There is great debate, and in many cases a sharp divide, between practitioners of psychology and those of spirituality. On one end of the spectrum, most of mainstream psychology does not concern itself with issues of consciousness and spirit and rejects what is not scientifically quantifiable. On the other end, many contemporary spiritual traditions view the psyche as an unreal construct and believe that psychological work is an indulgent reinforcement of the story of the false self.
In between these poles lies a variety of approaches that take into account both the personal and impersonal aspects of our experience, validating that some aspects of our experience can be empirically confirmed while others remain mysterious but equally "real." Meanwhile, many mainstream psychotherapists and their clients continue to miss out on the benefits of spiritual wisdom, and many teachers and students of Western spirituality make grave errors by rejecting the psychological domain, and thus not cultivating skills and practices to work with it effectively.
Ultimately, psychology and spirituality do not need to be distinct, but it can be helpful to make distinctions between them in order to understand the primary function of each in relation to the other. We can then discover how these approaches complement and support one another, together forming a more complete approach to human understanding than either one alone can provide.
Spiritual understanding comes from a direct perception of a greater intelligence, force or power. Some people call it non-duality; others call it Christ, Allah, spirit or God. Spiritual technologies help us access an experience of consciousness itself, and sustained spiritual practice supports us in learning to anchor ourselves in a more abiding sense of that greater reality. Meanwhile, psychological work helps unravel the complex strands that constitute our personal psyche -- patterns and wounds that, if not tended to, can impede our growth and block our perception of spiritual realities.
In 1994 I lived and studied in India for a year, and during that time I rented a room from a European man, who we will call Hans. As a child during World War II, Hans spent several years imprisoned in Japanese concentration camps, during which he experienced extreme trauma produced by torture and separation from his family. As a young adult he set out for India, and by the time I met him he had lived there for more than five decades.
By intellectual standards, Hans was a genius. Highly intelligent by nature, he had also become a great scholar of Hindu religion. He was a warrior practitioner, engaging demanding spiritual disciplines and austerities over sustained periods of time, and he had experienced repeated high states of mysticism.
When I met Hans, near the end of his life, he carried with him a deep sorrow at his failure to realize his spiritual aspirations, accompanied by an unspoken sense of having been betrayed by God because he had given everything to the spiritual path but had not accomplished his goals.
From the outside, however, it was quickly apparent to those who knew him well that he was a man who had been unable to face and digest the impact of his childhood trauma. He continually attempted to suffocate his pain by increasing the intensity of his spiritual practices and austerities, resulting in severe narcissism and pathological spiritual bypassing. While he dazzled those around him with esoteric rituals and encyclopedic knowledge of Vedic ritual and Hindu mythology, I longed to take him into my arms and let the child within him cry until the ocean of tears wore down the stone walls that kept his tender heart from letting human and divine love penetrate him.
It is very important to understand that our psychological blocks can actually impede our capacity to open to spiritual understanding and experience. Trauma and a sense of betrayal in childhood, which many have experienced to some degree, can result in a failure to trust the divine and life itself and in great difficulty in surrendering to the unknown. We learned from a very young age that the world was not a safe place, and that whatever "God" existed was not a god who would protect us from child abuse.
Feelings of abandonment and isolation in childhood can make it much more challenging to encounter and open to the experience of spaciousness that meditation offers, as it can be difficult to distinguish between non-dual emptiness and the experience of profound lack and psychological emptiness. Disappointment in childhood authorities, teachers and religious leaders can make it very difficult to trust spiritual teachers, teachings and even the divine itself. Undigested emotions from our past profoundly color our relationship to spiritual concepts, practices and experiences.
On the other hand, we can get so wrapped up in psychological processing that it becomes a kind of narcissistic self-involvement, leaving us trapped in a cul-de-sac that neither brings about the powerful capacity for compassion and wisdom that can be discovered through spiritual practice, nor produces the sense of social responsibility that Hillman claims the field of psychology has failed to pay attention to.
Many schools of mainstream psychology have routinely failed to take into account a broader spiritual perspective, frequently reducing profound spiritual insights to neurotic fantasies, infantile regressions and idealized projections. For example, I once consulted with a psychologist in her late 30s who was experiencing tremendous confusion about her spiritual life because her therapist had convinced her that her relationship with her spiritual teacher was purely a romanticized projection based on unmet childhood needs and a failure to individuate from her father.
A chain is only as strong as its weakest link, and I am convinced that most spiritual scandals, as well as disillusionment among spiritual seekers and practitioners, are the result of spiritual teachers who have significant areas of psychological blindness. They assume their great spiritual insight has taken care of their psychological wounds when it has not. We are not weak, but courageous, when we dare to again face the things that we would rather not see and confront but in the end continue to blind us to the wholeness of all that we are.
Adapted from "Eyes Wide Open: Cultivating Discernment on the Spiritual Path" (Sounds True, 2010)
Andrew Z. Cohen: The Evolution of Enlightenment
To deal with the latter, which is effect is always the easy route to take because of sentient conscious senses. And because only a few has found how to move through the mind to get beyond the mind, effect is always the plate of food to eat from. This is why no guru, no one of a high intellect, no suppose man of the cloth, scientist, mathematician, quantum physicist, no one believing in, building, and living of the human intellect exclusively can awaken to a new dimension of life, a spiritual dimension.
The dimension of source which the Masters described as the kingdom not of this world, because it is a state of consciousness other than the three dimensional one. A state of consciousness to experience totally unknown on the human level. That state of consciousness which the world is seeking, even though it does not realize quite what the goal is or how to attain it. But know it is real and the driving force which stump them intellectually as here in this thread.
Wikipedia provides the following high level definition of Transpersonal Psychology: "Transpersonal psychology is a form of psychology that studies the transpersonal, self-transcendent or spiritual aspects of the human experience.
A short definition from the Journal of Transpersonal Psychology suggests that transpersonal psychology "is concerned with the study of humanity's highest potential, and with the recognition, understanding, and realization of unitive, spiritual, and transcendent states of consciousness" [1]. Issues considered in transpersonal psychology include spiritual self-development, self beyond the ego, peak experiences, mystical experiences, systemic trance and other sublime and/or unusually expanded experiences of living.
Transpersonal psychology developed from earlier schools of psychology including psychoanalysis, behaviorism, and humanistic psychology. Transpersonal psychology attempts to describe and integrate spiritual experience within modern psychological theory and to formulate new theory to encompass such experience. Types of spiritual experience examined vary greatly but include mysticism, religious conversion, altered states of consciousness, trance and spiritual practices. Although Carl Jung and others explored aspects of the spiritual and transpersonal in their work, Miller [2] notes that Western psychology has had a tendency to ignore the spiritual dimension of the human psyche. "
There has been controversies around TP that have distracted it's proponents from continuing scholarly research in this area, but their theories are fascinating and serve to highlight the chasm between psychological science and spiritual growth. To me, these two aspects of the human psyche are completely intertwined.
http://always--home.blogspot.com/2011/07/will-enlightenment-help-me-lose-weight.html
It just struck me how ironic it is that people who dismiss any sort of spiritual or mystical feelings or experiences are quite likely to talk in terms of 'delusion' or throw psychiatric terminology around in their appeals to science - not much of an argument at all, come to think of it! :)
Anyway, psychiatry has gone down hill and deteriorated with the advent of the belief that mental health requires drugs and labels. They just don't realize that their services do not promote health and wellbeing and generally their passive services are harmful when they do not explore and try all of the integrative health practices and programs before prescribing their toxic meds. Thanks French Queen for all of your brilliant responses.
It isn't that they try to be mindful. It is that they define their "self" to be awareNESS in the first place, and awareNESS isn't judgmental: It just is.
"...Have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Every thing else is secondary." - Steve Jobs
People who have been traumatized often experience initial psychological and spiritual gain through their practices and spiritual techniques. However, some individuals begin to experience what Freud called, “The return of the repressed.” For these individuals the injury of past trauma begins to surface and coexist with heightened spiritual development.
Nature gives us many faculties to utilize to develop higher stages of human development. Knowing when to use the intellect, when to float in meditation and when to use psychotherapy can make the difference between the experience of suffering or bliss.
Dr. P
now my turn to take some hits with my reponse to your statement.
"On one end of the spectrum, most of mainstream psychology does not concern itself with issues of consciousness and spirit and rejects what is not scientifically quantifiable"
qualitative evidence for consciousness and awareness resides in the world of spirit is available to those that do the study and research into these mysteries of life. you wont find much evidence in the study of religions, but this evidence does exist and once you find it dont bother to share it with unreceptive minds for they shall only demean your good intentions.
isnt it interesting that those that hold strong religious and the materialistic beliefs that those beliefs are so powerful one cannot share anything outside their religious and materialistic cherished beliefs for they shall reject them outright before any study or investigation.
we see this rigid beliefs as blinders in politics and religion the very best. I am sure you experience this every day in your profession. :-)
The ways are but two: love and the want of love.
Chinese sage: Mencius 300 BC
again a well article. best to you.