A little before Christmas, Andrew Copson and Alice Roberts, Chief Executive and President of Humanists UK respectively, hosted an online discussion following the publication of The Little Book of Humanism, published by Humanists UK in 2020. I was very glad to be able to participate in this discussion and to raise a question relating to …
Understanding Pain
“....the will is the string, its frustration or impediment the vibration of the string, knowledge the sounding-board, and pain the sound.” ‘On the Suffering of the World’ Arthur Schopenhauer Introduction From the time of René Descartes in the mid-seventeenth century, western science and medicine have been greatly influenced by ‘dualistic' theories of pain (that is, …
Socratic Method
As legacies go, Socrates has left us a very big one. Nowhere is this more pronounced than in clinical psychology. Socratic reasoning goes to the heart of cognitive-behavioural therapy as even the greenest therapist knows. What is striking by its absence, however, is an appreciation amongst many therapists of the fact that Socrates was not …
‘Story’s End’ (for RC)
Thank you, thank you, and thank you again. Thank you for your mischievous smile and for the quiet rage that my own father lacked. You taught me the meaning of injustice, a hatred of apartheid, of sexism, the Poll Tax. Always the adult who delighted when I entered the room, you already knew I had …
Audio – How can we help ourselves….
How can we help ourselves when we’re struggling and there are no simple answers?
Whatever is going on right now... What’s happening? Give yourself a moment to acknowledge that you’re struggling right now. See if you can notice what you’re feeling in your body; any tightness or breath-holding. Are you aware of any particular thoughts and feelings about the current situation? Maybe some of these are familiar to …
Continue reading "How can we help ourselves when we’re struggling and there are no simple answers?"
The Metaphysics of Mindfulness
The Metaphysics of Mindfulness - a response to the Sahanika Ratnayake’s article, The Problem of Mindfulness (Aeon - 25th July 2019) by Neill Bartlett In her article entitled The Problem of Mindfulness, Sahanika Ratnayake makes some observations and criticisms of mindfulness practices and, importantly, of the claims made for mindfulness by some of its teachers. …
