In their training, therapists learn that common sense is not always useful in counseling others. Human life is full of paradoxes and contradictions.

“I had Plato in mind when, many years ago now, I wrote Care of the Soul. I thought of it as simple, daily concrete care for our essence, our depth, and the source of our humanity. If you care for your soul, you will be more human, able to relate better and find your way through life, discovering your purpose and calling. Care of the soul is not always about dealing directly with problems but solving them indirectly by discovering your deepest self and making a beautiful life.

Therefore, I don’t merely advocate therapy for the world but also therapy in the world.

Morris, who was certainly a therapist for the world, wrote: “Have nothing in your house that you do not know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful.

19. A THERAPIST’S SELF CARE

“The main tool in therapy is the person of the therapist. You have to boldly enter the emotional field of a troubled person or a conflicted couple and use everything you have to help them sort out their lives. Ideas and techniques help, but they are for the most part in the background. The therapist has to use himself, at some risk, to care for the other’s suffering. If anyone needs care of his own soul, it is a therapist. This is also true of the informal “therapist,” the friend counseling a friend, a coworker helping another make a big decision.