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tijdschriftpersoonsgerichte
experiëntiële
psychotherapie
Process-oriented
Existential
Interactional
Integrative

Why do people want to have a soul?

REFLECTIONSnijder, Annemarie - 45–3 (2007)

SUMMARY

By asking the question: ‘Why do people want to have a soul?’ this article approaches the problem of the temporality and contingency of our earthly dwelling.
Also, it wonders if there is room for concepts like spirituality in client-centered experiential psychotherapy, and if so, how would we want to define such a notion? I suggest that we think of spirituality as a thoughtful love; for life, and for the other.
In my article I put forward a horizontal transcendence in which we do not search for a supreme being to connect our souls to, but rather look in the direction of a deep contact with our fellow human beings and the world around us. As far as therapy is concerned we can connect this notion with the concepts of transparency of the therapist and a trusting openness of the client.

KEYWORDS

horizontal transcendence, spirituality as thoughtful love

The tPeP (Journal Person-centered experiential Psychotherapy) is the scientific journal for Dutch and Flemish psychotherapists, psychologists, and psychiatrists, that work from, or are interested in a client-centered perspective.