Existential Therapy: Beyond Psychopathology

EMMY VAN DEURZEN

09/04/2024 @EmmyvanDeurzen2022
09/04/2024 @EmmyvanDeurzen2022
not for profit CIC

• Short/CPD courses
• Existential Therapy training
• Existential Couple therapy training
• Free emotional crisis support services:
1.EU citizens in UK
2.Ukrainians in UK
3.Those affected by Middle East conflict
• Hosting organizations, including
FETE, V4E, SOP, ERA and EM
@Emmy van Deurzen 2023
@Emmy van Deurzen 2023

Bringing wisdom to the world

www.existentialmovement.world
19 Books
translated into 26
languages

@Emmy van Deurzen 2023

Emmy van Deurzen
Art of FREEDOM:
Guide to a Wiser Life
Emmy van Deurzen and Claire Arnold-Baker
Structural Existential Analysis (SEA)
An existential phenomenological method for research
@Emmy van Deurzen 2023
How do we make sense of human
existence in a world that is full of trouble,
Existential therapy is about helping people to find meaning despite adversity,
difficulties and despair
constant pressure and stress? @Emmy van Deurzen 2023
Definition of
existential therapy
• Philosophical method for exploring
our way of being in the world
• Improve our understanding of and
engagement with human existence
• Problems in living are approached
in a creative, active and reflective
manner
• New meaning and purpose
• Search for truth and courage

09/04/2024 @EmmyvanDeurzen2022
Existential Therapy
in practice
• Constructive dialogue beyond blame and
shame.
• No psychopathology: modes of being
• Focus on a person’s actual life as lived
• Make a map of their connections and
values
• Philosophical view of human existence:
what matters most?
• Role of anxiety, guilt, despair and
suffering: paradox

09/04/2024 @EmmyvanDeurzen2022
Gaining perspective: getting an
overview of your existence.

Reclaiming your dynamic

existence instead of being
pinned down in one position as
someone with a disorder.

Becoming an agent not a

patient.

4/9/2024 @EmmyvanDeurzen2022
Sisyphus: facing up to life’s futility
and to its uphill struggle: a long
repetitive journey.

• There is but one truly serious

philosophical problem and that is …
whether life is or is not worth living.
(Camus: The Myth of Sisyphus)
How can we find the vitality to rise above our fears and miseries?
How can we be fully, truly and freely?

09/04/2024 @EmmyvanDeurzen2022
Finding a way to transcend or surpass our troubles: how
have you overcome a serious problem in your life?

09/04/2024 @EmmyvanDeurzen2022
We need a map of the landscape around us, a sense of direction and a
compass, each layer can facilitate or obstruct us in our progress
Nature

Culture-ideology-
politics

Society-state-
institutions

Peer groups

Family

Individual

09/04/2024 @EmmyvanDeurzen2022
Juliet Young,
of Patreon
summary of
social factors

4/9/2024

@EmmyvanDeurzen2022
ACT Acceptance
and Commitment
Therapy
• Opening up to unpleasant
feelings
• Moving towards more
desirable behaviours and
experiences
• A CBT model going in an
existential direction

09/04/2024 @EmmyvanDeurzen2022
Power Threat Meaning Framework

09/04/2024 @EmmyvanDeurzen2022
Open Dialogue: Alanen, Seikkula,
Alakar, Aaltonen in Finland

• Participation of a network of friends and family to

make sense of a person’s words and meanings
• Help them to tolerate uncertainty and anxiety
• Dealing with experiences that are hard to put into
words
• Communication and community
• In the sixties and seventies we called it social
phenomenology
Existential therapy takes a broad and wide
perspective and asks the big questions, finding
connections

@Emmy van Deurzen 2023

Simone de Beauvoir
the Mandarins (625)

• ‘You can’t lead a proper life in a society

which isn’t proper, in which every way
you turn, you are always caught’

• You can’t draw a straight line in a curved

space.
Learning to live is a moral
and ontic struggle
• There is no abstract ethics. There is
only an ethics in a situation and therefore
it is concrete.
• (Sartre, Notes For an Ethics:17)

@Emmy van Deurzen 2023

Jean Paul Sartre 1905-
1980
Project
• Man is characterized above all by his
going beyond a situation and by what
he succeeds in making of what he has
been made.
• This going beyond we find at the very
root of the human-in need. (scarcity)
• This is what we call the project.
(elementary objective, original
intention)
(Sartre, Search for a Method:91)

@Emmy van Deurzen 2023

The fear of truth is the fear
of freedom
Sartre: Truth and Existence,
1989:34.

 Being open to true vision is to

free ourselves: but we need to
find our path, our destiny and
our direction
 Reflected feelings help us to find
meaning.

@Emmy van Deurzen 2023

Enabling people to find
a margin of freedom:

• This is the limit I would today

accord to freedom:
• the small movement which makes
of a totally conditioned social being
someone who does not render back
completely what his conditioning
has given him.

• (Sartre, New Left Review interview,

1969:45).

09/04/2024 @EmmyvanDeurzen2022
Resilience

• How do we overcome obstacles?

• How do we survive difficulties,
crises, trauma?
• How do we rise above adversity?
• How do we liberate ourselves?

@Emmy van Deurzen 2022

Post traumatic growth
Tedeschi and Calhoun

• 90% of survivors report some specific growth, like

renewed appreciation of life.
• Not just recovery, or survival but thriving.
• Beyond resilience.
• Learning to be creative
• Meichenbaum: only 5-10% of those traumatised suffer
PTSD
• Move beyond pre traumatic level of functioning
• Deurzen, 2021, Wharne, 2024.

@Emmy van Deurzen 2019

Connor-
Davidson
Resilience
Scale (and
meta- analysis)

@Emmy van Deurzen 2022

Existential Crisis unravels
or severs our Physical space
connections on all four
dimensions.

Spiritual space Social space

Personal space

@Emmy van Deurzen 2022

Resilient Survival
Physical: safety, sleep, food,
comfort, survival, healing, repair,
recovery

Spiritual: review
values, new
vision, trust, Social: strong
relationships,
transcendence,
allow and
dialectic,
understand
stronger beliefs, emotions,
meaning, belonging,
purpose, caring, sharing,
project support

Psychological: clear thinking,

making sense, analysis,
understanding, new perspective,
taking charge, responsibility,
character building

@Emmy van Deurzen 2018

A person is
not just
defined by
bio-social
factors
@EmmyvanDeurzen2022

Philosophers of Phenomeno- Existentialists Post- Existential-

Freedom logists Structuralists Humanists

Sðren Franz Brentano Jean Paul Sartre Michel Foucault Martin Buber
Kierkegaard 1838-1917 1905-1980 1926-1984 1878-1965
1813-1855
Friedrich Edmund Maurice Emmanuel Paul Tillich
Nietzsche Husserl Merleau Ponty Levinas 1886-1965
Existential 1844-1900 1859-1938 1908-1961 1905-1995

Authors Arthur
Schopenhauer
Karl Jaspers
1883-1969
Simone de
Beauvoir
Paul Ricoeur
1913-2005
Rollo May
1909-1994
provide the 1788-1860 1908-1986

background Fyodor Martin Gabriel Marcel Jacques Lacan Hannah Arendt

to the Dostoyevski
1821-1881
Heidegger
1889-1976
1889-1973 1901-1981 1906-1975

approach
Karl Marx Max Scheler Albert Camus Jacques Derrida Abraham
1818-1883 1874-1928 1913-1960 1930-2004 Maslow
1908-1970

09/04/2024
Existential Authors
Existential Philosophers
Philosophers
of
Phenomeno-
logists
Existentialists Post-
Structuralists
Existential-
Humanists
Freedom
| Kierkegaard
Sðren Nietzsche
Franz Brentano JeanHusserl
Paul Jaspers
Michel Heidegger
Martin Buber
Sartre de
Kierkegaard
Beauvoir Buber
1838-1917 Sartre
Camus Foucault
Merleau Ponty
1878-1965
1813-1855 1905-1980 1926-1984
Foucault
Friedrich Edmund Maurice Emmanuel Paul Tillich
Nietzsche Husserl Merleau Ponty Levinas 1886-1965
1844-1900 1859-1938 1908-1961 1905-1995
Arthur Karl Jaspers Simone de Paul Ricoeur Rollo May
Schopenhauer 1883-1969 Beauvoir 1913-2005 1909-1994
1788-1860 1908-1986
Fyodor Martin Gabriel Marcel Jacques Hannah
Dostoyevski Heidegger 1889-1973 Lacan Arendt
1821-1881 1889-1976 1901-1981 1906-1975

Karl Marx Max Scheler Albert Camus Jacques Abraham

1818-1883 1874-1928 1913-1960 Derrida Maslow
@Emmy van Deurzen 2018
09/04/2024 @EmmyvanDeurzen2022 1930-2004 1908-1970
Existential Methods in
practice
existential practitioners have sought to develop more systematic ways of
understanding clients’existential predicaments.
clear filters and lenses through which to view the work

09/04/2024 @EmmyvanDeurzen2022
@EmmyvanDeurzen2022

Existential Practitioners

Pioneers Daseins-analysis Humanistic-existential Existential integrative Logotherapy Existential

Phenomenological

Ludwig Medard Boss Rollo May Thomas Szasz Viktor Frankl Ronald D. Laing
Binswanger 1904- 1990 1909-1994 1920-2012 1905-1997 1927-1989
1881-1966

Karl Jaspers Gion Condrau James Bugental Aaron Esterson Joseph Fabry Hans Cohn
1883-1969 1919- 2006 1915- 2008 1923-1999 1909 - 1999 1916-2004

Eugene Alice Holzey-Kunz Irvin Yalom Peter Lomas Paul Wong Ernesto Spinelli
Minkowski 1943- 1931- 1924-2010 1937- 1949-
1885-1972

Erich Fromm Erik Craig Kirk Schneider Betty Cannon Alfried Längle Emmy van Deurzen
1900-1980 1944- 1956- 1943- 1951- 1951-

4/9/2024
ESSENTIAL
Existential Practitioners

• Ludwig Binswanger: 1881-1966.

• Karl Jaspers: 1883-1969.
• Paul Tillich: 1886-1965.
• Medard Boss: 1903-1990.
• Viktor Frankl: 1905-1997.
• Rollo May: 1909-1994.
• Ronald Laing: 1927-1989.

09/04/2024 @EmmyvanDeurzen2022
Karl Jaspers
1883-1969
• There are situations which remain
essentially the same
• even if their momentary aspect changes and
their shattering force is obscured:
• I must die, I must suffer, I must struggle, I
am subject to chance,
• I involve myself inexorably in guilt.
• We call these fundamental situations of our
existence ultimate situations.
• (Jaspers 1951:20)

09/04/2024 @EmmyvanDeurzen2022
magnum opus:
A General Psychopathology (Jaspers 1963):
how do people grapple with limit situations?

• Subjective symptoms cannot be perceived by the sense-organs, but

have to be grasped by transferring oneself, so to say, into the other
individual's psyche; that is, by empathy. (Jaspers 1968).
• The German term used here is that of `einfühlen' (meaning literally
`feeling into'), which, as Jaspers explains, refers to a process of
participation in the other person's experience. This participation is
intense and real. It is not just a cognitive phenomenon, but
consists of allowing ourselves to be on the other person’s
wavelength and resonate with their deepest sense of themselves
and their difficulties.
• Systematic verification: in other words, we constantly check
whether our observations correspond with reality.

09/04/2024 @EmmyvanDeurzen2022
Ludwig Binswanger: 1881-
1966 existential analysis
• ..to be a man means not only to be a creature begotten by living-dying life,cast into it and
beaten about, and put into high spirits or low spirits by it: it means to be a being that looks its
own and mankind’s fate in the face, a being that is ‘steadfast’ (Binswanger 1963:204). Umwelt,
Mitwelt, Eigenwelt.
• Mutuality
• The anonymous mode of relating individual living in relation to an unknown and collective
mute world with requirements and demands which leaves us relating like objects and automata.
• The plural mode of relating is that of formal relationships, in which we compete and struggle
for dominance. In this mode there are several beings fighting or grappling for power.
• The singular mode of relating is that of our relationship to ourselves: inward and self relating,
either in struggle or harmony.
• The dual mode of relating is that of intimacy with a single other. This is very much Buber's I-
Thou and therefore includes the possibility of our relationship to the infinite as well.
• People’s actions are meaningful, not random. When Ilse puts her arm in the fire, she is
sacrificing herself for her father.

09/04/2024 @EmmyvanDeurzen2022
Medard Boss 1903-1990
• Daseins Analysis
• Work with Freud, Jung, Jones, Binswanger, Heidegger.
• Existential Foundations of Medicine and
Psychology (1979). S. Conway and A. Cleaves,
trans. Northvale, NJ: Jason Aronson.
• Psychoanalysis and Daseinsanalysis (1963). L.
E. Lefebre, trans. New York: Basic Books.
• I Dreamt Last Night... (1977). S. Conway, trans.
New York: Gardner Press.
• The Analysis of Dreams (1957). J. Pomerans,
trans. New York: Philosophical Library.

09/04/2024 @EmmyvanDeurzen2022
American existential therapists

• Rollo May 1909-1994:

• The Meaning of Anxiety,

• Existence
• Love and Will
• Man’s Search for Himself

• Irv Yalom 1931-:

• Existential Psychotherapy
• The Gift of Therapy
• Love’s Executioner
• Staring at the Sun

09/04/2024 @EmmyvanDeurzen2022
Thomas Szasz 1920-2012

• Perhaps the relationship

between the modern
psychotherapist and his patient
is a beacon that ever-increasing
numbers of men will find
themselves forced to follow, lest
they become spiritually enslaved
or physically destroyed’ (Szasz
1962:272).
• therapy through dialogue (Szasz
1965, 1992). The first point of
Szasz's work is that it is
contractual and voluntary.

09/04/2024 @EmmyvanDeurzen2022
Myth of Mental Illness (1961)
• Myth of Mental Illness (1961). Mental illness is a
metaphor for being disabled by living rather than having
a disease or a disorder
• Don’t try to cure people, be honest and mind your own
conduct
• In most types of voluntary psychotherapy, the therapist tries
to elucidate the inexplicit game rules by which the client
conducts himself; and to help the client scrutinise the goals
and values of the life games he plays (ibid.).
• Against all coercion.

09/04/2024 @EmmyvanDeurzen2022
Political stance: prof of psychiatry at State University of New York, Syracuse

4/9/2024 @EmmyvanDeurzen2022
Developments around Europe in 50s and 60s
against involuntary commitment, ECT and
psychoactive medication (chlorpromazine)
influenced by Foucault, the Birth of the Clinic,
Deleuze, Guattari, Anti-Oedipus.
UK developments
Ronald David Laing
(1927-1989)
• We live equally out of our bodies, and out of our
minds. Concerned as I am with this inner world,
observing day in and day out its devastation, I
ask why this has happened? Laing, 1967:50

• The Divided Self

• Together with colleagues, including David
Cooper and Aaron Esterson, he created the
Philadelphia Association in 1965 Kingsley Hall,
Philadelphia Assocation, Arbours
• Laing saw madness as a transformative
experience of metanoic change, which was a bit
like a shamanic journey

09/04/2024 @EmmyvanDeurzen2022
• ‘The individual in the ordinary circumstances of living may feel more unreal
than real; in a literal sense, more dead than alive; precariously
differentiated from the rest of the world, so that his identity and autonomy
are always in question. He may lack the experience of his own temporal
Laing ontological continuity. He may not possess an over-riding sense of personal consistency
or cohesiveness. He may feel more insubstantial than substantial and
in-security unable to assume that the stuff he is made of is genuine, good, valuable.
And he may feel his self as partially divorced from his body.’
• R.D. Laing, The Divided Self.
Laing:
Breakthrough instead of breakdown.
◼Loss and transition are about breakdown of the old.
◼Instead of breaking down and becoming depressed it
can mean we break through some block and move on
to a next level.
◼In the process we become stronger.
◼We establish values that are more deeply rooted.
◼Therapeutic communities: allow regression
◼Inspired by Stanislav Grof: use of psychedelics
◼and Gregory Bateson: double bind
◼Rebirthing
absorbed in 1. Engulfment, which is the fear of being flooded,
contriving ways of overwhelmed, surrounded and destroyed by the
other.
trying to be real, of 2. Implosion, which is the sense of being so
preserving his completely empty that one is in danger of
disappearing into a black hole - of falling into
identity. . . to an endless pit of nothingness where one’s
prevent himself existence explodes inwards and is annihilated.
loosing his self' 3. Petrification, or depersonalisation, which is
the experience of being turned into a thing by
(Laing 1959: 42-3). the other - of having one's selfhood and
autonomy so negated; that the only solution is
to freeze or let oneself turn to stone.

09/04/2024
@EmmyvanDeurzen2022
• Psychotherapy must remain an obstinate attempt of
two people to recover the wholeness of being human
through the relationship between them (Laing
1967:45)
• The psychotherapeutic relationship is therefore a
Politics of research. A search , constantly reasserted and
reconstituted for what we have all lost, and which
experience some can perhaps endure a little more easily than
others, as some people can stand lack of oxygen
1967 better than others, and this re-search is validated by
the shared experience of experience regained in and
through the therapeutic relationship in the here and
now. (Laing, 1967:47)

09/04/2024 @EmmyvanDeurzen2022
Registration with Existential therapy
UKCP as existential included in most

Existential therapist since

1993.
training
programmes.

therapy in Phenomenological

UK Outcome research
at Roehampton,
research at
Regent’s,
Metanoia, Surrey,
Mick Cooper Roehampton, City,
Middlesex and
New School etc.
Loving your Life
Method: Edmund
Husserl’s Phenomenology
1859-1938

• Phenomenology:
appearance<>essence
• Wesenschau: to things
themselves.
• Intentionality (Franz Brentano)
• Intuition: question natural
attitude.
• Knowledge begins with experience
• Bracketing assumptions, epoche
• Noesis or cogitatio (process or predicate): phenomenological
reduction
• Noema or cogitata (object): eidetic reduction
Intentionality • Ego cogito (subject): transcendental reduction
Birth and death
Closing off freedom to keep
anxiety at bay: Heidegger
• Being taken over by the world in fascination
• Fallenness with other people –dispersion
• Tranquillizing: protective sheltering
• Backing away, comfort seeking, shirking
• Rapture of forgetting- closing off- covering up
• Non-transparency: opaqueness
• Evasion, fleeing
• Distraction, irresoluteness, alienation
• Inauthenticity: negation of death and existential limits
• Un-owned existence: indifference

09/04/2024 @EmmyvanDeurzen2022
Being lost and finding something new
• Heidegger’s aletheia (ἀλήθεια): truth means: unveiling the hidden
• In loss we become homeless, Unheimlich and are forced to find ourselves for the first time.
Heidegger and anxiety

Anxiety individualizes. This individualization brings

Dasein back from its falling and makes manifest to it
that authenticity and inauthenticity are possibilities of
its Being.
(Heidegger 1927:191)
Anxiety as source of energy

Anxiety is life energy rather than a symptom of illness

Kierkegaard 1813-1855
Kierkegaard’s
definition
• Anxiety is the dizziness of
freedom.

• ‘Whoever has learnt to be

anxious in the right way has
learnt the ultimate.’

(Kierkegaard 1844:155)
Paul Ricoeur’s
dialogue

• The only way to achieve some form of

knowledge is to come to it gradually
through dialogue.
• This involves me in exploring both the
archaeology, or the landscapes of the past,
and the teleology, or the landscapes of the
future, as you imagine them.
• In terms of temporality there is a
continuous altering of meaning.

09/04/2024 @EmmyvanDeurzen2017
 Enable people to search for truth in their lives
 Help them live passionately and
compassionately
Aim of  Finding inner authority: think for yourself
 Greater understanding of the human condition
existential  Purpose and direction: intentionality
dialogue  Paradox, dialectic: freedom, responsibility, life,
death
 Find talents, strength, vulnerability
 Past, present, future, temporality
As therapists we
are the guardians
of the Art of Living:
• The art of living is about weaving the
different strands of life together into
a meaningful whole that holds us
safe.
• Strands are constantly added and
taken away.
• We need to tend carefully to the
fabric of our lives on a daily basis,
disconnecting, reconnecting and
integrating all the time.

09/04/2024 @EmmyvanDeurzen2022
Frankl’s way to meaning •Experiential values: what we take from the world.
•Creative values: what we give to the world.

Viktor Frankl 1905-1997 •Attitudinal values : the way we deal with

suffering.
It’s about
meaning
making.
Meaning is about
making sense of our
connections
09/04/2024 @EmmyvanDeurzen2022
Meaning comes
from connectivity:
in the brain it is
all about
connectivity,
adaptability,
flexibility of
consciousness:
neurons constantly
make new synaptic
connections:
organizing
experiences

09/04/2024 @EmmyvanDeurzen2022
@EmmyvanDeurzen2022

We think we
control
connections
but in loss:
sudden
disconnection
: meaning is
severed as we
lose what we
love and what
defined us.
09/04/2024
We feel best when
weaving it together:
‘religare’= connecting=
religion.

fitting the pieces of

the puzzle together,
joining the dots

09/04/2024
@EmmyvanDeurzen2022

Loss means a
sudden
disconnection:

if this is at
every level of
our life, we
experience

existential
crisis

09/04/2024
All of us are faced with limits (Jaspers)
• Temporality
• Gravity
• Entropy

• Death
• Labour
• Illness
• Failure
• Loss
09/04/2024 @EmmyvanDeurzen2022
We analyze and pull things apart to gain knowledge.
We use memory, imagination, dreams and creativity to
connect.

09/04/2024 @EmmyvanDeurzen2022
We go forward together, slowly,
step by step.
With life as our guide.
• What is this person’s world? What are
their connections and values?
• What are the life issues this client is
preoccupied with?
• What path are they on? Where are they
going?
• What understanding of this does the
therapist have?
• How can the therapist find new direction
with this client?
• What are the points of blockage or
friction?
09/04/2024
• Dialogue
@EmmyvanDeurzen2022
It’s essential that we do not locate the source of
our problems in ourselves when it belongs
elsewhere. Many problems are existential and
structural.
ONTO
We consider the client’s struggles, but do not
DYNAMICS pathologize them. Rather try to describe, identify,
Not PSYCHO experience and put into perspective.
DYNAMICS
What are the client’s assumptions, values, mode of
being and worldview?

09/04/2024
@EmmyvanDeurzen2022
@ EmmyvanDeurzen2022

WHAT IS SEA?
* STRUCTURAL EXISTENTIAL ANALYSIS IS A
METHOD OF QUALITATIVE RESEARCH THAT
SYSTEMATICALLY TRACKS PEOPLE’S LIFE WORLD
AS THEY EXPERIENCE IT IN THEIR SITUATION

09/04/2024
Structural Existential
Analysis (SEA):
onto dynamics
1. Phenomenology: bias and the
reductions
2. Philosophy: methodology
3. Space: four worlds
4. Time: four dimensions
5. Paradox: conflicts and
dialectics
6. Passion: emotional compass
7. Purpose: intentionality, values
and direction

09/04/2024 @EmmyvanDeurzen2022
SEA
Time

Space

Passion Purpose

Re Dia-
ductions logue

Phenomeno-
Paradox Philosophy
logy

09/04/2024 @EmmyvanDeurzen2022
@ EmmyvanDeurzen2022

!. ORIGIN OF THE METHOD: HUSSERL’S PHENOMENOLOGY

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09/04/2024
Assumptions and prejudice

We are always making sense of In order to get a more accurate

our world: we can never be free picture of the world, we need to
of our assumptions. understand how we interpret it.

By attending – just noticing,

A phenomenological research
describing – not explaining, and
project is a disciplined
not pre-judging, we can get a
investigation into reality as it is
better idea of our assumptions
experienced at a particular time
and a clearer grasp of the
in a particular context.
phenomena we observe.

09/04/2024 @EmmyvanDeurzen2022
@EmmyvanDeurzen2022

• Phenomenology
• Wesenschau: to things
Edmund themselves.
• Intentionality (Franz
Husserl Brentano).

1859-1938 • Intuition:question natural

attitude.
• Knowledge begins with
experience.
• Bracketing assumptions.

09/04/2024
Assumptions and
prejudice
We are always making sense of our world: we can never be free of our
assumptions.

In order to get a more accurate picture of the world, we need to understand

how we interpret it.

By attending – just noticing, describing – not explaining, and not pre-judging,

we can get a better idea of our assumptions and a clearer grasp of the
phenomena we observe.

A phenomenological research project is a disciplined investigation into reality

as it is experienced at a particular time in a particular context.

09/04/2024 @EmmyvanDeurzen2022
@EmmyvanDeurzen2022

JOHARI WINDOW: Gestalt psychology

KNOWN TO SELF NOT KNOWN TO SELF

KNOWN TO
OTHERS OPEN BLIND
NOT
KNOWN TO HIDDEN UNKNOWN
OTHERS
09/04/2024
• Cogito(subject):transcendental reduction
• Noesis, cogitatio (process):phenomenological reduction
• Noema cogitationes (object):eidetic reduction

Intentionality

09/04/2024 @EmmyvanDeurzen2022
The Phenomenological Method consists of
several reductions

I. Phenomeno- II. Eidetic III. Transcen-

logical reduction reduction dental reduction
• In relation to • In relation to • In relation to
the Noesis or the Noema or the Cogito or
cogitatio: the cogitationes: Nous: the
process of the objects of subject of
consciousness consciousness consciousness

09/04/2024
@EmmyvanDeurzen2022
I. Phenomenological reduction

2. Epoche: suspend 3. Description: invite

1. Noesis, cogitatio or
your assumptions narrative instead of
process of
about what is explanation or
intentionality.
happening. interpretation .

6. Verification: don’t
4. Horizontalization: be 5. Equalization: initially
jump to conclusions but
aware of the limit and accord equal
check again and again
context of our importance to
that you are processing
observations. everything in sight.
things correctly.

09/04/2024 @EmmyvanDeurzen2022
II. Eidetic Reduction

1. Noema, cogitationes: this is about the object of our observation.

2. Abschattungen: each object comes to us in various profiles, various adumbrations, facets or

aspects. We need to check we are not eliminating or ignoring some.

3. Wesenschau: we look for essences directly: aiming to grasp what is really the case, rather than
how it seems.

4. Genetic constitution (vs. static): bear in mind everything is in movement and changes
dynamically: we only really know something when we see it changing.

5. Universals beyond the properties: ultimately we seek to unite all aspects to come together in an
infinite manner.

09/04/2024 @EmmyvanDeurzen2022
III. Transcendental reduction

2. Transcendental ego: we
3. Solipsism overcome: this
1. Cogito or nous: this is the seek to go beyond the
unites us as we go beyond
thinking self, the subject of personal ego towards a pure
ourselves and connect in
intentionality. observing ego:
intersubjectivity.
consciousness itself.

4. Transcendental inter-
4. Horizon of intentionality: 5. Self as point zero: be
subjectivity: seek to connect
but there is still a limit to aware your vision always
your perceptions with those
what we can see from where comes from the centre of
of others: interactive
we stand: know this limit. your own world.
checking of truth.

09/04/2024 @EmmyvanDeurzen2022
THERAPIST BIAS: S-O-A-R

• State of Mind: current situation, basic orientation in the

world, point of view, emotional state, mood, disposition

• Orientation: based on worldview, beliefs and theoretical

belief system, perspective, cultural bias

• Attitude: based on aptitude, genetic predisposition,

constitution, temperament, previous experiences

• Reaction: response to this particular person, situation,

interaction, provocation

09/04/2024
@ EmmyvanDeurzen2022

!I. Philosophical Methods

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Athenian philosophers:
Asking Questions and
Reflecting

09/04/2024 @EmmyvanDeurzen2022
@EmmyvanDeurzen2022

Being able to get out

of the cave:

seeing our own

limitations and
surpassing them

09/04/2024
Philosophical Methods
Ontology Bring our understanding of Being to bear on the
ontic (lived) reality of the person: worldview-
modes of being
Maieutics Bringing out hidden but deeply felt truths: Socratic
dialogue: finding essences, clarifying definitions

Hermeneutics Searching for own interpretation instead of

interpretations based in theory or dogma, checking
with intuition
Heuristics Checking back with personal experience to verify
truth, using heuristic devices to trace things

Dialectics Going beyond opposites: holding tensions instead

of compromising, transcending and transforming
@Emmy van Deurzen 2023
@ EmmyvanDeurzen2022

I!I. SPACE: the four worlds model

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Four dimensions of life.
4.Spiritual: Uberwelt
3.Personal: Eigenwelt
2.Social: Mitwelt
1.Physical: Umwelt

09/04/2024 @EmmyvanDeurzen2022
Dimensions of existence
Spiritual:
Good/Evil
Intuitions, values, beliefs, purpose, meaning.
Worldview/Ideas.
Personal:
Strength/Weakness
Thoughts, memories, identity, freedom.
Selfhood/Me.

Social:
Love/Hate
Feelings, relations, belonging, acknowledgement.
Communication/Others.

Physical:
Life/Death
Sensations, actions, environment, body, things.
Survival/World.
09/04/2024 @EmmyvanDeurzen2022
1. Space

Spiritual

Personal

Social

09/04/2024
Physical
@EmmyvanDeurzen2022
Four relational layers

Spiritual:
ideas

Personal: self

Social: others

Physical: things
09/04/2024 @EmmyvanDeurzen2022
Four worlds

4/9/2024 @EmmyvanDeurzen2022
@EmmyvanDeurzen2022

Different Umwelt Mitwelt Eigenwelt Uberwelt

dimensions Physical
survival
Nature Things Body Cosmos

of the four Social

affiliation
Public Others Ego Culture

spheres of Personal
identity
Private Me Self Consciousness

existence: Spiritual
meaning
Infinite Ideas Spirit Conscience

09/04/2024
Surplus and lack on each dimension
Physical Social Personal Spiritual
Surplus Addiction, Sadism, Narcissism, Fanaticism,
Compulsion, Sociopathy, Psychopathy Mania,
Bulimia Bullying Egocentricity Paranoia
Lack Anorexia, Masochism, Self harm Apathy,
Hypochondria, Borderline, Suicide Depression
Phobia Hysteria Schizophrenia Melancholia

Locus It, They You Me We

Mode Sensation Feeling Thought Intuition
09/04/2024 @EmmyvanDeurzen2022
Dynamic flow on each dimension
Physical Social Personal Spiritual
Top end Pleasure of the Holding power Self love Search for
senses truth

Bottom end Discipline and Exercising Self denial Trust

moderation fairness

Spectrum Vitality You Me We

Tuning into
09/04/2024 Sensations Feeling
@EmmyvanDeurzen2022 Thought Intuition
How do you relate at all four levels ?
• Physical
• Social
• Personal
• Spiritual

09/04/2024 @EmmyvanDeurzen2022
@ EmmyvanDeurzen2022

!V. TIME: the four dimensions

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Multi dimensional
time and change
• Past
• Present
• Future
• Eternity
• Timelessness
• Parallel universes

09/04/2024 @EmmyvanDeurzen2022
Personal timeline

Purpose
New Feeling
event: in the
Low hope flow
point and
strong

09/04/2024 @EmmyvanDeurzen2022
Plotting your lifeline
7

5
physical
4
social
3 personal
2 spiritual

0
past present future ideal

09/04/2024 @EmmyvanDeurzen2022
downs
Something
going wrong

Lost job
illness
Lose
confidence

Nose dive

09/04/2024 @EmmyvanDeurzen2022
EUGÈNE MINKOWSKI
All Time exists in the present

Present

Remote Mediate Immediate Immediate Mediate Remote

Past Past Past Future Future Future

09/04/2024 @EmmyvanDeurzen2022
Time Zones
• Present: zone of activity, which includes all the other zones of time
• Remote past: zone of the obsolete and of history, including one’s own life myths
• Mediate past: zone of loss and regret
• Immediate past: zone of remorse or grief
• Immediate future: zone of expectation
• Mediate future: zone of wish and hope or dread and anxiety.
• Remote future: zone of prayer and ethical action and also of ultimate meaning of
life.

09/04/2024 @EmmyvanDeurzen2022
Heidegger’s time: historicality:
@EmmyvanDeurzen2022

the ec-stasies

• 1. in the Past: as having been: forgetting or regretting

Gewesenheit but also: recollection, repetition. No longer
• 2. In the Present: as being: waiting, rushing Gegenwart,
Dasein/Being-with/ Sorge
• 3. In the Future: as going toward, longing or dreading Zukunft
but also: anticipation and possibility, Being toward Death. Not
yet.
• 4. In Temporality: as Being eternal or infinite Zeit und Sein/
Ereignis.

09/04/2024
Temporality vs Eternity
@EmmyvanDeurzen2022

past

present

future

09/04/2024
Dialectic of time
Deurzen and Arnold-Baker 2018

09/04/2024 @EmmyvanDeurzen2022
Living in time
@ EmmyvanDeurzen2022

V. PARADOX
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3. Paradox and CONFLICT

pro con

09/04/2024 @EmmyvanDeurzen2022
What is paradox?

are
opposites
inevitable

Polarities and
contradictions are the
dynamic power of life.

09/04/2024 @EmmyvanDeurzen2022
Both positives and
@EmmyvanDeurzen2022

negatives: +

_
See how
they
relate

09/04/2024
The power of tension
and paradox
Polarities and opposites are the dynamic power of life:
Tension = charge = energy

Conflict or creativity is discharge

Energy flow from a positive charge to a negative charge

@Emmy van Deurzen 2023

@EmmyvanDeurzen2022

Fears
Desires

Physical Life Death

pleasure pain

Paradoxes Social Love Hate

and belonging isolation
Te n s i o n s .
Personal Identity Freedom
integrity disintegration

Spiritual Good Evil

purpose futility
09/04/2024
@EmmyvanDeurzen2022

Ta o i s m :
Yin (moon/dark/
fe m a l e ) a n d Ya n g
(light/sun/
male)

09/04/2024
Dimension Positive Negative Minimal Goal Optimal
Purpose Concern Value
Physical: Health Illness Fitness Vitality
Pleasure Pain Safety Well Being
Strength Weakness Efficacy Ability
Life Death Survival Existence
Social Success Failure Skill Contribution
Belonging Isolation Kinship Loyalty
Acceptance Rejection Recognition Cooperation
Love Hate Respect Reciprocity
Personal Identity Confusion Individuality Integrity
Perfection Imperfection Achievement Excellence
Independence Dependency Autonomy Liberty
Confidence Doubt Poise Clarity
Spiritual Good Evil Responsibility Transparency
Truth Untruth Reality Authenticity
09/04/2024 @EmmyvanDeurzen2022
Meaning Absurdity Sense Value
World Umwelt Mitwelt Eigenwelt Uberwelt
Physical Nature: Things: Body: Cosmos:
@EmmyvanDeurzen2022

Life/ Pleasure/ Health/ Harmony/

Death Pain Illness Chaos

Social Society: Others: Ego: Culture:

Love/ Dominance/ Acceptance/ Belonging/
Hate Submission Rejection Isolation
Personal Person: Me: Self: Consciousness:
Identity/Freedom Perfection/ Integrity/ Confidence/
Imperfection Disintegration Confusion
Spiritual: Infinite: Ideas: Spirit: Conscience:
Good/ Truth/ Meaning/ Right/
Evil Untruth Futility Wrong

Overview of conflicts, challenges and paradoxes on four dimensions

09/04/2024
Dialectics Hegel (1770-1831)

• Thesis, antithesis, synthesis.

• Human evolution proceeds with
constant conflict and forward
movement in overcoming a
previous state.
• Paradoxes and dilemmas
can be integrated
and gone beyond.
Dialectics:
transcendence: hold the tension.

Synthesis:
a wider view
future

Thesis: my view Antithesis: your view

(past ) (present)
World Umwelt Mitwelt Eigenwelt Uberwelt
Physical Nature: Things: Body: Cosmos:
Earth, Climate, weather, Care for objects, Crafts, Self-care, movement, Connectivity, patterns, solar
seasons, animals, plants, technology, arts, bodily comfort seeking, system, universe, death and birth,
shelter, hygiene, sleep, skills in handling toughening, strength, creation myth, afterlife myth
competence in facing a range instruments, objects, appearance, sexuality, Understanding place in universe;
of dangers. Materiality, birth creativity, productivity health, food, drink, deal with what is the case, in the
and death. Sensory elimination, hygiene, present. Now.
experience sleep. Body sculpting

Social Society: Others: Ego: Culture:

Human world. Public Respect, care of others, Strength of self Past traditions established by
demands of individual, laws, love and hate, presentation and others, personal contribution to
rules, regulations, dominance/submission, representation, having a culture, memes, things valued by
administration, order, duties, competition, rivalry, voice, achieving the group, belonging. Deal with
responsibility, abilities of collaboration, mutuality, something for self and what humanity has established in
communication and language. generosity. Emotion. others, assertion the past. History.
Space.

Personal Person: Me: Self: Consciousness:

Private world, Personal Feeling of mineness and Authentic being, Awareness, intentionality,
sphere or hiding place of authentic right to exist, a personality, character, mindfulness, capacity for
safety, intimate reality, sense of inner reality, selfhood, mastering contemplation and understanding
sanctuary. Home. Managing individuality and anxiety strengths and weakness and knowing. Sciences, Deal with
aloneness and autonomy Thought, memory, what it is possible to imagine and
imagination create. Future

Spiritual: Infinite: Ideas: Spirit: Conscience:

Ultimate reality, the principles The meanings and values The spark of vitality or Capacity of deciding, making
Defining reality, ideology, the we attribute to life and the life energy, the core meaning, by distinguishing
divine, the unsayable. Making world, concepts, beliefs, where we breathe: between good and bad, right and
sense of the world. Greatest principles to live by. connection with all that wrong, transcending ourselves,
object of Devotion (GOD) Capacity for doubt. is. Our essence or soul, transformation. Contemplation.
that what matters Creativity, Options, Freedom.Time

09/04/2024 @EmmyvanDeurzen2022
Exploring our limits and our
possibilities. Understanding and
getting things in perspective
• Living deliberately
• Befriending and treasuring our anxiety
• Facing facts
• Seeking truth
• Finding our purpose and direction
• Breathing and living fully
• With the courage of our values
• Empowerment

09/04/2024 @EmmyvanDeurzen2022
@ EmmyvanDeurzen2022

VI. PASSION: The Emotional Compass

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09/04/2024
John Henry Fuseli’s the
nightmare:

Suppression of feelings leads

to dysfunction and loss of
freedom:
depression is often actually
about oppression or
suppression

09/04/2024
4. PASSION:
the Emotional Compass
• State of mind
1. sensation
2. emotion
3. thought
4. intuition
• Compass of emotions : Befindlichkeit
• Where is the person? Where did they
come from, where are they now, where
are they going?

09/04/2024 @EmmyvanDeurzen2022
How we experience our world: attunement
We pick up messages, moods and
atmospheres. We change the tone and affect
the world in turn. We interpret meanings. We
search for deeply felt experience, connection,
engagement. We resonate

09/04/2024 @EmmyvanDeurzen2022
The I is like the eye
We refract light/life like
lenses or prisms: but we have
intentionality:
• We transform what we receive and either reflect it,
absorb it, stop it, ward it off or pass it on as is.
• We can also learn to magnify and illuminate it, refracting
all different facets (phenomenology)
• We attribute, receive, transform and create meanings
• We reflect.

09/04/2024 @EmmyvanDeurzen2022
Compass of Happiness
emotions High
joy pride

love jealousy

hope- anger-
desire despair

envy fear
Anxiety Depression
Excitement shame sorrow Disappointment
Engagement Disengagement
Sadness
Low
09/04/2024 @EmmyvanDeurzen2022
Four kinds of emotions

• Gain • Threat
value to value

find fight

freeze flight
• Aspire • Loss of
to value value

09/04/2024 @EmmyvanDeurzen2022
Threat to value:
pride, jealousy, anger

Pride
Jealousy
Anger

09/04/2024 @EmmyvanDeurzen2022
Loss of value
(despair, fear, sorrow):

Despair,
Fear,
Sorrow

09/04/2024 @EmmyvanDeurzen2022
Aspire to value:
desire, envy, shame

Desire
Envy
Shame

09/04/2024 @EmmyvanDeurzen2022
Gain value: hope, love, joy

Hope,
love, joy

09/04/2024 @EmmyvanDeurzen2022
We attune to the
world by our
desire for what
we value and love
and our fear of
losing it

09/04/2024
Exhilaration
Happiness
12:High/
Tension
Joy-thrill-excitement:11 1:Pride-confidence-arrogance

Love-courage-commitment:10 2:Jealousy-worry-vigilance

Up Down
Hope-desire-resolve:9 gain 3:Anger-hate-despair
loss
Envy-curiosity-aspiration:8 4:Fear-confusion-cowardice

Shame-emptiness-guilt:7 5:Sorrow-misery-resignation
6. Low/ Release
Despondency
Depression
09/04/2024 @EmmyvanDeurzen2022
Compass of Physical Satisfaction
Sensation Fullness
Pleasure Greed

Lust Stinginess

Excitement Frustration

Craving Disgust
Gain Loss
Need Pain Threat
Survival
Deprivation
Emptiness
09/04/2024 @EmmyvanDeurzen2022
Compass of Social Belonging
Feeling Oneness
Acceptance Care

Love Jealousy

Approval Anger

Envy Fear

Engagement Shame Rejection Disengagement

Isolation
Separateness
09/04/2024 @EmmyvanDeurzen2022
Compass of Personal Perfection
Thinking Strength
Confidence Superiority

Commitment Stubbornness

Courage Defiance

Anxiety Deflation

Success Inferiority Humiliation Failure

Imperfection
Weakness
09/04/2024 @EmmyvanDeurzen2022
Compass of Spiritual Meaning
Intuition Purpose
Bliss Pride

Resoluteness Prudence

Hope Wrath

Aspiration Resignation

Good Guilt Disillusionment Evil

Futility
Absurdity
09/04/2024 @EmmyvanDeurzen2022
Compass Rose John Bennett
Exhilaration-Happiness -High -Tension
(12)

Pride - Confidence - Arrogance

Joy-thrill-excitement: (1)
Meaning
(11) Purpose
S(12)
Bliss Pride
S(11) (S1)

Resoluteness Prudence
(S10) (S2)
Good Jealousy -Worry -Vigilance
Love-courage-commitment: (2)
(10)
Wrath
Hope (S3)
(S9)

Evil
Aspiration
(S8)
Resignation
Guilt (S4)
Satisfaction (S7) Perfection
Fullness Disillusionment Strength
PS(12) Futility PT(12)
Absurdity (S5) Confidence
Greed (S6) Superiority
Pleasure PS(1) PT(11)
(PT1)
PS(11)
Stinginess Commitment Stubbornness
PS(2) PT(10) PT(2)
Survival Lust Success
PS(10)
Hope-desire-resolve:
(9) Courage
Gain Excitement PT(9) Defiance Anger - Hate -Despair
PS(9) Frustration Threat
PS(3) PT(3) (3)

Craving Loss Anxiety

PS(8) PT(8)
Disgust Deflation
PS(4) Failure
PT(4)
Need Inferiority
PS(7) Pain Humiliation
PT(7) PT(5)
PS(5)
Deprivation Belonging Imperfection
Emptiness Oneness Weakness
PS(6) SF(12) PT(6)
Care
Acceptance SF(1)
SF(11) D
Envy-curiosity- i
Love Jealousy
aspiration: E SF(10) s
SF(2) Fear - Confusion - Cowardice
(8) n e
(4)
g Approval n
a SF(9) Anger g
g SF(3) a
e g
m Envy e
e SF(8) m
n e
Shame-emptiness- Fear
t SF(4) n
guilt Shame t
(7) SF(7) Rejection Sorrow - Misery - Resignation
Isolation SF(5) (5)
Separateness
SF(6)

Low/ Release - Despondency- Depression

(6)
X

09/04/2024 @EmmyvanDeurzen2022
Meaning Purpose S(12)

Perfection Strength PT(12)

Umwelt (Physical)
Belonging Oneness SF(12)

Bliss S(11) Satisfaction Fullness PS(12) Pride (S1) Mitwelt (Social)

Confidence PT(11) Superiority (PT1)
Eigenwelt (Personal)
Acceptance SF(11) Care SF(1)

Pleasure PS(11) Greed PS(1)

Uberwelt (Spiritual)

John
Prudence (S2)
Resoluteness (S10) Stubbornness PT(2)
Commitment PT(10)
Love SF(10) Jealousy SF(2)
Lust PS(10) Stinginess PS(2)

Bennett
research
Hope Courage Approval Excitement Frustration Anger Defiance Wrath
(S9) PT(9) SF(9) PS(9) PS(3) SF(3) PT(3) (S3)

Craving
PS(8) Disgust PS(4)
Envy
SF(8) Fear SF(4)
Anxiety
PT(8)
Aspiration Deflation PT(4)
(S8)
Resignation (S4)

Need PS(7)
Pain PS(5)
Shame SF(7) Rejection SF(5)
Inferiority PT(7) Deprivation Emptiness PS(6) HumiliationPT(5)
Guilt (S7)
Isolation Separateness SF(6)
Disillusionment (S5)
Imperfection Weakness PT(6)
Futility Absurdity (S6)
09/04/2024 @EmmyvanDeurzen2022
@ EmmyvanDeurzen2022

VII. PURPOSE: Intentionality, values and direction

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09/04/2024
@EmmyvanDeurzen2022

Meaning is
found not
despite but
because of
adversity

09/04/2024
5. Purpose and Intentionality
physical social personal spiritual
Deficit Difference Dilemma Disorientation
Disease Discord Deception Delusion
(self)
Desire Dominance Disappointment Doubt
Dependence Dishonesty Dread Debt
Dis- Dis- Despondency Dissolution
embodiment engagement
Death Destruction Distress Despair
09/04/2024 @EmmyvanDeurzen2022
Human values

DESIRES FEARS VALUES

PHYSICAL life death vitality

SOCIAL love hate reciprocity

PERSONAL identity freedom integrity

SPIRITUAL good evil transparency

09/04/2024 @EmmyvanDeurzen2022
@EmmyvanDeurzen2022

Paradoxes of human existence

Deurzen and Adams

challenge gain loss

Physical Death and pain Life to the full Unlived life or constant
fear
Social Loneliness and Understand and be Bullying or being bullied
rejection understood
Personal Weakness and Strength and stamina Narcissism or self
failure destruction
Spiritual Meaninglessness Finding an ethics to live Fanaticism or apathy
and futility by

09/04/2024
Living with conflict and trauma
Spiritual:
Integrate what has happened in world view
Improve rather than give up values, beliefs, purpose, meaning.
Stick with what is true but transcend values.

Personal:
Allow the event to strengthen your character
Express thoughts and memories. Regain a sense of freedom in relation to adversity.
Learn to yield as well as to be resolute.
Social:
Seek to go beyond hateful and destructive relations by isolation and avoidance till
Reconciliation is possible. Seek belonging with like minded allies.
Communicate your emotions without reproach, resentment, bitterness.

Physical:
Seek safety when under threat.
Trust and heed sensations of stress. Find natural environment that can soothe as
well as expand your horizons.
09/04/2024 @EmmyvanDeurzen2022
Quest for
Happiness
will never
succeed:
life is more
complex
than that

@EmmyvanDeurzen2022
09/04/2024
Holding truth open for the other

In the clearing created by our anxiety

things come to light in their true being

As existential therapists we allow people

to find their own space, time, values,
feelings, paradoxes and purpose.
We hold the space open and illuminate
what matters to them.

09/04/2024 @EmmyvanDeurzen2022
Exploring our limits and our
possibilities. Understanding and
getting things in perspective
• Living deliberately
• Befriending and treasuring our anxiety
• Facing facts
• Seeking truth
• Finding our purpose and direction
• Breathing and living fully
• With the courage of our values

09/04/2024 @EmmyvanDeurzen2022
Existential intelligence
• Embracing existence in its contradictions and
rising from adversity
• Realizing that there is no such thing as a perfect
human being or a perfect life
• Learning to be resilient and flexible enough to
negotiate on-going paradoxes
• Facing existential challenges in a personal and
creative manner that allows for dialectic
• Welcoming truth and transparency, being open
to feelings and understanding what they mean
• Deep reflection and purposeful action go hand in
hand.

09/04/2024 @EmmyvanDeurzen2022
Reclaiming
TIME-SPACE
• Heidegger’s Zeit-raum: time-space, is not
the same as the space-time of physicists.
Time-space is the point where space and
time come together before the big-bang
and they have their origin in a common
root.
• It opens up the Spielraum, elbowroom or
play-space in which we find the truth of
being.

09/04/2024 @EmmyvanDeurzen2022
Enabling a
person to find
their inner
authority in the
face of their
anxiety is to
show them the
meaning of
existential
courage.

09/04/2024
Heidegger’s Ereignis:
re-owning your life

• Original thanking is the thanks

owed for being.
• That thanks alone gives rise to
thinking of the kind we know as
retribution and reward in the
good and bad sense. (Heidegger
1954:141)

09/04/2024 @EmmyvanDeurzen2022
It is not just
about seeking
the light

we have to
accept that
people seek to
be the light: a
source of truth

09/04/2024
Making meaning
in time
• Past meanings

• Present meanings

• Future meanings

• Eternal meanings

09/04/2024 @EmmyvanDeurzen2022
connection: physical: harmony/skills/science/act in the world

people need: safe cosmos, safe planet, safe natural world,

safe countries, safe houses, engaging and meaningful ways to
earn their keep and good health care.
09/04/2024
@EmmyvanDeurzen2022
Connection: social:
affection/affiliation/generosity/give to the world

People need: good institutions to safeguard fair

relationships: families, other groups, rules at
work, rules in politics, all based in truth and
communication

09/04/2024
Connection: personal:
Inner integrity/peace/
transformation/create safety in the world

People need education, support, creativity, clarity, arts, philosophical thought, leisure in order to function
well and have confidence

@EmmyvanDeurzen2022
09/04/2024
Connection:
spiritual:
truth/value/
transcendence/s
eek meaning in
the world

People need a
credible vision
and belief
system, freedom
of creed, but
also a joint
framework of
morality and
commitment to
truth and justice
and freedom

09/04/2024 @EmmyvanDeurzen2022
Face new realities for
adaptability, flexibility,
neuroplasticity and
dynamic evolution

We learn and adapt

@Emmy van Deurzen 2023

YOUR BODY

• Instrument, vehicle, channel, dwelling, computer, avatar.

• Look after it. Move it, shape it, feed and water it, clean it, rest it, restore it and develop it, to keep it
in good nick.

• Use your senses, let nature calibrate you, observe and pay attention.
• Be disciplined in your practice, be flexible, attentive: care
• Find the balance, the beauty, the harmony
• Life is energy: your body transforms energy
• Work, move, eat, drink and sleep. Be gentle

@Emmy van Deurzen 2023

YOUR EGO
• You live amongst others, always. Learn to hold your own in company
and community. Learn to communicate clearly, create circles of
mutual support
• Get to know your feelings, moving towards, away, against, sideways
• Be strong, meek, supportive and lean. Give and take equally. Add to
the world.
• Mutuality, cooperation, generosity,
• But also competition, challenge and conflict solving

@Emmy van Deurzen 2023

YOUR SELF

• Your inner world is not just a depository for opinions, media messages,
advice, labels, admonishments and judgements. It is your inner sanctuary.
• Focus on your interiority and create space
• Pay attention to your thoughts, try different thoughts, be kind and caring
and clear.
• Do problem solving instead of just worrying. Observe yourself. Be.
• Self reflection, observation, compassion, respect, understanding are the
building blocks
• The eye of the self is a passage towards clarity and vision, focal point,
portal.
• You are the source and the place and the space and the moment.
@Emmy van Deurzen 2023
YOUR SPIRIT

• What are you connected to? What greater and ultimate reality are
you addressing?
• Inner peace comes from alignment and openness and trust in your
harmony with the infinite
• Your consciousness is a window on eternity
• Learn to live in time: learning from past, being fully awake in the
present, foreseeing and anticipating a creative future
• Have a vision of the complete picture

@Emmy van Deurzen 2023

Potentiality is more
than actuality
• From project to action in our own lives.
• Plotting a route through the obstacles
• Potentiality of past as well as of the
present and future.
• Living in time: transcendence and
evolution

09/04/2024 @EmmyvanDeurzen2022
So that we can find ourselves
again, know where we are and
have a sense of direction and
purpose

09/04/2024 @EmmyvanDeurzen2022
When it is dark enough,
you can see the stars.
Ralph Waldo Emerson

09/04/2024 @EmmyvanDeurzen2022
You may have
been lost in space
and time, but
eventually: earth
rises again,
and you know
how to find your
way home
1968 Earthrise picture from Apollo 8 mission

09/04/2024 @EmmyvanDeurzen2022
THANK YOU
for listening

09/04/2024 @EmmyvanDeurzen2022
@EmmyvanDeurzen2022

www.dilemmaconsultancy.com
www.nspc.org.uk
www.existentialacademy.com
www.emmyvandeurzen.com
www.existentialtherapies.org
FETE: Federation for Existential Therapy in Europe
www.existentialmovement.world
Existential Movement

Twitter:@emmyzen @existtherapy @NSPCinfo @emmyvandeurzen

09/04/2024
Books to read for Existential Therapy
• Basic intro: Existential Therapy Distinctive Features
• Existential Practice: Existential Counselling and Psychotherapy in
Practice
• Skills: Skills in Existential Counselling and Psychotherapy
• Existential Philosophy and its applications: Everyday Mysteries
• Everything:
Wiley World Handbook

09/04/2024 @EmmyvanDeurzen2022
Self reflection
Di d I get an understanding of the Di d I help her gain greater Wha t a re my cl ient’s va lues and Wha t a re her ma ny connections: Wha t a re her greatest, gra vest How ca n we help her progress
cl i ent’s world? What was my pers pective? What limited us i n purpose? Their l osses a nd do we ha ve a beginning of a concerns? What emotions are towa rds greater truth and
bi as? doi ng s o? regrets ? ma p? expressed or s uppressed? coura ge?

Ha ve we got some idea a bout Were we i n the midst of life

Di d we follow her sense of what how s he might become freer and Di d s he engage with her dea ling wi th what is real and
Di d we have a constructive a nd Di d we become a team, working
ma ttered and did we find a fa ce a nd surpass her troubles? s truggle, taking charge and concrete or were we lost i n
enga ged dialogue? together for her future?
crea ti ve way forward? Wha t a re our hypotheses? What a s suming authority? theory? Di d my cl ient find
i s i t like to be her? hers elf?

Does s he know how to s urvive?

Ha ve we found a dynamic
How to feel welcome i n the
Ha s she gathered a feel for how Does s he have a sense of what ba l ance between the big Ha ve we worked a t all levels of
worl d? Find a nd use space and Di d we gain a s ense of her
to move forwa rds? Is she leaning her contri bution to the world questions a nd her current pain, her l i fe? If not, which were left
time? Talents, skills? pos sibilities and limitations?
i nto l ife with confidence? mi ght be? di s enfranchisement, and out? Why?
Rel ationships? How will s he
yea rning?
l earn to thrive?

How wa s our contact? Did we Wha t would I wa nt to focus on

bui ld trust a nd mutual respect? more next ti me?

09/04/2024 @EmmyvanDeurzen2022