Networks of Desire

Simon Western
3 min readDec 3, 2021

How our desire is disturbed by undercurrents?

David Marinelli

This years been a tough gig for so many, and the trickster virus is at work again. Still recovering from Covid, I am trying to keep up with the workload, and yet in parallel to busyness and tiredness, I experience a deep energy of transition in the air. I experience networks of desire, emerging around me. I notice movement in the still water as I pass by the pond, and observe how an undercurrent is doing it’s particular work, slowly moving sediment and green reeds, unnoticed by busy folks who pass by, on their way to somewhere.

When coaching and consulting, my work is also to notice these undercurrents, to see what sediments are stirred in my clients and in myself, and to bring them to the attention of others. In the psychoanalytic world, these undercurrents are understood as unconscious dynamics. In the religious world they are understood as the ‘holy spirit’ at work. Working between the spiritual and secular, between diverse other contexts, and making the connections, is pre-occupying me at the moment.
This week, I have been engaged with the catholic church, the Church of England, a global car manufacturer in the USA, an investment bank, and with #blacklivesmatter activists in the USA. My work moves from secular to spiritual, from social activism to the heart of capitalism, and from intimate conversations with friends who have lost…

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Simon Western

Executive coach, academic, author, psychotherapist. Thought leader: Eco-leadership, eco-coaching & social change. Informed by psychoanalysis & critical theory