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A Safe Space

The first prerequisite to metapsychological exploration, then, as with any task requiring concentration, is to create a calm and safe environment in which to work. The basic procedure of metapsychological personal exploration is called "viewing". This procedure involves a "facilitator", who gets another person, called a "viewer", to look at ("view") various aspects of his experience in order to arrive at an understanding that will enable him to control, and improve the quality of, his life. The term "facilitator" is used, instead of "counsellor", because the facilitator is not there to give counselling but only to facilitate the process of viewing, which is being done by the viewer. In order for the viewer to concentrate his awareness on his experience, the space must be safe and free from distractions. In particular, the viewer must have:

• Confidence and trust in the facilitator.
• Confidence in the way the session is being run.
• A calm and distraction-free environment.
• No time pressure.

1. The facilitator must agree not to reveal or use anything the viewer says to him in a session for any purpose except to help the viewer and to improve his own skill as a facilitator. If the material is to be used as an illustration to train or educate others, the consent of the viewer must first be obtained, and suitable steps must be taken to protect the privacy of the viewer. If the viewer feels that certain material should not be recorded because of its potentially damaging or embarassing nature, then that material should not be recorded. The facilitator can usually put down all data necessary to continuing the process of viewing without recording those items.
2. The facilitator must control the session and take complete responsibility for it, without dominating or overwhelming the viewer, so that the viewer can put all of his attention on viewing. If the viewer has to worry about what the agenda should be for the session, then his attention will be distracted from its proper object: the material he is viewing. Conceptually, the facilitator is like a personal secretary or office manager, who handles and screens all phone calls, keeps the files, and reminds him of his appointments, so that the executive can smoothly do his job. Similarly, the facilitator keeps records of the session, keeps the agenda straight, and reminds the viewer when he needs to take the next action.
3. The facilitator must make sure that he understands what the viewer is saying. A viewer knows right away when he is not being understood. When that happens, he feels alone and unsupported. If the facilitator does not understand, he must seek clarification by admitting his lack of understanding as something having to do with him, not with the viewer. So he would say, "I'm sorry -- I didn't get what you said. Could you give it to me again?" He wouldn't say, "You are being unclear," or "That sounds like nonsense," or even "Please clarify what you mean." In other words, the facilitator should take responsibility for not understanding. He should not blame the viewer. Similarly, the facilitator must not interrupt or stop the viewer from reporting, explaining, or making himself understood. Such interruptions can be quite distressing or distracting to a viewer.
4. The facilitator must be interested in the viewer and what he is saying, instead of being interesting to the viewer. If the facilitator becomes interesting, he will act as a distraction, pulling the viewer's attention to himself instead of allowing the viewer to place his attention on the material he is viewing. The facilitator's interest reinforces the viewer's willingness to view and report on the material he is viewing. Again, a viewer knows immediately whether or not the facilitator is really interested or not.
5. The facilitator must have a firm and primary intention to help the viewer. If the facilitator has such an intention, he will be interested in what is going on, as per (4), above. On the other hand, if, for instance, the facilitator is mainly interested in making money, even if he also has the intention to help the viewer, the viewer will pick up the fact that he is only of secondary importance or interest to the facilitator, and things will go awry. This doesn't mean that the facilitator couldn't also have other intentions, such as to make money or to improve his skill, but the primary intention must be to help the viewer.
6. The facilitator must ensure that the viewer is in optimum physical shape for the viewing session. He must ensure that the viewer has had enough sleep, that he is not under the influence of psychotropic drugs or alcohol, and that he is not physically tired.
7. The facilitator must ensure that the session is being given in a suitable space and at a suitable time. The viewer should not have conflicting appointments or be under time pressure that could cut the session short before it reaches a suitable stopping point or cause worry about time that would be distracting to the viewer. If, for instance, the viewer is worried about catching a train, he is not going to be able to place all of his attention on the viewing process. Also, the space should be quiet, private, tidy, and should have a comfortable temperature, a comfortable chair, and appropriate, non-glaring lighting.
8. The facilitator should act in a predictable way so as not to surprise the viewer. If the facilitator engages in unpredictable actions, the viewer can get hung up in wondering what's going to happen next -- also a distraction. Part of being predictable is that the facilitator must keep any session appointments he has made. Being stood up for viewing sessions can do a great deal to destroy a viewer's confidence in his facilitator. Also, one should try not to change facilitators frequently. It usually takes awhile for a viewer to "get used to" a facilitator, i.e. for the facilitator to become predictable to the viewer.
9. The facilitator should not work with someone against that person's will or in the presence of any protest over doing the viewing. Sometimes a relative or friend can persuade a person to do viewing even when they don't really want to. Or, conceivably, the courts could order viewing as an alternative to imprisonment. Under these circumstances, viewing does not work well or at all. A major purpose of viewing is to reduce the stress in a person's life. Being forced to do viewing increases stress.
10. The facilitator must not evaluate for the viewer. He must not tell him what he is viewing or what it means. In this respect, a viewer differs radically from most psychoanalysts or psychotherapists who offer interpretations. The viewer must be regarded as an authority on his own experience. This doesn't mean that the facilitator should take orders from the viewer or give the viewer the responsibility for running the session. But he should accept the viewer's data without interpreting it to the viewer.
11. The facilitator must not attack, punish, or invalidate the viewer, nor must he praise or validate the viewer. By "invalidate" is meant making the viewer wrong for something he has said or done. This may require some skill on the part of the facilitator, since even a minor comment, grunt, gesture or change of facial expression can be interpreted as an invalidation or a sign of approval. Obviously, if the viewer feels threatened or made wrong, his attention will be distracted to the facilitator, and the space will no longer be safe. Even if he is praised, the viewer may take this as an indication that the facilitator is judging his performance, and can start worrying that the next judgment might not be so favorable. Some schools of therapy encourage the therapist to express his feelings about what the client is saying or doing or to tell him when he is doing wrong or when he is doing right. This gets the client hung up in trying to please the therapist or avoid criticism. This might be appropriate to a context where one is trying to control behavior, but where one is trying to increase self-reliance, perception, ability, and awareness, it is counter-productive.
12. The facilitator must not do anything in a session that is not directly conducive to the viewing process. A facilitator who, during a viewing session, engages in social chit-chat, talks about himself, makes off-the-wall comments, gives lectures or advice, or indulges in emotional reactions towards the viewer, such as anger or expressions of anxiety, is dynamiting the safe space and distracting the viewer. The viewer has enough to do when engaged in the viewing process without also having to cope with extraneous actions on the part of the facilitator.
13. The facilitator must carry each viewing action to a win for the viewer. He should not leave the viewer at a point of failure, incompleteness or unresolvedness. For this reason, viewing sessions must not be fixed in length. Both the viewer and the facilitator must have somewhat flexible schedules. The facilitator must take responsibility for ending the session, based on his having judged that an appropriate point of resolution has been reached. The viewer, when things get rough, may be inclined to leave the session. The job of the facilitator is to encourage the viewer to stick with it and confront and handle the sticky situation to a good point of resolution. One of the major functions of a facilitator is to help the viewer find the courage and confidence to confront difficult material that he was not able to confront alone. The facilitator, then, must also be courageous and confident.

Frank A. Gerbode, M.D.
Director