--- In nathaniel_branden@yahoogroups.com, "R. Christian Ross"
<reason.on@g...> wrote:

> A message from Dr. Branden:
>
> Recently I announced that in addition to my practice
> of psychotherapy, I was now engaged in the practice of life
> coaching. ...
>
>
> Psychotherapy, traditionally, rests on the premise that
> the client has been damaged by some past event(s), and
> needs to be "fixed" or healed.

> Traditional therapy is about excavating and neutralizing
> negatives. Life coaching is about liberating positives.
> It is about putting the client in touch with his or her
> own wisdom and creativity.
>
> To quote one life coach, "Life coaching is about designing
> a future, not about getting over the past."

To my thinking, this shift in emphasis is an excellent
notion.

For a number of weeks I've been thinking about why
Objectivist-oriented groups seem incapable of dis-
cussion that does not degenerate into a disgusting
spectacle of bitter acrimony.

There are, of course, many reasons, but I'm convinced
that one of them is an often-morbid preoccupation with
the issues and "battles" and "heroes" of the past.

I've been rethinking the direction We the Thinking will
take in the new year, and in recent months have concluded
that Objectivism is in many important ways "behind the
curve" in thinking about issues that will shape the world
of the 21st century--way behind.

When the site redesign is complete, I plan to shift the
editorial emphasis toward the future and what I believe
are the truly shocking consequences for humankind--barely
glimpsed by most--of technological developments in the
next few decades. (For one thing, most of what we think
we know about politics and ethics may well become quickly
obsolete!)

I find it both curious and encouraging that Dr. Branden
is apparently also seeing fit to shift the emphasis of
his activity. We can learn from looking at the past, of
course, but we do not benefit from being stuck there.

Life-coaching is a forward-thinking approach, and soon
the need for that will become more apparent than ever.

Nathan Hawking
www.wethethinking.com