Published: October 2022

Keywords:
Hans Christian Michaelsen, life, curiosity, meaning, wonder, exploration, art, uncertainty, therapy, systems, Petros Polychronis, complexity, Tom Andersen, reflections, Karl Ove Knausgaard.

Hans Christian Michaelsen

Retired professor at VID Specialized University, Oslo, Norway, private practice, psychotherapist, supervisor, writer, Chairperson of EFTA-NFTO.

Abstract

In my work and in life, I tend to focus more and more on the wonder of wonder. To wonder is the heart of art, the heart of science and research, the heart of therapy, the heart of training, the heart of discovering the world and my role in it. I believe it is also the heart of peacemaking, which I think our profession is all about.

It is no less of a mystery that we happen to live in this world, doing all the things we do for many different rational and mostly irrational reasons. How the world is and how we act and relate while we are here, is where art becomes life, and life becomes art. One fundamental question is "What makes life worth living?” In trying to reflect on that, we may well find the rooms we need to be able to live with uncertainty.