REFLECTIONS FOR NOVEMBER 2017

THE ZEN OF PSYCHOTHERAPY-NOT WHAT SHOULD BE BUT WHAT IS.

Kevin Donnelly wrote an important book for our times: “WHY OUR SCHOOLS ARE FAILING”. He claims the PC (politically correct) left has invaded the Universities and is introducing a view that our centuries old “liberal and open education is described as imperialistic, elitist, patriarchal, misogynist, racist and inequitable”. University Humanities departments once were teaching a liberal view of knowledge and involving a “universal transcendent truth”. Now the cultural left argues that that education is cloaked with self-serving power of white Eurocentric male ideas.

As the topic of this reflection is psychotherapy, we are also noting how the ideas of the PC left have come to psychotherapy and note the way the profession has shifted from a discipline that took many years of required study in various theories from psychology, social work, medicine and intensive supervision and personal inner work to a short course "on line" offering a diploma. The practice of therapy under supervision, clinical mentorship, group therapy experiences in the field and a long and extensive clinical experience is not a way to learn to become a psychotherapist anymore.

The so called ‘identity politics’ has become a major influence in our western society where not only individuals but also whole countries are subject to this influence. We are not aware as to who we are. The word “I” has become the narcissistic symbol of this socio-political movement. Alan Watts wrote some years ago that the “I” is an illusion and he states: “I have been interested in this idea of “I” and have come to the conclusion that what most civilized people mean by that word is a hallucination, a false sense of personal identity that is at complete variance with the facts of nature. As a result of having a false sense of identity, we act in a way that is inappropriate to our natural environment and when that inappropriate way of action is magnified by a very powerful technology, we see a profound discord that is separating men from Nature. As is well known today, we are in the process of destroying our environment because of our attempt to conquer it and master it. We are making a great mistake and already are paying for this” (Watts 1969).

Psychoanalysis and other psychotherapies are clearly a copy of our Newtonian (man as machine) concept. We think, for example, that the ‘libido’ is the same as the science thinks of the universal energy as being blind and unconscious. We are still learning in psychology classes that what was the view of the mechanistic 19^th century philosophy. That is that the “psyche’ (soul) is based on the mind, the ego, the superego, the Id and they are all basically a mechanical function of Self.

Therefore, outside a few therapeutic theories like Gestalt, Existentialism and Process Psychology, we are still looking at the human being as an object to study in a lab and dissect. This has been called “Scientific Naturalism”. The popular phrase: “I came to this world” is not true – we came OUT of this world, in the same way as a fruit came out of a tree or a flower came out of a plant, as a bird came out of an egg. The same applies to the solar system and the universe as a whole.

In Gestalt therapy, we call this process ORGANISM/ENVIRONMENT FIELD. Or a Field of Being. We cannot be separate from the environment for we are part of it. We cannot exist without the earth, the air, the water and a balanced temperature and all these are present within us. For example, we are made from about 80-90% water.

Therefore our “I” is merely a symbol of ourselves and the SELF is the whole psychological organism, conscious, unconscious plus the environment – that is our real Self.

That means that our REAL SELF is the Universe centred in our Organism. When we spend time learning psychology, psychotherapy and the human fact, we must consider the mutuality of SELF with the WHOLE. This is a mutuality that is undivided. When we leave for the outer space, we must take our environment along with us or we cannot survive.

THE ZEN OF PSYCHOTHERAPY

Alan Watts wrote many books about “Nature and Man”. He used the metaphor stated in the wisdom of ZEN, the Eastern teachings about Nature and Man. He wrote that the Western psychotherapy is impregnated with the idea that soul, spirit, body and mind are all separate. God is experienced(interpreted) as a separate being – somewhere ‘out there’. Therefore, identifying ourselves with being apart, we have a problem of inner Soul. We feel different from the “out there” and so we are taught to manage, conquer, manipulate and problem solve the natural material world.

In the ZEN view, the everyday world is not a problem to be solved. The ZEN wisdom has the essential point of view that Life is a flowing process where mind, spirit and consciousness of the human being are intrinsically involved. We are part of the whole life flow and any separation of mind from the flow of life is an illusion, a fantasy, something imagined ‘as if’.

There are many books today translated from the 3000 years of wisdom and practiced by most Eastern societies. However, in the West, this was not known as a ‘spiritual therapy’ but some sort of religion. Yet, ZEN is clearly a discipline of healing mind, body and soul. 

Here is a nice example quoted by a ZEN master in the year 500 AD – this may be seen today as a masterful existential/gestalt therapy:

“ A Chinese monk came to see the master Bodhidarma with the usual troubles that affect us all and he said: ‘Master, I have no peace of mind – please pacify my mind’ (the man is suffering of a typical anxiety state). The Master looked at him and said: ‘Bring me your mind out here before me  and I will pacify it’. The monk said: ‘But when I look for my mind, I cannot find it’. The Master said:’ There it is - PACIFIED!’ At this moment, the monk had a realisation (an AHA!)  He realised what is REAL and what is NOT!

I INVITE YOUR COMMENTS AND REFLECTIONS

SEEKING A NEW IDENTITY IN A COMPLEX WORLD

BLOG OCTOBER 2017

This blog is celebrating all those born after October 21^st. All those SCORPIOS that are identified as water signs in the Astrological world.

C. G. Jung studied most if not all the esoteric sciences that have been evolving over the past many thousands of years before Christianity. He not only studied the Chinese I-Ching, the Astrological charts, the Hindu mythology, but also created the idea of the Collective Unconscious and the Arquetypes.

We moderns may call this the “INNER-NET” as Caroline Myss defined it: “a high speed interconnected psychic network that links every human being through a vast system of Archetypes.” (Archetypes, 2013). Unfortunately for us (the public) the Myths and Stories that define those Archetypes are no longer helping us to define who we are.

In the past, people could clearly define themselves as part of a tribal collective or being a Hindu, a Christian, a Muslim, an Indian, a Chinese, a Tibetan, a white or black person, a man or woman and so on. Now it is not a clear indication that those labels (although still in use) are really defining a person. Many rely on the modern, contemporary psychology or rely on the ‘political correctness’ that the media is presenting us daily on TV, social media and the internet.

This new search for one’s identity is now being reflected in many countries where each person, group, association or political party is promoting differing identities based on old patterns and seeking freedoms and ‘liberation’ from the majority.

One major example is the current independist vote in Catalonia, Spain. This mainly illegal and anti- constitutional move is being criticised by the European Union and the Spanish democratic government as the most blatant mockery of the democratic process and totally illegal.

Similar events are being developed in many other countries that are not in line with free and fair votes but are doing what they please. The old democracy is failing to get the full approval of many people around the world and promoting a new struggle for change and identity.

NEUROSIS IN OUR TIMES

For psychotherapists working today, it is worth re-reading Freud’s book “Civilisation and its Discontents” published in 1929. And the new book by OSHO “Enlightenment is Your Nature: On the Neurosis of Becoming Human”, published in 2017.

The authors are from different backgrounds but both have made a major impact on the world. Freud a Jewish conservative from Austria developed the new psychoanalysis and Osho Rajneesh, born in India and became a master guru at the age of 21, established the most advanced spiritual and psychotherapy centre in Puna, India that is very active today, even after his death in 1990.

Freud and Osho have given the same message to the world and that is that the Neurotic phenomenon plaguing most people today is mainly because we cannot tolerate the total obedience to the same rules created by society to protect us from violence, evil and injustice. However, Osho has given a new interpretation: our fragmented and split personality is struggling against the “shoulds” of socially prescribed rules and the “wants” of the heart. The mix of words, feelings and thoughts and objects are creating major misunderstandings among people that need to be balanced by spiritual preparation like meditation and awareness training.

Freud wrote the following in “Civilization and Its Discontents”:

In this book, Sigmund Freud enumerates what he sees as the fundamental tensions between civilization and the individual. The primary friction, he asserts, stems from the individual's quest for instinctive freedom and civilization's contrary demand for conformity and repression of instincts. Freud states that when any situation that is desired by the pleasure principle is prolonged, it creates a feeling of mild contentment. Many of humankind's early instincts, such as the desire to kill and the craving for sexual gratification, are considered bad to the well-being of a human community. As a result, civilization creates laws that prohibit killing, rape, and adultery, and it implements severe punishments if these rules are broken. Thus, our possibilities for happiness are restricted by the law. This process, argues Freud, is an inherent quality of civilization that gives rise to perpetual feelings of discontent among its citizens.

The third chapter of the book addresses a fundamental paradox of civilization: it is a system that we have created to protect ourselves from unhappiness, and yet it is our largest source of unhappiness. People become neurotic because they cannot tolerate the frustration which society imposes in the service of its cultural and religious ideals. Freud points out that advances in science and technology have been, at best, a mixed blessing for human happiness. Although some states (like the USA) guarantee people the freedom to pursue happiness. However, the laws of civilization serve to circumvent the natural processes and feelings of human development and eroticism. It is no wonder then, that this repression could lead to discontent among civilians.

Here is a resume of Osho’s book: “The Fundamental Difference Between Psychology, Therapy, and Meditation”

Soon after he first settled in Pune and a community of seekers had begun to gather around him, Osho began to integrate new Western therapeutic approaches into his work. Known broadly as 'Humanistic Psychology Movement,' these methods had evolved in the West as a response to the limitations of Freudian "talk therapy" and B. F. Skinner's behaviourism.

Osho combined a wide variety of these therapy groups and processes, as stepping stones, with his revolutionary ‘active meditation techniques’, which soon earned the community a reputation as the world's finest growth and therapy centre. It attracted those in search of personal transformation, some of the most innovative therapists and bodyworkers in the West, and people interested in meditation. Osho worked closely with both therapists and group participants to ensure that these offerings were in tune with his vision of a psychology that aims not to restore people to the functional neurosis society defines as “normal,” but to open the doors to a radical transformation of consciousness.

This book, “Enlightenment is Your Nature”, lays out Osho’s approach as he explains that therapy is used only as a cleansing process, that it is only a preparation for meditation. In his vision, therapy has a different function from that used in the “outside world” where therapists and counsellors try to bring the person back into the mind so they can function efficiently in society. Instead, Osho uses therapy only to prepare the ground, cleaning out the weeds of neurosis to plant the flowers of meditation. Rather than trying to "fix" the neurotic mind, the person is supported to be courageous enough to take a step beyond the mind – and that happens through meditation.

It is not against the mind, either. It recognizes the mind as a useful tool in navigating through everyday life and many of its everyday challenges. But meditation is the key to being able to use the tool of the mind as a servant, rather than being a slave to all its moods, "problems" and tensions. Meditation is, according to Osho, a process of dropping from the outside into the inside, forgetting the world of objects, the world of thoughts, the world of feelings - and a moment comes when pure consciousness is there, without any content. To know this consciousness is to understand what the psychology of the buddhas is: to rest in the fullness of the inner being. That inner being knows no pathology, no neurosis, no fears no anxiety.

In “Enlightenment is Your Nature”, Osho deconstructs all misunderstandings of what enlightenment is, and offers a view freed from all spiritual and religious beliefs – including the distortions of asceticism and renunciation that have arisen in both Eastern and Western cultures. Taking the reader step by step through the history of how both East and West have approached the mysteries of the human mind and spirituality, he offers a simple science of consciousness and how it works, how we have lost contact with it, how consciousness is related to the mind and the brain. In very clear and scientific terms he shows how one can, through awareness and taking full responsibility for one’s life, go beyond all the belief systems, habits, and superstitions that keep us tethered. That process of awareness and understanding, he says, brings us back to our nature – and that is enlightenment.

Osho claimed that he is the first person who uses therapy, but whose interest is not therapy but meditation, just as it was with Chuang Tzu or Gautam Buddha. They never used therapy because there was no need. People were simply ready, and you could bring the rosebushes without clearing the ground. The ground was already clear.

In these twenty-five centuries man has become so burdened with rubbish, so many wild weeds have grown in his being that using therapy just to clean the ground, take away the wild weeds, the roots, so the difference between the ancient man and the modern man is destroyed.

The modern man should be made as innocent as the ancient man, as simple, as natural. He has lost all these great qualities. The therapist must help him – but his work is only a preparation. It is not the end. The end part is going to be the meditation.

Rajneesh (born Chandra Mohan Jain, 11 December 1931 – 19 January 1990), also known as Osho, Acharya Rajneesh, or simply Rajneesh, was an Indian Guru and leader of the Rajneesh movement. During his lifetime he was viewed as a controversial mystic, and spiritual teacher. In the 1960s he travelled throughout India as a public speaker and was a vocal critic of socialism, Mahatma Gandhi, and Hindu religious orthodoxy.

In 1970 Rajneesh spent time in Mumbai initiating followers known as "neo-sannyasins." During this period, he expanded his spiritual teachings and through his discourses gave an original insight into the writings of religious traditions, mystics, and philosophers from around the world. In 1974 Rajneesh relocated to Pune where a foundation and ashram was established to offer a variety of "transformational tools" for both Indian and international visitors. By the late 1970s, tension between the ruling Janata Party government of Morarji Desai and the movement led to a curbing of the ashram's development.

In 1981 efforts refocused on activities in the United States and Rajneesh relocated to a facility known as Rajneeshpuram in Wasco County, Oregon. Almost immediately the movement ran into conflict with county residents and the state government and a succession of legal battles concerning the ashram's construction and continued development curtailed its success. In 1985, following the investigation of serious crimes including the 1984 Rajneeshee bioterror attack, and an assassination plot to murder US Attorney Charles H. Turner, Rajneesh alleged that his personal secretary Ma Anand Sheela and her close supporters had been responsible. He was later deported from the United States.

After his deportation 21 countries denied him entry, and he ultimately returned to India, and a reinvigorated Pune ashram, where he died in 1990. His ashram is today known as the Osho International Meditation Resort.

Rajneesh's syncretic teachings emphasise the importance of meditation, awareness, love, celebration, courage, creativity, and humour—qualities that he viewed as being suppressed by adherence to static belief systems, religious tradition, and socialisation. Rajneesh's teachings have had a notable impact on Western New Age thought and their popularity has increased markedly since his death.