which can lead to such deeply meaningful experiences increases our chances of survival, not to mention peace of mind. Anything one can do to support the profound significance, as opposed to trivialization, of such a process should help. The first step probably has to be a reaffirmation of the importance of deep introspection in one’s own life. Clearly psychotherapy is not the only way to do this, but it is a very good place to start.
References
Goldhagen, Daniel Jonah, Hitler’s Willing Executioners: Ordinary Germans and The Holocaust, 1996, Alfred A. Knopf, New York, 640 pages.
May, Gerald G. Will and Spirit, 1987, Harper, San Francisco, 368 pages.
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ADDENDUM
Since this paper was originally drafted, two things have occurred which call for additional comments. The first of these is the series of tragic events which took place on 9-11-01. The second is the response of the editor to the first draft. Among other things she notes that deep introspection might lead to the desire for violence, rather than the opposite, and that many good and moral people do not introspect and have never experienced psychotherapy.
In the weeks after September 11, like many others, I found myself very curious about the motivational dynamics of those who had been willing to kill so many others. What began to emerge for me was a picture of young men who had been completely cut off from meaningful interpersonal support for introspection since they were very young. This means not only the deprivation of anything as structured and formal as psychotherapy, but also the absence of any opportunity for more informal interpersonal exchanges having to do with