Chasing Rainbows: In Search of Wonder in Gestalt Therapy

Dan Bloom

doi:10.3280/qg2025-2oa21450

Relazioni/Presentations, a cura di Giuseppe Sampognaro e Alessandra Vela

N. 2 (2025)

Chasing Rainbows: In Search of Wonder in Gestalt Therapy

Dan Bloom^▸^▾

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DOI: https://doi.org/10.3280/qg2025-2oa21450
Inviata: 19 novembre 2025
Pubblicato: 30-12-2025

Abstract

In a world marked by acceleration and dispersion, the aesthetic experience of wonder risks being lost. This article explores how gestalt therapy – particularly as developed within the New York Institute for Gestalt Therapy (NYIGT) – offers a clinical and philosophical response to this fragmentation. Drawing on field theory, the temporal sequence of contacting, and the aesthetic of perception, I propose that wonder arises when we linger with experience, allowing novelty to emerge from the ordinary. Through metaphor, clinical reflection, and phenomenological inquiry, I argue that contacting is not merely a therapeutic technique but a rhythmic, aesthetic process that reenchants our engagement with the world. Wonder, like a rainbow, beckons us forward – not as a goal to be grasped, but as a promise sensed in the momenta of contacting.

Riferimenti bibliografici

Augustine (1961). Confessions. London, UK: Penguin Books. (Original work written 397-400 CE).
Blake W. (1988). Auguries of Innocence. In: D.V. Erdman Ed., The Complete Poetry and Prose of William Blake. New York, NY: Anchor Books, pp. 490-493 (original work written ca. 1803).
Bloom D. (2003). “Tiger! Tiger! Burning Bright”. Aesthetic Values as Clinical Values in Gestalt Therapy. In: Spagnuolo Lobb M., Amendt-Lyon N, Eds., Creative license: The Art of Gestalt therapy. Berlin, DE: Springer-Verlag, pp. 63-78.
Bloom D. (2016). The Relational Function of Self: Self function in in the Most Human Plane. In: Robine J.-M., Ed., Self, A Polyphony of Contemporary Gestalt therapists. St. Romain la Virvée, FR: L’Exprimerie.
Bloom D. (2019). From Sentience to Sapience: The Awareness-consciousness Continuum and the Lifeworld. Gestalt Review, 23, 1: 18-43. DOI: 10.5325/gestaltreview.23.1.0018.
Bloom D. (2020). Intentionality: The Fabric of Relationality. The Humanistic Psychologist, 48, 4: 389-396. DOI: 10.1037/hum0000212.
Bloom D. (2021). From the Night Before Being: Contacting the Other. Gestalt Review, 25, 1, 116-142. DOI: 10.5325/gestaltreview.25.1.0116.
Francesetti G. (2015). Pain and Beauty: From Psychopathology to the Aesthetics of Contact. British Gestalt Journal, 21, 2: 4-18. DOI: 10.53667/BZZH5404.
Frank R. (2023). The Bodily Roots of Experience in Psychotherapy. London, UK: Routledge.
Han B.-C. (2017). The Burnout Society. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press (original work published 2010).
Heidegger M. (1962). Being and time. New York, NY: Harper & Row.
Heidegger M. (1971). Poetry, language, thought. New York, NY: Harper & Row.
Merleau-Ponty M. (2012). Phenomenology of perception. London, UK: Routledge.
Perls F.S, Hefferline R., Goodman P. (1994; 1951). Gestalt Therapy: Excitement and Growth in Human Personality. Highland, NY: Gestalt Journal Press.
Perls L. (1992). Living at the Boundary. Highland, NY: The Gestalt Journal.
Polster E. (2021). Enchantment and Gestalt Therapy. Partners in Exploring Life. London, UK: Routledge.
Robine J.-M. (2011). From Field to Situation. In: Robine J.-M., Ed., On the Occassion of the Other. Highland, NY: Gestalt Journal Press, pp. 103-121.
Spagnuolo Lobb M. (2013). The Now-for-next in Psychotherapy: Gestalt Therapy Recounted in Post-modern Society. Syracuse: Istituto di Gestalt HCC Italy.
Spagnuolo Lobb M. (2016). Self as Contact, Contact as self. A Contribution to Ground Experience in Gestalt Therapy Theory of Self. In: Robine J.-M., Ed., Self. A Poliphony of Con-temporary Gestalt Therapists. St. Romain la Virvée, FR: L’Exprimerie, pp. 261-289.
Spagnuolo Lobb M. (2018). Aesthetic Relational Knowledge of the Field: A Revised Concept of Awareness in Gestalt Therapy and Contemporary Psychiatry. Gestalt Review, 22, 1: 50-58. DOI: 10.5325/gestaltreview.22.1.0050.
Wordsworth W. (1807; 2000). My Heart Leaps Up. In: S. Gill S., Ed., William Wordsworth: The major works (p. 246). London, UL: Oxford University Press, p. 246 (original work published 1807).

Parole chiave

Acceleration
Aesthetic
Contacting
Wonder
Taking-time

Come citare

Bloom, D. (2025). Chasing Rainbows: In Search of Wonder in Gestalt Therapy. Quaderni Di Gestalt - Gestalt Therapy Journal - Rivista Semestrale Di Psicoterapia Della Gestalt - Open Access, (2). https://doi.org/10.3280/qg2025-2oa21450

Questo lavoro è fornito con la licenza Creative Commons Attribuzione - Non commerciale - Non opere derivate 4.0 Internazionale.

[1] Augustine (1961). Confessions. London, UK: Penguin Books. (Original work written 397-400 CE).

[2] Blake W. (1988). Auguries of Innocence. In: D.V. Erdman Ed., The Complete Poetry and Prose of William Blake. New York, NY: Anchor Books, pp. 490-493 (original work written ca. 1803).

[3] Bloom D. (2003). “Tiger! Tiger! Burning Bright”. Aesthetic Values as Clinical Values in Gestalt Therapy. In: Spagnuolo Lobb M., Amendt-Lyon N, Eds., Creative license: The Art of Gestalt therapy. Berlin, DE: Springer-Verlag, pp. 63-78.

[4] Bloom D. (2016). The Relational Function of Self: Self function in in the Most Human Plane. In: Robine J.-M., Ed., Self, A Polyphony of Contemporary Gestalt therapists. St. Romain la Virvée, FR: L’Exprimerie.

[5] Bloom D. (2019). From Sentience to Sapience: The Awareness-consciousness Continuum and the Lifeworld. Gestalt Review, 23, 1: 18-43. DOI: 10.5325/gestaltreview.23.1.0018.

[6] Bloom D. (2020). Intentionality: The Fabric of Relationality. The Humanistic Psychologist, 48, 4: 389-396. DOI: 10.1037/hum0000212.

[7] Bloom D. (2021). From the Night Before Being: Contacting the Other. Gestalt Review, 25, 1, 116-142. DOI: 10.5325/gestaltreview.25.1.0116.

[8] Francesetti G. (2015). Pain and Beauty: From Psychopathology to the Aesthetics of Contact. British Gestalt Journal, 21, 2: 4-18. DOI: 10.53667/BZZH5404.

[9] Frank R. (2023). The Bodily Roots of Experience in Psychotherapy. London, UK: Routledge.

[10] Han B.-C. (2017). The Burnout Society. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press (original work published 2010).

[11] Heidegger M. (1962). Being and time. New York, NY: Harper & Row.

[12] Heidegger M. (1971). Poetry, language, thought. New York, NY: Harper & Row.

[13] Merleau-Ponty M. (2012). Phenomenology of perception. London, UK: Routledge.

[14] Perls F.S, Hefferline R., Goodman P. (1994; 1951). Gestalt Therapy: Excitement and Growth in Human Personality. Highland, NY: Gestalt Journal Press.

[15] Perls L. (1992). Living at the Boundary. Highland, NY: The Gestalt Journal.

[16] Polster E. (2021). Enchantment and Gestalt Therapy. Partners in Exploring Life. London, UK: Routledge.

[17] Robine J.-M. (2011). From Field to Situation. In: Robine J.-M., Ed., On the Occassion of the Other. Highland, NY: Gestalt Journal Press, pp. 103-121.

[18] Spagnuolo Lobb M. (2013). The Now-for-next in Psychotherapy: Gestalt Therapy Recounted in Post-modern Society. Syracuse: Istituto di Gestalt HCC Italy.

[19] Spagnuolo Lobb M. (2016). Self as Contact, Contact as self. A Contribution to Ground Experience in Gestalt Therapy Theory of Self. In: Robine J.-M., Ed., Self. A Poliphony of Con-temporary Gestalt Therapists. St. Romain la Virvée, FR: L’Exprimerie, pp. 261-289.

[20] Spagnuolo Lobb M. (2018). Aesthetic Relational Knowledge of the Field: A Revised Concept of Awareness in Gestalt Therapy and Contemporary Psychiatry. Gestalt Review, 22, 1: 50-58. DOI: 10.5325/gestaltreview.22.1.0050.

[21] Wordsworth W. (1807; 2000). My Heart Leaps Up. In: S. Gill S., Ed., William Wordsworth: The major works (p. 246). London, UL: Oxford University Press, p. 246 (original work published 1807).