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Hegel and the look behind the curtain · Gabriel Ellis, PhD | The Curious Mind Podcast

• 0:02
  Hello everyone, and welcome to another episode of the Curious
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  Mind podcast. My name is Gabriel Ellis.
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  I'm a psychotherapist and a consciousness researcher and in
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  this episode I want to elucidate more the approach of Hegel, the
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  philosopher and philosopher of consciousness, and his
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  contributions that can lead to a deeper understanding of the
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  psychotherapeutic process. I want to start with a condensed
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  quote. It's not like that in the
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  original, but his sentences are too long, so here I want to
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  condense it in its meaning. It's a the beginning of his
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  so-called Encyclopedia of the Philosophy and the quote goes as
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  follows. He writes there certain
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  feelings, images, thoughts and body perceptions can be viewed
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  as metaphors for abstract, deep content of the mind.
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  Let me repeat it again and to repeat again, this is in my
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  words. But it's basically the content
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  of the paragraph that he writes. Certain feelings or specific
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  feelings, images, thoughts and body perceptions can be viewed
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  as metaphors for abstract, deep content of the mind.
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  Which means that in everyday life, the impressions that we
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  have in our consciousness, the content on our of our
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  consciousness, usually doesn't come with the revelation of its
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  meaning. For Hegel, the same content can
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  show itself in different forms and feelings, thoughts, images
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  and so on. And we as the perceivers, the
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  experiences of all those sense impressions, we are tempted to
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  see different contents there. When we have a feeling and we
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  have a thought, we tend to interpret the two as completely
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  different, where in fact they could represent the same
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  content, the same meaning. And Hegel for him it's it is
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  important to emphasize that the content is that is the same and
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  that we shouldn't be misled by the different expressions of
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  this content. Yet on the other hand, in my
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  clinical practice, the form in which the content appears is
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  extremely different. It is a big difference if
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  someone has mainly the mode of experiencing feelings, or if
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  someone has the mode of experiencing thoughts or images
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  or fantasies or memories, and so on and so on.
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  Let's take the example of stress and for the sake of simplicity,
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  let's assume that people have mainly one mode of experiencing
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  stress. There would be one person that
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  experiences physic stress as mainly physical symptoms, for
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  example as fatigue. A second person would experience
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  stress mainly as emotional symptoms, for example
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  helplessness. A third person would experience
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  stress as needs, for example the need of running away or going on
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  vacation. And the 4th person would
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  experience stress mainly as thinking, for example, and many
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  thoughts of how to solve a specific issue, a problem that
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  they attribute as to as the source of the experienced
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  stress. Here I think Hegel is right.
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  The same content, the same stress, manifests inside the
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  mind and then shows itself, expresses itself in those four
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  different people in different forms.
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  But essentially it is the same content.
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  There is a big difference in the clinical practice as I already
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  mentioned, and here I want to express and to describe a little
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  bit more what I mean with that. Let's say someone as the first
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  simplified person that I mentioned, someone experiences
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  the stress mainly as physical symptoms, for example blood
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  pressure or insomnia, heart issues, fatigue.
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  The problem here that the body is a tardy sluggish system,
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  which means the body takes a long time relatively to manifest
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  the stress as a physical symptom.
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  And above all it takes a long time for us to get rid of
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  physical symptoms, physiological symptoms of stress.
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  So here we have already a limitation in the clinical
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  everyday life, which means if there is a client who comes with
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  strong physiological symptoms, then I can already let them know
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  in the first session. Basically that it will take
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  longer to get rid of those symptoms.
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  Then someone who comes with symptoms that manifest mainly as
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  feelings or thoughts because the body is a sluggish tardy system.
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  There's another issue that comes with the expression of symptoms
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  in the physiological or bodily form, which is that the body is
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  for us usually far away from understanding meaning.
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  Physiological symptoms do not exactly tell us what caused the
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  stress. Let's say in the beginning when
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  I prepare myself for work and I leave the house, my symptoms
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  already start. My stress symptoms start, I feel
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  tired, I feel exhausted. Maybe I have heart racing, maybe
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  fatigue, maybe I'm blacked out. All of those physiological
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  symptoms. So obviously my stress then is
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  work related, but beyond that, what do my physiological
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  symptoms tell me? Do they tell me if the stress is
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  caused by the overall atmosphere at work?
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  Is it because of how my office is shaped?
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  Is it because of my limited career options?
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  Is it because of a particular Co worker or boss that I have if I
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  have nothing else to go with? If the only thing that I have is
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  my physiological symptoms, then I'm left quite clueless about
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  what caused the symptoms and obviously I'm then also quite
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  clueless about how to resolve the issue other than stopping
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  work. I guess there's also the this
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  issue of intransparency of the physiological symptoms.
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  There's also when we go to the doctor and they ask us if I have
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  headache, if I have digestion issues and they ask us if I have
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  had experienced stress lately. Yes, most of us experienced
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  stress. Usually when I go to a
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  specialist I would like to hear a little bit more than just this
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  vague illusion that stress can be connected with that because
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  it isn't transparent to me the physiological aspect of stress.
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  It is also difficult for partners and people that I live
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  with, family members, etcetera, if I suffer from physiological
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  symptoms of stress, be it in my headache or digestion issues,
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  and they suffer from that because we cannot make plans for
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  the evening, for the weekend, etcetera.
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  It could always occur that my stress flares up, my stress
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  symptoms flare up and then not only me, not only I am affected,
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  but also they are affected in their planning, in the
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  possibilities to support me and the possibilities to understand
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  me or to plan the future. So also here the expression of
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  stress mainly physiologically in a psychosomatic way is quite
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  problematic. A big difference is if the same
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  content expresses itself mentally, for example as unmet
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  needs. This is much easier to deal
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  with, because then I get clear indications about what causes
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  the stress and also how to get rid of it.
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  Because if I have the need, for example to go on vacation, to
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  relax more, to experience some adventure and so forth, then
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  already the content of my mind gives me very clear indications
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  of maybe what I have to change or reduce in order to reduce the
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  load of stress that I experience or how I can resolve it or at
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  least compensate for it. And obviously this is also much
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  more productive in communication.
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  The same case I suffer from my stress symptoms.
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  They express themselves this time not physiologically and
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  psychosomatically, but mentally and the on the path of me
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  understanding my unmet needs. Obviously I can communicate much
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  better to my partner what I need, what can be done.
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  My partner can communicate much better in how far, that's how
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  far she is willing to support me in that or I should do it alone.
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  So also for communication this is much more productive if I am
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  so wired that the same stress expresses itself in on the
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  mental pathway in the mental mode register in form of needs,
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  thoughts about needs and so forth.
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  The problem with needs is if I don't have the willingness to
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  pursue a satisfaction of my needs.
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  This is something that I discussed in previous podcast
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  episodes. To give you an example, If, for
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  example, I have the need for variety or adventure in my life,
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  it could be that this expression of from the unconscious, the
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  expression of my need itself, is misleading.
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  Because in the background there could be a problem of self
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  esteem lurking, or a problem of a lack of meaning and purpose in
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  life, or a problem of loneliness, A problem in my
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  partnership, my relationship. So it could be that the
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  manifestation of the problem as a specific unmet need is
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  misleading. And as if it is not so easy for
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  individuals to distinguish if the expression of the need is
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  genuine and truthful, or if there is something behind that
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  that I should take care of. In practice, we need people with
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  experience and intuition to help us sort out which case it is.
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  If my expression of needs is genuine or not, This can be done
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  with good friends. If they are kind of intuitive
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  and smart and guiding us through this process, very few people
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  can do it on their own, or with the help of books or meditation,
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  for example. In many cases, therapy with
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  someone who has experience and with whom you can explore
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  whether a need appears to be authentic in its manifestation
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  or not, is necessary to guide you safely through this process
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  of understanding what is what good.
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  Let us go back to the starting point.
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  How does it make sense that for Hegel, who was such a gifted
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  philosopher of consciousness and a proto psychologist, if you
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  like, how does it make sense that for Hegel the content is
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  crucial and not the form meaning that it's not so important if
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  the content expresses itself in feelings or images or thoughts
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  that these expression is negligible?
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  Well, this is because obviously the special content, or let's
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  say in my case the special content needs attention.
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  The form the expression needs attention.
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  For Hegel, the reason why he emphasizes the content so much
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  and not the specific form, the specific feeling or thought.
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  He expresses that in another quote that I want to give, that
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  I again condensed. The quote goes as follows.
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  Self knowledge has all the less value the more it degenerates
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  into complacent ruminations of the individual in their precious
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  oddities. Let me repeat that again.
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  Self knowledge has all the less value the more it degenerates
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  into complacent ruminations of the individual in their precious
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  oddities. Which means that for Hegel and
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  hears, he says that explicitly self knowledge as navel gazing
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  as expressions of the very specific me, me, me and how I
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  feel and experience right now is completely misguided.
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  For him, self knowledge is valuable then when it reveals
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  general insights about the human mind.
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  The relevance in my clinical work is this.
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  People come with their specific problems.
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  They can be emotional, for example, they suffer from
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  feelings of loneliness or worthlessness, or they come with
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  very specific problems in their relationships or in the family,
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  or they have specific problems at work.
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  Then for my clinical work, it is an important, very important
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  first step to work out with them how their specific problems
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  actually lie in the fact of the human mind and how it works.
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  The foundation of that, the background of that approach is
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  that we come into existence with the human mind.
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  The human mind is a complex machine.
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  We navigate life using this machine without having an
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  instruction manual and part. In my experience, a valuable
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  part of the therapeutic work is to provide part of that
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  instruction manual, so that people don't only get a hack or
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  tool for the specific expression of the issue in that specific
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  point in time, but that they are guarded by a much more much
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  deeper understanding of the human mind, which problems it
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  tends to generate, and how to circumvent, avoid or solve these
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  issues. Whether it's a general knowledge
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  about how the mind works, how the unconscious works, or how
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  communication works, for example, in intimate
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  relationships, when there is more clarity in general about
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  the construction of the mind, the construction of the
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  unconscious, the construction of communication, the next step
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  derives much more clearly and automatically.
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  For example, when I have an issue in communication, in my
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  relationship and through the therapeutic work, people
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  understand that, for example, when people are emotional that
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  the mind gets narrow and through the narrows narrowness of their
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  mind they easily feel attacked, lash out.
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  A direct consequence is that, for example, if I encounter a
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  difficult conversation topic with my partner, that I prepare
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  myself and I prepare her to get into a mindset of openness and
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  non judgement and listening, hearing each other out, putting
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  myself into the other shoes. There are different techniques
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  for that in order to prevent a situation in which the mind,
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  because it is constructed as it is, to avoid a situation in
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  which the mind becomes too narrow and then develops
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  emotions. That makes it almost impossible
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  to listen in the particular situation in the particular
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  argument. So this is the application for
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  me in the clinical practice. One of the other fundamental
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  insights that derives explicitly from Hegel's understanding that
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  the content might be the same but expresses itself in
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  different forms, for example, thoughts, feelings or images, is
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  to avoid the misunderstanding that, for example, people who
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  don't feel many emotions are in fact unemotional.
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  What it means is that let's say someone is very intellectual,
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  brainy or whatever, and they don't process their lives.
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  They don't process situations much in the register of feelings
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  that might lead their friends, partners, or whoever to the
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  misleading interpretation that these people are not emotional.
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  No, the truth is that they actually experience the very
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  same thing that leads me to react emotionally.
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  So they have something like an emotional processing, but it
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  does not surface to their conscious level, which means
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  that I I'm wrong. If I'm belittling their apparent
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  lack of emotions, I treat them as someone who has emotions and
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  I work out with them. For example.
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  Also, in the therapy I work out with with them what the
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  unconscious emotional processes are that express themselves more
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  on the level of thoughts, fantasies, needs and so on.
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  On the other hand, is exactly or the contrast exactly the same.
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  There are people who process emotionally, and they might that
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  might lead to the misunderstanding from the
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  surrounding, from their friends, partners, families, and so on,
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  that there is no logic behind their processing, but there's no
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  logic behind their feelings that they're completely irrational.
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  Also, this is completely untrue. With clarification,
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  investigation in the therapeutic process and trustful
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  conversations, it appears we will work out how under or
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  behind those apparent expressions of feelings there is
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  a strict logic. There is, there are ideas,
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  convictions, thoughts, hopes, expectations.
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  All this rich mental life in different registers than the
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  register of feelings that is driving and expressing itself as
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  feelings. And while feelings can be worked
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  on in a certain way, we are basically lot blocked from
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  working on those different registers.
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  Someone who experiences feelings, we can we might just
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  as well work on their hopes, on their convictions, on their
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  thoughts, and so on, knowing that they will affect the
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  content that is in the core of things, and as a consequence
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  will affect their feelings too. And here we need philosophers of
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  the mind, philosophers of consciousness, just as Hegel
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  was. And I think it shows how
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  essential it is for practicing psychotherapists to deal with
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  those foundations, foundations of consciousness, with these
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  foundations of the mind. And it is, I think, a problem if
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  contemporary therapists reduce themselves to learn therapeutic
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  techniques without going into the weeds, without dealing with
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  those complex manual manuals, so to speak, for the mind in order
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  in the clinical work to be able to address very diverse, very
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  complex issues with which our clients and patients come to us
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  in the hope that we can support them in their journey.
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  Thank you for your attention. Let me know if you have comments
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  or questions to this topic and I hope to see you next time.