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jasonross@untwisted.co.za
UNTWISTED: Embracing the totality of expereince.

On the Marginalising practices of Psychology

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Existentialism & Psychotherapy, , What is therapy?
Interviewer:    Do you think that if you had paid for the train your life would have been entirely different?” JG:                      Listen, do you believe in God? Interviewer:    Sometimes. JG:                      Well, ask him.  Ask him if my life would have changed – I don’t know.   The psychological consultation can easily take the form of this…
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Renewal 2024

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What is therapy?
Dear Clients [current & future],   As we enter into a “new year”, a renewal, I would like to revisit what it is that therapy is, perhaps, about.  The word “renewal” does not only imply to “make new”, or to “begin again”, but also to simply resume: to go on.  Much of therapy is about…
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The Myth of Addiction

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Existentialism & Psychotherapy
A practical application of Existential Phenomenology to human cravings in developing a Contemplative Existential Therapy. September 2023, by Jason Ross (MA Counselling Psychology, PhD student GCAS). What if, what we are in the habit of calling “addiction” is not a break down in personal ethics, not so much an issue of being “out of control”,…
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On being “no-thing-ness” (Day 3/5)

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5day Emoyeni Retreat 2023, Buddhism, Existentialism & Psychotherapy, , Secular Buddhism & Existential Therapy, What is therapy?
The Psychology of meditation Ultimately, through a meditative approach to analysis, we are hoping for a different kind of insight. We are hoping for something more felt and instantaneous in consciousness, something that words can only try and make room for but that cannot be found in words themselves, but in the pauses between them.…
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On being “no-thing-ness” (Day2/5)

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5day Emoyeni Retreat 2023, Buddhism, Existentialism & Psychotherapy, , Secular Buddhism & Existential Therapy, What is therapy?
An existential Buddhist analysis of the self as the “struggle to exist” Day 1: The Phenomenology of Consciousness as Sunyata For Sartre, consciousness is a lack. To understand consciousness is to understand lack. It is a “lack” because consciousness is only ever consciousness of some “thing”. Consciousness, in itself, is empty. It is from an…
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On being “no-thing-ness” (Day 1/5)

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5day Emoyeni Retreat 2023, Buddhism, Existentialism & Psychotherapy, , Secular Buddhism & Existential Therapy, What is therapy?
An existential Buddhist analysis of the self as the “struggle to exist” Day 1: A view on Self (Day 1 of a retreat hosted at Emoyeni Retreat Centre, Mooi Nooi, South Africa)   This retreat considers an intersection between Existential Philosophy, Buddhism and Psychotherapy. It is based on the assumption that we all bring our…
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I am not studying Philosophy, it is studying me.

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My thesis begins with the hope of no ending. In other words it follows Buddhist scholar, Stephen Batchelor’s encouragement “that we allow ourselves to be a mystery for ourselves rather than a set of more or less interesting facts.” (Batchelor & Batchelor, 2019, p.23) My intention is therefore antithetical in that I wish to fully…
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