Introduction

No doubt people’s responses to the holiday season run the gamut from dread to ecstatic. I fall with the latter because I love the holidays. For me, it all kicks off with Halloween marking the last day of October that opens up to the month of giving thanks, followed by the Christmas season. It’s a time of memories as well. Although many of my thoughtful reflections back to earlier holiday seasons entail missing a lot of people who are no longer here, they are nonetheless pleasant recollections. Such pleasantries are due to having been blessed with a wonderful family and good friendships growing up. Unfortunately though this is not true for everyone, I nevertheless do not apologize for such blessings. Instead I embrace them hardily and whole-heartedly. And I’m glad to have had the family, loved ones, and friends that I did indeed experience growing up. Regret is a strong word, and I use it sparingly. There are things I wish I would have done more of through the years, and one thing I wish is  that I would have more deliberately taken stock of the blessings I did have. I suppose in a month of giving thanks, reflecting on those times and blessings would be a good thing to do.

Family, Work Ethic, and Nonconformity

I have come to realize that this particular blessing can be a rarity. Indeed parents who understand a work ethic and the nature of money are indeed a blessing, not that I readily embraced these values as a kid growing up. I did try to get away with as much as I could. But getting that first job so that I had my own money in my pocket hit home right away. I also remember opening my first savings account. My dad was a laborer most of his life. He used the G.I. Bill to train as a machinist after he got out the Navy, and worked in machine shops that supported the oil boom that kept East Texas alive for many decades. There were times he worked six days a week, as many as twelve hours a day. The people he worked with, though they would rather wind down the week with normal work hours, embraced the extra work though it wore them out. I was too young to realize the foundation that dad was setting from which I would benefit in later years.

My mom had been a stay-at-home mom for the first several years of my life, but when I turned twelve, she decided she wanted to go to nursing school. All her life, she had wanted to be a nurse. She had been told by her dad that only questionable women went into the field of nursing. This was a bias that stemmed from the two world wars. But when she turned thirty in 1960, she left all the doubts and conformity behind and studied for her LVN, later obtaining her bachelor’s degree and becoming a full registered nurse (RN). She worked in the field she loved for over thirty years. She passionately worked in the emergency facilities of hospitals because it was exciting, and the skills she developed there honed her competencies as a nurse. I remember when I was around seventeen, she asked me, what do you want to do with your life. The question scared the hell out of me. I learned from her to go after what I wanted, but that it would take time and hard work. It would also take shaking off the pressure to conform to what others may think about my choices. Both mom and dad had rather rebellious spirits, and thankfully, I took that over from them. Unfortunately, viewing them in traditional terms as I grew up didn’t allow me to recognize just how much they didn’t conform to their cultural contexts until I reflected upon it years later. They were anything but traditional. Hard work, understanding finances, and common sense are great tools, not for conformity, but for rebellion. I’m thankful that I got such a spirit from them.

That spirit continued, and the years that followed with all the holidays spent with relatives and friends carved out memories for me of which I’ll never let go. The value of family is one that will always resonate with me deeply. Most of the old photographs I have now depict holiday times together with mom, dad, aunts, uncles, and cousins. They are times that are gone now, their value being learned at a deeper level years later down the line. In the last twenty years of his career, dad worked for Schlitz Brewery. I don’t think most people now would remember Schlitz beer. What I do remember is dad’s loading up my car with a couple of cases of beer every time I came home for the holidays. He would just say, don’t tell your mom, which of course was a joke.

Valuable Friendships

I attended the same school from the first grade till the time I graduated my senior year. Those long twelve years ensured some solid friendships that have lasted for a lifetime. Some people regret (there’s that word again) being born and growing up in a small town. There were some times that I surely question small-town life, but I have come to realize how important that fact is for my own development. Don’t get me wrong. When I moved to Dallas to get my first job, believe you me, I had a blast. I also had to relearn some of those lessons I had learned growing up. But more than anything, the friendships that I developed over the years growing up served to help me develop more good friends as I moved on, entered university life, and finally engaged the work world. Since I’m talking about giving thanks as we enter this month of November, another memory surfaces for me. Just a week ago, November 7th, commemorates the birthday of one of my best friends from school days. In fact, Jimmy and I struck up our friendship in the school year of 1959-1960, our sixth grade year. Elementary and high school friendships come and go, as most of mine have. We all drift apart after that senior year because that’s simply how life plays out. Though most of my close friends now came about during my college years, Jimmy and I stayed in contact, for the most part, through our adult years. We had one of those stereotypical school day friendships that lasted from elementary school to our adult years. We managed to navigate dating life with the girls across town, discovering that we were anything but football players in Texas, graduating the same year, and facing Viet Nam years, both of us being lucky to avoid that hellish nightmare. One particular memory consistently hangs on that occurred during our junior year in high school. We became swept up in a romantic whirlwind with two gals we fortuitously met at the local skating rink one night. Fortuitous for sure. They were older than we were. They were from Mississippi. And they entered the skating rink looking for Disc Jockey they had heard on the radio. All this transpired over a two week period during the Christmas and New Years holidays. We learned a few things from these mature women during that time. Jimmy fell head-over-heels in love with Donna while I enjoyed merely being infatuated with Sheila, who was nineteen going on twenty (or thirty) to my seventeen. Well all good things must come to an end. Sheila’s fiance entered town and swished her back home to Biloxi. Jimmy and Donna hung on for a little longer, but it too eventually faded. But it was a two-week ride about which we always liked reminiscing into adult life. I still think of Sheila now and then to this day.

Another memory regarding Jimmy and I involved a movie we both saw on one of those late night old movie rerun stations on television. It was a biopic about Mark Twain. As the movie has it, he was both born and died under the passing of Hayley’s Comet. (I have no idea as to the accuracy of this depiction.) The movie was shown on a weekend night, so when all the kids got back to school on Monday, everyone was talking, not so much about the movie, but about Hayley’s Comet. Jimmy and I consulted an encyclopedia, and we calculated that the next time Hayley’s Comet appeared, we would be 39-years old. When the time came in 1986, I was living in Denton, Texas, and called Jimmy about the appearance of Hayley’s Comet. He remembered our looking at the encyclopedia and said he was thinking about getting in touch with me.

I mention this particular friendship as one of several that shaped my life growing up. It was such a simple life in a small town with a small town outlook. Many of us during our high school days had but one goal – to get out of that small town and do something with our lives. I did that in Dallas, Texas. But now I wouldn’t change that small town upbringing for anything.

Like family, deep friendships are a value that resonate strongly with me. As a convinced and convicted introvert, I can count on one hand the number of close friends I have. And that’s the way I want it. But the meaning I apply to friendship started back there in elementary school.

Faith & Change

I don’t write that much about my spiritual beliefs on this blog, nor will I at this time. But for sure, my faith has played a large part in the memories I hold regarding my family and friendships. Faith is something that has waxed and waned over the years for me. That nonconformist spirit I talked about above doesn’t allow for an easy fit for me into institutional settings or organized religion. I’ll own that for myself. But in the many changes that occurred over the decades, my faith has been one constant. The 1960’s were most definitely times of change. I wouldn’t exchange those times now for anything, as tumultuous as they may have been at moments. In my small-town setting, I remember during my high school years, 1963-1966, that people tended to part and go one way or the other – with or against the changes that the 1960’s were bringing. The 60’s have been both touted and blamed for a lot of things. I don’t believe that over-generalizations applied to a decade mean all that much, and such generalizations tend toward sloppy thinking. Those times, however, did bring a lot of questioning of traditional values on which we were brought up. For me, looking back, it’s a both-and thing. I’m glad for the values on which I was raised, and I’m glad to have experienced the changing times. They both lay a foundation for me that, again, I wouldn’t exchange for anything.

Conclusion

There are so many things for which I can be grateful and thankful over the years. Family and friendship are two of them. The years take their toll. Many of us lost friends and acquaintances in Viet Nam. Over the decades, accidents and diseases have claimed others. My dad died in 1999 of coronary heart disease. It was the month of February. All I remember is that he wanted to live until 2000. He let go a few months early. At the time I was living in South Dakota. I flew home for dad’s funeral. The day after the funeral, Jimmy called. It had been several years since I had talked with him. We met for lunch at Luby’s Cafeteria, a thing we did several times over the years when I would come home for the holidays. We talked, did a little reflecting, but not as much as I would have liked. I went to his house and met his new wife, and we had a very pleasant day. I moved from South Dakota to Austin in 2001. Over the next several years, I lost contact with Jimmy. Then one day I decided to Google him to see if he was still living in east Texas. I could never find any info on him. Finally, I befriended his brother’s wife on Facebook. I contacted her to get the scoop on his address, phone number, and what he had been up to. That was in 2008. She informed me that Jimmy had died in 2000 of pancreatic cancer. I never knew. We had met for that last lunch at Luby’s in 1999, so it wasn’t long after that he died. As I stated, I don’t like the word regret. I do wish I had engaged a few more conversations with him. I wish we had had one more opportunity to sit around and reminisce about the years we grew up and our other friends – even Donna and Sheila. We didn’t get to do that. I don’t consider that a loss, nor do I regret it. But it reminds me of how time passes more quickly with surprises and shocks than we can realize. Rather than regret, however, I am thankful for the mom, dad, loved ones, and friends that I’ve had along the way to help shape my worldview. They remind me of ways I continue to live in alignment with my values. And they help remind me when I fall short. I have let people down more times than I want to remember. They also remind me of the ways I’ve changed. Though I have, I maintain that precious tension between the changes I’ve gone through and the blessings I will hold onto from my growing up. Indeed there are many blessings I have experienced. These days the politically correct notion of privilege is draped over such experiences. On top of despising politicizing life, it doesn’t take much to provide what my family and friends provided in our context. It doesn’t take money, power, nor status. It takes one simple thing we all look for.

This is the season for thankfulness. Count the blessings if you believe is such things. If not, count those experiences for which you can be thankful, particularly in terms of what others have lovingly provided for and taught you that you have taken with you to carve out a meaningful life for yourself. This is a good time of year to remember such things.

John V. Jones, Jr., Ph.D, LPC-S/November 14th, 2017

GENERAL ESSAY

Introduction

Superstition: a belief or notion, not based on reason or knowledge; irrational fear of what is unknown or mysterious; any blindly accepted belief or notion. – – Dictionary.com.

Very superstitious/writing’s on the wall .  .  . You believe in things/you don’t understand/then you suffer/superstition ain’t the way – – Stevie Wonder

Actually it’s Saturday the 14th because this blog is updated with a new article the 14th of each month. Given that it is Saturday the 14th, that means yesterday was Friday the 13th. On top of being Friday the 13th, we’re in a month where we will have a full harvest moon, headless horsemen, and Halloween. But like Stevie says, superstition ain’t the way. One way to deal with superstition is to have fun at it’s expense. So I’m going to have some fun with this blog this month.

Are You Superstitious?

Well, are you? I’m not. In saying that, do you feel that little tingle in the back of your brain that warns that you shouldn’t be so cocky? C’mon now, admit it. At times you do. When it comes to headless horsemen and haunted houses, it may be easy to respond, pfff. But what about those habits we develop that we have to follow like a rule? Professional athletes have more rituals they go through before and during a game than you can shake a stick at. And speaking of shaking a stick, where did that idea come from? Why do some buildings not have a 13th floor? They do have a 13th floor if math applies to reality and counting, but the floors are numbered from 12 to 14, skipping the number 13. Never mind that if you actually counted the way you were taught in elementary school or kindergarten, you would know whether or not you were thirteen floors up. But since the floor on which you’ve reserved a room is called the 14th floor, all is rosy.

A friend sent me an article yesterday about an airline that is flying into Helsinki, Finland, and the tickets read Flight AY666 to HEL. Now that’s brassy. The airlines and the people boarding the plane are shaking their fists at superstition because superstition ain’t the way. How many of you out there wouldn’t take that flight? Be honest now. Interestingly, however, the Flight number AY666 is being retired. It will no longer be used. Superstition? If you step up and spit in the face of superstition, let me ask you this. Have you ever put off doing a task, knowing the consequences that would occur if you keep putting it off, but hoping against hope that said task and resulting consequences would simply disappear and go away? Wishful thinking? Superstition? Read the definition from Dictionary.com once again.

Did you ever carry a rabbit’s foot when you were a kid, or wear one on a black leather jacket? Have you ever thrown a coin into the fountain, knowing on one level you were having a good time, but secretly hoping that what you wished would come to fruition? Have you ever chanted a saying when you were at the Black Jack table or the one-armed bandit in Las Vegas? Have you ever thrown salt over your left shoulder when you accidentally spilled some on the table? Or is it the right shoulder? Up-oh! Well, anyway. Have you ever rubbed a talisman before taking on a challenge? Have you experienced the weird thrills of the Ouija Board? You better be real careful of that one. What about those chain letters that have been around for decades, now popping up online, especially FB? Saying you don’t believe in them, have you ever passed them on anyway – just in case? If you did, Very superstitious/writing’s on the wall.

In reading the definition from Dictionary.com, many would hold that any religion or set of spiritual beliefs are superstitious. After all, you say a prayer and hope that it is answered. Such dialogues now move from having fun to something more serious, which I don’t want to do in this month’s blog article. But for those of us who live in faith, I think it’s a legitimate question to ask when one might cross a line to the superstitious use of his faith. But there are other forms of superstition that are not harmless. Even as late as the early part of the Twentieth Century, the U.S. had a list of censored books that were not to be made public or sold on the market. After all, if you read a certain book, it might get in there and twist your brain, and before you know it, you’re howling at the moon. Or worse, you have come to question any conformity you might have been a part of. And what about those politically correct speech codes. Aren’t they superstitious? Or is the saying sticks and bones a superstition?

Most of these things are harmless. While we may want to avoid taking them too seriously, there’s little reason to get over-concerned about rabbit’s feet, lucky charms, or good-luck coins. For many years, my dad carried around a 1899 penny that he considered his good luck piece. But when he was offered over a hundred dollars for it – in the late 1950’s no less – he took it without the bat of an eye. After all, much of this playing around with funny ideas can be just that, fun. And if we realize such things are fun, then don’t sweat it. I’ve correlated several times that when I turn off the television, I get something worthwhile accomplished. Given that anecdotal correlation, each day I think I’ll turn the television on for a few minutes and then turn it off. Why not? Well, though it’s a funny act, I don’t do it because it would feel just plain weird to do so for obvious reasons.

There are acts that I would cast in the camp of superstition that are not so harmless, like those that lead to different forms of censorship and attacks on free speech. That’s another discussion all together and perhaps another blog article.

In the meantime, I hope people got out there and enjoyed Friday the 13th. I actually had a massage. Nothing weird has happened yet. And yes, let those kids – and adults too for that matter – enjoy Halloween, dressing up in costumes, taking on the roles of monsters, ghosts, and ghouls, and having a blast Trick or Treating. After all, kids are kids only once. Have fun watching those horror movies. I’m not a big fan of contemporary gore – e.g. Friday the 13th, Jason, Chainsaw Massacres, Saw and their countless sequels. But I love those old film noir horror flicks from the 1930’s and 1940’s – Bela Lugosi as Count Dracula (nothing against Gary Oldman), Lon Chaney Jr. as the Wolfman, Clive Colin as Dr. Frankenstein with Boris Karloff as his tragic monster, who also made a good Mummy, and of course Claude Rains as Phantom of the Opera. If you want to have some real fun, read Mary Shelley, Bram Stoker, Edgar Alan Poe, Robert Louis Stevenson, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Washington Irving, and Gaston Leroux. I actually like Anne Rice as well. Spit in the face of superstition, make it fun, and have a blast.

But stay away from Ouija Boards!!

John V. Jones, Jr., Ph.D., LPC-S/October 14th, 2017

GENERAL ESSAY

Introduction

Retirement is one of the words that does not fit my vocabulary. But then again, it’s not a bad word at all. Retirement is a concept that people can and do interpret in many ways. It has its cultural baggage as well as its pictorial images. Sitting in a rocking chair, floating on a boat fishing, spending time just to pass the time. Of course, these are all images that are fully stereotypical. Traveling, starting a new endeavor, doing those things one has put off for some time, and taking on new challenges are images that I like to associate with retirement.

Presently, I’m in my very last semester of teaching graduate students at the university level. I first began working with university students, both undergraduate and graduate, in the Fall semester of 1989. My gosh, Miami Vice was entering it’s last year of showing. So twenty-eight years later, I’m still doing and enjoying this work. Yet the transition out of it does not shock me. The gate of time through which I’ll be walking come December is both exciting and sad. I still thoroughly enjoy working with students, which has always been the plus of the work I do. (Now faculty meetings, that’s another thing all together.) So not being around them all that much will be something I miss. Simultaneously, I’m expanding on a part-time private practice I’ve developed over the years while I have taught. I also thoroughly enjoy working with clients, which is the road on the other side of that gate I mentioned. I hold a supervisory status as a counselor, so I supervise new graduates as they pursue their full licensure in counseling. So I’ll maintain contact with people fresh out of counseling programs. Though there’s some changes coming, some things will remain somewhat the same. But there are other exciting opportunities ahead.

Travel, writing, new business endeavor with my counseling practice are images that I associate with retirement. And what about thinking? I love to sit around at times and just think. I’m weird like that. I envision January and February of 2018 as a couple of months that I’m going to take to just think. What about, you ask. I have absolutely no clue. And that’s exactly what will be fun about it. Perhaps the best answer to that question simply is – whatever.

My private practice, Contemplations, targets clients who are going through transitions. Hopefully, I will be in a good place to do more of that work with clients. But the word retirement for me does not generate the image that comes with the cultural baggage.

Smooth Transitions

My dad worked hard all his life. One of the roles he took on for himself, common to many men from his era, was that of a provider. He took seriously that responsibility that whatever happened, providing for his family was a rock solid value to which he held. I never saw him back off that role. That is, until he retired. I was hoping retirement would be fine years for him. And for the most part they were. He and mom had worked hard to own their small but comfortable home on a small lake in East Texas. But I also watched him grow bored. He was a worker, a laborer, and a floor supervisor valued by the many people with whom he worked over the years. I think the idea of merely sitting around the lake house grew old to him fast. I observed that he ceased doing the things that could have made his transition stronger. He loved fishing. But he reached a point where he never went out on the lake anymore. He was a tinkerer who loved maintaining the house, working in the yard, and keeping the boathouse in good shape. Slowly but surely, these activities fell off one-by-one. I alway wondered if he believed that because he wasn’t working, he had actually lost his purpose and aim in life as a provider, and he just didn’t know what to replace the roll with. I don’t know. Health was another issue. His heart problems began to take a toll on him, and he lost that zest he had for life and didn’t like the idea of being so weak he couldn’t do things. Much of these details are nothing more than surmising on my part. The one thing that dad didn’t lose was one hell of a sense of humor. He and mom over the years had one hell of a great time doing the things they enjoyed. So the sadness I felt in watching him in his years after work simply came in understanding he couldn’t do a lot of the things he wanted. His first heart attack came not much longer than a year after he retired. He was most definitely for me a role-model. So I hope to keep that zest going as long as I can into retirement years.

My private practice feels good as a segue into my post teaching years. There are several things I’ve been writing on which I can put more focus. Goals: traveling, learning a new language, becoming more technologically savvy, and of course my standby – reading my ass off. Next year around this time, I will have returned from a trip to Scotland, which I’m much looking forward to. Presently, my health is holding up. I’m a paleo-dieter, which reduced considerably my cholesterol numbers. I do Pilates at least once a week, so I feel pretty good right now. In such transitioning, one never knows what time bomb is ticking away inside one’s body. Seize the day – carpe diem – is not a bad line.

Reflections

I can’t say that I had any philosophical framework for entering the world of teaching twenty-eight years ago. My approach has developed over time, and is continuing to do so. There’s always something to learn in working with students. The primary thing I hold regarding being a prof is simply providing a pathway for students to think for themselves and come to their own conclusions about things. When I exited my doctoral program, theoretical concerns were still pretty big in the counseling world. Now I see that more in terms of providing a space where students can think about how they see this work for themselves. That doesn’t necessarily entail that they choose a theory and slide into it. It’s more about how they see themselves, their beliefs, and their values that they bring to the field. Hopefully, I’m just one marker on the road to their becoming who they are, getting at their core identity, which will be a life-long process.

I for sure didn’t have a philosophy of work when I set out on my career. I wasn’t thinking necessarily in terms of what work means, how it might add value to my life and others, or how it plays in the big scheme of things. Wish I could say I was thinking about all that stuff. More than anything, I was thinking about getting a job, paying bills, and having a savings account for once in my life. That stuff is okay too, and more valuable than we tend to think. Work for me now is valuable, not just in terms of doing something, but doing something I feel is worthwhile. I hope I’ve built relationships over the years through teaching in ways that I’ll never really know or need to know. I just hope some influence and encouragement is there. At this juncture, I do believe work is about a calling, a purpose, and finding meaning. None of that pursuit or search stops with a job. I love putting thoughts and ideas into words, so writing is something that will keep me busy. There is something fulfilling for me in looking at the consequences that ideas hold. I wrote a blog article earlier on areas I want to pursue going forward in terms of the themes mind, thinking/doing, meaning, and humility/finitude. I hope to see where working with thoughts around those themes carries me.

So yeppers, as we say in East Texas, I have some plans that do not involve merely ceasing to work. I’m sure, come December, I’ll be writing about this transition again. But for the most part, it’s simply a bend in the road. And I’m looking, God-willing, to what lies ahead. Having said that, my faith definitely informs me on these things, though I confess at this point, I’ve wandered quite a bit in terms of my beliefs. That’s another thing to settle into over the next few months and years.

Conclusion

There are no conclusions. JUST KIDDING. But why did these thoughts come up for me now in writing this blog article? I’m sure most of it is due to the fact that as I meet with each class this semester, I’m approaching an end to something with which I’m very familiar for nearly three decades. But that’s okay. In fact, it’s exciting. In terms of the theme, humility/finitude that I listed above, I’m fortunate to have done this work with the students with whom I’ve worked over the years. They are the best of it. I remember sitting in a history class with one hell of a professor back in the early 1970s, and in that particular class thinking, this is what I would like to do. And I’ve gotten to do it. I’m blessed now with good health still. But finitude – well that’s part of the formula. Approaching seventy-years old means the fuse is shorter. That’s the simple fact of it. But as Dylan Thomas charges, I’m not going gently into that good night.

John V. Jones, Jr., Ph.D., LPC-S/September 14th, 2017

GENERAL ESSAY

APHORISMS

Well today I’ve got this deadline for my Contemplations blog. So when I got up this morning, I thought I had to come up with some seemingly in-depth thought fairly quickly. Such a thought sounds, not only like a paradox, but also like an outright metaphysical contradiction. Given that I don’t want to fall into the black hole of such a contradiction, I’m coming up with some serious aphorisms wrapped in gaiety. Maybe they’ll work; maybe they will not. But here goes.

Monday .  .  . Monday .  .  . Not really. Over the years, I’ve actually come to embrace the notion that Monday is indeed nothing more than a state of mind. Many of us can most likely relate to school days and work weeks over the years where we began every Monday looking forward to Friday. I’m to the point now where I don’t care to wish the days to pass by. They’re doing that quickly enough as it is. Someone told one time that in his later life, he got to Friday looking back to Monday because he didn’t like the way his time was slipping away. At sixty-nine years old, I like neither the sound nor the feel to such a declaration.

Bob Dylan once wrote, you gotta serve somebody. I think that’s true, but not in the way that most people think. The  virtue signaling of the day is wearing thin for most people. Dylan is not a virtue signaler. A sense of life transformed into a conscious philosophy is hard work. Most of us probably rather avoid what it takes to make such a transformation. If you gotta serve somebody, it’s a terrible thing to be serving that of which you’re unaware.

Outlook for the week includes, reading, writing, but no ‘rithmetic, though I wouldn’t mind boning up on some geometry, algebra, and trig just for the hell of it because I used to do well in those areas. And for some odd reason, I actually enjoyed those subjects. When I ran headlong into derivative and integral calculus, however, it was like hitting the proverbial wall in a Ferrari, wide open, petal to the metal, and no seatbelt. I think it was more simply that I didn’t possess good study habits at the time I enrolled in those subjects, which in turn led to a disastrous conclusion that followed me through life for several years. If I’m to do something worthwhile, I thought, then it must come natural to me. Substitute for the word natural the word easy. You can guess the ramifications of such a belief when engaging difficult tasks in life.

I just finished a delicious cup of coffee to open up Monday morning and the week ahead. I have come to believe that caffeine is indeed the elixir of life. Whatever it was that ancient cultures deemed as the fountain of youth, Shangri-La, empyrean, nirvana, or utopia, well-brewed coffee had to figure into such experiences as a major factor. Not only does the magnificent taste send you up into the O-zones, the smell alone can transport you into an altered state. The neuronal effect remains ineffable.

What was I writing about? Oh yeah, serious aphorisms.

Speaking of neuronal effects, recently I read a book by Sam Harris, a well-known neuroscientist and philosopher, where he discusses the scientific fact that we have no free will, but given the psychological fact that we’re seemingly always making decisions and choices, we might as well act and believe as if we do possess free will. I couldn’t help but wonder which particular neurons led him to conclude, which means a choice among alternatives, that he nor anyone else possesses free will. Calvinists would ecstatically agree with Harris, other than he’s an avid atheist. I tried to ferret out how he chose to write, or came by writing, the book in the first place. And then I wondered about the motivation to persuade people that truly they do not possess the powers of choice. If other people’s neurons determined that they do possess free will, does that mean they would be right? I also wondered how one comes to know which neurons manage all the others and tells everyone that they need to give up on the notion of free will. My neurons on coffee appear to be completely different than without the wonderful elixir. Does that mean I’m determined by my neurons or by caffeine? And then I speculated on the notion about writing a book telling people that if they would choose to read the book, then they would conclude – choose to believe – that they don’t possess free will. What if they choose not to read the book? Or better yet, their neurons determine that they don’t read the book, or anything else about free will? What if they read a book that persuades them that they do have free will? Does any of this make any sense whatsoever?

Sam Harris is a brilliant neuroscientist and philosopher, and an excellent writer as well. I wouldn’t want to debate him on these issues. The book, Free Will, is a worthwhile read as well as his other works. His books, The End of Faith and Open Letter to a Christian Nation are well worth a critical read and inquiry.

In the news today, Ezekiel Elliot of the Dallas Cowboys has been suspended for six games for allegedly committing, what most people would call, thuggish activities. I don’t know the facts, so I don’t care to comment one way or another as to the veracity of the charges. He’s one individual among many of numerous cases where professional players across the sports world have been suspended, fined, arraigned, or sent to jail. I don’t want to make the common logical error of over-generalization when speaking about professional sports. Personally, however, I will own the fact that I’ve grown tired of the entire hype around college and professional sports. It’s taken much too seriously. There was a time that I too took it much too seriously. Every time my team lost, I would descend into the kind of depression that wreaks of the netherworld of darkness, Goth, and the walking dead. It would take me several days to climb out of the hole and see daylight again. Somewhere along the line my body told me enough. Thank heavens! No telling where I would be if determined by the state of those neurons.

All our hype over sports translates as well to other forms of entertainment. Movies, TV, big stars, red carpet photo ops, and all the paraphernalia that goes with having reached that magic moment in getting to a place called there. Only a few people are there. The rest of us applaud in a mad stupor, believing secretly that one day we too could be there. 

On just about any given afternoon, I’d rather read a good book or listen to some Jazz rather spend three hours or longer imbibing in mass media, NFL or otherwise. NFL Commish Roger Goodell publicly displayed his remorse at the ratings of NFL games plummeting over the last couple of years. He might as well look at Network Television all together. With Hulu, streaming, Netflix, and all the other ways to obtain personally specified entertainment, no one wants to be held captive by the major Networks. Who could blame them? Isn’t free market technology wonderful? It gives people choices – or more determinations from the neurons. Whatever the case, more bandwidth of experiences can lead to a better afternoon for many individuals.  And guess what? They’re taking it on. Yet mass media is here, appears to be here to stay, so we might as well use it to our advantage, even if it’s using it to block ourselves from that barrage of inanities that are thrown at us on a daily basis. Besides, I would rather choose my own inanities.

News, news anchors, and public information – does anyone trust these clowns these days?

Back to coffee. I just finished my second cup, and the week is looking up. I would go for an effect on the entire month, but I know there’s a point of diminishing returns. Too much caffeine gets those Sam Harris neurons firing and writhing like worms on a fish hook. At least at this very second, that’s what some neuron, according to Harris, had determined that I believe and write on this page.

H.L. Mencken – There is no record in human history of a happy philosopher. First, if that’s true, it says something as much about the field of philosophy as it does about any individual philosopher. Second, I can understand why, if those who enter the field of philosophy are in search for the perfect system. Human beings tend to get in the way of such goals. It can be a downer every time you talk to someone else who thinks for himself. One gets a picture of poor philosophers drinking their Scotch after a hard day’s critical inquiry, seeking to come to grips with how no one truly listens to them, understands them, or even cares what they have to say. On the other hand, Nietzsche laughed. And Camus told us that we must imagine Sisyphus as happy.

Politics – no comment

Albert Jay Nock – Live superfluously. Now that’s an idea worth searching out.

Frank Chodorov – Economics is not politics. Now THERE’S an idea worth living out.

Bitcoin – Should I invest in Bitcoin, particularly given the way the dollar has been ripped seemingly screaming bloody murder from it gold standard? One would hope it’s a last resort. But who knows when resort reaches its last leg?

I’m here to tell you that these are serious aphorisms within the framework of silliness. I questioned whether or not I should write a Contemplations blog draped in such a mindset. After all, this Website is devoted to professional counseling and critical inquiry. I’m not sure that if some prospective clients read these words, they wouldn’t run the other way rather than contact me for an appointment. I am certain that I wouldn’t blame them. I am on the fringe in a lot of ways, and it’s fun dancing out there. Did I say that Nietzsche laughed? He did.

Alas, it’s too easy to take even serious matters too seriously. Give yourself a break. You’re not the only one who hasn’t designed the perfect system. You’re not the only one who for years wished your weekdays away for Friday. You’re not the only one looking back to Monday from Friday to slow that train down. Is it true that you gotta serve somebody as Dylan proffered? Probably. If you don’t like Dylan’s question and his answer, then talk with him about it. If you find yourself taking too many matters too seriously, then .  .  .

Drink some coffee.

John V. Jones, Jr., Ph.D., LPC-S/August 14th, 2017

GENERAL ESSAY

Introduction

Values, beliefs, and human action form the core of what I want my work to be about with the clients I see. This is true because these notions also form the core of what I hope my life to be about. When I think about my counseling work with Contemplations, it’s not guided so much by some specific counseling theory, with the exception of existential thought. Rather my thoughts are guided by my being grounded in the ideas of libertarianism and personal liberty. These ideas have given rise to the way I now think about my own life and my work with clients, particularly those clients who are seeking what they want their lives to be about. Let me quickly add, when I say libertarian, I’m not talking about politics, but rather anti-politics. I’ve come to believe that politics represent no viable answers to anything at all.  I’m interested in what journeys people want to take with their lives. How do they want their personal journeys to play out in their ways of living? These ideas over the last several decades have played an important part in the way I approach living, probably in the last thirty-five years or so. They are questions and ideas that led me to stop on the road I was on at one time, and then take a completely different path that led to where I am now. That being the case, they are also thoughts and ideas that floated in and out of my awareness, taking some time for me to formulate them as I have at this point. I will not claim to have fully formulated them, because that is still a work in progress and will be until I take my last breath. What I want to write about in this article are a set of ideas I have formulated for myself that no doubt will shape my work with clients because they shape what I value and the manner in which I hope to live.

Human Action

The Axiom of Human Action

Human beings act. I have stolen this idea as formulated from the great Austrian economist, Ludwig von Mises (1881-1973). The thought is stated as a basic axiom. We act in life so as to make of our lives what we hope them to be. People move toward those things in their lives that they want and desire. That is, they move toward goals that they value. Thought and action go hand-in-hand. A fulfilled life consists of acting in alignment with one’s thoughts, beliefs, and values. There’s no claim here that these things don’t change over time with human beings. They definitely have changed with me over the course of my life. But a change in values and beliefs requires exploration and reevaluation of one’s values, which will then still guide one in his actions. In order to move toward one’s goals, one must know how to get there. In other words one must have a plan or a recipe as to how one sees life unfolding. Plans and recipes are never perfect. Most likely all of us have had to clarify, modify, enhance, and rework our plans toward what we perceive as a better way to live. Hence one claims that he’s perfecting his plans to achieve his goals. Part of the human condition in moving toward our goals involves our facing difficulties, shortcomings, and outright failures. Such experiences feed the need to rework our plans. They also immerse us in the human condition.

The Factor of Time

Another marker of the human condition is that we are immersed in time. An important realization that occurs for us as we seek to follow our plans toward our goals is that the future toward which we head is uncertain. Our actions take place in time, from now to the future, creating a past as we move on. The future is always uncertain. And time is finite. We only have so much time to create the life we want for ourselves. Plans can be made. They can be constructed with as much rationality, input, and information as we can garner. But we never have the sufficient knowledge, and for sure lack the omniscience, so as to know beyond a shadow of a doubt that our plans will succeed, or even work out in any particular way we desire. Time in one sense is rather like a pressure cooker turning the heat upon us to move and not waste any of the time we possess. Setbacks when our plans do not fully work out rob us of precious time. The constant battle is not to break under the pressure. Hence, if we want to make something of our lives, we are required to develop virtues that keep us on track. For the pressure never seems to dissipate.

Virtuous Living

Courage. Courage is called for along the way in our journey toward the life we want when setbacks, struggles, and failures emerge as major barriers on our path toward the life we desire for ourselves. To alter or change a plan requires retooling and the courage to let go of that which did not work. This doesn’t mean our values necessarily change, but it does mean our understanding of how we want to get to where we desire does change. Then there are those times that perhaps we question a value we have held to for some time. To discard and change a value requires an act of courage as well. Such changes in values might also require that our goals likewise change. We have been moving on a path. Now the destination is altered. This requires that we face the fear of more uncertainty.

Rationality. We must realize what our beliefs and values are before we can act on them. There are personal truths that we must explore, and of which we must become aware before we start our journey. Not that these things are done in some linear way where we must have all our ducks lined up before we move in life. If that were the case, we might not ever move. But we have to have some understanding of how our values and beliefs are driving us through life. Otherwise we’re floating in the wind, or we’re tossed about on the waves of a sea here and there of conflicting notions. Reason helps us understand what our goals and desires are that emerge from our beliefs and values. Do they mesh? Might our goals have to be changed so as better to align with our values? Might our goals inform us that we might not really value what we claim to value? Rationality allows us to make our plans and gain a picture of how we will carry those plans out toward the life we want. Though a valuable virtue, rationality cannot tell us everything. We are cast in finitude and insufficient knowledge. The future is uncertain. In uncertain times we fall back on our beliefs and values and the courage it takes to either stay with them or alter them.

Openness. Being open to what life brings and the flexibility that  such openness requires is an important virtue that can help us not break under the pressure of time and life’s vicissitudes. The art and practice of mindfulness can help us be open to life. For some people it’s prayer and meditation. Openness seems and feels paradoxical to facing the pressure of time. What the pressure of time shouldn’t do is lead us to live a harried life. There’s a time to step back, stop, and reflect. This is contemplation. As we move toward our various goals, and the ultimate goal of a fulfilled life, we may come to realize that we lack certain skills that we require to get us where we want to be. Being open and flexible to that experience brings important lessons. If we need to take time to develop skills, the pressure of time is churned up a notch once again. But if we do not develop necessary skills, the probability of our reaching our goals is next to nil. A sticktoitiveness is required here. This sounds paradoxical to openness. But the two are not necessarily antithetical. They are a polarity in living that we must constantly navigate. As we develop skills and become accomplished, a personal efficacy is imbued in us that we can navigate the dilemmas of life. We come to believe that we can accomplish things. We take our stand and face the multiple goals we have set for ourselves, all  contributing to the ultimate goal of what we want our life to be about. Courage, rationality, and openness along with some necessary stubbornness at times are required for us to move to where we want to arrive.

Integrity. How do we want to achieve the goals we have set for ourselves? Hopefully with integrity. Our actions align with our beliefs and values at every turn along the way on our journey. A person hopes to achieve his goals with honesty, perseverance, courage, and character. Human action, however, is never about perfection. We disappoint ourselves. We disappoint and let down others. We flounder at points we wish we hadn’t. We give in at times. We give up at other times. We fall on our face. Human action is also about picking ourselves up. It is about reworking where we messed up, both technically in terms of talent and information, and morally, in terms of acting in ways that went against our values. We all mess up. The courage and integrity to face such failures is what leads to our personal development along the way.

In a sense, all these virtues are interconnected and form a nexus of how we go about life. Alone, neither of these virtues listed here, and there are many more, is enough. They are all required along with many others.

Conclusion

I am no different from my clients. This human action journey is the same for me as it is with any human being. We are all on our personal journeys. Our journey must be ours alone. We must define it, declare it, and live it out for ourselves. To call on others to live it out for us is an act of cowardice, a point of dishonesty, and a lack of integrity. This is how I hope to live, knowing that I will not live up to it perfectly. I hope I can work with clients to help them make their journeys as smooth as possible, with the caveat that no journey is totally flawless. In fact, all journeys are far from any sense of a smooth ride. Both clients and I are on a journey together. As different and unique as those journeys are, they are the same in many ways. We dream, hope, plan, and act on those things we deeply believe. We move toward the kind of lives we want for ourselves.

Like I said, much of this thought I’ve formulated now does not come from any particular counseling theory, though several such theories, no doubt, cover these ideas. ACT comes to mind, as well as others. Presently in my reading, I’ve formulated these ideas via the study of libertarian thinkers, objectivist thinkers, and Christian writers and thinkers. Would anyone else hope to integrate such varied paths of ideas? I don’t know. I don’t care. It’s starting to make sense for me. And like anyone else, I must put these ideas together with honesty and integrity, realizing the many areas where I’ve failed miserable along the way, both technically and morally.

Here’s to your journey being what you hope it to be.

John V. Jones, Jr., Ph.D., LPC-S/July 14th, 2017

GENERAL ESSAY

Introduction

I have written about transitions before on this blog over the nearly four years I’ve created monthly writings for my readers. Now I face my own personal transition. In autumn of this year, I will be completing my final semester of teaching at the college and university level, a journey that I began twenty-eight years ago. The journey is nearing its end, not because I’m forced to end it, but because I’ve purposely chosen, so to speak, to close down the shop on the professorship. Though such a move brings questions, doubts, and fears, it also brings excitement and hope for what lies ahead. I want to say some things about what that road ahead may look like and entail.

A Full Private Practice

Contemplations is my private practice. And as long as my health and desire hold up, I want to continue working as a counselor. A full practice, however, means more than simply increasing the number of clients I see, or the number of interns I supervise. Those who follow this blog know that my practice primarily revolves around existential work. That work entails interacting with clients to guide them in coming grips with and taking responsibility for their own journeys. I entered this work years ago to work with people who wanted to enter counseling and explore what they want and hope their lives to be about. That kind of work has always, and still does, strike a deep chord in me. I have a passion for working with clients who want to explore and clarify their values, search out where they want their lives to go, and look deep within to understand their personal identities, that is to know who they are. Though I’ve always been drawn to such work as a counselor, my younger years could take me so far in working with such clients in a mature and full way. At seventy years old, I feel now that I can offer this work from a perspective that I didn’t have in the past. I believe that perspective has developed over the past ten to fifteen years. Though I was always drawn to existential work, I believe I had to grow into it, so to speak. The transitions that people are navigating in life now are ones that I’m familiar with because I’ve navigated them myself, and I’m still navigating them. So a full practice means, I believe, I bring a lot to the table for the kind of work I want to do. This kind of work is exactly the reason I set up my practice, calling it Contemplations.

When Journeys Begin

It’s never too early to ask the question: What do you want your life to be about? I offer a caution. Don’t think you can answer that question once and for all right off the bat. Some people do. But that’s rare. Most of us begin our journeys that take sinuous paths that we never dreamed to take. Yet those pathways and their experiences make up who we are at any one point in time. Much of my work along these lines is helping clients simply accept where they are on their present journey. Acceptance is a loaded concept. Some people think it means simply to give up their dreams about what they hope to accomplish with their lives. Nothing could be further from the truth. Radical acceptance lays the groundwork for further exploration. Until you solidly come to grips with where you are now, you may find that moving forward toward where you want to go is a difficult task. I also work with clients to accept the mistakes they’ve made and any failures they’ve endured. These things, as well as our successes, are part of living. We all experience the ups and downs of life. Our journeys begin in awareness when we ask the question where we want to go. Whether we realize it or not, we’re on a journey. The best way for it to be a full journey is to become aware of where and how we are moving.

Movement & Values

One of the more interesting aspects of this work for me occurs when clients begin exploring their values. What is it that they really believe? What do they truly value? Do they really value what they claim to value? Or have they simply inculcated values from others and the social milieu in which they are ensconced? Our values are the fuel that move us forward to where we want to arrive. They help us navigate those sinuous twists and turns that life tends to throw at us. Being aware of our values does not guarantee a smooth ride with no bumps and falls along the way. Indeed, our values come to the forefront during any difficult times we encounter on our journeys. They help steer the course. And sometimes we may have to revisit our values, even in the middle of our journey. Life and its vicissitudes challenge what we believe. Clarification and awareness of what we truly believe on a core level help steady us on the road we hope to travel. I find values exploration in counseling to be some of the most fulfilling work I can do.

When Journeys End

Put simply, they don’t end for the living. As long as we’re breathing, we’re moving, even in our later years. It may not, and will not be, the movement we had in earlier and younger years, but it’s movement nonetheless. Obviously, we all die. That’s an endpoint that can enhance rather than discourage our journeys. Time is limited. The time to think about what you want your life to be about is now. What we have is the now. We can’t reclaim and reshape our past. The best and strongest thing we can do with the past is learn from it in a way that propels us forward along our journey. We can’t fully know our future. We can plan, but we must find that rest and calm to let the future unfold. Those within spiritual traditions tend to understand letting providence be. We’re an angst-filled culture when it comes to worrying about tomorrow. I like to work with clients to help them take their hand off that over-control button where they have everything lined out. There’s no point where life is laying fully in your vision. There’s no point where there are no risks to undertake. There’s no point where you ever know the beginning from the end. Rest, accept, and let go, but journey forward all the same.

Conclusion

My horizon is in front of me. As I reach it at the end of 2017 where it will turn to twenty-nine years of teaching, another horizon will unfold in front of me. The work I hope to do with clients is help them face and take responsibility for their personal journeys toward their own horizons. Contemplation and action go hand-in-hand. But the busyness of life without reflection is misdirected action. Effective action comes when we contemplate our values, embrace them, knowing they can change and morph in many ways, and move toward where they take us. I hope to be alongside any clients who wish to explore such work in the counseling room.

John V. Jones, Jr., Ph.D., LPC-S/June 14, 2017

GENERAL ESSAY

Introduction

The evolution of a field of endeavor takes many sinuous twists and turns as thought within the field develops, builds on, and moves beyond all the thought that preceded it. Witness the history of science and technology. Just decades ago we would not have imagined where the fields of biology, genetics, and medicine would have taken us as they have in fact done. We have witnessed the the rise of technologies that would have boggled the mind just three or four decades ago. Technology has outpaced our wildest expectations. Witness the history of the computer revolution. We have traveled at almost light speed pace from CPU units, to personal computers, to the global Internet. Information and our ability to access it at the click of a mouse has exponentially exploded over the last couple of decades. The end is nowhere near in sight as we surge forward where the various fields of medical research and practice and technological innovation will take us. The field of counseling is not immune to these developments. We have already experienced how ethics in the counseling field has had to be reshaped due to the use of technologies, online interactions, text messaging, and communication via Skype. Beyond personal communication, the fields of genetics and neuroscience are reshaping how we think about working with our clients. Several in the fields of psychology and counseling have already proposed that psychotherapists need to rethink the way they conceptualize their work. The notion now exists that we need to move beyond the schools of psychotherapy because of the findings in the field of neuroscience. In respect to our understanding of mind/body interaction, I agree that our conceptualization of being human is drastically changing. Over the last couple of decades there have already been major shifts away from the idea of being a purist in theory as seen in the eclectic and integrationist movements. The schools of psychotherapy may indeed have outlived their usefulness.

Seeking to understand how mind and body interact has led to major debates and positions over many decades in the fields of philosophy, psychology, physiology, genetics, and neurology. Presently, neuroscience is at the cutting edge of this shift in our understanding of human nature. For much too long we have engaged the mind in psychotherapy at the expense of the body. Movement therapies, mindfulness approaches, and other experiential therapies have sought to fill this gap and bring body back in touch with mind. The technological abilities we have now to know in real time what neurons are doing as we think, act, and emote have opened all sorts of vistas to us. Personally, I believe the field of neuroscience is an exciting, cutting-edge field that will bring about a major revolution in how we understand human beings and human nature in general. Like all revolutions, we need to take caution before we go head-long into something unaware of any pitfalls. Nonetheless, there is no reason to hold back from the explorations into the world of neurology. There will be a clash between what we are uncovering now through new technologies and previous conceptualizations about how to work with people in the field of counseling. This clash of information emerging from neuroscience will most definitely rock the Casbah as it was sung some time back. What are some preliminary questions we may want to consider?

Whose Field Are We Playing On?

Psychotherapists should welcome the findings of neuroscience as they should any findings from fields that deal with human nature and human interaction. We should not fear that what we do will be taken over by another field of endeavor. Such fear will only lead us to remain closed off to what various other endeavors discover that can be useful. One thing we do not want to do is practice in a way that has become outmoded. Although I think neuroscience will radically alter our view of human nature, I don’t think it will substantially alter the way we sit with clients to work with them. In some areas, however, it may do just that. Working and counseling with brain-injured clients, for example, will definitely undergo a major shift. Certain neurological findings will also alter the way we understand the effects of trauma on human beings, both immediate and long-term trauma. Methodologies such as EMDR and mindfulness are already making an impact on psychotherapy. Correlations between brain activity and mindfulness exercises are showing the positive effects that mindfulness can have for people experiencing depression and anxiety. We need to be aware, however, that the fear that neuroscience will replace the field of counseling is simply the fear of the unknown. Neuroscientists will not replace counselors. But the knowledge they bring to human nature will rock the world, and there’s no turning back the impact of discovery. The animosity that goes on between what are called the hard and soft sciences, unfortunately, has a long history, going back to the time that the first analysts were medical doctors.

There is a change that must occur that therapists will have to be willing to embrace. We will need to learn to communicate with neuroscientists as we look into different conceptualizations of our clients and how we work with them. This means, furthermore, we will need to do some reading and studying in the field of neuroscience to get up to snuff on some things. Likewise, we’ll need to radically understand, and take a stand, on the boundary between fields of endeavor. More holistic understandings of human nature will require that we look at fields outside of psychology and psychotherapy to see what they offer. This is simply the logical conclusion of expanding our knowledge of  mind/body interaction. Rather than being reactionary, we need to welcome what the integration of various domains of knowledge can mean, both for therapists and clients.

Correlation Versus Cause-Effect

I don’t want to overstate my case, but many neuroscientists are materialistic reductionists. Hence, mind reduces to body. The human being is now his neurons. There are several supposedly bases to which human beings have been reduced over the decades, including genetics and environment. Next up are the neurons. Many of the findings we see coming out of the field of neuroscience show us in real time the activity of our neurons as people perform certain activities – e.g. exercise, problem-solving, meditation, and experiencing various emotions. Biofeedback practices have been tapping into this knowledge for sometime, helping people associate certain states of mind with bodily activities, such as breathing and finding ways to calm in certain situations. These findings show an interaction between human endeavors and neurons for sure. Logically, however, it’s a jump to reduce the human being to his neurons. This is a confusion of correlation with cause-effect. With such reductionism, there is a logical tendency toward strict determinism. But with many such reductionistic positions, one wonders how anyone can know that we are strictly determined by our neurons. Anything that a person knows or concludes must too be strictly determined by his neurons. No doubt there will be a tendency of some to reduce the field of therapy to biology. Such reductionist thinking has long been a premise of the hard sciences. Again, we as therapists need not overreact to this reductionism to the point that we discount or minimize findings from these fields that can, no doubt, be helpful in our work. But we must also ask whether or not we agree with such a reductionist and deterministic view of human nature. No doubt there are some in the field of counseling that will have no problems with such conceptualizations. Others will not find such thinking palpable.

Conclusion: Into the Unknown

Regardless of some of the frictions that may occur between neuroscientists and therapists regarding the boundaries of their fields, I believe we can and should embrace the field of neuroscience with all the excitement and cutting-edge knowledge it brings. To embrace new knowledge, we do not have to relinquish the important themes that emerge from human engagement, such as passion, creativity, trusts, pain and joy, and love and hate. But reconceptualization we may in fact have to do. Likewise, we have to listen, engage, and study with a critical eye what neuroscience brings to the field of psychotherapy. We may indeed need to rethink the entire way in which counseling theories are approached and studied. The schools of psychotherapy may indeed have run their course. I personally think we do need some major revision in thinking about the way we conceptualize in the field of counseling. Theory is about how we conceptualized human nature. Our practices as therapists draw on our understanding of human beings. There are major shifts in our understanding of human experience going on at the moment. One of my favorite TV series back in the late 1960’s was Star Trek. The ominous theme of searching the unknown where no one has ever gone before is still a strong pull on human beings. People simply must move beyond present understanding of things to expand and build upon knowledge in new and different ways. Neuroscience is here with a robust impact. It’s going to shake things up. So with a critical eye and open mind, let’s continue to move forward, not fearing what we learn. Along with The Clash, let’s Rock the Casbah.

John V. Jones, Jr., Ph.D., LPC-S/March 14th, 2017

GENERAL ESSAY

Introduction

Each month I come to this blog trying to decide what pearls of thoughts I will leave before the public for its perusing. Sometimes, but rarely, I have a choice among topics that crowd my mind from which I can choose. Other times, more regularly, a topic occurs in between monthly postings due to something I’ve read or experienced. Other times something gels on which I have been reflecting for some time, finally deciding to put some words to it. This month the ol’ writer’s block has set in, the dreaded deadline is staring down at me, and I literally don’t know what to pen. I guess I could talk about deadlines, writer’s block, or simply what it’s like to write a blog like this one. All of that would be some good reflective writing on what’s going on with me in the moment, like one of those rock songs where the lyrics talk about writing the song you’re hearing. Is there anyone out there who remembers 25 or Six to Four? Alas I don’t want to do that either, or not exactly that. A good self-reflective question that emerges, however, is why do I want to write this blog? What do I expect it to accomplish? Why is important to me that I get my words down on this blog to be placed spread-eagle before the public and all those critical eyes out there? That question can be pushed even to another level with the hopes that people who write blogs can reflect as well on their experiences as bloggers. Maybe, and most likely, many other bloggers go through the same experiences I do when little fruit is available as the deadline approaches. So what about this blog? What does it mean to me? And for those whose eyes connect with this blog article, what does your blog mean to you? Why do you write your blog? What do you hope to gain from it? And what do you gain from it?

In the Beginning

This month’s blog article marks the 43rd time I’ve presented a monthly offering for the public. To put that in perspective, last month’s posting reached three-and-a-half years of monthly endeavors for this website. Looking back over the topics tells its own story of how and why I began this blog. As a Licensed Professional Counselor and Supervisor (LPC-S), I own a private practice where I work with clients and supervise counseling interns. The blog articles from the beginning and into the early months of this blog revolved around topics of therapy. At that time, the website had a different name as well, Contemplations: Center for Existential Psychotherapy. Given that emphasis, my early writings focused on existential work in counseling. Logical articles focused on what existential therapy entailed. An existential approach comprises many themes that speak to the struggles that people face day-to-day. So other articles delved into the richness of existential themes: transitions in life; encountering major struggles that living brings our way. Additionally, I focused on some existential therapists and philosophers whose writings influenced me, such as Albert Camus and Viktor Frankl. Straightforward counseling topics emerged as well that I thought would be useful to therapists. An example of the latter is an article I wrote sometime back on the counselor and finances, delving into the notion that some counselors have a difficult time thinking about how they should charge clients. A topic on career counseling also made the grade as a possible path for counselors to take. So it’s easy to see that the early postings were directed at the field of counseling and professional counselors whom I hoped to reach in order to simply reflect on the field in which we’re engaged, and how counselors want to pursue their work.

Arts & Literature

With a master’s degree in Literature, I’ve always been interested in reading and writing. What I had written about certain therapists and the various themes of existentialism served as a springboard into other areas I wanted to approach. I reached a point several months in where the desire hit me to write about more than the field of counseling. I still wanted my writings to serve the basic framework of counseling, but I wanted to spread out to other areas. That desire showed itself in writing about things literary: book reviews, lives of historical figures, and day-to-day encounters and struggles. An example is a book review I did of Jane Hirshfield’s Ten Windows, a book about how poetry can speak to the notion of mind, personal experiences and struggles in living. These topics still served a wider framework for counseling, but they were not specifically counseling oriented. I strongly believe in the notion that the living out of our lives is what brings people into counseling in the first place. Many enter therapy because they’re depressed, anxious, going through relationship problems, moving through major changes, etc. All of these presenting concerns in counseling are cached in a larger picture called life. So I wanted to tap into how the themes of writers, philosophers, and other artists could help anyone understand their personal journey. Although such topics may be germane to counseling, they could also reach a wider audience of people who simply want to reflect on what they’re going through and how the arts could speak to their concerns. Hence I discussed historical authors, the work of being a writer, and various poets. I did a couple of book reviews that touched on ideas I felt were well-fitted to the purpose of the Contemplations website. Hence a name change occurred several months in: Contemplations: Exploring Literature and the Arts. The name change most definitely would not signify a counseling practice, which reflected my desire to expand the audience I hoped to reach. What I discovered was that I was hoping for interaction with a wider audience to engage is discussion about ideas. Ideas have consequences. I hoped for a dialogue about ideas.

Where to Now?

The second phase of Contemplations still informs what I hope to accomplish with this website. But a further expansion has occurred. No doubt one of the major foci in counseling is the mind of the human being. How we are in the world, what Heidegger calls being-in-the-world, speaks to the mindset we hold as we approach and encounter our living out what we believe. What I became truly interested in was the notion that how we live day-to-day is a portrait, a working out, of what we believe and value – our ideas that we hope to see become real in the world. In other words, how we go about navigating our lives uncovers our mind. Questions that became interesting to me included: Do we live out what we say we believe? If not, what is preventing our living out what we believe? Do we really believe what we claim we believe? The readings of Walter Kaufmann brought me to these interests in his voluminous works on various psychologists and philosophers. A few months back (July 14, 2016), an article I penned titled “Random Thoughts” noted this shift in interest for me. In that article I laid out some themes and research areas that I wanted to explore more in depth. They included mind, meaning, knowing/doing, humility/finitude, and worldview. Hence I began reading more in these areas and blogging on such topics as human change, risk taking, the search for personal meaning, values exploration, pursuing our dreams, etc. So this third phase builds on the expansion of the second; I’m still targeting a wider audience than counseling and counselors. But this phase also is somewhat full circle with its emphasis on mind, returning to the world of psychology, but in a larger sphere that involves literature, the arts, and critical inquiry. This focus represents a third change in the title of the website: Contemplations: Exploring the Mind: Literature, the Arts, & Critical Inquiry. The critical inquiry piece represents a change of mind on my part in wanting more critical pieces for the blog that hopefully lead people to generate their own questions by which they can engage the website in some form of dialogue. I strongly believe that the various endeavors in the arts and in the sciences uncover the minds of human beings. The counseling field now is in a transition that began a few years back on integrating mind-body, a theme that has been discussed and debated for centuries. Yet that very transition represents ideas, the thinking, that’s going on in the field. The explorations of the categories I delineated – mind, meaning, knowing/doing, humility/finitude, and worldview – entail where I want to take this website.

What Do I Hope to Accomplish?

Basically, and really it doesn’t get any deeper than this, I blog because I want to. And I blog about what I want to explore. Exploration is key for me rather than persuasion or debate. Although I have my positions, I hope the blog articles here over the months and years that follow will engender dialogue, discussion, and interests that people can integrate within their personal journeys. On one level, I simply like writing about the topics I’ve merely touched on here. I believe the world of the arts and sciences can provide wonderful grist for the mill for discussion, exploration, and discovery. For you other bloggers out there who come across this blog, why do you blog? What do you want to accomplish with your blog besides building your business? What ideas are important to you, and why are they important to you? The one tidbit of information I can provide through the evolution of this blog is just that. It evolved. It went places I didn’t expect when I first created this website. The name changes for sure reflect its evolution, but more importantly, my own thought process changed. Hopefully this blog represents my mind and what I value. Moreover, I hope through this blog I’m living out my own values. Given that it’s changed over the three-and-a-half years I’ve been posting blogs, no doubt it will continue to change in ways I have yet to anticipate. I think being open to that is important. So I close with this question, as much or more for me than for others. Quo Vadis?

Not that bad of a blog coming out of writer’s block just before the deadline, huh?

John V. Jones, Jr., Ph.D., LPC-S/February 14, 2017

GENERAL ESSAY

Introduction

It’s the end of the year, so I thought I would jot down a few thoughts that have been meandering in my head. The end of 2016 brings new beginnings for me that I hope to follow out for some time.

Endings & Beginnings

Retirement: Now there’s a word for you. I’ve been a university prof for some 27 years now. That road is coming to an end. But retiring is not in my vocabulary. Not that it’s a bad thing, shouldn’t be enjoyed on some level, or recognized as a point on some journey one takes. But I simply do not want to cease doing some things, work-related, that fulfill me. What does this next year bring? For me, it brings an expansion of my private practice, some time to do more writing an traveling, and an opportunity to carve out things in my life in a new direction. From the private practice and writing perspective, the coming year and those that follow, provide a challenge for me to see if I can cut in the free market. Yes, I’m a free trader and looking forward to the challenge. I particularly like the idea of expanding my work with clients (professional counseling) and mentoring interns who are entering the profession. Some things end, while others begin. Interestingly, for those in the professional counseling world, my pathway is a bit ass-backwards. Most professional counselors nearing retirement go into teaching. I knew I wanted to teach on the university level many years ago. Sinuous paths, decisions and re-decisions, and fortuitous events led me to my goal somewhat late in life. But I’ve had a good 27 years of teaching, so I can say, I’ve done that. And I will probably keep my foot in that ballpark, albeit more restricted to adjunct work. Things end; things begin. Is not this the cycle of life?

Reflections

I’m one of those people who journal. Like many who do, this time of year leads me to look back on what I’ve written down over the year, if not the past couple of years. Such reflection allows me to build on my thoughts, goals, and values. Sometime just before 01/2017, I’ll take a morning to re-read some thoughts I jotted down over the past year, hopefully to clarify where I’m headed next year. It’s also fun to peruse what I’ve written. Why the hell did I write that, always comes to mind; or even more comical, What the hell did I mean by that, pops into my brain more than just a few times. It’s also fun to recognize how I have modified to various degrees the directions I want to head. I used to think: One needs to nail these things down ASAP. I no longer believe that. Indeed, I believe it’s rare that anyone can know all they want to do and accomplish at eighteen, twenty-eight, or even thirty-eight. More importantly, I believe that’s just fine, and I would say to anyone, don’t sweat it. We love the narrative regarding those precocious individuals who, from the time they were five-years-old, knew they wanted to be a ballet dancer or whatever. However, such an experience adapted as standard for people’s lives can wear out the soul rather quickly. We’re all on a journey that’s chock-full of unknown barriers, obstacles, surprises, and changes-of-heart. Embrace the journey and let it ride.

Writing

I’m to the point now that I want to delve more into my personal writing. Sometime back on this blog I penned my thoughts about writing. If you want to write, then write – and write everyday about something. I feel ready to gather a lot of my thoughts so as to explore various topics and interests for writing. Although, I would like to make some income from doing so, I can honestly say, I’m not focused on that as a goal. I simply want to explore some things and put my thoughts down regarding them, more so for me than anything else. I’ve published articles in professional journals, self-published a book of short-stories, and have done quite-a-bit of blog writing. All of that has solidified how I see writing playing a part in my life. I’ve not only never believed that I’m a great writer, but also, don’t even know what being a great writer actually entails. I’ve sure read some people I think are great writers. But that’s as far as that goes. I do believe that writing can help clarify, but writing also can bring more fog that one didn’t realize was present. Over the next few years, I have some loose goals concerning my writing and the topics I wish to approach. Then again, come next year, I might have a completely different take on things.

Reading

The one thing I love to do is read. I hope the future will open up for me even more time to pursue those topics of study that have come to interest me. Of course, those are not related merely to the counseling field. Fiction, non-fiction, poetry, and more are all on the bucket-list. Re-reading some works I read years ago is on the list as well. I love ideas. I view it as an adventure to encounter the ideas of various writers who write well about their thoughts, beliefs, and values. Whether or not I agree with a particular writer is only one thing to consider. It’s interesting to me to see how one comes to the ideas and conclusions one holds. Not a whole lot to say about this topic, other than I’ll continue to do, as always, what I enjoy doing.

Traveling

I’ve done some traveling in my time. One thing I really like to do, living in Austin, TX, is trip on over to New Mexico, particularly Santa Fe and the hot springs in Ojo Caliente. Sometime in the summer, I want to do the major Road Trip out west. And yes, I want to stand on the edge of the Grand Canyon. Another excursion I have planned is the Continental Train ride across Canada, preferably in the autumn months. No doubt, traveling opens one up to experience. Nothing more to say here, other than I enjoy getting out on the road.

Approaching 70

Who am I kidding? I’m 69, so I’m not just approaching 70. I’m there, pal. Old fartdom is an interesting place to be. The reality is that for sure, the fuse is shorter. But just how short, no one knows. Nonetheless, thoughts on the autumn and winter of one’s life emerge, fade into the background, emerge again, sometimes heavily and other times fleetingly. I don’t really care to dwell on such things, not because they’re uncomfortable or frightening, but because there’s not a thing one can do about it. When I was 20, I had thoughts about what it meant to be 70. Now that I’m 70, I have thoughts of what it must mean to be 20. And then there’s the Nirvana dream of being 20 again, knowing what I know now. [I know some of you out there reflect on that experience; so don’t blow smoke at anyone saying your don’t.]. More importantly, the journey continues, and that’s a good thing. So the same ol’ question never ceases: what’s next? What I would encourage anyone to do is live it out. I hope I can fully embrace that for myself.

Conclusion

These few meanderings are not meant to sum up 2016, or any other phase of life. They are a few thoughts I have regarding the coming year and beyond. Quite frankly, I wasn’t sure what I wanted to write about this month, so I sit down and just threw these things out. Not bad, for off the cuff, huh? Summing up: whether you’re 20, 50, or 70, keep plugging.

I hope everyone has a wonderful Christmas, and the start you hope for into 2017!

John V. Jones, Jr., Ph.D., LPC-S/December 14, 2016

GENERAL ESSAY