Reading the therapeutic contract in the Quran

Organisational theory and the story of creation

Day # 11

Organisational theory and the story of creation

We have seen in the previous explorations the intrapsychic relations being internalised or perhaps neural pathways that can exist in one’s mind depending on how they choose to make sense of the external world.

Parallel to that is another realm of realities which operates on an interpersonal level. The psychoanalytic study of groups and organisations looks at how individuals function in groups and organisations and how they unconsciously operate to avoid the anxiety emerging from facing the task assigned to them; which is called the primary task.

People organise themselves around beliefs about what is happening to them, these are called basic assumption groups.

If the organisation does not provide ways to deal with this anxiety, it can lead to rigidity, or burnout amongst other things. (Stokoe, 2021)

In the previous verses, God is about to set up an organisation of people who will succeed one another. Their primary task is to form a successful succession that is not, as the angels predicted, based on corruption and bloodshed.

Surat Al-Baqara

2:30 [Prophet], when your Lord told the angels, ‘I am putting a successor on earth,’ they said, ‘How can You put someone there who will cause damage and bloodshed, when we celebrate Your praise and proclaim Your holiness?’ but He said, ‘I know things you do not.’

Adam and Eve as the first humans face their anxiety for the first time when they are seduced by an enemy and transgress a boundary set by God. They are held to account. According to Stokoe, “It is through the accounting system that the healthy organisation encourages anxiety to be passed up the line.” (Stokoe, 2020, p97)

So the circulatory system, as Stokoe refers to it, is established, a task is handed down and anxiety is passed up the line. The suggestion is that this continuous flow would guarantee the healthy functioning of this new burgeoning society.

So how does this apply to us outside the garden of Eden?

TBC…

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