Pain-2-Power: Human Beings as Works of Art

In my view, being human means having the capacity to experience and to give love (often, through a miracle called human empathy) and to reason and make choices.  It also means having the opportunity to embrace the truth about oneself, including one’s life story, back to its early chapters, in order to make sense of the effects these chapters have had upon one’s psyche and soul.  As human beings we the have the remarkable potential to change and become more truthful, more intuitive, more loving, more creative and more successful.  None of this would be possible, in my opinion, without human beings having a spiritual core—a miraculous internal self.

I see every human being as a masterpiece, in the making.  No work of art is created without new brushstrokes being added, or wise edits being made, or without the willingness to believe that one has a destiny to fulfill.

I once purchased a beautiful painting of a man and woman dancing together at sunset, in an apartment bathed by the last light of the day.  Before I bought it, I looked at the back of the canvas, where the artist had written in pen, “2002-2005-2010-2015.”  I asked him what the years meant.

“Those are the years I went back to the painting, to finish it,” he said.

“Is it finished now?” I asked.

“It is if you buy it,” he said.  “Otherwise, I’ll probably keep at it.”

So it is with the art of living.  We never finish the work of becoming the people we were meant to be, from all time. But every day is an opportunity to get closer and closer to that spectacular goal.

Being human allows for the ultimate transformation of one’s life story, because each of us is on a unique and important path in life.  My work is helping a client find that path and find the stability, commitment and courage to travel it.

How My Worldview Influences the Biological, Psychological, Sociological and Spiritual Life of the Individual

My worldview is one that integrates the biological, psychological, sociological and spiritual life of the individual.  For me, the unifying theme is that when human beings attempt to avoid pain—whether by avoiding the truth about their life stories, or using alcohol as an anesthetic, or attempting to ignore injustice in one’s community and in the world, or attempting to live isolated from the love of God and from serving him—that they then suffer more and are more likely to inflict suffering (sometimes many fold) on others.

While I believe that one’s biology may be affected by one’s genetic makeup, I also strongly believe that problems of mind and of spirit can affect biology, as well.  Hence, human empathy, properly harnessed in insight-oriented counseling and coaching designed to illuminate one’s most heartfelt goals, has been proven to affect serotonin levels in the brain.

Pain-2-Power is, in its most complete incarnation, the pursuit of a new self, not a fine-tuning of self.

Dr. Keith Ablow

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