In
the 1960's the American cultural anthropologist,
Dr. David K. Reynolds,
blended the Japanese
Morita and Naikan therapies together in a new and uniquely western
way and named it Constructive
Living (CL).
Morita
Therapy is a more than seventy year old purpose-centered,
response-oriented therapy from Japan.
Dr.
Shoma Morita (1874-1938), the founder of
Morita
Therapy, was a psychiatrist and department chair at Jikei
University's School of Medicine in Tokyo. Morita's personal training in
Zen Buddhism influenced his teachings, yet Morita practice is not Zen
practice.
Naikan
is a Japanese word which means "inside looking" or
"introspection." A more poetic translation is "seeing
oneself with the mind's eye."
It
is a structured method of self- reflection that helps us to understand
ourselves, our relationships and the fundamental nature of human
existence. Naikan therapy was developed by
Yoshimoto Ishin, a devout Buddhist of the Jodo Shinshu sect in Japan.
Like
the Ying and Yang principles, Morita and Naikan complement each other in
CL to achieve a Constructive Living paradigm.
'Constructive
Living'
differs from traditional western psychology in many respects:
In CL, how you feel is important
as a sensation and as an indicator for the present moment. Feelings are
seen as uncontrollable.
You don't create feelings, feelings happen to
you. Since feelings do not cause our behavior, we can coexist with
unpleasant feelings while taking constructive action.
