Reflections

~ Wherefore all these things are but the names which mortals have given, believing them, to be true (Parmenides; On Nature) As a psychotherapist, I regret that my profession has drifted from its original vocation as a study of the soul/mind ( psyche ) to become an "evidence-based" discipline founded on scientific knowledge ( episteme ) of the mind/brain.  We cannot gain insight into the mind using science. Though we may be able to see or measure behavioural or cognitive phenomena and infer correlations with the brain, we cannot present these as "evidence" of what goes on inside the mind. The mind remains invisible to itself, its inner workings elusive. The mind is real in a way that is very different from the empirical data we may collect trying to understand it. It has a metaphysical reality that cannot be grasped by verifiable facts, a reality that is unfortunately dismissed by contemporary psychology for lack of evidence. That is what I regret. When science is th...