And we should call every truth false which was not accompanied by at least one laugh.
Friedrich Nietzsche
These blogs come from experiences and conversations I have had with myself and other people over the last twenty-five years or so while becoming and un-becoming a Nietzschean Psychotherapist.
The blogs that are from my “personal life” are non-fiction. For those that include people I work with I have sought permission and have anonymised and fictionalised some of the content while retaining the spirit of the encounter.
Fiction is history that might have happened. History is fiction that did happen.
André Gide
How to approach my writing
It has gradually become clear to me what every great philosophy up till now has consisted of—namely, the confession of its originator, and a species of involuntary and unconscious auto-biography…
Friedrich Nietzsche
If truth were a butterfly,
its truth gets expressed as it flutters by.
Where truth has passed on, an impression remains...
of the flitting about of a butterfly.
Its disappearance the only proof it once existed,
not from memory,
through affect.
From a human perspective the life-span of truths and butterflies might seem fleeting and full, and yet we do not know how they experience life. We only have our own as a yardstick, and besides, human life is not so different – it too is fleeting and full.
One of the main challenges in becoming a butterfly is in learning how to keep from falling back into caterpillar thought. The memory of having been a caterpillar might seem important, and yet learning how to forget is key to becoming a butterfly. Transforming into a butterfly is a process by which you do not know who you are becoming.
These blogs can be read as a sort of journal on the process of becoming a butterfly.
Latest from my Blog
Wanting doesn’t get what you’ve already got
‘I am really angry with you.’ ‘Why?’ I reply. ‘You’re not listening to me.’ ‘What makes you think I’m not listening?’ Martha pauses, apparently considering the question, ‘Okay, so you do listen but I don’t think you get me, I don’t feel seen and you don’t show empathy. It’s like you have no compassion.’ ‘Ah,’…
Your erection is my transitional object?
‘I don’t really have anything else to say, how about you?’ David hands the session over to me. As this is our last session for six months these remaining minutes may become significant. ‘There is something I could share,’ my voice sounds hesitant and uncertain though it feels more excited than anything else. I had…
The value of hate
Following my previous blog, Forgiveness as a form of revenge I intended for this one to describe how hate is a better alternative to forgiveness (without itself being revenge). However when confronted with the unforgivable, hate is so much more. Hate is a better way to heal pain and let go of hurt and resentment.…
I practice as a Nietzschean Psychotherapist and am a fully accredited psychotherapist with the UKCP (Council for Psychotherapy). I see people in person in Cambridge, England, and online with people from further afield and overseas. I work with individuals, couples and other intimate systems, and in groups. I offer executive and leadership coaching in business, science, tech, law, the arts, academia and from voluntary and religious organisations. I am also a clinical supervisor, trainer and writer.
Nietzschean Psychotherapist 