Philosophical Guidance
I provide two forms of Philosophical Counselling. The first is the more common type, which I describe here.
Modern philosophy is often reduced to scholarly concerns. By contrast, my philosophical studies and way of life are rooted in the philosophy of the ancient Greeks: Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, the Stoics, and the later Platonists. Their philosophy was guidance in the development of wisdom, inner strength, goodness, happiness, and flourishing. Such philosophy is a rich and powerful resource for coping with suffering and cultivating the good in life.
If you want these qualities in your life, these philosophers are your best guide. Down through the ages this path has been tested and proven by countless individuals. We might call it one of life's great secrets, however it was never a secret, rather it was merely neglected during the second half of the twentieth century. Now, as those easy times slowly come to an end, the wisdom of the ancient Greeks is making a popular come back.
The profound insight of these philosophers can be summed up in the following formula:
I provide two forms of Philosophical Counselling. The first is the more common type, which I describe here.
Modern philosophy is often reduced to scholarly concerns. By contrast, my philosophical studies and way of life are rooted in the philosophy of the ancient Greeks: Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, the Stoics, and the later Platonists. Their philosophy was guidance in the development of wisdom, inner strength, goodness, happiness, and flourishing. Such philosophy is a rich and powerful resource for coping with suffering and cultivating the good in life.
If you want these qualities in your life, these philosophers are your best guide. Down through the ages this path has been tested and proven by countless individuals. We might call it one of life's great secrets, however it was never a secret, rather it was merely neglected during the second half of the twentieth century. Now, as those easy times slowly come to an end, the wisdom of the ancient Greeks is making a popular come back.
The profound insight of these philosophers can be summed up in the following formula:
The development of wisdom
+
our best human qualities
=
a wise, strong, good, happy life
+
our best human qualities
=
a wise, strong, good, happy life
In what follows I will say more about the three elements of the above equation. I will then offer some examples of how the cultivation of wisdom and our best qualities will make your life significantly better.
1) Wisdom. Wisdom refers to "the intellectual virtues." These are all the qualities that make for a good mind: depth of insight, rationality, perspective, justice, creativity, intellectual courage, foresight, to list just some. The over-arching title for the intellectual virtues is wisdom - they are all forms of wisdom. Philosophy is an ancient Greek word which means love of wisdom. Philosophy is the love and pursuit of wisdom through reflection and conversation.
An intellectual virtue, like any kind of virtue, is not fleeting, rather it is a habit you develop, a stable trait. You become this kind of person - more insight, more just, more creative in your perception and thinking. Furthermore, to cultivate the intellectual virtues is to cultivate not only a good mind, but a mind which leads to all else that is good. For example, intellectual courage flows into the emotions so that you suffer less fear, and into actions as courage at that level. The intellectual virtues lead to your becoming stronger and more good and happier as a person. A 1) good mind begets 2) a good character and 3) a good life. These constitute the steps of the above equation. We will now turn to the second: a good character.
2) Our best human qualities. I use this phrase "our best human qualities" to translate the ancient Greek word arete, which is more often translated as virtue. A more literal translation is an excellence or good quality. Hence, when I spoke of the intellectual virtues above, I was speaking about an excellent mind, good qualities of mind. Here, in this second step, we are talking about what these mental virtues flow into: our best human qualities at the level of character, which is to say the rest of our being, our emotions, our actions, our way of being.
The character virtues are our good qualities at the levels of emotion, desire, and action. These virtues include courage, resilience, fortitude, tenacity, self-discipline, self-control, self-possession, integrity, fidelity, justice, compassion, kindness, generosity, love, humility, patience, honesty, humour, and so on. Again, these are qualities which we cultivate to the point that they become habits, stable traits, which define our way of being. We can rely on them, and others can rely on them in us.
There is a universal element to all of this, for these are the universal qualities of good human beings, which for the most part are valued by all people. But of course different cultures emphasise different virtues, and different people need to focus on different ones. Which virtues which will matter most, and which will most need cultivation in your case, will depend on your temperament, talents, situation, problems, goals, and the current state of your virtues. What would you like to change in yourself to make you, and your life, much better?
Step one of the above equation regards the intellectual virtues, step two combines that with the character virtues, which flow from, or at least rely on, the first. Step three regards the outcome of the two.
3) A strong, good, happy life. The outcome of cultivating our intellectual and character virtues to an adequate degree is happiness. of course, happiness is a fraught word. The ancient Greek word is eudaimonia. This translates literally as a good spirit or a good state. Other common translations include flourishing and a good life. There are good reasons to choose each of these translations, and it is important not to become ideological or pedantic about them. The point is to about making life good in all its major elements, insofar as they are in your power. There is much that is out of our control, however we can see that the things which are most in our control, are also the things which enable this genuine happiness.
The goal and achievement of philosophy is this good state of life, becoming a force for happiness and goodness with respect to our own lives as well as for those around us.
In summary....
Let's consider again our equation: the development of wisdom + our best human qualities = a wise, strong, good, happy life. Or to use the technical terms: the development of the intellectual virtues + the character virtues = eudaimonia. The cultivation of the intellectual virtues creates a strong and beautiful mind. A strong and beautiful mind forms in us a strong and beautiful character. A strong and beautiful mind and character lead to eudaimonia, a genuinely good state of life.
The reason that virtue reliably leads to happiness is not because it causes happiness as something different to it, but rather because virtue is happiness. To be virtuous is to be happy. If this sounds odd, consider what it is be in a genuinely courageous state. Or a genuinely loving state. Or a genuinely wise and reasonable state. Consider what life is like when you have developed many of the important intellectual and character virtues, when you are inwardly strong, and wise, and good.
Indeed, consider the wise person. They know what matters most in each situation, and their emotions and actions reflect this wisdom, and so they steer themselves well. As just as courageous and compassionate they are better toward others and themselves. As opposed to our normal self-absorbed state and obsession with other's treatment of us, their life is increasingly full of rich ideas - they are focused on what is good and interesting in life. The courageous person pushes past their fears to make good things happen. Their inward and outward life becomes better as a result. They do not lose their head, and so are resilient. They come to suffer less fear, and so they can enjoy life in the moment, rather than obsessing about possible bad futures. They can stand by what matters, despite the threats. They will have the self-possession to carry themselves well in life's challenges, whether challenging situations or challenging people. The temperate person has self-control and discipline. The have the will-power to achieve what they want - to find the time, to do the work, to stay the course and follow through. They can also moderate themselves for the sake of a healthy and pleasant life. They have integrity, meaning their emotions and actions reflect their better self. The just person is a good person. They are therefore also able to experience life as good. Because they are good rather than bad for others, they will suffer less shame. Less shame means more confidence. Their life is more pleasurable, peaceful, and harmonious than the unjust. People will like and trust them, and want to know them or work with them, which means they achieve more of their personal and professional desires.
Wisdom, courage, temperance and justice are the four cardinal virtues, but as suggested before there are many more virtues to explore. There are also the opposites of the virtues, and the consequences of them. Hopefully it now makes more sense when I say that the virtuous person is the happy person. The virtuous are the qualities which make us wise, strong, good and happy. This is a happiness which comes from within us, and which is in our control, rather than that fleeting "happiness" which is dependent on external goods - money, popularity, good situations. The person who becomes more wise and virtuous becomes more resilient in adversity and suffering, because resilience is a form and consequence of virtue. Many people are made worse by their suffering - more bitter, closed off, fearful - however this person ultimately becomes better through their suffering. For they use adversity as a resource for further growth in wisdom and virtue. The meaning of suffering is transformed for them. To quote the Stoic philosopher Marcus Aurelius, the obstacle becomes the way. This person can also be happy in good times, which might seem like a strange thing to say, but consider how fortunate we are in the West and yet how resentful or miserable many of us are. We have adopted the stance of the passive, of children looking to externals, unable to be our own source of deep happiness and strength. Virtue enables us to see our situation with sanity, to enjoy the good in it, to become an engine for more good, and to be happy in a profound sense, no matter what life throws at us. We will still suffer at times, but when suffering is exprienced through the prism of the virtues and the sense of life's meaning which they generate, it may continue to hurt but it also becomes transformed.
Philosophical Counselling....
What does this ancient Greek path to happiness look like within Philosophical Counselling? I define counselling as a set of conversational and relational skills which lead to insight and change. In contrast to psychotherapy, Counselling does not have theoretical content in itself. Rather, the counsellor's art is to become exceptionally skilled in speaking and relating with the client, in ways that bring forth things in the client. Counsellors today often refer to this as Socratic dialogue and indeed it is! Socrates called his method mid-wifery: drawing forth the wisdom and motivations which are latent in his conversation partner. This is what a counsellor does.
So in this philosophical guidance for the cultivation or the intellectual and character virtues, we engage in reflective conversation. We examine your life, including the areas needing growth. We explore your goals, regarding life, and regarding your needed virtues, including whether they are reasonable, good enough, comprehensive enough. I might suggest reading and reflection. We engage in ongoing reflection, seeking wisdom about every concern that arises. And of course you make specific goals and I help you with accountability. This is not a rigid approach, as one might find in a manualised course of CBT, rather as philosophy it is constantly reflective, and willing to shift as new insights emerge. It works with what is, including the substance of your being in all its particularity. The real change is all your own - your effort, your responsibility, your achievement - but I am a philosophical guide on this path. You may see me once or briefly, especially to see if I am right for you, but ideally you will see me ongoingly, whether weekly, fortnightly, or monthly, to engage in this ongoing work of personal growth.
To finish....
Life has many hard and dark sides, as well as many wonderful possibilities. There is much that is out of our control, but many of the most important dimensions are in our power. Life is not at all easy, but it can be very good. The person who becomes more wise and virtuous becomes more happy, because happiness is the sum of those virtues which a person an their life good. This philosophical counselling is akin to personal training. Whereas personal training shapes your body, my philosophical counselling shapes your inner life, your way of being, and the success of your outer life. Life does things to us, but what counts in philosophy is what we do with life. The deepest kind of happiness, and the most meaningful life, are in our power to achieve. This guidance is the tradition of Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, the Stoics and the later Platonists.
1) Wisdom. Wisdom refers to "the intellectual virtues." These are all the qualities that make for a good mind: depth of insight, rationality, perspective, justice, creativity, intellectual courage, foresight, to list just some. The over-arching title for the intellectual virtues is wisdom - they are all forms of wisdom. Philosophy is an ancient Greek word which means love of wisdom. Philosophy is the love and pursuit of wisdom through reflection and conversation.
An intellectual virtue, like any kind of virtue, is not fleeting, rather it is a habit you develop, a stable trait. You become this kind of person - more insight, more just, more creative in your perception and thinking. Furthermore, to cultivate the intellectual virtues is to cultivate not only a good mind, but a mind which leads to all else that is good. For example, intellectual courage flows into the emotions so that you suffer less fear, and into actions as courage at that level. The intellectual virtues lead to your becoming stronger and more good and happier as a person. A 1) good mind begets 2) a good character and 3) a good life. These constitute the steps of the above equation. We will now turn to the second: a good character.
2) Our best human qualities. I use this phrase "our best human qualities" to translate the ancient Greek word arete, which is more often translated as virtue. A more literal translation is an excellence or good quality. Hence, when I spoke of the intellectual virtues above, I was speaking about an excellent mind, good qualities of mind. Here, in this second step, we are talking about what these mental virtues flow into: our best human qualities at the level of character, which is to say the rest of our being, our emotions, our actions, our way of being.
The character virtues are our good qualities at the levels of emotion, desire, and action. These virtues include courage, resilience, fortitude, tenacity, self-discipline, self-control, self-possession, integrity, fidelity, justice, compassion, kindness, generosity, love, humility, patience, honesty, humour, and so on. Again, these are qualities which we cultivate to the point that they become habits, stable traits, which define our way of being. We can rely on them, and others can rely on them in us.
There is a universal element to all of this, for these are the universal qualities of good human beings, which for the most part are valued by all people. But of course different cultures emphasise different virtues, and different people need to focus on different ones. Which virtues which will matter most, and which will most need cultivation in your case, will depend on your temperament, talents, situation, problems, goals, and the current state of your virtues. What would you like to change in yourself to make you, and your life, much better?
Step one of the above equation regards the intellectual virtues, step two combines that with the character virtues, which flow from, or at least rely on, the first. Step three regards the outcome of the two.
3) A strong, good, happy life. The outcome of cultivating our intellectual and character virtues to an adequate degree is happiness. of course, happiness is a fraught word. The ancient Greek word is eudaimonia. This translates literally as a good spirit or a good state. Other common translations include flourishing and a good life. There are good reasons to choose each of these translations, and it is important not to become ideological or pedantic about them. The point is to about making life good in all its major elements, insofar as they are in your power. There is much that is out of our control, however we can see that the things which are most in our control, are also the things which enable this genuine happiness.
The goal and achievement of philosophy is this good state of life, becoming a force for happiness and goodness with respect to our own lives as well as for those around us.
In summary....
Let's consider again our equation: the development of wisdom + our best human qualities = a wise, strong, good, happy life. Or to use the technical terms: the development of the intellectual virtues + the character virtues = eudaimonia. The cultivation of the intellectual virtues creates a strong and beautiful mind. A strong and beautiful mind forms in us a strong and beautiful character. A strong and beautiful mind and character lead to eudaimonia, a genuinely good state of life.
The reason that virtue reliably leads to happiness is not because it causes happiness as something different to it, but rather because virtue is happiness. To be virtuous is to be happy. If this sounds odd, consider what it is be in a genuinely courageous state. Or a genuinely loving state. Or a genuinely wise and reasonable state. Consider what life is like when you have developed many of the important intellectual and character virtues, when you are inwardly strong, and wise, and good.
Indeed, consider the wise person. They know what matters most in each situation, and their emotions and actions reflect this wisdom, and so they steer themselves well. As just as courageous and compassionate they are better toward others and themselves. As opposed to our normal self-absorbed state and obsession with other's treatment of us, their life is increasingly full of rich ideas - they are focused on what is good and interesting in life. The courageous person pushes past their fears to make good things happen. Their inward and outward life becomes better as a result. They do not lose their head, and so are resilient. They come to suffer less fear, and so they can enjoy life in the moment, rather than obsessing about possible bad futures. They can stand by what matters, despite the threats. They will have the self-possession to carry themselves well in life's challenges, whether challenging situations or challenging people. The temperate person has self-control and discipline. The have the will-power to achieve what they want - to find the time, to do the work, to stay the course and follow through. They can also moderate themselves for the sake of a healthy and pleasant life. They have integrity, meaning their emotions and actions reflect their better self. The just person is a good person. They are therefore also able to experience life as good. Because they are good rather than bad for others, they will suffer less shame. Less shame means more confidence. Their life is more pleasurable, peaceful, and harmonious than the unjust. People will like and trust them, and want to know them or work with them, which means they achieve more of their personal and professional desires.
Wisdom, courage, temperance and justice are the four cardinal virtues, but as suggested before there are many more virtues to explore. There are also the opposites of the virtues, and the consequences of them. Hopefully it now makes more sense when I say that the virtuous person is the happy person. The virtuous are the qualities which make us wise, strong, good and happy. This is a happiness which comes from within us, and which is in our control, rather than that fleeting "happiness" which is dependent on external goods - money, popularity, good situations. The person who becomes more wise and virtuous becomes more resilient in adversity and suffering, because resilience is a form and consequence of virtue. Many people are made worse by their suffering - more bitter, closed off, fearful - however this person ultimately becomes better through their suffering. For they use adversity as a resource for further growth in wisdom and virtue. The meaning of suffering is transformed for them. To quote the Stoic philosopher Marcus Aurelius, the obstacle becomes the way. This person can also be happy in good times, which might seem like a strange thing to say, but consider how fortunate we are in the West and yet how resentful or miserable many of us are. We have adopted the stance of the passive, of children looking to externals, unable to be our own source of deep happiness and strength. Virtue enables us to see our situation with sanity, to enjoy the good in it, to become an engine for more good, and to be happy in a profound sense, no matter what life throws at us. We will still suffer at times, but when suffering is exprienced through the prism of the virtues and the sense of life's meaning which they generate, it may continue to hurt but it also becomes transformed.
Philosophical Counselling....
What does this ancient Greek path to happiness look like within Philosophical Counselling? I define counselling as a set of conversational and relational skills which lead to insight and change. In contrast to psychotherapy, Counselling does not have theoretical content in itself. Rather, the counsellor's art is to become exceptionally skilled in speaking and relating with the client, in ways that bring forth things in the client. Counsellors today often refer to this as Socratic dialogue and indeed it is! Socrates called his method mid-wifery: drawing forth the wisdom and motivations which are latent in his conversation partner. This is what a counsellor does.
So in this philosophical guidance for the cultivation or the intellectual and character virtues, we engage in reflective conversation. We examine your life, including the areas needing growth. We explore your goals, regarding life, and regarding your needed virtues, including whether they are reasonable, good enough, comprehensive enough. I might suggest reading and reflection. We engage in ongoing reflection, seeking wisdom about every concern that arises. And of course you make specific goals and I help you with accountability. This is not a rigid approach, as one might find in a manualised course of CBT, rather as philosophy it is constantly reflective, and willing to shift as new insights emerge. It works with what is, including the substance of your being in all its particularity. The real change is all your own - your effort, your responsibility, your achievement - but I am a philosophical guide on this path. You may see me once or briefly, especially to see if I am right for you, but ideally you will see me ongoingly, whether weekly, fortnightly, or monthly, to engage in this ongoing work of personal growth.
To finish....
Life has many hard and dark sides, as well as many wonderful possibilities. There is much that is out of our control, but many of the most important dimensions are in our power. Life is not at all easy, but it can be very good. The person who becomes more wise and virtuous becomes more happy, because happiness is the sum of those virtues which a person an their life good. This philosophical counselling is akin to personal training. Whereas personal training shapes your body, my philosophical counselling shapes your inner life, your way of being, and the success of your outer life. Life does things to us, but what counts in philosophy is what we do with life. The deepest kind of happiness, and the most meaningful life, are in our power to achieve. This guidance is the tradition of Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, the Stoics and the later Platonists.
