Jocelyn Chaplin - Interview with Wendy Stokes

Jocelyn Chaplin is a London-based psychotherapist, writer, teacher and artist and is developing a new form of spirituality that has equality at its heart. Jocelyn describes it as 'a spiritual complement for the increasing desire for greater equality in our divided world'. For many years, Jocelyn has worked at the cutting edge of therapy, politics and conscious living.

Wendy: Hello Jocelyn. You have been involved with issues of equality since your twenties. What changes have you seen since you wrote the book 'Feminist Counselling in Action' in the 1980s?

Jocelyn: Feminism was at its peak and fortunately, there have been enormous changes for women since then, especially in the work place. But, even then, I noticed all kinds of inequalities, not only gender ones and they are still with us. There are many obvious ones, of wealth and poverty, race, sexuality, ageism etc., and also everyday judgements about what is inferior and what is superior. These prejudices are internalised in our unconscious. The deeper changes in attitudes towards women and other groups which suffer from prejudice have been slower to change, and there has been a massive backlash against feminism in the global collective unconscious. Fundamentalisms of all kinds are expressions of this reaction.

Wendy: As a practising psychotherapist, how can we keep mentally and emotionally well and what part does spirituality play in being healthy and happy?

Jocelyn: The less we judge ourselves and others with internalised hierarchies, the healthier and happier we will be. A spirituality that explicitly dissolves the external and internal hierarchies is vital so that we can deeply accept reality. Living mindfully in the present moment - by simply noticing the equalising rhythms of the breath for instance, helps us stay centred and calm. Attuning to the rhythms of nature outside ourselves as well as within keeps us in the flow. Keeping our hearts and minds open makes space to receive for the love that is all around us.

Wendy: What is the basis of your latest book 'Deep Equality - Living in the Flow of Natural Rhythms'?

Jocelyn: I show how to free ourselves from the old structures of dualism, hierarchy and power struggles, and how to become more in tune with nature's equalising rhythms, and achieve life from our loving and empathising core. There are many personal stories of my own and other people's lives, and references to ancient, more attuned cultures, such as Minoan Crete 2,000 BC. The cover of the book shows oscillating strings of sub atomic matter which is the equivalent of the breath of the cosmos - everything in the universe is rhythmic. My book describes how we can free ourselves by thinking rhythmically and helps us to attune more effectively to those ever changing equalizing forces that flow through us. Rhythms interconnect opposites, while hierarchies divide.

Wendy: Are you politically active and what are your hobbies and interests?

Jocelyn: As well as fully accepting just what is, it is also important to change the world in whatever small ways we can. I have been involved in many movements for social and political change from the anti war movements and Occupy London, to Climate change protests, etc. It can be hard to combine a spirituality of acceptance with action, but for me they go hand in hand. Where it's been appropriate, I have been involved in rituals to support actions, such as invoking the goddesses of London for the benefit and wellbeing of our capital city. Halloween (2008) at Canary Wharf saw us 'Dancing on the Grave of Capitalism!'

    I am an artist and paint pictures that are prayers for parts of the world where there is violence, and which call on ancient goddesses of the land. The works are semi figurative, semi abstract and include lots of wavy, flowing lines. I have occasional exhibitions of my artwork which I enjoy. I also love to dance, especially on the streets at The Notting Hill Carnival.

Wendy: May we have a short extract from your latest book, please?

Jocelyn: This describes the core of my philosophy:
'In our human world, the drive to equalize can be seen as the equivalent as the balancing force in nature. The equalising rhythmic structure that underlies the flow gives us different ways of thinking, different paradigms to apply in everyday life... if we started to think rhythmically it would involve a complete shift in the very roots of our thinking process... it could be just the kind of radical change that the world desperately needs for the 21st Century.

'With the splitting of the atom everything has changed save our model of thinking, and thus we drift toward unparalled disaster.' Albert Einstein.

'What exactly is problematic about our models of thinking? When we look deeply into our thinking for the past 4,000 years, we see one all-pervasive form. We see images of pyramids, of ladders and of vertical power relations frozen in time... but what can we put in their place? A half hearted belief that equality is a rather good thing is simply not enough! I want to suggest that we need a new consciousness in which 'equalising' is the very essence of our belief system, not just an optional extra. Equalizing is a primal creative force and can even be called 'the spirit in matter'.'

More info on the website www.serpentinstitute.com Where courses and talks run on a philosophy of interconnected opposites, “I will teach a practice to honour the equalising rhythms of nature, of the breath and of the seasons. etc., and this will include a psychology to free ourselves from hierarchical mind-sets and to live more 'in the flow of natural rhythms.”