ABSTRACT
An ethical interpersonal endeavour must be recognisable as an enactment of "natural justice", which Tillich represents as the (true) form of being. According to Paul Tillich, love, power and justice are woven together with a golden thread: Each of the three concepts in itself and all three in relation to each other are universally significant: they appear in decisive places in the doctrine of man, in psychology and jurisprudence, they determine political theory and educational method, they cannot be avoided even in mental and bodily medicine. The therapeutic practitioner who does not acknowledge or engage with the problem of power is in denial about her own power, is not alive to the real possibilities of the relationship. She may be in thrall to a superficial understanding of her role as a professional, or so delighted with her own goodness and optimism that she is blind to her own vulnerabilities and to her deeper responsibility to the other.
