Thank God I do not frequent psychology clinics, but I would bet that Frankl’s logotherapy outperforms Jung’s analytical psychology and Freud’s psychoanalysis together in the rate of cases of impressive behavioral change and therapeutic success. In logotherapy, I see a very clear exit door in case of good application; something I also see in Jung’s analytical psychology, but not in Freud’s psychoanalysis, which seems more like a palliative system that the patient can never get rid of—at least not in truly serious cases. It is true: there are cases and cases—perhaps, I base my conclusion on the infrequent ones. Psychoanalysis has molded itself to its patients, and for them it can be effective. Analytical psychology, which is broader and deeper, is also capable of treating them—although perhaps for some “psychological types” it is less enjoyable and, consequently, less satisfying. For many patients, routine venting is enough; but for the desperate, the expressly disillusioned who enters a consulting room in complete helplessness, carrying in his hands a mediocre and unsatisfactory life, which methodically inhibits his aspirations and delivers no meaning—for he, the suicidal candidate, sitting on a comfortable divan and moving his facial muscles is useless, and Frankl’s disciple seems to me the best prepared to deliver to him a definitive solution hardly achievable by other therapies.
The Common Man Places the Meaning of His Own Existence…
The common man places the meaning of his own existence mostly in relationships. Relationships are extremely fragile, and it is predictable that, for this reason, the common man falls into a very strong existential crisis. The religious man, however, the true religious man, who has nothing of common, finds something firmer to lean on. Whatever may be said, there is nothing like religion to give meaning to the human spirit, and this alone justifies the honorable role it plays in society.
The Contrast Between Buddhism and Christianity
The contrast between Buddhism and Christianity is really striking. The former can never, ever be mass-practiced, because it simply targets minority psychological types, to use Jungian terminology. Christianity would not be badly summarized as the rites of Christianity, whereas Buddhism consists in essence of a personal inner practice. If we talk about Christianity, we can talk about the Christian community; if we talk about Buddhism, we are talking about a relationship that the Buddhist has with himself. The good Christian guides his actions by the teachings of the Bible; the Buddhist, following in the footsteps of Buddha, has his conduct as a consequence of an inner philosophy. This says it all, and it is unnecessary to spend additional words…
The Path to Enlightenment
Although doing so may run counter to Buddhist doctrine, analytically dissecting the “path to enlightenment,” presented in numerous ways by many different schools, we realize that it can, indeed, deliver much of the results it promises. The basis of Buddhist Tantric practices consists in educating the mind through a self-suggestive process that establishes a new understanding of the self and the environment. Through a collusion between habits and mental reprogramming, plus a retreat that makes distractions or disturbances difficult, the being is effectively transformed. Meditating for hours, days, months in emptiness, seeing oneself and reality devoid of autonomy and self-grounding, believing oneself to be part of a whole, mixed in the same emptiness in which one meditates, although hostage to the illusions of sensible experience, it is predictable that one reaches a rupture—or overcoming—of earthly ties, and consequently reaches a state of soul that oscillates between peace and beatitude. Repeatedly denying the body, the mind, the reality of observable phenomena, the sensations, then visualizing oneself as a shapeless superior entity, strictly controlling any deviation from focus: someone who steadfastly pursues this path will certainly become something different. And to think that all this is just the laying of the ground…