arts & ideas IN THIS SECTION: David Tresemer already described the initiative for anthroposophic psychology; now he shows its helping power. Tom Altgelt extends the holistic weaving with parallel development of plants and humans. To know and be known: Patricia Rubano tells us how “biography work and social art” meets this real human need. Martin Large, a social activist from the UK who toured last November, reports what he saw and heard from uneasy Americans. Words about Lois Schroff’s paintings in the gallery are blessedly unnecessary! For Neill Reilly biography and the life of the mind intersected with one great professor named Fritz Koelln.
22 • being human
Pathos and Spiritus by David Tresemer, PhD A chapter from The Counselor …. As If Soul and Spirit Matter, published by SteinerBooks
The Diverse Needs for Counseling: Response to Pathos Counselors need to be aware of the full spectrum of needs, even if they can’t serve every situation. We can picture the wide range of human problems, concerns, and ailments along a dimension of pathology—from -ology, or logos (pattern), of pathos (passion, suffering, the human drama): pattern of suffering. We are all entangled in the pathos of life to some extent or another. Too much pathos makes us dysfunctional; too little means we are not prodded to grow. A counselor joins in another’s pathos through em-pathy. Antipathy means that the counselor feels revulsion for the client’s pathos—thus anti (against) pathy (pathos); a reaction of rejection has been triggered in the counselor that the counselor should explore. Sympathy means that the counselor identifies with the pathos of the client; the counselor loses his or her Self. Empathy means that the counselor understands through resonance what the client is going through, as on a parallel track, yet does not drown in it along with the client. In every case, the counselor observes and feels the client’s pathos, with empathy the healthiest approach. The pathos of human experience can range from little to large, creating a kind of Pathos Scale:
The popular Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (DSM, version IV, Axis V) features a parallel scale that it calls the GAF, for Global Assessment of Functioning: High on the Pathos Scale means low functioning. The DSM-5 uses the World Health Organization (WHO) Disability Assessment Schedule 2.0. These continua are bumpy and not smooth, just like pathos, just like life. The writhing knots of pathos grind their constrained and painful cycles over and over in our lives. We respond to pathos with maturity, with pathology, or with both. For counseling, we can observe a series of situations escalating along the continuum of a Pathos Scale, understood by the way the human being responds to pathos:
This is obviously simplified, yet helps us understand the continuum of pathos. At the left end, at little pathos, people have no problems, and do not seek counseling; they simply live their lives. Those who have simple problems seek mentoring from friends and relatives; an aunt or uncle becomes a helpful mentor; a helpful piece of advice keeps them going for a long time. Those who have more problems (higher on the Pathos Scale) seek to work with those nagging issues through personal growth, motivational workshops, trainings of all sorts, ropes-courses, self-help books, and life-coaching. These