RT Article
T1 Philosophy, Spirituality, Therapy
JF Journal for the study of religions and ideologies
VO 17
IS 51
SP 162
OP 178
A1 Frunză, Sandu 1966-
LA English
PB CEEOL
YR 2018
UL https://ixtheo.de/Record/1583735291
AB One of the most authentic voices that speaks about the importance of philosophy in the life of contemporary man is Emmy van Deurzen. As a philosopher and psychotherapist, she advocates philosophy as the foundation of existential counseling and therapy. Starting from the premise that existential therapy is the practical application of philosophy to the analysis, understanding and modeling of everyday life, Emmy van Deurzen aims to reflect on the complex relationships that philosophy, psychology and therapeutic techniques have in building the spiritual life and in asserting man on the four dimensions of existence, from the physical one to spiritual or religious one. In order to reveal the way in which philosophy rediscovers its meanings and asserts itself as the foundation of therapy, I have recourse to the exposition of a few elements that focus on the difference between the religious imaginary and that of scientific and philosophical practices. Against this backdrop, the necessity of philosophy to leave the marginal status it has assumed under the conditions of modernity and to manifest itself as a form of deciphering and assuming meaning, of transcending the human being, and of formulating paths that lead to authentic existence is being shaped. The philosophical dialogue, seen as a therapeutic dialogue, is favored by the fact that without eliminating the forms of symbolic thought specific to religious communication, philosophy may propose a conceptual, critical and demythologizing way of thinking, in contradiction with the mythical manifestations, but in fully accordance with the existential needs of the human being. Such an approach becomes more and more important in the context of the development of communication, of technology, and of the new types of existence mediated by it.
K1 Emmy van Deurzen
K1 existential counseling
K1 Existential psychotherapy
K1 pastoral therapy
K1 Philosophy
K1 Practical Philosophy
K1 Religious Communication
K1 religious imaginary
K1 Spirituality
K1 symbolic thought
K1 therapeutic techniques