Translative versus Transformative

Translative Vs. Transformative 

Two major distinctions in therapy

One major way to cope with adversity is translative practice: giving a new and different meaning to what’s happening to you. This practice has value to the extent that it helps see things in a sweeter light. When someone is ill, or there is loss of life or love or major devastation, part of the human suffering is not making sense of it all. Re-framing the story around the pain and suffering makes it easier to swallow.

But it doesn’t really change your worldviews. Genuine change stems from transformative practices. Transformation means transcendence, or evolving beyond who you are now, to the next level. You know you have been evolving when you have expanded in your capacity to care for more beings than before, or when any of your lines of intelligence (cognitive, emotional, social, moral, spiritual, aesthetic, psycho-sexual, kinesthetic, artistic etc) is at a higher level than before. You also evolve with the skills you acquire.

Translative therapies or practices do not require that you change. You can stay the same as you are, but change the story you are telling yourself about events. Genuine transformation requires taking some kind of action, like, for instance, the practice of taking more and more perspectives.

The good news is that transcending the self to the next level is there to stay, and no-one can take it away from you. Stages, or levels of development are like structure floors in a building: they build on each other, and once you’re there, you’ve earned it, and it’s yours.