Palpable Existentialism: A Focusing-oriented Therapy

o way forward.PSYCHOTHERAPY IN AUSTRALIA VOL 20 NO 2 FEBRUARY 2014then through the body we discover thatat bottom we are homeless. As I havesuggested elsewhere (Madison, 2009),we become homeless not because wehave been exiled from home, but ratherbecause we have been exiled by homefrom the flow of the self. The cosinessof the tranquillised 'substantial'distances us from the self that callsto be known as the elusive andungraspable. Why do we build a homeon top of the open underneath?According to the existentialists, inthe expanse we feel a deep sense ofunease that has metaphysical originsand experientially is a doorway tounfolding insight, ‘ we, humancreatures, perceive dimly in the experienceof the uncanny, that the world rests onnothing. It has no basis or ground’ (Gray,1951, p. 116). Or as the philosopherKarl Jaspers (1932) says it, ‘Thebottomless character of the world mustbecome revealed to us, if we are to winthrough to the truth of the world’ (cited inGray, 1951, p. 117). The existentialistthinks it is therapeutic to perceive thereality of human existence withoutthe spin of what we would like it tobe. This intention corrects a subtleassumption in Focusing and Gendlin’sphilosophy to see the body as carryingus ‘forward’ towards forever betterpossibilities.

Challenging optimism‘Carrying forward’ is Gendlin’s termfor the bodily process that occurs whenwhat the body implies should happenactually does happen (see Gendlin,1997). When the experiential implyingactually occurs, there is a bodily shiftthat is referred to as ‘positive’ and‘life affirming’ (e.g., Gendlin, 1984).But this optimistic description doesnot take into account that the bodypropels itself towards what? Expandingopenness, yes, but also its own aging,increasing fragility, and final demise.Human being is a carryingforward to death, a ‘ being-unto-death’as Heidegger (1964) proclaimed.Carrying-forward has a feeling of‘rightness’ due to a release of bodilytension, but it is no yellow brickroad. On this topic Gendlin can beread as an optimist rather than as anexistential philosopher. This would puthim at odds with the British School’sbalance between human givens,facticity, tragedy, and human potential(Spinelli, 2007). Gendlin anticipatesthe criticism and says his view isnot 'sloppy optimism'. ‘With so muchsuffering and destructiveness all aroundus, optimism is an insult to those whosuffer’ (Gendlin, 1996, p. 23).Gendlin and his colleagues clarifythat the energy of the forwardmovement ‘is not optimism or preferencefor the positive’ (Gendlin et.al 1984,p. 272). Rather it is the life energythat is released from ‘being-with’any experience that is valued, notsome preference for ‘positive’ and‘optimism’. But why then are thesevalues associated with the bodily shiftand so prevalent in the Focusing world?A description that sounds pessimisticis no less valid if it resonates with lifeexperiencing. Resonating, that flowof energy, is the key. The positive biasobscures the existential context.Existential-phenomenologicaltherapy values the intention to confrontexistence as clearly as we can, givenour capabilities at any given time. It isan attempt to value what is ‘true’ overwhat is ‘life affirming’ in conventionalterms of happy, adjusted, andcomfortable. We are taught that ourgoals are achievable but not to questionwhat the purpose of achieving themwould be, given the whole context of ahuman life.The existential does not override theexperiential; they go back and forthbetween grounding and symbolising,informing and refining each other.In experiential-existential therapythe point is that the therapist mustbe willing to enter the unknowingflow of experiencing and acknowledgethe realities it momentarily reveals.If we converge the experiential andexistential we can create a practicewithin which existence and experiencecan be taken as one. Moments ofexistential insight are simultaneouslyvali

A focusing-oriented therapy GREG MADISON Focusing, developed by Eugene Gendlin, and its incorporation into clinical practice has been well-documented. In this article, GREG MADISON explores how the method of Focusing can be integrated with an existing orientation to therapy to take the next step into becoming a ‘Focusing-oriented therapy’.