The Third Actor: AI, Therapy, and the Loss of Presence

The Risk of Encounter

In 1970, Philip Guston walked away from twenty years as a successful artist and showed a body of work no one was expecting. This episode is about what Guston risked, and what therapy risks when it focuses on predictable outcomes. Heidegger called it das Man — the "they-self," where we hand our agency to the collective to avoid the weight of choosing. Manualized therapies like CBT do something similar: a known process, a predictable outcome, a way around the unknown. But what they miss is what makes life worth living. The Existential Lens is hosted by Evan Kaufman, a psychotherapist in Eugene, Oregon, working with individuals and couples from an existential-humanistic perspective. More at evankaufman.org. [https://evankaufman.org]

Myth, Incompleteness, and the Mystery of Existence

We do not encounter raw reality. We encounter interpretation. In this episode, I begin with reports of alien abductions and follow the thread into a deeper philosophical question: how do human beings organize incomplete knowledge into a livable world? Along the way, we explore scientific inquiry, Kurt Gödel’s incompleteness theorem, Buddhist ideas of emptiness, and the recursive nature of meaning. What emerges is a meditation on myth—not as a falsehood or untruth, but as the narrative structure through which our identity as embodied beings takes shape. And in therapy, learning to see the limits of those narratives may be one of the most liberating experiences available to us. The Existential Lens is hosted by Evan Kaufman, a psychotherapist in Eugene, Oregon, working with individuals and couples from an existential-humanistic perspective. More at evankaufman.org. [https://evankaufman.org]

The Third Actor: AI, Therapy, and the Loss of Presence

In this episode, Evan explores“the third actor”, the subtle way artificial intelligence enters our inner lives both in and outside of therapy. Beginning with a reflection on impermanence, the episode moves into clinical observations about AI, electronic stimulation, substance use, and the ways we outsource meaning, understanding, and contact with ourselves. This episode is not an argument against technology, but rather an inquiry into what AI fails to provide: embodied presence, authentic relationship, and lived encounter with existence itself. The Existential Lens is hosted by Evan Kaufman, a psychotherapist in Eugene, Oregon, working with individuals and couples from an existential-humanistic perspective. More at evankaufman.org. [https://evankaufman.org]

Understanding Anxiety: Fear, Choice, and the Unknown

Anxiety is often treated as something to eliminate, overcome or master. But what if it is pointing toward something deeper within us? In this episode, I explore the relationship between anxiety and freedom through an existential lens. We look at anxiety as an encounter with the unknown, one that arises not only from fear or conflict, but from choice, responsibility, and the realities of being human. Rather than framing anxiety as pathology, this conversation considers how it can function as a guide, revealing where growth, meaning, and agency are being asked of us within our lives.  This episode is especially relevant for those navigating transitions, difficult choices, or a persistent sense of inner tension that doesn’t seem to resolve through insight alone. The Existential Lens is hosted by Evan Kaufman, a psychotherapist in Eugene, Oregon, working with individuals and couples from an existential-humanistic perspective. More at evankaufman.org. [https://evankaufman.org]

When Meaning Has No Map

This episode sits with the lived experience of loneliness, loss of meaning, and the sense that there is no clear way to navigate life—a feeling of living without a map. While the reflection looks closely at the inner lives of men and how these struggles often show up, the conversation is intentionally offered for all identities. Many of the themes explored speak to deeply human experiences that everyone can identify with. Beginning with a contemplative reflection on time, space, and becoming, the episode widens the frame beyond individual symptoms and looks toward the broader cultural and existential conditions shaping how many of us live today. Drawing from existential philosophy and lived clinical experience, the conversation explores freedom, responsibility, and the creative work of self-authorship—how a way forward can begin to emerge not from external answers, but from sustained contact with one’s inner life. The Existential Lens is hosted by Evan Kaufman, a psychotherapist in Eugene, Oregon, working with individuals and couples from an existential-humanistic perspective. More at evankaufman.org. [https://evankaufman.org]