I am starting this article with an explication of adjacent possibilities as I understand it and then look at its application into the practice of Relational Gestalt Therapy. This is the first of a series of articles that look at the theories and ideas that have influenced and continue to shape the practice of Gestalt Therapy. I also try to provide cases or stories that illuminate these constructs.

When I was a little girl, I used to play a game with my older brother, whenever he was sufficiently bored to engage in games with me. This was a fairly common game played by girls across India, in the State I come from we used to call it ‘kallukali’ (a game of stones), where we would draw squares on the ground, hop from box to box pushing a flat stone into the next, with one foot. It required balance, sensory-motor co-ordination, high level of concentration and an acute awareness of one’s body in relation to one’s environment. The rules of the game were that we could only move from one square to the adjacent. Jumping squares and moving either diagonally or straight by skipping adjacent squares was not a possible option. This is the simplest way I can explain the concept of adjacent possibilities.

Stuart Kauffman (2002), a theoretical biologist, coined the term “adjacent possible” a theory to explain the biodiversity on earth. This theory proposes that at any given point, biological systems can only transmute into more intricate systems in certain pre-set ways. Kauffman’s intention was to apply this theory to the origin of life and the development of molecules on Earth. However, the theory has influenced philosophers, psychologists, technologist and social thinkers to understand and describe progress in general. Applying it to human beings and their responses to developmental needs, we often observe that movement in life choices is incremental. Each minute step opens up new possibilities. The consequences of these choices cannot be predicted, however, one does have the agency to choose.

Using the construct of adjacent possibilities in relation to Gestalt Therapy as Lynne Jacobs did in the PGI residential (2017), intrigued me. It’s fascinating to see how this theory can be applied to understand ourselves as well as our clients. It suggests that herculean ideas and major changes cannot be reached until we explore the tiny possibilities in-between. As a therapist, I cannot make a prejudgment about the leaps my client ‘should’ make to ‘overcome distress’. By moving into the ‘adjacent possible’, we automatically evolve new adjacent possibilities. To quote Kauffman, 

The adjacent possible is a kind of shadow future, hovering on the edges of the present state of things

The strange and beautiful truth about the adjacent possible is that its boundaries grow as you explore them. Each new combination opens up the possibility of other new combinations.

We must be aware and appreciative of the step by step process of therapy (Jacobs, 2017). Be mindful of the client’s adjacent possibilities as perceived by the client. Our understanding into client’s adjacent possibilities may differ from that of the client. A possibility that therapists feel would be helpful for the client can actually be a leap into a territory which induces a high level of terror to the client and can have painful consequences. This is where the dialogic engagement within the relational framework becomes crucial. Together we explore the possibilities, likely limitations, the risks of not knowing fully what would be the consequences of these choices. Because the adjacent possible bring unpredictable consequences.

I have been working with Rajni, a 35-year-old young lady for the last eight years. She is a survivor of severe childhood trauma which was inclusive of physical, emotional, verbal, sexual and spiritual violence. When she came in for her first session, she was in a state of psychic disintegration accompanied by debilitating physical ailments. She had suffered multiple job losses in a highly competitive corporate world and recurrent losses of the love relationship. Her marriage marked by conflict and violence was beyond repair. A highly-committed client, yearning for healing, she requested for three sessions a week and stuck to the painful process of therapy. She would often tell me, “these sessions with you only bring me pain, I don’t know why I keep coming back to you.” It took her three years to accept the loss and let go of her marriage and consent for the divorce her partner wanted. The psychiatrist who was helping with her medication would often get exasperated with me for not pushing her for divorce. I was also advised not to see her unless she agreed to get out of the marriage. I was told I was encouraging dependency. I did explore with her on several occasions what made her want to hold on to the marriage if she was so unhappy, I could sense her tightening up each time the conversation veered towards exploring the possibilities of divorce. I did see her leaving the marriage as an adjacent possibility, yet I am glad I did not push her because it would have been a far-flung move.

For Rajni, at that point just having someone present to her pain was the adjacent possibility and only that could open up the boundaries for multiple other possibilities. This is not to say that I have not pushed Rajni towards possibilities that I saw for her. I had intermittently encouraged her to look for work outside the corporate world, yet after a long sabbatical, she went back to work and continued suffering multiple job losses. I would watch in frustration all the work we did get challenged, by the stress of human interactions at a highly demanding workplace, for which her fragile ‘self’ was unprepared. She had shared her own anger and rage at me because she saw my stand as shaming her, that somehow, I was telling her that she was not good enough to work in corporate culture. I saw her ‘adjacent possible’ as doing low-stress part-time jobs, maybe something creative, for she is highly creative. Yet for her at that point, it was not even a possibility. It hurt her self-esteem terribly to let go of a dream of high power, visibility and financially rewarding career. Recently when we had a session she told me that she was thinking of not pursuing marketing for now and would like to try out dress designing.

Minute steps in therapy are itself a change although we don’t necessarily notice it; it opens up other possibilities. Ability and awareness that one can make choices give a sense of self-worth. Along with that a developing sense of mindfulness, that as human beings we have certain ‘karmic’ existential limitations, teach acceptance and serenity.