[Crumbs]

In their book “A passion for specificity: Confronting inner experience in literature and science”, Caracciolo and Hurlburt, (2016) use a conversational method attempting (1) to describe the characteristics of mental experience (when reading literature) and (2) to determine where experience as conveyed in literature and experiences apprehended by the scientific method might be able to meet.
Here is how they close their discourse:

“In Lieu of a Conclusion
[....]
That’s it? You’re just stopping?
Here, as in most relationships, there is no real end. We have opened ourselves to dialogue, paid uncompromising attention to phenomena, and tried to let go of our presuppositions, and now have paused to share what has happened. It is up to you, dear reader, to determine the extent to which our struggles resonate with your experience.” (p. 316)

I found that a surprising conclusion as this sentence could have equally said by a Gestalt therapist summarizing what s/he is doing with clients. Speaking with Laskowska (2017, p. 96, transl. ahc) I would add: “...and what of that you want to put into practice in your daily life.”



Caracciolo, M., & Hurlburt, R. T. (2016). A passion for specificity: Confronting inner experience in literature and science. Columbus: The Ohio State University Press.

Laskowska, B. (2017). Worte finden – Die Nöte einer Gestalttherapeutin [Finding words – A Gestalt therapist’s woes]. Gestalttherapie, 31(2), 75–97.