The healing energy of the psychotherapist

Abstract

In a classic novel of late 19th century Sicily (Lampedusa 1960), the author tells of a priest named Father Pirrone who returned from the elite world of Palermo nobility to visit some family members in the simple peasant village where he had been born. There, talking to a boyhood friend who had become the village herbalist, the priest lost himself in erudite conversation. It was late at night, and “The death of Socrates (which the priest had just mentioned) was too much for the herbalist; he had given up and was fast asleep. Father Pirrone noticed this and was pleased, for now he would be able to talk freely without fear of being misunderstood; and he felt a need of talking, so as to fix into a pattern of phrases some ideas obscurely milling in his head.” I too have some ideas obscurely milling in my head and feel a need to fix them into a pattern of phrases. I hope I won’t put you to sleep in the process, like the poor herbalist in the novel, but if that happens at least I have the thought that I can talk freely without fear of being misunderstood.