Publisher's Synopsis
It Is entirely possible to verify for oneself that we are part of a caring and intelligible universe. The verification is a kind of proof since it is a way of understanding that is based upon a realization that our mind constantly communicates with us and for our benefit. The communications from the mind are as profound as they are utterly appropriate to our circumstance, for while the scope of the mind is pervasive, its precision is always directed to what is personally significant. l We will demonstrate that our choice of goals, the problems we face, the daydreams or fantasies we have and the dreams that visit us in our sleep--each and every one of them are like doorways into the richest source of insights into our life. What we discover through these insights is that the mind itself provides ample evidence of its own goodness and intelligibility.A demonstration of these claims is essential, the grounds for verification must be clear, and the understanding that leads to the realization that the mind is beneficent and intelligible will be set out clearly. Therefore, we will demonstrate that the problems we have we should have, that their solution is in our highest interest and with the freedom from these problems we can function on a higher and more personally significant level of existence. We will define the nature of man's problems in a new way and describe what these problems are like; we will trace their origins to things we learned and discover why we believed and accepted them as true. We have identified and called the pathologos those false beliefs that are the source of a certain class of our problems because these beliefs are "sick" or false. Thus, a pathologos is a false belief, one that has been learned but not taught. It is a belief that has been accepted as true about oneself and one's reality, and since it is irreconcilable with the attainment of one's highest goals, it is the cause of much of the chaos experienced in our life. Philosophical Midwifery is the method for discovering the nature, origin, maintenance, transmission and dissolution of the pathologos. As part of our work, we set out to verify whether or not this philosophical method correlates with its implementation and follows the specified method of its dialectic. Also, to determine whether PMW uncovers false beliefs or the pathologos said to be the root cause of problems and whether supporting themes of the pathologos are contributing causes of problems both in regard to themselves and as they interrelate with other supporting themes. Also, to determine whether PMW surfaces psychological states and affective or emotionalized behavior as predicted. Further, to determine whether or not the supporting themes of the pathologos are found to have affective content, then the scores found with the supporting themes will be compared with those measuring the emotionalized behavior of the whole dialogue. And then to determine the basis upon which PMW prescribes and evaluates its dialogue sessionsOur conclusion to our validation study was found to reject the long-standing belief held in psychology that a purely rational psychotherapy or a purely rational cognitive method in principle is incapable of raising significant levels of emotionalized behavior and of being empirically verified. We included chapters that presented two case studies, a comparative study of the dialectic, a relationship of PMW with the Platonic tradition and the evolution of consciousness, the pathologos likeness to recursive algorithms and chaos theory, finding a model of the pathologos in field theory and its function in daydreams. A chapter is devoted to comparing PMW with the theories of present-day psychotherapies and recognized cognitive therapies.
