Philosophical counselling: A POWERFUL introspection through mediation

THE frame

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How do I get to know myself in order to live a better life ? What makes me feel happy and what helps me maintain the feeling of joyfullness and completion? Is there a path to self care?

Most of the issues we face every day include questions and challenges about what career to pursue or how to deal with a relationship or with an ethical matter which causes immbalancing aspects in our vision of the fundamental values giving meaning to our lives.

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Philosophical counselling is ideal for those looking to :

• Explore their reasoning processes and engage with their profound desires and aspirations
• Engage in reflective dialogue by adressing the problems they face in their life
• Deepen their self understanding through philosophical inquiry in order to gain more authentincity
• Broaden the spectrum of their strengths and thus gain more self-confidence.

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More than a method, Philosophical counselling is a time of exchange dedicated to one person with the objective of solving a problem by detecting what 'goes wrong" in the reasoning process. Like the etymology of the Greek term προβλημα (próvlima) indicates, a problem is litterally what is thrown in front of us as an obstacle without being warned. This lack of control illustrated by a state of uncertainty, leads us directly to an imbalance in one or more areas of our life, which can potentially destroy our "plans" in order to lead us towards the search of a solution.

Some common issues adressed during the sessions are related to: career or life purpose, relationship issues, performance and time management issues, but also midlife issues which revive the need of meaning and fulfillment in one's life and by pushing us to navigate through change or loss.

Philosophical counselling is a tailor-made support that aims at the well-being of the person being accompanied while providing order and meaning in his physical, mental and emotional state. Directing your thoughts, eliminating anxiety in the face of the unknown and having self-control is a posture that is acquired over the course of the sessions in order to achieve a solid understanding of yourself.

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The shape

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“Know yourself.” A famous inscription engraved on the pediment of the Temple of Delphi, this formula raises the importance of the'introspection" process in the search for the truth. It implies that nothing can be known if you do not first know yourself. In addition, guiding your interior and living well implies that you can know yourself.

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But seeing and examining yourself from within presupposes that the subject becomes its own object of research. This is problematic because, in the absence of distance between the subject and the object, self-knowledge is not possible.

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Therefore, if the introspection has a meaning in order to find a truth (self-knowledge), it must be guided from outside by someone other than yourself. The introduction of a third element establishes the missed distance and restores the process. This role is held by the philosopher whose aim is to help you achieve a clarity of thought about who you are, how you act, and how you wish to live your life through the use of philosophical resources and tools so as to tackle such challenging on your own.

Following the example of Maieutics, Socrates's method, the principle of Philosophical counselling is to make you give birth to your own ideas, truths and worries, but also and especially to your own desires.

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The background

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The background of Philosophical counselling stages a state of profound understanding of yourself through the eyes of the consulting philosopher. This technique consists in asking the right questions to the person in order to get him to express (To give birth) knowledge about himself that was buried in the image of hidden knowledge.

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When Plato stages Maieutics for the first time in his dialogue The Banquet, he affirms, through his master Socrates, that the soul of every man is pregnant and that it wants to give birth to its truth. This birth can only take place in the Beauty that the aesthetics of human existence convey. It is the role of the philosopher to make souls give birth in Beauty so that they can experience the rationality and coherence of their alleged knowledge and so that they can judge for themselves whether their condition is viable or if it contains contradictions.