Part 7
Had the non-member responded back in Adult by saying something like ‘I appreciate your time and I don’t mean to sound rude but I have made my decision and it would be very grateful if you could stop reaching this household’ and ending the conversation with ‘thank you’, or ‘I have some queries in relation to the bible, I am not very familiar with your publications so if you could, when you have some free time we could discuss the bible’. This is maintaining the exchange as an Adult to Adult conversation and the wisest manner to converse as it hallows a bridge to discussed or inform in a manner that will not offend, strike fear or cause judgement. (Fig.5.3)
As well with the elder scenario, fader knew the elder’s intentions and did something that he may regret that he had done it, had he responded as Adult like ‘I understand your concern but try to understand that I no longer am a believer of this religion and there are certain things that my conscious does not permit me doing’ the transaction would still be crossed and fader would still regret saying that the following day. Or if fader had lied ‘you know, just been too busy lately’ another Adult response is again crossed but not as bad as his other Adult response. If fader is really concerned about elder’s reaction the best response would be fader as Child like ‘Time just fly’s and I am very sorry, I will try to make a habit of attending again’ (Fig. 5.4), and fader’s Child will reinforce elder’s Parent ‘That’s excellent, I know times are taught but this is Satan’s system and the end is so near’.
The point here is that complementary transactions can be necessary to avoid fruitless and sticky situations, the fader who does not want to be disfellowshipped and the concerned non-member that wants to make his point across. I have avoided losing my job by using Parent to Child transactions with my boss as he likes to play games wanting me to think that I am never good enough so he can keep pushing me to work harder but if I respond back as Adult or worse Parent may boss can easily get some other poor schmuck to do my job, but I have complete control on the outcome of the conversation and if ever I leave my job it is completely my choice in doing so, as YouTube user TheraminTrees puts it “Transactional Analysis or TA is a theoretical framework used in therapy and counselling which suggests that one of the overriding factors in the perpetuation of these situations is not the other person’s behaviour but our own state of mind”