ABSTRACT
Love and trust are the foundational pillars on which individuals build their personality, sense of self, and emotional framework. But, as we have mentioned before, individuals then use these elements to interact in relationships in either a loving and trustworthy manner or in a way that will detract from the relational resources of the family. It is essential for the contextual therapist to remember that individuals both carry the effect of the past in the formation of their individual psychology and propagate the future with the way they act in a caring and balanced manner in other relationships. Because each generation of humans takes in more and more relationships, the potential relational ethic we pass on is enormous. For instance, in Terry Hargrave’s family, a total of 4 children were produced by his parents. From those 4 children, 12 more sons and daughters were produced. Now, from those sons and daughters, 7 more children, and counting, have been born. In Franz Pfitzer’s family, he is the eldest of 5 children. These 5 children produced 14 more children. In both intergenerational groups, the way we deal with love and trust in the family relationships forms an intergenerational link that is essential for the formation of other secure links in the future. Even if our lineage four generations from now knows nothing about us-not our lifestyles, personalities, or even names-the way that we lived out love and trust within the family will either strengthen or weaken the legacy our descendants live with in regard to love and trust.
