Existentialism...finally get it..i think!

i think that i finally understand how existentialism does affect and can be usefull in career guidance..... as can be seen from my last post i wasnt too convinced!!!

you could say that ive warmed to the approach quite a bit after i now understand that existentialists dont actually deny that human beings are limited or constrained by all sorts of external or internal conditions.

for Satre freedom exists only within specific conditions, and within such given conditions, according to Sartre's philosophy, people always have some sort of decision to make. They arent predetermined like objects or animals; they always live within a space, as it were, of possible alternatives.

Satre would accredit even a man on death row, a person with hardly any choices left, still a man with decisions to make....albeit slightly limited ones!-he can choose to die for example willingly or in some sort of inner rebellion! The point, according to Sartre, is that human beings exist in a fundamentally different way than animals or objects: they exist as beings who, within certain conditions, define themselves and their lives.

I think that one really good point that it makes is that a lot of people fail to be true to themselves, they live in the eyes of others, and deny real selves -- by conforming to what "one" is supposed to do. An authentic life, according to typical Existentialists, can be lived by following the run of any kind of "herd" and its collective beliefs and preoccupations, but only by resolutely living out of a profoundly personal self....i think as guidance practioners in schools or dealing with young people and adults, they should be encouraged to go out and find whats best for them, not someone else, and they should be encouraged to explore different ideas, we shouldnt just be trying to slot them in certain jobs because thats what the government want or our bosses want. this approach looks at people on a micro level and considers whats best for them not society at large, it doesnt court initiatives it simply tries to get to know the person on a real level and get to the crux of their problems.

Having a lot to say on authenticity, it is very relevanct- career is an arena in which the struggle for this is most brought to the fore. In terms of vulnerable/dependent clients, an important consideration is "whose authenticity" is defining the career aspirations: the client's, the career counselor's, or anyone elses for eg parents, peers etc. its important to get to know the client or least help them to get to know themselves, i quite liked the idea of the inner space excerise that we did in class for this. its a very personal excersise which makes you think and sort of puts things in perspective right in front of you on paper in black and white.

considering this approach more in depth this time, i think perhaps not pretending to clients that we live in wolrd without problems is a good way to do guidance, the reality is that we will all face some kind of trauma or problems in ourlives and no matter what someone tells us theres no hiding form this. Getting clients to face up to and acknowledge such things rather than buring or ignoring them, whilst it may in the short term be traumatic, should hopefully help them move on and focus on fighting these barriers. As career advisors it is not our job to solve these issues, we can harldy call ourselves equipped to do so, but ignoring facts that could be hindering a client is denying our resposibilties as career counselors! it may take more time and perhaps be stressfull for not only the client but ourselves, but at the end of the day if u went home knowing that you had chose to ignore an underlying issue so not to, 'open a can of worms' (a phrase ive heard a million times since beging this class) , surely unless you had no concience whatsoever that is, you would lose more sleep than exploring the issue.

i agree with what was said in class about perhaps it might take time and experience to get used to this full guidance approach, but i think that it is a definate must to not avoid issues that could potentially be messy, giving a bog standard careers interview should be challenged and i definately hope to be better than that!