From civil rights and R.D. Laing to Zen: the therapeutic practice of Dr Leon Redler. (2nd October 2017) - Ivimy, Jacky
ABSTRACT: The author describes the life work of Dr Leon Redler from his early days as a Civil Rights activist in the US to his current work in the UK and South East Asia in collaboration with SOAS, exploring consensual ways of empowering groups. The article outlines his close collaboration with RD Laing over the Kingsley Hall experiment and the 1967 Dialectics of Liberation Congress alongside his work with the Archway Community and the Philadelphia Association, plus the 'Anna' controversy over the use of pills versus therapy for those in states of mental distress. Also described is Dr Redler's journey towards a wiser understanding of these states of distress via his own personal experience and his arrival at a therapeutic practice based on a detached loving concern for the 'Other', influenced by the existential philosophers Levinas and Derrida together with his discovery of the practice of Zen and Zazen. The material is taken from conversations with Dr Redler, his own written account of his life and philosophy, film of the Archway Community and other written and filmed interviews and accounts, plus the author's personal experience of therapy with Dr Redler.