Bøger af Randolph Severson

This profound writing presents counseling as a path, even perhaps as a spiritual path, rather than a job or even a profession. Randolph Severson understands the gift and the attendant responsibility of holding, with care, the soul and spirit life of someone suffering. And how that same suffering person holds the inner power to find 'true north' again, when, finally heard. The miracle of counseling as consoling lies not in 'knowing about' the person, but 'knowing-with.' This kind of knowing requires the counselor to have found the boundary between 'being' and 'doing', a deep kind of self-presence, a dedication of one's very being for the restoration of the the life of another. This writing is a needed inspiration for those who begin training to become a counselor and struggle to hold the idealism of the healing power of presence in the face of 'theories' of counseling that easily obscure the utter preciousness, the unrepeatable moment, the completely unique particularity of the person seeking help. This is the path of counseling, and it is brilliantly brought to life in this writing.

Finally, at last, a therapeutic psychology that sees, honors, extolls, concentrates on the very best, the very highest qualities available to the human being. What counseling should be about -- developing strategies with patients to inwardly find the ever-present virtues, ideals, deep human longings, and bring them into the world in concrete and practical ways. Soul as action! Drawing on the work of James Hillman and Alfred Adler -- but equally on the great thinkers of the Catholic tradition, such as Hilaire Belloc, George Bernanos, Frederick Willhelmsen and Jean Leclereq -- Randolph Severson develops a view of the highest in humanity. An archetypal psychology of what we can become: the human soul as act of Honor, and the archetypal patterns within which such qualities can be found -- exemplified by the Roman tradition of "Humanitas" -- ancient, and ever new. You will find in this book what you have always hoped psychology would address -- responsibleness with soul, stewardship, sacrifice, reverence, service, a sacramental view of reality, the deepest sense of family, nobility, mystery, dignity -- the martial qualities needed to live these ideals as realities, and the strategies to achieve them. A most remarkable writing, written in the deep Catholic tradition of rhetorical flourish, filled with stories of compassion and the action of love. There has never been a psychology like this!

Psychology, until this book, has acted as if it is a concerned only with the individual, as if we are not inextricably entwined with history and culture -- these are not 'added on' to the human being, but, truly, while we are individuals, we are bound in soul and spirit and life with others. This most exciting book reveals how the depth psychology of Alfred Adler, is indeed a true dance with others and the world. The writing is scintillating and brilliant, the ideas glow, the thought deeply engaging. A book to be read and savored, slowly, and then, again, like good wine!