Page 45 - NAMAH-Jan-2018

Namah Notes on counselling

It was then that the therapist presented him have an experiential contact with the Soul
with the concept of freedom that was relevant that alone can impart the value of Oneness.
both for his personal well-being and for his It is not possible for the mass to achieve
world-view. that state.

At the personal level, he had a choice. He However, what can be reasonably done
could go on ruminating on the glories of a is that the mass can be presented with a
bygone revolution and remain depressed. freedom to choose from many alternative
Or else, he was free to pursue an alternative pathways to develop themselves. They
paradigm of social equality that could even be should have the freedom of education, of
poised on a spiritual foundation that eulogised healthy living, of partaking in any social
the Oneness of the Spirit. He could then responsibility, even participating in any
have the freedom to expand the spiritual investment portfolio. Anything enforced as
perspective for his own psychological well- a law or rule does not work but if presented
being. Of course, he still would have the as a free choice can be heartily accepted.
freedom to negate everything and opt for Any programme of social equality is
nihilistic thinking. more likely to succeed if opportunities are
presented as a free choice.
At the level of the world-view, it would be
more prudent for votaries of social equality Freedom is the language of the Spirit. This is
to accept Sri Aurobindo’s contention that, important in psychotherapy too. In case of
though an absolute equality was a chimera, patients who undergo regular renal dialysis
a fundamental equality was possible and and concomitantly harbour suicidal thoughts,
worth pursuing. “Certainly, absolute equality there is relief once they are told that they have
is non-existent in this world…Under a the freedom of choice of non-compliance.
just social order, there must be an equal That if they wished, they were free to absent
opportunity, an equal training for all to themselves from the dialysis programme.
develop their faculties and to use them, This freedom of choice immediately relieves
and, so far as may be, an equal share in the burden of the great dependence that they
the advantages of the aggregate life as the have on the dialysis programme and actually
right of all who contribute to the existence, enhances compliance.
vigour and development of that life by the
use of their capacities (3).” In the case of our client, the freedom of
choice in choosing an alternative narrative for
No efforts of the State to enforce social social equality relieved an existential
equality succeed. There is a psychological anguish that in turn helped him to recover
twist: the human nature opts for inequality. from his depression. It also imparted a
This is because the ego that rules is itself spiritual perspective resulting in a growth
skewed in its functioning and facilitates in consciousness. A consciousness-based
inequality. Oneness is an attribute of the counselling deals with different clients
soul that surpasses the ego. It requires a at different levels of consciousness. Our
yogic endeavour to surpass the ego and client was a bachelor and had he been

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