ABSTRACT
The danger of theory is that it may function to distance learner from being-with learning, and therapist from being-with client. Theory may act in the learning context as a shield against opening oneself up to the personal meeting with learning, or with the Other. There are many ways of coming at the "it" of learning, but experience—group-work, clinical supervision, practical sessions, the clinical work itself—allows for, indeed, requires, a particular sort of lived learning—providing the opportunity for theoretical ideas to be grounded in whatever the experience may be. The plethora of theories within the field, akin to political ideologies or religious belief systems, all attempt to unravel and colonise the mystery of what it is to be human. When bankers "bank", when economists theorise, when hedge fund managers gamble in the financial markets, they create enormous "value" out of the illusion of money—out of nothing. Ironically, the work of therapy is also if not illusory, ephemeral, and intangible.
