The Fifth Province Approach as a Systemic Meditative Practice

Abstract

In this paper we want to share our experience of using systemic practices from a systemic Fifth Province Approach in the facilitation of meditation groups and retreats. We refer to our way of being and doing as a "Fifth Province Systemic Meditative Practice". The practices and approach we will present can be likened to a kind of human murmuration, where surprising, generative, inter/intra-active and relational processes emerge. These emergent processes or transformations occur spontaneously and are from within the subtle, communicative, behaviour and relational aspects of the whole group. It is in this context that we use the word "intrarelational" after the work of Karen Barad (2007 p.33). The term "subtle" refers to all the non-verbal emergences occurring from the spiritual, mental, emotional, behavioural and social processes at play. Bios Imelda McCarthy, PhD, has been in the Family Therapy and Systemic field for most of her life as a therapist, trainer and supervisor. She was also an academic in the social sciences over twenty-five years at University College Dublin. She has published and presented internationally since 1983 and her work has been translated into nine languages. Over the last twenty years, Imelda has led a meditation group in her home in Dublin. She was spiritual director of a meditation organisation (Blue Star Ireland) for many years and is a member of Spiritual Directors International (SDI).

Fostering therapeutic security in insecure times: Populism and the new rise of nationalism

“…The Fifth Province is described as ‘the medium of peaceful counsel and conflict resolution […] a welcoming space that invites a different point of viewing, circling around and about the rough passages and challenges on life’s ocean. From the beginning it was a space that held together the apparent oppositions and dualities of life’ (McCarthy and Minogue, 2019: 56). The work of Tom Andersen also inspires yet more psychotherapists to create small communities that will be conducive to the development of reflecting processes (Anderson and Jansen, 2007).…”