An excerpt from MENTORING:
My defining term for conformists are 'White Sheep'. My term
for those who have something unique and potentially beneficial to the
world that can only be delivered through forms of non-conformity is
'Black Sheep'. Within the mechanism of this (apparently) simple
definition is everything from Hitler to Gandhi. It is important to
recognise in which camp you should reside, because then it is easier to
recognise that one camp needs the other.
In the same context, a psychologist/psychiatrist may not be able to
cure a condition or even diagnose exactly what that condition is - but
they can point the way. From this, a patient may recognise there is a
problem and search answers and compromises from within themselves. The
journal recognises (through hard experience and the timely reminders
from the wisdom of others) that allowing others to see themselves
through their impact on those around them is the most promising way for
an individual to search within for a better self.
The journal was particularly harsh with me. Or was it that it was
disturbingly blunt? Or was it that it let me off too lightly?
I still don't know.
Because the more, and further, I looked within? I simply came across
towns, then nations, then worlds, then universes of thought and
motivations that (in the end) made the idea of "Know thyself!" an
impossible task. But perhaps, an entry in one of the last journal books
did manage to explain and convey the reason for this inner complexity -
and why it is so hard for our outer consciousness to assemble anything
other than a simplified summary from our "inner nations".
Given this, I hope you will see that the task facing your profession is
mountainous. I don't think a psychologist can be blamed for
misdiagnosing. All he/she receives is a garbled summary (most probably)
from the patient of the 'simplified summary' that has emerged, or is
emerging, from that patient's outer consciousness.
With every patient, a psychologist/psychiatrist is attempting to
summarise a 'forum' of thousands (or possibly millions).