Psychotherapy and the Spiritual Dimension

By Alfred E. Marlowe

PSYCHOTHERAPY AND THE SPIRITUAL DIMENSION presents a comprehensive view of the history and practices of the major spiritual traditions and their relationship with the modern psychotherapeutic schools.

The book is designed to provide a solid grounding in both the spiritual and the psychotherapeutic traditions for the benefit of mental-health professionals and lay-persons alike.

The author maintains that modern-day therapists may need to expand their notions of cure, arguing that conventional ideas of adjustment therapy may well be inadequate to meet the demands of twenty-first-century consciousness evolution.

• Language: English
• Publisher: iUniverse
• Release date: Oct 25, 2014
• ISBN: 9781491750124

Alfred E. Marlowe

ALFRED ?. MARLOWE is a psychotherapist and psychiatric social worker and has studied and practiced extensively in the major eastern and western spiritual traditions. He holds a doctoral degree in counseling psychology and is an ordained Buddhist monk.

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PSYCHOTHERAPY AND THE SPIRITUAL DIMENSION

Copyright © 2014 Alfred E. Marlowe.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the publisher except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

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ISBN: 978-1-4917-5011-7 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4917-5012-4 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2014918529

iUniverse rev. date: 10/16/2014

CONTENTS

Introduction

Chapter I The Perennial Philosophy: An Overview

Chapter II The Ways of Self-Realization: The Major Traditions

Chapter III Psychoanalysis, Psychotherapy and the Perennial Philosophy

Chapter IV Psychoanalysis and the Psychology of the ways: Theoretical Considerations

Chapter V Psychoanalysis, Psychotherapy and the Ways of Liberation: Techniques, Practice and Effects

Afterword

References And Suggested Readings

About the Author

For my beloved parents

Agnes Hoey Marlowe

and

O. Alfred Marlowe

who sacrificed so much

for my education

Introduction

Recent years have witnessed an increasing interest in an area of human concern which Aldous Huxley rather aptly termed the perennial philosophy. Other terms might be employed; for instance, esotericism or mysticism. But these are so laden with misleading associations that they obscure more than they define. Huxley’s terminology has at least the virtue of integrity, referring as it does, in a non-specific manner, to the recurring endeavor, evident during every period of recorded history, of the human being to apprehend, in an experiential manner, the very essence of being, life and consciousness.

The perennial philosophy does not refer to a scholastic pursuit, but rather to a unitive, intuitive knowledge of the principle of being. It is the love of wisdom in the ultimate sense.

The question, it seems to me, posed by the perennial philosophy is this: What, if anything, is it that lies beyond the confines, or the categories of the mind? Or, How is the mind to be transcended? Or more simply What am I, and what is the source of this experiencing? Thus the perennial philosophy seeks to apprehend the ultimate principle of being, that which, if it exists, both pervades and transcends the apparent.

The modern breakdown of traditional values, particularly the lessening of the influence of the organized religions, has created a void in the twenty-first -century psyche. Modern man, I believe, has tended to compensate for the breakdown by focusing upon a cornucopia of substitute values: upward mobility; alternative lifestyles; technological progress; self expression; making it; and the like. The drive toward success often seems rather obsessional; and there seems to be, underneath it all, a pervading sense of meaninglessness, an emptiness, a sense of futility, and isolation which the ever more elaborate distractions and entertainments seem powerless to quell. We seem to be involved more and more in a condition of quiet desperation." Restlessness, anxiety, unfulfilled ambition and instability seems to characterize the daily life of much of the population. The conscious or unconscious fear of death seems to have full sway; and on some level there is the pervasive realization of the relentless struggle, the vain promises, the merciless bereavements of life and the inevitability of the final result -- annihilation, oblivion. Nothing succeeds in filling the void except the constant struggle to fill the void.

In recent decades the psychical void which I have postulated has created in many a sense of search, an effort to find a spiritual grounding. Many of these efforts seem patently absurd: the flight into chemically induced euphoria; the deification of art; the meanderings into occultism; the transcultural adaptation of half-digested aspects of oriental religion; guru-ism; and the like. The escapist, regressive quality of many of these endeavors seems uncontrovertible.

Yet, despite the fads of the current New Age Movement, despite the excesses and the superficial popularizations, I shall argue, and I hope demonstrate in this work that there is an authoritative body of transcultural literature and tradition which points to a genuine approach to the ultimate questions of life. Hitherto the body of knowledge to which I refer has been the concern of only a few. But it may be, as the twenty-first century progresses, that the rumblings of a new paradigm, a new world view, are already being heard. I would submit that these issues are worthy of serious consideration, particularly by modern-day psychotherapists and psychoanalysts who may face the likelihood of being confronted increasingly by patients for whom adjustment to the conventional model may not be meaningful or feasible in that in some sense they have been touched by one aspect or another of the perennial philosophy, whether in a genuine or in a superficially popularized formulation.

At the very least, the therapist should not be ignorant of the subject matter to which I have referred. Ignorance in these cases can lead to a kind of reductionism which may result in unwarranted findings of psychopathology and maturational deficiency. A lack of understanding of the patient’s context may well result in inappropriate theoretical presumptions and faulty interventions.

It would be well for contemporary psychoanalysts to be careful not to violate one of Freud’s cardinal tenets; namely, his injunction not to turn psychoanalysis into an all-encompassing Weltanschauung.

Freud cautioned against this, stressing that psychoanalysis was meant to be a means of exploring the unconscious, a method of treating developmental disorders by way of the practical application of the theoretical framework of psychoanalysis, primarily through the proper handling of transference and resistance. He clearly indicated that psychoanalysis was not to constitute a philosophy of life, a kind of religion with the arrogance to presuppose that any particular world view was to be adjusted to by the analysand.

Yet there has been a tendency among some contemporary analysts to adapt consciously or unconsciously the world view of nineteenth-century scientific materialism and its projected social philosophy in formulating the therapeutic goals of psychoanalytic psychotherapy.

I should make it clear before proceeding that Freud’s view of life as it is experienced by many of us seems to be entirely appropos: the constant struggle to avoid pain and to experience pleasure; the conscious and unconscious drives (sex and aggression) which constitute the motive forces for the activities of man; the continual anxiety and the mechanisms for avoiding it; the fear of death and the wish for death.

Freud’s goals regarding psychoanalytic therapy are undoubtedly constructive: to render the pleasure principle the servant rather than the master of the reality principle; to augment the ability to love and to work; to adjust to the harsh reality of the primitiveness of the human psyche and to the consequent brutality of much of societal life; to become more conscious and to face reality; not to make the human situation worse by becoming the victims of our own psychological defenses.

I would submit that Freud’s objectives are valid and practical. I am merely suggesting that his concepts of reality, love and work may not be one-dimensional but rather flexible and subject to transformation as the ideational bases of individuals and of society continue to evolve. The contemporary analyst must not become the proponent of one or the other set of social philosophies or world views, but must broaden his notions of reality, love and work as appropriate to the ontological perspective and objective maturational needs of the patient. There must be a softening of the adjustment mentality through recognition that an appreciable number of patients are seeking not merely adjustment but a new way of seeing, which implies a freedom from the more conventional perspectives of western society. Failure on the part of the psychoanalytic community to understand these issues may well hamper the pertinence of psychoanalysis and psychotherapy in a world whose scientific and philosophical bases appear to be in a state of increasingly rapid evolution.

It should be made clear that what I am not suggesting is that there should be a blending of the methodologies of psychoanalytic psychotherapy and the spiritual ways; although I would note that the two disciplines share a significant corpus of principles and techniques. Both approaches should be understood and respected for what they are and for the levels of psychic experience to which they pertain. Attempts to blend selected esoteric techniques with the methodologies of psychotherapy have resulted in a number of attenuated therapies of questionable value.

This work will seek to accomplish the following:

1. To provide psychoanalysts and psychotherapists with a comprehensive overview of the perennial philosophy;

2. To establish, by way of significant evidence, that the perennial philosophy represents an authoritative transcultural tradition that is worthy of serious study by mental-health professionals;

3. To expound the basic principles and practical methodologies of the esoteric ways or paths;

4. To provide a historical overview of the writings of psychoanalysts and psychologists of related or divergent schools pertaining to the esoteric traditions; and

5. To propose, with a basis in cogent evidence, that contemporary psychoanalysts and psychotherapists should have more than a superficial knowledge of the spiritual paths in view of emerging cultural trends.

It is my hope that this book will provide the reader with a thorough grounding in an area of study which has been much misunderstood in the past. I believe that the time spent in acquiring a working knowledge of this subject matter will be well rewarded in terms of broadening the student’s personal and professional horizons.

Chapter I

The Perennial Philosophy: An Overview

The phrase perennial philosophy was originated by Gottfried Wilhelm von Leibnitz and was adapted by Aldous Huxley (1970) in the 1940’s to entitle a body of material which he published in the form of an anthology. The term refers to that area of study and practice which seeks to attain intuitive knowledge of and union with what has been termed the ground of being, also described as the underlying principle, truth, or reality. That ground is conceived of as immanent yet transcendant, beyond the categories of the rational mind.

The starting point of the endeavor is the question What am I? The rational mind, defined by its conceptual structure, can provide only limited responses; can only, in effect, view its own projections. It cannot go beyond its inherent categories, Thus, a further question may be posed: Can the mind transcend its conceptual structure and, if so, how? The important factor to note is that, in terms of the perennial philosophy, conceptual answers to the basic existential questions have only limited value; and their primary function is to serve as evidence of the futility of the thought processes in this area of inquiry. The mind, frustrated through the torturous process of attempting to understand its own animating substratum, finally comes to rest, thus providing the field for another organ, another mode of apperception to grow and mature. This marks the beginning of the path of self-realization. The goal is radical self-transformation, culminating in realization or enlightenment.

The perennial philosophy, in all its formulations during the course of history, has stressed the necessity for the candidate to higher consciousness to embark upon a path of self-development. The paths have differed in accordance with the specific requirements of the time, place and people involved; but the essential direction has been essentially the same.

The candidate, in order to hope to attain the unitive apperception of truth or reality, must submit to an introspective process which involves as an essential prerequisite the systematic resolution of idiosyncratic psychological material and the loosening of the ego structure in general. It is in that regard, I believe, that the connection between the perennial philosophy and contemporary psychoanalysis and psychotherapy can be readily seen. Although the goals of the respective paths may differ, and although the methodology and the values involved may be dissimilar or apparently at variance, the approaches are analogous and essentially compatible.

Huxley presents a clear and concise statement of the nature and aims of the paths of self-realization. He speaks of a spiritual path as a system that recognizes an underlying reality substantial to the world of things and lives and minds. He adds that, as a psychology, the paths view the psyche as similar to, or identical with, that Reality; and he emphasizes that it is a tenet of the paths that that Reality cannot be directly apprehended in the absence of a preparatory stage marked by the progressive development of requisite perceptive faculties (Huxley, 1970, pp. vii-viii).

The concept of the perennial philosophy presented by Huxley is, I believe, accurate and comprehensive. Huxley espouses a universalist view of mysticism, maintaining that the experience is essentially one and the same in its nature and processes no matter what the cultural or historical context. Underhill (1961) shares this view. Others, notably Zaehner (1957) and Maritain (1959), opt for a pluralistic view. The essential issues of the debate are discussed by Woods (1980):

The antagonists in this debate are generally the theologians, who opt for pluralism, as opposed to the philosophers and psychologists. The crucial argument for both sides concerns the role performed by interpretation in the drama of mystical and, indeed, all experiences. If the differences manifest among reports of mystical experiences can be ascribed to interpretation alone, and can thus be reduced for the most part to extrinsic, cultural factors, then the uniformity of mystical experience and with it the relativity of doctrinal differences can be considered probable. However, if interpretation is itself an intrinsic part of experience, or if interpretation functions to a significant degree independently of cultural factors, then the differences among the mystics regarding experience may well be essential. (pp. 3-4)

My view is that cultural and doctrinal differences play a role as interpretative factors on preliminary levels of the experience; but that, in completed form, no matter from what perspective the experience is viewed, it is essentially one and the same. I believe that part of the confusion that has arisen is the result of excessive reliance upon written accounts left by historical figures who, to one degree or another, have been affected by the experience. The difficulty with such an approach is that the material considered may be the result of a glimpse experienced by the narrator who, not having an appreciable degree of detachment from cultural or religious constructs, of necessity reduces the phenomenon to the categories of the known. On the other hand, the account may be that of a genuinely self-realized person; yet it may be intentionally rendered in such a manner as to be some degree understandable to the audience to whom it was directed at the time. Hence the interpretative content, whether it be theological, mythological, poetic or the like, may in fact represent the skillful means to convey the flavor of the experience with due regard for the cognitive limitations, or the bias, of the hearer, rather than an intrinsic element of the experience itself. Speak to each according to his level of understanding as the proverb has it.

There is no question that the methodology of traditional scholarship is very valuable in assessing certain aspects of mysticism. But there must be greater reliance upon contemporary sources and more recourse to experiential processes if study of the subject is to be at all meaningful. Shah (1981) has some rather unflattering remarks about a certain class of scholar:

Scholars, quite often, do not show signs of understanding that there is anything beyond scholarship, and therefore they are incapacitated - while they remain at this stage - from being able to have a higher objective…Here is a story about the whole matter, told to me by a scholar who himself admitted, unlike many others, that he knew that he was like one of the characters in the tale: but that there was nothing, he believed, that he could do about it: A number of academics, it appears, were enrolled in time of war into the infantry. After training they all proved to be crack