What is called for in such a case is not some procedure that “solves his problem.” Rather, it is to pause and to give attention to the fact that his thinking and feeling is dominated, through and through, by a set of self-contradictory demands or “needs” so that as long as such thinking and feeling prevail, there is no way to put things right. It takes a great deal of energy and seriousness to “stay with” an awareness of this fact, rather than to “escape” by allowing the mind to dart into some other subject, or otherwise lose awareness of the actual state of affairs. Such attention, going
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