Refining the way the client looks at himself and the role that is his to play
- Indications
Among the difficulties in respect to which one or the other of the two existential approaches to which I refer to most efficiently facilitates improved coping abilities, one finds:
- Loss of self-confidence
- P.T.S.D. (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder)
- Procrastinations
- Anxiety
- Avoidance behavior
- Theoretical Framework
The theory of the Self as conceived by Carl Rogers
One of the most central notions in Rogers' theory (1959) is the notion of "Self" or self-image. This Self constitutes the "organized and coherent set of perceptions and beliefs about oneself". It includes all the ideas and values that characterize the "I" (or "Ego"), as well as the perception and valorization of "who I am" and "what I am capable of doing". Thus, according to Rogers, the image we have of ourselves is a central component of our overall experience; it influences both the perception we have of ourselves, our perception of the world and the role we feel we can play in it.
In keeping with this point of view, I take it for granted that the consideration my clients grant to themselves, and everything that flows out of such consideration (or lack of it), is to be included amongst the major concerns that they will be grappling with sooner or later. I further proceed on the assumption that there exist in this field of concern a number of particularly interesting “voices” they are well worth listening to (and including in the therapeutic dialogue). These include on one hand what the great philosophers of the western existential movement have to say, and on the other what the great sages of the Vedic Tradition of knowledge have to say. What these voices have to say is so important that they simply cannot be ignored.
The Western Existential Movement
Towards the end of the last century, American Counselor Irving D. Yalom published a book (1980, Existential Psychotherapy, Basic Books, USA) in which he explains how, above and beyond his professed theoretical humanistic allegiances, his Counseling practice by and by came to structure itself more and more around what he named as representing "Existential Constraints".
The Existential dynamic, unlike the Freudian, does rest upon a step-by-step developmental process. It does not necessarily retain the notion that what happens earlier (chronologically 1st) is more fundamental (in terms of importance). It considers instead that that which is most fundamental is something that transcends the personal history of the person. Such a notion will inevitably profoundly influence the therapists’ methodology. Most of the time, the "future becoming present" is the time framework within which Existential Counseling unfolds itself.
For Existential Counselors, the difficulties that a person stands to encounter during his lifetime are prompted to a much greater degree by the ways in which he apprehends the existential constraints with which he finds himself confronted with, than they are by the traumatic events to which he might have been subjected to during his early years of life.
In insisting on this point, Existential Counselors do not seek to minimize the devastating impact that early traumatic events can have on the psychological development of the person. Rather, they seek to emphasize the fact that this devastating impact crystallizes itself around the way a person grasps his or her existential constraints. From their point of view, a Counseling process which strives to bring to light the defense mechanisms by which the person protects himself from his existential anxieties would prove more effective than one too exclusively bent upon brining to light the mechanisms by which a person represses his early traumatic past. In other words, we could say that Existential Counselors consider that at the center of any pathological structure (obsessional neurosis, hysteria, etc.) there exists a core of existential anguish.
The Vedic Tradition of Knowledge
According to the ancient texts that survived the repeated invasions into that part of the world, several millennia before the advent of our modern era there existed in the land today called “India” a "golden" civilization in which peace, harmony and happiness prevailed. What is peculiar about what such texts express is the fact that human life was ideally supposed to unfold itself around two supposedly very complementary dimensions: an "Absolute" one, referring to an internal “ unmanifest ” domain, and a "Relative" one, referring to an external “manifest” domain.
These texts elaborated a vision of the person and the world in which he lived quite radically different from what we are accustomed to hearing in our modern age. The aim of the present sub-section is not to make an exhaustive presentation of the point of view expressed by the sages of this ancient tradition of knowledge. It is much more interested in simply pointing out the extent to which that which was being proclaimed by these sages of ancient times turns out to in fact be quite similar to that which is today being proclaimed by western Existential Counselors, that is to say that a person, to the extent he loses his capacity to being connected to his Absolute dimension, exposes himself to difficulties that crystalize themselves around a nucleus of existential anguish. Conversely, to the extent he retains his capacity to being connected to his Absolute dimension, he exposes himself to being able to develop his “Existential Potentialities” much more easily.
- Aims
The Western existential movement and existential constraints
According to existential Counselors, it is the anxiety which structures itself around a series of existential constraints to which we are inevitably bound to find ourselves confronted with, as well as the conflicts / uncertainties that such confrontation generates, that Counselors should concern themselves with above all else. Among those that espouse this line of thinking, Salathé (1995, Existential Psychotherapy, pages 54-55, Institute of Psychotherapy, Switzerland), identifies five major existential constraints, namely:
- Freedom
- Meaning (finding it whilst confronted by futility)
- Death
- Existential isolation
- Imperfection
The Vedic Tradition of Knowledge and Existential Potentialities
The Vedantic texts I have studied over the years, in particular the Bhagavad Gita (Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, 1967 On the Bhagavad-Gita: A translation and commentary, Chapters 1-6, Penguin/Arkana, USA), have led me to consider that Existential Counselors (the western ones), as interesting as their discourses may have been, focused their attention primarily on the limitations that we find ourselves confronted with due to the fact that we are human. Vedantic texts, while also examining the same existential dynamics, have focused much more attention on the potentialities that we may access due to the fact that we are human.
To name but a few of them, the Vedantic texts evoke the following themes:
- The roles which human beings play in this world
- Dharma (the duties and / or ethical principles that human beings are meant to adhere to)
- The essential nature of human beings (their true identity)
- Right action and its consequences
- The paths human beings may embark upon to gain access to their true identities, and by way of consequence, their existential potentialities.
As far as I am concerned, there is not doubt that it should undoubtedly prove extremely "energizing" to be able to add themes such as those mentioned immediately above to the ones that are commonly addressed within the framework of a more classical type of Existential Counseling. With this in mind, my intention is to render available an Existential type of Counseling that will strive to incorporate both existential constraints and Existential potentialities. This is what I mean when I talk about wanting to dispense an “existentially colored” kind of Counseling.
- Methodology
PCA Counseling “nourished by” Collaborative Dialogues
As I have already indicated under section "Counseling", the Counseling I practice is under all circumstances a “PCA inspired” type of Counseling (please refer to section "PCA Foundations"). This being said, whenever my client ends up choosing to venture into a field I consider being of paramount importance, I do tend to want to nourish the listening I provide with inputs from “additional significant voices”. What happens in such instances is simply that I invite other voices to come and participate in the dialogue that is taking place between my client and myself. If this is indeed what I do, one is legitimately entitled to ask: "what does inviting other voices mean?”
When I invite a Western Existential Outook to come « mingle » itself within the usual Counselor / Client dialogue, the voices I am "welcoming" are those which evoke the teachings, hypotheses or other philosophical discourses contained within the works of Existential philosophers (or Counselors). And when I invite a Vedic Outlook to come mingle itself within therapeutic dialogues, the voices I am "welcoming" are those which evoke the teachings, hypotheses or other philosophical discourses contained within Vedantic texts
As always, my first concern as a Counselor is that of promoting dialogue and exchange. Given such a standpoint, it follows that the client must always remain free to adhere only to his own experience. From the moment other voices (be they of an existential nature or any other) are brought in to mingle with or participate into a dialogue between client and Counselor, such voices should be taken into consideration only as " food for thought".
It is the client’s genuine experience that is given first and foremost importance; any and all hypotheses coming from contexts that lie outside the person’s primary frame of reference (his own experience) should be understood as merely serving as signposts for paths of further exploration. In other words, any “outside context” hypothesis may or may not genuinely become part of the dialogue. If it should not be felt to be genuinely relevant to the dialogue, it may simply be shelved for later discussions (or once and for all).
On the other hand, to the extent it is true that existential anxieties can indeed be found at the heart of some of the most “relentless” difficulties we are made to face, I consider it my responsibility towards my clients to bring to their attention any and all elements that may be able to contribute to the dissipation of such anxieties.
Anxiety dissipation being the “raison d'être” for the introduction of “existential spices” into the Counseling process, and having myself savored such spices in most convincing ways, my motivation is indeed strong for wanting to make same available to my clients should the so feel inclined
This being said, I wish to emphasize the fact that as far as I am concerned the most important thing that I try to facilitate via the listening I make available to my clients is the opportunity for them to "transcend" from a given state of consciousness to another deeper one – one that will tend to be more subtle emotionally, as well as more aligned with greater Self-actualization (whether through a "classic" PCA Counseling, or through an "enhanced" PCA Counseling).
I wish to again emphasize that it is the quality of the Counseling process that provides what is essential to a therapeutic movement. Adding flavor to the Counseling process by spicing it up with Western Existential or Vedic voices (or any other voices) stands to be of added value only to the extent that the listening/dialogical process that is engaged is capable of providing the client with the security he requires to be able to recover the lost parts of himself. Listening to Western Existential or Vedic voices may give us clues about the parts of ourselves that we need to recover; yet if we are to recover them, it is on the safe inner space we have inside of us that we will need to build upon.
It further behooves me to point out that even when resorting to the usage of a “spiced-up” Counseling process, the fact remains that it is the “Person-Centered” quality of the ears and the voices I lend to the process that is the most important thing that I have to offer. Spices are fun and interesting, but they do not make the cuisine. The true quality of the "cuisine" that is mine depends above all on the degree to which I stand to be able, during the Counseling process, of displaying the 3 "necessary and sufficient" attitudes mentioned by Carl Rogers (see section " PCA Foundations").
- Professional affiliations
The relationship I established with Western Existential philosophy did not begin in a formal way. While it was during my high school years that I first found myself drawn towards such philosophy, it was only during my 1st year at university that I studied it in a more formal way. In the end, it was only twenty years later during my C.I.F.P. training when I came to learn about Existential Psychotherapy as formulated by the famous American psychotherapist, Irving D. Yalom that the contours of something very central to my way of thinking the world began to take shape.
During a decade (between 2004 and 2014), I attended the Freudian Circle seminar in Geneva. This enabled me to invest a fair amount of time into wrestling with existential considerations. Today, it is essentially through my readings that I remain connected to this way of thinking the world.
On the other hand, the relationship I established with the Vedic tradition of Knowledge did so on a much more rigorous basis. It was first established during the six years I studied at Maharishi International University in the United States. It was also during these years that I was able to attend an international course that qualified me as Transcendental Meditation teacher.
Since that time, I have maintained constant ties with the International organization whose aim is to provide a coherent framework for the teachings of Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, an illustrious custodian of this knowledge of life. Even more importantly however, it behooves me to point out that it is through my daily practice (morning and evening) of the Transcendental Meditation Program that I cultivate my deepest relationship to this knowledge of life.
Finally, I’d like to mentioned how honored I feel for being able to deepen my understanding of Vedic knowledge by regularly going to the ANAMAY Vedic Retreat Center located in the foothills of Himalayan India, in Kausani in the State of Uttarakhand, district of Almora (Kumaon region).
