The Schopenhauer Cure (34 page)

They probably got off on it too. I mean, we're talking about ladies as though they only get used or exploited. I get riled, really riled, by this picture of men begging for some scrap of sex which

women, sitting on their thrones, may or may not decide to toss out as a favor. As though they don't get off too."

Tony turned his head at the sound of Pam slapping her head

as she covered her face with her hands and noted that Rebecca, too, had her hands to her head. "Okay, okay, maybe I'll toss those last cards and just stick with the cards saying,
Why now?
"

"Good question, Tony. I appreciate your getting me started.

A few minutes ago I was wishing I had a cotherapist here to help me, and then you come along and do the job. You're good at this.

Therapy could have been a good career for you. Let's see.
Why now?
I've asked that question so many times, and yet this may be the first time I've had it come my way. First, I think you're all right-on when you say it's not because of my bargain with Philip.

Yet I can't dismiss that entirely because there is something to his point about the I-thou relationship. To quote Philip, the idea is 'not without merit.'" Julius smiled at Philip but received no smile in return.

Julius continued, "What I mean is, there
is
some problem with the lack of reciprocity in the authentic therapy relationship--

it's a knotty question. So addressing that problem is part of my reason for accepting Philip's challenge."

Julius wanted a response. He felt he had been speaking too

long. He turned to Philip. "How do
you
feel about what I've said so far?"

Philip jerked his head around, startled at Julius's question.

After a moment's deliberation he said, "It seems generally agreed here that I'm one of those who have chosen to reveal a great deal.

That's inaccurate. Someone in the group revealed something about their experience with me, and I revealed what I did only in the service of historical accuracy."

"Want to tell me what's that got to do with anything?" asked

Tony.

"Exactly," said Stuart. "Talk about accuracy, Philip! First,

for the record, I'm not one who's thought you've revealed

yourself. But, mainly I want to say your answer is nowhere near the mark. It has zero to do with Julius's question about your

feelings."

Philip seemed to take no offense. "Right. Okay, back to

Julius's question--I think I was confounded by his question

because I
had
no feelings. There was nothing in what he said to warrant an emotional response."

"
That
at least is relevant," said Stuart. "Your earlier response came out of left field."

"I am so tired of your pseudodementia game here!" Pam,

slapping her thigh in exasperation, spit out her words to Philip.

"And I'm pissed at your refusing to give me a name! This referring to me as 'someone in the group' is insulting and imbecilic."

"By
pseudodementia
you imply I feign ignorance?" said

Philip, avoiding Pam's glare.

"Glory be," said Bonnie, raising her arms, "A first. The two

of you are acknowledging one another, actually speaking."

Pam ignored Bonnie's remark and continued speaking to

Philip. "Pseudodementia is a compliment compared to its

alternative. You say you can find nothing in Julius's remark

warranting a response. How
can anyone
have no responses to Julius?" Pam's eyes blazed.

"For example?" asked Philip. "You obviously have

something in mind for me to feel."

"Let's try
gratitude
for taking you and your thoughtless and insensitive question seriously. Let's try
respect
for keeping his Ithou promise to you. Or how about
sorrow
for what he went through in the past. Or
fascination
or even
identification
with his unruly sexual feelings. Or
admiration
for his willingness to work with you, with all of us, despite his cancer. And that's just for starters." Pam raised her voice: "How could you
not
have feelings?" Pam looked away from Philip, breaking off their

contact.

Philip didn't answer. He sat still as a Buddha, leaning

forward in his chair, gazing at the floor.

In the deep silence following Pam's outburst Julius

wondered how best to continue. Often it was better to wait--one of his favorite therapy axioms was
"strike when the iron is cold!"

Viewing therapy, as he so often did, as a sequence of

emotion activation followed by integration, Julius reflected upon the abundance of emotional expression today. Perhaps too much.

Time to move on to understanding and integration. Choosing an

oblique route, he turned to Bonnie, "So, what about the
'glory be!

'"

"Reading my thoughts again, Julius? How do you do it? I

was just thinking about that crack and regretting it. I'm afraid it came out wrong and sounded mocking. Did it?" She looked at Pam and then Philip.

"I didn't think so at the time," said Pam, "but yeah, looking

back, there's some mocking there."

"Sorry," said Bonnie. "But this boiling caldron here, you

and Philip sniping, all those carom shots--I just felt relieved by the directness. And you?" she turned to Philip. "You resent my

comment?"

"Sorry." Philip continued looking down. "It didn't register. I was only aware of the glare in her eyes."

"Her?" said Tony.

"In Pam's eyes." He turned to Pam, his voice quavered for

an instant, "in your eyes, Pam,"

"Okay, man," said Tony, "
now
we're rolling."

"Were you scared, Philip?" asked Gill. "It's not easy to be

on the receiving end of
that,
is it?"

"No, I was entirely preoccupied in my search for some way

of not allowing her glare, her words, her opinion to matter to me. I mean, Pam,
your
words,
your
opinion."

"Sounds like you and I have something in common, Philip,"

said Gill. "You're like me--we both have our problems with

Pam."

Philip looked at Gill and nodded, perhaps a nod of gratitude,

Julius thought. When it seemed clear that Philip was not going to offer more, Julius looked around the group to bring in other

members. He never passed up an opportunity to widen the

interaction network: with the faith of an evangelist he believed that the more members involved in the interaction, the more effective the group. He wanted to engage Pam--her outburst toward Philip was still ringing in the air. To that end, he addressed Gill and said, "Gill, you say it's not easy to be on the receiving end of Pam's comments...and last week you referred to Pam as the chief

justice--can you say more?"

"Oh, it's just my stuff, I know, I'm not sure and I'm not a

good judge of this, but--"

Julius interrupted, "Stop! Let's freeze the action right here.

At this instant." He turned to Pam: "Look at what Gill just said. Is that related to your saying you don't or can't listen to him?"

"Exactly," said Pam. "Quintessential Gill. Look, Gill, here's

what you just announced:
'Don't pay any attention to what I'm about to say. It's not important--I'm not important--it's just my stuff. Don't want to offend. Don't listen to me.'
Not only do you disqualify yourself, but it is vapid. Downright tedious. Christ, Gill!

You got something to say? Just stand up and say it!"

"So, Gill," Julius asked, "
if you were going
to say it straight out without preamble, what would it be?" That good old

conditional voice ploy.

"I'd say to her--to you, Pam--
you
are the judge I fear here.

You sit in judgment of me. I'm uneasy--no, I'm downright

terrified, in your presence."

"That's straight, Gill.
Now
I'm listening," said Pam.

"So, Pam," said Julius, "that's two men here--Philip and

Gill--who express fear of you. Do you have some reaction to

that?"

"Yep--a big reaction: '
That's their problem.
'"

"Any possibility that it's also your problem?" said Rebecca.

"Maybe other men in your life have felt this too."

"I'll think about it."

"Feedback, anyone, about this last interchange?" Asked

Julius.

"I think Pam's being a little dodgy," said Stuart.

"I agree. I get the feeling that you're not going to think too hard about it, Pam," said Bonnie.

"Yep, you're dead right. I think I'm still smarting from

Rebecca saying she wanted to protect Philip from my rage."

"It's a dilemma, isn't it, Pam?" said Julius. "As you just said to Gill, you value no-bullshit feedback. Yet when you get it, ouch, how it smarts."

"That's true--so maybe I'm not as tough as I appear. And,

Rebecca, that did hurt."

Rebecca said, "I'm sorry, Pam; that wasn't my intention.

Supporting Philip is not identical to attacking you."

Julius waited and wondered in which direction to guide the

group. There were many possibilities. Pam's rage and

judgmentalism were on the table. And what about the other men, Tony and Stuart? Where were they? And the competitiveness

between Pam and Rebecca was still on the table. Or should the

group deal with the unfinished business with Bonnie and her

mocking statement? Or perhaps focus more on the outburst from

Pam to Philip? He knew it was best to be patient; it would be a mistake to push too fast. After only a handful of meetings there had been definite progress toward detente. Maybe they had done enough today. Hard to gauge, though; Philip gave little away. But then, to Julius's surprise, the group took an entirely unanticipated direction.

"Julius," said Tony, "I been wondering. You okay with the

response to what you revealed?"

"Well, we didn't get very far. Let me think about what

happened. You told me how you felt and so did Pam, and then she and Philip got into it about his not having feelings about my

revelation. And, Tony, I never really answered your question about 'why now.' Let me go back to that." Julius took time to gather his thoughts, keenly aware that his self-revelation, or that of any therapist, always had double implications: first, whatever he got out of it for himself and, second, the modeling that it set for the group.

"I can tell you that I was not about to be deterred from

revealing what I did. I mean, almost everyone here tried to stop me, but I felt bullheaded, absolutely determined to continue. This is very unusual for me and I'm not sure I understand it fully, but there's something important there. You inquired, Tony, whether I was asking for help with it--or maybe asking for forgiveness. No, that wasn't it; long ago I forgave myself after spending years working on it with my friends and with a therapist. One thing I can tell you for sure: in the past, I mean before my melanoma, I would never, not in a thousand years, have said what I said in the group today.

"Before my melanoma," Julius continued. "That's the key.

We've all got a death sentence--I know you all pay me well for such cheery pronouncements--but the experience of having it

certified, stamped, and even dated has sure caught my attention.

My melanoma is giving me a strange sense of release that's got a lot to do with my revealing myself today. Maybe that's why I've been yearning for a cotherapist--someone objective who can

make sure that I continue acting in your best interests."

Julius stopped. Then, he added, "I noted that none of you

responded earlier when I commented on how you were taking care of me today."

After a few more moments of silence, Julius added, "And

you're still not.You see, this is why I miss having a cotherapist here. I've always believed that if there's something big that's not being talked about, then nothing else that's important can be

worked on either. My job is to remove obstacles; the last thing I want is to
be
an obstacle. Now, it's hard for me to get outside myself, but I feel you're avoiding me, or let me put it this way, avoiding
my mortal illness.
"

Bonnie said, "I
want
to discuss what's happening to you; but I don't want to cause you pain."

Others agreed.

"Yep, now you've put your finger right on it. Now listen

hard to what I'm going to say: there's only one way you can hurt me
--and that is to cut yourself off from me.
It's hard to talk to someone with a life-threatening illness--I know that. People have a tendency to tread gently; they don't know the right thing to say."

"That's right-on for me," said Tony. "I don't know what to

say. But I'm going to try to stay with you."

"I sense that, Tony."

"Isn't it so," said Philip, "that people fear contact with the afflicted because they wish not to be confronted with the death that awaits each of them?"

Julius nodded. "That sounds important, Philip. Let's

examine it here." If anyone but Philip had said this, Julius would have been sure to ask whether they were expressing their own

feelings. However, at this stage, he wanted only to support Philip's appropriateness. He scanned the group, awaiting a response.

"Maybe," said Bonnie, "there's something to what Philip

said because I've had a couple of recent nightmares of something trying to kill me, and then there was that nightmare I described--

trying to catch that train which was falling apart."

"I know that under the surface I'm more fearful than usual,"

said Stuart. "One of my tennis chums is a dermatologist, and twice now in the last month I've asked him to check out one of my skin lesions. Melanoma is on my mind."