Soul Sickness
A good starting point for this chapter are the reported comments by George Carey (then Archbishop of Canterbury) that counselling was tending to become a new religion, a false god, or substitute for religion. He also put consumerism and education in the same bracket.
Counselling can be a false god if it offers something inherently beyond its powers to deliver. It is difficult to make the case that counselling does actual harm, since those who practise it would reject very strongly the accusation that their intention is to do harm at all. Quite the reverse, they would contend: our sole aim is to do good.
I respect all this. Someone I know well is training to become a counsellor, and I know that their motives are entirely to do whatever good they can.
An interesting statistic is that there are currently in the UK approximately the same number of accredited counsellors as there are clergy: a figure of around 25,000 for both categories. Among counsellors there are competing methodologies (transactional analysis, psychodynamic analysis, person- centered, and so on), just as in the sphere of religion there are different denominations.
The key 'problem' – as I see it – for counselling is the question of focus. Anyone who goes to a counsellor will find their focus drawn more and more inward; they will focus on themselves, their problems, the causes of these problems, and the cure for these problems. They will be encouraged to talk about themselves (a counsellor is essentially a paid listener) and their problems. The counsellor is trained to get this focus working overtime.
But what if this inward focus is the very problem itself?
Counselling sets out to offer happiness, and peace of mind; to take away irrational fears; to banish depression; to deliver inner contentedness. What a Faustian temptation!
The message of Jesus Christ was a perfect antithesis to this. He challenged men and women to focus, not on themselves, but on others. From the Torah of Moses he took the command 'Love your neighbour as yourself', and added 'Love your enemy!'
The summary of His whole message is that we will only find peace and joy for ourselves if we are focusing on giving peace and joy to someone else, and forgetting about ourselves.
Do I focus on myself? Then I will be off to the nearest counsellor, and seek advice on how to become a happier person. Do I care about other people? Then I will see how I can make their lot easier. I will supply what needs I can supply. I will focus on what they need. And as a happy bi-product, in forgetting about myself, and my own needs, I will find the sort of blessing that only comes to those who are not looking for blessing at all.
What both counselling and religion offer may be called 'salvation', though this would not be the word used by a counsellor. But it is a good word, a strong word, and from its derivation essentially means 'health'.