Do you yearn for true happiness and a more meaningful life? For thousands of years, people have sought out philosophers for their insights, in that regard. Indeed, certain insights can act as a catalyst to transform your suffering into emotional liberation and inner-peace.

But philosophical counseling isn’t psychotherapy. Its purpose isn’t to help you to become normal, gain mental health, to cope, or to become well-adjusted. The goal is far more ambitious. It’s to attain an elevated level of consciousness. In that sense, it’s closer in spirit to Zen Buddhism, but without the meditation.

And philosophical counseling isn’t life coaching, at least not life coaching in the usual sense in the sense of acting like a cheerleader or a manager who keeps a person on track. Some, though, have suggested that philosophical counseling is akin to “spiritual life coaching,” which isn’t too inaccurate, for like philosophy it’s aim is to effectuate a transformation of consciousness, an awakening.