Narrative Therapy

Thus, Tomm shows us his path of rethinking Narrative Therapy for himself. To my mind this is the paralogical growth of Tomm's perspective.

It is, I believe, only in the marketing of any theory that it stands still in the consumer's mind. Consider how drastically Freud's theory changed over the forty years he wrote. How could any intelligent writer continue in the same unchanged, unimproved theory of things?

Living theories are continuously under revision, even as we discuss them, even as we encounter each new case.

The challenge is, it seems to me, how to stand on the shoulders of a good theorist like Michael White. Is it shameless of us to harvest what we see as the best in the crop of his ideas? And to weave these good ideas into the paralogical growth of our own thinking? Or do we owe something to a teacher to preserve his ideas in their original form?

I see that question as perhaps the biggest one of all. Unless we can find new ways to use ideas for our own eclectic growth, in the end, postmodernism will be reduced to just another school of thought. What it has to teach us that is most precious is this ability that Tomm has shown, the ability to cherish one set of ideas but to change them in ways that seem promising with remarkable irreverence.

I much admire Tomm's ability to learn from White, and to honor that learning, while, at the same time, to explore his own thinking and to honor the wisdom of his own voice.