Then it occurred to me - I've finally started my diploma and as part of that, I have to write a journal entry every week (what we learnt and how it impacted us) and it seems a shame that no one except my tutor will ever read them. My raging intellect (being what it is) came up with a solution - post the journal entries! Eureka!
Some of them probably won't be interesting enough to post and some will have to be edited if I feel that I'm talking about something which is a bit too personal for public reading. Also, if you're not interested in psychology/philosophy this might not be your cup of tea. Anyway, you never know until you try!
So without further ado...
[It is] knowledge, consciousness, in a word – that lifts man above nature. But this achievement brings him into a tragic position between animal and God. Because of it, he is no longer the child of mother nature; he is driven out of paradise, but also, he is no god, because he is still tied inescapably to his body and its natural laws… (Jung, 2004: 8).
I’ve chosen to start this journal with the above quote as I
feel that it encapsulates the view that I am starting to take of the world and
what it means to live in it as a human being. I stumbled across it last year
when I was coming towards the end of my studies for my level 3 certificate and
it stuck with me (partly because it feels very poignant but also because it’s
the only bit of Jung’s essay which didn’t go over my head). At any rate, I
wanted to get it into one of my earlier journals so that I can establish its
importance and return to it if need be.
Briefly then, I agree with the notion that being human means
that we’re different from the rest of the animal kingdom (through our higher
knowledge and consciousness of the world) and yet too similar to them to ever
really escape all of the pain and misery that comes with living in a world
which in my view, is totally indifferent to our existence.
I remembered this quote in class the other day during our
discussion on humanistic counselling. I feel that the humanistic approach has a
lot going for it because of its emphasis on the client as
Autonomous and self
determining…[and] that each of us contains within us the seeds
of our own growth and healing (Wilkins, 2010: 169).
The further I go through life, the more I believe in free
will. I am starting to believe that with our superior sense of awareness, comes
accountability about the choices we make. We might not always realise that we
have a choice and the choice might be rotten, but it’s our choice none the
less.
I alluded to this during the discussion at the end of class
(as well as in last week’s journal). When I was growing up, I believed that I
did not have many options open to me because I believed that I was
unintelligent. I believed this because I chose
to believe it. Granted, I was put in a position where believing this was
the easier option. Indeed, at the time it felt as though it was the only option but I know now that it
wasn’t and I feel as though the lesson to take from this forms one of the
aspects of humanistic counselling which I really want to use in my own work.
If people are to really change, I believe that they need to
understand that they have the power to do so. They might not be responsible for
some of the things that life throws at them, but I believe that they have
control over how they react to it.
However, what I see as the limitations of the humanistic
approach come into play when I consider the second half of Jung’s quote. Being
human may involve being free but like everything else in the animal kingdom, it
also involves dying.
I don’t feel as though I’m being pessimistic even if I am
being blunt. Whatever one may think about what comes after death, the fact
remains that death is inescapable and part of being human is trying to come to
terms with this.
So, whilst the optimism of the humanistic approach is
refreshing, it seems to me that Roger’s idea of people containing
The urge to expand,
extend, develop, mature – the tendency to express and activate all the
capacities of the organism, or the self (1967: 351)
needs to be kept within the realistic context of our
finitude. Yes, we should strive to be the best that we can be but it’s also
crucial that we remember how frail and mortal we really are. I feel that it is
all well and good to have a philosophy that people are fundamentally good and
the world can be a better place if we all just work together but realistically,
I believe that the nature of existence means that the world being a better
place has to be viewed in the light of harsh reality. That is to say that true
perfection seems impossible when all of humanity’s weaknesses and limitations
are taken into account.
Once again, I feel the need to emphasise the fact that I’m
not trying to be bleak so much as I am pragmatic. I feel that it’s far too easy
to bury one’s head in the sand when it comes to the subject of mortality but as
Yalom puts it
Most of us, most of
the time, live comfortably by uneasily avoiding the glance of death…But there
is another way…that teaches us that full awareness of death ripens our wisdom
and enriches our life (1991:7).
Again, this is something that I would like to incorporate
into my own work as a counsellor because I feel that it is important. It’s ok
not to like the fact that death is a part of life. It’s also ok to be scared of
it.
Even so, I think that
working with people and truly empathising with them using a humanistic approach
has to involve a willingness to confront the basic issues of being human. Sometimes
these issues will not be pleasant but that feels to me like something a
counsellor needs to get over just as much as a client does and that is something
that I would like to explore more, at least in terms of my own development as I
progress through this diploma.
REFERENCES
- Jung,
Emma (2004), Animus and Anima
(reprinted),
- Rogers,
Carl (1967), On Becoming a Person,
- Wilkins,
Paul (2010), Person-Centred Therapy.
100 Key Points,
- Yalom,
Irvin D (1991), Love’s Executioner
and Other Tales of Psychotherapy,
Good post. I understood most of it.
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