Transcendence, Suffering, and the Unfolding Self
Written by John Piedrahita, MS, LMHC, LMFT, PhD Student in CES

            Existential counseling invites both client and clinician into the shared mystery of being—where suffering, meaning, identity, and spirit converge. Sometimes, what cannot be articulated in the language of symptomatology must instead be voiced through the poetic imagination. The following reflection, written in a meditative voice, seeks to embody the lived existential journey—one of seeking, suffering, surrender, and transformation:

The Transcendent Within

The beauty of God lies in the ability for man to see the beauty of God.

But even that word—God—for many, can be so limiting within their own understanding of it.

For the sake of language, there must be a word. And yet, language for the human being can make all the difference between understanding and misunderstanding. The choice in the selection of one word can put off so many, and can put on so very few.

So, for the sake of this understanding, let us choose to say: the sacredness of the divine transcendent—that greater and higher power that all human beings have to aspire to, and to connect to, within themselves.

And yet our eyes have a tendency to either gaze up or gaze down. The relevancy of that is apparent: when I feel down, I look down. But when I look up, I gaze upon the heavens, and my consciousness is lifted out of myself toward something greater.

The greater transcendent.
The subjective transcendent of my own understanding.

As it is often said: a higher power of my own understanding. A truth that is greater than my ability to perceive, to comprehend, or to make sense of using the limited nature of my rational mind.

At times, I must set aside the skeptical need to poke and probe, in order to understand—or simply allow myself to understand—a greater underlying current moving behind the scenes in this grand tapestry of life.

Life ebbs and flows between the genesis of becoming and the illusion of destruction. Yet in truth, everything is transformation—a sacred transition from one moment to the next.

Life is a series of choices between what was, what is, and what will be.

And as I move into the manifestation of creation, I will be what I choose to be—what I imagine myself to be, and what I will myself to become. I will be what I will be.

My mind will not linger in the past, nor graze upon the fields of procrastination and regret, nor dwell in the victimized mentality of what was. Instead, it will move proactively into the future—embodying an agency of change, a pro-creation, and a capacity to overcome, to transcend, and to become.

The nature of my identity unfolds within the self—and the self unveils within those greater aspects of who I am. The true self, revealed.

Within.
A wisdom incarnate.
An inner genius—

Revealed.

A eureka of understanding known as Self-realization.

So—who are we, really?

Who are we? Really?

Beneath the guise of confusion. Beneath the guise of chaos.

Who are we, really, as we seek to come—to understand—ourselves within the tapestry of our existence? Within the confusion. Of pleasure and pain.

Who are we, really—amidst the chaos and our attempt to make meaning of it?

God, then, is nevertheless our greatest and highest truth.

That subjective, transcendent—a higher power of our own understanding.

Not a fixed destination to be fully understood or possessively attained,
But the act of seeking, of attempting—that alone makes all the difference.

Redemption is found in perseverance.
And resurrection is found in liberation from death.

For those in pursuit of recovering their true selves,
You must overcome and defeat—

The onslaught of pain,

Of misery,
Of trauma,
Of the horrors of despair,
Of addiction—

So that you may offer yourself the chance to experience—
To become—

Your greatest potential—
Through it.

God—the subjective, the transcendent, the ever-unfolding truth.
And in the very pursuit of the absolute,
There emerges a Self-realization.

This lyrical meditation explores the sacred tension between what can be known and what must be accepted, what is rationally grasped and what must be spiritually encountered. The struggle with language, the yearning for the transcendent, the confrontation with pain, and the courage to choose one’s becoming—all of these are at the core of the existential therapeutic relationship. In existential counseling, clients are often invited to reflect on their suffering not only as something to mitigate and overcome, but as something to understand and transform. This transformation often emerges not through logic alone, but through personal encounter—with mystery, with meaning, and with one’s truest self.

(c)2025 John Piedrahita