The overall goal of this research project is to expand the horizon of hermeneutics in the methodology of philosophical practice by using hermeneutics to develop a counseling method for human healing through the application of concepts of transcendence, the other, language, sympathy, understanding, and meaning. The present paper focuses only on transcendence as the conceptual groundwork and starting point for such a counseling method. The specific goal of the paper is to establish a foundation for a technique focused on the human thrust toward transcendence that can be useful in philosophical counseling. Although there are various meanings of transcendence in the history of philosophy, there are three perspectives that summarize the essential concept of transcendence as applicable to philosophical counseling. The first perspective is from an anthropological point of view. The second is from a metaphysical point of view, according with which it can be viewed as the ultimate purpose of a human being. The third is from a hermeneutical point of view, in which the horizon of human understanding is accomplished. If there is an immanent condition that provides a basis for the thrust of the human psyche toward transcendence, it lies in unlimited, unconditional absolute being itself as discovered through transcendental metaphysical reflection. Absolute transcendence does not just establish the ultimate direction of the human thrust toward transcendence, however. It provides the basis for discovering the particular meanings of individual phenomena in an absolute horizon of meaning that leads us to discover meanings in phenomena that would otherwise be beyond our understanding. To lead one`s life in the fullness of meaning demands an unconditional affirmation of self, others, the world, and life itself as founded in absolute being itself. To discover the meaning of particular phenomena through the acknowledgement of absolute being demands the acknowledgement of being that goes beyond denial and futility as the metaphysical core of human being. Such an acknowledgement of absolute being constitutes the fundamental basis of human healing.