The practice of ontological coaching finds its roots in the field of ethics, and has come of age there. Ethics provides the raison d’etre and objectives of ontological coaching.
Almost inevitably, ontological coaching has led many of its practitioners to conclude that the greatest crisis facing men and women today, particularly in the Western world, is a crisis of ethics.
To find our way out of this crisis we must revisit the foundations of our conception of what it means to be human. In this light, the ontological question becomes the most fundamental one we may ask. How we answer it will shape the way we view the world, those around us, and ourselves — in short, the way we view our lives.
I have sought to answer this question through the discourse of the ontology of language, whose interpretation of the human experience underpins the practice of ontological coaching. One of its central premises holds that how we act is determined by who we are, but that we also become who we are through our actions. In this way, ontological coaching offers tools that help people to change, to become new human beings who are free from atavistic suffering, who are truly the authors of their own lives. It is the renewed sense of wholeness gained from ontological coaching that allows people to become true social agents capable of contributing to a better world, for themselves and for others.
