GASi President

Eleven months until the GASi Symposium, in Barcelona. Most of the, inevitable, difficulties have been overcome. The symposium committees will meet in Barcelona, in two weeks and we are in good shape.  Earlybird registration is open – please contribute to the Bursary fund, when you register, if you can – and the Scientific Committee looks forward to receiving proposals for papers and workshops, to give shape to our triennial gathering.  There, we shall be able to grapple with the ever-present process of language, dividing and linking us, shaping our thoughts and our relationships.

For the first time, the English-speakers amongst us will be able to share the experience of not immediately understanding what is being said, an experience which is so familiar to those for whom English is more alien. For the first time, there will be opportunities for us to explore the complex processes of translation and to discover that, in reality, translation is part of all our communication, even when we are using our mother tongues.

I feel very excited at the prospect of the symposium.  Occasionally, we shall need patience and find that, more than usual, we are called upon, to help one another to achieve the elusive goal of understanding. We can hope to achieve a deeper insight into the nature of the Society’s foundation matrix, whilst creating a rich dynamic sphere of communication, in all our social engagements, during the symposium.

Before that, and imminently in our St. Petersburg workshop, we have an opportunity to explore themes of Authority and Leadership.  What could be more pertinent, when, globally, we face what can only be considered a crisis of political and spiritual leadership? In this context, what sorts of leaders do we look for and create? Beyond blaming leaders for their manifest failings, lies the task of uncovering different models of leadership, which may allow the development of collective strategies for survival.  Does an appreciation of powerful movements of forces in the social unconscious enable us to imagine democratic forms, which will help us to survive and overcome the prevalent sense of helpless hopelessness?

It has sometimes been suggested that group analysis has a problem with ‘authority’. However, what seems closer to the truth is that, for group analysis, the issue of authority remains, appropriately unresolved.  An openness on the issue is a hopeful basis for our reflections, at this time.

David Glyn
dearjee@gmail.com