In philosophical practice

In philosophical counselingwe start by investigating the counselee’s perimeter, and in order to do so we begin by exploring her patterns—emotional, behavioral, cognitive. (This will later enable the counselee to examine her conceptions, and then go beyond them.)

But a common temptation arises here. The counselee often comes to the counseling with a specific problem: a dilemma at work, a marital difficulty, dissatisfaction with herself, etc. The counselor is often tempted to seek solutions.

From the perspective of the present approach, this is a mistake. The philosophical counselor is not a marriage therapist and not a career counselor. Her task is not to solve problems, but to guide the counselee on a journey of self-exploration. And a good starting point is noting the facts: how the person behaves, thinks, and feels—in other words, patterns.

The following example will illustrate this point:

George, a computer programmer, comes to the counselor complaining that things aren’t going well at work.

“Work is no longer fun,” he says. “The new manager watches what everybody is doing. He is demanding. And I don’t feel easy and natural anymore. I no longer flow with the work. And the worse part of it is that everybody in the office is happy with the new boss. They take the job ‘seriously’ now. What a drag!”

“Can you say more about how you feel in this new situation?”

“I feel bored. Before he came, the office was alive. We turned every task into a game: Who solves this computing problem first? (It was, by the way, my own idea, but everybody liked it.) Now, everyone is so serious. They no longer tell funny stories. They no longer chat. And they love the new boss because he gives them ‘professional challenges.’ Disgusting.”

At this point the counselor must resist the temptation to search for satisfactory solutions. Philo-sophia is not in the business of producing satisfaction. Its path is the path of self-understanding, of wisdom.

The sensitive counselor will notice that George uses a very specific vocabulary: fun, exciting, natural, flow—versus bored, serious, lifeless. This suggests a common theme, or a pattern: he seeks fun. For the philo-sopher, this observation is a door to the exploration of George’s perimeter.

“It seems, George, that fun is important to you.”

Now they may start exploring this apparent pattern of fun-seeking: whether it does indeed characterize his attitudes (sometime our initial impression is mistaken), what kind of fun he seeks, how this is manifested in various situations, what feelings it is associated with, and so on. Once the pattern begins to be exposed, it is time to move on to the next step: exploring the conception (worldview, philosophy) which underlies George’s pattern.

Exercise

Think of two or three people you know, who behave differently in similar circumstances. For example, think of how two of your friends watch television and how they react to a football game, or to the news.

Now try to characterize the attitude of each one of them in those circumstances (e.g., each person’s reactions and emotions in front of the television). Write down a list of characteristics for each person and be specific as you can. Then try to see if each list can be characterized by some common theme(s), or pattern(s). The difference between these two people might help you sharpen your observations.

Lesson 5