IJSP Number 4, 2022

59 always in other people, never at home in oneself. So, once again, why should one do psychotherapy, or supervising for that matter? And, in this matter, it is not as much the answer that is important because, as we have seen, there is no shortage of answers out there. Instead, the main focus should be only on the questioning itself, an interrogation that is not just answer oriented, but rather looking backward towards the deep and hidden background of the question itself as an existential, anthropological and ethical indicator. As such it can be a searching of the intentionality involved in our profession and in what we are doing, why we are doing it, and what are we aiming for by doing it? From a strictly existential and deeply personal perspective, the answer to the why (as in the why psychotherapy), is a very straight and simple one. It is conceivable and even possible, considering a more philosophical viewpoint, that the best psychotherapist or supervisor is the one who leaves exactly those professional fields behind in order to be a free person with no more involvement in problems, difficulties and psychic suffering of particular people (although, from the same perspective, those problems are not so particular at all – they are at most particularized and, in some cases, personalized – but are similar to many people because they are general human problems everyone will have to handle once pushed into the never-ending complications of life, profession and society).Although it seems paradoxical, the best psychologist can be only the one that is not preoccupied with psychology – one that was able to extract oneself from the intricacies of complications human beings live with. Following such a cognitive direction, one realizes that life itself, placed on a more personal level and worth living to its full extent, is more important than the involvement in the psychological intricacies of others. One could not and should not envisage that by helping others to get over their psychic or psychological problems, one’s own problems will be resolved or alleviated and, consequently, one’s own life will be better, nicer, and happier. If one is still preoccupied and invests oneself in psychotherapy or supervising, it means that that ‘psychological call’, one that is a mission and a lure at the same time, has something to tell the person –maybe that one’s own psychological evolution has a lot to be worked upon (because of the gapes it involves, or the feeling of unfulfillment, or some complexes, nasty subpersonalities, or other inconvenient psychological components, which cannot be brought under the same hat and common denominator). It is difficult to realize and to understand that one’s own process of psychological development and evolution cannot be helped by the reflection in the mirror of others; as such, our own development will not get better or be enhanced by the number of clients or the increasing number of successful therapies or supervisions. At the end of the day – usually a very busy day for every psychologist –the therapist or the supervisor has to go ‘home’, to the same edifice of one’s own ego, mind, thoughts, and feelings, which are unchanged in spite of the more or less successful sessions and meetings of the day. Without philosophical and existential questioning – the only methods of auto-objectivising oneself – there cannot be but emotional and psychological involvement in life as it is and as it presents itself to the eye and to the immediate perception. But, by the immersion in the phenomenon ‘life’ one can be very far from life itself. For example, the phenomenon of life presents itself as a never ending, un-relentless flow of