Existential Questions Regarding Life Issues

What kind of existential questions people face and how can they be guided in those life issues? During this course these themes will be presented through lectures by experts. In workshops we will explore professional practices in which people are guided in these life issues. Obviously one can guide others only when one explores these questions in personal live.

On many moments in life people are confronted with questions about their existence. Unique questions about what they will do or not do, about their relationships with others, the environment in which they live and what is happening in their world, their past, present and future. In every stage of life these questions get their own color and content. Philosophers, theologians and psychologists in history have attempted to trace all such questions to a number of fundamental questions that apply to all people. The existential psychologist Yalom distinguishes four existential questions. The first, in his eyes the most basic life issue is that of time, which ends in death. The only certainty we all have is that we will ever die, isn’t it? The second life issue is that of freedom. We all have the desire to be able to determine our own lives, haven’t we? The third life issue is that of solitude versus connectedness. We all seek satisfactory relationships with others. Who doesn’t have the experience that in those kinds of relationships sometimes things go wrong? The fourth life issue is that of meaningfulness of existence. All of us hope that what we do, how we live will ultimately prove to be meaningful. Those questions can trigger anxiety. We can try to avoid them, but our well-being depends to a large extent on the answers that we find every time again.

Course leader

dr. Wim Smeets

Target group

The programme is aimed at professionals in practice fields of care, welfare, education, coaching and leisure.

Course aim

To explore what kind of existential questions people face and how can they be guided in these life issues?

Credits info

2 ECTS
+ certificate of attendance

Fee info

EUR 585: Including housing
EUR 385: Excluding housing

Scholarships

Utrecht Summer School doesn't offer scholarships for this course.