Dr. Pat Allen

2025臺灣表創性藝術治療學會第一屆國際研討會中英文講稿

表創性藝術治療中的多元、跨模式與社會責任：

以「工作室三部曲」（Open Studio Process）回應變動世界

張昕怡翻譯   吳明富整理

Introduction 引言：

I imagine we can all agree that we live in very challenging times.

我想在座各位都會同意：我們正生活在一個充滿挑戰的時代。

Can we also imagine that we may have been called into life at this particular time in order to bring something unique to the challenges that present themselves to all of us?

那麼，我們也可否想像：在這個特殊時代出生的我們，可能是被召喚來爲這個挑戰滿滿的世界帶來一些獨到見解或獨特的東西？

For this talk, I invite you to consider the second point: that you, me, all of us, are here on earth at this time and there is meaning to our presence here.

在這個講座中，我邀請您思考一下剛才我說的這點：您，我，我們大家，此時此刻來到並存在於這個地球上是有特殊的意義的。

In particular, I hope to focus on the meaning of the work we do as helpers, healers, artists and meaning makers.

今天我希望重點談談：作為助人工作者，治療師，藝術家和意義創造者，我們工作的意義。

I believe that the work we do is a very important and powerful gift to the world at this moment.

我深信，我們所做的工作是此時此刻獻給世界的一份非常重要以及有力的禮物。

I will refrain from speaking directly about climate change, war, authoritarian politics, immigration and worldwide upheaval and how our work relates to populations impacted by some or all of these. 

我將避免直接談論氣候危機變化、戰爭、獨裁政治、移民和全球動盪等問題，以及我們的工作如何與受這些問題影響的人群相關聯。

I know that our work directly aids those suffering from all sorts of trauma, illness and loss. Maybe some of you do this kind of work directly.

我知道，我們的工作正在直接幫助那些遭受各種創傷、疾病和失落的人。也許你們中間好些人正在直接從事這一類工作。

Expressive and Creative Arts therapists are working in every corner of the globe doing such work. This we know.

我們也很清楚；表達與創造性藝術治療師們正在全球各個角落從事此類工作。

We also know that no amount of art making, even if we all use only recycled materials, is going to eradicate climate change or any other of the enormous challenges that shadow all of our lives.

我們也知道，即使我們只使用可回收的媒材，再多的藝術創作，也無法根治氣候變化。再多的藝術創作，也無法完全消除那些對我們的生命有重大影響的挑戰。

What I want to speak about to you today is the aspect of our work, the work of expressive and creative arts, that is, at its core, about meaning, about making the world.

今天，我想向大家介紹的是我們工作的核心。就是，表達性藝術和創造性藝術工作的核心是有關意義和有關創造這個世界。

Our work is about the story we tell about all of these things, and about ourselves.

我們的工作是關於我們如何講故事：包括以上所有社會議題的故事；以及我們自己的故事。

And it is about facing the fact that many of the stories that have served humankind are frayed beyond use, no longer serving to inspire meaning and guidance about how to live.

我們正面對一個事實：許多我們過去所依賴的故事，早已支離破碎，不再能激發生命的意義和指引我們的生活。

We continue to tell, whether we realize it or not, the same stories of times long past. “Things are always getting better.” “Progress proceeds in a straight line.” “Every generation is happier, better educated, more successful than the last。”

不過，無論我們有沒有意識到這點，我們都還在繼續說著這些已經過去很久的故事。例如：「事情總會越來越好的」、「百尺竿頭，更進一步」、「每一代人都比上一代人更幸福、受教育程度更高、更成功。」

I don’t think this is only an American problem, although I do think we Americans are having a very big opportunity for an awakening these days.

我們美國人這陣子正面對著一個很大的覺醒機會；但是我並不認為這僅僅是美國人的問題。

Stories that feature a hero have always been very popular and continue to inspire many. Stories where someone is rescued are exciting. Such stories require a catastrophe to function.

這些一直很受歡迎的故事大都以英雄為主角，而且一直不斷地激勵著很多人。有人獲救的故事總是令人振奮。不過，我們可能忽略了一點，就是，要造就這些英雄的故事之前；必須要發生某種災難。

We are reassured about the old stories when wildfires strike in California where I live. There are many individuals who perform heroic acts, people and property are rescued, and the media loves to report these stories.

當我居住的加州發生野火時，我們總靠這些陳舊的英雄故事來安慰自己。媒體也喜歡報導這些故事：例如，有許多人做出了英雄式的行為，如何如何救出被困的人和他們的財產。

We are less willing to look at the increased ferocity of the fires that make them almost impossible to fight. Or the fact that in California as many as 30% of the firefighters are incarcerated people being paid 30 cents an hour to risk their lives. None of them will be able to qualify to work as firefighters when they are released from prison. Or the fact that wealthy people in California can hire private firefighters to protect their homes.

不過，我們卻不太願意留意那些殘酷的真相。譬如，近年野火火勢其實是越來越凶猛，兇猛得幾乎無法被撲滅。我們也不願意留意其實在加州，多達百分之三十的消防員來自監獄系統。他們拿著每小時 30美分的微薄薪水，並冒著生命危險救火。可是，當他們從監獄釋放出來時，卻沒有一個人有資格成為消防員。反之，加州的富翁們花錢就可以聘請私家消防員來保護他們的家園。

What are the implications of these aspects of the hero-as-firefighter story?

那麼，我們所讚頌的「英雄即消防員的故事」到底有什麼意涵？

It is only when we look below the surface of the stories that we see things that cause us dismay and discomfort rather than the abject fear of the manifest story of fire which touches us in a primal way.

只有看穿這些故事的表象，我們才能觸及它們讓我們感到不安的真相–哪怕是赤裸裸的恐懼。。

And when we notice that life and the stories we tell about it do not seem to match up, what happens? Some people turn away or shrug their shoulders.

當發現我們的生活和我們講述的故事似乎並不相符時，會發生什麼事呢？有些人轉過身去，或者聳聳肩。

In the United States there is a strong movement to return to old stories and erase new ones. Some want to return to the story of women staying home and raising families only, staying out of the public sphere, not contributing to science, not participating in government, not running international corporations or heading up prestigious universities. 

現在在美國 ，正有一股大力推動回歸舊故事、抹去新故事（去新迎舊）的社會運動。有些人希望時光倒流， 婦女只在家裡相夫教子、遠離公共領域；女生不為科學做貢獻、不參與政府工作、不經營國際公司或領導著名大學的故事中去。

 Yet facts warn us that returning to the old stories would not be easy, now that 57.9% of college students in the US are women and 58% of college graduates globally are women.

然而，事實警告我們，時光倒流並不容易，現在美國有百分之五十七點九的大學生是女性；而全球有百分之五十八的大學畢業生是女性。

We in the USA are deeply divided about the story we tell about our country’s origin, about slavery, about immigration, even about what the founders and authors of our constitution meant to say. 

在美國，我們對關於我們國家的起源，關於奴隸制，關於移民，甚至關於我們憲法的創始人和制定者的本意等故事所講述的內容存在嚴重的分歧。

Could it be possible that everyone is simply mostly clinging to the comfort of the familiar story that best serves them? Is it possible that what we are really struggling with is a process of change in which stories are mixing, fragmenting and changing at such a furious pace that all we really have to look at is a blur? 

這會不會是因為我們每個人因循守舊，只是留在安逸區，抱著最舒服，自己比較熟悉的故事不放？其實，也有沒有可能，我們真正掙扎著面對的；卻是一個在一直變化的過程？而在這個過程中，不同的故事正在以如此迅猛的速度混合、分裂和變化，以至於我們真正該看到的只是一片模糊？

The idea of a mythic “good old days” can feel comforting. I have been calling this phenomenon the “death of illusions”. Things that seemed fixed and forever, it turns out, are not. What if everything is up for grabs?

留戀於神話般的「過去美好時光」固然讓人感到安適和欣慰。我一直把這種現象稱為「幻景之死」。事實證明，那些看似固定和永恆不變的事物其實並非如此。如果這一切都還在等著大家去爭取呢？

Some of you may know I wrote a book called: “Art is a way of knowing.”

I am deeply honored that it has been translated into Chinese. However, what we need at this moment is how to live with not-knowing exactly what comes next. 

您們有些人可能知道我寫過一本書，書名叫《療癒，從創作開始》：意譯為「藝術是一種知道的方法」。對於這本書被翻譯成中文，我深感榮幸。然而，此刻我們需要的卻是：如何在「未知」–不知道下一步會發生什麼的情況下生活。

When that furious blender into which all the beliefs and stories are swirling comes to a pause, what will we have? Will we have a story that nourishes us? Will it be a story that includes justice? Will the vast diversity of humankind be celebrated? I invite us to consider that art is also a way of not knowing.

當大家所有的信念和故事都湧入這台狂暴的攪拌機，然後攪拌暫停的那一刻，我們將得到什麼？我們還會有一個滋養人的故事嗎？這會是一個包含正義感的故事嗎？這會是一個慶祝人類文明的繁浩和多樣性的故事嗎？我懇請大家思考一下，藝術也是一種我們面對「未知 」的方式。

Making and creating is a way to be okay with not knowing as we wait for clarity to arrive. Humans like to have answers; when confronting a problem, we like to solve it.

製造和創作是當我們在等待清晰的答案時，一種接受未知的方法。面對問題時，人類總喜歡得到答案；畢竟我們總喜歡解決問題。

One of the main things I have learned in over fifty years of working with the Open Studio Process is the power of simply sitting with the feelings of dismay and discomfort. Sitting with dismay and discomfort using only our thinking mind is very hard, and often leads to a sense of being paralyzed.

在過去五十多年以「工作室三部曲」工作中，我學到的主要東西之一，就是如何與失望和不適感共處的力量。只運用我們的邏輯思維去面對失望和不適是非常困難的，而且，它往往會給我們帶來一種癱瘓的感覺。

However, when we invite those feelings into our creative process and allow them to be expressed, we introduce an element of magic. That element of magic is PLEASURE.

然而，當我們邀請這些感覺進入我們的創作過程，並允許它們被表達出來時，我們就引入了一種神奇的元素。這個神奇的元素就是愉悅。

Pleasure is a very powerful and important thing. A certain amount of pleasure can make something very difficult to bear tolerable. We know as expressive and creative arts therapists that the pleasure of making sounds or making marks on paper offer us a form of pleasure that can make facing pain easier.

愉悅是一種非常強大和重要的東西。一定程度的愉悅可以讓非常難以忍受的事情變得可接受。作為表達和創造性藝術治療師，我們知道，發出一個聲音或在紙上亂畫，做記號過程中產生的愉悅，為我們提供了一種快樂的形式，讓我們更輕鬆地面對痛苦。

Whether it is physical pain or emotional pain, pleasure aids us, comforts us and draws us into our inner strength, making it bearable to do the necessary work of change and healing. 

無論是身體上的痛苦還是情感上的痛苦，愉悅都能幫助我們、安慰我們，並吸引我們進入自己內心中的力量，療癒我們並使我們能夠承受工作上不能避免的改變。

After working in art therapy for several decades, I noticed my own creative process was not as available to me. I began a long journey that I have written quite a bit about finding my way back to my creative process and to learn what the essential parts of that creative process might be.

在從事了幾十年的藝術治療工作之後，我發現個人的創作過程不再那麼順暢。我開始了一段漫長的旅程，我已經寫了很多關於這段旅程的文章，例如我如何找到和回歸個人創作的過程，並明瞭創作過程中的重要組成部分會是什麼。

I found, and I believe, that the creative process itself is a way of knowing ourselves, a way of healing and a way to discover meaning and invite new stories to create the world we wish to see. 

我發現，而且我相信，創作過程本身就是一種認識自己的方式，一種療癒的方式，一種發現意義的途徑；我們邀請新的故事來建造一個我們希望看到的世界。

It offers us a way forward in the most difficult times. For me, this journey brought the Open Studio Process into the world. I and many others found and continue to find, what we had lost: the ability to make meaning out of whatever challenges and suffering life had given us.

在最困難的時候，它為我們提供了一條向前走的道路。對我來說，這段旅程將工作室三部曲帶進了這個世界。我和許多人找到並將繼續尋找我們失去的東西：從生活給予我們的任何挑戰和痛苦中創造意義的能力。

Open Studio Process工作室三部曲

The Open Studio Process is a formal process. It has several steps that can be adapted for almost any situation. We will be exploring those tomorrow in the workshop and I hope some of you will join us.

工作室三部曲是一個正式流程。它有幾個步驟，幾乎可以適用於任何情況。明天，我們將在工作坊中探討這些步驟，希望你們能加入我們。

I have observed over many years that through this simple method， individuals and groups are able to release pain and suffering and rewrite new stories that bring vitality back to their lives.

多年來，我觀察到，不論是個人或團體，通過這種簡單的方法，他們都能夠釋放痛苦和折磨，重寫新的故事，為他們的生活重新注入活力。

This transformation occurs through awakening the inner genius within each person, what our colleague Shaun McNiff calls the daemon, or guiding spirit. 

這種轉變是通過喚醒每個人內心的天才來實現的。我們的同事尚恩-麥克尼夫（Shaun McNiff）稱之為守護神（daemon）或指導精神。

Michael Meade, a contemporary mythologist and philosopher, says:

當代神話學家和哲學家邁克爾-米德（Michael Meade）說：

“The idea of a genius self already present and trying to awaken within each of us may serve us better than more common notions of a heroic solution.”

「天才的自我已經存在，並試圖在我們每個人的內心深處喚醒，這種想法可能比更常見的英雄解決方案的概念更適合我們。」

The hero’s journey is the old story that many of us grew up with. It lingers in many places because it confers a certain privilege and power to some people. Once having gotten used to having power, it is very hard to share it, to collaborate with others, to imagine that you need other people. 

「英雄之旅」是我們許多人伴隨著長大的古老故事。它在許多地方揮之不去，因為它賦予了某些人某種特權和權力。一旦習慣了擁有權力，就很難與他人分享，與他人合作，想像自己需要他人。

But the hero’s journey as a guiding story requires certain things that are no longer viable in the world we live in. The hero’s journey is a story of venturing outward to defeat something; the hero requires an enemy to vanquish, and finally, a hero requires someone outside of himself to rescue. It is largely an externally situated story. 

但是，英雄之旅作為一個具有指導意義的故事，它所要求的某些東西在我們生活的世界裡已經不再可行。「英雄之旅」是一個向外冒險，去打敗某些東西的故事；英雄需要戰勝敵人，最後，英雄需要拯救自己以外的人。這在很大程度上是一個外在的故事。

It is a lonely story, a story that feeds competition and rivalry. It is a story that believes in scarcity, fear of others, and the need to dominate others in order to survive and have safety.

這也是一個孤獨的故事，一個助長競爭和對抗的故事。這個故事相信稀缺性、對他人的恐懼。也是一個為了生存和安全而支配他人的需要的故事。

It believes in good and evil as absolute categories into which people can be sorted.

它相信人們可以被分門別類；就是分為善和惡這兩個比較絕對的範疇。

Michael Meade offers us an alternative, what happens if we embrace a story of all of us, a story where none of us is stuck in a fixed role but can have the fluidity of evolving a self over a lifetime? A story where the gifts each of us have are necessary to remake the world? 

邁克爾-米德為我們提供了另一種選擇，如果我們願意接受一個關於我們所有人的故事；在這個故事裡，我們每一位都不會拘泥於某個固定角色，反而，可以在一生中不斷發展自我，會發生什麼事呢？或許在這種故事中，我們每個人的天賦都是重塑世界所必需的呢？

Meade writes:  “Awakening genius is a necessary step on the way to becoming a genuine individual and an active agent in the reimagining of the world. “

米德寫道：喚醒內在天才是我們成為真正的個人和重新想像世界的積極推動者的必經之路。

I believe that the expressive and creative arts therapies are the way to help all of us awaken the gifts within. Through self-expression we become genuine people.

我相信，表達性和創造性藝術治療是幫助我們所有人喚醒內在天賦的方法。通過自我表達，我們成為真誠和表裡一致的人。

When we create alongside others, we learn experientially that we are all connected, we learn that we all have much to learn from one another. We become safely vulnerable through making true images that we and others witness.

當我們與他人一起創作時，我們會體驗到我們之間的相互聯繫；也會瞭解到我們都有很多需要相互學習的地方。我們可以通過創作真誠的圖像，在自己和他人的見證下的安全空間裡展露自己脆弱的一面。

The Open Studio Process offers a method of doing this in which we soften the distinct separation between therapist and patient. Instead, we are all participants working together in a shared human experience of understanding ourselves and the world.

工作室三部曲為我們提供了一種方法。在這種方法中，我們淡化了治療師和病人之間的距離。取而代之的是，在共同的人類經驗中，我們都是參與者，理解自己和這個世界。

We embark on an inward journey, into our own hearts and souls.

我們攜手並肩踏上向內的旅程，進入自己的內心和靈魂。

We encounter past hurts and can express them through sound, color, movement and story.

我們會遇到過去的傷痛，並通過聲音、色彩、動作和故事來表達它們。

Once we have spent some time having an inward journey, learning the contours of our inner life we can gain the courage to meet our shadow.

只要我們願意花一些時間進行向內的旅行，瞭解了自己內心生活的輪廓，我們就能獲得勇氣去面對我們的陰影。

Rather than requiring an enemy to defeat, we meet lost parts of self which we can befriend and reintegrate. We become more whole, more alive, more able to live life fully.

與其說，我們需要戰勝一個敵人，不如說，我們尋回自己遺失了的部分，和她重新交朋友，然後整合內化。我們會因此變得更完整，更有活力，更能夠充實地生活。

We become liberated in the true sense of accepting ourselves and understanding that we, and all human beings, have faults and failings, have been harmed, have done harm and yet we remain worthy of love and able to contribute to the world.

這樣，我們會獲得真正意義上的解放，接受自己；明白自己和所有人都有缺點和不足，都曾受到傷害，也曾造成傷害，但我們仍然值得被愛，仍然能夠為世界做出貢獻。

Those of us who have been lucky enough to have found our way to this work have created meaning and beauty in the world. We have written books, composed music, made paintings and helped many others do the same.

我們這些有幸從事這項工作的人，曾為世界創造過意義和美麗。我們寫書、作曲、繪畫，並協助許多人做同樣的事情。

We have found that life is an astonishing thing, something we are needed for. We have faced difficulties and turned to our arts to understand what to do next.

我們發現，生命是這麼令人驚嘆的事情！我們發現，原來生命也需要我們。當我們遇到困難，求助於藝術時，她會讓我們瞭解下一步該怎麼做。

We have supported others in their journeys and we have indeed made meaning.

在我們支持他人的旅程中，我們確實曾創造過意義。

But this time in which we live is offering bigger challenges to many more people who do not have these advantages.

但是，我們所處的這個時代正在向更多沒有這些優勢的人提出更大的挑戰。

How can these things that seem so ephemeral help others to bear the upheavals of cultural and personal change, of crisis, of war?

這些看似曇花一現的事情，究竟如何幫助他人承受文化和個人變革、危機和戰爭帶來的動盪？

So many people imagine the creative and expressive arts are not for them, they aren’t ‘creative’ or they don’t have time, or the world is too demanding for them to ‘waste time’ on such frivolous things. There are serious things to be done every minute of every day.

很多人都認為創造性和表達性藝術不適合他們，因為他們沒有「創造力」，或者他們沒有時間，或者這個世界對他們來說太苛刻了，他們不可能把時間「浪費」在這些無聊的事情上。每時每刻，他們都有更嚴肅重要的事情要做；

It is hopeless to think for a minute that something as trivial as playing a kazoo, dancing in a circle, or scribbling on a piece of paper has merit. It is hopeless.

看吹卡祖笛、跳圓圈舞或在紙上塗鴉這樣微不足道的事情，也有價值的人，肯定就是大錯特錯了。這真是一件很絕望的事情呀！

I suggest to you today that what we have to offer as expressive and creative arts therapists is also, and maybe most powerfully, an antidote to hopelessness.

今天，我希望向你們建議，作為表達性和創造性藝術治療師，我們對於絕望也許能提供一種最有力的解藥。

I recently found support for this idea in reading the words of a contemporary journalist from Ukraine, a country that has been at war since 2014, for more than ten years.  Alyona Synenko, an aide worker, describes how each day that the war dragged on diminished her hope that peace would ever return. Family and friends left the country and she feared they would never be able to come back.

最近，我讀了一位來自烏克蘭當代記者的話，她的觀點支持了我這個想法。烏克蘭自 2014 年起陷入戰爭，至今已有十多年。 阿廖娜-西寧科（Alyona Synenko）是一名援助工作者，她描述了以下的畫面：當戰爭每拖一天，她對和平重現的希望就減少一天。她的家人和朋友離開了這個國家後 ，她擔心他們再也回不來了。

She writes: “When I had given up hope altogether, my sense of abandonment was colored in sadness, for sure, but also with shades of profound relief. Feeling angry and powerless gave me a new freedom to do anything I wanted.”

 她寫道：「當我完全放棄希望以後，我在被遺棄感中固然感到悲傷，不過也有感到深深的解脫。這種憤怒和無能為力的感覺給了我新的自由，讓我可以做任何我想做的事情。」

What Alyona Synenko did was take up singing. Since childhood, she tells us, she had memorized and lip-synced the lyrics of her favorite songs, but she says: “I was never brave enough to even whisper them, let alone try to sing along.”

阿廖娜-西寧科所做的就是學唱歌。她告訴我們，從小她就會背誦自己喜歡歌曲的歌詞，並對口型假唱。但她說：「我從來沒有勇氣低聲唱出來，更不用說試著跟著唱了。」

She was apparently terrible at singing when she began, but that was not the point. In those moments with her singing teacher, in his apartment in a bomb-damaged building in Kyiv, practicing scales, she broke out of inertia, she was free, no longer waiting for something to happen, she enjoyed the moment and also felt a sense of control. I wonder if she also felt a sense of being more alive, more centered, even a moment of joy. 

顯然，她剛開始唱歌的時候唱得很糟糕，但這並不是重點。在基輔一棟被炸彈炸毀的大樓，她的歌唱老師的公寓裡，阿廖娜在練習音階的那些時刻，她打破了惰性。她被釋放了，自由了，不再坐以待斃。她享受當下，也感受到了一種能夠自控的感覺。我好奇，她是否也感受到了一種更有活力、更有能集中，甚至是片刻的喜悅。

While I am not living in a bombed city and most of what challenges me daily is reading the news, I know and I bet you know too, that when we emerge from the studio back into our day, life seems more vivid. When my mind is quiet, the world shows me Her beauty once again. My eyes and ears are cleansed of despair and I see the trees, I hear birds, I feel grateful just to be alive.

我不是生活在一個被轟炸的城市裡，而且我每天面臨的所謂大挑戰也只是閱讀新聞而已；但是我知道，我也敢打賭各位也曾體驗過：當我們從工作室走出來，回到日常生活中時，生活似乎會變得更加靈動。我的心安靜下來以後，世界會再次向我展示她的美麗。世界的美將絕望的情緒從我的眼睛和耳朵清洗掉。看到樹木，聽到鳥鳴時；我為自己還活著而感到感恩。

As artists, no matter whether our medium is music, voice, visual art, poetry or dance, we know something about the way that pleasure returns when we simply take the risk of making a mark, a sound, a gesture. We know that it is in the process of making, doing and expressing that joy and also that meaning is born.

作為藝術家，無論我們的創作媒介是音樂、聲音、視覺藝術、詩歌還是舞蹈，我們都知道，當我們願意冒著風險畫出一個記號、發出一個聲音、舞出一個姿態時，愉悅感就會隨之而來。我們知道，快樂和意義正是在製作、實踐和表達的過程中誕生。

Yet we also know that hopelessness lurks at the edges of creative process. Has anyone here ever abandoned something you were working on?

然而，我們也知道，在創作過程的邊緣潛伏著絕望。不知道這裡有沒有人曾經放棄過您正在創作的東西？

Perhaps your inner critic deemed it unworthy, chaotic or meaningless?

也許你內心的批評家認為它不值得、雜亂無章或毫無意義？

Perhaps the words of another person discouraged you? 

也許別人的話曾讓你感到氣餒？

Maybe you felt crushed by the weight of work and family responsibilities?

也許工作和家庭的重擔早已壓得你喘不過氣來？

How do we use our skills to offer a doorway to meaning even when hope may not be available?

即使希望渺茫，我們又該如何運用自己的技能，為自己打開一扇通往意義的大門？

This is one of the questions I asked myself when I fell out of love with art therapy and found my way to the Open Studio Process. This is the question I believe the world needs us all to ask right now. 

當我對藝術治療失去熱情，轉而投身於工作室三部曲時，我曾問自己一個問題。這也是我認為世界現在需要我們提出的一個問題；

How do we help others and ourselves and our communities find our way to a meaningful life amidst the stress and, yes, sometimes hopelessness, of the present times?

就是：我們該如何幫助他人、自己和我們的社區，在當今時代的壓力和（是的，有時是無望的）絕望中找到通往有意義生活的道路？

What is it we uniquely have to offer in this moment when the world is in chaos, despair creeps into our dreams, the usual way of doing things isn’t working, when systems or allies we have relied upon are failing us?

當世界陷入混亂，當絕望悄悄潛入我們的夢想裡，當慣常的做事方式不再起作用，但我們所依賴的系統或盟友正在讓我們失望透頂時，我們能為這個時代提供什麼獨特的東西嗎？

I had been practicing art therapy and teaching art therapy for many years when I arrived at such a pivotal moment. I had to admit to myself that the way I had been trained in art therapy was toxic to my own creative process. 

當我遇到這樣一個關鍵時刻時，我已經從事藝術治療和藝術治療教學多年。我不得不承認，我所接受的藝術治療培訓方式對我個人的創作過程是有毒的。

I was working hard helping others but I was starving for creative sustenance myself. Was it possible to do both? 

我一直在努力幫助他人，但自己卻在渴求創造的養分。我們有可能同時做到這兩點嗎？

Considering this question caused me a long dark night of the soul. That moment initiated the creation of the Open Studio Project. 

對這個問題的思考讓我度過了一個漫長的靈魂黑夜。那一刻，「工作室三部曲」應運而生。

Our original intention was “To make art and be of service”.

我們的初衷是「從事藝術創作和服務」。

No longer willing to believe in a story where I could either nurture my own creative process or take care of and help others, I was curious to see if the stirring in my soul could be made real and wondering if others would join me.

我不再願意相信這樣一個故事：就是我只可以二選一：要麼培養自己的創作過程，要麼照顧和幫助他人。我很好奇，我靈魂深處的悸動是否能夠實現，也想知道其他人是否會加入我的行列。

I took a risk. It was a moment when I became willing to give up my achievements, to leave my job in a prestigious art school, to step away from my professional persona. It was the beginning of fully risking failure and rejection by colleagues who might not share or understand my vision. I have never regretted taking that risk.

我冒了一次險。那一刻，我願意放棄我的成就，離開我在一所著名藝術學校的工作，脫離我的職業身份。這是我完全冒著失敗和被同事拒絕的風險的開始，因為他們可能會不認同或不理解我的理念。我從未後悔冒過這個險。

Hundreds of times I have left my studio in despair. When I return the next day, however, something else has arrived, like a tiny shoot of a new seedling, something about meaning has begun to exist. I have learned through years of practice to kindly ask the critical voices, the ones who are fearful, to step back and watch and wait.

我曾數百次絕望地離開我的工作室，相信你們中許多人也有過這樣的經歷。然而，當我第二天回來時，又有一些東西來探訪了，就像一棵新苗的嫩芽，一些有關意義的想法已經開始萌芽。通過多年的實踐，我學會了善意地請那些挑剔或恐懼的聲音退後一步，觀察和等待。

I suggest to you today that this particular capacity that we all share as expressive and creative art therapists is the very gift the world needs right now. We need not silence fear or hopelessness but we cannot let them be in charge, rather we befriend them and let them live in an image that will help us and possibly inspire others as well.

今天，我向你們建議，作為表達性和創造性藝術治療師，我們不能讓它們主宰一切，相反，我們要與它們交朋友，讓它們以一種能夠幫助我們並可能激勵他人的形象存在。

In fact, I believe we ourselves, even those of us with many years of experience, may need to find a way to re-experience the hopelessness of the beginner again in our art practice.

事實上，我相信我們自己，即使是那些擁有多年經驗的人，也可能需要找到一種方法去在我們的藝術實踐中重新體驗初學者的無望。

We offer our clients and students support as they find their way into the very special way that the expressive and creative arts offer not mastery but expression, a place where every unformed feeling is welcome.

我們為我們的個案和學生提供支持，幫助他們找到進入表達性藝術和創造性藝術的特殊方式，這種方式提供的不是傳授技巧，而是表達的方法，在這裡，每一種未成形的感覺都是受歡迎的。

Every conflict, every problem, every part of themselves that feels unwanted, dangerous or unloved is also welcome.

每一個衝突、每一個問題、每一個感覺自己不受歡迎、危險或不被愛的部分也是受歡迎的。

We can do this only if we too, have engaged with and welcomed those parts of ourselves.

只有當我們也參與並歡迎自己的這些部分時，我們才能做到剛才說的這一點。

In times of great change, we are always being given a chance to open to more, to say “what else can this be? 

在這個大變革時代，我們總是有機會向更多事物敞開大門，問一句 「這還能夠是什麼？」

Change brings chaos and in chaos, everything – every idea, practice, belief, ideology—reveals that within it and inside it are many other things besides what appears on the surface.

變革帶來混亂，而在混亂中，一切事物–每一種想法、實踐、信仰、意識形態–都會揭示出，除了表面現象之外，它的內部還有許多其他的東西。

May all of us continue to look beyond the surface and through our creative process, receive the new stories that are coming! 

但願我們都繼續透過我們的創造性歷程看穿表象，迎接這些新的故事！

Thank you!

謝謝！