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

Introduction

One of my favorite writers is Albert Camus (1913-1960). Although I do not totally embrace his philosophy of the absurd (Absurdism), I’ve always admired how Camus addresses those events and experiences in living that we encounter that evades our making sense of them so that we can easily place them in our logic-box. Logic is a good tool, but, from my perspective, we stretch the tool beyond its limits when we believe it can sum up everything there is about life, providing us with certainty about all things. Whether it be The Myth of Sisyphus, The Rebel, The Plague, or The Stranger, Camus, through his philosophical and fictional writings, introduced readers to the kinds of experiences that we face in living, or at least those experiences we watch others go through, that challenge the notion that we fully, or even mostly, comprehend life. Born in French Algeria, in his early life, Camus fought in the French Underground during Nazi occupation, writing for the underground publication, Combat. In his activism as a writer, he sought to fight inequalities between Europeans and natives in Algeria. As an Algerian, he hoped for peaceful coexistence between France and Algerians, speaking out against atrocities on both sides. Having been a member of the French Communist Party, the party expelled him when he joined the Algerian People’s Party, embracing anarchism. (Anarchism is a term totally misused and misunderstood, which is an entire different discussion altogether. Suffice it to say here, anarchism does not mean lawlessness and despoil.) Indeed, it’s Camus’ anarchism that draws me to his writings and much of his philosophical thought. In regards to his supposed Absurdism, Camus stated later in life that he did not care to be associated with the philosophy of absurdism. As an anarchist, he instead was interested in how human beings face life events and experiences, which they cannot comprehend. He was more interested in the will of human beings to make sense and meaning of such experiences.

Writing more in-depth about Camus on this blog is something I hold open for the future. Anyone who has read Camus knows that his writings are packed full of statements that can be used aphoristically. While I enjoy reading aphoristic writings, we have to take care not to lift quotes from writers where they scream bloody-murder for being ripped and shredded out of their contexts. Having said that, what I want to do in this blog article is respond to three quotes by Camus that are some of my favorite. I don’t pretend to totally understand them, or have the right take on them. If I must give advice, the best I can do is encourage people to read this prolific author, who is anything but simple so as to place in a box of some literary criticism.

Summer and Winter

In the depth of winter, I finally learned that there was, within me, and invincible summer.

There are a lot of takes on this quote from general anthropological ones to various types of spiritual interpretations. Some attribute the quote to Camus’ supposed optimism. Others believe that Camus is saying that human beings have more power in them than they realize, and that they should find ways to ignite that power. Still others interpret Camus to be saying that human beings do not realize their true potential until they face difficult times.

Excuse me, if you will, but it’s somewhat difficult for me to view Camus as an optimist, encouraging people that if they simply think positively, then things will turn out okay. Personally, I cannot glean such an idea from his writings. Likewise, I don’t see Camus as seeking to make a general anthropological statement to the extent that he believes all people have an inner-light that they must turn on. Specifically, the quote says, .  .  . within me .  .  .  His discovery was personal. The notion that people do not realize what they’re made of until they face difficult times, comes close to what Camus may be getting at. The invincible summer, however, may not be what everyone finds. Moreover, the invincible summer does not appear to mean that, even for the one who finds it within himself, that all things turn out okay. Whether it was the French underground, the Algerian conflict, or his personal battle with tuberculosis, Camus dealt daily with the unknown. Could it possibly be that the invincible summer is Camus’ bearing what life brings his way, whether things turn out okay or not?

Knowing and Doing

There is no happiness if the things we believe in are different than the things we do.

The notion of living out what we believe is one in which I have become personally interested during the last several years or longer. I particularly am interested in the idea of what we know, we do, as well as the consequences from when we do and when we don’t do what we know. Expediency tends to trump principle these days. It is a temptation for all of us, I believe. I will even strongly personalize that statement – it is and has always been a temptation for me. I believe things strongly, and for the most part, I also think I’ve lived out in my life what I believe. Nonetheless, there are those times when the road seems easier to forsake principle and take the easy way out. Moreover, clarifying what one believes and values appears to be an ongoing process. At 69 years old, I’m not the same person I was at 29. (Thank the heavens.) Clarifying values from day-to-day is a most difficult task. I do believe strongly that it is important to know, not only what we believe, but why we believe it. Again, Camus’ work in the French Underground, his activism pertaining to the conflicts between Europeans and Algerians, and his fall out with Sartre’s embracing of Stalinism, all addressed stands that Camus took publicly. Camus, however strongly he argued a position, because that is what he thought he should do, he didn’t seem to ask for obeisance as much as he wanted his own life to be an example so as to challenge people to come to their own conclusions. Another pithy statement he made speaks to this understanding: We are all special cases. People have to clarify their own values and reach their own conclusions within their personal contexts. For Camus, such clarification comes through stepping into and experiencing life. Another aphorism he offers: You can’t create experience. You must undergo it. I strongly believe that the integrity to live out what we believe and value is worth our pursuit. There is a caveat. We appear always to be undergoing change, so what we believe and value, and particularly how we apply what we believe and value to living, evolves through our contact with the experience of living.

The Rebel

The only way to deal with an unfree world is to become so absolutely free that your very existence is an act of rebellion.

I find it rather comical these days when I hear social critics claim again and again that America is an individualistic society. Would be that such a claim were true! Personally, I believe the sickness of the day is conformity. Whether it’s the search for gurus, political leaders, or motivational speakers, people appear to be looking for someone to tell them how to live. We are surrounded by speech codes, political correctness, patriot acts, celebrity-ism, and dichotomous debates that reduce to the line, if you don’t agree with me, then you are .  .  . fill in the blank. Again, Camus states: Nobody realizes that some people expend tremendous energy merely to be normal. I would add that a large sum of people expend a lot of energy to make everyone normal, as they, of course, define normal. Camus’ anarchism and personal rebellion against an existence that parasites and sucks the life-blood from an individual is one of the things about him I admire most. We seem to be constantly confronted by a social matrix filled with messages and narratives that want to claim our personhood to be either this or that. We have a war on sex, a war on drugs, a war on speech, and and war on thought – a war for one’s mind. Pithy though it may be, I like Camus’ simple definition: What is a rebel? A man who says No. Addressing the notion of living out what one believes, the quote that opens this section is one I hope to live out. There are countless times through the years that I have failed at doing so. Moreover, I’m not – and most likely cannot ever be – clear on how to live out such a claim. And it’s an existence that each person must search out for him or herself. It’s a rebellion against existence itself. There is a parasite sucking one’s brain among all the commercials, that which passes as art, that which passes as science, and politically-correct ideologies that seek to tell you what you should believe, how you should act, and even what words you should use. Maybe it’s time for people to say No. Saying no will be each person’s path; it’s not about everyone agreeing on everything. Indeed, disagreement appears to be something we can’t handle these days. To live as though one’s existence is an act of rebellion is a tough call. I’m not sure I can pull it off. But I hope to.

Conclusion

Camus’ writings are complex, difficult to digest, and impossible, most likely purposely so, to catalog. He neither liked being associated with the philosophy of the absurd, nor being labeled an existentialist. Although he joined certain political movements, he tended to fall out with them the second they sought to categorized his thought and existence. He despised anything that smacked of collectivist authoritarianism. His fallout with Sartre over Stalin’s atrocities proved to be life-long. It would have been more than merely interesting to watch Camus’ thought evolve had his life not been cut so tragically short. His life was one as a writer of fiction, an essayist, a playwright, and a committed philosophical rebel. He took his stand on freedom, which he described with another pithy saying: Freedom is nothing but a chance to be better. Each of us must define and describe that for ourselves, and decide on what ground or foundation, if any, we think our beliefs and values stand. Camus’ rebellion was anything but an unthinking one. What do I believe and why do I believe it? Each person, not only must decide his or her answer to those questions, but also must decide whether or not the question is worth asking for the pursuit.

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

GENERAL ESSAY

Introduction

I understand that it’s an old adage that to live life fully, to carve out a quality-filled life, entails risks. I also know that as human beings, we are risk-avoidant for the most part. And why not? Risks are what they are – risky. We would prefer to know what lies on the other side of the unknown before we step into it. We look for the safest ways to navigate risks, we search out ways that reduce the risks involved in major decisions, and, to our chagrin, we look for guarantees from others we trust that our endeavors will play out the way we hope. No one – our loved ones, our dearest friends, those to whom we are most close, those we consider most wise, or gurus or priests – can promise us that life will turn out the way we want it to turn out. A life lived with the deepest of meaning where each of us can say, I have truly lived, cannot be achieved without risks of stepping into the unknown. The mystery of the unknown makes life interesting and worthwhile. If we want a life well-lived, we must engage the risks involved in the pursuit of such a life. We must face the failures as well as the successes in our lives. We must take responsibility for our own lives. And we must live from the foundation of our values and principles. Not to do so is truly not to live.

Looking to Others: There Are No Guarantees

There is nothing wrong with looking to others for hope, encouragement, and wise feedback. But when we turn seeking wisdom into the search for a guarantee, we will reap at least a couple of things from what we have sown. First, we lay the responsibility for our lives onto other people, which is highly unfair to them, not to mention that it’s cowardice on our part when we do so. Think of it from the opposite perspective. Would you promise someone that their choices will turn out exactly they way they hope? We inherently know that when we make such a promise to people, we may be trying to encourage them, but we’re making a claim that we cannot possibly know to be true. Moreover, if we think clearly about the situation, we do not want the responsibility for other adults’ lives. (I have a difficult enough of a struggle being responsible for my own.) We inherently know as well, on some level, that when we ask for such a guarantee for our lives from others, we’re asking them for something they can’t offer.

Looking to others, however, can prove fruitful if we keep some things in mind. First, reiterating, we should not look to others for a guarantee they can’t possibly offer. We know people in our lives, family members, friends, and other people, whom we consider mature, accomplished, and wise. Seeking input and feedback about decisions we have to make from such people is a wise act itself. Taking a risk should not necessarily mean throwing all caution to the wind, as the saying goes. Obtaining information, feedback, and suggestions from people we understand to be trustworthy can provide ways of clarifying what’s involved in risky endeavors. There are people in our lives who have traveled similar roads we are looking to travel. We do not have to be alone on our journey. Other people can be wonderful sources of information and encouragement. What they cannot be is a guarantee that our risks will pan out as planned. Such a promise they can neither make nor provide for themselves, let alone others. When we relinquish personal responsibility for our own lives, we actually have chosen not to live at all.

Blind Risks versus Informed Risk

Rarely is there any action we can take, any information we can accrue, or any clairvoyant we hope that exists, that take the risks out of risking. But I have known people who approach risks at times without any planning whatsoever. Although they fear the road they are traveling and their anxiety soars beyond the clouds, they do nothing to help settle some of their fears. There is a difference between foolishly and wisely risking. Like dichotomies can be many times, there most definitely are false ones. Risks is not a matter of stepping blindly and foolishly into life. Taking risks does not mean that we not seek what information we can before making a major decision in our lives. Likewise, because we cannot alleviate all the risks involved in making a decision does not mean we should never make a decision. Such thinking leaves people stuck in the quicksand of their own doubts and fear. Hence, they never move. From my perspective, informed risk-taking is true risk-taking. Blind risk-taking is mere foolishness. Trying to stay safe because we don’t have all contingencies in place yields a life not fully lived. What feels safe may, indeed, become a vapid way of existing.

This is not to say that there may be some risks that inherently carry more unknowns than other forms of risks. And some people really get a rush out of such risks. If you have the stomach, fortitude, and nerve endings for such risks, then by all means, knock yourself out. Many people do have such fortitude, and many do not. For those who do not, however, a simple fact to embrace is that nothing worthwhile in life lacks risks. The level of risks for yourself and what you hope to obtain entail a pathway you have to determine for yourself. There is a quote, I believe from Thoreau, – Most people live quiet, desperate lives. People can settle for a comfortable path that is a default from living the way they would otherwise choose to live. Then they dream about what it would have been like to have pursued those things in life they yearned for but never took a step toward them. In later life, such dreams can become nightmares. For most of us, whatever level of risks we’re willing to undergo, if we choose to go after what we truly hope for and want to obtain in life, choosing that road will take us to the limits of our existence. I truly believe that what we desire most will entail our stepping out in ways that leaves us hanging over an abyss that only we can navigate.

Successes and Failures

One the biggest mistakes that people make in pursuing a meaningful life is that when they make mistakes and encounter failures, they immediately think they were wrong and shouldn’t have taken the path they chose. I know it’s a cliche and can be thrown around as a simple platitude; however, mistakes and failures can be some of the best lessons in life. They’re not fun, they’re not experiences we should hope for (that’s masochism), and they are not results we should necessarily relish and wear like a crown. More importantly, they are not signs that we should give up on what we want in life. I’ve heard it told that the great oil explorer, H. L. Hunt, drilled several oil wells and was heavily in debt before he ever struck oil. His history that followed speaks for itself. Many narratives abound about successful businessmen, artists, and scientists who encountered multiple failures before they ever succeeded. Their narratives are good lessons, yet engaging a failure is not easy for anyone; nonetheless it provides a crossroad. One major decision leads to others. Do I go on, or do I give up? Seeking to move beyond any failure, especially major ones, is one of the most difficult tasks one can undertake.

Values and Principles versus Expediency

I find myself wondering if we’re living in a time where expediency trumps principle. I would go so far as to say that expediency appears to be a way of approaching all life’s endeavors these days. Facing a failure on the basis of expediency can lead rather quickly to  giving up on one’s hopes and dreams. I don’t believe that a quality-filled life can be achieved without a foundation comprising one’s personal values and principles. Failures and hard times lead us back to our foundation, the values and principles we hold. Only on the basis of those values and principles can we pick ourselves off the ground when we do fail and proceed on. There may be a time to fold, but on the basis of expediency alone, it would seem that a time to fold is whenever we encounter any difficulties on the road to life. Courage entails facing failures, learning from them, gleaning from them, and then deciding what’s next. Mistakes and failures can point to different avenues to achieve what we want for our lives. But to do so, we must experience them, look them in the eye, and listen to and learn from what they have to tell us. Although the responsibility for traveling our path is ours alone, we are not alone on our path. There are those who can help us when we’re down, can encourage us when encouragement is needed, and can provide insight and wisdom that can help us move forward. I firmly believe, however, that we have to be surrounded by people who live by their values and principles rather than expediency. The risks of life are placed on our road as obstacles to overcome. It is up to us as individuals as to whether or not we take on the charge to make something meaningful of our lives. Or we can choose otherwise to live quiet, desperate lives. That crossroad exists for each one of us.  The nagging question that haunts us is whether or not a quiet, desperate life is truly a life at all.

Conclusion

Obtain what you can from others in terms of information, feedback, suggestions, and wise input. Accrue all the information you can in seeking to make a major decision for your life. Not to do so is unwise. But there comes a point of diminishing returns for garnering information. We can fall into the trap of wanting more and more information, believing we can take the risk out of risking. If we’re going to face life and live it fully, we must come to that point where it’s time to step out over an abyss, no matter what its size. If we avoid that moment, then we are avoiding living our lives fully.

It seems to me these days, and I may be wrong, that more than any other time of which I’m aware, we have a society and culture of entitlement. People are willing to disown their lives, placing their lives into the hands of others with the false promise that those in whom people place their trust can somehow provide them with a full life. But such a life is one that individuals must seize and take for themselves. The guarantee that someone can provide you with a  life is a false promise. And to buy into it is a waste of a life. The abandonment of personal responsibility is the abandonment of the freedom to live one’s life. I’ve talked to too many people who have looked back on their lives in their sixties and seventies, and feel nothing but regret for not having carved out the kind of life they wanted for themselves. It appears that there can be ways of living that are not truly living at all. Nonetheless, the years roll by and we’re left with the consequences of our choices. The desire to turn back time and do things differently is an empty daydream, if not a pipe dream. Living risky does not have to mean blind risk-taking. But it does mean, one way or the other, that risks are involved in the pursuit of a meaningful life. And if one desires such a meaningful life, then one has to truly live. One of my favorite quotes is from the libertarian anarchist, Frank Chodorov:

For when the theorizing is done, the books are all written, the debates have been resolved into a formula for action, there remains always this immovable obstacle: One must live.

So live.

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

GENERAL ESSAY

Introduction

I’m not sure that there are any other words that elicit such passionate debate and emotional reactions as that brought about by the two words objectivity and subjectivity. Philosophers have developed systems of thought revolving around these two words in order to do battle; and battle is exactly what they have done over a period of centuries, if not millennia. Idealism, Romanticism, existentialism, and postmodernism have established a beachhead on one side of the battle line, while materialism, reductionism, empiricism, and positivism have erected a fortress on the other side. Those who consider themselves artists are more likely to fall on one side of the line while those who call themselves scientists line up on the opposite side. C. P. Snow, in his work The Two Cultures, excruciatingly marked this division, seemingly creating an abyss between the two camps that could never be breached.

Battle lines, fortresses, and wars are apt metaphors, but I would like to return to a metaphor I used in last month’s blog, that of a river. Except in this present blog, I’m going to accentuate things a bit, utilizing the metaphor of rapids. I think the notion of rapids envisions such experiences as adventure, angst, excitement, and danger. Rapids can take us over the edge of a cataract, plunging us into deep waters that can drowned us. I’m going to offer a suggestion in this blog, and a suggestion is all that it is. Still, another metaphor concerning these historical camps is captured by the notion of a great divide. After the exciting and adventurous riding of the rapids along this divide, I hope we can find moments of calmer streams that bring us to a place of rest, not necessarily with any final answers, but an acceptance of a tension we must hold regarding these two concepts of objectivity and subjectivity. To cast either one of these concepts to the shore of non-participation would indeed make our lives less adventurous, and in doing so would deprive us of the richness inherent in life.

Defining Our Terms

I don’t want to pull a logical positivist move here, claiming that we must define clearly and logically everything we discuss, but when exploring the two words, objectivity and subjectivity, we probably, to keep things from getting out of hand, need some clarification of what we’re talking about. The adjective subjective carries a variety of meanings, such as existing in the mind. Subjectivity speaks of that which belongs to a thinking subject rather than to the object of thought. From a philosophical perspective, subjectivity emphasizes the nature of an object as it is known in the mind as distinct from a thing itself. As if to add fuel to the fire, subjectivity also refers to an individual’s moods, attitudes, and opinions.

On the other hand, the adjective objectivity, refers an understanding of things not influenced by personal feelings, interpretations, or prejudices. Instead, the notion focuses on things external to the mind in contrast to thoughts and feelings about things. Objectivity emphasizes characteristics that belong to the object rather than to the perceiver of the object. These external things exist independent of thought, observer, and mind. To add fuel to the fire, once again, objectivity refers to what can be known about reality external to the individual. The position of objectivity holds that things exist independent of observers, inquirers, and knowers.

The above are simple definitions that one can access with any dictionary or thesaurus. I used dictionary.com. Yet these two simple descriptions of objectivity and subjectivity have established a division that has been the ground of many philosophical battles, heated, inimical, and truculent, to say the least.

The Great Divide

There is neither time nor space (nor desire, quite frankly) in this blog to cover the entire history of ideas that have traveled through time along the rapids created by the concepts of objectivity and subjectivity. For those interested in such things, you can trace the ideas associated with these two concepts from Greek thought to the Middle Ages & Enlightenment, to the modernist age of philosophy brought about via Rene Descartes, Immanuel Kant, John Locke and David Hume. And the more modern and contemporary line includes the Romanticists & the existentialists, the postmodernists and logical positivists. Throughout the history of thought, philosophers, on some level, were trying to understand how these concepts shape our thought and experience. Indeed, the two adjectives are concepts as well as mere words.

Unfortunately, the fall out of these philosophical battles across time led to a schism, reflecting again on C. P. Snow’s, The Two Cultures. In modern and contemporary times, the philosophy of logical positivism equated objectivity with science and knowledge. Hence science became the ultimate form of knowledge, the only field of endeavor that attains knowledge. The endeavors of the arts, philosophy, and the social sciences do not quite measure up to the acme of understanding achieved by science. Although modern and postmodern critics have deemed such a position as scientism rather than science, the two streams of understanding are still at odds. The superciliousness of the positivist position has unfortunately led many practitioners in the social sciences to try and adapt the methods of the hard sciences and apply them so as to understand the human being from a psychological and sociological perspective. Others in these fields of endeavor have questioned not only the application of logical positivist methods to the human sciences, but have also questioned whether or not they adequately describe the growth of knowledge as depicted in the so-called hard sciences.

I believe that such debates are well-worth their efforts if indeed they can lead to some clarity about how we come to know and experience things. Unfortunately as stated above, many of the debates have become so entangled in diatribes, personal attacks, and calumnies, they resolve nothing at all. Moreover I believe that we stand on the possibility of falling over two deep cataracts if we embrace either strict objectivity or total subjectivity. The postmodern idea that we as human beings totally create our realities within the mind seems, to me, far-fetched. I’m not even sure of what the postmodernists are saying here. I’ll personally state my position that I believe in an external and objective reality. Yet the logical positivist notion that the only meaningful conversations human beings can have must be derived from statements that can only be observed and measured seems, to me again, a far-fetched and overstated notion. As Karl Popper demonstrated, the statement itself proffered by the logical positivists cannot be derived from observation, nor does it claim anything that can be measured. The claim, indeed, is metaphysical one. I’ll state my position, as well, here. Passion, beliefs, and values play a large part in any field of endeavor, including science. These two camps have divided fact from value, mind from body, science from life, and physics from metaphysics. A common ground is needed. Observation, empirical measurement, and rationality are necessary for our understanding of the universe. I would say to the total subjectivists that there is indeed a universe against which we bump, and in order to adapt, we have to have some form of objective understanding of how it’s put together. On the other hand, I would say to the logical positivists, that passion, valuation, and subjectivity have always driven the quest for knowledge, including science. The history of scientific thought does not bode well in supporting the positivist notion of how science has progressed over time. Works such as those by Thomas Kuhn and Michael Polanyi have provided good grist for the mill in discussing these matters. Another position I’ll state is this: I believe that the universe in inherently rational and ordered; yet it is full of mystery that we discover, not just a construct within our mind. Yet that mystery is something we passionately pursue, applying our values to our work, and even holding theories and hypotheses for some time, whether or not they immediately have empirical support. I’m sure no Einstein, as the adage goes, but the great physicist himself held that the universe contains order as well as mystery.

Conclusion

Two good books to read regarding the discussion on this blog are Thomas Kuhn, The Structure of Scientific Revolutions, and Michael Polanyi, Personal Knowledge. My preference is the latter one. Polanyi is a physical chemist and philosopher of science who seeks to emphasize what he designates as the personal participation of the scientist in his pursuit of knowledge. Polanyi holds that although skill is involved in the pursuit of knowledge, knowing is an art that entails the skill of the knower. The scientist is guided by personal commitment and a passionate sense of increasing contact with reality and discovering its hidden mysteries, rationality, and order.

What Polanyi designates as personal knowledge, achieves several things. First, it emphasizes the passionate participation in the act of knowing and the growth of knowledge. By doing so, second, it can establish a bridge connecting the gap between subjectivity and objectivity, even if it is a tenuous one. Third, personal knowledge brings a personal coefficient in terms of an appraisal that shapes factual knowledge. And most importantly, fourth, personal knowledge implies that an individual can transcend subjectivity while striving passionately to fulfill universal standards. In other words, we need not get swept away over a large cataract by either pure subjectivity, or strict objectivity. I recommend this book along with others to explore this constant tension between objectivity and subjectivity. The false dichotomies between fact and value, passion and knowledge, and science and opinion have created a great divide, not only in our understanding of the growth of knowledge, but also as to what it is like to be human and to passionately pursue the growth of knowledge.

How many stories have you heard, and how many biographies have you read where scientists were spurred on by painful events in their lives to create, research, and discover knowledge that they hoped would end particular miseries that human beings experience? Even in the face of failed hypotheses, they nonetheless held to their beliefs until they succeeded on some level. The pursuit of knowledge, understanding, and wisdom is not impersonal. Passion and knowledge go hand-in-hand.

The debate, however, must rage on. We must hold this tension without trying to resolve it one way or the other. In the raging, however, one can hope we can become more civil, avoid the ad hominem, cease the name calling, and join together in the wonderful quest for knowledge, understanding, and wisdom.

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

GENERAL ESSAY

I keep following this sort of hidden river of my life .  .  . (William Stafford)

Introduction

Having reached the age of 68, I have experienced, more than a few times, the shock of looking back at photographs of myself in my 20’s, 30’s, and so on, noting the immeasurable differences. Who is that guy? I feel like the same person, yet physical changes are easily captured these days through the technology we utilize from day-to-day. There are likewise the personal, philosophical, and spiritual changes in beliefs, values, and worldview that punctuate our corridors of time. Still, I undergo these changes. How can we change, yet be the same? What is this this thing we recognize as change, while we also experience a constancy across time that we call the self?

The subjective experience of constancy and change brings up a question debated in many circles these days, particularly in philosophical and psychological circles. In the midst of all the changes we experience, do we have a core that defines who we are as a self, something that remains stable, that doesn’t change? We all know that we change. Most of us even experience what we call deep change, changes that strike at our core beliefs and values, overhauling our view of life and what it’s about – in a word, our worldview. Yet I reflect on and know these changes; it is my awareness of changes in me. Who is this I who continuously undergoes and is aware that he undergoes change?

Another question that emerges for me is that if there is a core to our identity, can we miss it? Can we misunderstand it? Can we live in such a way that we do not discover it, or leave it closed off, perhaps due to our conformity to all that surrounds us? Can we live in such a way so that we’re not in touch with the core – the heart – of who and what we are?

Well, as a typical blogger who likes to philosophize now and then, I ask these questions, but have only exploratory thoughts regarding them. I believe in many ways, human beings are a great mystery. We live our lives constantly seeking to come to grips with the mystery that is ourselves, a mystery like a great river that we recognize in segments, but cannot see totally from where it originates and where it ends up.

Poets and Questions

I approach this topic via a couple of my favorite poets, Matthew Arnold and William Stafford. Likewise, I engage this notion via a personal journal entry  from 2015 I happened to reread this past month. I had pinned the journal entry upon reading the American poet, William Stafford. I reflected upon several questions: Where in the core of my being am I going? It seems easy to get off track. And then later in the entry I asked, Can I reach back and find the seed that I smothered .  .  .? And then near the end of the entry I asked, Can I reach down deep and find the core, that layer buried, ready for discovery, that I seemed to have forsaken?

This journal entry and the questions it poses relate to some of my personal struggles. Yet I think they are ones that many people experience. At any rate, that seems to be the case based on my twenty-five years of being a professor, watching students develop their own lives, as well as being a counselor for the same number of years working with clients. The questions, however, set on a presumption. There is a core we call the self. To some degree we can come to know it. Yet whatever it is, changes. I’m not sure if it is possible to resolve the heart-felt experience of constancy and change. Like many tensions in life, perhaps the better approach is to radically accept them and let them be, while simultaneously exploring what they offer about life.

Interestingly, both Stafford, who is a modern American Poet, and Arnold, who is a Victorian poet, apply the metaphor of a river as representing the core or thread that runs through our understanding of our experiences involving both constancy and change. Matthew Arnold (1822 – 1888), in the Buried Life, speaks somewhat pessimistically about our truly wanting to know who we are and how we actually feel about things. The experience, he surmises, is too scary. Not only would we personally rather not know this buried life, but we don’t want others to know it either. According to Arnold, if  others know our core, we fear their cold, indifferent response to who we are. Hence, the seed of conformity emerges in our social relations, a seed whose fruit is our lostness. Nonetheless, Arnold paints an exquisite picture of the fulfilling, yet fleeting, moments when we make contact with our internal river. He says, The eye sinks inward, and the heart lies plain,/And what we mean, we say, and what we would, we know. This sounds like a beautiful description of the experience we undergo when we understand ourselves to be living in alignment with what we know and believe. I’m not sure how often we step into such an experience, but I do believe it to be a powerful one. Arnold believes it to be a rare one. Such an alignment seems to indicate that we possess a core that says, This is who I am, and what I’m all about.

William Stafford (1924 – 1993) discussed what he experienced as a hidden river in his own life. I tend to agree with what he says regarding the buried stream. It’s there; I know it’s there; but I come to know it more and more as I move through life. These are not Stafford’s words, but my interpretation of his discussions from his essays and interviews, in addition to poems he has authored. Perhaps constancy and change is a continuing flow of experience, like a river, that surges and slows, that is shallow at spots but then deepens, and that travels through sinuous paths, twisting, turning, and flowing back on itself, and then eventually continuing on to its destination – the same, yet changing river. An apt metaphor, particularly when we think of how a river hovers, staying within its banks, yet threatening to overflow its containment, fighting against the conformity that its context has set  for it. And then, at times it does just that, violently flooding over all that is around it, perhaps carving a new river bank altogether. When we align with our core, there may be a lot of rules we have to break, and many people whom we have to disappoint. We know it’s there, but we never know completely what it’s going to do, nor where it’s going to take us, and how it’s going to change us.

There are those today who question the notion of a core self. Perhaps they’re correct, but I don’t believe so. Perhaps they offer another social context for conformity. In following our own river, what pressures might we butt up against? To carve our own paths, what and whose rules might we have to break so as to become that person who says what he means, and means what he says?

Conclusion

I want to conclude this essay of reflection simply by offering Stafford’s poem, “The Way It Is”. Matthew Arnold referred to the buried life as a river. In an interview, Stafford spoke of a what he called the hidden river of his life. In his poem, Stafford uses the metaphor of a thread. He encourages us to grasp and follow it if we get a glimpse of what it is. Most importantly, we should never let it go lest we become lost. Here is Stafford’s short poem:

There’s a thread you follow. It goes among/things that change. But it doesn’t change./People wonder about what you are pursuing./You have to explain about the thread/But it is hard for others to see./While you hold it you can’t get lost./Tragedies happen; people get hurt/or die; and you suffer and get old./Nothing you can do can stop time’s unfolding./You don’t ever let go of the thread.

What is our river or our thread? How do we understand who we are amidst all the changes we undergo? How do we hold on to things we’re trying to understand in the face of so much pressure to conform by so many who might not understand? What is this self that chooses, embraces, and recognizes change? I change. In those two simple words, the existential tension is the great mystery.  It is a mystery like a secret thread flowing through us we’re trying to find and hold onto; like a hidden river we’re following to where we’re not sure.

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

GENERAL ESSAY

Introduction

This is the 36th monthly blog I will have published, so I thought I would celebrate three years of blogging by simply throwing out some random thoughts and questions.

When I think about areas of thought I want to explore, or types of projects I might want to pursue, there are 4 concepts or categories that frame many of my interests today. Whether or not these interests will hold my feet to the path tomorrow or down the road, I surely don’t know, but for now they’re good food for thought. Four areas that pique my interests presently are as follows: mind, meaning, knowing & doing, and finitude. The meanderings below are simply some random thoughts and questions for pondering.

Mind

The first question that comes to mind (no pun intended), is: What exactly do we mean when we speak of the human mind. How would we go about describing a person’s mind? The concept of mind leads one possibly to contemplate the various components of an individual’s makeup. Historically, several positions have been proffered to explain mind: materialist or reductionist, dualist, interactionist, and spiritual. Throughout the millennia, art and literature have spoken of the human mind, heart, soul, spirit, and body. How do these entities contribute to our understanding of what it is to be human?

No doubt one component of mind is its functionality in helping us to adapt and live. The mind is our tool that we employ to adapt to various contexts in which we live. We refer to mind as the bastion of knowledge. We speak of mind when we seek to understand our lives. We point to the mind as the entity that hopefully leads us to wisdom. Some would say that our mind comprises our beliefs, values, and precepts from which we seek to live out our lives.

Moreover, we use our mind to change and adapt. But what is change? How do we change? How do we adjust to life’s vicissitudes that come our way? Through the process of change, we sense that even through major changes in our lives, we, nonetheless, maintain a core of who we are. What is the relationship between mind and identity? Mind and change appear to go hand-in-hand. What does it mean to change core beliefs and values – that is, to change our mind? How does mind come to understand mind?

Meaning

When we talk about making sense of life, are we not talking about meaning? Some would say that we are meaning-making creatures, that is human beings are the species that seek to understand their existence. We use our mind to interpret and make sense or meaning of personal experiences. Such experiences are countless, but in general may include the world we engage, the various encounters we undergo, the relationships we have, the people we know. What parts do mind and experience play in our meaning-making? What is the difference between surface and deep meaning, if there is such a distinction? What is the relationship between meaning and values. Some believe that meaning is totally constructed, while others believe that there is meaning inherent in the structure of the universe. Why do some people spend their lives in a search for meaning and purpose, while others appear not to give such notions a second thought?

Knowing & Doing

Do we act on what we claim to know? The mind is involved in this dynamic as well. Personally, I believe when a person lives out – acts – according to his beliefs and values, such a knowing-doing connection is a powerful dynamic for living. None of us probably come close to being anywhere near perfect in this dynamic. My so-called fortitude fails me everyday in a number of situations. I think the question whether or not our knowing and doing is in alignment is one that constantly haunts and nags at us. On the one hand, ultimate fulfillment rests in such an alignment; however, on the other hand, the constant failure to do so teaches us immense lessons about ourselves. Moreover, the relationship between knowing and doing appears to be related, as well, to the acquisition of wisdom. Wise living is wrapped up in the concrete living out of what we say we know, believe, and value. Misalignment has its upsides. It leads us to question things. Do I know what I truly believe and value? Do I know who I am, and what I’m about? Do I know how to skillfully go about life? Do I know how to live? We tend to feel out of sync with ourselves, others, and life in general. These experiences can leave us in doubt, generate a feeling of lostness, and can bring about powerful emotions. The dynamic of knowing and doing is one that continually pulls at our conscience, shaping our understanding of who we are.

Finitude/Humility

I believe it was the philosopher of science, Karl Popper, who stated: What we don’t know is infinitely greater than what we do know. I think that notion not only entails the limits of science regarding the universe, but also our own limits to self-knowledge. We immediately recognize the sense of arrogance, hubris, and lack of humility in those who claim to have a full understanding of self, life, and the universe. How many times throughout the history of thought have various fields of endeavor claimed to be approaching the limits of knowledge, only to be blown back by new technologies and discoveries? I believe we need to become more enamored with what we don’t know in contrast with what we do know. The mind is a wonderful tool and avenue towards great understanding. But the limits of our knowledge are immeasurable.

Conclusion

These random thoughts and questions are ones that frame the direction I want to take my personal thought and exploration. I would possibly add to them the notion of worldview. I’m not sure how it fits in other than we shape our worldview via our mind, personal experiences and engagement with the world, and our constant failing and succeeding at our endeavors. The seven questions that I listed in last month’s article can help shape our understanding of worldview. For now these thoughts and questions lay the groundwork for an exciting journey on which to travel toward greater knowledge, understanding, and wisdom. It is a journey that ends only with our finitude. It is a journey that as we travel, we come to realize more and more the limits of our own understanding.

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

GENERAL ESSAY