Hallo, This is Prof. Bin Song at Washington College.

As explained since the first unit of the course, one distinction of philosophical therapy, distinct from other types of therapeutic methods in mental health, is its emphasis upon free thought and autonomy. It believes most of issues of mental health start from fallacious thinking habits in our mind, then get translated into varying negative emotions, and eventually, embodied in one’s self-defeating behaviors. Therefore, in order to live a good and flourished human life, we need to work up ourselves starting from our mind, viz., from how we think.

Once again, the fallacy that this unit intends to deal with, the so-called one of can’stipation, confirms the magnificent significance of free thought for human beings. For instance, a young wife may say that she cannot help feeling angry when her in-law intrudes her home for an uninvited lunch; however, she may not say that she cannot even think of an alternative situation where she could have a constructive conversation with her in-law with a relatively calm mood. Similarly, a son under a constant verbal abuse of his father may say that he cannot help keeping silent whenever the abuse happens because he does not want to look bad to his father and other family members; but he may not say that he cannot even think of an alternative behavior through which he could speak up to his father in a rectifying and respectful way so as to change the self-defeating dynamic in his family. In all these and other similar instances, the concerned human beings may say that they cannot help feeling in a certain way (which is the fallacy of emotional can’stipation), behaving in a certain way (viz., behavioral can’stipation), or it may be the case that they say they cannot put up with a certain distressed situation so as to refuse to do anything about it (viz., volitional can’stipation). Nevertheless, in all these three different types of can’stipation, what our human fellows may not say is that they cannot even think of a certain alternative way of living, which, if carefully studied and cultivated, can lead to a brighter path to overcome their varying can’stipations, and hence, contribute positively to their wanted way of human living.

In other words, we may think it impossible to change a certain reactional pattern of our emotion, behavior, and volition to the world; however, under a deeper thought, we find that this impossibility is actually merely about the reality that we have presumed is predetermined in a certain way. Quite contrary to this presumption, if we close our eyes, remain silent, and start to freely employ our thought in our mind, we will find that whenever this impossibility is presented to our thought, we are able to start to think of an entirely alternative picture of the reality where it is OK for the presumably impossible thing to happen. One further instance we can give here is that if you are overwhelmed by the stress that you shall go through in an impending important examination, it is totally Ok for you to just sit down, take a breath, and think that due to the diligent work you invested in the process, you have already passed the examination and even started to celebrate it with your family and friends. And the beautiful thing in all these mentioned situations of human life is that there is literally nothing to preclude us from thinking of an alternative.

The use of free will to think alternatively has been documented in the history of philosophy for quite a long time. When Socrates says unexamined human life is not worth living, he means that without a careful consideration of alternatives, any chosen way of living, no matter how good it seems to be, cannot be sincerely pursued. Because only a democracy affords its citizens this opportunity of weighing in alternatives in order to live a sincerely desirable human life, Socrates would rather die for it, instead of fleeing Athens and living a wandering, safe, yet under-human life. In modern philosophy, Descartes answers the question in what sense he exists as a human being in the most striking and impactful way: he exists solely in so far as he thinks; and whenever he stops thinking, he stops being. In the first Meditation which is infused with a lavishly skeptical mode of thinking, Descartes doubts whether any object in the world can exist at all. For instance, our perception of the big tree before our eyes may be false, the hands using which we type words into the computer may just appear to be moving in a dream, and even our mathematical knowledge may be wrong since we may live in a world of simulation where things are coded in a way contrary to realities. However, after considering all these alternative perceptions of the world, Descartes concludes that the only thing he cannot doubt is the fact that he is doubting itself, and hence, he concludes: “I think, therefore I am.” In my view, there is really no more striking example than Descartes’s Meditations to indicate the principal discipline of philosophy as freely thinking of alternatives.

This discipline of thinking alternatively does not only prevail in western philosophy, non-western philosophies such as Confucianism also believes the change of thought constitutes the seminal seed for all needed changes in one’s life. Please just read how the classical Confucian philosopher, Xunzi, depicts the freely thinking ability of human consciousness, which is termed as “heartmind” (心, xin):

“The heartmind is the lord of the body and the master of one’s spirit and intelligence. It issues orders, but it takes orders from nothing: it restrains itself, it employs itself; it lets itself go, it takes in whatever it wants; it makes itself proceed, it makes itself stop. Thus, the mouth can be compelled either to be silent or to speak, and the body can be compelled either to contract or to extend, but the heartmind cannot be compelled to change its thoughts. What it considers right, one accepts. What it considers wrong, one rejects. And so I say: there is no restraint for the heartmind to make a choice among what it perceives; its attitude towards objects would always emerge by itself so that although objects of thought are varying, these objects appear to the heartmind without any duplicity.” (Xunzi, Chapter 21, adapted from the translation of Eric Hutton)

In other words, for Confucian thinkers such as Xunzi, it may be out of human control for objects and affairs in the world to be present in one’s life or not, but it is entirely up to the heartmind to assess and think of these objects in its own way.

All these mentioned western and non-western philosophies convey a crucial message for anyone who may think they cannot control their emotions and behaviors, and the message is: a good human life starts from a good habit of thinking; more importantly, it is an undeniable evidence for the transformability of human life that thank goodness, we human beings retain our full freedom on choosing how to think. We can choose to think rationally, which means to base our thinking on evidential and logical reasoning just as we have practiced it so many times in this course; or we can remain to think irrationally, which is quite often the deep root of varying self-defeating lifestyles and habits.

After we have the right of way of thinking intended by the practice of philosophical therapy, what remains to do is to learn “techniques” to transform these right thinking into the right emotions, and furthermore, into the right behaviors. The entire process would not be quite different from how we use those obvious everyday technologies such as cars, airplanes, refrigerators, computers, etc. In other words, existing laws of causality in the world indicate a highly probable sequence of events in the form of cause and effect; if human mind intends for certain effects to take place in order to fulfill certain human needs, then, humans would create technologies to make use of the causal sequence so as to produce or change causes to engender the intended effects. Similarly, in the area of philosophical therapy, once we make sure what is the right way of thinking, we will use all available knowledge revealed by varying human, social and natural sciences to utilize the causal sequences prevalent in human life, and hence, practice the right causes to eventually produce the intended effects. The process is truly “artistic” with a unique emphasis that now, as an artist of living (which is almost synonymous to the term “philosophical therapist”), we apply these living techniques upon ourselves so that we treat our own life as a continually perfectible artwork. 

In the assigned chapter on can’stipation, the author mentioned many “techniques” for the practice of philosophical therapy. For instance, we know that thoughts alone cannot be easily transformed into desirable emotions; however, we can utilize one emotion that is approved by the reason to counteract another undesirable one so as to eventually transform the latter. Also, behaviors can change our mood to a great extent, and thus, practices such as “shame attacking” would force our emotions to change as a consequence. By the same token, I also encourage philosophical therapists to learn broadly those empirical knowledge gathered by disciplines such as psychology, sociology, and neurosciences in order that we can find the needed techniques to transform clients’ behaviors. Besides, varying world philosophical and religious traditions also accumulated an amount of knowledge and techniques for the sake of human transformation. In the following, I will briefly enumerate four “techniques” of good human living that are consistently practiced by Ru scholars throughout the long tradition of Confucianism in East Asia.

• Firstly, Meditation.  Similar to many spiritual traditions in human history, Confucianism develops its unique style of meditation called “quiet-sitting (静坐, jingzuo).” To practice this Confucian style of meditative quiet-sitting, we do not need to go to temples, churches or monasteries to double-cross our legs for a prolonged period of isolation. We can just choose whatever chair, stool, or any place to sit on, and then, straighten without stiffing our back, put our hands on the knees, and concentrate upon our breath. The greatest benefit philosophical therapists can get from practicing meditation as such is to create a space between thought and its connection to a certain pattern of emotions and behaviors. It is like cutting off temporarily the energy circuit of thought, emotion and behavior hardwired in our everyday life; obviously, for the sake of defeating self-defeating lifestyles, this deconstructive process of meditative reflection would be the condition for any intended reconstruction of one’s everyday life.
• Secondly, “nourishing vital-energies (养气, yangqi).” The transformation of human life clearly needs energy. In the term of Confucian philosophy, the entire universe comprises an all-pervading field of vital-energies, and the well-functioning of human life in all its aspects will rest upon how much vital-energies are constantly restored and replenished within human body. Therefore, to cultivate a good human life, the Ru tradition since the time of Confucius, Mencius and Xuzni develops varying methods of “nourishing one’s vital-energies” such as healthy diet, somnology, and meditative breathing. As being quite distinct from some other contemplative traditions in East Asia, Confucianism emphasizes the significance of daily moral practice for nourishing one’s vital-energies. The idea is that if one is constantly dedicated to doing good, they will muster a great sense of moral self-confidence, and thus, their vital-energies would not be hurt by inappropriate behaviors. Eventually, their abundant life energies will radiate into the surrounding environment in the form of transformative impacts and influences.
• Thirdly, “investigation of things (格物, gewu).” According to the eight steps of the Confucian program of self-cultivation elaborated by the text of Great Learning, everything good happening to human life starts from a comprehensive and thorough “investigation of things” by human heartmind. This investigation of things will try to find the way to harmonize varying interests of all involved beings, and thus, create the path of individual activities that would encounter the least resistance so that an ideal status of co-thriving can be created in evolving situations. More specifically, “investigation of things” includes approaches such as reading books, learning with exemplary humans, having dialogues with people, and also, practicing one’s knowledge in real life situations. All together, “investigation of things” will hardwire human mind in the right way so that expected outcomes of emotions and behaviors will follow en suite.
• Fourthly, “Discussion and Practice (讲习，jiangxi).” The Classic of Rites once described that if one always studies alone without friends to learn together, then, their learning will remain shallow and ignorant. Therefore, in the Confucian tradition, it is an utterly important practice for students to find their companions so as to “discuss and practice” what they have learned. For the sake of philosophical therapy, this communal dimension is particularly important since different from the normally one-to-one type of psychotherapy, students can learn, discuss and practice varying philosophies in classrooms and study-groups. If all connected people strive for good human living in reliance upon their own initiative and mutual support, it would not be difficult for an individual in this environment to keep being uplifted by the synergy.

So, in a word, free thinking is the graceful endowment of the universe upon human being, which proves transformation as an utterly probable human achievement. While learning and practicing broadly varying techniques of good human living from different disciplines and traditions, humans can truly become their own masters of life, and then, grow into a specific kind of artist, an artist of good human living.

Quiz:
1, Which of the following belongs to the types of fallacy termed by philosophical therapy as “con’stipation”?

A, emotional con’stipation
B, behavioral con’stipation
C, volitional con’stipation

2, Socrates’s view “unexamined life is not worth living” advocates to investigate alternative ways of living in order to live a sincerely desirable life. Is this statement true or false?

3, In the practice of philosophical therapy, therapists take human life itself as an artwork, and use rational thinking and all techniques of good human living to perfect it. Is this statement true or false?

4, which of the following belongs to the arts of living practiced by the tradition of Confucianism?

A, meditation
B, nourish ones’ vital energies
C, investigation of things
D, discussion and practice.

5, “When you are in an emotional tizzy, change the focus of your consciousness to a different, less contentious object.” What kind of philosophy does this technique represent?

A, Husserl’s phenomenology.
B, Kant’s deontology.
C, Hume’s empiricism.

6, “The will to overcome an emotion, is ultimately only the will of another, or of several other, emotions.” Which philosopher’s view does this quote represent?

A, Nietzsche
B, Socrates
C, Confucius.