Kanye West, and whatever combo of whatever symptoms he has – from his paranoia, schizoid personality type [divergent]; from his creativity, manic-depression; from his narcissism, trauma – would have benefited from a counselor.
Why a counselor?
Well, counselors talk to you.
They don't:
* give you pills.
* change your life (like a social worker).
* cost as much (as much a psychologist)
They don't, even, really try to be your friend. Though they're acting like one.
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The Greeks personified "counsel" as the goddess Themis. Known as "the lady of good counsel," she personified "divine order, fairness, law, natural law, and custom" (Wikipedia, 12/7/16, "Themis"). The Greeks liked to personify concepts because it encourages upper-level thinking.
And actually, Themis was even more badass than your average "Greek goddess": Themis was a Titaness. Titans descended from Mother Gaea – Mother Earth (and the name of an enlightening bong at the house where I lived in college, Rowdy Bush) – and Father Uranus (um, you figure that one out these days) (1).
Often depicted blindfolded and holding a sword (kinky), she is symbolized by the Scales of Justice, tools "used to remain balanced and pragmatic." And the sword symbol is no joke: it's "believed to represent the ability Themis had from cutting fact from fiction; to her there was no middle ground" (Wikipedia, 12/7/16, "Themis").
Also, she could predict the future. This ability "enabled her to become one of the Oracles of Delphi" (Wikipedia, 12/7/16, "Themis"). I won't go into the "goddess of divine justice" part, as the words "divine" and "justice" bring to mind modern-day insanities like creationism and global warming deniers. But let's just say Themis "built the Oracle at Delphi and was herself oracular" (Wikipedia, 12/7/16, "Themis").
All that to say that if Kanye West had a good counselor around, he may not be where he is right now: Paranoid. Kicked out of his home. A wife with full-court press saying she’s divorcing him, and was planning to for some time, anyway (kinda shitty, gotta admit it).
A counselor would have, well, er…counseled.
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How long has he been having symptoms? Can he trust anybody? Does he have a more formal therapist? Is he using substances? Of his prescribed medications, are his dosages correct? How is he sleeping? What are his dreams? Does he remember his dreams, and if yes, anything stick out?
Consider, too, the strangely symbolic situation: West has entered a matriarchal clan as a wounded son of a lost mother, lost to the very industry he sacrificed his life to enter.
(Could be a lyric.)
And recently his wife (surrogate Mother) was nearly killed in a traumatic event in some ways also caused by the couple's admittedly self-chosen materialistic lifestyle (mother was killed by vanity/materialism, now wife has been nearly killed by vanity/materialism. It's reasonable to ask how one processes that *without* good counsel).
Anyway, we’ve had lots of joy, groove, and...beige...at Kanye’s hands, and it would be easy to discount and scapegoat him right now. But for the most part what Kanye's given us has been creative and courageous.
Remember, for instance, when West announced “George W. Bush hates black people” at the post-Katrina Hollywood telethon one day after National Guardsmen finally arrived at the Louisiana Superdome where people had been abandoned for days without food water and basic sanitation (horror stories of individuals plummeting to their death from upper levels of a stadium whose roof "peeled away" in the storm; of women getting raped; of toilets blocked up flooding feces and urine into the stadium corridors) (Wikipedia, "Effects of Hurricane Katrina on the Louisiana Superdome," 12/7/16).
So so what. West may be slightly paranoid, but so was David Bowie.
Visionary people are often rather paranoid.
At least, that’s how they seem to the people who don’t see what they do.
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So let’s withhold judgment on Chicago's Kanye for the time being, and perhaps reflect on our own shadows. Where, in ourselves, do we see Kanye, and how do we feel about those places? Where are those places? In our hands, heads, or hearts? Where do we see Kanye in ourselves in general, and how to we feel about him if and when we see him there? Do we see him there at all? (If we don't, we're lying to ourselves, at least according to Jung's theory of "collective unconscious.")
Anyway, this is the kind of relationship a good counselor might have had with Kanye, perhaps preventing hospitalization. Gentle. Sophisticated. Creative. Counselors are trained in psychoanalytic technique, when they’re really good. They’re rigorously vetted by colleagues who are rigorously vetted by professional peers in rigorously vetted systems...you get the drift. There’s lots of rigor, vetting and professionalism.
That usually just means they’re pretty smart.
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So for these reasons and all of the above, I submit that Kanye West would have benefitted from a longterm relationship with a good counselor, and I offer my services on an informal basis since I’m also a songwriter, musician, and writer who is in the process of being rigorously vetted, professionally.
Thank you for your consideration.
Best,
Themis, er, Rebecca
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ENDNOTES:
(1) Is Trump Uranus? Also, Prometheus is one of Themis' children. Thus Themis is the mother of Prometheus, who created mankind by stealing fire from Mount Olympus and giving it to mankind. So, like, Themis is the mother of the Father of Mankind. <– Whoa!
REFERENCES:
Wikipedia: "Greek mythology"; “Themis”;”Gaea”; “counsel”; "Effect of Hurricane Katrina on the Louisiana Superdome"; "Kanye West"; "A Concert for Hurricane Katrina" <– attribution = good!