Many people associate existential philosophy with complicated ideas and a leaning towards pessimism. They hear words such as ‘death’, ‘isolation’, and ‘meaninglessness’, without realising that these concepts form only a part of a richer and more complex whole. It is just as significant, for example, to explore hope as it is to examine despair. The polarity of existential themes creates the constant tension between life and death, meaning and meaninglessness, isolation and relationship. Existence is about understanding and living within these constant tensions.
Phenomenology, on the other hand, concerns itself with subjectivity, with how human beings interpret things to themselves (Husserl, 1977) as opposed to the natural science framework that seeks to find objective truth. The importance of phenomenological exploration is that it excludes this objective reality and instead seeks a subjective explanation of the individual’s relationships with objects, others, and his or her sense of being.
The Wheel of Existence
Source: Alison Strasser
The Wheel is used as a diagrammatic representation of the interplay between key existential and phenomenological concepts and as a philosophical attitude when working with clients. It is versatile framework in that it can be used as a specific structure for teaching but also creates a background frame that can be drawn upon when reflecting upon a client either in the session or later in supervision.
In brief, the Wheel’s outer layer depicts existential or ‘ontological’ phenomena, the concerns or ‘givens’ common to all human beings universally.
Radiating from the fulcrum of the Wheel is the next layer, a series of 10 segments or ‘leaves’, which together constitute the essence of individual experience and their attitudes or relationship to the ontological ‘givens’. These leaves are referred to as the ‘ontic’ layer and give credence to a subjective and personal ‘ontic’ experience which differs with each individual and which more closely resembles the concerns of phenomenology.
The self, which can be considered to be in a constant state of flux, shifting between one’s experiences of security and insecurity, occupies the outer section of the core.
At the core of the Wheel of Existence is time, an existential given that permeates all our lives from birth to death and beyond.
The Wheel is a schema for understanding how the different rudiments of existential philosophy are integrated into a whole; it seeks to show how all the above elements both interact with and influence each other, all contributing to the individual’s experience of being‐in‐the‐world and to our worldview. The structure of the Wheel highlights the existential–phenomenological hypothesis that all issues always interconnect and express themselves throughout all facets of individuals’ relationships with the world. As such, the Wheel parallels existential philosophy in viewing the human being as a unified entity rather than split into divisions of mind, thoughts, body, and emotions. It follows that what a client focuses on at any point in time will be connected to many of their other concerns, thus paralleling phenomenology. In keeping with this thinking, the following chapters in which these elements or ‘leaves’ are described do not necessarily follow the clockwise or even anticlockwise direction of the Wheel.
Of course, the paradox is that existentialism by its very nature cannot provide anybody with a framework that guarantees safeguards or stability. If the Wheel is taken too literally or becomes too technical or rule driven, it can easily become counterproductive. Using a loose but clearly defined structure, however, can also highlight the uncertainties of being thrown into this world and the certainty of leaving it, which Deurzen confirms: ‘Although an existential approach [to psychotherapy] is essentially non‐technological, I also believe that one needs some methods, some parameters, some framework, in order to retain one’s independence and clarity of thinking’ (1988, p. 6).
Universalising: The Ontological Layer
The outer edge of the Wheel of Existence in the diagram encompasses what are known as the ontological or existential concerns of existence. These ‘ontological’ characteristics are the elements of being human that are common to all humankind. They are aspects of being human that we cannot change; they are an intrinsic feature to all humans. In existential terminology, they are called ‘givens’ or ‘universals’, meaning facts that we are either born with or encounter during life. Residing in the background of our everyday living, I think about these ontological givens as the relentless ‘hum’. These ‘hums’ are constant and move in and out of immediate awareness as events in life unfold. For Heidegger, this ontological aspect is at the heart of his understanding that certain aspects are manifest and inescapable and are the nature of being human (Heidegger, 1962).
Various authors have described a range of different themes of existence as ‘ontological’. The concerns chosen within this Wheel, and discussed below, are the ontological givens that arise most commonly in my current work and will be discussed in detail in Chapter 5. Other therapists might focus on other givens that give credence to their practice.
The Ontological Givens
Relationship in the ontological sense describes how a human being is always in a state of relationship not only to others but also to oneself and to the overall culture and environment. This understanding does not make any statements about the quality or the nature of the relationship but simply states the fact that relatedness reveals itself in the relationship.
Facticity relates to the limiting factors that we cannot fundamentally change including certain features such as our own genetic makeup, our psychological profile, our cultural heritage, and our social world.
Uncertainty and inconsistency is a feature of life that we cannot avoid and which the world imposes upon us.
Temporality ‘is the name of the way in which Time exists in human existence’ (Warnock, 1970, p. 62) and nobody can escape from the idea that life is moulded by our finitude, that we are only transitory beings on this planet.
Mood is the way we are ‘attuned’ to the world and describes how we are both experiencing and responding to our existence. ‘A mood assails us. It comes neither from “without” nor from “within”, but arises from Being‐in‐the‐world, as a way of that being’ (Heidegger, 1962, p. 136).
Freedom is connected to responsibility in that humans are not determined by external factors which are certain, but, within the limitations of existence, are free to create their own responses to living.
Embodiment denotes the concept that humans are both physical and non‐physical, are both mind and body. A body–mind experience will both shape and be shaped by our interactions in the world. ‘We are both subject and object, where the subject is his body, his world, and his situation, by a sort of exchange’ (Merleau‐Ponty, 1964, p. 72), where the object is subsumed into this exchange.
Mortality is our constant awareness that we are moving towards death, the end of our known life. It is our ultimate limitation, which cannot be removed, only denied or engaged with.
Anxiety is that state that is constantly in our background revealing to us both our discomfort and excitements generated by aspects of being human, such as the choices that seem out of our control, our moving towards death and our freedom.
Choice is inevitable in that we are constantly making choices, even when we are unaware of doing so. Even choosing not to choose is a choice.
Engagement (or Action) is how we choose to participate with the world, whether fully, partially, half‐heartedly, with passion and so on. Closely linked to our values, the idea of engagement also indicates our authenticity.