Dr. So-and-So

I read this short excerpt from G. K. Chesterton's Orthodoxy this morning:

"A man was meant to be doubtful about himself,
but undoubting about the truth;
this has been exactly reversed."

Say this to the postmodern and you'll most likely get the response: "There is no truth." There's already been much ink split over postmodernism, so I'll spare the digital world with my ramblings about the subject.

This quote did make me think about the issue of therapeutic counseling however. Imagine with me, dear reader, the following plausible (but fictional) dialogue:

Derrick the Raging Alcoholic: Dr. So-and-So, I have a huge problem with alcohol. I think it's because I've grown up around an abusive father that drank all the time. I've come to appropriate that with what I think manhood truly is.
Dr. So-and-So: Well Derrick the Raging Alcoholic, I'm glad you told me that. It looks like you've grown up in a tough setting. Let's try to explore that a little more.
Derrick the Raging Alcoholic: We have to talk? Can't you just drug me with something?

The shift of postmodern humanity has subtly shifted the criterion from external to internal; or, in other words, moral rules (governmental, religious, cultural, &etc.) to the self. Inevitably, a focus on self means we spend the majority of our lives thinking about how happy we are, or how quickly we can fix the bad things to make ourselves more happy. Pain has become the new sin. "Good suffering" has become foolishness. Now, back to Derrick the Raging Alcoholic:

Derrick the Raging Alcoholic: So what you're really telling me is that I have to maturate and become a whole soul?
Dr. So-and-So: Yes. You're currently at Stage 5 (Early Adulthood) according to Erikson's psychosocial scale when you should actually be at Stage 6.
Derrick the Raging Alcoholic: What's the final stage?
Dr. So-and-So: Stage 8 (Very Old Age).
Derrick the Raging Alcoholic: Then what happens once I get there?
Dr. So-and-So: You die.

A progressive human development towards nothing? What a strange world we live in.