The Spirituality inside the Life and Work of Jacob Levy Moreno

Abstract

This is a study about the life and work of Jacob Levy Moreno, the creator of psychodrama. This study intend to discuss the importance of religion and spirituality for the theory of this author. Despite not having written much about the direct influence that Hassidism, a new vision emerged inside the Judaism, had on him, it is possible to see strong similarities between the hassidic and Morenian philosophies. From this bibliographic search it was possible to identify the roots of keys concept for Psychodrama, such as moment, cultural conserve, spontaneity and creativity. The philosophical-spiritual issues becomes more present in life and work of Moreno during his youth, at which time seems to have lived a kind of spiritual crisis. After overcoming the crisis, the young Jewish experienced a reconection with people and the Universe. Therefore, it is then that he wrote his first book, “The Words of the Father”, a work he considers the result of a transcendental experience. The main ideas of this book will be discussed here, as well as its connection with the Hassidism. The proposal of psychodrama is based primarily on a rematrixing of the human being identity and the rescue of creativity and spontaneity occasionally lost. Considering that for Moreno, both of these features are part of a divine spark that exists in all humans, we conclude that the psychoanalytic approach to psychotherapy can contribute so much to the effective development of human potential. Keywords: Hassidism, Psychodrama, Moreno.