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We must think of God as a therapist, says Williams
by Ruth Gledhill
Religion Correspondent
THE LONDON TIMES
LONDON (11/19/2004)--PEOPLE who are wrapped up in their own world should let God be their therapist, the Archbishop of Canterbury says in his Christmas message.
In his message to the 38 provinces of the Anglican Communion, Dr Rowan Williams says that human beings are wrapped up in pride, fear and guilt. Like autistic children being helped by a therapist, he says, people must let themselves be touched by God in order to be changed and escape suffering.
Dr Williams makes no reference to the debate over gays, which has all but split the Anglican Church in recent months. But some are certain to see in his autistic analogy a measure of his frustration that, in spite of the closely argued Windsor Report, produced last month by the commission set up to find a way through, the Church is still at war with itself over gays.
In the message, published in French, Japanese, Spanish, Zulu and Afrikaans, as well as English, on the Anglican Communion website yesterday, Dr Williams says: "Human beings are wrapped up in themselves. Because of that great primitive betrayal that we call the fall of humanity, we are all afraid of God and the world and our real selves in some degree. We can't cope with the light."
He describes a recent discussion in which he took part that involved autistic children and their carers and watching a video of a therapist developing a relationship with one severely disturbed child.
By mirroring the boy's behaviour of beating his head against a wall and repetitively flicking a piece of string, she was able to extract a smile from him and a response when touched.
Dr Williams says: "When the therapist gently echoes the actions and rhythms, the anxious and wounded mind of the autistic person sees that there is after all a link with the outside world that isn't threatening."
He continues: "To see this sort of thing in action is in- tensely moving.
This is real mental and spiritual healing at work. But it gives us a powerful image of what it is we remember at Christmas."
He says human beings without God are isolated and their behaviour is "as bizarre and self-destructive as that young man beating his head against the wall".
In being born as Christ, God was making himself human just as the therapist entered the world of the autistic boy to help him to communicate.
"He does this in a way that is just like the therapist in the video," Dr Williams said. "He is God so that he has the freedom to heal, to be our therapist."
Dr Williams said autism arises when the brain senses too much material coming in, creating a feeling of panic. "But when the therapist gently echoes the action and rhythms (of the person), the anxious and wounded mind of the autistic person sees that there is after all a link with the outside world that isn't threatening."
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