In this essay I recall the first time I met Shlomit Schuster at a conference in Ger­many. She was under attack by another philosopher for her views on philosophical practice. I admired her fortitude and respected the fact that she remained steadfast in defending her perspective. I didn’t always agree with her, but I counted Shlomit among my good friends and esteemed colleagues.

Shlomit Schuster’s article on the Greek Orthodox ascetic practices and the con­soling meaning that such an “ascent” in “Jacob’s ladder” may have for the mourning and dying, throws light not only on Shlomit’s confrontation with death but also on her conception of philosophical life and philosophical autobiography. Some connections between that conception and Shlomit’s life and philosophical practices are examined.

I trace Shlomit Schuster’s main ideas about the practice of philosophy, and fol­low with a critical characterization of her thought which bears on philosophy’s relation to psychology and psychiatry, on the one hand, and to religion, on the other, as well as on her basis of claiming philosophy’s suitability for non-philosophers. I argue that Shlomit could be unnecessarily uncompromising in implementing her either/or yet not sufficiently discerning of philosophy’s difference with religion. The most conspicuous tenet of Shlomit’s thought – the relation between philosophy and the therapeutic disciplines – has been abundantly debated within the practical philosophy movement. As far as I know, the tacit assumption of her thought regarding the relation of religion with philosophy and its prac­tice, in contradistinction, has not been addressed within this movement. Shlomit’s life and death urges us to tackle this delicate yet significant subject.

In this short essay, I recollect my memories of Dr. Shlomit C. Schuster. Dr. Schus­ter was a great philosopher and a philosophical counselor, and I am struggling to spell out now the significance of the time I spent with her. Dr. Schuster visited Korea twice (2010 and 2012) and left a very strong impression on the members of the Korean Society of Philosophical Practice and Humanities, especially the Therapy Group of Kangwon National University. Someday I might realize the significance of her philosophical thoughts but I feel obligated to share something about the way in which we will remember her.