"When I was notified that I was being honored with this award, I felt a storm of emotions. There were complex, strange, dark feelings that were difficult to express. "What does religion have to do with me? Something must be wrong." That's why my first response was: "Are you sure? Do you know that I consider myself atheist?" The answer was immediate: "We believe that you have dedicated your life to religious questions." The generous answer disarmed me and brought to mind many conversations I have had with Rollo May, who insisted on considering my handbook, Existential Psychotherapy, a religious book. I also remember that Lou Salome referred to Nietzsche as a religious thinker with an anti-religious position.
My speech will focus on the issues that arise from these conflicting emotions and especially on some existential religious questions that are often considered religious in nature. I will also outline some comparisons between existential psychotherapy and religious consolation. I believe that these two approaches are connected by a complex and tense relationship. In a sense, they are cousins, they have the same ancestors and concerns. They share a common mission: to serve despair, which is inherent in human fate. Sometimes they have common methods - the personal dyadic relationship, the process of confession, internal exploration, forgiveness of others and oneself. [...]"
This essay is the acceptance speech of Irvin Yalom upon receiving the Oscar Pfister Award, a very important honorary distinction awarded by the Committee on Psychiatry and Religion of the American Psychiatric Association. The famous psychiatrist here develops his positions on existential psychotherapy and analyzes the points where he converges or diverges from religious consolation. The ideas of Nietzsche, Schopenhauer, and Kazantzakis permeate this crucial theoretical text by the author of the novels "When Nietzsche Wept" and "The Spinoza Problem".