Beyond Therapy: A Set of Essays
On Miscellaneous Topics in Psychology and Psychiatry 

(2001-2003)

Noël Tointon

This set of essays
 is dedicated to my friends…

Francesco, Luciana, Bill, Robert, Lindsay, Marc, Vera, Phil, Mary,
And Brian…

Who, on numerous occasions, 
have patiently listened 
to a number of those papers 
contained in this volume 
or have allowed me 
to try out various ideas. 
Without their criticism 
this work would not have the reached 
the current form 
it has finally arrived in
for which I am most grateful 
although all faults
I alone must take responsibility for.

Beyond Therapy: A Set of Essays
On Miscellaneous Topics in Psychology and Psychiatry (2001-2003)

Index

0. (Introductory Essay) Psychiatric Dis(-)ease [Read at Continental Philosophy
Group]
1. Freudian Myths [Read at Continental Philosophy Group]

2. A Provisional Topology of Psychosis Revisited 

3. On the Existence or the Non-Existence of the Neurotic Condition 
   (& the Stasic Condition?)? 
4. An Exploration of Co-Authored Phenomena (In five sections) 

Introduction: Co-Authored Phenomena - Brief Account 

Part I: Reflections on Freud, Freud's Critics, Recovered Memories and 
          Hysteria [Read at Continental Philosophy Group]
Part II: Examining the Distinctive Phenomenology of Co-Authored 
Phenomena 
Part III: A Phenomenological Examination of Virtual Co-Authored 
Phenomena 
Part IV: Alien Abduction: Have You Been Taken? And a General 
         Examination of Hysteria [Read at Continental Philosophy Group]

5. Deception and Self-Deception (In three sections [in two files (I), (II & III)]) 

Part I: The Problematic Phenomenon of Deception and Self-Deception 

Part II: An Egological Philosophy: Doing the Impossible - 
Whether Deceptively or Non-Deceptively Can We Encounter 
        that which Cannot Be Encountered? 
Part III: An Overview: A Focusing on the Philosophical Issues Concerning 
The Problematic Phenomenon of Deception and Self-Deception, etc.
				    [Presented at Continental Philosophy Group 11.5.03]

6. Beyond Therapy: How Therapeutic is Therapy? - 
Should Therapy be Therapeutic? (In three sections)
Part I - Generalities 

Part II - Specifics 

Part III - Overview? (Finished 30.4.03) 

Beyond Therapy - A short paper arranged from same essay [Presented at Continental  
Philosophy Group (13.4.03)]

Postscript (completed 24.5.03.)

Beyond Therapy: A Set of Essays
On Miscellaneous Topics in Psychology and Psychiatry (2001-2003)

Postscript: How the Authentic Defines the Sense of the Spiritual, and v.v.

0.   Introduction

	In this postscript I would like to interlink a number of themes not directly addressed in this Set of Essay. I will do this through a number of monograph implicitly linked but explicitly interlinked in the Conclusion to this Postscript through a discussion of this concept of the overall transcendental suspension examined in each of these sections from various perspectives. These monographs are titled:

1.   The Historical Denigration of the Person as in the Burning of Witches et al
2.   The Phenomenological Nature of Inauthentic Suspensions
3.   What Relevance Has the Transcendental Suspension for the Therapist?
4.   How Does Authenticity through Suspension Define the Sense of  ‘Spiritual’?
5.   Segregation in the Age of Sars… How Should We Proceed?
6.   Without Conclusion: Moving Beyond the 'Therapy' of the Postmodern… (1)

1.   The Historical Denigration of the Person as in the Burning of Witches et al

	In Europe, for all its claims to be civilized, only a few hundred years ago it was considered normal to burn witches at the stake. For Biblical authority we have Exodus 18:22 – “thou shalt not suffer a witch to live” with the traditional interpretation implying that they, more often ‘she’, should be burnt! But, then again, they were not the only apparent ‘minority’ to be singled out, either textually or traditionally, for the punishment of death by a legally determined method of execution. E.g., in the Biblical tradition for the sin of adultery we have the traditional prescription of a stoning, etc! On the other hand, in the European context what illegal practices merited execution and by what means might well seem an arbitrary affair fluctuating from region to region, from one period of time to some other, from one court to the next. We should bear in mind, though, that even in Britain two hundred years ago many offences, or their repetition, were seen as capital offences and in this context execution in and of itself would not have been an unusual occurrence. Then again, with some exceptions like being hung, drawn and quartered, being burnt at the stake, to my mind, would seem to be a very dramatic, gruesome event. It has always puzzled me how one human being could put another human being to death in such a  painful manner and then calmly watch them die in this or any other gruesome fashion? Surely, the relatively slow agony of a burning, if the victim was still alive at this moment of the performance, must have been an uncomfortable phenomenon to watch (which no doubt reinforced the political status quo because not only was the victim powerless but so too were any of their audience that might have objected to the fact or manner of that despatch or might have wished to protest for other reasons). (2)

	I perceive this ‘problem’ as being two-fold. On one hand we must ask how is it possible to put another human being to death, especially in an inhumane fashion, and still feel moral about that process, and, how could those people then continue to function as moral entities with the remainder of their interactions within that same community?? Now would it not be the case that having some feelings of human compassion, even some small twinge of conscience, is an aspect that seems to characterize us as ‘human’, that, in essence, we do normally treat each other, at least with our own community or tribe,  as mutually empathetic members of one extended family?! It would appear, therefore, that it is not as if people stopped ‘caring for others’ when certain members of a community or tribe are condemned by that ‘community’ or ‘tribe’ to death – it was just that ‘caring’ was proscribed for those prior members of that society now deemed excommunicated or, worse, deemed not worthy of living even in an excommunicated state outside that society and, thereby, are already regarded as ‘living dead’ in the light of their imminent dispatch by the appropriate professionals acting on the behalf of that society, or at least the dominating powers of that society. (3)

	In my examination of the ‘European’ phenomenon of witch burning I now believe that it cannot be properly addressed and explained without reference to allied phenomena wherein other apparent minorities were subjected to similar methods of persecution, such as experienced by heretics, lepers, Jewish and Gypsy nationalities, various religious fraternities, homosexuals, political-like organizations, the mentally ill, female midwives and other practitioners of traditional pagan-based forms of medicine, etc., etc. In effect, those sectors of society deemed, or more correctly perhaps, re-deemed as ‘different’ and thereby automatically judged as worthy only of segregation or exile, or, the ultimate form of excommunication, namely death through execution… (4)

	I would like to run a distinction here centred on the last point made in my third paragraph. In the political organization of societies, in general, I perceive a relative, non-absolutely demarcated distinction between dominating and dominant sectors of that society. E.g., if most of the population were passively anti-Semitic that might be considered a dominant attitude of that society or community. On the other hand, if, seemingly acting on behalf of that society or community, the powers-that-be exercised an active anti-Semitic policy in some form or other then we might consider that section of the populace as dominating that overall society or community (considered as the collection of all the peoples therein entailed both dominating, dominant and all others as dominated minorities). Now, I am not suggesting that people fall rigidly into just one or two of those categories either temporally or permanently. With the migratory advent or creation of new minorities often old minorities, or influential or required members thereof, are given honorary membership of relatively more dominant sectors of that society. So, in the Australian landscape, e.g., ‘Catholic’ has been absorbed even though politically it was proscribed to begin with (e.g., through the non-admission of Catholic priests to these shores in the first decades of Anglo-colonial rule even though many transported prisoners were Catholic in their religious beliefs). That to some extent a dominating minority or elite or set of elites can only inflict active discriminatory policies through the passive compliance of a dominant sector, or at least to begin with until such a time that dominating elite feels it has enough power to completely circumvent the dominant aspirations of the relatively dominant sector of that society. That, in effect, these double sins of commission and omission need to be in place before the active denigration of an individual person or class of people, who are seen as a member/members of a devalued/disvalued minority, can be enacted. These members, as a class, are devalued, and, as individuals are passively/actively subjected to processes of disvaluation (the definition of disvaluation being seen as a process of devaluation). Now, I propose that for the denigration of the person to occur we need to see put in place a policy of active absolute disvaluation, i.e., a process of active absolute devaluation in the social situation of an active commission by a dominating sector passively supported by a dominant sector. I make this proposal in order to help explain the fact and mechanics of the process of an absolute denigration of the person, a process contra to the normal dynamics of the well-organized community (i.e., not one subject to anarchy in times of civil disturbance, war, post-war or the disruption of order in times of natural catastrophes, etc.) and therein permitting its encapsulated orchestration of those discriminatory and denigrational practices. In other words, this type of behaviour is permitted when directed to members of that community now deemed ‘non-members of that community or society’ as jointly viewed by the dominating and dominant sectors of that community or society. (5)

	In this light we can now view the ‘burning of witches’ as a type of phenomenon not necessarily specifically targeting witches but one that involved other minorities too, indeed, any sector of the wider community or society deemed as too different for that social fabric to deal with by normal means, etc!? In this wider context we might now come to a position of better understanding this superficially bewildering phenomenon – how is it possible for human beings to mistreat other human beings when this type of practice is normally viewed as ethically wrong, morally indefensible, ‘spiritually’ proscribed, etc., and, at the same time continue in one’s life as an ethical, moral person despite ‘acting otherwise’ with respect to those ‘persons’ no longer actively deemed to be ‘people’ by the ruling elites and at the same time a ruling passively accepted by the cultural majority. In other words, this encapsulated orchestration of activity is a convenient compartmentalization of the psyche that must have still cause some distress for people more in tune with an existential approach to being with others and would not wish to go along with the latest in current practice. Alas, evidence of this hoped for resistance to current practice will be hard to find retrospectively if not for the fact that official documents are going to reflect those dominating and dominant strains of the culture although even among those circles forms of disquiet must have surfaced in some manner or other, wittingly or unwittingly (through the degree of cognitive dissonance that would have occurred if only marginally to the life and texts of that community being something, by proxy, that it was intimately connected with either actively, passively or as a spectator or as a ‘direct witness’)? (7)

	Now we must ask “does society (still) need scapegoats in some form or other?” or, are politicians and the media going to create them for us whether we think that appropriate or not? My only optimism in this regard being that the apparent virulence of these types of campaigns can no longer be compared to those of the hysteria of the Middle Ages? But, then, any society that goes through a cultural reformational style of political re-organization is prone to just that type of severity as witnessed in the Reformation, as documented with the Cultural Red Guards in China, as characterized the recent revolution in Iran, etc. Moreover, let us be aware that it was only six decades ago that the Nazis were riding roughshod over a whole catalogue of proscribed minorities…! (8)

	In being therapeutic and in seeking to go beyond current therapy, as a symbol of where our society currently stands or does not make a stand, and where it should, let me make the observation that an overall improving education system in an extreme environment coming off from a low base of prior cultural education and social awareness is a recipe for disaster and one that needs gentle but strong leadership to avoid this imminent pitfall of a reformation and/or revolution! We should be aware that the repetition of this imminent 'historical fact' of a reformation and/or revolution will be most likely confronted if that culture cannot put in place adequate measures for the prevention of the same. What are these preconditions that need to be in place to prevent a 'successful' revolutionary or 'failed' proto-revolutionary transition in the progress of that society to a modern culture through the expected disturbances of a reformational phase? This series of monographs is not the place for me to be too detailed on this subject other than to suggest some of the following negative precautions and positive guidelines that might be possible to put in place to circumvent or prevent the same. The dominating cultural strand needs to be aware of this possible reformational/evolutional twist in the historical course of that culture and be prepared to circumvent this by looking after the necessary conditions for the three basic strata of a society, namely, that the relatively dispossessed need to have their most pressing needs taken into account and met; that the middle class of the dominant strand needs to be ameliorated, stabalized and expanded through ensuring adequate work, maintenance of their associated lifestyle(s), etc; and, that the elites also need to have their aspirations taken into account, etc. In essence, through the accelerated, broad spectrum  improvement of social conditions of that culture (in other words its successful ongoing appearance of a transition of its lower classes to a middle class society that will give stability to that overall society, etc.) and the vastly improved educational possibilities for all levels of that society especially the elites (along with an awareness of the historical in establishing a morally directed elite; meant in both directions of ‘ethics’ and ‘morale’). Hence the need for the maintenance and improvement of the educational system at all levels of that culture (especially universities! [for the ‘free’ entry into those elites of individuals of talent from backgrounds that are non-elite-oriented]). In this regard education should be basically free! The other leg upon which a society will proudly stand being health and that too should be relatively free! In the very poorest of societies middle class stability, and attitudes and aspirations of the same, are better realized when these twin pillars are actively and successfully promoted. Moreover, a wealthy, well-established middle class society also stands to both economically and psychically gain from that form of direct and indirect investment! The perception of this gain should not be ‘quantified’ by short-sighted cost-benefit analysis accounts and their ilk as this type of calculation can only be approached on a deeper level of socio-psychic evaluation because a full cognisance of indirect benefits also needs to be taken into account. Indeed, a society would be richer on all counts if it were to actively engineer and maintain such an approach, one, sadly, that the current Australian government appears to be giving up; a real failure of spirit that will rebound to the cost of all Australians on all levels and aspects of their cultural be that financial, political, educational, creative and spiritual (the latter being neutrally defined as relatively non-material or non-materialist in aspiration)! (9)

	In this light, in a country relatively stricken with poverty, a little education is a dangerous thing! The only antidote being, paradoxically, the promotion of an even greater degree of education and cultural self-reflection in the context of an improvement of its moral economy (meaning 'ethics', 'morale' and a 'viable, sustainable, equitable, economic growth')! (10)

	Those dominating elites needing to be self-aware enough to realize the need to put in place both those positive conditions that promote the psychic growth of all sectors of that society, and, the active removal of those negative features that promote extremism, fanaticism, blind ideological conformity, militarism, a lack of political diversity, etc., etc. (11)

	Most notably, the denigration of the person should not be permitted by either the dominating elites or the dominant party or parties of that society or community! That those forms of preferentialization, conducted at the expense of certain individuals and/or groups, should be actively (and passively?) 'deconstructed' and demonstrated as being against the wider interests of that society or community! A process that must use all (morally legitimate but not necessarily politically legitimate) means possible to get this type of message across and practically put in place! Using such traditional and non-traditional techniques as, e.g., demonstrating an appropriate attitude towards that type of mistreatment; through humour and satire making a 'sharp' point that might 'prod' and advance social awareness by default so to speak; making comparative references to unfortunate historical precedents in this regard and showing the adverse consequences of the same; appealing to a civilized world position by re-creating that sense of the 'look of the world' as they were to see that particular culture through the dissemination of information re the same through the media (and not the mono-cultured medium) of an open press or establishing its equivalent in this digital age, etc! Indeed, through a vigorous debate, and, the establishment of those existential practices that directly and actively note and deal with the same in a truly humane and appropriate fashion! (12)

	This non-permitting of the denigration of the human person also means that the oppressed minorities in a society also need to progressively protest by all means possible, and, importantly, that all other minorities and non-minorities should stand in a mutual solidarity with each other in this regard!! Some people may be punished and imprisoned, even murdered, no society can do the same to all its population especially if a small fraction of that society can nip things in the bud so to speak! Moreover, the dominating sections of society can only initially operate with the passive acceptance of that silent majority that under such increasingly adverse circumstances should therefore not remain silent! Spokepersons for the same need to be vocal along with those individuals from the dominating elites themselves in conjunction with spokepersons from those minorities being persecuted or appear about to be persecuted! (13)

	Such spokespersons, and those for whom they are to speak, need to become aware of what is at stake here. All parties can become aware of such current or future transformations of the political stage through adopting an appropriately constructed  awareness of that potentially problematic situation to hand through the auspices of a transcendental suspension, etc. In such a situation the issues need to be noted and actively addressed though the auspices of the same! (14)

	This brings me to ask: "How is an overall transcendental suspension to be appropriately and properly put in place and maintained!" Let me examine this possibility in my next monograph. (15)

2.   The Phenomenological Nature of Inauthentic Suspensions

	The phenomenologist, and their audiences, need to be able to discern the differences between suspensions and reductions (and re-constitutions) and the relative authenticity or inauthenticity of the same! Too often suspensions are confused with reductions! Moreover, there is also the need for an understanding of what is entailed in an overall suspension (in and through its relation to the hermeneutic circle [within hermeneutic circles, etc.]). So let me briefly broach some of the complexities of this topic. Then, in the next monograph let me refer to various criticisms of this type of philosophical position or rather style of doing real philosophy, etc. (16)

	In previous research I have referred to the practice of the (overall) suspension as the treatment of the phenomenon as a phenomenon qua phenomenon, i.e., the looking at that experience as if it were merely a phenomenon without regard to its value, i.e., as to whether it is aesthetic, real, useful, has deontological significance, etc. In this reduction we look at that phenomenon as (a) mere phenomenon. I.e., an attempt to understand the essential configuration of that phenomenal experience as if it were merely a phenomenal appearance. By various processes of investigation (such as eidetic reflection, e.g.)  we then try to understand how that experience is essentially constituted in that experience. In our phenomenological appreciation of the phenomenon in question we question its type by noting its mere disposition. However, this reductive treatment of that in question through its 'mere whateverness', I have just realized, is a two edged sword! Treating the phenomenon to this reduction of its 'mere phenomenality' without a transcendental suspension is merely to place our prejudice on a pedestal! So, to say that "x is a Nazi" is merely to reduce them to the prejudice levelled at them. That this form of reduction cum suspension is inauthentic! A recipe for the denigration of the person. So how do we tell these two types of suspension/reduction apart? (17)

	Prejudice, as an initial pre-judgment of the situation to hand, is only the starting point for a process of transcendental suspension, etc., not its end. Moreover, such prejudgments need to be transcribed in a neutral form, i.e., placed in a state of balanced suspension. So x might be compared to a Nazi in the form "x is both like a Nazi and not like a Nazi." Furthermore, in order to ensure that this process of transcendental treatment is set within the hermeneutic circle (and centred therein through an overall transcendental suspension) a rhetorical element also needs to be put in place such as, e.g., "is x a Nazi?" meaning "is x a Nazi or not a Nazi?" Then, to establish the existential moment of our hermeneutic circle we need to place these first two types of suspension (of the conjunctive and the dis-conjunctive) in a state of balanced suspension in turn. Lastly, an ongoing balance between these three moments of the hermeneutic circle then establishes the sense of the overall transcendental suspension (with the 'final' suspended dissolution of the same ensuring our direct inhabitation within this one world-of-life). (18)

	Put in a non-complicated form (or formula) we could say that a transcendental suspension is put into practice through a balanced suspension of prejudice and not its mere reduction! (19)

	How else can we tell between authentic and inauthentic suspensions, etc. For a start our general intuition should be (trained to be) able to discern this sense of difference (by the difference in overall existential import of those investigations) (by virtue of the fact that the existential orientation towards authenticity has a range of hallmarks that distinctively mark that difference in terms of space, time, harmonization, productivity, relational orientation, etc.). As intimated earlier in this Postscript the presence of an overall transcendental suspension is marked by a de-pre-ferentialization, a de-hierarchicalization of our prejudicial preferences and that the degree to which this is put into effect is an indicator, more or less, of the extent that an overall transcendental suspension has been realized (through a transformation of the relatively inauthentic). Otherwise, our suspension is merely an inauthentic reduction to a stereotypical form of prejudice! In other words, prejudice (as a prejudgment) is the beginning for a process of transcendental suspension, reduction and re-constitution, etc., and never its end! Moreover, all forms of preference are de-hierarchicalized in transcendental experience only regaining their re-assessed post-judgmental form and format when the process is relatively resolved and therein re-constituted. But, then, such prejudice is now no longer 'mere prejudice' but 'a living-prejudice with a history', prejudice with an 'existential attitude', a prejudice born in a 'spirit of responsibility, a spiritual prejudice, a path towards an even greater fruitfulness of opportunities, etc! (20)

3.   What Relevance Has the Transcendental Suspension for the Therapist?

	“Doing transcendental suspensions, etc., might be fine for the philosophical phenomenologist but what right have they to insist that a therapist should also practise this type of  technique? Just what relevance does an overall transcendental suspension possess in the field of therapy (from general and/or specific points of view)?” (21)

	Whether we like it or not we spend the conscious fraction of our life in processes of judgment whose transcendental form, in my opinion, is based upon the overall transcendental suspension, etc., orchestrated within the ambit of the hermeneutic circle. In other words, that the process of judgment has one deep structural form! That in the intentional formation of our reflections upon the phenomenon of our very own existence in the life-world and in our encountering various phenomena found there-for-us in this world-of-life on a deep level the exercise of our powers of judgment exhibits one transcendental form! That in the process we are exercising the transcendental machinery that allows us to function as a person in this world-of life! That granted then it behooves us to better exercise such processes in the hope that we can exercise the same with more care and with more self-awareness and, therein, with a greater sense of awareness for the 'other' through an accompanying awareness of our responsibilities in our relationships with others (through the greater psychic power of those relationships to existentially inform us as to how we should interact with that other, and, they with us). Furthermore, the transformational nature of the therapeutic process demands critical deliberation, practical initiation and supervision that can only be achieved through the proper and appropriate application of the overall transcendental suspension wherein our relationships existentially inform us as to how we should respond through the spontaneity of that very act of response! (22)

	"A philosopher should philosophize, a therapist should be therapeutic" (23)

	True, but a therapist needs to philosophically reflect upon their intentional-activity in order to (more) closely attend to the nature and formulation of the same, refine the practicalities of their treatment plan and be more critical overall of all facets of this therapeutic process and its therapeutic transformation of socio-psycho-physical adversity. To this end let me look more closely at this dependence of the therapist upon the overall transcendental suspension, etc., then, let me offer a rhetorical critique of this methodology in an attempt to surmount future criticisms in the process refining a therapeutic philosophy for this Contemporary era. (24)

	"So what is the 'position' of a transcendental therapist?" (25)

	Where should I start? That all intentional-activity, non-reflective or reflective in aspiration and orientation, involves the use of an overall transcendental suspension, etc., within the ambit of the hermeneutic circle. The therapist as a diagnostician needs to discern and differentiate the relatively distinctive phenomenology of disease processes, syndromes, behavioural states, etc. Utilization of the overall transcendental suspension, etc., is a key avenue to adopt in the pursuit of the realization of this type of problem (based upon the pre-judgments available to us in a 'body of relevant knowledge' as the initial ground for this continuing research). In the art of formulating a treatment program processes of judgment again necessitate the use of the transcendental suspension, etc., and the critically conducted exercise of this process is assisted through an awareness of the same. Furthermore, the very practical instantiation of that treatment process is activated in response to this form of cognitively aware active-reflective process. In which ever way we move we cannot escape the all pervading inclusion of the overall transcendental suspension… a process assisted through an awareness of our own prejudices in regard to each situation as it arises. Moreover, the very business of therapy necessitates the smooth economical arbitration of competing, relatively incommensurable types of value. A process perfected through a de-preferentialization of all types of pre-judgments; especially those relevant to that situation-to-hand! Having established the claim that the intuitive use and critical utilization of the overall transcendental suspension is inescapable for the therapist, because of its link with ongoing processes of judgment, etc., let me respond to some critical arguments against the use of this transcendental technique on the hypothetical grounds that it cannot be operated, or at least operated critically, consistently and productively! Therefore, let me continue to deal sequentially with a number of these archetypal criticisms commonly aired by critics of a critically conducted transcendental program. (26)

	"That it stands to reason that a thorough transcendental suspension, etc., cannot be put into effect since to think about putting the overall suspension into effect is not to be absolutely putting the overall suspension into effect! Hence the impossibility of a thorough transcendental suspension, etc., being put into effect. Would that not be the case?" (27)

The topic under scrutiny is always approached through the medium of our pre-judgmental prejudices! In balancing those prejudices relevant to the situation-to-hand from our particular adopted point of view allows us to suspend what is relevant to that case to hand without needing 'to suspend the entire world' (even though that is implicitly achieved, by default, about the fulcrum of that suspension). Moreover, one might argue that a pure transcendental field of judgmental activity need not be reached, indeed cannot be reached, that only the depth appropriate to successfully complete the task-to-hand need be achieved. That in this light 'thorough' only means to that degree necessary  to successfully effect that particular performance and/or investigation. (28)

	"How could a 'thorough' transcendental suspension, etc., ('by proxy') achieve selectively desired individual types of outcome?" (29)

By pre-selecting the type of prejudices desired by that program (of diagnosis, treatment formulation and/or initiating of that formulation) we pre-determine our value-types for transcendental recognition by centring our attention in the midst of the desired field of application through the suspension of those relevant prejudices. Hence the therapeutic can be delivered by being situated in a therapeutic perspective prior to suspension, etc. Hence the ethical can be delivered by being situated in an ethical perspective prior to suspension, etc. By these means the complexity of relatively incommensurable types of value can be mutually accommodated to some degree or other and therein, e.g., allow the pragmatic business of therapy to proceed in harmony with the deontological therapeutic goals of the same, etc! (30)

	"Reflection is a passive type of process, how could it actively initiate processes of response given that the suspension, etc., is also a recipe for intentional paralysis!?" (31)

Through the suspension of the suspension, etc., the 'theoretical paralysis' of the suspension is escaped! Moreover, the suspension, etc., as a process of resolution has the power to both formulate and enact the same as in the suspension, etc., possible and actual, passive and active, are both suspended, and, that through the resolution of the hermeneutic circle patterns of behaviour are released that have a (deontological) propriety and (pragmatical) appropriateness in keeping with the authenticity realized in that process of an overall transcendental suspension! (32)

	"That the therapist is too busy to get involved in these esoteric philosophical practices and shouldn't bother as philosophical arguments, positions and debates are rarely resolved by members of that type of institution, indeed, are best avoided." (33)

It is true that philosophers are notoriously ineffective in their debates. However, the scandal of philosophy is only exceeded by the therapeutic scandal where many practices are promoted without any therapeutic value, and sometimes, worse, practices are promoted that are deleterious, adverse and sometimes fatal for the patient. On the other hand, philosophers can collectively debate topics with a productive degree of insight being produced/re-produced as a consequence with the re-employment of those individuals assured. Then, again, it should be noted that the phenomenological conducted in a critical-transcendental fashion has 'no position' on an object-level of formulation in terms of (its) meta-status (being transcendental by orientation). On the other hand, despite the inability of metaphor to literally mirror the world metaphor still 'metaphor' and allow us to appreciate the world, indeed, 'directly' through the auspices of the overall suspension. As we inhabit only one life-world it follows we are together in the same world with each other. A state of affairs which we can directly experience in and through the authenticity of the overall suspension! We are, of course, hopeful that the therapist is busy, but, as they already are in the process of therapeutic determination it follows that as the practice of the suspension, etc., merely flows from and self-refines our cognitive awareness of that type of critical process that the simultaneous adoption and adaptation of our overall suspension merely invests that process with an increased degree of self-awareness and overall critical awareness. That, in effect, such a pursuit is not a frivolous waste of time and effort but the simulation of the very type of process that might have intuitively resolved that situation! (34)

	"That, although the application of the overall suspension may be useful, the adoption of a mere philosophical technique cannot proffer a degree of critical awareness and sensitive responsiveness to that situation-to-hand?" (35)

Essentially, the overall transcendental suspension, within the ambit of the hermeneutic circle, merely seeks a resolution of the dissonance-to-hand in the state-of-affairs under such examination and investigation. In this resolution it has the power to effect change, initiate therapeutic processes of transformation, etc Therefore, this technique is not merely a philosophical argument or objective, etc., but a process with the power to effect proper and appropriate processes of change, i.e., with the ability to discharge itself in a therapeutic context with therapeutic intent!! (36)

	"But, I thought the phenomenologist preaches one deep transcendental form (and format) but instead seems to practice an investigation in keeping with their prejudices whose type can never be made commensurable with other types of prejudices by being centred in the perspectives of those prejudices?" (37)

	This is a good question and appears to be deeply insightful. However, let me reply that as the basic transcendental field establishes the function and effectiveness of our intentionality is realized between the polarizations of the archetypal moments of Ego, Object and World it follows that all forms of an overall suspension conducted with a thoroughness of suspension, reduction and re-constitution would re-produce this archetypal field. However, prejudices are prejudicial in their disposition and inhabit fields of value that are pre-biased in some distinctive manner or other in keeping with the value-flavour of that particular field of prejudgment. In other words, fields of value are already polarized fields whose preferential bias establishes the complexion or flavour of that field by virtue of the distinctive bias adopted and adapted by the bias of that value-field. E.g., an ethical bias of the deontological is a preference for the Ego pole and a reversed preference for the Object pole and the World pole. On the other hand, pragmatical judgments are conducted with a bias for the Ego pole and the World pole and a de-emphasized bias for the Object pole. For prejudice to speak in their perspective field of value it is necessary for them to merely maintain that type of bias by maintaining that degree of bias. On the other hand, finding commensurable patterns of passive insight and active responsibility necessitates a deeper degree of an overall transcendental suspension being put into effect through a greater degree of deconstructive de-preferentialization (in order to arrive at that one transcendental field in whose commensurability all value formation is arrived at with one flavour, namely, that of the apparently transcendental itself). In this light we need to note that questions of an ethical nature should continued to be conducted in an ethically biased field. On the other hand, the interaction between say deontological and pragmatic concerns necessitates a deeper approach, i.e., one on a higher/deeper level of increased epistemological organization. Effectively, I would say that deconstructive depreferentialization should be conducted to that degree that is productive of a transcendentally authentic response in keeping with the rhetorical nature of that transcendental inquiry! So an ethical inquiry only needs to be de-preferentialized to that extent that the sense of the ethical is maintained (and therein maintaining a preference upon the ego-moment). Similarly, a pragmatic inquiry preserves this basic double preference for the ego-moment and the world-moment. On the other hand, an inquiry that seeks to arbitrate ethical and pragmatical concerns needs to produce/re-produce a deeper level of de-preferentialization in order to find this middle ground between the same. As already argued, this middle ground acts as a fulcrum about which the activity of the response 'speaks' - ensuring that inquiry of a certain kind finds a pattern of resolution with the same type of voice. In the process ensuring our recognition/re-cognition of that response! (38)

	"Surely, all acts of judgment are the same, if you are correct in this transcendental hegemony that you so persistently insist upon, then in that case there could be no difference between one response and some other, that all responses as responses are equally valid implying that this preference of the so-called authentic versus the inauthentic should be, itself, de-preferentialized!" (39)

	Authenticity is the degree to which a judgmental process is allowed to speak for itself on its own behalf! Deconstructive de-preferentialization is one method for putting in place a well-established overall transcendental suspension. An adequate degree of deconstructive de-preferentialization conducted within the confines of the hermeneutic circle and not conducted outside it in the speculative reification of metaphorical entities in a pseudo-literal mode… In other words, a transcendental balance is entered into with an intensity adequate to the meta-textual rhetorical nature of the task to hand. A critical, self-referentially controlled release of value is realized in keeping with the nature and authenticity of those investigations. A particular type of value or value-hybrid maintaining the degree of preferentialization necessary to maintain the critical rhetorical flavour of those investigations! (40)

	"How is one to use this overall transcendental suspension… with what means is a therapist to use this therapeutic technique envisaged by the transcendental philosopher whether at the cutting edge of general medicine or at the coal face of psychiatry?" (41)

	Basically, the transcendental suspension, etc., is both an essential mirroring of the question under examination and the creation of a perspective outside the perspective through which that question was originally framed. This sense of perspective is the realization of a meta-perspective, that sense of perspective in which the presuppositions of the object-perspective are exposed or allow themselves to be inspected. In the object-perspective we get a simulation of the essential constitution of the phenomenon or phenomena under such close(r) examination. Both the object-perspective and the meta-perspective are written in the form of a suspension namely, respectively, a conjunctive suspension or i.e., a metaphorical reduction, and, a dis-conjunctive suspension, i.e., a rhetorical re-constitution. The psychic balance of these two suspensions giving us the third dialectical moment of the hermeneutic circle namely an existential suspension. Then, a balance of all three gives us the sense of the not-textual through whose suspension, in turn, we are given back the directness of contact enjoyed and suffered within this world through the fact that there can only be one life-world there-for-us in and through the oneness of this world-of-life! (42)

	"You state there is an intentional directness with the world (through the oneness of the life-world) and yet you talk about 'mirroring'. Your visual metaphors, I take it, are meant metaphorically and not to be taken literally?" (43)

Yes! Stated in a less technical manner one might say that through a suspension, etc., of that under examination one is given a 'perspective' to 'perceive' the way we were 'seeing' that under examination. In this more 'objective' setting an appreciation of the questions being asked allows us to better answer those lines of interrogation., indeed, allows us to better 'recognize'/'re-cognize' the type(s) of solution(s) (meta-textually) constructed in the constitution of those questions. That a question when well-formed already sets the stage for its well-formed answer or reply, or, at least a recognition of the same should it arise. In a metaphorical fashion it is as if we look into the 'microscopic detail' of the constitution of our phenomenon-to-be-examined and at the same time take a 'telescopic look' at it from the distance and thereby gain a deeper appreciation of our phenomenon-to-be-examined through the perspective of its embedded context. All 'apparent insight' reinforcing its insightful-like nature through the excess of value released through its experientially felt sense of relief, resolution, appropriate clarity, propriety, consequential empowerment, etc., experienced in that focused rhetorical setting set up through suspension, etc., as it would mirror the process of judgment itself if we had the transcendental 'eyes' to see the same (or at least a metaphorical pair that would do the same for us if only we were able to intuitively look at the very process of judgment itself in such a manner). (44)

	"Your model of insight as 'in-sight' is all very well, but, what is there to stop us from 'seeing things', i.e., accepting any presentation of a solution as truth itself when it merely impresses itself upon us in that type of fashion?" (45)

	In these essays I have defined a psychosis as an inability to suspend our ontological commitments, beliefs, etc. Through the auspice of the overall transcendental suspension we are given back that depth of perspective that stops us, or should stop us, from accepting any old response, reply, solution, interpretation as apparently true. Our acquaintance with the answer or answers given to our transcendental enquestioning are no longer read on a superficial level but in a perspective that also lets us 'see' the genesis of that apparent insight. Moreover, we are allowed to metaphorically taste it and therein discover to what degree and in what manner that response is appropriate and proper in the context of its being elicited in that act of enquestioning along with the an appreciation of its existential merit, i.e., to what extent there is a release of value above and beyond that merely supplied in the act of questioning itself - only accepting a certain response as a fit and proper reply when there is a considerable excess of value delivered in its elicitation… hence the following maxim that states: that the validity of an apparent verification is delivered through the apparent felicity of its elicitation! 'Felicity' being 'seen' or 'felt', i.e., experienced, as the degree of resolution realized in the proposal of that particular (type of) resolution and the manner of its propriety and appropriateness, etc., along with the degree of excess value realized therein as a consequence of that act of experiential resolution. (46)

	"But just as the psychotic person has no insight, or little apparent insight, why should we believe the transcendental specialist or therapist is in a better situation… surely the nonsense perpetrated by Freud, Fruedian psycho-analysts et al should alert us to be suspicious of such claims?" (47)

	Quite rightly! Such claims must be able to be argued for if only retrospectively through a re-examination conducted through a re-simulation of the very process as it is claimed to be undergone by that transcendental specialist or therapist, and, progressively through an examination of the apparent or potential consequences that would be unleashed through its adoption (and adaptation). In effect, through testing its apparent veracity through re-living our re-engagement with that phenomenon under investigation. (48)

	"But, surely, this would involve re-living the intentional motivation of some other person and that that is an impossible state of affairs to ask someone else to live let alone re-live?" (49)

	On paper you would seem to be correct. However, we live in a sea of meaning, a sea of shared meaning that intersubjectively informs the way 'we' see the world, this world-of-life. Moreover, all our subjective intentional processes leaves traces upon the fabric of the world from classical texts to traces that can also be 'read'. Furthermore, our intentionality is multi-modal in its tracings upon the fabric of the world and that as these tracings issue from the same source it follows that on a deep level of intentional formation (beyond layers of deception and self-deception) they are co-issued from the same relative unity and integrity of the psycho-physical organism that constitutes the phenomenon of personal identity that allows us to pass through this world as 'a' person in this life-world-with-others. Re-constituted within the ambit of the hermeneutic circle we can re-simulate the polarizations of significance re-realized in the form of sense, meaning and meaningfulness. Intersubjectively genre expectations are unlocked with textual evidence appropriate to the nature of that meta-textual 'lock'. Together, through the existential suspension they are re-constituted as the meaningfulness experienced by that individual in and through their relationship with that type of situation elicited through simulation and confirmed through processes of re-simulation that release degrees of excess value in line with meta-textual expectations. By these means intentionality is both lived and re-lived, shared and re-shared! Of course this does not mean our intentional lives are transparent before the gaze of other, only translucent as previous argued for. (50)

	"All very well, but, how does the transcendental therapist utilize this transcendental technique in the course of their practice?" (51)

	By doing everything that they have already done in the past and would be doing in the future, but, all conducted with a degree of mindfulness that establishes this sense of transcendental perspective, i.e., through a balanced suspension of all ontological commitments, epistemological expectations and existential routines; seeing the metaphorical as qua metaphorical, seeing the rhetorical as qua rhetorical, seeing the existential suspension as qua existential suspension; seeking a re-cognition of presuppositional positioning; through the evaluation of an apparently felicitous elicitation of an existential excess, etc., etc., essentially an intuitive process that mirrors the judgmental processes that initially appear to ideally establish that phenomenon or set of phenomena in the first place. By such means ensuring that well-formed questions provoke well-formed answers reinforced by the nature and mutual confirmation of their positioning in this one world-of-life as the life-world itself shares us and as we find ourselves being shared in this-sea-of-meaning. (52)

	"You seem to make this life-world something that we cannot escape, so why bother to put this complex technique to work when it is already working for us?" (53)

Because what we can do we can do better through such reflection! Such reflection giving us a better sense of perspective, a deeper understanding of both the motivation of others and our own motivation however mysterious both must seem at first on an initial inspection despite the fact that apparent motivation can only be translucent or relatively transparent and never absolutely transparent. Because our own motivation and the motivation of others can never be opaque this fact thereby always gives us a place to begin in our unravelling of the same; a process that need only note the essentially prominent features iterated therein! (54)

"So the deconstructive de-preferentialialization of our hierarchically organized preferences is a therapeutic process both for the transcendental philosopher and the transcendental therapist through this augmentation of insight, perspective, response, enquestioning, transcendental re-positioning, etc?!” (55)

	Yes! But a process finessed more in intuitive terms of reference by being able to do better through such reflection what is already being done relatively well in the course of our daily lives; an intuitive repeating of ourselves without repeating ourselves so to speak. (56)

	"Can you summarize your 'no-position' or presupositional meta-position, i.e., your transcendental position on the therapeutic use of the overall transcendental suspension?" (57)

In summary I would like to say that the therapeutic ramifications of an informed judgment conducted with propriety and appropriateness, in accordance with this vision of the life-world, is given a therapeutic 'voice' in keeping with the nature and degree of the transcendental suspension, etc., required in that process of its re-questioning and re-answering in that therapeutic context. All that is apparently relevant to our task is re-simulated  in order to help us to 'hear' or 're-hear' and re-cognize the eventual 'reply' provoked by such enquestioning. Therein and thereafter we measure the merit of that reiterated transcendental productivity expressed through the form of value as rooted in one or more of those six transcendental fields of value. A 'complex voice' merely requiring a greater accommodational depth of suspension, etc., but never, therefore, the performance of an absolute suspension, etc., of that value forming and re-forming process by virtue of the fact that all forms of value need to be expressed through one or more of those six fields of value! (and never in an absolutely pure transcendental field of valueless-value). Therein realizing an 'authenticity of voice' whether in therapeutic practice or therapeutic reflection (by virtue of the fact that the ‘tenor’ of that voice is already acquired by its psychic situation in the [mapping of] the life-world through being centred in the type of value being suspended, etc., therein). (58)

	"So you also use metaphors of hearing besides those of the visual. In your use of the metaphor of 'voice' what is meant by your use of the adjective authentic (whether complex or simple in its intentional formation)?" (59)

	Authenticity of voice being that degree an overall transcendental suspension is conducted within the auspices of the hermeneutic circle and is not allowed to migrate beyond the ambit of the same into and through the distorted territory of speculation, reification, projection, fantasy, polarized desire, obsession, delusion, psychosis, etc., a territory circumnavigated through the non-privileging of our ontological beliefs, epistemological expectations and existential distortions of current desires in the form of conditioned routines, etc. Conducted with therapeutic intent 'therapeutic intent' is realized within the auspices of the overall transcendental suspension to that degree 'felt' appropriate and proper to the therapeutic task to hand, to that extent this type of project can be currently realized… Therapeutic intent being properly attended to in a complex field that already straddles the pragmatic and the deontological, etc!!(60)

	“Therefore, the transcendental practitioner is merely better attending to what is already being done… would I be correct in this assessment? (61)

	In a word, “yes!” (62)

4.   How Does Authenticity through Suspension Define the Sense of ‘Spiritual’?

	Value is released as an excess created/re-created in the simulation of the relational situation that value finds itself being expressed/re-expressed through. As an excess what is expressed is basically the essential nature of that relationship, itself greater than the sum of its constituent parts, components or participants. Hence value puts us in touch with the relatively relational, in effect, the relatively spiritual simply defined as the relatively non-material. What are the religious and non-religious ramifications of this sense of the ‘spiritual’? For a start by the very nature of the suspension one does not need to define the spiritual in terms of the relatively religious! On the other hand, a religious reading of this expression is possible as long as the suspension, etc., is maintained implying that the spiritual significance of this term remains transcendentally qualified in metaphorical-rhetorical-existential territory, etc., i.e., remains within the transcendental suspension, etc. Otherwise we stray beyond the speculative qua speculative, reify ontological commitments, enshrine epistemological expectations, set existential practices in the routinization of liturgical concrete or its equivalent, etc., etc. (63)

	So this expression 'spiritual' can be read in a religious frame of reference with the above qualifications, or, it can be read in a non-religious frame of reference as I wish to use it in this Postscript (and in the course of these Essays). (64)

	The relatively spiritual is the relatively non-material, i.e., essentially the relational or, more correctly, the relatively relational. An orientation that is pro-relational in its aspirations is therefore, in effect, relatively spiritual in its orientation according to this definition. What importance can this type of expression possess in the context of a transcendental philosophy and for the transcendental therapist in their dealings with a patient? (65)

	Many expressions have a relatively greater implication of the relational. E.g., words like ‘community’ or ‘society’, ‘friend’ or ‘relative’, ‘lover’ or ‘enemy’, ‘parent and child’, etc., etc. Such terms have a marked relational component, indeed, could not operate without the same. With a recognition of this fact we can now note that it is a task of the transcendental therapist to existentially promote this relational facet embedded in such terms in order to promote the more organized functioning of the same and therein to promote a greater sense of integrity within the relational contexts those relationships are found within. By re-centring these relationships in the authenticity of their own being they stand to benefit by being more in tune with their apparent nature, in effect, a process of existential rectification through such transcendental purification within the auspices of the hermeneutic circle as expressed through the overall transcendental suspension, etc. A consequence of this re-spirtualization of our interaction within this world-of-life is (our being) therapeutic (therein within this vision of the life-world)! Hence the therapeutic significance of this term 'spiritual' (defined as relatively non-material and relatively relational in aspiration and orientation) and the need for the therapist, when proper and appropriate, to existentially transform our relationships in the light of their relative authenticity, in effect, assisting our relationships to be more true to form when such coincidence and consistency is called for (through this existentialization of the relatively inauthentic). This sense of the vocative, when existentially addressed, giving us not only a sense of profession but also a sense of professionalism! In essence, the ability to reclaim an authenticity in tune with the very nature of that relationship, those other relationships we also enter into, and, the overall existential flavour of the interaction between those relationships. This negotiation of the life-world being assisted by the prior construction of various adopted genres whose interaction can also assist us in their interaction and adaptation, or rather their ongoing re-adaptation to the circumstances currently to hand. (66)

	So, with this theoretical stance as outlined, how would we transmute a difficult and non-therapeutic situation-to-hand into a less adverse, more therapeutically-oriented rectification of that same state of affairs? (67)

	In general terms of reference, I believe, this could be done along the following lines although such proposals should not be treated in a dogmatic fashion being seen as only general guidelines demanding in particular situations individually appropriate responses determined by the spirit of that situation itself (through a sympathetic re-simulation of the same). E.g., through the ‘internal’ ‘psychic’ interaction of an informed transcendental suspensions, etc., the re-simulated context of that relational situation as discovered in its set of essentially understood relational contexts, etc., should be able to ‘declare’ not only an understanding of the same through reflection but also patterns of appropriate and proper behaviour through active-reflection, the transcendental fact that transcendental reflection can never be purely passive in the scope of its transcendental ambition. Such desired intentional motivation being unleashed through various techniques such as the suspension, etc., of our ontological beliefs relevant to that situation to hand; the suspension, etc., of our epistemological expectations concerning that type of situation; the suspension, etc., of our existential routines automatically adopted in the course of our ‘normal’ behaviour in that type of situation and which truly stand in need of re-existentialization, etc. The same type of existential response being elicited through other techniques such as the adoption of a radical deconstructive de-preferentialization of a cultural view-point and/or individual points-of-view therein, etc. Through a controlled scepticism; a radical rhetorical examination of attitudes; an ‘emotionally’ balanced mindfulness; a ‘systematic’ interrogation of our presuppositions; a desire to think ‘outside the square’ so to speak; a careful balancing of our prejudices with their counter-equivalents; a searching for processes of harmonization in the re-setting of aspirations, etc., etc. (68)

	To make this transcendental project more approachable let me address these concerns of practicality with an examination of how one might go about addressing the SARS epidemic effectively, in a humane fashion and in keeping with the explicit and implicit injunctions demanded by this type of transcendental program? (69)

5.   Segregation in the Age of Sars… How Should We Proceed?

	In this day and age with the rapid dissemination of information, when it is not obstructed by political institutions or institutional inertia, we now have a chance to stop epidemics in their tracks before they can sweep around the world and considerably add to the unfortunate suffering already present in this world! On some occasions epidemics in livestock have been successfully contained. Often this has been achieved by the massive slaughter of all potentially infected livestock. This option is not open to us in a human epidemic, thankfully (although some totally misguided, short-sighted utilitarian philosophers might be tempted to argue for this type of approach which would only demonstrates the defectiveness of this narrow, inhumane style of ‘calculative’ philosophy)! (70)

	The next option appears to be, in lieu of effective medication (rather than merely symptomatic treatment), isolation of sick individuals and potentially infected individuals from each other, and, the isolation of the former from the general population. Now, how can such a policy be conducted humanely?! (71)

	The ineffectively conducted practice of isolation may merely slow down the spread of the epidemic, or, even accelerate it under panic-like conditions. In China the advent of certain rumours about the imposition of draconian measures merely accelerated the panic and in the process a large number of people translocated and therein potentially accelerated the spread of the epidemic. How could we learn from our reflection upon this type of occurrence and position ourselves in such a way as to prevent its re-occurrence or prevent the same type of occurrence from happening elsewhere? (72)

	As implicitly intimated above we should have a policy that deals, in this instance, with three interconnected sub-policies which, in turn, should deal appropriately and properly with currently sick individuals, individuals that may have been exposed to sick individuals but are not currently sick, and the general populace at large currently escaping the onslaught of that epidemic. Now, such a policy must be humane in its fundamental ambition and will also need to be relatively comprehensive, integrated, appropriate and proper, possess a clarity and simplicity in its statement of overall theory and in the universal pattern of its particular practice. Moreover, a policy in general needs to be relatively comprehensive in its dealing with all expected relevant types of occurrences, and, integrated both overall between its policy sections and within the same. In tune with its existential and transcendental commitments, etc., it must be formulated as a humane policy; doing this by accommodating in transcendental depth both the pragmatically 'appropriate' and deontologically 'proper'! These two types of relatively incommensurable value can be authentically accommodated when our transcendentally active-reflection is conducted from a deeper transcendental perspective situated within the ambit of the hermeneutic circle as previously argued elsewhere. Hence the humane character of this type of policy, itself a (transcendentally) necessary reflection of this transcendental approach being argued for in this Postscript, etc. (73)

	Now, nowhere above, in this general depiction of a good policy, need the word 'transcendental' been uttered! Yet, in the making of judgments the transcendental is absolutely implicated! An examination of these implications would reveal what for us? For a start, appropriateness and propriety are transcendentally produced/re-produced. Similarly an inspection of integrity qua integrity demands a transcendental process to both instantiate and validate it, etc. Moreover, an individualization or part-individualization of that policy and its various options is also a transcendental affair, etc. Overall, the sense (meaning and meaningfulness) of the transcendental is continually articulated through its network of choices confronting each of those options that need to be adopted and adapted or avoided and not-adopted…. (74)

	How is this policy to be formulated in a humane fashion both overall and within its three sub-branches of application? (75)

	Ideally, the necessary practice of isolation should be conducted in a spirit of authenticity and not in an inauthentic manner! How can that be prepared for, exercised and critically reflected upon retrospectively and prospectively? Through correctly considering ethical deontological matters appropriately, and correctly considering all appropriate questions of pragmatic utility with propriety! To this end, the policy should be relatively simple in its conclusions and recommendations; formulated with a clarity through non-ambiguity, etc., maintain a prioritization of all overall field mechanisms within that policy and with in its branches, etc., in such a manner as to reinforce the truly apparent transparency of its humane aspirations! (76)

	On a more human level people should be told what the policy is and that a humane program is being undertaken. An informed public is a public less prone, if not ‘immune’, to the panic of the deadly mixture of rumours mixed in with facts. So, in this light, the sick should be isolated in an adequate medical setting that can appropriately treat current sickness symptomatically (in lieu of an effective direct course of action) and all other needs within reason should be reasonably met. Contaminated and potentially contaminated materials being appropriately treated. In contrast, the non-sick but potentially infected subjects should be isolated, perhaps at home on a voluntary basis, and only allowed to have this status changed if they either become sick, in which case they should be placed in an isolation ward in the nearest hospital and properly and appropriately cared for, or discharged should they prove not to be infected, or if non-symptomatically infected are now in a post-infection phase. Whilst 'detained' they should be regularly checked either by themselves or by properly and appropriately trained personal for those necessary tasks that need to be conducted (like taking temperatures, etc., preparation of statistics, etc., general logistics, etc.). The needs of these ‘patients’ within reason should also be properly and appropriately met, like the delivery of prepared/non-prepared food, etc. Potentially contaminated material being appropriately treated as before. With respect to the populace at large they should be regularly checked or self-checked and treated appropriately should they show signs of an illness that might or might not be SARS and treated accordingly. That in the course of this epidemic, the population should be informed that the care of the person and the care of the community are both priorities of this overall policy. That certain powers of legal enforcement will only be use if cooperation has not be given to those entrusted to the carrying out of this policy, etc. Essentially, informing the populace that this policy is designed with them in mind - that if they get sick they will be properly looked after in conjunction with a humane approach to the stopping of this infection from being spread! The imposition of restrictions on travel, etc., imposed upon the total population also being designed and enunciated with that in mind. (77)

	I am sure that a humane policy, appropriately and properly constructed in this regard, would be soon recognized as such, and, people would, in the main, willingly proffer their services and cooperation thereby swiftly bringing this epidemic to a stand-still if not an eventual oblivion within that society (assuming that its re-introduction is also effectively stopped by the appropriate and proper measures needed for that type of eventuality also being correctly in place). (78)

	How can such a policy be well-designed and appropriately formulated. In and through the adoption and adaptation of transcendental techniques that facilitate and refine the formulation and execution of the same! Such as, e.g., the suspension, etc., of all individual, cultural and political ontological commitments, the suspension, etc., of all individual, cultural and political epistemological expectations, the suspension, etc., of all individual, cultural and political existential routines, etc; the existential promotion of individual relationships and inter-relational harmony, etc; setting out to develop the best, direct therapeutic transmutation of adversity, etc; and, entertaining those possibilities of response that are relatively appropriate and proper; in this overall process setting out to search for and recognize those modes of opportunity that best foster develop these objectives and ideals! An ideal better promoted through open debate, the rapid dissemination of all relevant information, and, a willingness to be open and responsive to criticism, both personal and collective in orientation, by those both formulating policy and carrying it out and have the political role of ensuring that such processes are properly and appropriately in place!! (79)

	The use of the overall transcendental suspension, when appropriately and properly adopted and adapted, being a guarantee that we will no longer treat people to a process of denigration as occurred to so-called 'witches' and other individuals and communities exhibiting a degree of difference found difficult to tolerate by the dominating and dominant facets of a society or community, and, often, indeed, by other minorities themselves. (80)

	That, basically, it is a fact of experience that a well-constructed, humane policy and a well-informed public would work together to best realize those policy ambitions! Hence the role the transcendental would have in our research to define, refine and design the execution of our practical responses in such an emergency! However, this overall task is made more simple for us by realizing that a culture that has the power to recognize the nature of this emergency must already have to-hand the means to contain it, etc. Hence, ultimately, the transcendental role of policy formulation is merely to facilitate a more integrated approach to the same through the necessary existentialization of this material already to-hand! Hence the therapeutic implications of our transcendental approach in the critical re-thematization of current policies, etc., treated as the relevant pre-judgmental ‘prejudices’ in this regard, and, the realization therefrom of the existential therapeutic transformation of that situation of relative adversity that the therapist finds themselves being invited or self-invited to deal with…!  (81)

6.   Without Conclusion: Moving Beyond the 'Therapy' of the Postmodern…

	The (house)work of a transcendental phenomenologist is never done! Forever condemned to work with the provisional no conclusion is ever conclusive. On the other hand, there is a great satisfaction to be obtained in the ongoing course of their deliberations by virtue of the fact that there is an existential delight to be had in experiencing/re-experiencing the relatively new, in discovering the novel and exploring the relatively insightful… (82)

	However, let me proffer a temporary conclusion in the recognition that subjecting current therapeutic practices themselves to a course of therapy is the way we move beyond therapy… the primary motive, I believe, underlying this set of essays. Just how do we ‘see beyond’ current theories to their associated practices, and vice versa? Furthermore, in this process of ‘trying to see beyond’ it is my belief that we are entering into a new era of cultural endeavour, that appropriate to a new era of the Contemporary and a final moving through and beyond the definite limitations of the Postmodern!! Indeed, the discovery of a new ‘spiritual’ receptivity to the fact of our being within the life-world together as both individuals and members of society with a relatively greater freedom of choice to respond appropriately and properly to our current situations to-hand. Let me elaborate and argue for this particular finding…. (83)

	As previously hinted at the transcendental specialist, be they a philosopher or therapist, etc., re-does what is already being done but from a transcendental perspective. Through a process of transcendental re-iteration they effectively relearn how to do what they have already done but better, with a greater degree of facility, expertise and successfulness… with a greater degree of insightfulness, etc! Hence this transcendental philosophic approach is not esoteric but merely a recovery of what is already to-hand. (84)

	Repetition can never be just mere repetition! The repeated can never be repeated! In the process it becomes something new. To attempt the illusion of an act of conclusion in this Postscript, and this Set of Essays, let me discuss a philosophy of repetition. Let me outline three types of repetition, the manner of their interrelationship, and, their relation both to the hermeneutic circle and the overall transcendental suspension. To this end, in this regard, let me once more repeat myself… (85)

	When the form of that repeated is closely followed then repetition can be classified as mere repetition. Psychically, close repetition soon looses out attention and that subjected to processes of mere repetition is experienced as relatively background when 'looked at' from a gestalt point of view. The consonance of such experience forming the essential field of that being examined. On the other hand, the introduction of significant change in the form being repeated introduces an element of sheer interest hence my classification of this type of change as sheer repetition. Because of this introduction of novelty our attention upon the same becomes naturally focused. Hence this sense of repetitive difference becomes the relative focal point of our interest. This sense of the dissimilar being experienced as difference, dissonance, competition, conflict, etc. Now, the relationship between consonance and dissonance leads to a position of harmonization when that process of harmonization occurs through an accommodation between these two types of repetition and is itself repeated as a process of bare repetition. These three moment constituting both the overall transcendental suspension as exercised within the ambit of the hermeneutic circle. At the same time each type of repetition being mutually co-determined by each other through joint negation, i.e., e.g., bare repetition is defined as the negation of both mere repetition and sheer repetition, etc.  Intentionality being made evident to consciousness through the reiteration of that pattern of harmonization hence the classification of this third moment of (dialectical harmonic accommodation) as a process of bare repetition through it being ‘set-up’ to be iterated and thereby reinforcing the recognition of this ‘intent’ performed by the collective interaction of these three moments (themselves types of suspension) within the hermeneutic circle itself equivalent to the overall suspension (through the collective suspension of the same in the introduction of the not-textual, and its suspension in our experience of the direct immediacy of the life-world through our living/re-living of the ‘text’, etc.). Moreover, as intentionality is dependent upon all three types of difference and a reiteration of the same hence the significance of bare repetition in the thematization of intent both for the agent themselves and for some other agent through a textual transmission of a text or set of texts involving processes of bare repetition (of this harmonic relationship between mere repetition and sheer repetition realized through provocative accommodation when a middle ground between the same becomes therein demarcated). This complex understanding of the hermeneutic circle/the overall transcendental suspension has been addressed in miscellaneous sections of these essays and elsewhere – the basic point I want to make is that repetition can never be just pure mere repetition. That granted, in accordance with my understanding, I discerned the interaction of these three types of repetition as constituting the hermeneutic circle, itself, in turn, being equivalent to the overall transcendental suspension (to that extent it is operating authentically in intentional consciousness). That by such a ‘medium’ the life-world engages us and we it and, therein, the therapeutic is realized through the transcendental ‘purification’ of our intentional processes allowing the spirit of authenticity to enact all those therapeutic practices, etc., necessary for this instantiation of the spiritual to more successfully emerge in the course of our lives as lived with others in this one world-of-life! (86)

	These three moments parallel the functioning of the hermeneutic circle as previously discussed on a number of occasions in this Set of Essay and elsewhere. Moreover, the same mirrors the structural-function of the overall transcendental suspension as argued for in the course of these essays (and papers). It is by these means that phenomenological sense, hermeneutical meaning and existential meaningfulness is realized within the open confines of the life-world. A transcendental specialist merely re-iterating what has already been done albeit with this difference, namely, a greater degree of mindfulness and insight into the very intentional constitution of their being conscious in this world, this one world-of-life. Through transcendental re-iteration the transcendental specialist merely does what the non-specialist has done already except better because the same is now exercised with a greater degree of insight along with a greater facility for appropriate and proper practice! Not that such insight and facility of practice is realized in an absolute manner! The absolute purification of the transcendental cannot be achieved and need not be achieved even if this impossible task were able to be achieved. All that is necessary is that an adequate degree of an overall transcendental suspension be re-simulated and therein re-performed at the ‘point’ in the life-world where we ‘centre’ our overall suspensions through simulation/re-simulation. The suspension of our prejudices will centre us in the life-world exactly where we need to be but can never centre us in that life-world itself although this ‘psychic mid-point’ is forever a centre for the collective totality of ‘our’ transcendental investigations into this one-world-of-life. (87)

	Far from being an esoteric pursuit the exercise of an overall transcendental suspension is merely the re-iteration of our closer attention to the way things have already been done, albeit, now re-conducted with a relatively greater degree of critical finesse and insight. In our desire to go beyond therapy this is the path that must be trodden, or rather, re-trodden! A middle path between the dogmatic-absolutist and the nihilistic-relativist! A path, in being followed, that has important ramifications for the re-iteration of theoretical, practical and critical spheres of concern. A path whose philosophical consequences are therapeutic in those three spheres of the theoretical, practical and critical as collectively embrace by this world-of-life… the therapeutic by definition being the transformation of a relatively adverse situation to a situation of relatively less adversity…. (88)

That, through repetition we are both confined in this world-of-life and given our freedom to operate therein. That freedom being magnified through transcendental reflection as exercised through its skilful 'spiritual' adoption and adaptation of transcendental re-iteration(s) in its addressing each relational situation at face-value on its own grounds of being-there-for-us in this sea-of-significance before-others! (89)

That by such means we learn to step beyond therapy as currently practiced… our exit and our entry being via the overall transcendental suspension… realized through iteration… and critically facilitated through transcendental re-iteration… doing better what has already been done, but with this difference… that ultimately there is no difference… since the transcendental is the existential treatment of the relatively non-transcendental, the latter being, merely, the de-existentialization of the relatively transcendental… that only through transcendental re-iteration is value re-existentialized and re-realized as therapeutic… and spiritual… as all value, whether relatively authentic or relatively inauthentic in orientation is re-simulated through transcendental re-iteration..!! (90)

Hence the impossibility of going beyond the transcendentally therapeutic..!!! (91) 

	So, on one hand, we can go beyond therapy, and, on the other hand, we cannot go beyond the transcendentally therapeutic. Do we have a paradox here or only the superficial appearance of one? (92)

	I don’t mean to be confusing but a subtle distinction is in place that needs to be clarified through unpacking the paradox in a manner that renders it no longer paradoxical but, in its stead, dialectical, in essence, the excavation or clearing of a middle position between correlative polarities in such a manner as to reflect the phenomenological reality of the situation, or type of situation, to hand. But, to confuse things let me do this through unpacking what does seem to be a paradox when I state:

	We are to repeat ourselves without repeating ourselves! (93)

	As I have argued already, in our transcendental transformation of our-being-in-this-world-of life we must start from a position of prejudice, i.e., those patterns of behaviour, as genres of activity, already predetermined by our being in a cultural-world-of-lived-interpretation. Adherence to such patterns as ‘mere prejudices’ would be to entertain them through ‘mere repetition’. Hence we are ‘doomed’ to repeat ourselves! However, on the other hand, if life is lived in the transcendental immediacy of the life-world qua life-world then we are no longer ‘doomed’ to just fall back upon mere habit. Instead, ‘habit’ is now only the raw material for an attitude of authenticity wherein we re-live the existential immediacy of our being in the world through the auspice of the overall suspension wherein we are thrown both within the imminent from a transcendent point of view and returned to a transcendent point of view from our simultaneous immersion in the imminent, and v.v., etc. This ongoing balancing of the imminent and the transcendent is instrumental in re-creating an overall transcendental suspension (hence a transcendent point of view can never by itself be a transcendental point of view!).Now, as the overall suspension is in play, is already in play, it follows that a de-suspension of the overall suspension should reveal the presence of one or both of the other two moments of the merely repetitive metaphorical or/and the sheerly repetitive rhetorical. Thence this involvement with sheer repetition, harmonic resolution, etc., suggests that there is a strong element of a creative finessing of the hermeneutic circle hence our ability to existentially and creatively participate in its largesse, its excess of transcendental value… and therein our ability to be original despite our utilization of genres of activity in our passage through this world-of-life. Hence our repeating ourselves without repeating ourselves! Our escape from mere habit despite our utilization of habit as a point of original transformation in the existential light of our current relationships! Those relationships, through their relatively internal and external processes of interaction, revealing to us the life-world as seen from their own points of view and, therein, from our individual perspective which then become our own point(s) of view. Therein we repeat ourselves without repeating ourselves! Otherwise to fall back(wards) on(to) mere habit is to loose our existential sense of being in this world in an equal measure. (94)

	Now, what light does this throw on being able to go beyond therapy and, at the same time, not being able to go beyond the transcendentally therapeutic? (95)

I have argued that we can go beyond the realm of therapy because that is the non-existential realm of mere habit (and bad faith or, rather, lost faith)! On the other hand, through the existentialization of the relatively inauthentic the transcendentally appropriate cum transcendentally therapeutic is realized (theoretically [as an ideal], practically [through process] and critically [through passive and(/or) active transcendental reflection]). In other words, the existential appropriateness of the transcendentally therapeutic cannot currently be advanced, improved upon since that is truly the ‘best’ practice that could be achieved at that moment in time by that person or persons in that particular region of space within such and such a cultural-world-of-interpretation/re-interpretation, etc. As I have argued previously, authenticity is not the existentialization of the authentic but the existentialization of the relatively inauthentic! Hence we can go beyond therapy but we cannot currently go beyond what is currently the transcendentally therapeutic!! The trick being to repeat ourselves without repeating ourselves. Hence we would misunderstand completely the nature of transcendental re-iteration if it were to be mis-perceived as the mere repeat performance of what, retrospectively, has already taken place! Therefore transcendental re-iteration is not mere transcendental iteration! Moreover, the current authenticity of the transcendentally therapeutic cannot be exceeded through the existential fact that authenticity is the existentialization of the relatively inauthentic and never the existentialization of the relatively authentic!! Thence the appropriateness and propriety of the transcendentally therapeutic when in tune with the ‘life of that relationship’ cannot be currently exceeded!!! Therefore we can go beyond the currently therapeutic through the utilization of an overall transcendental suspension, but, at the same time, we can never go beyond the appropriateness and propriety of the overall suspension when performed with apt appropriateness and due propriety in keeping with the nature of that relationship and the nature of its relationship within its own relational context – a process that rarely is problematic for us as we always have a starting place to begin, or, rather, re-begin, through a ‘mindful’ re-performance of precedent!!!! Hence the apparent paradox can be resolved in this light of a need to live in and through this semblance of a transcendental transmutation, i.e., purification, of our being in this world-of-life through this repetition of practice wherein there is no mere repetition of mere habit… and life is lived afresh every moment in a trans-valued life of constant rediscovery…. (96)
	
    Noël Tointon, Sydney, 24.5.03/8.6.03.