain and in bringing people back to their essential selves.