Philosophy

By themselves two voices amount to little.

Fused, they set in motion something that,  for want of a better term, we may just as well call life.

~Joseph Brodsky

In her twenties, Dr. Pivnick spent many months backpacking her way through a number of mountain ranges, searching for purpose.  Gradually, this idea took shape:

Each tree is but one of many, is completely insignificant as an individual creation, is actually dispensable. But at the same time, each tree is part of a grove of trees, sheltering ferns and slugs, using up dead air so as to exhale fresh air, drinking from the ground so as to blossom and nourish butterflies and bees, its chlorophyll-rich foliage providing nesting spots for birds, squirrels, and mammals too creepy to contemplate. As part of this web of nature, each tree is totally indispensable, as so many life forms depend on it. Isn’t this true of people, too? That we are each rather unimportant and ephemeral as individuals, but quite significant for what and who we nurture, provide for, play with?

Dr. Pivnick realized that if she could help to change even one person, the alteration in that individual’s ability to love and be loved would create better interactions with his or her many friends and associates, who in turn might be kinder to themselves and others. She came to believe the rippling set off in our mutual social net would set in motion waves of healing that could contribute to repairing our world.

Reflecting on the many years Dr. Pivnick has been practicing psychotherapy, first as a dance therapist and then as a clinical psychologist-psychoanalyst, that belief is beginning to feel more like … wisdom.