ITJ n. 6 february 2015

Integral Transpersonal Journal of arts, sciences and technologies

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Eurotas Official Journal

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EDITORIAL INFORMATION SCIENTIFIC DIRECTOR

Pier Luigi Lattuada

EDITORIAL STAFF

Giovanna Calabrese, editor director

Ilaria Cislaghi, editor and graphics Patrizia Rita Pinoli, consulting editor Eleonora Prazzoli, consulting editor Silvia Lodrini, consulting editor Claudia Castiglioni, graphical project

SCIENTIFIC BOARD

Ingo Benjamin Jahrsetz, Germany

Jure Biechonsky, Estonia Bernardette Blin-Lery, France Gennady Brevde, Russia Steven Schmitz, USA Ingrida Indane, Latvia Dietrich Franke, Germany Magda Sole, Spain Lyudmila Scortesca, Moldova

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BOARD OF REVIEWERS REVIEWERS

Regina U. Hess, Germany - chief Lindy Mcmullin, Greece Rona Newmark, South Africa Elena Piccoli, Italy Luciano Ghisoni, Italy

TRANSLATORS

Timoty M. Perazzoli Valentina D. M. Lattuada

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INTEGRAL TRANSPERSONAL JOURNAL VOLUME VI, NUMBER VI, 2015 Letter Meet The Master And Kill Him GIOVANNA CALABRESE, M.D., Ph.D.

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Eurotas 2014 Keynotes Identifying And Employing Transpersonal Experiences STANLEY KRIPPNER, Ph.D. The Great Challenge Of Our Time: Awakening To The Feminine ANNE BARING, MA Why TransPersonal Awakening Of Our Cultures Is Highest Priority ASHOK GANGADEAN, Ph.D.

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Contributions The Humanistic And The Psychiatric Patient-Centered Approach: A Pilot Research On Self-Represention ALESSANDRA GUERRIERI Ph.D., INES TESTONI, Ph.D.

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Paradoxes Of Infinity And Foundations Of Transpersonal Psychology TATIANA GINZBURG, Ph.D.

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Coincidence? Synchronicity in Art Therapy YAEL BEN ZION KOHANOVITCH, MA

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Wu Wei: The Way Of Effortless Effort BENJAMIN R. TONG, Ph.D

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Conferences and Workshops 1st Milan Transpersonal Festival: Feeding The Soul

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First Transpersonal Research Colloquium

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Authors’ instructions Authors’ Instructions Text Format

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Information about ITI

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Notice to subscribers

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Letter Meet The Master And Kill Him

GIOVANNA CALABRESE, M.D., Ph.D. ITJ editor director

In this era of a return to religious fundamentalism I think that we must be aware that fundamentalism can hide everywhere, even in the field of human science.

From my background in Academia I know that very often there is a sort of servility and flattery towards department directors and executive chiefs. However the scientific approach requiring empirical testing of hypothesis has always been a guarantee against the principle of authority.

This was the principle on which Galileo was convicted by the pope, as his hypothesis was against what the Bible says and Aristotle, a philosopher confirmed.

This same position is a very dangerous trap into which some transpersonal theories can fall.

As ITJ director and EUROTAS board member I would like to see more critical positions towards some transpersonal theories. I would like to urge students and young psychotherapists and health care professionals to “kill the master.�

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EUROTAS 2014 Identifying And Employing Transpersonal Experiences

STANLEY KRIPPNER, Ph.D. He is professor of psychology at Saybrook University, is a Fellow in four APA divisions.

Formerly, he was director of the Kent State University Child Study Center, Kent OH, and the Maimonides Medical Center Dream Research Laboratory, in Brooklyn NY. Dr. Krippner has conducted workshops and seminars on dreams and hypnosis all around the world.

He is a Fellow of the Society for the Scientific Study of Religion. He is co-author of several essays and has published cross-cultural studies on spiritual content in dreams.

ABSTRACT Transpersonal psychology investigates behaviors and experience in which one’s construct of personal identity has been transformed in some way. Although past writers have emphasized spiritual transformation, the case can be made that secular changes can also be considered to be transpersonal. Spiritual elements in dream content have been identified by a reliable scoring system, and this system was also applied to a group of 21 transpersonal transformative experiences, half of which were basically spiritual and the other half basically secular. A cross-cultural comparison revealed wide differences among seven countries when some 3,000 dream reports were analyzed. There are potential clinical implications and applications of these findings.

This paper was presented at the XVI Eurotas conference in Crete, 2014.

KEYWORDS Transformative experiences, transpersonal, spiritual, secular, dream reports

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Eurotas 2014: Identifying and Employing Transpersonal Experiences The word “transpersonal” was first introduced into human discourse by William James in a 1905 lecture. In 1942, Carl Jung used the German term uberpersonlich, which his English language translators rendered as “transpersonal.” In 1949, the term was used by the American psychologist Gardner Murphy and in 1967 (in varying contexts) by Abraham Maslow, Anthony Sutich, and Stanislav Grof. For me, the word “transpersonal” refers to experiences in which one’s construct of personal identity seems to extend its customary limits to encompass higher, deeper, broader, and/or wider aspects of life and the cosmos.

Transpersonal psychology is one of several transpersonal studies, and investigates individual and group behaviors and cognitive-affective experiences in which one’s construct of personal identity is transformed.

Transpersonal psychology focuses on the scientific understanding of the related stages of development and the shifts in consciousness that accompany this transformation, as well as the relevant paths of personal and group practice. The data elicited by

transpersonal

psychologists

have

been

applied

to

counseling,

psychotherapy, education, and personal growth.

One area of investigation is that of “transpersonally transformative experiences,” a term I coined in 2012 after reading about “spiritual transformative experiences” (e.g., Kason, 2008). If a transformation of identity takes place without reference to a deity, a “higher power,” or a “deeper” aspect of the psyche, I would consider it to be a “secular transformative experience.” A “secular transformative experience” also can lead to a shift of identity that incorporates broader or wider aspects of consensual reality. Both “spiritual transformative experiences” and “secular transformative experiences” involve a shift of one’s socially constructed identity, hence are transpersonal in nature. Of course, the case can be made that the new, expanded identity is also the result of social construction (or reconstruction).

Harris L. Friedman and Glenn Hartelius (2013), in The Wiley-Blackwell Handbook of Transpersonal Psychology, observed that transpersonal psychology has pioneered many marginalized areas of psychology that 12

Eurotas 2014: Identifying and Employing Transpersonal Experiences are now parts of the mainstream. These include the phenomenology of consciousness, the spiritual content of Eastern thought and indigenous traditions, and the legitimatization of qualitative research methods in the study of human behavior and experience. These definitions are an attempt to continue the disciplined inquiry articulated by many other researchers and practitioners in this dynamic field of study.

This essay will describe my work with spiritual transformative experiences (STEs) as well as a scoring system developed by one of my students at Saybrook University to identify spiritual content in dreams. This scoring system provided a definition of “spiritual” that was utilized when spiritual transformative experiences are differentiated from secular transformative experiences.

The Casto Spirituality Scoring System The Casto Spirituality Scoring System (CSSS) was derived from the Hall-Van de Castle Content Analysis of Dreams and the Hood Mysticism Scale. It consists of six categories. Each of these CSSS categories were described in terms that produced high reliability when different scorers’ results were compared (Casto, Krippner, & Tartz, 1999).

Spiritual Objects are used, in the dream, to open and connect the experiencer to something of significance felt to be beyond one’s full understanding and/or individual existence and that is associated with a sense of reverence.

The other categories are Spiritual Characters (e.g., people, talking animals, “aliens,” or similar entities), Spiritual Settings (places and times), Spiritual Activities (external events and actions), Spiritual Emotions (moods and feelings), and Spiritual Experiences (internal reactions to events). Therefore the adjective “spiritual” is used in the CSSS to describe something of profound significance to the dreamer, something felt to be beyond the dreamer’s full understanding, something felt to be beyond the dreamer’s individual existence, and something eliciting the dreamer’s respect and awe. That “something” can be an object, a character, a setting, an activity, an emotion, or an experience.

The Casto Spirituality Scoring Scale (CSSS) can be used both qualitatively 13

Eurotas 2014: Identifying and Employing Transpersonal Experiences and quantitatively. It can be utilized not only for identification purposes, but to assist in completing a dream report that inadvertently left out such items as Spiritual Settings or Spiritual Emotions.

Spiritual dreams can play a vital role in counseling, psychotherapy, and self-help.

Example Of An Application Robert Tartz, co-author of the original report on the CSSS, once worked with a client in his late 20s. The client reported a dream in which everything was bright and new. Suddenly, he changed into an old man and life’s freshness seemed to have faded. The only certainty that the future held was death.

The dreamer experienced fear and thought that if he meditated enough, he would become eternal. He began to meditate and the myth of Gilgamesh came to mind. He then realized that his attempt was futile because, like Gilgamesh, he would eventually die. But, like Gilgamesh, he resolved to make himself useful to society and to live in the present moment. Then he woke up.

This dream played a significant role in the therapeutic process. The dream’s main theme was the realization of death accompanied by fear. Another theme was the dreamer’s attempt to prevent his demise through spiritual practices, an attempt that proved futile. Finally, the dream encouraged the dreamer to take an active role in his life in contrast to his usual passivity.

The client followed up this insight by reframing his personal relationships in a more positive manner. He also became a more active member of society, participating in organizations committed to positive social change. He did not stop meditating, but realized that meditation is not goal-oriented; it is a spiritual practice that is done for its own sake.

A Cross-Cultural Study Using The CSSS After reviewing over 3,000 dream reports from seven countries, two colleagues and I tallied the number of dreams containing one or more spiritual element on the CSSS (Krippner, Faith, & Suzuki, 2000). The results are presented in Table 1.

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Eurotas 2014: Identifying and Employing Transpersonal Experiences

Table n. 1 - Cross-Cultural Comparison, Extraordinary Dreams

Examples Here are two examples of spiritual dreams, one from Ukraine and one from Brazil. Like the other dream reports in the study, they were volunteered during dream workshops I was invited to facilitate. All participants to contributed written dream reports for this study did so with informed consent.

Ukrainian Female “My friends and I walked near the technical school, and then we went on a road somewhere and found ourselves by the cemetery. It was late and dark. When I turned my face to the cemetery, spirits began to rise from their graves. They moved towards us. We were afraid so we kneeled and worshipped. Then a bright beam appeared round us. I don’t remember what happened then.” This dream report was scored for Spiritual Characters, Settings, Activities, Emotions, and Experiences.

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Eurotas 2014: Identifying and Employing Transpersonal Experiences Brazilian Male “In this dream, a spirit is calling me to live a life of service. The spirit tells me that I need to work at the temple to learn how to help my neighbors. At first I am frightened of the spirit and her message, but then I feel very good inside. The spirit’s message inspires me.” This dream report was scored for Spiritual Characters, Settings, Activities, Emotions, and Experiences.

An Interview Study Of TTEs The same definition of “spiritual” was used in a study of TTEs, specifically some experience that opens and connects the experiencer to something of significance felt to be beyond one’s full understanding and/or individual existence, and that is associated with a sense of reverence.

In 2014, a Filipino student, Rannie Rex Gerozaga, conducted interviews with 21 people who claimed to have had life-changing experiences.

Each participant gave informed consent and was assured that his or her identify would be disguised and kept confidential. Some interviews were conducted in person and some on the Internet. Because the interviewees’ sense of identity was transformed, these would qualify as transpersonal transformational experiences. Gerozaga described his procedure as follows: I discovered 21 stories of people who believed that their lives had changed for the better as a result of one or more personal experience. I forwarded these stories to Dr. Krippner after these men and women gave me permission to write and share their stories. They hoped that their stories could inspire other people going through difficult times in life. Some of the participants in this study were interviewed personally, while others were interviewed over the phone or in Facebook. This was especially true for those who hailed from Luzon, because I live in Mindanao. Some were personally interviewed by me, specifically those who hail here in my hometown. That is why it took me some time to finish writing the said stories.

Of these 21 cases, 10 appear to have been spiritual transformative experiences and 11 appear to have been secular transformative experiences.

Some contained both spiritual and secular elements, but the category selected reflected the predominant theme. Some transformations appear to have happened immediately while others took place over a longer time period. A summary of the results appear in Table 2.

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Table n. 2 - Transpersonal Transformative Experiences, Filipino Sample (Gerozaga, 2014)

Eurotas 2014: Identifying and Employing Transpersonal Experiences

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Eurotas 2014: Identifying and Employing Transpersonal Experiences All STEs involving organized religion or religious institutions were classified as Spiritual Transformative Experience because a type of reverence ensued from these experiences and because religion, by its nature, involves something that defies full human understanding. Some STEs were spiritual in nature but had no association with an organized religion. Some STEs were both spiritual and religious. If a TTE was neither spiritual nor religious it was considered a Secular Transformative Experience. Some TTEs contained both spiritual and secular aspects but were classified in terms of the predominant aspect of the experience. If the transformative agent was human love, the TTE was classified as secular because love does not directly defy the participant’s understanding. This decision, of course, is open to question as some writers hold that all forms of love can be considered spiritual. For me, only agape is spiritual, while philia (fraternal love), eros (passionate love), and storge (neighborly love) do not meet the criteria for “spiritual,” even though they might be equally transformative.

Some of the TTEs that met the criteria for “spiritual” involved the “heart of Jesus,” the impact of a family member’s or a celebrity’s death, applying “Biblical principles,” a family waiting “in a better place” or “in the next life,” a near-death experience, and the impact of church attendance. Some of the TTEs that met the criteria for “secular” involved receiving love from a family member or romantic partner, getting an abortion, stopping providing abortions, intervention by the police that had a positive effect, benevolent intervention by soldiers, malevolent intervention by soldiers, and incarceration.

There were two notable contradictions in this survey. One participant said that getting an abortion “was the best thing that ever happened to me”. Another participant said much the same when she stopped being an abortion provider. Apprehension by soldiers triggered a life change for one participant, while alleged killing of one’s family by soldiers motivated another participant to join an anti-government group; both triggered TTEs. This is reminiscent of the Greek philosopher Epictetus’ axiom that it is not what happens to us that is as important as how we react to what happens to us. I have cited Epictetus when I contrast the difference between an event and an experience. Both can be termed “spiritual” but the former 18

Eurotas 2014: Identifying and Employing Transpersonal Experiences evaluation is made from the outside (what anthropologists would call “etic”) while the latter evaluation is made from the inside (what anthropologists would term “emic”).

Examples These four examples from Gerozaga’s survey illustrate the richness of the stories he obtained.

Margarita’s Story On November 8, 2013 Typhoon Haiyan hit our country. One day before it happened, one of my children was celebrating his seventh birthday and we invited relatives and friends. I never thought it would be the last time I would see them. The next day it started to rain hard and there was a strong wind. A neighbor’s tiny hut blew away because of the wind. At noontime, huge waves came from the ocean, battering us. All I could see was darkness. There was frantic screaming and I passed out. The next morning I found myself on the highway. I could barely walk and I was surrounded by hundreds of lifeless bodies. Two more days passed and I realized that I was the only one in my family who had survived. My husband, my three daughters and four sons were killed by the typhoon. I began to question, “If there is really a God, where was He during the typhoon? I have never killed anyone, nor has anyone in my family. We are devoted Christians.

So why us?” I was going insane. I thought of killing people so they would realize how painful it is to have lost your whole family. I locked myself in the house. I stopped going to church. Reading comics was my only escape. I planned to commit suicide the next day on the bridge. That night I had a fever and there was no medicine. I was chilled to the bone and fell asleep. I dreamed that I was in a place where there was a well and not far from it was an oak tree. Under the tree I saw eight people and as I went nearer I realized it was my family. They were all smiling and wearing white clothes. I hugged them very night. My husband said, “Ma, please take care of yourself. We’re now in a safe and better place. It’s painful how we’ve left you too soon but we’ll see each other again. We just left a little earlier.

It wasn’t yet your time during the typhoon.” I woke up and found myself crying. I decided to become a domestic helper. I still do not know the logic of life. But what my husband told me that night in my dream has sustained me. I stared going back to church again and renewed my Christian faith.

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Eurotas 2014: Identifying and Employing Transpersonal Experiences Scored for Spiritual Objects (oak tree), Characters (family members), Settings (a safe and better place), Activities (they were all smiling and wearing white clothes, etc.), Emotions (crying), Experiences (I hugged them, etc.).

Sophie’s Story (secular) I started using drugs in my 20s, I was dating a guy who was addicted and though I didn’t like the drugs he did, I was head over hills for him. In my mind if I just gave him enough love I would be able to cure him, Yes I thought I was the answer to addiction, they say love conquers all. After a few years I realized he wasn’t going to quit and I did the old if you can’t beat him join him stunt, and join him I did. I was shooting up cocaine within a few months of trying drugs and believing that love would conquer all, my love of cocaine cost me everything else in my life.

I did other drugs, pills, meth, but cocaine was all I thought about, not the four beautiful girls that loved and needed their mom, not even about the guy I thought I loved so much, I was out trading everything in my world for that next shot. I did realize at one point that life was spiraling out of control, but I had no way of stopping the train wreck I knew had to be ahead.

In 2001 everything blew up I was with someone we were trying to score dope and a man got killed, I was arrested and charged with capital murder, I sat in jail fighting for my life for 2 years while the courts sought the death penalty, I cried, I screamed, I prayed, I begged. I longed for my children, and my dad, I prayed to die yet continued breathing. On the day of trial I wasn’t given death, I was sentenced to 10 years. Prison was the strangest life I had ever imagined, it was such a different world, I wasn’t allowed to even write my kids, and rather than see any of this was troubles of my own making, I got angry, I was mad at the state, the judge, the prosecutor, God, and anyone that stepped into the world I was stuck in, as the years went by my heart hardened, my emotions died. It was 7 years before I was released, in those years my sister committed suicide, my children grew up and learned to hate me, my dad and mom grew old, life had gone on without me. I thought those years there had cured my drug problem, no, it was waiting for me. I had a hard time trying to adjust to life, I found courage in a pill bottle, within a couple of years I was back in jail on a new charge, served out got high and went back. I have only been out of jail a month now, yes I have done drugs since my release but then I realized that 20

Eurotas 2014: Identifying and Employing Transpersonal Experiences I don’t want to be that person anymore. I also know it’s my choices that have picked my path and if I don’t change I’m going to die in jail, or at my own hands. But I know I really have changed. What I have been thru is a part of me now. Over the years I’ve gained wisdom, met amazing people, lost amazing people, now I want to help people but first I got to help me. I created my house of pain, but I’m definitively ready to move out, lived here long enough please pray for me and the strength to change.

Scored for Spiritual Characters (God), Activities (praying), Emotions (got angry), Experiences (I want to help people).

Edgar’s Story (spiritual) I am 38 years of age and this is my story. Ever since I knew the difference between right and wrong, my life was one big struggle. The world around me was confusing and I felt very much alone. The pain was so bad that I could not get close to another person. I started to take illegal drugs and watch pornography. Little by little I went into my own private hell. I tried religion but it didn’t work for me. No matter what I tried, nothing made me feel better. I kept making bad decisions and was in terrible pain. I cried out to myself, “Why is there a hole in me that can’t be filled? No matter what I put in there, I have a feeling of emptiness.” Then it struck me that I was that empty hole. That very night I had a dream of a small circle suddenly being completed. Then the circle became a heart and it started beating. I woke up and I realized that half of the heart was mine and the other half belonged to Jesus. I just couldn’t believe it. The next day I threw out all my drugs and booze and porn. I apologized to all the people I had insulted or hurt. The demons that controlled my mind are gone. I think my lifelong habit of smoking cigarettes is next. Today I am going to celebrate my birthday with family members, relatives, friends, and neighbors. And I know that wherever I go, Jesus is always there with me.

Scored for Spiritual Object (heart), Characters (Jesus), Activities (the circle became a heart and started beating), Emotions (emptiness), Experiences (half the heart was mine and the other half belonged to Jesus, etc.)

Luisa’s Story (secular) For fifteen years I held the position of commanding general of one of the militant revolutionary groups in the Philippines. I’ve murdered those who 21

Eurotas 2014: Identifying and Employing Transpersonal Experiences got in our way, including members of the Filipino armed forces. I grew up believing that communism would be an ideal government for our country.

My parents were members of the militant group and were the ones who encouraged me to join. My toys were guns and bullets. I attended the country’s best university where I studied political science but my parents told me never to reveal my true identity. I graduated magna cum laude and then I returned to the mountains where I engaged in many battles with the government forces. But life often makes some twists to surprise you.

In one of our operations, I got caught by the soldiers and was taken to their headquarters. It was the best thing that ever happened to me. One of the soldiers was a general. He interrogated me but never tortured me. He started to visit me and brought me food. I told him it was his way to get some information from me, but he replied that he really wanted to visit me.

On one occasion he brought me flowers. Gradually, my heart softened for the very first time. After three years in the prison, I was able to enter the government program where rebels are given the chance to be free again on the condition they would never go back to their old life. I grabbed the opportunity and when I got out, the general and I were married. I sent my parents a letter and told them everything and they never replied. My husband and I decided to live in Japan because we knew the rebels could always find us if we remained in the Philippines. We lived in Japan for 32 years and had three children. In December of 2013 we decided to return to the Philippines, but now we’re using different names. We now live on one of the beautiful islands in the country where we see the sun rising when we wake up. Life has been good for our family.

Scored for Spiritual Setting (one of the beautiful islands), Experience (my heart softened for the very first time).

Conclusion Transpersonally transformative experiences (TTEs) cannot be completely reported in their richness and fullness. But they can be identified when they occur using the definitions and/or instrument described in this presentation.

Once identified, they can be studied by means of phenomenology, grounded theory, ethnoautobiography, multiple case studies, and other methods. The Castro Scale can be used not only for identification purposes, but to assist 22

Eurotas 2014: Identifying and Employing Transpersonal Experiences in completing a report that inadvertently left out such items as Spiritual Settings or Spiritual Emotions.

TTEs can play a vital role in counseling, psychotherapy, and self-help.

Whether they last a few minutes or extend over several years, whether they are experienced by one person or a group of people, whether they are spiritual or secular, their recognition and awareness of their importance can be a major contribution of transpersonal psychology. For example, the question of ethics and morality need to be raised when experiences a TTE; as we have seen, some TTEs are life-affirming, while others are lifedenying. An understanding of the phenomenology of terrorism is a key issue that transpersonal psychology is well-equipped to explore. Therefore, transpersonal psychology can do more to alleviate suffering today than at any time in its history.

REFERENCES

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Casto, K.L., Krippner, S., & Tartz, R. (1999). The identification of spiritual content in dream reports. Anthropology of Consciousness, 10(1), 43-53.

Friedman, H.L., & Hartelius, G. (2013). The Wiley-Blackwell handbook of transpersonal psychology. New York, NY: Wiley.

Kason, Y. (2008). Farther shores: Exploring how near-death, kundalini and mystical experiences can transform ordinary lives. New York, NY: Author’s Choice Press.

Krippner, S., Faith, L., & Suzuki, Y. (2000). National and gender differences in reports of exotic dreams. Dream Network, 19(1), 40-42.

Preparation of the paper was made possible by the Saybrook University Chair for the Study of Consciousness, Oakland, California, U.S.A. 23

EUROTAS 2014 The Great Challenge Of Our Time: Awakening To The Feminine

ANNE BARING, MA (Oxon) She is a Jungian analyst, member of the Scientific and Medical Network and a retired member of the Association of Jungian Analysts, London.

She has lectured for several years in both the United Kingdom and the United States and has recently given a seminar course called The Sleeping Beauty, the Prince and the Dragon - an Exploration of the Soul, which drew together her interest in psychology, mythology, ecology, fairy tales and alchemy.

In 2013 Dr. Baring published her latest book,The Dream of the Cosmos: a Quest for the Soul, that is a summary of her life’s work.

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Eurotas 2014: The Great Challenge Of Our Time: Awakening To The Feminine ABSTRACT Einstein said that with the splitting of the atom everything has changed save our mode of thinking and thus we drift towards unparalleled catastrophes. This paper will explore how our present mode of thinking evolved and how it needs to change if our species is to survive. In the first part I will look at the powerful mythologies and beliefs which have structured our present view of reality. In the second part I will explore the transformation of this view that awakening to the Feminine involves. The greatest challenge of our time is not political or economic. It is about the rescue of the soul and healing the split between spirit and nature that is embedded in the patriarchal religions.

A new planetary consciousness or worldview is emerging which recognises the essential unity of all aspects of life. The arrogant celebration of “man’s conquest of nature” is being replaced by the realisation that we need to respect, safeguard and cherish the planetary life on which our survival depends. A new cosmology is being born which challenges scientific reductionism: a new vision of our profound relationship with an intelligent and living universe. As this deep soul-impulse gathers momentum, the marriage of our rational mind with our long neglected soul is beginning to change our perception of reality.

This gives us hope that we may rescue this planet from our predatory and exploitive habits in time to counteract the danger of destroying not only millions more species, but our own as well. It invites us to recognise that we have a role to play in the service of the planet and ultimately the Cosmos, to know ourselves in our innermost nature as cosmic beings, incarnated here for a purpose, aware of our fundamental unity.

This paper was presented at the XVI Eurotas conference in Crete, 2014.

KEYWORDS Spirit, nature, myth, feminine, soul, transformation

In the first part of my talk I will look at the historical and psychological factors which I believe have led to our present perilous situation and the great challenge of our time. In the second part I will explore what Awakening to the Feminine involves. We are living in a time of momentous evolutionary change which is seeing the breakdown of old structures and the birth of a new worldview. The scientific discoveries of the last 100 years — the thrilling expansion of our knowledge about the universe, the sub-atomic world, the geological formation of the earth and the neurophysiology of the brain — have shattered the foundation upon which our 25

Eurotas 2014: The Great Challenge Of Our Time: Awakening To The Feminine culture was built just as the discoveries of Copernicus and Kepler shattered the medieval view of reality. Yet we cling to the belief that we can master and exploit the earth’s resources for the sole advantage of our species; that technological progress will bring us all we need and desire.

Once upon a time, the feeling for the sacredness of life and relationship with the Cosmos was a deep instinct, shared by much of humanity. Then, almost imperceptibly, it was lost. For millennia, a tremendous problem has been troubling the waters of the soul. It is this: in a civilization which is patriarchal in organization and outlook, which has been structured by a male image of God presiding over religions and institutions created entirely by men, and by a polarizing mythology which glorifies power, conquest and the mastery of nature, how can the longsilenced voice of the Feminine, the voice of the Soul be heard? Centuries of conflict between nations, religions and ethnic groups have brought us to the present time when we must find a way of transcending our archaic patterns of behaviour or risk destroying ourselves as a species. Can we embrace the truly immense transformation of consciousness we need to make if we wish to forge a viable future for our children and grandchildren?

Einstein said that with the splitting of the atom everything has changed save our mode of thinking and thus we drift towards unparalleled catastrophes. But how do we change our mode of thinking? It may help to look far back into the past to understand how our present mode of thinking came into being.

The Western philosophical tradition rests on the foundation laid by Pythagoras, Parmenides, Plato and Aristotle some 2.500 years ago. These philosophers were in touch with the creative depths of the soul. They were mystics and prophets, links in an ancient Western initiatory tradition that originated in Egypt. For them science and philosophy came from the sacred and led back to the sacred.

Pythagoras learnt from the Egyptian priests the mathematical principles of the harmony of the Cosmos and left us these immortal words: “Take courage, for the human race is divine”. Parmenides wrote an extraordinary poem describing his journey into the Otherworld through immense gates that stretched from earth to heaven. There he encountered the Goddess who, taking his right hand in hers, gave him teachings to take back to the land of mortals; teachings about Truth, Justice and the right ordering of human existence (Kingsley, 1999). Plato, his pupil, described the Soul of the Cosmos as a “Single Living Creature that encompasses 26

Eurotas 2014: The Great Challenge Of Our Time: Awakening To The Feminine all living creatures that are within it�. Aristotle was the first biologist. These men knew that the Cosmos was a living harmonious whole and that our consciousness could connect with the higher dimensions of that greater Whole.

The first necessity for changing our mode of thinking is to jettison the secular belief that the universe is without life, meaning or purpose and recognise, as these Greek philosophers did, that we live in a universe that is alive, conscious and the unseen ground of our own consciousness. The second necessity is to understand how a separation arose between the two great archetypal principles represented here by Zeus and Hera.

The Patriarchal religious tradition rests on a fundamental dissociation between the masculine and feminine archetypes, between spirit and nature. The concept of Deity in Judaism, Christianity and Islam contains no feminine dimension: Nature and the Great Mother were not included in their image of spirit. All three religions ruthlessly eliminated the belief that spirit was present in nature. Today, we are faced with the devastating effects of this absence of the Feminine in our concept of spirit. There is no respect for nature; no relationship with the life of the planet; no apparent awareness that we are destroying the habitat that sustains us; a habitat that was once held to be sacred and worshipped as the Great Mother, as it still is today in shamanic cultures. Awakening to the Feminine means moving towards a new image of spirit that includes nature and all planetary life. It means recovering a very ancient understanding that the Cosmos has a Soul and an Intelligence; and that spirit is immanent or present in every particle of matter: every stone, flower, tree and blade of grass. Think of a seed and how it knows instinctively how to grow into a specific flower, plant or tree. Like the seed, we carry within us the evolutionary potential of reaching a higher state of being, a higher state of consciousness.

Few people are aware that the Great Mother was worshipped for at least 25,000 years before patriarchal civilization developed and that the Cosmos was imagined as a Great Mother from whose womb all life emerged. To understand the importance of the Feminine and the forgotten matrix or foundation of the conscious mind, we need to go back to the great civilizations of the Bronze Age and long before those, to the Neolithic and Palaeolithic eras. The moon and its phases were the foundation of the great Bronze Age myths of death and regeneration. Therefore I have called this the Lunar Era. 27

Eurotas 2014: The Great Challenge Of Our Time: Awakening To The Feminine In the Neolithic era and in the great civilizations of the Bronze Age – particularly those of Egypt, India and China – the whole cosmos was imagined as a living being; as an organic, sacred and living whole. This world was an epiphany or showing forth of an unseen source or ground which breathed it into being, animating and sustaining it… Everything was infused with divinity because each and all were part of a living, breathing, connecting web of life animated by spirit. People felt they lived within a Sacred Order, the Order of the Great Mother.

The Black Madonna in many European shrines is the descendent of Artemis of Ephesus and also of Isis, two of the Great Goddesses of the Bronze Age. For at least 25.000 years the Great Mother and these Great Goddesses personified the principle of relationship: the interconnectedness and interdependence of every aspect of life and, above all, the sacredness of life.

But from around 2.000 BC we enter the Solar Era: an era of huge social and political change. The sun rather than the moon becomes the primary celestial body. The Great Father replaces the Great Mother and two immensely powerful mythologies become the primary influence on the social, political and religious history of the West, right up to the present time. The mythic theme that dominates the solar era is the battle between Light and Darkness, Good and Evil, originating in Persia with the great sage Zoroaster and reflected in this image of the solar hero fighting a dragon. Despite its cultural achievements, this 4.000 year long era has been dominated by war, conquest, territorial expansion and the creation of gigantic empires, culminating in the First and Second World Wars and the polarized situation we face today in the Middle East. This mythology has also led ultimately to the battle to conquer and subdue Nature in the service of Man. During this era, the drive for power replaced relationship.

Set in the context of the psyche however, this battle can be understood to reflect the ego’s struggle for autonomy in relation to the immense power of the matrix of nature and instinct from which it was emerging and which is symbolised by the dragon. The ego’s great fear was of being swallowed by the jaws of the dragon, falling back into unconsciousness and dissolution. Because of this struggle the ego and the developing conscious mind – identified with the solar hero – became increasingly split off from the feminine matrix out of which it had evolved. It felt it had to ascend to the sun — away from Nature, away from the Great Mother; away from the jaws of the Dragon. The ego’s struggle for autonomy was tantamount to 28

Eurotas 2014: The Great Challenge Of Our Time: Awakening To The Feminine matricide and it destroyed the possibility of maintaining a relationship with the Feminine.

The ego and the conscious mind have evolved out of the matrix of instinct, and beyond that, out of Nature and, ultimately, the Cosmos. All that lies between conscious and unconscious is what Jung called the “Shadow”. Our problems today arise from the fact that over the last four millennia, this tiny aspect of our total psyche has become detached from the matrix of the primordial soul out of which it has evolved; detached from any sense of relationship with planetary and cosmic life. As time went on, it became more and more inflated and omnipotent until its detachment is now complete and it no longer has any relationship with or awareness of the psychic depths from which it has emerged, no relationship with nature or the cosmos. Like Icarus, it has flown too close to the sun.

The second immensely powerful myth that dominates this era from c. 800 BC is the story of the Fall of Man as told in the Book of Genesis, and the expulsion of our primal ancestors, Adam and Eve, from the Garden of Eden. In this myth the image of deity changes from Great Mother to Great Father. The Great Mother is demoted into the human and flawed figure of Eve. Divine Immanence is lost. The emphasis from now on is on the transcendence of spirit. Earth becomes a place of exile and punishment for primordial sin. Man is given dominion over the Earth but he is exiled from the divine order. He lives in a world contaminated by the Fall and subject to sin, suffering and death.

This myth describes the birth of consciousness and the painful separation of the ego from the deeper matrix of the psyche but it was interpreted as literal fact and as divine revelation. It became the foundation of Christian doctrine and the reason why we needed a Redeemer. The radical change of consciousness which it reflects tore us out of nature – symbolized by the Garden of Eden – and led to pathological symptoms of anxiety and the compensatory desire for power and security resulting from a profound experience of dissociation, separation and loss, symptoms similar to those a child exhibits when it has lost its mother. I think it has had a disastrous effect on the human psyche and on Western civilization as a whole. It led to deep feelings of sexual guilt and to a virulent misogyny because all women were identified with Eve. We can understand now that the emergence of the ego and the conscious mind from the matrix of instinct was a tremendous evolutionary achievement but it was won at the expense of the former instinctive 29

Eurotas 2014: The Great Challenge Of Our Time: Awakening To The Feminine sense of relationship with the Earth. Henceforth worship was directed away from the Earth towards the transcendent Father in heaven; all rituals of relationship with nature and the Great Mother or Great Goddess were suppressed. All pagan temples were destroyed, including the great temple of Eleusis that had existed for three thousand years.

Why did this tremendous archetypal shift of emphasis from Creator as Mother to Creator as Father happen? I think it happened because at this stage in the evolution of consciousness, the fragile ego needed the support of the masculine archetype to help it emerge from the matrix of instinct, to strengthen and focus it, to develop what we call our conscious rational mind. Hence it defined a male image of deity. But the effects of this shift of emphasis were catastrophic: The Feminine Archetype associated with Nature, Soul, Body and Matter was split off from Spirit thinking was dissociated from feeling Nature and the Earth were no longer sacred Nature was effectively desouled Man was identified with spirit and mind Woman was identified with nature and body Woman became subject to Man, giving rise to the misogyny that still afflicts us today Body was split off from Mind and Mind from Soul from 418 AD Church Doctrine taught that sexual intercourse transmitted the Original Sin of the Fall1.

Western civilization developed on the foundation of this fundamental dissociation between spirit and nature, creator and creation and that is the problem we face today. Over the millennia, this dissociation effectively destroyed the ancient recognition of the presence of spirit in the natural world and opened the way to its ultimate exploitation. The Feminine Archetype, once associated with the image of the Great Mother and the Great Goddesses of earlier civilizations and with the deep instinctive sense that the world was part of a Sacred Cosmic Order, was relegated to the unconscious. Our current worldview rests on the premise 1 St. Augustine’s Doctrine of Original Sin was incorporated into Church Law at this date.

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Eurotas 2014: The Great Challenge Of Our Time: Awakening To The Feminine of our separation from and mastery of nature, where the resources of the planet are unthinkingly plundered to serve the ever-growing numbers and needs of our species. Our most urgent task is to heal the split between spirit and nature and to reconnect our conscious, rational mind with the feminine matrix of our psyche that Jung called our primordial soul.

In an early twentieth century painting of the Cyclops by Odilon Redon a oneeyed giant gazes out over a beautiful landscape holding the figure of a naked woman. No image illustrates more eloquently the current dissociation of our rational conscious mind and its one-eyed vision from the deeper matrix of our soul and its instinctive way of knowing. World culture now is in thrall to this one-eyed consciousness. Immersed in the fascination with technology, we have forgotten our profound relationship with the planet. Technological progress; scientific advance; the acquisition of wealth and political and corporate power have become the supreme goals. The human mind has virtually replaced God: it no longer recognizes a dimension of reality beyond the physical universe, nor any form of consciousness transcendent to its own. It has lost all awareness of the soul.

Jung warned us about this situation with these words: “As at the beginning of the Christian Era, so again today we are faced with the problem of the general moral backwardness of our species which has failed to keep pace with our scientific, technical and social progress”.

“God’s powers have passed into our hands. The powers themselves are not evil, but in the hands of man they are an appalling danger - in evil hands”.

Having survived three totalitarian regimes in the last century which between them killed over 100 million people, we are now faced with a fourth – the threat of an Islamist Caliphate taking root in the Middle East and extending itself along the shores of North Africa as far as Tunisia or, possibly even, worldwide. Christians are under assault in more than a hundred countries. Thousands of Muslims are dying horrifically at the hands of fellow Muslims. Jews are threatened by the same hatred that led to the Holocaust, a hatred that would like to see the State of Israel wiped from the map. We see young men slaughtering men, women and children in the name of Allah, taking women and children to serve them as concubines and slaves, glorifying depravity in the name of the God of Compassion. We see 31

Eurotas 2014: The Great Challenge Of Our Time: Awakening To The Feminine hundreds of thousands of helpless refugees fleeing the terror of ISIS. Despite the teachings of all religions about the sanctity of life, we can see that humanity as a whole is still morally unconscious, still fatally drawn to follow psychopathic leaders. Jung commented on these psychoses: “Although contemporary man believes that he can change himself without limit, the astounding or rather terrifying, fact remains that despite civilization and the influence of religions, he is still, morally, as much in bondage to his instincts as an animal, and can therefore fall victim at any moment to the beast within.”

This Dragon personifies the immense power of our unconscious primordial instincts in relation to our conscious mind, represented by the solar hero who is trying to kill it. These instincts have directed our habits of behaviour for countless millennia and now threaten our species with extinction. Paradoxically, however, the deeper matrix of the psyche is also the source of our extraordinary imagination and our creative powers. Like Nature herself, we carry within us both creative and destructive powers - powers that come to us ultimately from the stupendous energy of the Cosmos.

When aroused by fear, trauma or religious zeal, these primordial instincts can burst through the fragile defences of the conscious mind, taking possession of it and causing it to act as predator, attacking whoever it designates as its prey.

A psyche possessed by these primordial instincts loses all sense of morality and the evolutionary achievement of a conscious reflecting mind. Because of their immense age, these instincts can easily overwhelm the still fragile conscious ego.

It is no good killing the dragon as this hero is trying to do. We have to learn how to create a relationship with it, using the sword of insight to become conscious of where our instincts drive and possess us, both as individuals and as nations, if we are to have a hope of surviving as a species.

With nuclear fission, tremendous power was given into our hands, power that we were in no sense morally equipped to handle. The belief that matter is “dead” rather than alive with spirit, allowed us to split the atom and develop a dangerous technology which is leaving lethal residues of radioactivity on the earth from some 2,000 nuclear explosions and the plutonium waste from 450 nuclear reactors, some elements of which can last for 500 million years. It has driven us to create ever more demonic weapons with which to perpetuate our addiction to war. It has 32

Eurotas 2014: The Great Challenge Of Our Time: Awakening To The Feminine given terrifying power to potential enemies such as ISIS. But are these barbaric Jihadists the reflection of the unrecognized shadow of our aggressive western culture with its fearful weapons of mass destruction? This evil we face may be the karmic end-result of our beliefs and patterns of behaviour over some four thousand years. From the perspective of the great spiritual teachers of humanity, we have created a truly demonic technology but our survival instincts may prevent us from recognizing this.

The Buddha and Christ, two of the greatest teachers of humanity, taught us how to raise our primordial instincts to the awakened state, symbolized here by the great serpent whose seven hoods protect the Buddha who is seated on its coils, and by the figure of Christ rising from the tomb above the sleeping soldiers.

They did not ask for belief and worship but for the transformation of human consciousness - still unconsciously in bondage to primordial instincts - into the awakened state that they embody.

Awakening To The Feminine Now I would like to turn to the subject of awakening to the Feminine. In its deepest archetypal sense, what does the word “Feminine” mean? As I have defined it in my book, The Dream of the Cosmos, it stands for a totally different perspective on life, a totally different paradigm of reality and for the values which reflect and support that paradigm. It stands for a new and conscious relationship with the Earth and the Cosmos and the arduous creation of a new kind of civilization which honours that relationship and those values. Awakening to the Feminine invites the recognition that we live within a Sacred Order and that we have a responsibility to the Cosmos to protect the life of this planet and all the variety of species it embraces instead of exploiting them for the benefit of our species alone. Awakening to the Feminine would fulfil Einstein’s wish that we should change our mode of thinking.

I think the first trigger for this awakening was Rachel Carson’s book Silent Spring, published in 1962. But the second and most powerful trigger was the astronauts’ landing on the moon in July 1969 which gave us the breathtaking view of the Earth seen from space. Five hundred million people watched the Apollo landing and listened to Neil Armstrong’s famous words. In the space of a few hours, our planetary eyes expanded to cosmic eyes. Our relationship with the cosmos and our perception of ourselves was transformed. The fact that it was the moon that 33

Eurotas 2014: The Great Challenge Of Our Time: Awakening To The Feminine was being explored – age-old symbol of the Great Mother, the Feminine and the Soul – was in itself significant. But it was the sight of our planet from the moon that lifted us beyond national allegiances and opened our heart to a feeling of belonging to the cosmos. For the first time we became visually aware of the exquisite beauty and fragility of our blue planet and knew it was our home in the vastness of the starry cosmos.

After so many billions of years the creative energy of the universe has evolved a form, the planet earth, and a consciousness – our own – which is slowly growing towards the recognition of its ground and source. Yet, because of the loss of the tradition of the Divine Feminine, we do not know that what physicists are exploring in the finer and finer gradations of matter they are discovering is what the awestruck explorers of the Tree of Life in Kabbalah named the Face and Glory of God, nor that the universe we explore is the outer covering or veil of an unimaginably fine web of luminous and invisible relationships. We need to broaden our concept of Soul to embrace the inner life of the universe and recognize that it is alive, conscious and the eternal ground of our own consciousness. So I will attempt a definition of the Soul: The Soul is the Cosmic Sea of Being or Web of Life underlying physical reality through which all things are connected to each other.

The Soul is the Source or Matrix of Consciousness, the invisible Great Mother once named Sophia, Shekinah, Divine Wisdom, Holy Spirit.

The Soul is not so much in us; we are in the Soul.

Our physical body and brain are the vehicle of the Soul in this dimension of reality.

In the words of Heraclitus, “You could not discover the limits of the soul, even if you travelled by every path in order to do so; so profound is its meaning”.

The Highest Qualities of the Soul – the values of the heart may be defined as Wisdom, Compassion, Love, Justice, Beauty and Harmony, and the instinct to heal, nurture, protect and cherish that is present in both man and woman.

I think that something comparable to an Annunciation and a birth is taking place in our world, announcing a new phase in the evolution of human consciousness: an awakening to the divine unity of life. Awakening to the Feminine invites us to 34

Eurotas 2014: The Great Challenge Of Our Time: Awakening To The Feminine listen to the long-ignored voice of the soul that speaks below the threshold of consciousness – speaks to us through dreams and visions, through our deepest instincts and intuitions and through the depressions that afflict so many of us that are rooted in the loss of soul. The soul communicates mainly through the heart, through our deepest feelings, many of which are ignored and repressed in our driven and addicted culture.

Awakening to the Feminine means defining a new image of Spirit, moving away from an image of a Creator God who is separate and remote from His creation towards an understanding that Divine Creative Spirit is immanent in every aspect of life on this planet. Divine Mind is not something separate from us. We are co-inherent with it, at the very heart of it. This, I believe, is one of the great revelations of our time.

Hieronymous Bosch painted this picture in the fifteenth century, showing a soul accompanied by an angel ascending through a tunnel towards the Light. Another revelation suggested by this painting and stated by Elisabeth Kubler-Ross is that “Nothing is more important for our well being than to know that when we die we move into another reality that is as real and vitally alive as this one. Consciousness does not die with the death of the body: consciousness is eternal”.

The role of the Feminine is to reunite what has been separated: the masculine with the feminine; this world with the invisible dimensions of the cosmos; the rational with the trans-rational. Through the near-Death Experience recounted by thousands of individuals, and the huge body of evidence about our survival that now exists, we are being made aware of the immortality of the soul and the existence of our subtle or soul body. This is helping to dismantle the firewall that reductionist science has constructed in its insistence that there is only material reality and that the death of the physical brain is the end of consciousness. The apparent finality of death may be the greatest of our illusions.

The Metaphysical Traditions of both East and West have long taught that we are living within subtle fields of reality which are imperceptible to our “normal” level of consciousness and the instruments so far devised by science. We see only 4% of the universe. What lies within the invisible 96%? These metaphysical traditions tell us that our lives are woven into a cosmic tapestry whose threads connect us 35

Eurotas 2014: The Great Challenge Of Our Time: Awakening To The Feminine not only with many dimensions of reality but with multitudes of beings inhabiting those dimensions. Beyond the present confines of our sight a limitless field of consciousness interacts with our own.

The greatest challenge of our time is not political or economic. It is, in the deepest sense, about the rescue of the Soul. Becoming aware of other dimensions of reality is part of that rescue. The 21st century has given us technological advance in the form of mass communications and the ability to fly from country to country as we have done to reach this meeting. But there are new or very ancient ideas that could engage the whole of humanity – ideas that are not about pursuing power and material wealth or even reaching Mars but about discovering who we are and why we are here.

We are all engaged in a vast process of transformation that is manifesting as a new planetary consciousness which recognizes that we are part of an immense invisible Web of Life, known in India as the Net of Indra. The arrogant celebration of “man’s conquest of nature” is being replaced by the realization that we need to respect, safeguard and cherish the planetary life to which we belong. A new cosmology is being born; a new vision of our profound relationship with an intelligent and living universe. This emerging paradigm, together with the strengthening voice of the environmental movement, gives us hope that we may rescue this planet from our predatory and exploitive habits in time to counteract the danger of destroying not only millions more species, but our own as well.

It invites us to recognize that we have a role to play in the service of the planet and ultimately the Cosmos, to know ourselves in our innermost nature as cosmic beings, incarnated here for a purpose, aware of our fundamental unity.

The image of the sacred marriage between the two great archetypal principles was anticipated in a wonderful fifth century mosaic from Santa Maria Maggiore in Rome, showing Jesus and Mary in the starry heavens, with the sun and moon beneath their feet. Mythologically speaking, this new era invites the marriage of lunar and solar consciousness and the birth of the “child” of a new kind of consciousness arising in our soul that would be the fruit of this union and the true “saviour” of our species. As this deep soul-impulse gathers momentum, the marriage of our rational mind with our long neglected soul is beginning to change our perception of reality. This gives us hope for the future. If we can recover the values intrinsic to the forgotten lunar era of the Great Mother without losing the priceless solar attainment of a strong and focused conscious mind, together with 36

Eurotas 2014: The Great Challenge Of Our Time: Awakening To The Feminine all the extraordinary discoveries we have made and the skills we have developed, we could heal both the fissure in our soul and our raped and vandalized planet. It is a tremendously challenging and creative time to be alive.

REFERENCES

•

Kingsley, P. (1999). In The Dark Places of Wisdom. California: The Golden Sufi Center.

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EUROTAS 2014 Why TransPersonal Awakening Of Our Cultures Is Highest Priority

ASHOK GANGADEAN, Ph.D. He is Professor and Chair of Philosophy at Haverford College and he is Founder and Director of the Global Dialogue Institute. He is the author of Between Worlds: The Emergence of Global Reason and Meditative Reason: Toward Universal Grammar.

ABSTRACT In the light of the crisis that mankind is facing every day, it becomes important to ask why an authentic TransPersonal awakening of the individual is urgent. A TransPersonal Intelligence, aimed at a peaceful dialogue and cultural evolution, could be the effective answer for care of the world and of our own lives.

This paper was presented at the XVI Eurotas conference in Crete, 2014.

KEYWORDS Transpersonal, wisdom, energy, awakening, human life.

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Eurotas 2014: Why TransPersonal Awakening of Our Cultures...

It is now clear that TransPersonal Literacy and Intelligence bring us to the Source of all our worldviews, cultures, religions and forms of life.

This Primal Source Field is named differently in our great philosophical, spiritual and religious traditions through the ages. Whether invoked through Tao, Aum, Yahweh, Allah, Brahman, Sunyata (Emptiness), Christ, God, Spirit or the Foundational Energy Field of all the Sciences… the collective Wisdom of our planet through the ages has recognized that this Source Field is the generative Source of our diverse scriptures, worldviews, enlightenment teachings, indeed, of all worldviews, narratives, ideologies, religions and disciplinary forms of life.

This consensus teaching of our great Wisdom Endowment reveals that we humans become Whole Persons when we access the Source Code of Life and re-center our lives and cultures in the Source Field which is the Sacred Space of Infinite Presence. Our great planetary awakening teachings concur that the Fundamental Source Field is boundless, hence trans-finite, and as such this Infinite Presence must be the generative source of all possible worldviews, narratives, disciplines and forms of life.

Furthermore, our Wisdom Endowment is the sacred space of TransPersonal Intelligence and Cultural Life. This global Source Intelligence also recognizes that we humans are lodged in deep and chronically entrenched patterns of personal and cultural dysfunctions and pathologies when we are alienated from Infinite Source (Infinite Presence) which nevertheless surrounds us and sources our lives and cultures in every way. In this light it is clear that pre-Sourced mental and cultural patterns are the primary source of humans dysfunctions, chronic fragmentation, polarization, and wide-ranging forms of human and cultural violence.

Our more awakened and evolved Self cannot come forth and blossom in such pre-Sourced cultures and worldviews which are dominated by ego-mental or monocentric mental practices and forms of life. This pre-Sourced “self” is not the mature Human and is lodged in cultures of monologue which are severed from Source Life. In this context the depth of “transpersonal” awakening is our personal and inter-personal evolutionary shift from dysfunctional monologue to non-violent cultures of Deep Dialogue where we mature as awakened Persons.

Our global Wisdom teaches that the awakened Human who lives the Source Intelligence is a Dialogue Person- an “I-Thou Human” - who lives and experiences 39

Eurotas 2014: Why TransPersonal Awakening of Our Cultures... the deep connectivity of the Primal Field of Reality. This is the space of awakened Reason, moral consciousness, human compassion, love, respect across borders and the sacred meeting space of diverse worlds. This is where we find deep Unity in sacred Diversity. The awakened TransPersonal Human is a Dialogue Being.

Whether the Teachings of Buddha, or the Yoga Science of Krishna or the Logos-inthe Flesh Teachings of Jesus, to mention a few preeminent Source Code pioneers, it is clear that the Literacy of Global Wisdom reveals that we cannot mature as awakened Whole Humans within monocentric cultures where our mental patterns objectifies everything it touches and produces cultural spaces of “I-It”. The “self” or “person” in such “I-It” cultures is not yet a fully evolved Person who embodies the highest Moral Law and awakened Rational Life. The “ego-mental” self is thus a pre-Sourced self and the TransPersonal Self is the Human who has awakened and entered the TransPersonal Intelligence of Life in Presence. This is the TransPersonal Culture.

It is clear that our collective Wisdom wide-ranging human dysfunctions, pathologies and forms of violence trace to our pre-Sourced forms of life and cultures. And our maturation to becoming Whole Persons, living the deep dialogical intelligence of TransPersonal Presence, is the highest form of human activism which gets to the source of wide-ranging crises facing humanity today. This is why our personal and cultural evolution to the non-violent Dialogic and TransPersonal Intelligence is highest urgency for healing our cultures, our worlds, our personal lives.

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The Humanistic And The Psychiatric Patient-Centered Approach: A Pilot Research On Self-Represention1 ALESSANDRA GUERRIERI, Ph.D. (Bosis Foundation, Bergamo) INES TESTONI, Ph.D. Ines Testoni is professor of Social Psychology and director of the Master Death Studies & the End of life (University of Padua). Her principal themes of research and interest concern the relationship among death, psychological discomfort, existential suffering, representation of the death. Specifically, in the field of social psychology of health, she studies bereavement and anticipatory mourning, health psychology and psycho-oncology/end-of-life, mental and social representations of health and illness. The theme of death is the pivot through she moves other aspects of her psychological research, where the questions on suicide and euthanasia are particularly studied.

She has published several monographs, many national and international scientific articles, and has edited several books.

Co-authors: LAURA APPOLONIA (BOSIS Foundation - Bergamo) DANIELA DI LUCIA SPOSITO (University of Padua) LUCIA RONCONI (University of Padua)

1 The research was realized at the Emilia Bosis Foundation, a no profit institutional organization in Bergamo, founded in 1998 by Emilia Bosis. The mission of the Foundation is to help patients to re-socialize and re-integrate into the territory, to recover their independence, their expression and their social communication, taking charge of the suffering due to mental disorders and working on their psychopathological and social manifestation but also using them as tools for awareness and personal growth. The analysis of the operating mode of the Bosis Foundation follows with the ideologies promoted by current laws (Law n. 180/1978). Remaining faithful to the mission of the Foundation we tried to monitor at different levels the “reality� of the community through the voice of its guests and using quali/quantitative research tools.

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The Humanistic And The Psychiatric Patient-Centered Approach...

ABSTRACT Introduction: the phenomenological and anthropoanalytical humanistic approach considers illness as an answer to the search for meaning of suffering required by life. The aim of the therapeutic intervention deriving from this perspective is to help who is suffering to recognize his condition and to become aware of the possibility of changing. The Sein zum Tode (Being toward death), announced by the existential condition, can inhibit a recognizable trait of the psychopathological condition: the ability to think about the future. The treatment based on a person-centered approach develops as a relational proposal in which the encounter between patient and therapy is directed towards the construction of meanings that can be seen as praxis and poiesis – from work to art. The aim is to give to the patient a new shape concerning his representation of the future and of his biography.

This article is focused on a pilot research realized within a territorial psychiatric facility which adopts this line of intervention personalizing it for each patient with the intent to improve the quality and the perception of life for future planning.

Participants and inclusion/exclusion criteria: participants are guests of the psychiatric facility and are recruited on a voluntary basis. Seriously ill patients at a somatic level and patients that were not able to carry on a conversation and to tolerate the administration of the testing instruments were excluded.

Materials and methods: the study, based on a non-random sampling method (not-RTS) is a descriptive-observational, longitudinal, quantitative and qualitative research. The observation period was eighteen months.

Results: a change in the quality of life perception of the patients and an improvement of pathological symptoms was found; particularly relevant is the progress of the terms used by the guests to describe their present existential condition compared to the past one. A relation between the period of stay/frequentation of the facility and death representation was highlighted.

Conclusions: a developmental capacity of becoming aware of individual history and an optimistic vision of the future are highlighted.

KEYWORDS Humanistic psychiatry, existential condition, death, pathology, health

Introduction This article reports a pilot research realized in a residential psychiatric facility that provides territorial services. The facility adopts a humanistic phenomenological perspective and engages patients in work activities and artistic production.

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The Humanistic And The Psychiatric Patient-Centered Approach...

It considers mental illness to be an existential condition that, to be overcome, requires the involvement of all the dimensions of the person.

Even though many pathologies might be exacerbated or even triggered by conflicts that occur between the various levels of the existence of the individual, according to the team working in such reality, these same conflicts may offer new discovery paths leading to a transcendental dimension, thanks to which action may overcome the stereotype imposed by the restriction of consciousness due to mental suffering (Assagioli, 2010; Maslow, 1998; Watson, 2002). However this requires that all individual dimensions are activated to gain a balance able to establish a positive relationship between the individual and the world. The adopted humanistic approach shares, indeed, the basic constructs of phenomenology, existential analytics and transpersonal analysis which establish the holistic vision of the subject, regarded as a whole resulting from the unity of body, mind, spirit and relationship with the world.

Therefore, recognizing mental illness as “missglückten Dasein” (“forms of failed existence”: Binswanger, 1956) implies that it should be regarded as a condition with a great development potential, from which unexpected forms of planning may derive.

This epistemological basis recognizes the theoretical framework of Martin Heidegger’s as its essential language.

In particular, crucial is the work Sein und Zeit (Being and Time: Heidegger, 1927), where a key role is played by the Sein zum Tode, in other words the “being toward death”, assumed by the philosopher as the condition that makes the individuation process of the self possible through the awareness of finitude (that is to be a mortal being).

The phenomenological humanistic school on the one hand considers such awareness as the origin of the impasse mental illness is caught in and, on the other hand, it considers the overcoming of the pathological condition as the dissolution of the crippling anxiety thanks to the reactivation of existential planning (“In-derWelt-sein”-Being-in-the-world).

The horizons that the individuation process resulting from the awareness of the “possibility of not being” unfold consist in building authentic relationship with others.

This is what the transcendence of the self, that through the inter-human relationship becomes able to take charge of the world (Binswanger, 1956, 1965), consists of.

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The Humanistic And The Psychiatric Patient-Centered Approach...

In phenomenological humanistic psychiatry, the path towards authenticity starts in the therapeutic relationship that unfolds in who is suffering as a process of becoming aware of the failure of the attempt to understand from which the anxiety of being mortal derives. This awareness starts the development of the consciousness of finitude and of all the opportunities that can be realized in its boundaries (Jaspers, 1919).

The humanistic and the phenomenological approach gained a growing consensus in Italy and led to the birth of a real school of thought transversal to thinkers and clinicians (Benedetti, 1980, 1997; Borgna, 1988; Cargnello, 1964; Galimberti 2006).

The work of the psychiatrist Franco Basaglia (Basaglia, 1971, 1973; Basaglia, Ongaro, Basaglia, 1971) and the subsequent de-institutionalization of the psychiatric intervention (L. 180/1978) is based on this school thought.

Therefore Italian health institutions had to cope with profound changes in their operating procedures measuring themselves with new strategies as an alternative to physical or pharmacological restraint classically provided by asylums (Burti, 2001; Chapireau, 2008; De Girolamo, Cozza, 2000; Jones, 2000).

The facility we focused on in this research interprets the thought of Basaglia and, therefore, of the humanistic approach pursuing the goal of making the patient aware of his condition of suffering to help him to interpret the world and to help him to express its manifestations according to his pragmatic poetic sensitivity.

Therefore, the intervention offered by the facility pursues these goals through professional and operational interdisciplinarity using various operative tools as listed in Scheme 1.

The research was conducted at the Foundation Emilia Bosis, a facility consisting of three seats that welcomes guests in residential and semi-residential regime: there are two units of Protected High Support Communities (CPA), a High Support Rehabilitation Centre (CRA) which also includes guests from OPG, a Protected Low Support Community (CPB) and two Day Care Centers (CD).

In each facility many projects are provided and guests participate according to their personal Treatment Plan; these interventions regards several areas: basic skills, physical, occupational, cognitive-expressive, artistic and recreationalreintegrating activities, social support, individual and group psychotherapy. The goal of this variety of activities is to allow each patient (guest) to recognize his original unity of mind, body, and world through relationships using the most suitable languages to redefine relationship with others, acting together to transform themselves and the surrounding reality (Lucchini, 2011; Lucchini et al. 2006).

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Scheme n. 1 - Intervention Between Praxis and Poiesis

Aim The aim of this study is to assess, simultaneously, through a survey realized during a period of time of 18 months, different forms of death representation (such as the possibility of death as absolute end or death as transition) (Testoni et al., 2014) and changes occurred in the guest of the analyzed facility thanks to the provided intervention.

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The Humanistic And The Psychiatric Patient-Centered Approach...

Measurements And Methods The study is based on non-random sampling methods (not-RTS) and it is a descriptive-observational, longitudinal (T1-T2), quantitative and qualitative study.

Measurements administered and analyzed ex-ante and ex-post at a quantitative level are: •

Symptom Cecklist-90 (SCL-90) for the assessment of psychopathological dimensions (Derogatis, 1977);

•

Short Form Health Survey (SF-36) for the assessment of health status (Apolone, Mosconi, Ware, 1997);

Administered only during T1: •

Testoni Death Representations Scale (TDRS) to assess death representation from an ontological point of view (Testoni, 2014 in press);

The instruments administered and analyzed in the qualitative part of the research are: •

Self-Characterization to understand themes and relevant meanings for selfrepresentation (Armezzani, Guzzo, Mario, 1994; Kelly, 1955).

•

Three open questions to assess the experiences of the guest over time: 1. “Do you remember how your life was before coming here? (Past) 2. “How are you doing here now?” (Present) 3. “What do you think you will do in the future? (Future)

Psychologists and psychotherapists guided the administration in filling of the questionnaire.

The research was endorsed by the ethics committee of the University of Padua.

Description Of The Participants Guests of different structures of the Foundation Emilia Bosis were involved in the research. 9 guests of the Day Care Centre, 2 of the CPA and 7 of the CRA. 9 participants are diagnosed with schizophrenia and 9 with personality disorder.

The study was completed by 18 participants, in fact 5 out of the initial 23 participants were no longer in charge of the Foundation at the time of the post-ante survey.

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The Humanistic And The Psychiatric Patient-Centered Approach...

The guests of the Day Care Centre and of the Therapeutic Community were both analyzed.

The average guest is 45 years (min. 32, max 65 years), 3 age groups were identified (40% ranged from 27 to 38 years of age, 30% ranged from 39 to 49 years of age, 30% from 50 to 65 years of age). Guests are mainly male (70%).

All participants are educated, most of them have a higher (n = 10) and medium (n = 8) education level, only two persons graduated from elementary school and three from the university.

47% of the participants lives or lived with the family of origin, 26% lives or lived alone, 8% has a family of his own, and 17% comes from other situations including previous experiences in a community and 1 participant comes from a Detention Psychiatric Hospital. 40% of the participants is engaged in a working activity. The period of time for the taking in charge by the structure has been divided into three tranches as described in Table 1.

Table n. 1 - Months Of Attendance

Participants are on a pharmacological therapy primarily based on the administration of neuroleptics (both atypical and typical antipsychotics), anxiolytics (benzodiazepine), anticholinergic and medicines against seizures and mania.

Results Quantitative Analysis Data were analyzed using the statistical software SPSS 20 (IBM Statistical Package for Social Science-20). Non-parametric tests were used as data, also because of the small sample, and were significantly not-normally distributed.

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The Humanistic And The Psychiatric Patient-Centered Approach...

Symptom Checklist-90 (SCL-90) Graph 1 shows the comparison between Global Index Scores (GSI), the average score of the total number of items, obtained during the first and the last data collection. The GSI is a generic indicator for the presence of psychopathological syndromes.

According to the Mann-Whitney U test at Time 1 we have z= 1.76; p=.07 and at the last data collection we have z=1.45; p=.16.

Graph n. 1 - Global Index Score (GSI)

As shown in the graph, participant A003 diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia has a sudden worsening in the GSI score as confirmed by the persons in charge of the Foundation. The guest is under pharmacological treatment with Risperidone, Quetiapina, Lorazepam, Promazina and his activities are Personal Autonomy Project, Film Group, Lecture group, Writing Group, Going out to a bar or on the territory, Group Psychotherapy.

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The Humanistic And The Psychiatric Patient-Centered Approach...

Also participant A006 diagnosed with simplex schizophrenia got slightly worse; he is under a pharmacological treatment based on Olanzapina and his activities are Group Psychotherapy, Autogenic Training, Theatre Project.

The Mann-Whitney U test is significant for the depression scale. In fact at the first data collection the value is z= z=-2.35 p<.01; at the last data collection the test is still significant but with a bigger p-value DEP z=-2.13 p<.05. This suggests an improvement.

We analyzed the single scales and changes between ex-ante and post-ante as shown in graph 2.

Graph n. 2 - Ex ante - Ex post SCL 90

No significance was found between day care and residential structure analyzing the variables age, months of stay and type of accommodation. This might be because the different units offer to all guests very similar activities differentiated according to individual needs.

Short Form Health Survey (SF-36) During the first data collection, but not in the last one, the SF-36 questionnaire scales listed below were statistically significant.

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The Humanistic And The Psychiatric Patient-Centered Approach...

Table n. 2 - Significant Scales

Particularly relevant was the scale Role and Emotional State that according to the authors of the questionnaire goes from “creating problems with your work or other regular daily activities as a result of any emotional problems”, to a decrease of such discomfort, to having “no difficulty with work or other daily activities as a result of emotional problems”.

Similarly mental health as perceived during the first data collection was “feeling nervous and depressed all the time” while in the post-ante was “feeling peaceful, happy and calm”.

Graph n. 3 - Short Form Health Survey (SF-36)

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The Humanistic And The Psychiatric Patient-Centered Approach...

It is possible to comment the presence of a significant correlation between the variable months and the Role and Emotional State scale. It seems that participants who have come a longer way have better results in health status RE, that is they perceive less limitations due to their emotional condition in daily activities and in their work. This result shows that the programs offered by the analyzed facility positively influences aspects of social integration.

Testoni Death Representations Scale (TDRS) Results of the TDRS summarized in table 3 show a mean placed in the middle of the continuum between the representation of death as transition and as annihilation. Only one participant abstained from completing the questionnaire.

Table n. 3 - Descriptive Statistics TDRS

The distribution of scores (Table 4) is about equally divided between participants who agree with items describing death representation as a transition and items describing death as annihilation. In fact 10 participants have scores ranging from 1,17 to 2,17, the score of 2 participants is 2,33 (which is the mid-point of the continuum), and 10 participants have scores ranging from 2,83 to 4,33.

Table n. 4 Frequency Distribution TDRS

No correlations were found between the TDRS, the SCL-90 and the SF-36 scales.

A negative correlation was found for the variable â&#x20AC;&#x153;monthsâ&#x20AC;? with a Correlation Coefficient equal to -0,566 (significance <0.01) 51

The Humanistic And The Psychiatric Patient-Centered Approach...

Qualitative Analysis 3 open-ended questions were presented to explore existential themes, in the temporal dimension of the Self 1) Do you remember how your life was before coming here?

2) How are you doing here now?

3) What do you think you will do in the future?

Answers were analyzed using the qualitative data analysis software Atlas.t (Visual qualitative data analysis, management and theory building. Version. win 4.2).

The program allows to facilitate the formal organization of the data and the synthesis of the results, thus providing a path similar to the “paper pencil” coding with the advantage to systematize and speed up operations. The methodological procedures of Atlas.t lead to the comprehension of the processed contents. The most delicate and important phase is coding text strings (quotations).

The Atlas software makes comparison and recovery operations between quotations easy and it allows to create graphical outputs. After coding the various answers in quotations the valence of terms was divided in negative and positive (Figure n 4) and then it was placed in a graph Atlas.t according to the various questions (graph n. 5, n. 6, n. 7).

Graph n. 4 - “Before”, “During” and “After”.

Distribution Of The Quotations Of Positive And Negative Experiences

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The Humanistic And The Psychiatric Patient-Centered Approach...

As shown in the graph the labeling concerning the negative experience is predominant in the “before” distribution, that is in the period before the stay in the analyzed facility and then it gradually becomes less and less effective.

Analyzing each question, always in a negative and positive continuum, the label “before” in graph 5 concerning the question “do you remember how your life was before coming here?” shows that there are mainly very negative and pessimistic terms. This terms describe very distressful and difficult situations to cope with especially feeling ill and overwhelmed by problems.

Graph n. 5 - “Do You Remember How Your Life Was Before Coming Here?”

In the second question, concerning the here and now (“how are you doing here now?”) the most negative terms found were mediocrity and fatigue, while terms describing illness and distressful situations disappeared and were replaced by terms as well-being, balance, and by a different and more mature self-awareness that brings along the desire of doing things, of working, of taking care of one self with balance and positivity, also through social integration and work. Graph 6 shows the labeling.

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Graph n. 6 - Here And Now: “How Are You Doing Here Now”?

The last question, “what do you think you will do in the future?” is about the future after the stay in the facility. Terms are mainly positive with in addition a realistic vision of reality. In fact the terms do not hide the uncertainty about the future and the fears of going back home or to the rehabilitation center. Terms as problems, loneliness, sadness, that characterized the period before the stay in the facility, were no longer used and were replaced by terms describing a sense of confidence and calm.

Graph n. 7 - The Future: “What Do You Think You Will Do In The Future?”

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The instructions for Self-Characterization (Armezzani, Guzzo, Mario, 1994, Kelly, 1955), given only during the first administration, are as follows: “I would like you to write a sketch of the character of XY, pretending like he/she was the main character in a play. Wright about XY as a very kind friend would do, as a friend that knows you very intimately, maybe better than anyone else. Remember to write in the third person, for example, you can start by saying ”XY is…”.

Graph n. 8 shows the quotations used to label self-representation. The terms found identify a mainly positive self-representation, combined with a nice, calm, sensitive, altruistic character even though there also are more pessimistic voices who describe themselves as misunderstood, useless and lonely.

Graph n. 8 - Self-Representation

This paper is a brief interpretation of the therapeutical model taken up by Fondazione Emilia Bosis and shows three therapeutical pathways which led the three patients involved in them to a good recovery. All these three subjects were evaluated by the rating scales used in this research.

DIAGNOSIS A104: Schizoaffective disorder F.25 Route: Residential CRA followed by a still ongoing period in charge of the CD. Outcome: The person is at present living alone in an apartment of his own in a town near the CD and is carrying on his university studies, which he had resumed 55

The Humanistic And The Psychiatric Patient-Centered Approach... during his staying in the Community, and he is moreover carrying on a job which he also had obtained while he was in the Community and he is getting enough money to live on.

DIAGNOSIS A101: Type 1 bipolar affective disorder F.31 Route: Residential CRA in prison regime because of unlawful acts, some time spent in CPB and still in charge of CD. Outcome: The patient is now regularly employed in a cooperative and dwells in an apartment with other patients who are alike in charge of the CD. DIAGNOSIS A108: paranoid schizophrenia F.20 Route: Residential CRA, short time (some months) spent in the CD. Outcome: The patient is at present living alone in an apartment of his own and is self-employed in an activity he has set about part-time when he was staying in the Community and has now become a full-time one. He has consequently been discharged from the CD. The features of our contribution have been herein only mentioned at large and further studies will be needed in different contexts to make our design more precise and clearly understood in regard to every aspect of peopleâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s lives.

Discussion The period of time taken into consideration for the quantitative research might be too short to allow the observation of significant changes. Nevertheless interesting correlations were found concerning the variable age. The age increase is positively correlated with the worsening of symptomatology related to somatic alterations, paranoid ideation, a secluded lifestyle and with a reduced valuation of the state of health characterized by thinking that a worsening might be possible.

Moreover, the presence of correlations between the scales SCL-90 and SF-36 leads us to comment that the state of health is correlated with the psychopathological picture, therefore as health state scores increase symptomatological dimensions decrease.

The psychophysical unity, adopted by the phenomenological humanistic approach, seems to be fully confirmed and therefore it seems to totally justify the choice of the tested facility to work on the psychological dimension entirely involving also the action of the body between praxis and poiesis.

The representation of death as a transition and therefore as a chance to go beyond 56

The Humanistic And The Psychiatric Patient-Centered Approach... the abyss of anguish seems to correlate with a prolonged stay in the facility where the offered activities actually seem to open up horizons of transcendence.

This data seems to be supported by qualitative analysis, which show how the past is characterized by discouragement and loneliness, while the present is described with the use of positive words, and it is characterized by a description of the self that lets out the acquisition of an introspective capacity and an awareness associated with greater balance, stability and well-being. In this context, the future opens up to hope and confidence of being able to count on the help of the facility.

This trait is reinforced by the analysis of self-characterization that leaves the definition of illness in the past while in the present it suggests the possibility of overcoming the practical problems that a consciously managed illness involves.

The research is going on in the same facility and it is also involving other structures with the purpose of comparing the results.

REFERENCES

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Apolone, G., Mosconi, P., & Ware, J. E. (1997). Questionario sullo stato di salute SF-36. Milano: Guerini.

Armezzani, M., Guzzo, R., & Mario, O. (1994). L’autocaratterizzazione. Padova: Francisci.

Assagioli, R. (2010). Act of Will. New York: Synthesis Center Press.

Baccaro, L., Areddia, M. (1990). Storie di uno che si è ammalato... di mente.

Padova: Maripa.

Basaglia, F. (1971). L’istituzione negata. Torino: Einaudi.

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• • • • • •

• • • • • •

• • •

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Basaglia, F. (1973). Che cos’è la psichiatria?. Torino: Einaudi.

Basaglia, F., & Ongaro Basaglia, F. (1971). La maggioranza deviante. Torino: Einaudi.

Benedetti, G. (1980). Alienazione e personazione nella psicoterapia della malattia mentale. Torino: Giulio Einaudi.

Benedetti, G. (1997). La psicoterapia come sfida esistenziale. Milano: Raffaello Cortina.

Binswanger L. (1956). Drei Formen missglückten Daseins: Verstiegenheit, Verschrobenheit, Manieriertheit De Gruyter. Berlin.

Binswanger L. (1965). Wahn. Beiträge zu seiner phänomenologischen und daseinsanalytischen Erforschung (Delusion. Contributions to phenomenological and analytical investigations). Pfullingen: Neske.

Borgna, E. (1988). I conflitti del conoscere. Milano: Feltrinelli.

Burti, L. (2001). Italian psychiatric reform 20 plus years after. Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica, 104, 41-46.

Cargnello, D. (1964). Alterità e alienità: introduzione alla fenomenologia antropoanalitica. Milano: Feltrinelli.

Chapireau, F. (2008). Trente ans après: La révolution psychiatrique italienne en perspective. L’Evolution Psychiatrique, 73(3), 517-528.

De Girolamo, G., Cozza, M. (2000). The italian psychiatric reform: A 20-year perspective. International Journal of Law and Psychiatry, 23(3-4), 197-214.

Dinning, W. D., Evans, R. G. (2010). Discriminant and convergent validity of the SCL-90 in psychiatric inpatients. Journal of Personality Assessment, 18, 304-310.

Galimberti, U. (2006). Psichiatria e fenomenologia, Milano: Feltrinelli.

Jaspers, K. (1919). Psychologie der Weltanschauungen; Ita transl Vincenzo, L. (1950) Psicologia delle visioni del mondo. Astrolabio, Roma.

Kelly, G. A. (1955). The Psychology of Personal Constructs, Vol. 1: Clinical diagnosis and psychotherapy. New York: Norton; It Transl. Castiglioni, M. (2004) La psicologia dei costrutti personali. Teoria e personalità. Milano: Raffaello Cortina.

Heidegger, M. (1927). Sein und Zeit. Frankfurt: Halle; Engl Transl. Heidegger, M. (1967). Being and Time. Oxford: Basil Blackwell.

Hewitt, J. (2007). Critical evaluation of the use of research tools in evaluating quality of life for people with schizophrenia. International Journal of Mental Health Nursing, 16(1), 2-14.

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•

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Hoffmann, N. G., Overall, P. B. (1978). Factor structure of the SCL-90 in a psychiatric population. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 46(6), 1187.

Jones, J. (2000). Mental health care reforms in Britain and Italy since 1950: A cross- national comparative study. Health and Place, 6(3), 171-187.

Lucchini, P. G. (2011). Responsabili davvero: Non c’è più il futuro di una volta.

Progetto logos 2011. Bergamo: Fondazione Emilia Bosis.

Lucchini, P. G. (a cura di) (2006) Oltraltro. tra i confini dell’anima e della follia.

Bergamo: Moretti & Vitali Editori.

Manning, N. (2010). Therapeutic communities: A problem or a solution for psychiatry? A sociological view. British Journal of Psychotherapy, 26(4), 434443.

Maslow, A. (1998). Towards a Psychology of Being (3rd edition). Wiley.

Nishiyama, T., Ozaki, N. (2010). Measurement limit of quality-of-life questionnaires in psychiatric settings. Quality of Life Research, 19(1), 25-30.

Rapaport, J., Bellringer, S., Pinfold, V., & Huxley, P. (2006). Carers and confidentiality in mental health care: Considering the role of the career’s assessment: A study of service users’, carers’ and practitioners’ views. Health & Social Care in the Community, 14(4), 357-365.

Testoni I., Ancona D., Ronconi L. (2013). Le rappresentazioni ontologiche della morte: primi risultati per la valutazione della Testoni Death Representation Scale, in “La ricerca delle buone pratiche in Psicologia della Salute”, Atti del X Congresso Nazionale della SIPSA, 10-11-12 maggio 2013, Orvieto, 38.

Watson, J. (2002). Intentionality and Caring‐Healing Consciousness: A Practice of Transpersonal Nursing. Holistic Nursing Practice 16(4), 12-19.

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Paradoxes Of Infinity And Foundations Of Transpersonal Psychology TATIANA GINZBURG, Ph.D.

Ph.D. in transpersonal psychology, professional breathworker for twenty years, transformational game facilitator, Game Master and founder of Game Master’s School in Russia. Russian MAPS representative. Leader of the project Global Enlightenment Websites: http://globalenlightenment.ru/ - www.daism.ru - www.da.dzin.org

ABSTRACT Transpersonal psychology’s uniqueness comes from the point of infinity of the psyche, as the subject of the field. Jung being one of the predecessors of transpersonal psychology confirms the infinity of the psyche very clearly. But this has created another problem.

What are the borders of the subject if it is infinite?

And if psyche is infinite, how can we grasp it as whole? Can it be fully cognized? Or to give the opposite point of view, is it unknowable?

In the search for the borders of the subject of transpersonal psychology, we are attempting to reflect on the paradoxes of infinity. As it turns out, the concept of “actual infinity” (opened

by Georg Cantor in the late 19th century) allow us to create a new perspective in solving the infinity problems in psychology. The question arises that if the psyche is infinite, can the psyche be cognized?

The idea of psyche being actually infinite allows us to resolve the issue of cognizability of the psyche in principle. This issue is whether a possibility exists for a person to complete the process of self-exploration. Such a solution may lay a new foundation for Transpersonal Psychology on a non-classical scientific basis.

KEYWORDS Infinity, transpersonal psychology, self-exploration, enlightenment, perfection, unknowability, knowability,cognizability

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Paradoxes Of Infinity And Foundations Of Transpersonal Psychology Zeno’s arguments, in some form, have afforded grounds for almost all theories of space and time and infinity which have been constructed from his time to our own.

Bertrand Russell

Beginning Point For about 20 years I have been dealing with breathing techniques, like rebirthing, holotropic breathwork. This inspired me to research the question: “What is integration, and how can it be achieved through breathwork?”.

My first Ph.D. (called by Russian standards, a candidate of science) was devoted to the question of integration through breathwork. Even though I finished this Ph.D., I still lacked clarity in understanding integration. So, this article is the core of my next Ph.D. project (called by Russian standards, a doctor of science), ”Solving the problem of psyche integration, through overcoming the issue of infinity”. Being a mathematician, which is my first area of study, I proved my theory with mathematics and philosophy, so that the reasoning is clear and fundamental.

So, I see this article mainly as a subject which raises the question of the possibility of full understanding of psyche, which may change the whole paradigm of science, at least in transpersonal psychology.

Entanglement N. Chuprikova, Doctor of Psychology and Chief Research Assistant at the Psychology Institute of the Russian Academy of Education, states: “Psychology has always had serious difficulties with defining its own subject, and it is still true today”. (Chuprikova, 2004).

Transpersonal Psychology emerged in the mid 1960s, building its scientific knowledge base on classical psychology and focusing on altered states of consciousness and peak experiences.

This issue is touched upon, for instance, in the paper of Glenn Hartelius, which studies the definitions of transpersonal psychology: 61

Paradoxes Of Infinity And Foundations Of Transpersonal Psychology “In its first major definitional theme, beyond-ego psychology, transpersonal psychology picks up where standard psychology leaves off. This gives us two psychologies: one for the ego and its pathologies, one for what lies beyond”. (Hartelius, Caplan, Rardin, 2007).

Later, the subject of transpersonal psychology expanded to encompass the whole of the human psyche, meaning both personality and transpersonal layers of human consciousness. These questions are thoroughly studied in the paper of Glenn Hartelius, Mariana Caplan, and Mary Anne Rardin.

Having analyzed more than 200 definitions of transpersonal psychology, they came to the conclusion that from 1969 to 2003 the focus of transpersonal psychology shifted from altered states to transformation psychology, a science studying and cultivating both individual and societal transformation. (Hartelius, Caplan, Rardin, 2007).

Nevertheless, this shift in the focus of transpersonal psychology does not solve the problem of defining the limits of the psyche. In fact, it makes it even more complicated, because the investigation of the psyche goes far beyond the limits of a separate individual.

In this article, we will address the problem of the subject of transpersonal psychology by means of an analysis of the concept of infinity in psychology, philosophy, and mathematics. Proceeding from seeing infinity as a quality of the human psyche, we will make an attempt to find out whether it is possible for the process of self-exploration to be completed.

Unfolding: “From time immemorial, the infinite has stirred men’s emotions more than any other question. Hardly any other idea has stimulated the mind so fruitfully. Yet, no other concept needs clarification more than it does”, said David Hilbert, a famous mathematician, at a Maths Congress in 1925 (a congress of the Westphalian Mathematical Society in Munster).

(Hilbert, 1925).

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Paradoxes Of Infinity And Foundations Of Transpersonal Psychology For ages, philosophers, mathematicians, physicists, and other scholars broke lances in their search of the correct understanding and use of the concept of infinity. In comparison with these disciplines, psychology is a young science. However, Carl Gustav Jung, one of the first Western psychologists, claimed that the inner world of a person did not have any evident borders, but rather bore the qualities of infinity, which included the collective unconscious of humankind spreading to the limits of the whole world.

Actually, many mystics had articulated this idea before psychology was born, â&#x20AC;&#x153;But there is a root or depth of thee from whence all these faculties come forth, as lines from a centre, or as branches from the body of the tree. This depth is called the centre, the fund or bottom of the soul. This depth is the unity, the eternity - I had almost said the infinity of thy soul; for it is so infinite that nothing can satisfy it or give it rest but the infinity of Godâ&#x20AC;?. (William Law in Huxley, 1947, p.8).

However, Jung not only claimed that infinity was a quality of the psyche. He also saw it as being fundamental for his models of the human psyche, which he depicted using the Ouroboros metaphor.

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Paradoxes Of Infinity And Foundations Of Transpersonal Psychology The Ouroboros or Uroborus is an ancient symbol depicting a serpent or a dragon eating its own tail.

It was considered to be a symbol of infinite renaissance, the temporariness of things, and one of the first symbols of infinity in the human history. Ouroboros is also a symbol of self-reference and cyclic movement (like phoenix), and the idea of the original unity.

Using the Ouroboros metaphor, Jung depicted the process of individuation as one in which a person - so to say - swallows himself/herself from the tail, which implies self-exploration and pulling-in one’s collective unconscious.

The concept of individuation was used by Jung for describing the process of personal development. Individuation means becoming “indivisible”, and since “individuality” contains our deepest, extreme, and unique peculiarities, it also implies finding one’s own self. Thus we can look at individuation as a way towards one’s own self or self-realization. (Jung, 1966, p. 202-295).

“The alchemists, who in their own way, knew more about the nature of the individuation process than we moderns do, expressed this paradox through the symbol of the Ouroboros, the snake that eats its own tail. The Ouroboros has been said to have a meaning of infinity or wholeness...”. (Jung, 1974).

According to Jung, the process of individuation is essential for a human being, although it cannot be fully completed. The Ouroboros symbolizes that it is a never-ending process of self-eating, which will never be completed, “The essence of individuation is the achievement of a personal blend between the collective and universal on the one hand, and, on the other, the unique and individual. It is a process, not a state; save for the possibility of regarding death as an ultimate goal, individuation is never completed and remains an ideal concept.” (Samuels, 2005, p. 81).

So, on the one hand, Jung introduced the idea of infinity of the psyche into psychology: “Theoretically, no limits can be set to the field of consciousness, since it is capable of indefinite extension”. (Jung, 1959).

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Paradoxes Of Infinity And Foundations Of Transpersonal Psychology On the other hand, Jung acknowledged that infinity was essentially unknowable: “If we now turn back to the problem of individuation, we shall see ourselves faced with a rather extraordinary task: the psyche consists of two incongruous halves which together should form a whole. One is inclined to think that ego-consciousness is capable of assimilating the unconscious, at least one hopes that such a solution is possible.

But unfortunately the unconscious is unconscious; in other words, it is unknown. And how can you assimilate something unknown?”

(Jung, 1986, p. 275).

With his description of the psyche, Jung approached the problem brought up by the ancient Greek philosopher Aristotle (384–322 BC) in his thinking about infinity. Aristotle distinguished two types of infinity, potential and actual infinity.

Saying that some value is potentially infinite, they mean that it can be unlimitedly increased. The alternative notion is the concept of actual infinity, which means that a value is considered (as something existing in reality), which does not have a finite measure. For example, in Euclid’s Second Postulate he claims not that a straight line is infinite, but that a line can be extended infinitely. It is potential infinity. If we look at a whole infinite straight line, it will give an example of actual infinity. Aristotle came to the conclusion that infinity can never be actual.

But Aristotle acknowledged the existence of potential infinity only, a possibility of limitless change (for example, endlessly adding one to any number, on which the natural number series 1, 2, 3, 4… is based). “...It is always possible to think of a larger number: for the number of times a magnitude can be bisected is infinite. Hence this infinite is potential, never actual: the number of parts that can be taken always surpasses any assigned number”. (Aristotle, 350 BC).

Unlike “potential infinity,” we speak of “actual infinity” when an infinite set is regarded as something whole, actually given, not related to any process, like, for instance, a set of all natural numbers or when we regard a completed result of an infinite division of a segment into smaller segments.

As stated above, Aristotle denied the existence of actual infinity. According to him, infinity is always potential and can never be actual, meaning it is given to us in its wholeness.

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Paradoxes Of Infinity And Foundations Of Transpersonal Psychology Jung’s understanding of the psyche is similar to Aristotle’s, because the Ouroboros reflects the quality of unknowability of the psyche, while it always eats itself, and this process never ends. And this is not just a beautiful metaphor, as it follows from our quotes. It is Jung’s attitude towards the human psyche.

Like Aristotle, Jung answers the question of the completion of the self-exploration process; Jung sees the completion of the process of psyche exploration as impossible!

Transpersonal psychologists consider Jung one of their predecessors. Probably, it was due to Jung that transpersonal psychology (that also anticipates the inner world as infinite) adopted the idea that in principle the psyche cannot be fully grasped, or fully known.

“We cannot measure the actual reality; in fact the very essence of the reality is in its immeasurability,” Stanislav Grof writes in his Holotropic Mind. (Grof, 2009).

“We may take whatever effort in our attempt to describe objects, essences, or events, but in the final analysis we have to admit that all things derive from the indefinable and incognizable whole”.

(Grof, 2009).

Perhaps, the point is not in the texts, but in the fact that these texts are based on the absence of the concept of an ideally completed self-exploration process.

And therefore absence of aspiration for Perfection.

Numerous transpersonal approaches, such as process-oriented therapy, holotropic therapy and others, share an idea of eternal self-improvement, the result of which is unreachable.

But, is this point right?

Culmination: Grounds for doubting the rightness of the described position appeared as early as in the Ancient times.

More than two thousand years ago, Zeno, of Elea, created a paradox, which today is known as the Paradox of Achilles and the Tortoise. According to this paradox, if Achilles and the Tortoise ever race and Achilles gives the Tortoise any head start, Achilles will never outrun the Tortoise no matter how fast he may run.

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Paradoxes Of Infinity And Foundations Of Transpersonal Psychology Zeno reasoned: They start simultaneously, but at the moment Achilles reaches the point where the Tortoise originally was, the Tortoise will have run further. When Achilles reaches this further point, the Tortoise will have run to a new point…

So the process will go on for an infinitely long time, and Achilles will never reach or let alone outrun the Tortoise.

From the point of view of formal logic, Zeno’s argument is perfect; although in practice people have seen many times that Achilles manages to outrun the Tortoise.

The wisest people of humankind have been trying to solve Zeno’s paradox for thousands of years.

There are some solutions given by mathematicians, yet not all of them are accepted by philosophers. It is true that in the physical world Achilles catches up with the Tortoise, but it does not cancel the paradox. The paradox is the consequence of reasoning, and there is no agreement among scholars as to where the weak point in this reasoning is.

Going deeper into Zeno’s logic, we can see that the main point of the paradox is that in order to catch up with the Tortoise, Achilles has to reach an infinite number of points, which the Tortoise has previously reached.

Since there is an infinite number of these points, a person would not normally think that the movement seen as an infinite sequence of steps can eventually be completed, as each step is followed by another one. This is virtually the essence of the paradox: the limitedness of our thinking, which after separating from the reality and picturing it as an array of infinitely small mathematic points, cannot go back to the reality while pondering over the concept of infinity.

For some reason, our thinking refuses to embrace the concept of infinity as a whole, considering such an array (set) incomplete. Thus, Zeno’s paradoxes demonstrate the limitations of our thinking.

That is what D. Hilbert and P. Bernays write on the matter: “Usually they try to bypass this paradox (the Achilles and the Tortoise paradox) proceeding from the idea that the sum of this 67

Paradoxes Of Infinity And Foundations Of Transpersonal Psychology infinite number of time intervals still converges to a finite period of time. However, this argument does not take into account one paradoxical circumstance, which seems to be of key importance.

It is paradoxical that some infinite sequence of continuous events, the completion of which we cannot even imagine (not just on the physical level but also just generally), in real life has to finish at some point”. (Hilbert, Bernais, 1979, p. 40).

Ancient Greeks were unable to imagine a complete infinite array (set). Thus Zeno’s conclusion that the movement cannot finish due to the need to count an infinite number of points, proved to make a strong impression. The inability of this sequence to be completed owes to the absence of the last element.

“By his paradoxes Zeno revealed the contradictions our mind faces when trying to understand the infinite in notions (conceptions). His aporias are the first paradoxes that ever emerged with relation to the concept of the infinite.” (Gaidenko, (2012), p. 48).

As we have already mentioned, the psyche, from the transpersonal psychology perspective, is also characterized by the properties of the infinite. So when Jung is picturing the psyche as something unknowable (look above quotation), he probably makes the same mistake as Zeno’s Tortoise: he supposes that in order to cognize his or her own self, a person needs to make an infinite number of steps, therefore this process will never finish.

Speaking of Zeno’s paradox, we can apply to the physical world to check if Achilles will catch up with the Tortoise or not. As for the psyche, it is far more complicated to prove something because we do not have it (represented clearly) in the physical world. Since the physical world is given to us for observation and measurements, it’s clear for even a child that Achilles will easily catch up to the tortoise.

Psyche is not given to us as physical subject. We can assume that we are measuring something, and built theories on that, but we are measuring not psyche, but behavior, or reflection, or physiology, which is not the psyche as whole.

This means we can assume that the human psyche, however, can be cognized, embraced as a whole. This assumption is very important. Basically, it is the question of the meaning of life. Can a person achieve wholeness and fulfill his or her mission or will he or she be like Achilles, constantly trying to reach the 68

Paradoxes Of Infinity And Foundations Of Transpersonal Psychology Tortoise and not being able to do so? If so, what is the point of running? What is the point of living if my life has no goal for me to accomplish in full?

What can we do to make things clear? Perhaps, if we manage to check if the psyche can be embraced or not, this knowledge will lead us to the true answer.

The issue of checkability depends on the worldview. If we proceed from the materialistic point of view, knowability or unknowability is seen as the objective property of the psyche. In order to check if something is true, we need to look at real facts. (Thus the fact that Achilles managed to catch up with the Tortoise gives ground for stating that Achilles is able to catch up with the Tortoise).

However, in the materialistic point of view, a person is a finite being, and so is the human psyche. Thus the issue of integration is already solved: in a way, that if everything is finite â&#x20AC;&#x201C; there is no problem of infinity and so far knowability of psyche: a person and his/her psyche are not integrated with the world and the collective unconscious. From materialistic point there is no collective unconsious.

There is only what we can touch or measure.

From materialistic point of view, a human being is finite and so his soul.

So the problem is solved, in a way, that if everything is finite; there is no problem of infinity and so far knowability of psyche. Maybe, because of this, so many people surrender in their search in western materialistic culture.

But can we argue that the knowability of the psyche is some kind of objective reality, which does not depend on the subject? Maybe it was why both Jung and Grof, with one foot on materialism, affirmed the uncognizability (unknowability) of the inner world?

What if we rise above materialism and assume that knowability of the psyche depends on the person. From this perspective, knowability is considered a possibility, which can be used by the subject in case he/she accepts it as reality.

We know that Achilles has a to catch up with the Tortoise in real world.

Even though we use the concept of infinity in our reasoning, we still have a chance to complete the process of psychic or physical integration.

This can be confirmed by the concept of actual infinity, introduced in the late 19th century, when Georg Cantor advanced his the set theory and thus discovered that infinity could be actual, i.e. be represented here and now. Introducing the 69

Paradoxes Of Infinity And Foundations Of Transpersonal Psychology concept of actual infinity, Cantor destroyed the belief, which was a common place prevailing since the time of Aristotle, that the infinity could only be potential.

“I speak about a set as something complete - wrote Cantor -. And such sets, in case they contain an infinite number of elements, I call ‘transfinite’. Therefore, a set has to be considered an integrate thingin-itself, i.e. there must be an opportunity to look at a set as an actually existing integrity of all of its elements”1. (Khazarar, 2000).

If we apply this idea to the human psyche, we will come to the conclusion that there is a possibility for a human being to think of his/her own self as of an integrated being, and not just think, but perceive, become fully aware of this, and start treating him or herself differently; to realize the actual infinity of his or her own self and have access to all layers of their consciousness. Realization of this possibility depends on a person’s choice.

So, “proof of knowability” could happen from non-classical science position, so from each individual observer (researcher) who could try to prove it in his own path.

Maybe this transition is what is known in the old traditions as Enlightenment, Liberation, Perfection…

So, if we build transpersonal psychology on this ontological grounding, it may give a new vision, new purposes and new criteria of fulfilment. I think it is more positive, and at least deserves to be fully taking in account.

1 Quotation from Cantor found in the paper of the Russian philosopher Ruslan Khazarzar.

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Paradoxes Of Infinity And Foundations Of Transpersonal Psychology REFERENCES

• •

• • • • •

• • • • • • •

Aristotle (350 B.C.E). Physics, translated by R. P. Hardie and R. K. Gaye, Book III. Chuprikova N.I. (2004). The psyche and the subject of psychology in the light of achievements of the modern neurosciences. Voprosy Psikholgii (Questions of Psychology), N 2.

Gaidenko P.P. (2012). History of the Greek philosophy and its links to science.

Moscow: URSS. Grof S., M.D. with Hal Zina Bennet, Ph.D. (2009). The Holotropic Mind: Harper-Collins ebooks.

Hartelius G., Caplan M., and Rardin Mary Ann (2007). Transpersonal Psychology: Defining the Past, Divining the Future, Humanistic Psychologist 35 (2).

Hilbert D., Bernays P. (1979). The foundations of mathematics. Logic calculations and formalization of the arithmetic. Moscow: M., Phismathgiz, Nauka.

Hilbert D., (1983). Philosophy of mathematics. Selected readings, (2nd Ed.) Ed.

by Paul Benacerraf. http://www.math.dartmouth.edu/~matc/Readers/HowManyAngels/Philosophy/Philosophy.html Huxley A. (1947). The Perennial Philosophy, London: Chatto and Windus.

Samuels A. (2005). Jung and the Post-Jungian. This edition published in the Taylor & Francis e-Library.

Khazarar (2000). Zeno apories http://khazarzar.skeptik.net/books/kh/aporia.htm Jung C. (1959). AION: researches into the phenomenology of Self. http://www.american-buddha.com/lit.jungaion.toc.htm Jung C. G.(1966). Two Essays on Analytical Psychology, Collected Works, vol.

7, Second Essay, pars. 202-295.

Jung C. G. (1974). Collected Works, Vol. 14 para. 513 Mysterium Coniunctionis.

Jung C. (1986). Collected Works, vol. 9, Conscious, Unconscious and Individuation. http://ebookbrowse.com/unconscious-jung-cw-vol-9i-conscious-unconscious-and-individuation-pdf-d297347514

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Coincidence?

Synchronicity In Art Therapy

YAEL BEN ZION KOHANOVITCH, MA

Educator, therapist and artist. She has specialized in working with young children and their families and has recently published a kit of therapeutic cards named Archetype as a tool for therapists and for group mentors.

M.A. in Expressive Therapies: Lesley University, Cambridge, Mass., USA (Israel extension) B.A. Psychology: Open University, Israel Certificate in Art Education: Beit Berl College, Israel.

ABSTRACT In the course of treating mental health disorders, there are coincidences which can be beneficial to the therapeutic process. This article presents conclusions from qualitative research that examined coincidences in art therapy and therapistsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; beliefs about them.

The research examines the way art therapists interpret the phenomenon of coincidences (synchronicities) in therapy. The objective of this research is to highlight these coincidences and to encourage therapists to examine their potential benefits.

KEYWORDS Jung, coincidences, synchronicities, art therapy

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Coincidence? Synchronicity in Art Therapy According to transpersonal psychology and the term “synchronization”, along with “transference”, in the mental health treatment, there are coincidences which can be effective to the therapeutic process.

Jung defines “synchronization” as “the concept of a meaningful coincidence of two or more events, where something other than the probability of chance is involved.” Synchronicity is the experience of two or more events that are apparently causally unrelated or unlikely to occur together by chance, yet are experienced as occurring together in a meaningful manner. (Jung, 1997, p. 90).

In therapy, not once are hidden contents of the patient vividly experienced by the therapist and vice versa. These processes were explained by various theoreticians in terms of transference, counter transference, and projective identification. These terms evolved over the years by various theoreticians and are now considered common terms in the language of psychology. (Parlov, 2009).

This article presents conclusions from a qualitative research that examines coincidences in art therapy and therapists beliefs about them. The study found that the majority of the therapists did understand the combinations of cases not only in the context of transference relationship, and most of them tended to attribute positive impact for these events.

This research was performed as part of my master degree studies in art therapy.

The research examines the way art therapists interpret the phenomenon of coincidences (synchronicities) in therapy. Many therapists tend to disregard coincidences taking place in therapy. The objective of this research is to highlight coincidences and invite therapists examine their potential advantages. This research was conducted in Israel, with 14 art therapist women various ages and various seniority in the field. The findings supported that art therapy participants (therapists and patients) are open to experience – beyond transference relationship – also coincidences (synchronicities) to contents rising in therapy and that these can be invested to benefit the therapeutic process. In 1955 Jung published Synchronicity: An acausal connecting principle. There he describes the following story: “My example concerns a young woman patient who in spite of efforts made on both sides, proved to be psychologically inaccessible.

The difficulty was in the fact that she always knew better about everything. Her excellent education had provided her with a weapon ideally suited to this purpose, namely a highly polished Cartesian 73

Coincidence? Synchronicity in Art Therapy rationalism with an impeccably ‘geometrical’ idea of reality.

After several fruitless attempts to sweeten her rationalism with a somewhat more human understanding, I had to confine myself to the hope that something unexpected and irrational would turn up, something that burst the intellectual retort into which she had sealed herself. Well, I was sitting opposite of her one day, with my back to the window, listening to her flow of rhetoric. She had an impressive dream the night before, in which someone had given her a golden scarab-a costly piece of jewellery. While she was still telling me this dream, I heard something behind me gently tapping on the window.

I turned round and saw that it was a fairly large flying insect that was knocking against the window from outside in the obvious effort to get into the dark room. This seemed to me very strange. I opened the window and immediately and caught the insect in the air as it flew in. It was a scarabaeid beetle, or common rose-chafer, whose gold-green color most nearly resembles that of a golden scarab. I handed the beetle to my patient with the words ‘Here is your scarab’.

This broke the ice of her intellectual resistance. The treatment could now be continued with satisfactory results”. (Jung, 2012, p. 109-110).

Like Jung’s story, from time to time, we all experience coincidence in life, the feasibility of two events happening at the same time or in the same place can pass without consider it, or make us wonder at the situation. Not once, during therapy are hidden contents of the patient vividly experienced by the therapist and vice versa. These processes were explained by various theoreticians in terms of transference,counter transference, and projective identification.

These terms evolved over the years by various theoreticians and are now considered common terms in the language of psychology.

Jung in his writings tried to provide an explanation of the phenomenon that goes beyond transference relationship - terms which have been used by various theorists in their attempt to explain it, but did not succeed fully. Jung and Pauli (1955) referred to coincidences occurring unexpectedly as “synchronicities”. According to them, synchronicity will take place as the individual is in the “archetype dimension” of an experience (a state where an individual is able to view the images he encounters, whether in dreams or reality, a more complete meaning). They argue that due to this state, the individual experiences intersections between thoughts and ideas in his inner world and actual symbols in the external world. Jung spoke of a world 74

Coincidence? Synchronicity in Art Therapy where the internal and external are not different from one another. Jung and Pauli (1958) called it “united psychophysical reality”. For Jung, “the archetype is the introspectively recognizable form of priori psychic orderedness”. (Jung, 1985, p.

140).

The transpersonal psychology emerged and developed alongside psychoanalysis, behaviorism, and humanism. Indeed, the transpersonal psychology is still young and at the margins of academic research, but it is able to provide new ideas for explaining the synchronicity phenomenon as spiritually influencing the patient, and allows the doctrines of the East meeting with Western theories and for this reason I choose to present it in this research.

Grof Stanislaw along with Roland, 2011 said that “States of emergency” lead individuals to change. So in this research, I examine whether coincidences are intense emotional experiences and able to evoke “spiritual emergencies” as described by Grof, and may lead to change and healing of the patient. The humanistic and transpersonal psychologies indicate that self-transcendence is the ultimate objective of human development (Csikszentmihalyi, 1988).

Similarly to Jung’s Individuationprocess,the transpersonalists believe that an individual should reach spiritual development to obtain self-fulfillment.

This research attempts to examine whether coincidences occur in art therapy, what are the type of coincidences, and the therapists’ perception on these cases.

The premise examined was that art therapy participants speaking in an archetype language (and therefore are in an archetype dimension of the experience)and so they were open to experience synchronicities in addition to transference, counter transference, and projective identification, and that these can assist the therapeutic process. Description of the study and its findings.

Research was conducted in Israel, research population was 14 art therapist women of various socio-demographic backgrounds, various ages (average group – 40), and various seniority in the field (3.5 years in average). Interviewees volunteered to partake in the research, and were familiar with its subject. The 14 research participants were interviewed using semi- constructed interviews that were recorded and transcript. After completing all interviews, a thematic analysis was performed using a phenomenological narrative method. (Kohanovitch, 2012).

In regards to the first research question: what kind of coincidences did the therapist experience in art therapy? It was found that all research participants (as indicated, knowing its subject) had coincidences in the art therapy. In regards 75

Coincidence? Synchronicity in Art Therapy to the second research question, “what are art therapists’ explanations to the coincidences?” it was found that most therapists did not explain the coincidence in terms of transference only (except three therapists from which only one used significant transference terms) but rather used additional explanations such as defense lowering and metaphoric dialogue, level of therapist’s attention or presence of patient’s energy in supervision or the therapy room.

This supports the research postulation, that there is need for a more comprehensive explanation besides transference terms to explain coincidences.

Regarding the third research question, “what are participants’ stand on the feasibility of coincidences?”: most of the participants suggested these coincidences happen all the time to everyone, only not everyone notices them. Also, they assumed that these phenomena frequently take place in a good and attentive therapeutic setting.

In regards to the forth research question on “the influence of coincidence on them, the patient, or the therapeutic process itself”, it was found that most of the participants tended to ascribe the coincidences a positive effect on the patient, the therapeutic process, and even themselves. Most of the participants tended to ascribe the coincidences a positive effect on the patient, the therapeutic process, and even themselves.

I chose to quote here some examples: (Ora) - “I read a story in Russian, a very beautiful story about a man going on a journey, a short story, like a tale. A man went on a journey, forgot his prayer and at night wanted to pray but could find his prayer and did not recall any prayer at heart, but he was a very religious person and wanted to pray very much, so he wrote on the sand using a stick the entire alphabet and turned to god, saying - dear god, I would like to give you the most beautiful prayer there is, but I cannot recall a single one, so I am writing to you the alphabet as you are so wise you will be able to make of it the necessary prayers; and god looked at it and said it was the most whole hearted prayer he had all day. Two days later I went to my practicum, and the story was on my mind the entire time, as I found it to be very beautiful, and I had a therapy session with a child... a schizophrenic at an acute psychosis state, and he made an artwork for me, and he found it very difficult concentrating as he was at a 76

Coincidence? Synchronicity in Art Therapy psychotic state, making it difficult to concentrate, and he repeatedly started doing something and stopped, started and stopped, and after all these attempts, he wrote and wrote a very long sentence, and I asked him if I may see what he is writing on his sheet, so he told me he is writing the alphabet, and I asked him why, if he perhaps wants to tell me something, and he said he wants to say so much and is unable to say it in words, so perhaps god will take this alphabet and make something of it”.

(Bar) - “...My grandfather passed away. And he passed away the day I had therapy sessions and usually I do not look at my phone during therapy, but somehow I did and I was not available and they knew I was in therapy sessions day so they sent me a text message and so I read about That he died in a text, and ah... I did not want to stop the session in the middle so I continued, and then the patient... suddenly began talking about death, we were playing a game, checkers I believe, and as we finished playing he put all the checkers pieces in a row and placed them under the checkers board, and I asked where he puts them, and he told me he killed them and now he is burying them in a grave, I am burying them, and that was it, it was terrible for me... and before that, his file indicated he was concerned with the death of his grandfather who passed away and with hamsters he had, but before that he never rose the issue of death, and then the day my grandfather passed away he raises the death issue... none of the children obviously knew my grandfather passed away, and as I came back to work after mourning one of the patients told me about the death of her father, which was on the second, third session?”.

(Hanna) - “We (the patient and therapist) were already meeting for nearly a year, once a week, and what happened at the beginning of that year in the first sessions was that he would not enter the room at all, he did not agree to come to therapy, and the entire therapy... ah... took place in fact in the transitions between inside and out, he would run and I came after him, he would leave, he wanted to be outside the school, he kept wanting to be outside the school, and I was in constant conflict between what was allowed and what not, I was in a stand, meaning – today, I know it was projective identification. but I 77

Coincidence? Synchronicity in Art Therapy was in a state of actual fear, and stress, in the course of the sessions with him, and naturally so was he... there was a matter of entering and leaving the therapy room, running and leaving and entering and leaving, again, slamming doors, meaning – in the first sessions it was constantly through doors, meaning – in the first sessions he kept running, going into a bathroom cell, and then he would keep silent, lift his legs as if he was not there, then as he was very fast he even managed to trick me for a minute thinking whether he was there or not, perhaps there was an opening there I was unfamiliar with, perhaps he managed to escape from it... without me seeing him, and suddenly he would play with the lock... trying to scare me as if he got stuck. I could see the lock opening and closing real fast, he were jiggle the door lock, move it like this and like that, and I tried opening it, he would shout to me – I can’t get it to open, and I would tell him – ‘come, you turn the lock handle, and I pull’, meaning – our entire communication was through opening and closing doors... In one of our sessions we arrived at a public garden, through which cars were passing on their way to a parking lot, and he began telling me that he had a car and that – that was his car, and that was his car, and that it was a car with no key, you turn it on without a key using a special patent... and suddenly I was after him.. I was after him... I was always after him. And suddenly, I saw shining on the ground, I saw something shiny, and I saw it was a key! A key! ... I picked it up and he was running towards the school, and I called him ‘come! See what I found!’ and he was blown away by it, grabbing it from my hand and saying ‘wow! There is my car key!’ and something eased in him... first he grabbed it as if it was his, he stole it, he stole it, he looked me in the eye to see if I can see whether he steals or not lying. Somehow, finding this incidental key made me think real hard as if I was in a time of closed doors, I was very frustrated, as if he actually constantly rejected me, he did not want a connection, I was not good for him, and he avoided me, he did everything... he hid behind closed doors and there was a need to find the way, the key, not to experience it as rejection but understand it: that we are on two sides of the doors... it was some kind of game and... something in the stick eased him, from the violence part with the stick, and he took the key as if it belonged to his car, and we arrived again at the school gate, and he still held 78

Coincidence? Synchronicity in Art Therapy on to the stick, as if the point of this was to find the key in the most incidental way, in a time of encounters all done through open and closed doors, as if there was a key...”.

Most therapists treated coincidence in wonder and excitement, words like: “Wow!” And “it’s like magic”! Returned during the interviews, again and again.

Most investigated needed to explain the coincidence to themselves in another way except transference relationships.

One sub theme given to the situation was: lowering defenses and metaphoric dialogue of both the patient and therapist – Ora, who had difficulty explaining, said: “I don’t know... perhaps there is something breached... as of you are not protected, all your defenses are down and you are susceptive to receiving, I don’t know, what I am saying is that psychotic persons receive more than anyone else... perhaps it exists in more sensitive people, perhaps it exists in psychotic people like that guy, I am now reminded that in Russian for example, and in all kinds of other cultures, I am remind of people at this state that were thought to be profits and would say their profits and I started believe in it, that this person is saying something and that in his saying you get something – some great idea, that well connects with what you are thinking, this image is repeating... I noticed that psychotic patients really perceive the thought, your thoughts, and as you sit with a person only the two of you, a person is so sensitive at this state that some channel is probably formed with him, I can’t explain it”.

Another sub-theme was the presence of the patient’s energy in supervision or the therapy room. The participants often used the term “energy” that we are unaware of, such that connects all of us together. Carmel, who found clear echoing between the artworks of two of her patients whom did not work one with each other but still showed a match in their art works, shared: “...The place of identification and projective identification – I am sure was very significant there, I think it was two children very invested in therapy, you know, there are those that seem to arrive and waiting for the time to pass, and those that arrive and are entirely invested 79

Coincidence? Synchronicity in Art Therapy in therapy; so these two were like the last, their energy was very much invested in therapy and so was mine... I explained it in the matter of energy that apparently exists in the room, energy in the room, a matter of transference and counter transference that... I am the same therapist yet it never happened to me in that intensity as it happened to me with them, it never happened to me with others...

I give this as an example of the strength of energy, so as I believe it has to do with them and their investment in therapy, enhancing their energy even more... so I really believe in the energetic part, that the energy transformed from one therapy to another”.

Yonit used the term “cosmic energy” to explain the coincidence of a phone call she expected to receive for a long period from her patient’s mother and received that day: “My sense in these cases was generally – wow! Something is happening. One time, in a supervision my supervisors explained it very well – ‘cosmic energy’ – and it was less controversial to many people, cosmic energy, we transmitted on the same wave, not to call it telepathy or other evoking words... I believe that telepathy is at transmission level of two people, for something to happen coincidentally, and cosmic energy is more neutral: it is neither me nor the mother – it happened... it is like closing an electric circle... timing wise, if I believe I should call and three weeks later she called I would not say ‘wow’. I think it is when it happens at the same time: all day long it is on my mind and then she calls me in that evening.

This is the ‘wow!’ or the coincidence – I cannot believe I was just thinking about you and you called”.

Gal dared more and argued that one can assume that the energy of the patient’s being was present in the supervision room: “See, the moment we spoke of him (in supervision) I believe he was present. Even though he was not physically present in the room... the minute we gave it considerable place, in the supervision, I was not alone, I was with the entire staff, meaning – he received considerable place and recognition there, even love through the people... I believe 80

Coincidence? Synchronicity in Art Therapy that the fact that he received considerable recognition and place by talking about it, worked on him unconsciously. Meaning, it is energy transmitted. We live under an illusion that we are separate. We are not separate. We are all one, and as something happens to one, the other senses it, we talked about him and he received it, he sensed it somehow... I believe that we are all vibrating at the same frequency.

As if we are connected by hidden electrical cords, passing energy from one to the other, meaning – thought, words, things pass from one to the other, especially between people that are close, very intoned, then it passes like a transmission, we simply do not understand it”.

Many interviewees addressed the relationship with children as allowing this type of experience to be realized. Hanna argued: “I believe that whoever underwent traumas will be closed to it, I see it happening in children in particular, this channel can be shut down, in children, it is related to creating and art, children who stay open to this channel are connected to themselves and the world, and those that were traumatized are closed and fixated, and as adults they will find it more difficult to reopen this channel. But I think they will have difficulty opening and also will miss something they will not know what it is... trauma has significant meaning, if you experienced trauma you need these meanings, the archetypes, as they help you in your situations of no meaning, as you find it difficult reaching your connection with yourself and able to accept the collective meaning, help you reconnect to yourself and help heal the trauma if the trauma is too great - you are blocked, part of the healing is to open to these place and this is like opposite things, opening to the healing you need, is what scares you and then you are in fact reduced”.

Using terms like: energies, additional subconscious communication channel, a transmission passing through the unconscious, had part of the terminology that have been used by the therapists in order to explain me the phenomenon of coincidence in their treatments.

The interviewees raised an assumption that the coincidence phenomenon takes 81

Coincidence? Synchronicity in Art Therapy place considerably more often than noticed; meaning that coincidences be found not only in art therapy and can be used to channel the individual’s quality of life.

Among the interviewees, there were those emphasizing the age of the individual and the traumas he underwent, arguing that as children we are naturally more open to this channel, yet over the years and the traumas we undergo, this channel might become blocked, thus we might lose the advantages of coincidences in favor of healing, recovery, and personal growth.

Tal indicated that in her opinion: “If you have yet learned the lesson, you will reencounter it… I believe that it (the coincidence, ed.) happens to everyone… so you need to be sensitive and those who are sensitive notice it… I believe nothing is incidental”.

Many interviewees addressed the relationship with children as allowing this type of experience realize. Hanna argued: “I believe whoever underwent traumas will be closed to it, I see it happening particularly in children, this channel can be shut down, in children, it is related to creating and art, children who remain open to this channel are connected to themselves and the world and those who were traumatized are closed and fixated and will find it more difficult as adults to reopen this channel. But I think they will have difficulty opening and also will miss something they will not know what it is… trauma has significant meaning, if you experienced trauma you need these meanings, the archetypes, they help you in your situations of no meaning, as you find it difficult connecting to yourself and able to accept the collective meaning, helps you reconnect to yourself and heal the trauma if it is too great, part of healing is opening up to this place and it is like opposite things, opening to the healing you need is what scares you and then you are in fact reduced”.

Viki also addressed the children and supplemented the therapeutic space dimension: “I do think that children find it easier reaching these places than adults, at least children with proper and active playing ability… this 82

Coincidence? Synchronicity in Art Therapy image (shoes) was there for both of us, as we were both patients…

I believe the therapeutic space greatly contributed to it, in general I think working with an image highly contributed to this… the third analytic: I very much believe that as you are in tuned to the relationship between the patient and yourself, you invite communication that is unconscious, meaning – not overt. It is not like I tell him something and he relates it with something else; also via playing or something else… but rather something actually unconscious that is covert and I find it extremely interesting, I find it of immense therapeutic power.

I think it can happen to everyone, but it does require a certain tuning… a certain openness, meaning: one should open a channel, you are not always available to it and for this reason I believe it did happen for a reason between two therapeutic spaces, as something in the therapeutic space is more open, allowing transferring more information through it”.

Mira who used to practice holistic therapy argued that it happens all the time, only we do not always pay attention to it: “I believe it happens all the time and I think we do not alwaysnotice it. I also think that even I experience things I am not aware of. Can it happen all the time? I believe yes and no. Meaning, I see it as a channel of communication and if there is blockage I do think it can be blocked… I also think that if it is blocked, you can still pass it, it is a matter of energies… it can happen at any case, if it wants to pass, it will pass… but if you are in tuned to it, I think it helps… it is like a drawing, all children draw and as they grow they just stop”.

Like Mira, Carmel indicated when in her opinion people are blocked to these phenomena: “Some people are more blocked than others, some are much more skeptical, so I think they are less able to feel, as they are like behind walls; theoretically, everyone can feel if they enable it to exist. This energy exists in any case; the question is what happens to those encountering this energy? Are they open to experience it or are they blocked, because of the choices they made? It is more evident 83

Coincidence? Synchronicity in Art Therapy in children and as there is trust between the therapist and patient… and as both are invested in therapy… this naturally depends on the background. Meaning, it can be a small child already abandoned, a boarding school child or something similarly difficult. He already has defenses… the less a person has defenses, the cleaner he is, and so I believe the more likely it is it will happen”.

In summary, the interviews exhibit that the therapists indicated a situation where they were surprised by the occurrences and experienced them as unique and meaningful events.

Contemporary acceptable transference terms provide conceptual infrastructure to understanding coincidences, yet as indicted, they are not sufficient and many turn to others channels for diagnosing the phenomenon.

They provided explanations to the phenomenon as lowering defenses, level of attention, presence of the discussed entity’s energy in supervision and the therapy room. Most of the therapists indicated that the coincident benefited them or their patients in some way that contributed to the therapeutic process.

Discussion The objective of this research was to invite therapists to explore the potential benefit of such cases. Results supported that art therapy participants are open to experience besides transference, counter transference and projective identification, also, synchronicities with contents rising in therapy.and these can be used to assist the therapeutic process.

To examine whether it is a unique phenomenon, an analysis based on the participants’ responses to their coincidence stories was performed. The majority of therapists responded with exceptional amazement and excitement by the event and considered it unique.

The coincidences including an image of additional, can be explained in Jungian terms – “common unconscious” and “archetypes” (1985, p. 140). As “a key” has a functional meaning of unlocking a key lock and the word key receives a symbolic meaning of problem solving, so even if the therapist or patient did not consciously think of the functionality alongside the symbolism of the key, it can be stated that in both common unconscious, the key received expression in two dimensions: both the symbolic and the real one, much like an expression of the patient’s psyche alongside an expression of the therapist’s real world.

Regarding participants’ experiences of mystical sense, McKinley (2010) argued 84

Coincidence? Synchronicity in Art Therapy that transference in art therapy is of magical and mythical proportions due to the visual evidence in therapy. According to him, regressions in often highly intense and at times also direct thanks to or because – depending on the outcome – the immediate connection with the visual and real image formed in therapy and the sensations internalized in the therapist.

The coincidences described in which the therapist experienced as if the patient’s energy in present in another situation. Some of it was reported as if the patient was present in the supervision discussing his therapy and this can be considered as part of parallel processes as argued by Kadushin (1985). As indicated, Kadushin suggested that repeating of contents and patterns of behavior between what happens in the supervision and the therapy room is possible. However, in these specific cases, it is evident the repeated nature moves from the supervision to therapy and not vice versa (as opposed to researches of Siegel and Brenock, Friedlander, 1989). These researches describe how the therapist reenacts the content of therapy in his supervision. In the cases presents there is a reversal of roles, and I wonder on this reversal.

It can be argued that the explanation for this can be found in Reich (1973) arguing that there is a connection with the seniority of therapists and that young professionals tend to fail more in this field. However, in this research, the patient’s experience of the patient as if present in the supervision was common to both young and experienced therapists and therefore this hypothesis was not supported.

Lowering defenses is an assumption similar to the arguments of Raz (2000), Jacobi (1989) and Rogers (1993), according to them, as art (including the image and symbol) is a language preceding the verbal language, it is able to bypass some of the defense mechanisms, release blockages, and allow expressing of emotional experiences that often cannot be verbalized.

The metaphoric dialogue is identical to Cox’s (1992) explanation as he refers to metaphors as means of communication in which something is expressed in terms of a different thing, and the creativity of the metaphor encountering the human brain expand and enrich the original experience with new images leading to change and flexibility. One should also regard the ideas of Watzlawick (1978) regarding the language of change. He argued that in creating, the right brain hemisphere is the active one, assisting in the language of integration and metaphors.

Similarly to this argument, the therapists’ referring to “the therapist’s level of 85

Coincidence? Synchronicity in Art Therapy attention” can be based on Damasio’s (1999) argument distinguishing two types of consciousness: ‘nuclear consciousness’ and “expanded consciousness”. The first is consistent with the experiential self often changing, independent to memory, thinking, or language, in a sense of personality or identity. The second relates to the autobiographic self or the narrative self that is entirely dependent in creating continuous experiential memories, attention, and language, and therefore as an individual is at an expanded state of consciousness he can create an integrative self to the occurrences around him, so that an individual experiencing a context of a specific content in the form of coincidence can construct himself a new narrative in his “expanded consciousness”.

Findings suggest that there are occurrences in art therapy that are sometimes perceived as indistinguishable from meaningful coincidences. This study has the potential to shed light on them.

The implication of this research on the therapy domain is first the aspiration therapists address coincidences with seriousness and intention to utilize supposedly meaningless events and integrate them in the therapeutic process in a benefiting way, encouraging rapid change in their patient.

Second, surface the existing perceptions of art therapists also consisted of spiritual outlook. According to the transpersonalists, part of the developmental stages is the individual’s spiritual conscious, and spirituality was found to be able to benefit the therapeutic process.

Therefore, it is interesting examining the place of spirituality in therapists, and the place of spirituality in regards to the effect of art therapy.

Conclusion The conclusions of this research are that there are coincidences in art therapy.

Those who pay attention to them can be surprised; even as there is no consensus on the reasons underlying them, there is a premise among therapists these events can benefit the therapist or patient as well as the therapeutic process, therefore I conclude they should be regarded as relevant raw material existing in the therapeutic setting, able to benefit therapy in addition to transference relationships.

My recommendation for future researches include a wider and more comprehensive research on coincidences in verbal psychotherapies and examining patients’ perceptions (which were not examined at all) alongside those of therapists on the incidental events taking place in therapy.

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Coincidence? Synchronicity in Art Therapy Also, I recommend seeking explanations to the phenomenon in exact sciences beyond those provided in this research. I believe with the progress in understanding provided today by quantum physics and based on the philosophical theory underlying it, the psychology field will significantly contribute from it.

In Netzer’s (2008) Von Franz (1982) - Jung’s student - is quoted she determined the collective unconscious: “A psychic space of psychic energy, in which archetypes are active points of energy of the self, which is the key archetype of the psyche... it is responsible for operating the certain archetype in every event rather than only the psyche, outside it as well, in the large man-universe entirety” (p.33).

Jung and his follower, Von Franz, agreed that the term “synchronicity” will be examined by a new generation of researchers. In light of contemporary perception, according to which spiritual experiences that are socially accepted may contribute to one’s quality of life (Koenig & Larson, 2001) we must examine the place of these experiences in our life. Much like the beetle mentioned at the beginning of this article, we are able to help one another “catch” synchronicities and provide one another “valuable gifts”. It seems that the new generation of researchers Jung and Von Franz spoke of, is the contemporary generation, as with the developing of science, technology and humans, new ideas emerged and entire theories attempting to explain the phenomena of coincidences and their meaning in innovative ways developed.

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Coincidence? Synchronicity in Art Therapy REFERENCES

•

Ben Zion Kohanovitch, Y. (2012), Coincidence? Qualitative research on coincidences in art therapy. Transl Hebrew. Lesly University.

•

Cox, M. (1992), The place of metaphor in psychotherapy supervision. Creative tension between forensic psychotherapy and dramatherapy. In S. Jennings (ed.) Dramatherapy: theory and practice. London: Tavistock/Routledge: 4066.

Csikszentmihalyi, M. (1988). The flow experience and its significance for human psychology. In M. Csikszentmihalyi & I. S. Csikszentmihalyi (Eds.) Optimal experience: Psychological studies of flow in consciousness. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 15-35.

Damasio, A. R. (1999). The feeling of what happens: Body and emotion in the making of consciousness. New York: Harcourt Brace.

Friedlander, M. L., Siegel, S. M., & Brenock, K. (1989). Parallel processes in

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counseling and supervision: A case study. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 36, 149-157.

Geoff, M. (2010) ‫ליבקמ ךילהת‬: ‫הריקס‬. ‫לש ורמאמ םוכיס‬ http://www.betipulnet.co.il/articles/‫_לש_ורמאמ_םוכיס_הריקס_ליבקמ_ךילהת‬ Geoff_Mothersole Grof, S., Roland, R. (2011). Health-designer drugs as medicines. Scientific American. April-May. Israel: ORT. Jacobi, R. (1989). A theoretical discussion in the term “hope”. Conversations, 3 (3), June, 165-169.

Jung, C. G. (1985). Synchronicity. London, p. 140.

Jung .C. G. (2012). Synchronicity: An Acausal connecting principle. From vol.

8. of the Collected Works of C. G. Jung. (New in Paper), Bollingen Series XX, Princeton University Press. Volume 20 of Bollingen series, Jung Extracts, pp.

109-110.

Jung, C. G. (1997). Jung on Synchronicity and the Paranormal. Main, R. (ed.).

Psychology Press, p. 90.

Kadushin, A. (1985). Supervision in Social Work. New York: Columbia University Press.

McKinley, G. (2010). Analytic group therapy via art. Kiryat Bialik: Brother Publishing.

Coincidence? Synchronicity in Art Therapy • •

• •

Netzer, R. (2008). The fool, the magician and the empresses, tarot cards in the circle of life and therapy. Israel: Modan Publishing.

Parlov, M. (2009). Counter transference - historic review [electronic version].

Captured January 30 2012 from Hebrew Psychology website: www.hebpsy. net/articles.asp?id=2143.Raz, M. (2000). Violence and abuse in the family and its reflecting in children’s drawing. Talpiot College paper: family masks issue 1, 25-33.

Rogers, N. (1993). The Creative Connection. Expressive Arts as Healing, California: Science & Behaviour Books, Inc. Watzlawick P., (1993) The language of change: Elements of therapeutic communication. New York: Norton, p. 14.

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Wu Wei: The Way Of Effortless Effort

BENJAMIN R. TONG, Ph.D He is professor of Clinical Psychology at the California Institute of Integral Studies. He is emeritus faculty in the Asian American Studies Department at San Francisco State University. He has also served on the faculties of University of California, Santa Cruz; University of California, Berkeley; Sofia University (a.k.a.

Institute of Transpersonal Psychology); the Wright Institute; and his alma mater, Alliant University/California School of Professional Psychology.

Dr. Tong directs a school of Classical Yang Tai Ch’i Ch’uan, Ch’i Gung and Taoist studies. He is a member of the steering committee of the International Karen Horney Society which has translated the works of K. Horney into Chinese and Russian. In San Francisco, Dr. Tong maintains a private practice in psychotherapy and organizational consultation.

Website: drbenjaminrtong.com

ABSTRACT: Central to Taoism is wu wei, a continually misunderstood concept. It is less the passivity of “non-action” and more the “effortless effort” of action that is a delicate balance of both involvement and non-attachment. In addition to Nature and everyday human life, illustrative case material can be found in Taoist as well as psychoanalytic and other writings.

KEYWORDS: Wu wei, effortless effort, “non-action,” Taoism, Tao Te Ching, involvement, non-attachment, readiness, psychoanalysis

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Wu Wei: The Way of Effortless Effort In the tradition of Taoist thought and practice over many centuries, the concept of wu wei has held center stage. Contrary to reputable sources like the Encyclopedia Britannica and noted writers in the West, wu wei is synonymous with “non-action,” i.e., a state of passive or permissive non-resistance. This is a gross misinterpretation that has resulted in an almost irreversible hold on the contemporary mind. Behind this is the historical backdrop of racist, stereotypical depictions of all things “Eastern”, that is “Asian” (the previous term was “Oriental”).

Presumably the highest state of character evolution or development is something of a lethargic sensibility in the face of all that human existence presents, be it experiences that elicit fascination, trauma or emotional neutrality.

A more accurate and useful understanding resides in what modern physicists refer to as “the path of least action”. Put forth by Taoist masters like Kwong Gate Chan and others, wu wei is the “completely effortless but exactly on target amount of energy expended to complete a goal or task”. In my own lexicon, I would shorten that to read “effortless effort”. The closest to this view amongst Western thinkers is contained in the writings of Alan Watts (Watts, 1994).

In my own writings over the years (eg. Tong, 1999, 2003; Schneider and Tong, 2009), I have referred to wu wei as that radically non-attached sensibility which enables one to be both in the world and yet detached from it. In an essay written in his twenties, martial artist Bruce Lee observed: “The phenomenon of wu-hsin, or ‘no-mindedness’ is not a blank mind that shuts all thought and emotions; nor is it simply calmness and quietness of mind … it is the ‘non-graspingness’ of thoughts that mainly constitutes the principle of no mind … No-mindedness is … being one in whom feeling is not sticky or blocked. It is a mind immune to emotional influences ... Thus wu wei is the art of the artless, the principle of no principle”. (In Little, 1997, pp. 123-124, 131).

In the arena of psychoanalysis, Karen Horney’s concept of “wholeheartedness” resonates to the spirit of wu wei. In her description of an extraordinary headwaiter doing his job with astonishing speed and finesse, we can sense that state of being totally absorbed in a task as well as totally not-attached – that cultivated state of single-mindedness with no-mindedness.

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Wu Wei: The Way of Effortless Effort “At dinner, at the table d’hote, I saw many faces, but few were expressive enough to fix my attention. However, the headwaiter interested me highly so that my eyes constantly followed him in all his movements. And indeed he was a remarkable being.

The guests who sat at the long table were about two hundred in number and it seems almost incredible when I say that nearly the whole of the attendance was performed by the headwaiter, since he put on and took off all the dishes while the other waiters only handed them to him and received them from him. During these proceedings nothing was spilled, no one was inconvenienced, but all went off lightly and nimbly as if by the operation of a spirit.

Thus, thousands of plates and dishes flew from his hands upon the table and, again, from his hands to the attendants behind him. Quite absorbed in his vocation, the whole man was nothing but eyes and hands and he merely opened his closed lips for short answers and directions. Then, he not only attended to the table, but to the orders for wine and the like, and so well remembered everything that when the meal was over, he knew everybody’s score and took the money”.

(Horney, 1987, pp. 33-34).

In the Tao Te Ching (Chapter 71), Lao Tzu observes that “If one is sick of sickness, then one is not sick. The sage is not sick because he sick of sickness. Therefore he is not sick (Feng, 1989, p. 73).

The “sickness” that Lao Tzu speaks of, is the human condition itself1.

Taoist people accept as a given fact that the human dimension is no big deal. As Paul Watzlawick might put it, “the situation is hopeless, but not serious” (1993). If anything, the one true constant in earthly existence is perpetual suffering. “Hope” for some sort of transcendence, then, resides in becoming weary of being human.

As such, Taoism “has no place in any society … It didn’t really have a place in Chinese society... [It] is for those people that have seen the limitations of social mores, the limitations of social ambition, and want an alternative” (Deng MingDao, in Towler, 1996, p. 79).

Training in Taoist mind, body and spirit disciplines has as its end point the

1 Kierkegaard’s term would be “sickness unto death”.

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Wu Wei: The Way of Effortless Effort cultivation or awakening of wu wei, that non-attached sensibility which enables one to be in the world and not be touched by it.

Wu wei is contained in that cultivated attitude of non-attachment which in fact represents the “resolution” to the human predicament: through sustained training in Taoist disciplines, one aims at achieving a readiness to live fully in the moment and, at the same time, to let go of life in that very same instant. Put another way, in order to fully live - perhaps this can be viewed as “wellness” of an existentially profound sort - one must cultivate one’s life to a fine-tuned point where one is prepared for an exit at any given moment. A quotable line from the American movie, Tin Cup, comes to mind: “The best golf swing is like the best way to live life – you have to be in control of your body and you have to let it go”.

We see historic examples not only in the Taoist masters but also in such figures as Gandhi, Martin Luther King Jr., the historical Jesus, and others. At the most “mature” points in their brief lives, they were fully in the moment, tilting the axis of history, fully prepared for an encounter with non-being, with death. My Taoist mentor once said that the single most important line in Hamlet is: “The readiness is all”. Therein lies the fullness of life, whether or not we choose to equate that with “wellness”.

REFERENCES

• • •

Feng, G. F. and English, J. (1989). Tao Te Ching: Lao Tzu. NY: Vintage Books.

Horney, K. (1987). Free associations and the use of the couch. In D. Ingram (Ed.), Final Lectures (pp. 33-340). NY: W.W. Norton.

Little, J. (Ed.) (1997). Bruce Lee: The Tao of Gung Fu. A Study in the Chinese Martial Arts. Boston: Charles E. Tuttle.

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Wu Wei: The Way of Effortless Effort •

• •

• • •

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Schneider, K. J. and Tong, B. R. (2009). Existentialism, Taoism, and Buddhism: Two Views. In: L. Hoffman, et al. (Eds.), Existential Psychology East and West. Colorado Springs, CO: University of the Rockies.

Tong, B. R. (1999, Fall). Taoism: Concerned about wellness and then again not. The Empty Vessel: A Journal of Contemporary Taoism 6(1), 32-40.

Tong, B. R. (2003). Taoist mind-body resources for psychospiritual health and healing. In S. G. Mjares (Ed.). Modern psychology and ancient wisdom: Psychological healing practices from the world’s religious traditions. Binghamton, NY: Haworth Press.

Towler, S. (1996). A Gathering of Cranes: Bringing the Tao to the West.

Eugene, OR: Abode of the Eternal Tao. Watts, A. (1994). Swimming headless. In M. Watts (Ed.), Talking Zen: Written and Spoken by Alan Watts (pp. 149-162). NY: Weatherhill.

Watzlawick, P. (1993). The Situation is Hopeless, but Not Serious (The Pursuit of Happiness). NY: W.W. Norron.

1st TRANSPERSONAL FESTIVAL

MILAN, Italy - 2015 - JUNE 18-21

Feeding The Soul FEEDING THE SOUL is the FIRST TRANSPERSONAL FESTIVAL of the European Transpersonal Association (EUROTAS). It will take place in Milan, Italy, the city of EXPO 2015, from the 18th to the 21st June 2015.

The Festival is organized by Om Association for Transpersonal Medicine and Psychology, in partnership with Centro d’Ompio (Italy) and it is co-sponsored by the Integral Transpersonal Institute of Milan, the Association for Transpersonal Psychology (ATP), Ubiquity University (U.S.), and “EXPO in Città”.

FEEDING THE SOUL wishes to open a window on the “forgotten side”, the aspect of listening, void, silence, inner experience, sharing, compassion and awareness, of the sacredness of the living and of the spiritual yearning that animates all its expressions.

With this event, we intend to provide visibility to all the healthy and confident forces, to that young soul living in each of us, by spreading awareness and compassion through the meshes of a social system in crisis, old and tired. We intend to bring together the multiple diversity in a community of purpose that transcends the divisions and unites through dialogue, creativity, sharing, solidarity, spirituality and renewal.

We invite young and elders, professors, professionals of the most diverse fields, students and artists, secular and religious, musicians and fans from all over the world and of all ages. We will be able to participate in experiential workshops and roundtables, to enjoy events, live performances and art exhibitions in locations scattered throughout the city as well as the magnificent backdrop of the international convention center surrounded by nature, Centre d’Ompio (Pettenasco, NO).

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TRC 2015 JUNE 22-23: Centro dâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;Ompio - Italy

Researchers worldwide will engage in dialogue and trainings related to current and emerging research projects on transpersonal, spiritual, and related topics.

Facilitators for the colloquium are Drs. Pier Luigi Lattuada of the Integral Transpersonal Institute (www.integraltranspersonal.com), Rosemarie Anderson of Transpersonal Consultancy (www.transpersonalconsultancy.com) and Professor Emerita at Sofia University, and Giovanna Calabrese and Regina U. Hess representing the EUROTAS Division of Transpersonal Research (http://eurotas.org/division-of-transpersonal-research-edtr/).

Fee for the 2-day colloquium: 80 Euros for EUROTAS members 100 Euros for non-members 60 Euros for individuals attending Feeding The Soul Festival To know more: http://www.feedingthesoul.eu/en/programs/program

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On a second file submit the article with title, abstract (250 words) and keywords.

Text submitted for transpersonal forum should not exceed 5500 words. Text for research or clinical report should not exceed 2500 words. Text submitted for comment on papers or books, eurotas report or transpersonal report should not exceed 1500 words.

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Journal Article: Herbst-Damm, K. L., & Kulik, J. A. (2005).

Volunteer support, marital status, and the survival times of terminally ill patients. Health Psychology, 24, 225â&#x20AC;&#x201C;229. doi: 10.1037/0278-6133.24.2.225 Authored Book: Mitchell, T. R., & Larson, J. R., Jr. (1987). People in organizations: An introduction to organizational behaviour (3rd ed.). New York, NY: McGraw-Hill.

Chapter in an Edited Book: Bjork, R. A. (1989). Retrieval inhibition as an adaptive mechanism in human memory. In H. L. Roediger III & F. I. M. Craik (Eds.), Varieties of memory & consciousness (pp. 309â&#x20AC;&#x201C;330). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.

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