A clinic of life:
We have lost sight of the fact that the ultimate goal of our journey is a fulfilled life, not death. The eight successive stages of life help us to unravel the Gordian knot of our chaotic collective experience, which constantly weakens us. They are the eight threads of Ariadne. In the “Life” section, I describe them in more detail.
Pathophysiology applied to the eight states of living a life
There are eight faces of life. Each one can open up, become blocked, or turn around. Each one carries a part of illness, healing, and hope. It is through them that I meet you—through your pain, your symptoms, your silences. Here’s how to redefine your problems based on knowledge of the basic structure of Life.
Bios – The formation of the body
Bios represents the measurable, biological life. It is the visible manifestation of cosmic energies that condense into matter and form. When this formation is disrupted — by genetic transcription errors, lack of nutrients, exposure to endocrine disruptors or pollutants — the body loses its original alignment. It is here that the first axis of illness begins: imbalance and misalignment, the loss of the original resonance of form.
Zao – The passage through inflammation
Zao is the moment the body, emptied of prenatal information, must integrate the outside world. Like a digestive tube, it receives and digests reality. This phase is intensely inflammatory: fever, infections, explosive behaviors — the child rages, rebels, and cries out. It is not yet a self-aware being, but is under immense pressure. Here we encounter the second axis of illness: inflammation as a response to the world’s invasion, to misunderstanding, to excess, or rejection.
Psyche – The emergence of self
With the first conscious memory, the child becomes a “me”, fragile and vulnerable. This is the psychic field of blame, sadness, trauma. Here arises the third axis of illness: the wound of abandonment, emotional pain, inner collapse. The psyche is the space where symbolic pain, resentment, or loss of meaning anchor deeply.
Zoé – The force of life behind forms
Zoé reminds us that every form — even a stone or a leaf — holds an unshakable vitality. In healing, this means reconnecting with a pure impulse of life, a memory older than pain. The shaman sees in every object a gateway to other worlds. In illness, Zoé is what endures and gives us the power to transmute symptoms into paths.
Poïesis – The creative breath
Here begins creation — not for performance or utility, but as a spontaneous act of life. Poïesis is the moment the being starts to shape its reality with inner tools: images, words, sounds. This is often the beginning of healing through art, poetry, dreams. The life force flows again, inventing its own language to be reborn.
Agapé – The healing of the bond
Agapé is unconditional love, the link that binds without controlling. It restores a relationship beyond forms. When two wounded beings open to this silent bond, something greater appears: the field itself becomes healing. Agapé is not “you” or “me”, but the thread between — the “third” that reveals the path.
Gnosis – The knowledge that heals
Gnosis is direct knowing — not learned, but remembered. It emerges like a resonance. When everything else fails, gnosis offers a silent certainty, the experience of truth in the body. Gnosis is the reversal of diagnosis: not a name imposed from outside, but a knowing that rises from within.
Kenosis – The letting-go that opens
Kenosis is the space of surrender. When there is no more form to hold on to, when the old stories dissolve, kenosis begins. It is the trust in what is not yet manifest. Healing ends here — or begins anew — as emptiness makes room for something radically different.
Note
Each of these eight modes of life offers a different entry point into the experience of illness and healing. Whether the imbalance begins in the formation of the body (bios), in the encounter with the world (zao), in psychic wounds, or in broken bonds, there is always a deeper movement at play — a path back to life. These eight dimensions guide my therapeutic work and offer a framework to meet the living being hidden behind the symptom.