Author: Monica Zuretti.
Abstract
“Scenes from the People” (Escenas de los pueblos) appeared in the Psychodramatic universe for the first time in Buenos Aires (Argentina) as a response by psychodramatists to a very serious social, cultural, and economic crisis in 2001. Due to the pandemic, and working remotely online, many psychodramatists felt the need to organize something that would reach the community massively. The first and second “Scenes from the Villages” gatherings are described. The care during the pandemic is discussed through an analysis of the evolution of this process based on the five stages of role development and the cosmic matrix, from undifferentiation to the possibility of assuming one’s own role and achieving role reversal to reach the Encounter. This analysis will be made from the evolution of roles, drawing a parallel with the development of Spontaneity and Creativity in the universe.
Keywords: Roles; Escenas de los pueblos (Scenes from the Villages); Pandemic; Care; Cosmic Matrix.
Introduction
“Scenes from the People” was born in 2001 as a spontaneous movement of the Argentine psychodrama community where more than 160 psychodramatists, acting individually without support from any institution, decided to intervene in the very serious and distressing situation of the social matrix. They decided to hold free, open-air psychodramatic gatherings simultaneously on the same day, October 12, 2002, primarily in public squares. The squares and parks of Buenos Aires and many similar places across the country and in other places like Mexico, Venezuela, Spain, and Italy.
First “Scenes from the People” Gathering
Care in the Pandemic (September 2020)
When the Pandemic hit the world and many Argentine psychodramatists began working remotely online, both in our country and elsewhere, we perceived that it was necessary to organize something that would reach the community massively. We met and proposed recreating the feat, and using screens as our “squares,” we proposed “Scenes from the Villages: Care in the Pandemic.” A work focused on questions that we thoroughly worked on to understand what was happening to us from within ourselves.
We decided that in September, coinciding with the equinox, we would make our first attempt. The response was astonishing: more than 100 psychodramatists worked from their spaces, 40 countries were involved, and a movement was created that persists to this day. Based on this work, we were able to establish very deep bonds even across great distances. We created a supportive group for support and accompaniment among us psychodramatists, setting aside competition and giving greater transcendence to collaboration. The choice of the date is not casual, as it allows for cyclicity in consonance with the planet and gives room to understand the different situations according to the planetary space one inhabits and the relationship with the sun, temperature, or the movements of a herd or whales. Humanity seems to react very much in consonance with these situations even when it does not easily recognize it. The first “Scenes from the Villages” gathering, “Care in the Pandemic,” September 2020, manifests the reaction to an unprecedented phenomenon like Covid. In different scenes, its relationship with previous pandemics and with extremely important traumatic world events like the wars of the last century is discovered, but fundamentally, the need to take care of ourselves and to change emerges, attributing to the virus characteristics of a warning message about the need to consider nature and the planet. It is taken as an alert message to a social matrix that has in many aspects lost its way.
We will try to analyze the evolution of this process from the five stages of role development in the matrix of identity, from undifferentiation to the possibility of assuming one’s own role and achieving role reversal to reach the Encounter. This analysis will be made from the evolution of roles, drawing a parallel with the development of Spontaneity and Creativity in the universe. This first gathering, which consists of online workshops in different latitudes, shows the tendency, which will later be confirmed, of a social matrix to express itself from the reality it is currently experiencing.
The number of workshops from the Southern Hemisphere is greater, with participation varying according to the time of year and the reality of the pandemic’s expression. At that time, the Southern Hemisphere was entering spring, and the North was entering autumn. One with the illusion of overcoming the Pandemic, the other facing the consequences of having believed in that overcoming. This difference shows the influence of planetary reality, with the North-South seasonal differences, which manifested throughout the entire course of these months. lf humanity transforms this into consciousness, it will have taken a step towards unity.
Throughout this cycle, we understood the situation and the needs of our colleagues and friends; some we could accompany and work with, others were not interested. This first gathering – which ends with a large closing meeting where all workshops are presented and acknowledged – has a great impact and gives birth to many branches of a tree with a strong trunk. A network that contains. The main consequence is the decision to continue holding “Scenes from the Villages.” And the date for the next gathering is set for December, coinciding with the Solstice.
First Stage – Total Undifferentiation
Here, in the cosmic matrix, all possibilities exist, a hunger for acts that is waiting to express itself as simple spontaneity without form or objective. This spontaneity pushes forward, and everything begins. A form, a small infinitesimal drop with everything inside it. A concentrated and condensed particle of energy and creativity. From this first work, a network begins to structure with bonds that strengthen and increase its cohesion. The branches that grow are of utmost importance because, for the first time, collaborative work teams are formed to conduct workshops open to the community with coordinators from different countries and integrated communities but born in a specific space.
The first of these initiatives is carried out by Licenciada Sandra Bartolano from Oaxaca (Mexico), who proposes a series of workshops, one per week from her foundation and open to anyone who wants to participate. To carry it out, she sends an invitation through the “Scenes” network to all coordinators; many of them respond, and it is carried out with great success, inaugurating a collaborative way of working with the community. This movement gains a lot of strength in the Latin American group, which from then on works to achieve a permanent presence on the networks. A group of healthcare workers and emergency responders is established
Second Stage – Differentiation
The different possibilities separate from the totality. Elements attract each other to expand and stop expanding as each space takes on its structure. Then the slower period of creativity begins, making a constant dance between Spontaneity and Creativity a reality. This second stage multiplies into different expressions that take place between the first and second gatherings.
Second “Scenes from the People”
Gathering (December 2020)
As we approached the date of December 21st, the preparation meetings began again, and it was notable that the range of participants had changed. The number of participants from other places had increased, and just as in the first manifestation of “Scenes from the Villages: Care in the Pandemic,” the majority of participants were South Americans, in this second one, participation from the Northern Hemisphere had multiplied. We can take into account the differences in seasons. When it is spring or summer, people tend more towards expansion and joy, and conversely, in winter times, towards reflection that allows for care. Also, probably the increase in Covid cases and the urgent need for care. No longer, as in the first, a proposal from and towards prevention, but from a true urgency that needs to provide a rapid response and containment to a phenomenon that does not stop, that expands, that returns, and that is unmanageable.
Now, differences begin to be delimited; the group of coordinators from so many countries has ceased to be a unit without major differences and has become a complex organism that is defining its differences. In this delimitation, the different possibilities of the group to maintain its cohesion appear, despite the difficulties of expression and communication due to different languages and latitudes. However, complementarity is prioritized, and the need to overcome these difficulties by delimiting them and establishing links and bridges, such as translations that overcome differences.
From this gathering, projects are born again in different places with variations according to cultural and social characteristics. The relationships between Latin American groups are especially strengthened, maintaining a deep connection, developing projects that allow them to feel the presence of the other and to sustain themselves and their social matrix so as not to become ill.
Third Stage – Delimitation
From one aspect of the total experience, we thus move to the fourth gathering in March, where participation from the northern hemisphere is again much lower, but a very interesting group phenomenon occurs. Small work groups are formed with common elements but differentiating and emphasizing their own identity, recognizing themselves in connection with the other groups, but different. Connection was also established with institutions of the social matrix. For example, the University of Costa Rica offered a program open to all communities for the purpose of care in the Pandemic, thus conveying through established institutions like this prestigious University, the message that had been born almost a year earlier when a significant number of group coordinators grouped together and proposed a spontaneous response to a world situation of great gravity. In this stage, self-recognition and the possibility of relating to the outside world emerge. During this gathering, it becomes evident that something that was initially taken as fleeting and a sign of change would not be so fleeting, nor would it be so easy for the social matrix to change. The need to elaborate on grief continues, as well as the need to continue life. Care roles-doctors, nurses, teachers-have a great need to be supported and cared for. Also, proposals to consider ecology and increase care for the planet. A new concept emerges: the need to reinforce the social immune system by strengthening bonds and care.
Fourth Stage – The Mirror Phase
Focused on self-growth, each being will focus on itself, on its own creative capacity, will differentiate itself from other beings, and will acquire its own dimension.
Fifth Stage – Role Reversal
We can say that this identity has been strengthened, allowing “Scenes from the Villages” to be named a Movement. The experience is presented at conferences or gatherings.
“Scenes from the Villages” is presented by its members who perform a role reversal with themselves in the role of the creator from the beginning. They convey the certainty that a correct and new response can be given to a crisis situation. It completes the last stage of that cycle with the celebration in June, where the need to continue the journey is recognized, but also the effects that this constant care has provided this movement to its members and to the outside. Has it borne fruit and is it willing to continue expanding the message of change and care, creating a great challenge for psychodramatists? Will this work, this movement, be able to demonstrate its effectiveness and existence beyond moments of global crisis? The beginning of a new form, using its spontaneous capacity to react appropriately to a new situation and recreate what is necessary. Creativity finds relationships and gives birth to the capacity to Love.
The understanding from the five stages is based on the role theory described by J. L. Moreno in the description of psychosomatic roles in the chapter on the matrix of identity in Psychodrama. The extension to the description of spontaneity and creativity as roles of the cosmic matrix was published in the chapter on Sociopsychodrama in the Sociodrama book compiled by Ron Winer and others from Routledge publishing house.
Moreno’s Theory about a New Cosmic
Understanding
Role theory identifies a group of roles that develop in each matrix, for example, psychosomatic roles within the matrix of identity and social roles within the social matrix. Until now, there has been no theory about what roles might develop in the cosmic matrix. Débora M de Penna, in her work with fractals and psychodrama presented at the Ibero-American Congress in 2009 in Quito (Ecuador), describes creativity and spontaneity as cosmic roles.
Within the cosmic matrix, there are two movements: Expansion and Contraction. When the universe is in the phase of expansion, it continues to grow and have multiple possibilities. When it contracts, different forms appear, generated in the expanded fabric, modifying space and time. A parallel could be seen between these two rhythmic forces of the universe and the two forces in Moreno’s role theory: Spontaneity and Creativity. The Spontaneity factor, the expansion, and the extreme drive towards change, can be considered the farce within the cosmic matrix that gives power to change, movement, and Creation. Creativity appears when spontaneity reaches the moment at which something must change, like the creative act of birth. Be it a being, a planet, a galaxy, or a movement like “Scenes from the Villages.”
We can continue to find parallels between the five stages of psychosomatic roles that are the basis of the human psyche and the process of the Cosmic Matrix.
First Stage – Total Undifferentiation
Here, in the cosmic matrix, all possibilities exist, a hunger for acts that is waiting to express itself as simple spontaneity. This spontaneity pushes forward, and everything begins. A form, a small infinitesimal drop with everything inside it. A concentrated and condensed particle of energy and creativity has begun its first step in the instant before the Big Bang.
Second Stage – Differentiation
The different possibilities separate from the totality. The entire universe begins to unite to form different chemicals; elements attract each other to expand and stop expanding as each space takes on its structure. Then the slower period of creativity begins. From here, galaxies and stars will be born, and the internal movement will be limited, making a constant dance between Spontaneity and Creativity a reality.
Third Stage – Delimitation
From one aspect of the total experience. The Cosmic Matrix will allow this dance until the moment of the creation of biological life. A new chemical structure will be born; from this instant, the relationship between the elements will continue until it can create beings capable of looking at themselves who will grow and multiply. The Respirator role described by Moreno, the contact between each being and the cosmos, is the beginning of a new life, the boundary between biological life on the planet and non-life, death, a new dimension.
Fourth Stage – The Mirror Phase
Focused on self-growth, the thought process is born, and then the cosmic matrix enters a new phase. It will have within itself the possibility of restarting the process, from its own creative capacity, it will differentiate itself from other beings and acquire its own dimension.
Fifth Stage – Role Reversal
When the cosmic matrix has reached this part, it is on the verge of leaping to a new dimension and towards the beginning of a new form, utilizing its spontaneous capacity to react appropriately to a new situation and recreate what is necessary. Creativity finds relationships and gives birth to the capacity to Love. If this does not happen, it will return to the previous instant, the Big Bang, and start over without any comprehension of the process. This marvelous process of the cosmic matrix is in every cell, in every particle or sub particle, in every string or superstring, and in every fractal. AII the time we must choose between spontaneity and impulsivity, between continuing to create or ending this creativity and leaping into infinite space at any moment. Considering this as a way of understanding the process of humanity, it is possible to say then that the Sociopsychodrama method is part of the constant farce of Creation and has a technique for understanding the small fractions capable of expressing the whole. In string theory, different dimensions are curled up in the Calabi-Yau space (Greene, 2000). So it is possible to think that when a Sociopsychodramatic scene is created, a new dimension that was curled up opens, contacting knowledge that had not been recognized until now and which is subsequently put into action. This dimension is expressed only in the small space-time of the scene. It is spontaneously created by the two roles of the cosmic matrix that found their way through the expression of the social matrix, its roles, and relationships. This unknown dimension will give the group its message, depending on how willing the group is to understand and move within the five stages of the roles of the social and cosmic matrix, to create the new response and consequently change the entire development. This will create a space of understanding where Spontaneity, like Love, can flow in the correct proportion, to allow all elements to establish a new form, allowing creativity through thought to form new structures and establish equilibrium. If this is not possible, that unrecognized knowledge will curl back in on itself, waiting for the moment when it can return to life and perhaps explode in an absolutely non-creative farce. This happens when the hunger for acts present in every cell of the cosmic matrix needs to express itself forcefully and the limits of love and thought are not present to contain the explosion.
In Sociopsychodrama-which opens these new dimensions and expresses silenced needs-it must be heard to fulfill its objective. Are Sociopsychodramatists aware of the enormous responsibility involved in opening these dimensions? ls it possible for them to take the realities exposed in a scene and change them sufficiently to influence the Social Matrix and consequently the planet?
Every farce in the fabric of the cosmos, except gravity, has a particle that expresses it, like the electromagnetic farce that operates on electrons. ls there a particle, or better yet, the vibration of a string, that represents the farce of human thoughts or the farce of humans thinking together? Does the vibration of a string exist that represents Love? If so: Are we accepting this and allowing our feelings and thoughts to heal the planet? Every scene in a Sociopsychodrama includes both parts: thought and love. If vibrations are one of the forces of the Universe, we are creating new ways to touch them with our work. Not only humanity but also the Cosmic Matrix, and consequently, continuing with Moreno’s first vision, we can say along with him, “I am God, The Father, The Creator of the Universe” (Moreno, 1941, p. 5). Recognizing in every child the essence of Love and Creativity.
References
Penna, D. M. (2009). Fractales y Psicodrama. Congreso Iberoamericano de Psicodrama, Maya 2009. Quito, Ecuador. Greene, B. (2000). The elegant universe: Superstrings, hidden dimensions, and the quest for the ultimate theory. Vintage Books.
Moreno J.L. (1941). Words of the Father. Beacon House.
Monica Zuretti (Argentina). Psychodrama Director by the Moreno Institute, Beacon N.Y. under the direction of J. L. Moreno and Zerka T. Moreno. A direct disciple of the creator of psychodrama, she maintains a working style faithful to the original method, the theoretical foundations, and extraordinarily meticulous in the application of techniques. Founder and director of the Zerka T. Moreno Center, she invokes the term sociopsychodrama for the first time to integrate the sociaI, personal, and cosmic dimensions of the work and makes a significant contribution to the development of sociodrama as a psychosocial intervention technique.