11/13/2024
Welcome to The Speaking Tree, a series dedicated to exploring mental health and wellness. In this first essay, Aaron Pascoe discusses how nurturing our inner selves can play a crucial role in our mental well-being. Just as a sturdy tree offers shade and support, caring for our souls can help us heal and grow. Join Aaron as he examines the concept of soul care and its importance in the journey toward better mental health.
Transforming Psychology: The Power of Soul Care in Healing
Aaron Pascoe, LMHC, RMT
Psychology in the last hundred years has aligned itself more and more with the medical community. In an effort to provide better care, psychology has contorted itself to resemble the hard sciences of biology, chemistry, and medicine. Yet, for all its so-called advances in the last century, our society—and the individuals who make it up—have not seen many profound benefits. In fact, today we talk about the "mental health crisis" as if it just burst into existence, but in truth, this crisis has been an ongoing phenomenon since the 19th century. Psychology is not a medical science; it is a human science.
Around the late 19th century, modern psychology set its primary motivation to establish itself as independent from the philosophy of its time, particularly from deductive and speculative philosophy. It sought to achieve this by aligning itself with natural science, another branch of critical knowledge. However, there exists a position between the natural sciences and the arts—the position of human science—and this is where psychology finds its authentic home.
It is no measure of health to be well adjusted to a profoundly sick society
~ J. Krishnamurti
Even the word "psychology" (from the Greek "psyche") means soul. We can view psychology as soul care, but what implications does this have when we consider psychology as care for the soul? As Thomas Moore states, "Soul is not a thing but a quality or dimension of experiencing life and ourselves. It has to do with depth, value, relatedness, heart, and personal substance." Our intention in any act of caring, whether physical or psychological, is to relieve suffering. Too often, we rush to find a cure without giving proper attention to the symptoms. Attention is key; it engages the soul. It means, first and foremost, listening and looking carefully at what is revealed in the suffering. An intention to heal can sometimes obstruct our ability to see. This attention is homeopathic in its workings rather than allopathic; paradoxically, it befriends a problem rather than making an enemy of it. A Taoist approach may best describe this process: "He/she brings the individual back to what they have lost. He helps the ten thousand things find their own nature but refrains from action."
Yesterday I was clever, so I wanted to change the world. Today I am wise, so I am changing myself.
~ Rumi
In caring for the soul, we emphasize care over cure. Care implies an ongoing process, while cure signifies the end of an ailment or trouble. If you are cured, there is no longer a need to worry about whatever was bothering you. However, care involves a sense of ongoing attention. Conflicts may never be resolved, and personal character styles may not change rapidly; instead, they will undergo periods of transformation and conflict. Perhaps if we viewed psychology from the vantage point of the soul, we would be able to listen differently, care more deeply, and honor the sacred path that each of us walks—with all its pitfalls, vista points, foreboding joys, and ecstatic terrors. Life would become a sacred journey into the mystery of ourselves and the world around us. We would heal through an experiential process that connects us with our own powers of healing, meaning-making, and transcendence. By bringing the soul back into psychology, we care deeply for all aspects of our lives and become active agents of our own change. Through this, we begin to change the world around us and understand the sacred links that tie our humanity together.
If we can really understand the problem, the answer will come out of it, because the answer is not separate from the problem.
~ J. Krishnamurti
The Greeks told a story of the Minotaur, the bull-headed flesh-eating man who lived in the center of the labyrinth. A threatening beast, whose name was Asterion, which means "Star." I often reflect on this story both in my own life and when I sit with someone searching for a way to cope with death, divorce, trauma, or depression. These challenges can be likened to a beast, stirring at the core of our being, but they also represent the star of our innermost nature. We must care for this suffering with extreme reverence so that, in our fear and anger toward the beast, we do not overlook the star. When we employ psychology with its processes and methods from a soul-centered approach, we can, through care, engage in a curative process that extracts our most sacred and powerful self-healing capacities.
To schedule an initial consultation with Aaron Pascoe and explore how his services can support your well-being, please call the clinic at (253) 503-8792. Aaron is currently accepting new clients and sees individuals Monday through Wednesday. While we provide a detailed Superbill for your convenience, please note that insurance billing is not available for therapy and coaching visits.
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