ABSTRACT
In her work, Human Minds: An Exploration (1992), Donaldson argues that Western cultures and attitudes have narrowed how we enable the human mind and the world to interact. She analyses other ways of being and relating that she sees as broader and richer, that 'expand the repertoire' of relationship (1992: 190). As an example, she draws extensively on the experiences and writings of Milner, described by Case and Dalley as 'a figurehead and a person to emulate for many art therapists' (Case and Dalley, 1992: 81). It may seem strange to cite a description of viewing seagulls, first published in the 1930s by Milner (under the pseudonym Joanna Field), at the close of The Arts Therapies, but I think it's important to do so and to return to the image of flying from page 306:
One day I was idly watching some gulls as they soared high overhead. I was not interested, for I recognised them as 'just gulls' and vaguely watched first one then another. Then all at once something seemed to have opened. My idle boredom with the familiar became a deep-breathing peace and delight, and my whole attention was gripped by the pattern and rhythm of their flight, their slow sailing which had become a quiet dance.
(Milner, 1986: 71)