Психотерапията на Ялом или как Шопенхауер отговаря на екзистенциални въпросиЦялото ревю тук: http://knijenpetar.blogspot.com/2015/... „Още приживе Шопенхауер е всеизвестен със своята ярост: към финансистите, които управляват вложенията му, към издателите, които не съумяват да продадат книгите му, към дръвниците, които дръзват да го заговорят, към двуногите, които се смятат за негови равни, към онези, които кашлят по време на концерт, и към пресата, която го пренебрегва. Но най-неудържима и пламенна ярост той храни към своите съвременници мислители и най-вече към двете най-ярки светила във философията на деветнайсети век: Фихте и Шелинг. С тази своя ярост, чиято сила не престава да предизвиква изумление до днес, Шопенхауер настройва интелектуалната общност против себе си“. Защо Артур Шопенхауер твърди, че животът е страдание? Тук основата е изградена върху волята. Човекът е в плен на постоянното търсене на начини за осъществяване на своите желания, което прави живота страдание, защото щом осъществим едно наше желание, веднага се появява ново. Краткостта на щастието го прави само по себе си изключение от правилото за всеобщото ни страдание. Който е чел Шопенхауер лесно ще навлезе в „безумната“ му философска стратегия за принизяването на човешкото съществуване. В последно време се радваме на много начини да разнообразим живота си с продуктите на съвременната наука. Но не са ли те просто начин да излъжем възприетото от Шопенхауер безсмислие на съществуването? Ето един бисер от философа: „За човек винаги е удоволствие да научи, че другите страдат повече от него“. С такова мислене човекът като вид едва ли ще постигне нещо повече от собственото си унищожение. Но погледнете каква е ситуацията в момента. След доста плодотворната за мен книга на Ървин Ялом - „Проблемът (на) Спиноза“, „Изцелението (на) Шопенхауер“ се явява един истински тест, съставен вещо и с подобаваща сериозност от автора. Тук Ялом навлиза изцяло в дебрите а своята специалност, показвайки умение да разчлени всеки човешки проблем и да го превърне в ползотворна дискусия. Цялата книга е един вид платформа на психотерапията - опит да се повдигне завесата на една трудна за възприемане от смятащият се за абсолютно здрав психически съвременен човек. И точно в това се крие ползата от самата книга: осъзнаването, че в нас се крият „извращенията“ на природата, които се опитваме да принизим и заместим с някакъв имагинерен идеал - безтелесното съществуване на мисълта, която ни извисява и повлича в същото време към екзистенциални въпроси без отговор. И всичко това - за да не страдаме. Стигнахте ли до заключение? Ето как мисли Шопенхауер: „Животът е злощастие. Аз реших да прекарам своя живот в размисли по този въпрос“. Ха-ха, казвам аз! Шопенхауер просто се е насочил към единствения вариант, който дава смисъл на идеите му и оправдава собственото му съществуване. Ялом ни запознава с Джулиъс Херцфийлд - психотерапевт, на когото е поставена страшна диагноза - рак на кожата. Джулиъс ръководи терапевтична група, съставена от хора с различни индивидуалности. Те са способни в професиите си и не срещат големи трудности в работата, която практикуват. Проблемът им е психологически. Груповата психотерапия е начинът да споделят проблемите си и така да намерят изцеление, което ще им позволи да възвърнат психическото си здраве. Джулиъс е поставен пред избор - решението, което ще вземе, ще му позволи да прекара остатъка от живота си ползотворно. (Продължава в блога)
Whenever I love a book way to much or when a book leaves me with such great love about it, I'm too overwhelmed to organize my thoughts and I just start of saying "I can't find the words to tell you how much I love this book!" and that is true, really. But today I have so many things to say that I'm afraid my very simple words won't even get close to describe and tell you how much this book means to me. I'm sure saying "I love this book" won't be strong enough or big enough or anywhere close to what I feel for this novel. I don't know if you've ever read a book that has changed your way of thinking, your point of view of life and I hadn't , not until now. Not until I read The Schopenhauer Cure. This book is exactly that kind of book for me. It has changed so many aspects of my personality and the way I see life,people and even myself. My literature teacher always used to mention this through all my freshmen year and when I told her I had bought it, what she said was "Be careful with it. You'd probably want to wait a little and read it a bit later." Probably she was right, probably I should have read it later, probably I've missed some things and not fully understood some others, but frankly, despite all that, for all I understood I can undoubtedly say this book gave me an opportunity to see my life and myself from a third person's aspect. It made me understand so much about myself and after 384 pages of it, I just had a feeling that I was changed. Like I was a new person with a new perspective, and let me tell you that ; there's no better feeling than that. All of that may sound very dramatic and very unrealistic for a book, but if you've ever come across any book like that, you will know what I mean. This is the first philosophical book I read and I honestly don't know what I was waiting. I got to learn a lot from this book. I liked how it was written and all the group therapy sessions were like my own therapy. Reading about so many different lives of yours and how ideas of people become one whole even though so different from one another were such a great experience. And all the characters were built in such a different way from each other and each of them represented pieces of ourselves. Julius Hertzfeld has to deal with his death. He's only given one year to live and he has to decide what he is going to do with his life that year. Tough decision. What you would do with your life if you were only left one year to live ? Julius decides to do what he loves the most; be a therapist. Help people, listen to them and love them. Julius (his therapy group) confrontation with Philip is just what makes the whole book. Philip lives by Schopenhauer ideas -- a great philosopher who has a great hate about life and humans. It's very difficult to summarize Schopenhauer ideas and beliefs in some sentences because he spent his whole life writing them but basically he was a man who tried to avoid humans and thought that he was one of those rare people who came in our world to show us his talent and knowledge. I have to confess I did support some of Schopenhauer's ideas but sometimes his words just gave me the goosebumps. They were horrific and to think that a man can hold such negative feelings and ideas within was even more terrible. Philip is - let's say - the living version of Schopenhauer. Irivin Yalom (representing himself through Julius) brings Schopenhauer (Philip) in a group therapy. I liked how there was no good or bad, because every idea was a way of how different people see life. I liked how with the passing of time Philip finally started expressing his feelings with his own words and not quoting other great philosophers. I liked how other people learned some things from him, too. I love how this book travels though people's souls and discover their feelings. It shows how people can change and that second chances are not always wasted. It was amazing how it was all built in a give-and-take relationship. This book is definitely (for me) one of those I rarely get to read and it will definitely remain in my mind for a long, long time.
What do You think about The Schopenhauer Cure (2006)?
Even though I don´t like reading translations, I decided to read it because the circumstances of how this book came into my possession were most unusual. While leaving in India a fellow Mexican, now deceased stayed at my house before going to a month´s meditational retreat. I mentioned that I had just returned from Igatpuri and she said "how amazing, Igatpuri is mentioned in this book I am reading: My life with Schopenhauer"This was almost 7 years ago, and finally the other day I decided to read it, even though it is a translation. The story and the way it is written is very interesting and there is much to reflect upon
—Carmen
Авторът смята, че психотерапията и философията могат да стигнат по-лесно и да са по-полезни на хората, ако са под формата на художествена литература. И въпреки че не е новатор в това, а е взаимствал този подход от Камю и Сартър, се е получило. Разбира се, неговите романи са далеч от литературата на Камю и Сартър. Доста по-съвременно, но и доста по-скромно откъм литературна претенция. Обаче, според мен, се е получила една много интересна и полезна книга за всички, които имат разни психологически въпроси и проблеми, за които изпитват желание да четат. В случая, авторът обяснява ползата от груповата терапия. Направил го е посредством разказите на членовете на една такава група за терапия, които от една страна се срещат със смъртта, в лицето на своя смъртно болен терапевт. От друга страна, много интересно, се разкрива философията на гения Шопенхауер - философ, известен самотник и мизантроп, който като че ли е прероден в единия от героите - филип - негов безпрекословен последовател. Нужно е да отбележим, че официално психоанализата води началото си с Фройд и доктор Бройер (споменат в "Когато Ницше плака"), някъде към 1895 година (години след времето на Шопенхауер), но от позицията на днешния ден, Шопенхауер сякаш е част от нея или поне има не малка роля с философията си. В крайна сметка сякаш Шопенхауер е изцелен от мизантропията си, а ние научаваме доста философски мисли и съждения за смъртта и страха на хората от нея. За търсенето на смисъл и за научаването да живеем в социална среда. Интересно и полезно, наистина.
—Kaloyana Slavova
This was really interesting. It follows a therapy group, and is mostly centered around the therapy sessions. The main character, the group's therapist Julius has cancer and the group has about one year of weekly sessions ahead of them at the start of the book. The group's newcomer, the titular Shopenhauer fan Philip, who has a doctoral degree in philosophy, is the group's black sheep. He claims that what Julius wasn't able to cure with a three year long, classic Freudian analytical therapy, he was able to cure alone, just by studying the works and philosophy of Shopenhauer. There are other interesting aspects of the characters, and we get to know each of the group's members a little more. The way in which the characters spoke to each other during the sessions and the way in which Julius, the therapist lead the group was the most fascinating thing to read. If you've never been in a self improvement group, or have never done any such inner work this may be useful. I have participated in a few such groups, though none of them of Freudian origin (the author Irvin D. Yalom is a psychoanalyst), but I had similar experiences and especially in the way the characters spoke was very similar, though a bit idealized, in the therapeutic, and what is considered right way to speak in such circles. I have a feeling that it is much more a parable to fellow therapists, then just a novel. Yalom also has another non-fiction book published in which he does exactly this, sums up his experience in many years of conducting psychotherapy, with individuals and groups, to teach other therapists. I considered buying that as well, but after skimming that book in bookshops, I decided that this would be better. After finishing it I think I've made the right choice. While the advice book had short bullet point chapters, this follows the culmination of a successful therapy group, and I feel it was a much better way of presenting the ideal therapy setting that Yalom imagined, then a few general advice pages. The book is also heavy on philosophy, mostly the titular Shopenhauer, who I was not familiar with, but I feel it was used very well in the context of the story of the dying therapist and his struggle with his life's work. Yalom's other book When Nietzsche Wept is similar to this, but slightly different in the way it uses philosophy. In the Nietzsche novel philosophy was a path being developed and influenced by the therapeutic relationship between Nietzsche and Breuer. Here the already fully formed philosophy of a long dead philosopher, Shopenhauer, is used by current day people to find meaning in their life and to try to achieve feeling that their life had meaning and if they were asked to live their life again exactly as they did until then, they would gladly say yes.
—Suriname Bokmal
