Tao Articles
Tao and Psychology
by Chad Carpenter
Although Tao and Psychology is the official title of my topic, I'm really going to focus primarily on one school of psychological thought: Logotherapy.
I chose this topic because of a book loaned to me by James Tu called "Man's Search for Meaning" by Viktor Frankl, who is the founder of Logotherapy, and while reading the book, I was struck by how closely Frankl's perspective and ideas matched those that we learn about while studying and practicing Tao. Logotherapy, like Tao, neither teaches nor preaches, but instead tries to help us to see the truth for ourselves.
Frankl uses the analogy of the Painter vs. the Opthomologist. [A painter tries to convey to us a picture of the world as he sees it; and opthomologist tries to enable us to see the world as it really is.] So, Logotherapy, like Tao, tries to help us to see with our own eyes. It cannot show us the truth but can only help us to discover it for ourselves.
Logotherapy, like Tao, is also very deep, very broad, and has many aspects to it. It is much like the Indian fable of the blind men and the elephant, each trying to explain to the others what he thinks is the elephant’s essence. One touches the elephant’s side and exclaims "the elephant is like a wall". The other touches his trunk and says "it is like a snake." The other touches his tail and says "no, it is like a rope," while the other touching his leg says "it is really more like a tree." Each one of them is accurate, yet limited, in his own description, but this can only be understood by the one who can see the whole elephant. For the most part I will be only talking about the "trunk" and "tail" of Logotherapy here, and I will leave it up to the rest of you to envision the whole elephant.
A Little Background on Frankl and Logotherapy
Frankl lived through the Nazi death camps where his wife and children were all killed and he himself suffered the tortures of daily life and survival. I don't want to spend too much time here talking about Frankl, the man, and his own personal sufferings and tragedies because I think most of us have an idea about what he might have endured in these camps. Instead, I will spend this time talking about Logotherapy, which was the revelation that was born out of his sufferings and experiences at Auschwitz and other death-camps.
Logotherapy stresses man's freedom to transcend suffering and find a meaning in one's life regardless of his circumstances. In Frankl's own case he was able to transcend his suffering by finding his purpose which was to write down what he had learned so as to help others. "Logos" is the Greek word for "meaning". I did an internet search on the word and was interested to find that the word "Logos" was also used in Pre-Socratic Philosophy to describe the principle governing the cosmos. Of course, we would call this Tao. In Christianity and Judaism the word is used to define the word of God, which itself has creative power and is God's medium of communication with the human race. In "Man's Search for Meaning", Frankl simply uses "Logos" to define "meaning", and that "meaning" is left for the individual to determine for his or her self.
The Meaning of Life
But this "meaning" is not to be used in the broad sense as in "What is the meaning of life?", but rather in a more specific way of "what is the meaning of YOUR life". In Frankl's words, asking the meaning of life is akin to asking the chess champion: ["Tell me, Master, what is the best move in the world?" There simply is no such thing as the best or even a good move apart from a particular situation in a game and the particular personality of one's opponent. The same holds for human existence. One should not search for an abstract meaning of life. Everyone has his own specific vocation or mission in life to carry out a concrete assignment which demands fulfillment. Therein he cannot be replaced, nor can his life be repeated. Thus, everyone's task is as unique as is his specific opportunity to implement it.]
Frankl feels that instead of asking the meaning of life, man should recognize that it is HE who is questioned by life. And he can only respond to life's questioning by answering for his own life. To life he can only respond by being responsible. "Thus," says Frankl, "Logotherapy sees in responsibleness the very essence of human existence."
We as Taokins are taught the lessons of responsibleness all the time. When we try to rid ourselves of our karma and spread Tao we are being responsible. We know that what we fail to do in this lifetime will only carry over to the next life. We can never run away from our Karma, and so only by being responsible in this life and doing something about it in this life, will we be free of it in the next. And by being responsible, our purpose in this life is revealed to us in stages. The more responsible we are the clearer the path is laid out before us.
Strangely enough, while Frankl gives no indication of his belief or disbelief in reincarnation, he asks his patients to use the following maxim:
"Live as if you were living for the second time and as if you had acted the first time as wrongly as you are about to act now!"
Frankl adds, “It seems to me that there is nothing which would stimulate a man's sense of responsibleness more than this maxim, which invites him to imagine first, that the present is past and, second, that the past may yet be changed and amended. Such a precept confronts him with life's finiteness as well as the finality of what he makes out of both his life and himself.”
Frankl stresses that "The true meaning of life is to be discovered in the world rather than within man or his own psyche, as though it were a CLOSED SYSTEM."
Closed or Open System?
It's interesting that Frankl uses the comparison of a "closed system". In Chaos Theory this kind of system is destined to die. For instance, if a cars engine is left running with no outside interference, like changing the oil or gas, eventually that engine will overheat and seize up and die. This is a closed system... It is isolated from the outside world and only supports itself. It has no capacity for change or evolving to suit its environment.
In the same way, there is no part of the human body which can function on its own. If you remove the heart from the body both will die. The same is true for the lungs, the brain, and the kidneys. No part of the body can live for long outside of the body. The body and the parts of that body are dependent upon each other for survival. The heart does not have an ego and claim "Hey, I am the most important organ because I feed blood to the rest of you so that you can survive.” If the organs had egos surely the stomach would chime in and say "wait a minute, heart... If it weren't for me, you wouldn't have a chance because I process food into energy so that you can live". Then, of course, all the organs would be fighting for power and the body would be in chaos and quickly die... along with all the organs.
But the opposite is true in an "open system" where all the parts make up and work for the whole. This is the reason that we interact with each other and the outside world. Through our interaction with one another, growth is stimulated within ourselves and within the group. In a closed system we would retreat from the world, isolate ourselves and meditate. While doing this might bring a certain amount of peace, it does not stimulate growth. We cannot improve ourselves and the world around us in this way because it is too self-serving, and like the car engine, it will only run for so long. But an open system benefits not only the individual, but society and the world.
Frankl talks about "The self-transcendence of human existence". It means that being human is about going beyond the self. He says "The more one forgets himself - by giving himself to a cause to serve, or another person to love - the more human he is and the more he actualizes himself." He goes on to say "What is called self-actualization is not an attainable aim at all, for the simple reason that the more one would strive for it, the more he would miss it. I want to emphasize that last part again "...the more one would strive for it; the more he would miss it". Does this sound familiar to you? WuWei also talks about non-striving, or "non-action". But we'll come back to WuWei in a moment. So what happens when we concentrate on the self instead of on others? Let's take a look at Freud for a moment.
Frankl vs. Freud & This vs. That
Logotherapy may best be explained by comparison with Freudian Therapy. The Freudian view hypothesizes that the gratification of desires is a necessary condition for mental health and happiness. Logotherapy, however (as I've already mentioned), believes that the key to happiness lies in the discovery of the meaning of (your) life, not in the pursuit or gratification of desires. It is through man's discovery of the purpose of his OWN life that he can find meaning in life in the general sense. When man is unable to find purpose or meaning in his own life a void is created. There is a hole there...a vacuum. This is what Frankl calls the "Existential Vacuum". More often than not man tries to fill this vacuum or void with the pleasures of the material world. And this is not just in the extreme cases of drugs, alcohol, and sex... but in the everyday normal activities of human existence... eating, sleeping, entertainment, etc...We can use Chapter 12 of the Tao Te Ching as an example here:
The five colors blind the eye.
The five tones deafen the ear.
The five flavors dull the taste.
Racing and hunting madden the mind.
Precious things lead one astray...
Therefore the sage is guided by what he feels and not by what he sees.
He lets go of that and chooses this.
This chapter illustrates very well the differences between the Freudian and the Frankl points of view. In Freud’s view, man's happiness and mental health is dependent upon attaining the five colors, tones and flavors. While Frankl sees further beyond these things and would rely on Lao Tsu's assertion that "Racing and Hunting" (pursuit of desires) definitely madden the mind. To "let go of that" is to let go of our superficial longing for pleasure. And "to choose this" is to choose true meaning over the gratification of our senses. The paradoxical thing is that once we "let go of that" and choose "this" we often can have both "that" and "this". But now we have the wisdom to have "that" without the attachment to "that". Since we no longer need "that", it then becomes ours. This is kind of like the difference between you owning something and it owning you. In Logotherapy, once a person finds meaning in life, happiness follows of its own accord. There is no need to go after these things. Once again, I'll repeat Frankl’s words from before "...the more one would strive for it, the more he would miss it". The search for pleasure (the five colors, the five tones, the five flavors), the "Racing and Hunting" (for fame, power, and achievement) in Frankl's view is what he defines as "hyper-intention". (To be continued…)