A simple introduction to the idea of four worlds of existence and the paradoxes and tensions we have to manage on each dimension. Copyright Emmy van Deurzen.

1. Four worlds of existence and their
paradoxes
Emmy van Deurzen

2. Emmy van Deurzen
brief CV
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Philosopher:
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Psychotherapist:
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trained from 1973-1977, Saint-Alban, Agen, Bordeaux,
Esalen, London (Lacanian, psychodrama,
group/community therapy)
Clinical psychologist:
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Masters in 1974, Montpellier, France
Doctorate in 2000, City Uni, London UK
Masters Bordeaux Uni, France 1977
Lecturer andTrainer since 1977, Arbours, South West London
College, Antioch Uni, Regent’s College, City Uni, Schiller Uni, Sheffield
Uni, New School of Psychotherapy and Counselling, Middlesex Uni.

3. Author of 13 Books
EXISTENTIAL
COUNSELLING &
PSYCHOTHERAPY
IN PRACTICE
THIRD EDITION
EMMY VAN DEURZEN

4. Book
on Happiness
best intro to these ideas

5. Onto-dynamics: living wisely
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Learning to live in line with the laws of life.
Paradox, conflict, difficulty and dilemmas are
our daily companions.
With a crisis thrown in here and there.
The way you respond depends a lot on the
worldview and strength you build up for
yourself
Your courage and flexibility will increase with
practice as you gain greater perspective and
depth on the challenges of living

6. We learn to make sense of life by
learning about opposites

7. Life always has both positives
and negatives at all levels:
life=tension

8. Life is about positives and negatives
We can’t have the good, unless we tackle the bad

9. The paradox of life is that only as we face one side of life will
the other work for us. Opposites work in tandem.
Only to the extent that
we accept polarities,
conflicts and
contradictions do we
learn to live with truth
Onto-dynamics rather
than psychodynamics:
Life is tension
between opposites

10. Energy is the flow between two
poles
Source: kidzoneweather.com

11. Dialectics
Thesis, antithesis, synthesis.
 Human evolution proceeds with
constant conflict and forward
movement in overcoming a previous
state.
 Paradoxes and dilemmas
can be integrated
and gone beyond.
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12. Dialectics
Transcendence
Synthesis
Thesis
Antithesis

13. Dialectics:
transcendence in space
Synthesis:
a wider view
future
Thesis: my view
(past )
Antithesis: your view
(present)

14. What does it mean to live well?
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Socrates: the unreflected life is not worth
living. The good life is passionately lived.

15. Life as hero’s journey
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The challenge: travelling far, braving danger
in order to save the world.
Have an adventure, then return to safety: home
coming, using our compass.

16. Our life is like a river
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We wind our own way down the road of life
When it flows steadily that feels good
Set patterns are like sediment in the river that
make us stagnate
Get back into the flow of life

17. Tight fit:
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Sometimes life is plain sailing, but we may
have to navigate between a rock and a hard
place..

18. Being Captain of your Ship
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Finding our way through our life with
deliberation

19. Connecting to the wave and tides
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Until I saw the sea
I did not know
that wind
could wrinkle water so
I never knew
that sun
could splinter a whole sea of blue
nor
did I know before,
a sea breathes in and out
upon a shore
by Lilian Moore

20. Facing anxiety
The energy of life
And energy can be used or can
overwhelm you

21. To live is to be anxious
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Until we die
Because we die
Because we were born
We have to learn to stand up and be counted; to eksist in past, present and future

22. Seasons and cycles of life
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We are born
We live, love, work
Then we die

23. Our life is
in flux
Things constantly
change and so do we
 Circle of life goes on
 We cannot stop it
 We have to go with the flow
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24. Our lives are like the seasons or the birth of
day and night.

25. Watching life go by
We can be:
observers
 participants
 creatures
 or creators
 active
 reactive
 pro-active
 passive
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26. Time streams like sand through
an hourglass: we are time
The ec-stasies of time:
 1.past
 2.present
 3.future
 4 eternity

27. Passionate engagement is like
fire: it eats time.
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Time is fast when I am at one with the world
and give myself over to being
Engagement is vital
Being alive: claiming your life

28. We need an image of what life is for
Life has to be remembered
backwards but it has to be lived
forwards
 Kierkegaard.
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29. Different perspectives
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Depending on where we stand light refracts
differently through the prism of life.

30. Existential Space
Physical space
Spiritual space
Social space
Personal space

31. Your own little sphere of
existence matters

32. Imagine a person like a sphere

33. That person is located in a universe
with other planets, stars, suns,
moons and spheres

34. Sphere as a planet or a cell: micro or
macro level.

35. If a cell: connection with other cells,
function and internal constitution
are paramount

36. If planet: orbit and position
matter

37. Merleau Ponty: Visible and Invisible
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Things are structures – frameworks – the stars of our
life: they gravitate around us. Yet there is a secret
bond between
us and them –
through perception
we enter into the
essence of the flesh
(Visible and Invisible: 220)

38. You experience yourself as having a
nucleus: a core, a heart or a soul

39. Perhaps we are more like suns,
generating heat and light

40. Solar anatomy

41. Layers of the sun
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Corona, chromosphere, photosphere,
convection zone, and core.

42. Layers of a person’s life.
1.Spiritual: Uberwelt
2.Personal: Eigenwelt
3.Social: Mitwelt
4.Physical: Umwelt

43. Dimensions of existence
Spiritual:
Good/Evil
Intuitions, values, beliefs, purpose, meaning.
Worldview/Ideas.
Personal:
Strength/Weakness
Thoughts, memories, identity, freedom.
Selfhood/Me.
Social:
Love/Hate
Feelings, relations, belonging, acknowledgement.
Communication/Others.
Physical:
Life/Death
Sensations, actions, environment, body, things.
Survival/World.

44. Paradoxes of human existence

45. Conflicts and dilemmas
are essential
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Conflicts are the core of existence.
Things and people oppose each other.
Conflict can either destroy you or deepen you.
Relationships are about tension: fission or
fusion.
Most conflicts are not just with others but with
the world, with beliefs and with ourselves.
Conflict does not have to lead to combat.

46. Marcus Aurelius
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It is not death that a man should fear, but he
should fear never beginning to live
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The paradox is that death, troubles, labour,
failures, pain and sorrow are unavoidable and
necessary
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They are the things that wake you up to
awareness and that open you to life

47. Things to remember
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We learn in context and with others
To build a true learning community we need to come close to
people in mutual respect
And by addressing the life issues that really matter to us
Suffering and fears are the sacred fires that make us human
and bring us to life
It is up to us to show how these can burn safely and not
destroy
In order to transform and transcend them we have to make
human understanding central to all we do.

48. Meaning and Purpose
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Find out what is meaningful to you.
Find out what your purpose in life is.
Work for it in truth and with dedication.
Come what may..

49. Human values rediscovered.
DESIRES
FEARS
VALUES
PHYSICAL
life
death
vitality
SOCIAL
love
hate
reciprocity
PERSONAL
identity
freedom
integrity
SPIRITUAL
good
evil
transparency

50. Four dimensions and resilience
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Physical: how do we manage our physical
space?
Social: how do we relate to other people?
Personal: how do we define ourselves?
Spiritual: what are the values we adhere to?

51. OVERCOMING TRAUMA
Spiritual:
Integrate what has happened in world view
Improve rather than give up values, beliefs, purpose, meaning.
Stick with what is true.
Personal:
Allow the event to strengthen your character
Express thoughts and memories. Regain a sense of freedom in relation to adversity.
Learn to yield as well as be resolute.
Social:
Seek to go beyond hateful and destructive relations by isolation and avoidance till
Reconciliation is possible. Seek belonging with like minded allies.
Communicate your emotions without reproach, resentment, bitterness.
Physical:
Seek safety when under threat.
Trust and heed sensations of stress. Find natural environment that can soothe as
well as expand your horizons.

52. Different dimensions of the four spheres
of existence
Umwelt
Mitwelt
Eigenwelt
Uberwelt
Physical
survival
Nature
Things
Body
Cosmos
Social
affiliation
Public
Others
Ego
Culture
Personal
identity
Private
Me
Self
Consciousness
Spiritual
meaning
Sacred
God
Soul
Transcendence

53. Reclaiming your space
Finding fluidity, peace
freedom and purpose.

54. Websites.
www.existentialpsychotherapy.net
www.dilemmas.org
www.nspc.org.uk
www.septimus.info
www.psychotherapytraining.net
www.emmyvandeurzen.com