EXPERIENCING IS THE SECRET

The self-image is changed, for better or worse, not by
intellect alone, nor by intellectual knowledge alone, but
by "experiencing." Wittingly or unwittingly you developed
your self-image by your creative experiencing in the
past. You can change it by the same method.

It is not the child who is taught about love but the child
who has experienced love that grows into a healthy,
happy, well-adjusted adult. Our present state of self-confidence
and poise is the result of what we have "experienced"
rather than what we have learned intellectually.
Self-image psychology also bridges the gap and resolves
apparent conflicts between the various therapeutic
methods used today. It furnishes a common denominator
for direct and indirect counselling, clinical psychology,
psychoanalysis, and even auto-suggestion. All in one way
or another use creative experiencing to build a better selfimage.
Regardless of theories, this is what really happens,
for example, in the "therapeutic situation" employed by
the psychoanalytical school: The analyst never criticizes,
disapproves, or moralizes, is never shocked, as the patient
pours out his fears, his shames, his guilt-feelings and his
"bad thoughts." For perhaps the first time in his life the
patient experiences acceptance as a human being; he
"feels" that his self has some worth and dignity, and he
comes to accept himself, and to conceive of his "self" in
new terms.