Third Force Psychology
Third force psychology is killing me, but only because I am letting it. In my mind, the focus on free will almost strips you of your individuality. It sounds paradoxical. And I think it is. As soon as you begin trying to live an “authentic” life, you quickly realize that everything around you is influencing you and you cannot escape all of it.
If you have not read the play “Waiting for Godot” by Samuel Beckett, I highly recommend it. The play is centered around two characters who are waiting for someone, someone they do not know, someone named…you guessed it…Godot. They wait and do all sorts of absurd things (an illusion to the existential “absurd”) to pass the time. The take-away is that the meaning of life does not exist inherently. A person must create value by defining it and living it. On a grander scale, perhaps there is some inherent meaning but we, as humans, are incapable of understanding it. I’m getting carried away with philosophy. Back to psychology:
I have not studied or practiced existential therapy so do not mistake my pondering as truth. I would consider the focus on choices and consequences to be very effective in therapy because it gives the client some freedom. I can also see how understanding that death is inevitable would help a client who is grieving or about to lose a family member. All of this has to be tactfully and with skill. I doubt that very few clients would find it helpful to hear “death is inevitable and their time has come”. I also would not be surprised if that blunt satement does help someone. It is all about context. It really is. That is what makes therapy and life so difficult. We never know anyone’s story completely and we never will. We can only know our own stories, and even then, only if we try.
How can we take something so basic and make it so complicated?
You really should read the play. It’s short.
Kelsey Hilton on Blog Post Number 2
8:56 pm, 02.01.13
I’m glad that you brought up our loss of relationship and our obsession with relationships and mistakes. As if that’s not bad, we are substituting the internet for critical thinking skills!
Kelsey Hilton on Blog 2
8:44 am, 02.01.13
You’re right on. Our solutions cause more problems, which makes sense, how else would we advance?
My point with the medicine is that some of our solutions aren’t solving what we think they are.
Sometimes pharmaceutical companies sell a disease to sell a product. For example, Japan did not think that depression was a disease that needed to be treated with medication. So, when Americans offered their medication it wasn’t needed. Until, the Americans convinced the Japanese that depression is an illness.
What I am trying to say is that sometimes what we call solutions are not solutions at all even though society is led to believe they are.
That formula is just the chemical solution of the antidepressant Paxil.
Thanks Raymond!
Kelsey Hilton on Blog Post 2
8:32 am, 02.01.13
I appreciate you integrating information from some of your other classes. By pointing out that the soul may be a combination of the spirit and a body you give a name to the wholeness of the separation. Double aspectism is something we will always struggle with.
Kelsey Hilton on Blog 2
8:19 am, 02.01.13
Yet, it took thousands of years for a movement to emerge. Here in America, I’m not cultured enough to know about other parts of the world, our grandparents’ generation still restricted women from the working world. Our generation is much better. Right now women outnumber men in university enrollment but there is still discrimination in different fields, such as math and science. I appreciate the idea that women and men should be treated as equals but Aristotle’s golden mean still hasn’t been reached.
Thanks Mengyuan!
Kelsey Hilton on Blog Post #1 "The Good Life"
6:38 pm, 01.21.13
Paige,
I read your post a several days ago and had to come back to comment. It was that good! I had never even considered “The Good Life” as being a life full of goodness and service. I was thinking more materialistically. You say that the good life is something that we can never achieve because we are selfish creatures but you inspired me to think that “The Good Life” is entirely possible. When we live as selflessly as possible and give “The Good Life” some flexibility with forgiveness we are indeed living “The Good Life”.
Thanks for the encouragement
Kelsey Hilton on The Good Life: Lincoln Woods
6:29 pm, 01.21.13
I love that you aspire to help others seek “The Good Life”, through counseling. Marriage is a beautiful thing. To have a partner you can trust completely is almost incomprehensible. That trust and faith in the other person only intensifies our understanding of the love of our God.
And Lyndi, I am sitting here pondering my own thoughts as well.