Ontological philosophy

Developed by Fernando Flores, Rafael Echeverria and Julio Olalla.

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It is based on 2 distinctions:

1. Each person specifically perceives, interprets the world, others and oneself. Often, what is taken for granted, is not really a fact , but is a result of our experience, education or social environment, for example beliefs that men don’t cry, women don’t get angry, request is a sign of weakness or that declines hurt people. According to this philosophy when the breakdown happens, human being doesn’t see all potential solutions, but only these that he/ she sees as possible. For example: a person believing that a request is a sign of weakness- will rather take everything on oneself, even if it is hard, or will get angry for not being helped, than ask for support. Of course it is not an issue, if the solutions found and used are satisfactory. Sometimes however, despite many different attempts, people don’t get the result that is important to them. It gives sometimes the feeling that the right solution doesn’t exist. In such situations looking at oneself as a specific observer and interpreter can bring access to solutions that were not seen before. Coming back to our example. Repeated similar behaviors can lead to exhaustion, to the feeling of being ignored, not loved, and respected. The capability to see and influence own interpretations of requests can open completely new choices.
2. BEL model ( body-emotions-language) According to this model 3 domains of life are interrelated

• The language is understood as both : a way to communicate and internal narratives. Emotions are understood both as short term reactions to different situations and as longer term moods. Body is understood as a physical body, including posture and movement.
• Emotions and moods influence our way to communicate with others, and our internal narratives have impact on emotions and moods. Even if we are not very conscious about the content of these narratives.
• Emotions shape the body to prepare it for certain (verbal and non-verbal) action , for example: the fear prepares the body for fight and the joy for laugh and relaxation.
• The body posture predisposes us to certain reactions/ behaviors. For example:with crossed arms it is difficult to declare love, and pulling forward posture doesn’t facilitate wide view.
• We say that certain postures, internal narratives and moods predispose us to specific reactions , behaviors and ways of acting.

This interrelations strengthen some behaviors and diminish the possibility for other ways of acting

This interrelations, however, can be used, if one wants to make some changes in the life. For example: if we want to change our way to communicate with others- we can work directly on the communication itself, but we can do it through the work on our general mood and emotions or through the body. In more fragile areas, the development can be possible and even sometimes more effective without touching the vulnerable space and working through one of the other two.