hm. I had this in my library queue because Oliver Burkman shouted it out in some of his writing. The structure is interesting - short chapters, some of which deal with the nature of the therapeutic journey in general, some of which explore some facet of this journey via various texts (The Epic of Gilgamesh, Macbeth), with later chapters detailing actual experiences the author had, either administering therapy in a prison for sex offenders or in his own life. Kind of a mixed bag, flashes of insight mixed in with some extremely dated/1972 framing/language (around gender, especially)

I added this to my reading list ages ago after it was mentioned on Fringe. It read as a very dated, 70s free love kind of book at first. And then he got to the story of a woman in therapy in part II and said that all women's' struggles start with patriarchy and being viewed as less than a person. While it is true that women struggle against patriarchy, I bristled against the idea that all women's struggles start there and that he advised women to seek out the women's liberation movement for help with those, and he'd handle the rest. I just couldn't truck with that oversimplification of women - men get the story of Gilgamesh, and women are told that their issues are daddy issues. The book may have improved past that point, but I was already rather impatient with the "I got high and decided to talk in circles" nature of Part I, so I gave up on this one.

I went into reading this book with an expectation that I knew what to expect. What I got out of the book was far more than I believed. Along with the realization that I had no idea what I was thinking, I found parts pissed me off, parts made me happy, parts made me introspective, and other parts made me cry. At no point did I feel I was wasting my time reading the book. While some of the material is definitely dated, and my copy had been updated to include both genders (at certain points), I felt that the lessons I learned and what I'm taking away from the book far outweigh the few slights.

This is the kind of man I wish I could have known, even if only for a brief conversation standing in line to buy coffee someplace.

Sheldon Kopp was a psychotherapist who practiced in D.C. He uses tales and religious stories to parallel patients he has treated and simultaneously tells their stories while also adding insights on himself.

The title and the pilgrimage theme tie back to looking within yourself for direction. You are your own teacher and in yourself you will find the answers you need, what will make you happy and the will to change.

As a student of psychology, I've been keenly aware that the psychology of therapy and the psychology of experimental science are crucially different in their methodologies. To that end, I've generally looked at the therapeutic branch as pseudo-science. Kopp's work didn't change my mind on that score, but he did make me realize that there is still power in looking at the stories in our culture and understanding that we tell these stories over centuries for good reason, and there is a lot to be learnt from them even if the lessons can't be quantified in statistics. There are truths about living: that you are responsible in your life even if you make decisions with only partial control and partial information. That is as good as any human can do and from that fact, necessary behavior arises. You can live without regret; without being in the past, or preoccupied with fantasy futures that likely won't happen. You have to learn to forgive yourself and others because of these circumstances. This book not only makes some wisdom clear, it does so in a delightfully engaging fashion, examining wisdom through the lense of out shared historical mythologies. I found numerous gems of wisdom in this book, and I feel certain, I'll return to this book again in the future; looking for more to learn.

This book is a mix of Sheldon Kopp's personal life and professional story, his views on the nature of therapy and its possibilities, and his recounting of religious or legendary tales of gurus and pilgrimages as a metaphor for therapy. One of his central themes - that the client must eventually realise their therapist is as much of a journeying pilgrim as they are in order to benefit from the therapy - is helpful, even if the pilgrims' tales occupy rather more space in the book than they probably deserve in order to make the point. It is his honesty in writing about his personal suffering and journey, including his own loneliness, illness, and suicidal despair that bring the book to life for me. In keeping with his central theme, it helps to remind me that therapists too are allowed to feel helpless, lost, evil, lonely and weak simply by virtue of being human. Kopp is a very quotable writer, and throughout his perspective is very existential in orientation, even if he never uses that term. One small quibble are a couple of references to homosexuality as deviant or misguided - perhaps this was a more common attitude in the early 1970s, even among therapists.

Not my jam. Seems outdated. Just doesn't resonate with me.