Tilnærmelser til Selvet – Psykosyntese teknikker

The article contains two thorough explanations of the “Who Am I” technique, each by a different author. It is a very basic and important psychosynthesis technique, based on methods taken from Eastern mysticism.

Using the “Who Am I” Technique
in Psychotherapy – Verbal and Visual

 I. The verbal “Who am I?” technique in psychotherapy

By Graham C. Taylor, MD, Assistant Professor of Psychiatry, McGill University, Montreal, Canada,

Source : Psychosynthesis Research Foundation, Issue no. 23, 1968, Topics include:1 – The Verbal “Who Am I?” Technique in Psychotherapy. 2 – The Visual “Who Am I?” Method: An Approach to Experience of the self.

Translation Annabritt Jakielski – Read the intro article about integral meditation and here you can receive my seven free meditations

The history of the method and description of its variations

One of the first references in the literature to the “Who am I?” technique is given in the article by Bugental and Zelen (1950). The authors dealt with the application of the theory of self-understanding of personality organization and found that the “Who am I?” technique quickly provides important new material. The topic is given a whole page, and it is said about it: “I am going to ask you a question and ask you to write down three answers to the question on this paper. You can write anything you want: words, phrases, sentences, anything, as long as you feel that you have answered the question. Remember that you must give three separate answers. After each question the instruction will be repeated”. This was all that was said.

A subsequent article by Bugental and Gunning (1955) provides a detailed account of the response categories such as name, family, occupation, age, sex, group membership, as well as positive, negative and emotionally ambivalent responses. This article is primarily concerned with issues such as reliability, the adequacy of the responses within the individual categories, and sociological issues. In a later paper, Bugental (1964) clarified the instructions for conducting the survey. After writing the three responses, the interviewee is asked to specify which response he would most and least allow to be changed, which response is most and least noticeable to others, which response he likes most and least, and which response he thinks others will like most or least. At the time of writing the article, Bugental had not found any references in the literature to the use of the method in psychotherapy, but he mentioned that he had used it himself with initially encouraging results, both in and outside the therapeutic context.

The late Dr. Fabian Rouke made extensive use of the method. He applied it in connection with his own understanding of the self, which he presented at previous meetings of his group:

“I have a diagrammatic way of presenting my ideas about the self that I developed many years ago when I was teaching personality and self development. It works so well that I use it very often in therapy.

+A. Positive, but False Self

– B. Negative, but Imprecise Even

+C. Source of Dignity and Humility

With new patients there is often an initial phase of enthusiasm. Then we encounter resistance and disappointment, and a crisis in therapy occurs. When this happens, I return for a time to the role of teacher. Although at this point in therapy I know that they will not understand, I spend most of an hour discussing the self because I know that later they will understand it more fully. I talk about their feelings of inadequacy and what they feel uncomfortable with, and show them that their self-concept is completely negative because of the criticism they experienced in childhood, because they could not please their parents, and for a number of other reasons. To defend themselves against this negative self-concept that they cannot live with, they erect a protective wall (A in the diagram). This, of course, appears to be positive; but they are deceiving both themselves and others.

I tell them that this defense (A) on the surface is positive, but it is not real, while the hidden self-understanding (B in the diagram) is negative, but inaccurate. I tell them that “When we began to break down your defense mechanisms, you were confronted with this negative understanding (B), and no one can live with it; it is far too unpleasant. But we will not stop there; we will also go past this to get to the core (C in the diagram); to something that you have not experienced for a long time. It is your true self, because you are a human being, one of the finest creations of creation!

Then I talk about what it means to be human, that it is the pinnacle of creation, and that reaching this core will give the patient a very solid sense of dignity, which is not imaginary, because there are millions of others who have exactly the same background in the eyes of God. The feeling of this basic human equality and of dependence on the Infinite is based on the fact that man is created in the image and likeness of God. The feeling of humility grows out of the realization that all men are equal before God.

In short, this is the program I usually try to use: I point out to patients that they have had a negative understanding of themselves, that they have built a series of defenses around it, but that ultimately they must break down their defenses to return to what we can call a sense of freedom and find the core of the value that every human being has.”

Dr. Rouke often asked his patients to write down their answers to the “Who Am I?” exercise and send them to him regularly, perhaps twice a week or even daily. The reason he asked them to write down their answers was because the patients felt like they were starting fresh each time. They only gave one answer to the question each time.

Dr. Roberto Assagioli (1965) mentioned this technique as relevant to his methods of self-identification and disidentification. The theory is that “We are dominated by everything that our Self identifies with. We can dominate and control everything that we can disidentify from.” The aim is to become aware of the self as a center of pure consciousness and as the center of will and power.

At present, this promising and interesting method is being used by a number of therapists in several different ways. The patient may be asked to write down his answer and send it to the therapist or to bring it with him to the next session. The test can be administered at different intervals, usually once or twice a week. It can be used by the therapist periodically, or he can read it through and use it as a starting point for the next therapy session. The material can be used in collaboration with the patient, it can be used for free association, it can form the basis for symbolic visualization, or it can be related to the patient’s dreams and daydreams. As will be seen from the examples that will be presented, there can be a significant interaction between these different processes, with a consequent acceleration of the therapy. The use of the technique can give the patient a feeling of making an active effort in the therapy and thus contribute to his self-esteem.

The whole question of written communication with patients and the implications associated with it has been discussed by L. Pearson (1965), the author of The Use of Written Communications in Psychotherapy . This paper deals with several uses of written communication and suggests that they may be useful aids in psychotherapy. Several advantages are pointed out: that writing is related to creative expression; that writing makes good use of the intervals between therapy sessions; and that notebooks or diaries can be of assistance to the patient and allow for more focused sessions with more rapid results. The increased vulnerability of the patient in having committed to writing places an increased responsibility on the therapist.

Clinical material illustrating the relationship between the Symbolic Visualization Technique, dreams, psychodynamics, and the patient’s life

I will concentrate on four patients, two of whom will be described in more detail.

1. CS is a 24-year-old English-Canadian woman who works as a counting assistant. She is engaged to a French-Canadian man. Through her therapy, she has become aware of many problems in their relationship. In her youth, she had suffered from rheumatic fever. A year ago, she was referred to a cardiologist because of episodes of amnesia and derealization that occurred with alarming frequency during work.

In one of her early answers to “Who am I?” she replied:

“I am energy without purpose. I feel, see and act, but all without purpose. I am still looking for myself. I feel that there is much in me that is still hidden.”

A few days later she wrote:

“I am searching for the part of myself that will unite me with the rest of the world. This part will help me reach a deeper communication with the people I love. The part I am searching for is faith in myself. A faith in my own ability to love.”

Shortly after writing this, she had the following spontaneous symbolic visualization:

“It is foggy, on the horizon I can see mountains and a light gray shadow – I am a transparent gray shadow – I do not know in which direction I am facing – the jagged mountains on which the sun shines can be seen in the distance. My shadow is alone. It is a false part of me – in the shadow I can see a village with people – it is the false part of other people. The shining mountains are the true part of myself. I must pass through the false part of myself to reach the true part. The shadow is thin – it is a false fear, and the light is the true part of me. The shadow is fear and is false, so there is no reason for fear.”

Shortly thereafter, the patient came to therapy with a nightmare in which she experienced herself as a deformed baby with no arms or legs. She then saw the arms and legs appear, but they did not belong to her. We worked with this dream over several subsequent sessions, where she connected the false arms and legs with the false shadows. She then saw the shadow as the core of her fear, with small legs all around, representing smaller forms of fear related to the central fear. The shadow was between herself and her true feelings, and she therefore felt divided. She then related the shadow – the core of her fear – to the fear of her father’s rejection. She stated that her father was very dominant and that she accepted being dominated in order to obtain his love. In a visualization, she was able to see herself running into the shadow in order to dissolve it. About a month later, she came up with the following answer to “Who am I?”:

“I feel that the loose ends that I have been worrying about may finally be getting resolved. I feel as if I am finally getting very close to the shadow that has been disturbing me so much. The visualization yesterday (in group therapy, and in relation to herself and her father) seems to me to be a part of today. I feel that whatever this visualization symbolized is very much part of the present and the past.”

There is therefore an interaction between the therapeutic sessions, the “Who am I?” technique and symbolic visualization. This patient approached the method with enthusiasm; for here, it was initially a task that the therapist set here because of her desire to please. She came forward with her answers eagerly and with a sense of accomplishment.

2. KP is a 43-year-old single English-Canadian and the executive secretary of a group of metallurgists. She has been in therapy since 1963. She had been referred by a medical disease specialist because of debilitating headaches, insomnia, and experiences of waking up screaming at night.

Last month, she came to her individual therapy session with a sense of accomplishment after formulating three answers to the “Who am I?” questions. She called the answers Opus I, II, III. An excerpt from Opus II reads as follows:

“I am a loner…. loner what? A butterfly in its cocoon. Alone, because the cocoon prevents others from contacting me unless the cocoon bursts, and that makes things difficult for them and for me. For what purpose am I in the cocoon? Nothing, except to gather the strength, courage, and wisdom to emerge from the cocoon. Alone perhaps, but with a desire and ability to be sociable, fun-loving, and useful. Inhibited? Well, either that or slow to learn. I have needed to be in therapy for so long to get there, but the person who can finally learn something, even if it is years later, is not an idiot, no matter what others may think. The light has begun to shine through the cocoon, bringing health, enlightenment, and some perspective to the butterfly. So – I am on my way out – into the world.”

In Opus III she wrote:

“Adequately equipped with brains and judgment, thanks to my father, but I try to see the whole, and I imagine myself standing up, but a part of the body is missing, a vital part that has been amputated. (It will be noted that in one of her “Who am I?” answers she also referred to “a vital part that has been amputated.” She had a visualization, which took place in a group and again later in an individual session, in which she saw herself as having an egg-shaped body without arms and with legs that were either not attached to the body or were taped. In this case, it was likely that the “Who am I?” technique took up the symbolic visualization again, clarified and refined it. It should be mentioned that the content, when it appeared in the “Who am I?” answers, was deeply disturbing.) I can function without that part, but I miss it. Had this missing part disappeared, or had it been cut away? My mother cut it off and left me half. Most of my partial self has bruises that, like, take a long time to go away. I’ve tried covering the rest of me with a thicker layer of skin so no one bruises me anymore. The thicker skin gives me problems because I have thicker skin, or because I can’t keep up because it takes longer for things to penetrate the thick skin.

Development from butterfly to baby, growth (?) to part of an adult. What course do I choose now in the “Who am I?” process? Right now I feel like I have gone as far as I can in the “Who am I?” process. The fact of creation is easier for me to accept than evolution, so how do I create the rest of myself?”

In these excerpts she has been able to state, in compressed and symbolic form, many aspects of herself far better than she had been able to in many individual psychotherapy sessions. It is likely that the patient’s work with the “Who am I?” technique had given her an insight into her mother’s anxiety and how it invalidated her in her relationships with other people and robbed her of the ability to live a creative life. In effect, she identified with what she took to be her mother’s negative assessment of her, and she populated her universe with malignant, rejecting people.

At present, the patient has developed a more positive attitude towards her work and her female colleagues at work. She has not had any severe headaches recently, nor has she experienced any waking up screaming. She experiences progress, but that she still has some way to go. She brings the “Who am I?” reports with a certain sense of accomplishment, and she considers them as significant as her dreams.

This is an important point regarding the use of the “Who am I?” technique; it can give the patient a sense of making an active contribution to their own progress in therapy and thus increase their self-esteem.

In the next example, how the “Who am I?” answers change over a relatively short period of time, presumably due to assistance from a therapist.

3. HC is an engineer, in his early thirties. His story illustrates the initial disruptive influence that this technique can have. The patient did not go to therapy on his own initiative, but gradually became involved through couples therapy with his wife. He had no clinical symptoms, but a rather rigid personality. He is very efficient in his handling of things as an engineer, but has a tendency to treat people as if they were mechanical problems. When he was first asked to answer “Who am I?” he became acutely depressed for a whole week until the next session. The depression seemed to be due to the fact that – when he tried to do the exercise – he became aware that he did not actually know who he was. This was, in his own words, “a crushing thought”. In the subsequent sessions we discussed the “acceptance of ambiguity” which is characteristic of the mature person, and that uncertainty was not, as he had otherwise thought, a weakness, but in his case a necessary prerequisite for seeking and finding the truth. This removed his depression and began a process of gradual humanization.

There had been a great development since his first answer to the “Who am I?” question six weeks earlier.

“I am a man of great mechanical ability. I am an engineer and have worked my way up through the ranks to a position as a technical manager. The most satisfying elements of my job involve influencing the design of equipment. People tend to either become fools or tools to complete the task at hand…”

For comparison, here is his latest answer:

“I seem to sense other people’s emotions and moods, and that can affect me. Basically, I like other people and I am well-liked, but I can be shy or hesitant in situations where the human element is unknown. Perhaps there are elements of insecurity in the equipment. I enjoy doing things for people, simply for the sake of doing it.”

His development can be seen either as a facade of efficiency and self-confidence or as a sensitive person who is able to live with some uncertainty.

4. This case concerns a woman in her early thirties who was referred because of panic attacks – phobic reactions, etc. – which prevented her from leaving her home alone. Her case illustrates how progress in the “Who am I?” process can influence progress in the use of other therapeutic methods. The patient had been asked in a previous session to visualize the meaning of the trance-like states that she feared, but she had been unable to see anything in the visualization. When she was able to realize through “Who am I?” that she had a “very lazy, sloppy streak in her personality,” she was soon able to perform a much more fruitful visualization on the same question. She saw a very dingy, unkempt, characterless woman walking around. She was then able to imagine through active imagination that she was taking this sloppy thing home with her and helping her get back on her feet.

To sum up, the “Who Am I?” method is a broad and valuable technique in the work toward self-realization. It has both diagnostic and prognostic value, but its great utility lies in its ability to function as a powerful catalyst and driving force in psychotherapy. Initially, patients need some training or guidance to conscientiously and regularly follow the necessary technique of filling out the questionnaire and bringing it with them. At first, they are embarrassed and apologetic, and almost invariably make ironic remarks that there is no point in doing the exercise more than once, since the following responses will be largely repetitions. Soon, however, they find that growth and change are possible here, as in other contexts, and gradually they understand that their responses are helping them to come to a deeper and more nuanced understanding of their inner selves. The process can be compared to peeling the layers of an onion.

My main point is that the “Who Am I?” technique can be related to other processes such as symbolic and interpretive psychotherapy and to overall patterns and events in the patient’s life. The method can be fruitfully combined with the therapeutic process as a whole in a mutually beneficial way.

Because the method is often powerful, it can be potentially disruptive, and should only be used in a therapeutic setting or by someone who is prepared to handle disruptive material from a professional perspective.

The nature of the self

The understanding of the self as a stable, central core of the individual personality is a fundamental premise within psychosynthesis. This core of the self is seen as the source of both strength and sensitivity, or – to use Rouke’s expression – of both dignity and humility. In psychosynthesis, the therapist’s goal is to lead the patient to awareness of his inner self. In this sense, psychosynthesis differs from those directions that make use of the “Who am I?” technique in a more general way.

I have already presented Rouke’s brief definition of the self and its outer layers. In the remainder of this paper I will discuss the nature of the self and the theory surrounding it as presented in Assagioli’s writings, and compare his views with those of Jung, Sullivan, Bugental, and Radhakrishnan.

Assagioli (1965) distinguishes between the conscious self or I and the higher self or Self. The self is the core of our consciousness. It is the “center of pure self-awareness.” Behind this center, this core, Assagioli puts forward the theory of a permanent higher self or true Self.

“This self is above – and untouched by – the flow of thoughts or bodily states, and the personal self should be considered more as its reflection, its “projection” in the field of personality. At the present stage of psychological mapping we know relatively little about the Self, but the importance of this synthesizing center heralds further research” (p. 19)

“The real, disturbing factor between the small self and the higher Self is that the small self is acutely aware of itself as a separate, individual self, and it experiences at times a sense of loneliness or separation in its existential experience. In contrast, the experience of the spiritual Self is a sense of freedom, of expansion, of communication with other Selves and with reality, and there is a sense of Universality. It experiences itself at the same time individual and universal.” (p. 87)

In the summer of 1966 I discussed these matters with Dr. Assagioli. Regarding the self and the higher Self, he stated:

“There is a big difference. The personal self or I is “self-centered”; it is conscious of itself without expansion of consciousness, without the joy, love and other qualities that characterize the spiritual Self.”

Regarding the “superconscious,” the “self,” and the “Self,” Dr. Assagioli said:

“There is an important point which must be made clear, because there is much confusion among psychologists about it. There is a fundamental difference between superconscious activities and functions, even of the highest kind, and the Self. There is an intense activity going on in the superconscious, which is creative. The Self, on the other hand, is a pure center of spiritual consciousness, which is not in itself active, but which projects a dynamic influence, but which remains, as it were, motionless. (Aristotle called God “The Unaffected Initiator”). Another image is the sun, which projects rays and currents of energies without descending from its position and without approaching the earth. Many people have had high spiritual experiences, either by raising their center of their consciousness, the ego, up to the superconscious planes, or by opening the personal field of consciousness to the influx of superconscious impulses (inspiration). This is not, however, the realization of the Spiritual Self. The aforementioned method is typical of poets, writers, and artists. Some of these have been channels for high impulses from the superconscious, but without Self-consciousness; they are like channels, and in some cases almost media. This explains the difficult psychology of the artist, and how an artist can at different times express both the highest and the lowest”.

There is some confusion about the fact that the ego must die in order for a human being to be fully developed. Regarding this, Assagioli gives the following mantra:

“More radiant than the Sun,

Purer than the snow,

Finer than the ether is the Self,

The spirit in my heart.

I am this Self,

This Self is I.”

He wrote:

“This poetic image clearly expresses the relationship between the individual and the universal; the Self is the universal, but I am conscious that I am this Self, and that this Self is the essence of who I am. It is well to emphasize this fact because there are many who claim that the neutralization, destruction, or elimination of the ego is necessary to achieve spiritual realization. Others, on the other hand, claim that there can be a gradual inner conquest that brings about an ever higher and greater expansion of consciousness. We can say that both processes take place, but that the term “destruction” is misleading because what is destroyed is the limitations and commitments of the ego, not its central core, which is a reflection of the Spiritual Self.”

Psychosynthesis’ formulations of the Self are more closely related to the Jungian view than other schools of thought. We will therefore first give a brief outline of the Jungian position and then add Assagioli’s comments:

In Jung’s words:

“The self is not only the center, but also the periphery which surrounds consciousness and the unconscious; it is the center of this totality, just as the ego is the center of consciousness.” (1940, p. 96)

One author, elaborating on this, wrote that Jung conceives of the self as containing the totality of man, the good and the evil, the masculine and the feminine, the four senses: thinking, feeling, sensation and intuition, and also man’s relationship to all life and the inanimate universe. The self provides, on the one hand, awareness of our unique being, and, on the other hand, a sense of unity with the cosmos. It will be noted that this interpretation of Jung’s view of the self parallels Assagioli’s; namely, that it includes both the individual and the transpersonal or universal elements.

Jung considers the experience of the self to be archetypal and believes that it can manifest itself in dreams and visions. He believes that it will be essentially psychological in nature. To quote from Jung:

“The self can be characterized as compensatory in relation to the inner and outer conflict. This formulation will not be without relevance, since the self to some extent has the character of a result or a goal that has been achieved, and which gradually appears and is experienced as the result of a great effort. In the same way, the self is the goal of our life, since it is the fullest expression of the fateful combination that we call individuality, and the full flowering not only of the individual individuality, but of the group, where everyone makes his contribution to the whole. The self is felt as something irrational, as an indefinable quantity to which the ego is neither in conflict with nor subject, but simply associated, and around which it revolves much in the same way as the earth revolves around the sun – in this way we reach the goal of individuation. I use the word “felt” to indicate the relation between the ego and the self, which cannot be understood. Nothing can be known about this relation, since we can say nothing about the content of the self. The ego is the only content of the self as we know it. The individuated ego experiences itself as an object in an unknown and superior subject.” (Wyss, 1966, p. 338)

It will therefore be seen that there are both similarities and differences between Jung’s and Assagioli’s views of the self. Regarding the difference, Assagioli says:

“For Jung, the self is a “psychological function,” a “point between consciousness and the unconscious,” and he attributes to it no transcendent reality. He adheres to the empirical point of view—the agnostic point of view—which shows that he has not had a genuine, spiritual experience of the Self. If he had, he would express himself differently. He considers the Self to be the result of a psychological process, of “individuation.” It is not for him a living Reality that is latent, but of which we can have a direct and experienced realization. There is therefore a great difference between the two definitions. According to the one, the Self is a psychological concept; according to the other, it is a living reality—and even a living Being. The Self is the Subject above all subjects. Jung’s Self is simply “psychological”; the spiritual Self is a transcendent, radiant reality, and we can have direct, immediate proof of it; that is, we can experience it.”

The views presented above are by no means representative of common views regarding the nature of the self. Many theorists would attribute a primary role to environment and experience in the development of the self. For example, Sullivan (1955, p. 10) writes:

“The self can be said to consist of reflected judgments.”

Bugental (1965, p. 201), whose work in relation to the “Who am I?” technique we have discussed, writes that “the common element that can be derived from the many and diverse understandings of our “I” can be called the Self.”

Jung’s and Assagioli’s views correspond less to the environmentalist positions of many other Western writers and more to Eastern thinking. In conclusion, I will give a quote from Radhakrishnan (Moustakas, 1956, p. 115), which is consistent with the psychosynthetic view of the Self:

“The true subject or self is not an object that we can experience through knowledge, for it is the very basis of knowledge. It is different from all objects, the body, the senses, the empirical self. We cannot make the subject the content or effect of any cause, for it is the basis of all such relations. It is not the empirical self, but that reality without which there could be no such thing as an empirical self.”

Finally, there is an opportunity to use the “Who Am I?” technique for research into the nature of the self. The use of this technique can lead to a more advanced understanding of the self and to an increased understanding of its development. In your practices, the patient may give you information in connection with the “Who Am I?” technique that may relate to the lower self or – later – the higher self; and often there will be a confusing mixture of the two. As therapists, we do not know much about the difference between these, so we should be open to the possibilities. In any case, we should always ask ourselves at what level of the self the patient is, and how does “Who Am I?” reflect his increased development of and awareness of the self, and which “self” is this person aware of at that time, the lesser self or the higher self?

Discussion

FHH: As a comment on the “Who am I?” technique, I would like to read a few paragraphs from an article by Dr. Edward M. Scott (1966) of the Oregon Alcoholism Treatment Clinic in Portland regarding group therapy for schizophrenic alcoholics. He writes in his report:

“We have selected from psychosynthesis … two important elements. First, there is the self as an inner core, the source of growth and strength. Second, a person is not identified with his actions or his behavior, even if his behavior is marked by persistent mistakes or defeats. He is a person who experiences defeats and mistakes; he is not the defeats and only these. He can learn to disidentify himself from his mistakes and defeats. This attitude is very important for the current patients. They are known to identify with their defeats, their stupidity, their drunkenness, etc. One patient clearly related the beginning of his recovery to this understanding.

“A possible explanation for the effectiveness of this therapeutic modality is that although the schizophrenic (as the term indicates) begins his psychosis with “a split mind,” the whole patient eventually becomes “thoroughly ill.” By reintroducing the good self through disidentification, the patient can once again observe and experience himself—his whole self—or at least more than he could before.

“Remember that Jim said in the previously quoted group dialogue that we should seek the good part of ourselves as the starting point for our strength. This question of identification with the good self is constantly repeated in the group, and patients are quick to sense if a group member is starting out in a negative way.”

JF: How do you differentiate in a patient’s answer to “Who am I?” between an answer that could be a true reflection of his condition or an answer that has more to do with what he imagined the therapist wanted?

Taylor:

I am aware that the patient may have an assumption about the therapist’s views and may wish to make him a match or provoke him, and that this may be a factor in the actual response. I have never presented a specific theory of the self to my patients, and I do not believe that patients get many cues in therapy from the therapist regarding his expectations.

JF: Do you interpret the answers for the patient?

Taylor: I don’t give so much a response, but more of a feedback, which I then use as a starting point for their further work.

MC: This technique can be used in different ways. Sometimes we can use it to simply gain an understanding of the psychodynamic material of the personality; but again, here too the onion model can be used to reach the core of the self.

JC: The important thing for the therapist in working with patients is to be aware that there is another dimension. Otherwise, in working with patients, we would sometimes completely miss the fact that they have had a “transcendental experience” of the Self, and try to apply a standard or orthodox technique to them and find that nothing happens; we might miss an obvious opportunity to integrate the experience into their lives or to build something around the ego-self that would be valuable to them.

HS: How do you approach integrating or synthesizing this transcendental experience?

MC: One possible approach would be Desoilles’ technique of guided visualization, where he takes the patient up to visualized heights, where the patient has an experience of contacting “the light.” He then has them visualize themselves bringing the light down to earth, and imagine how they radiate this light in their daily activities.

VM: I could certainly imagine a transcendental experience through the use of substances that would affect the intellect, or through symbolic visualization; but it seems to me to be against the whole understanding of the transcendental to expect it to arise through the “Who am I?” technique. This technique seems to me too intellectual.

JC: But it happens nonetheless! This will complicate the therapy because it introduces another level of consciousness.

BA: We can take the analogy of a koan, which is also a verbal technique. A koan is not chosen at random; it is chosen based on a consideration of where the seeker is. The student’s answer is continually rejected. The correct answer is obtained by rejecting all answers that are not psychologically correct. (WS: A famous koan is: “What did you do before you were born?”). There is another: “Who are you?”

FHH: In a case that Dr. Rouke once presented at a seminar, it was clear from the patient’s responses that she was moving further and further into what Assagioli called “the central core of individuality.” As in that case, patients often begin by identifying their immediate role and circumstances, and from there they go deeper into the use of images that are instilled in them by other people. As they go beyond this, they begin to experience that they are not these things, but are at the center of them. They end up actually expressing that “I am an independent person.” If that experience of individuality is a projected fragment or a reflection of the higher Self—assuming that Assagioli’s hypothesis is correct—then the central core of “I-consciousness” holds the possibility of a connection with this transcendental or higher Self.

FH: There seems to be a connection between this technique and Herman Kaiser’s claim of a fundamental neurosis – the need for union, combined with the inability to be an independent person. The neurotic need to be part of or to grow with another person or with other people; he cannot and does not want to be a separate individual. The “Who am I?” technique seems almost tailor-made to consciously bring about awareness of this need for union and to promote the separation of the self – whereby the person gets to the point where he can say “I am an independent person”. In doing so, he is indirectly saying that “I no longer need to grow with or rely on, be part of, or obtain vicarious satisfaction through, or over-identify with, other people”.

HS: If I remember my Gestalt therapy correctly, Fritz Pens would say that we should be able to switch back and forth between this individual state and a state of fusion – and to do it consciously. Health is synonymous with the freedom to do this.

FH: When a person reaches the point where he is an independent person, he is free, if he wishes , to merge by giving up himself, but he does not lose himself in this merger or get stuck in it, nor does he have to be independent of himself all the time.

FHH: Yes; once we are in touch with our own “core”, we are in touch with the core of other people, so that we are both ourselves and at the same time one with others.

GC: There can be some difficulty in the initial assessment of the “Who am I?” answers, which are given under changing conditions. For example, a person wakes up in the morning and writes down his answers to the question, and perhaps he is not feeling well, is still only half awake or something like that, and he gives us that. Three or four hours later he is engaged in various activities and has a certain degree of success in what he is doing, and all of a sudden his self-image changes. So when he asks himself the question, “Who am I?” for the second time, he thinks, “I am not so bad after all!” So ​​he sends us these more favorable answers. That is why I think that the value of these answers in the initial stages can be somewhat questionable.

JC: No; this is important, because through this he learns that he can be all these different people and at the same time maintain his individuality. This is one of the things that this technique helps people to recognize. They begin to see that “I am this type of person,” and then under certain conditions “I am someone else, and yet I am not any of them at all!” This person then realizes that he is simply playing all these roles in his life. For example, we can ask ourselves at the end of the day: “How was I as a spouse today?” or “How was I as a psychiatrist?” We can thereby observe ourselves in constantly changing roles and do not have to fully identify with any of these roles, because we are not “being” these roles. Or take the example of a woman who has children and who is completely identified with the role of “mother.” When one day she no longer has children living at home, she will have difficulty changing to another role, for example, being a social worker. This “Who am I?” technique helps her to disidentify from the role of mother and begin to see herself in a larger context.

FH: When you describe this technique, I get the impression that there is a possible advantage in bombarding a patient with this question as often as possible, simply because the more often the patient answers it, the sooner a reversal will occur between his numerous and changing answers to the question and his stable internal self-image, his self.

BA: I have used a variation of this technique in my therapy. In the middle of something a patient is doing, and without warning, I might say, “Stop – who are you?” The results are interesting. I have people start crying, and they come to a great understanding very quickly.

FH: On the question of the self, if there are two selves, a self with a capital S and a self with a small s, one of these must, in order to make a difference, pragmatically be of a different nature from the Sullivanian self. I would suggest that this self is the self with a small s. If so, what is the self with a capital S? Where does it come from? It must come from a source other than experience; perhaps inheritance?

JF: I think Assagioli would say that neither the self nor the Self has anything to do with reflected character traits.

FH: Where do the experiences, answers, assessments and memories in Assagioli’s system come from? They have to come from somewhere.

FHH: Isn’t it encompassed by the fact that this central core, the small self, can identify with the evaluating self, with the answers, etc.?

Taylor: I would say that if Assagioli were to answer that question, he would – and I may be wrong – he would call the Sullivanian part of the self a self-identification, but not the self, not the center of the self.

JF: We could also look at it another way: the Western understanding of the psychiatric self, Sullivan’s self, does not talk about the core in the same way that Assagioli does, nor in the same way that Jung does. So it’s a question of words. The understanding of the self that Assagioli and Jung deal with has nothing to do with what Sullivan talks about.

JC: When we included the exercise in the Psychosynthesis book, we didn’t know whether to call it “Self-Identification” or “Disidentification,” so we left the question open and left it up to you. Both are possible; disidentification leads to self-identification. Disidentification from the outer layers of the self leads to and promotes identification with the central core of the self.

HS: Let me ask, aren’t we – when we deal with disidentification – dealing almost exclusively with the negative self?

Taylor: Definitely not.

FH: In the disidentification exercise, we disidentify ourselves from our feelings, our thoughts, our body; but these are not negative. What we are trying to achieve is the same thing that will hopefully result from constantly asking the question, “Who am I?” Suddenly we become aware of the self. What is this self? It is a center of consciousness and a center of will; a readiness to experience and a willingness to act – but in a non-judgmental way. We cannot therefore speak of a positive or a negative self. If I understand the experience, in another sense it is positive because it gives a feeling of liberation from pressure, from being pushed around, from being a molecule in the Brownian motion. So in that sense it is positive.

(JC: Is it transcendental in this sense?”) It can be a “micro-peak experience” (Taylor: A “micro-peak experience”; that’s a good term). A micro-peak experience can occur at any time – a shift of mind, a shift in the way we look at things, and we can be able to consciously bring it about.

JC: For example, by looking at a flower?

WS: Regarding the question of disidentification from the positive; the classic example would be someone who stumbles upon his higher Self and is fascinated by it, and who ultimately identifies with it and believes he is Jesus Christ or something like that. He must then disidentify from this positive figure that he projects himself onto. (Otherwise he would be deceiving himself by seeking to deny his negative side. Ed.)

Taylor: In this context, where identifications are concerned, what is being emphasized is that the person is not the mere sum of the roles he plays – i.e. “I am a mathematician”, and “I am a tennis player”, and “I am this” and “I am that”. The very process of disidentification enables the self to emerge; and the self is a separate entity that lies beyond these role identifications.

References

PART ONE, BIBLIOGRAPHY

1. Assagioli, Roberto: “Psychosynthesis – A collection of fundamental writings” . Forlaget Levende Visdom, 2005
2. Bugental, James FT “Investigations into the Self-Concept ” I. The WAI and Technique”. Journal of Personality, 1950.
3. Zelen, Seymour L., Bugental, James FT & Gunning, Evelyn C.: “Investigations into the Self-Concept II, Stability and Reported Self Identifications” , Journal of Clinical Psychology , Vol. XI, No. 1, 1955.
4. Bugental, James FT “The Search of Authenticity” . New York: Holt, Rinehart & Winston, 1965.
5. Jung, CG “The Integration of the Personality” . London: Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1940.
6. Moustakas, C. (Ed.) “The Self-Explorations in Personal Growth” . New York: Harper & Bros., 1956.
7. Pearson, L. (Ed.) “The Use of Written Communications in Psychotherapy” . Springfield, Ill.: CC Thomas, 1965.
8. Scott, Edward M. “Group Therapy for Schizophrenic Alcoholics in a State-Operated Outpatient Clinic: With Hypnosis as an Integrated Adjunct”. The International Journal of Clinical and Experimental Hypnosis, 1966, Vol. XIV, No. 3, 232-242.
9. Sullivan, Harry S. “Conceptions of Modern Psychiatry” . London: Tavistock Publications, 1955.
10. Wyss, Dieter “Depth Psychology: A Critical History” . New York: WW Norton, 1966.

 II. The Visual “Who Am I?” Technique –
A Method for Experiencing the Self

By Martha Crampton, MA

Assistant Professor of Education at Sir George William University in Montreal, Canada

My presentation tonight will be in three parts: first the theory and a general description of the technique; then a demonstration with a volunteer from the group; and finally some examples of the use of this technique in my own practice.

It was partly the discussion of Dr. Graham Taylor’s paper on the verbal “Who Am I?” technique (see Part I of this booklet) that stimulated me to develop a variation of the “Who Am I?” technique in which I use symbolic visualization.

The theory behind this technique is based in part on the late Dr. Fabian Rouke’s understanding of the personality as structured in concentric circles – the onion model with a central positive core – which can be accessed by peeling away the outer layers. The theoretical basis for the method I will present tonight is discussed in an earlier paper I presented at the Psychosynthesis Seminar in December 2005 on the topic of “Answers from the Unconscious”.

The use of this method presupposes training in symbolic visualization and in eliciting responses from the unconscious. The subject is told that the personality can be understood as a series of concentric circles, and that by making an inward journey through the various layers in imagination he can contact the inner self or the unifying center so important in psychosynthesis. He is encouraged to begin this process with the outermost layer of the personality and continue towards the center in a step-by-step process until he feels that he has reached the end of the road and can go no further.

A subject sometimes feels that he has reached the end of this path. In that case, the therapist must help him continue. The subject is told that the number of steps on this journey varies from person to person. He is assured that the journey is not endless, that it has a final goal, and that it can be completed in a limited number of steps.

The subject is instructed to begin by looking for a visual representation of the outermost layer of his personality, temporarily setting aside his rational faculties and allowing the answer to emerge spontaneously in the form of an image (images are, says Dr. Assagioli, the natural language of the unconscious). He is asked to talk about any image he sees, regardless of whether it seems relevant to him or seems to have something to do with the way he consciously perceives himself.

When the subject reports an image, the therapist writes down what he says and continues the inquiry to determine how the subject experiences the visualization (if he does not mention it spontaneously himself) and how he would interpret the visualization, if he is able to do so. The time spent on the inquiry phase varies according to the therapist’s immediate purpose – i.e. whether he judges it best to proceed directly to the inner core with minimal delay, or whether he wishes to concentrate during the session on the conflicts and defenses that exist in the personality.

Once the subject has reported an image and the study is complete, the therapist may praise him for his successful completion of a given step and invite him to take the next step in the inward journey. This encouragement is important because many subjects are unable to detect any progress on the inward journey and may question whether they are moving in the right direction or whether there is an end to this process of peeling off the layers. This is especially true of the outer layers, where the subject may experience deeply disturbing aspects of his personality; in the final part of the journey, when the images from the superconscious begin to emerge, the subject generally feels prompted by the pull of the goal—the experience of the Self. Progress usually appears to zigzag through the various layers of conflict with the corresponding defenses, but in reality the journey continues inward.

In some cases—particularly in subjects who are not the visual type—the response does not always come in the form of an image. A subject may instead see or hear a particular word or phrase, or report a thought or feeling. This may, for practical purposes, be considered the equivalent of a visual image, and we can proceed with the next step inward.

We sometimes experience blockages and resistance when using this method, as is the case with other methods. There are various aids that have proven effective in overcoming this. Often, if the subject is unable to get an answer at a given level, it is useful to ask him to associate freely. This usually brings up the repressed material that is causing the blockage. Another option is to ask the subject to visualize the question, “What is blocking you?” and help him overcome this blockage through symbolic visualization. We can also suggest that the subject visualize a door and imagine that he is going through this door and talking about what he sees on the other side, as in the technique described by Robert Gerard (1964). Other useful techniques for overcoming resistance that may prove useful are: spontaneous drawing or other free expression such as body movement; “here-and-now” body awareness work as in Gestalt therapy, or by simply asking the subject what is the least likely thing he would see. With a little patience and skill, it is possible to overcome resistance and guide the subject safely through the ups and downs he experiences in exploring his inner space.

However, if a subject is disturbed by the material he experiences during a session, it may be necessary to set aside some time to work through the problems in this area before continuing inward. This method generally activates repressed and painful material very quickly. We must therefore be careful, especially with severely disturbed patients, not to proceed so quickly that they are left with more than they can handle between sessions.

A question that we can well ask is whether a subject can or should undertake this experience on their own, i.e. without the presence of a therapist. With the verbal version of the “Who am I?” technique, it is common practice to ask the subject to write down their answers alone at home. We should, however, exercise greater caution when using a method involving visualization, as the experiences can be more profound and disturbing. This is because they come primarily from the unconscious as opposed to the more conscious and rationally conditioned responses elicited through the standard method, and because the experience of visualization can often be very intense and almost more real than life, like in a dream. I once heard Dr. Deiter Baumann, Jung’s grandson and a prominent Jungian analyst, say that anyone who experiments with active imagination on their own does so at their own risk. I would agree with this assessment and believe that unless a person is very familiar with his unconscious it would be unwise to use this method without guidance. It should be remembered that the potential dangers arise not from the repressed material of the lower unconscious, but from the dynamic energies of the superconscious which, if not properly understood and assimilated, can lead to inflation, loss of identity and other forms of imbalance.

The self is indeed the cornerstone on which the psychosynthetic method rests, although most of us who have worked with the understanding of the self in therapy have repeatedly experienced a patient who is only slightly able to grasp the idea, who considers it a logical construct or an abstraction and as something unrelated to experience or to reality. Although awareness of the self seems so self-evident to a person who has analyzed his consciousness, or who has had a spontaneous experience of this kind, few people, as Assagioli says—including highly intelligent and sophisticated people—have had spontaneous awareness of the self. Therefore, any method that can evoke even a glimpse of this inner self as a living reality rather than as a vague abstraction will be of the utmost importance in psychosynthesis. The verbal version of the “Who am I?” method can sometimes lead to such a realization, but a verbal method would not seem to be the most powerful way to evoke an intense experience of the self.

When a person is able to experience this central concept and achieve awareness of the self, it becomes much easier to work with the other methods of psychosynthesis: the practice of disidentification; the methods of developing the will; and the various other active techniques. If there is anything that can be said to differentiate psychosynthesis from other similar paths, it is probably the central role of this inner self as a living reality that can be experienced directly and actively worked with. Gestalt therapy makes use of the understanding of the different layers of the personality, but does not work directly with the understanding of the self, which is actually considered detrimental to the therapy. Jungians talk about the self, but tend to consider it a psychological process and not a reality or entity in itself. It is therefore important that in psychosynthesis we seek to develop what Assagioli (1965) refers to as “a knowledge of the Self, of its energies and expressions, of how these energies can be released, how they can be contacted, how they can be used for constructive and therapeutic purposes.” (p. 194)

The terminology of the self—as currently used in psychosynthesis—can be a little confusing. Assagioli has suggested the terms “the Higher Self,” or the Self with a capital S, or the spiritual Self for the basis of our being, and has used terms such as the self with a small s, the little self, the conscious self, the “I,” the center of pure self-awareness for that which is the projection of the Higher Self in the personality. These terms tend to be misleading, since the use of the term “the Higher Self” implies that the “little self” is lower and therefore somewhat bad. In reality, however, the “little self,” or the center of pure self-awareness, is also a unifying center—at least at the level of the personality.

Normally, it is necessary to achieve at least a reasonable degree of integration at this level before we can proceed with a spiritual psychosynthesis. There is also some difficulty in using words like “spiritual” or words that begin with a capital letter, since many people today find such use distasteful and an expression of “cult”. We would therefore suggest using the term “personal self” for what Assagioli refers to as the self with a small s, and the term “transpersonal self” for what can be considered the “Higher Self” or the Self with a capital S.

To return to our method, it may be useful not only therapeutically but also theoretically in developing our understanding of human nature. It may help us to test different models of personality, such as Dr. Rouke’s “onion” model, which includes a false, positive outer layer; a false, negative layer within this; and a true, positive inner core. In a way, this model is in many cases oversimplified and flawed when viewed from the perspective of the visual “Who am I?”

Although the experience of the self that we gain through this method usually remains indirect insofar as it is conveyed through symbols, it can lead to a more direct experience that can no longer be expressed in words and images. In any case, the symbols of the self can certainly have a transforming and integrating value, as Jung noted, going so far as to state in Contributions to Analytical Psychology that “the psychological machinery which transforms the energies is the symbol”. Assagioli (1965, p. 178) refers to symbols as factors that “accumulate, transform and direct the psychological energies”, and the values ​​of symbols in therapy and self-realisation can be greatly expanded and enhanced by the active methods of psychosynthesis. The symbols of the self can have an opening effect and – as Assagioli points out – can function as a link between the personal and the spiritual psychosynthesis.

I do not have sufficient experience with this technique at this time to judge whether all subjects can gain a glimpse of the transpersonal self through it. Many subjects, however, seem to gain an incipient spiritual awareness which can hasten psychosynthesis and which can be of great use in resolving conflicts at the personality level. The biblical story of the evil spirits who were cast out, only to be replaced by other evil spirits when the house was swept and tidied, is a useful parable that psychotherapists should keep in mind. If we remove something from the patient and weaken his defenses without giving him anything in return, we may make room for another evil spirit to take over. A glimpse of the inner self can often give a patient the courage and strength to confront his fears and conflicts. And just as a small seed can grow and split a large rock, the spirit of life within us, when awakened, can similarly break through what Reich has called the armor, the character defenses of the personality.

One advantage of a method like this – which is based on an inward movement as opposed to a method like Desoilles’ guided visualization, which uses upward or downward movement in the imaginary space – is that it seems easier for the subject to experience the inner light as something that is within him, rather than something that is in the sky and which is difficult for him to translate into daily life. The task of “stepping down” or transforming these higher energies into a form where they can be used and integrated into our lives is the central problem of psychosynthesis.

The interest in this method is not limited to those therapists who practice within the framework of psychosynthesis. It is a valuable tool in the study of personality conflicts and defenses, which is the concern of every therapist. It can be an effective tool for the therapist and the patient to create in advance an outline of the general ground to be covered in the course of therapy. That is, it serves both a diagnostic and a therapeutic purpose. It can often help the patient to see in a remarkably vivid way his various self-expressions and the complex nature of his own defense structure. It also plays a beneficial role in creating catharsis in relation to guilt and repressed material in the early stages of therapy. That is, even if a therapist were not interested in the theory of the self, he could find much value in this technique.

Demonstration

(The volunteer, whom we will call “Betty” for the sake of anonymity, had entered the seminar just as Martha Crampton was finishing her presentation, and therefore had no knowledge of the method or the underlying theory. The entire demonstration took 30 minutes, as there were often long pauses before Betty answered Martha Crampton’s questions or suggestions. Questions or suggestions, etc., that Martha Crampton gives are in the following transcript in parentheses. Ed.)

Crampton: We are going to take an inward journey in imagination, the purpose of which is to contact the inner self; and what I am going to ask you to do is to visualize the different layers of your personality. You start with the outermost layer and then move inward one step at a time. Close your eyes and make yourself comfortable.

Betty, I’m going to ask you to visualize the outermost layer of your personality. Don’t think too hard, just find a picture and tell me what you see.

Betty: The first thing I see is a grin. (C: What kind of grin?) I can see teeth – the association is of course the Cheshire Cat. (C: How do you experience this grin?) It has two faces: It can be warm and welcoming, or hostile and smug.

Crampton: I would like to mention to the group that sometimes when we use this method in a group, the others in the group may find it helpful to try to visualize with the subject. You are free to do this or not, but it may help you to get more deeply in touch with Betty’s experience if you join in the visualization.

OK, fine Betty; now take the next step inward.

Betty: I’m in my mouth now – I can see we’re going down the throat. I can’t help but make clever remarks. (C: How does it feel in your mouth?) My tongue is busy. (C: What’s it doing?) It’s feeling the surface of my teeth. (C: And how do you experience this layer of yourself?)

Betty: I think of a snake bumping its head around. It’s as if the whole tongue were a snake – and it has a forked tongue itself. (C: OK, very good; now take the next step inward).

Betty: I’m in my nose now; it surprised me; I didn’t think we were going there next! (C: What do you find there?) (A sigh, followed by a chuckle., ed.) I’m afraid the only thing I can say is “snot” – very snotty. (C: How do you feel about this layer?) Oddly enough, I’m strangely pleased; I like the idea of ​​being snotty, and I sense a kind of evil grimace that goes with this snottyness. (C: Let’s take the next step inward to the next layer).

Betty: By the way, all this surprises me; I’ve never thought of myself as all these unpleasant things. I’ve always thought of myself as a nice lady! (said with a smile., ed.) (C: You’re doing fine, because I don’t expect you to make a decision about what you’re experiencing). Okay, when I take the next step inward from the nose (pause), I’m in the eye sockets, and it’s different. There’s no laughter or snot – there’s tears. (C: What do you experience in this layer?)

Betty: I feel like I could very easily cry right now. (C: Do you need to cry?) There doesn’t seem to be anything that makes me cry. (C: What would you cry about?) (long pause). Over something very loving, warm and beautiful that happened today. (C: Can you tell us about it?). Unfortunately, that’s not something I can share. (C: So let’s take the next step inward, Betty).

Betty: I’m in the middle of the head. (C: What are you experiencing there?). Stop it! I’m so full of these damn literary allusions. My first association was Descartes’ “little man” on top of the pineal gland. (C: Can you see him?) Yes, I sense him. (C: What does he look like – a dwarf – it’s St. Patrick’s Day?) Yes, something like that. He has a pointed head and is dressed in mourning for some reason – he’s not dressed in black and white, but he appears in black and white; he’s not in color. He looks like a character from a cartoon. I don’t take him very seriously. (C: What’s he doing there?) He looks like he’s just running around. (C: OK, now take the next step inward.)

Betty: This little man is in the way; I think that’s his job – to stop me from going any further in, but I think I can trick him. There’s a place up on the top of the head, just above the little man, that’s narrower, but at the same time I feel it in the lower abdomen – these two places are connected. (C: How are they connected?) (long pause, sigh) When I really go into the brain and trick this little man, it’s like it’s the solar plexus or something that it’s connected to. (C: What do you see or experience?) At first I had a feeling of darkness and heat, like a summer night at the top of the brain, closing in the abdomen – or whatever it is – a kind of pressure, a heaviness; and now it’s becoming more of a feeling of tension and anticipation; like something is about to happen. (C: Hmm, hmm – now take the next step inward).

Betty: We are now in the area around the heart; there is a kind of pressure there; as if the heart is pressing on the front of the chest and not the other way around – as if the heart is bigger than it usually is. (C: What does that mean to you?) My heart is very full. (silence) (C: Now let’s take the next step inward).

Betty: I think the next step might be the center, because there doesn’t seem to be any division or any place; and there’s a very stillness; it feels deep; it has a quality, but it seems to be where I settle down. (C: Do you experience it visually in any way?) Visually it’s dark and formless, but there’s a floral scent like my gardenia that just popped out. I’ve been very involved with this gardenia plant; I’ve joked about it being my baby and made so much fuss over it as if it were a little puppy. And the flowers – have you ever seen a gardenia when it pops out? The petals are tightly intertwined and open like a rose, but form a kind of spiral sun as they open. The scent and the whiteness and the unfolding process – it’s like we’re dealing with this from the inside. (C: Let’s try one more step now. We may feel like we’re at the end, but it’s also possible that we can take more steps).

Betty: I can go further and further in; there is much less form and no concepts; it is not even in my body. I can see a cave, but at the top it is carved like the ceiling of a medieval drawing, and there is light at the top. It is a cave in a real rock; there is some connection with the interior of a mountain from the world of the Hobbit, but it is not the Hobbit’s cave. (C: Hmm, hmm; now take the next step inward).

Betty: It’s pitch black; I go further into the cave – the infuriating associations irritate me. It’s as if they destroy the purity of the experience, but perhaps it’s easier to communicate through them. It’s as if I went into the dark cave where Golom hid, into Golom’s cave. (C: How do you experience being there?) The ring is there. Of course! That’s what I went in there for! (C: Now let’s take the next step inward.)

Betty: I’m in the ring. (C: What can you tell us about it?) I’m just sitting there with the ring around me. (C: How do you experience it?) I don’t know. I think it’s a wedding ring. Yes. When I’m sitting in the wedding ring, I feel very… “split” I think is the expression. (C: Why?) I don’t know. I don’t know if I’m looking for something or if I’m looking away. It’s more like there’s something in front of me that I’m turning my head away from. (C: Hmm, hmm). A very bright light – very bright, very bright. It’s in front of me. It’s very big, like the sun – although it’s not really as big as the sun. (C: Let’s take the next step inward now) (long pause)

Betty: I have stepped into the sun. When I do, I become one with the sun. I am – light! (long pause) I am sitting in a Buddha-like way. (C: Can you tell me anything else about your experience right now?) I find myself very high, I think it really is – oh no, I was just about to say this is the end, but it is not. (C: What happens next?) I mean, this is the end of going in, but I also have to go out again. I can’t stay here. (C: Let’s deal with this light, Betty, and let it guide you. Let it shine in your life.)

Betty: In my own life? (C: Hmm, hmm) I first thought of going back to the past, but of course that must lead me into the future (long pause). (C: Where did the light lead you in your past?) Not really anywhere – just some very confusing images from my past, and I know that it’s not that at all; it has to be the future. (very long pause and then a chuckle). This is typical of the whole experience and is a kind of summary; I experience something that resembles a luminous Bodhisattva sending his rays of light out towards humanity – at the same time my nose is running! (C: Do you have any other images?) A very strong feeling here (heart, ed.). I can actually feel light pouring out. (C: What happened to your nose?) I wish I had a handkerchief – my nose is running. If I ever become a Bodhisattva, it will be a snotty Bodhisattva (said with a chuckle, ed.). It’s hard to hold the image. (C: How can this light get rid of its snot?) It says it shouldn’t get rid of its nose. (C: What else does it say?) (long pause and then a chuckle, ed.) It’s really funny. There’s more of this mischief where the tip of the nose is compared to the “Rudolph the Red-Nosed” reindeer leading his bucket through the darkness. (C: Try to imagine that this light is leading you somewhere to an experience where you get rid of your snot).

Betty: I can see it taking me through snow – a snowy night, a street in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. I used to walk at night; there was a church that was very beautiful. I remember walking there one snowy night and the light from the street lamps, the snow; it was very beautiful. There used to be a fountain; it’s a very nice place – I think there’s a building there now. (C: Can you see yourself there now?) I’m 14 years old, and I think it was 1932 or 1933; I don’t have a coat on, and I’m walking in the snow in a faux leather jacket. (C: What’s happening?) There’s a sense of great anticipation; something wonderful and very beautiful is about to happen. (C: Let the light continue to guide you in this experience). It takes me back to what happened today, and it almost makes me cry. But that’s not the end either, because there will be more of it (long pause, ed.). (C: We’d better stop here. Thank you very much, Betty).

Discussion

Crampton: Betty, is there anything you would like to say about your experience?

Betty: It’s hard to come back, and I’m only partially present. This room is far less real to me than the light and all the other things I experienced.

Crampton: That’s one of the problems with this method – the coming back.

Betty: This reality is much smaller than the other reality. My first thought was that this must be what it’s like to be schizophrenic, but I don’t think so. This is what it feels like to be in your prime – it’s like I’ve been schizophrenic my whole life.

Crampton: Have you ever had such experiences before?

Betty: Not quite like this. I’ve tried visualization, “guided visualization,” but nothing quite like this! (Crampton: Have you ever experienced the inner light in your guided visualizations before?) No. That in the light was a completely new experience. It was strange.

Crampton: That’s a typical image that subjects like to end with. Sometimes they go beyond the light—almost beyond the image, a kind of pearly light that lies beyond the image of the sun. It seemed like you spontaneously wanted to get out of it. I often stop with the sun, although the internal image is not identical for each person.

Betty: I had the feeling that it wasn’t my job to go on and become a pearly cloud; it was my job to stay in touch with people, and I talked about the feeling – I felt it especially in my breasts – as if it was coming out through my nipples; that’s when I radiated the light. Of course it came out. The last thing was the dwarf – to keep the experience from being completely grand; you see, that’s why I couldn’t get rid of this snotty nose, because otherwise it would be quite … you see, I have to keep humor to a certain extent as an anchor, I hope!

Crampton: How do you feel if you don’t hold on? What would happen?

Betty: First of all, I would get quite paranoid, and that wouldn’t be very nice. I could go crazy, and that’s not very nice either, although it’s fun to be there, but in reality it’s not fun. I have the feeling that “that’s where the madness is”. (FH: And the dwarf is there to prevent that?) Yes, the dwarf and the snotty nose both keep me from going too far into the grandiose picture.

Crampton: Yes, when you were sitting in the ring and didn’t want to look at the light, there was some anxiety.

FH: So you’re saying, Betty, that there have to be flaws to keep you from going into insanity or grandiosity?

Betty: Or a sense of humor, a sense of my ridiculousness, of my own absurdities – like with the picture where I became like the “Rudolph the Red-Nosed” reindeer, where the nose was glowing!

JC: Martha, is this way of initiating typical – through the mouth etc.?

Crampton: No, it’s atypical from my current experience. Most subjects get images that have nothing to do with the body.

RB: I followed this myself, and my experience was very clear. I followed Betty, and as we walked back and forth, I wondered, “What am I?” I really liked the experiment. (JC: Did you find the inner light?) My experience was different; I didn’t experience light, but almost a unity. It was a very wonderful experience, where I saw and perceived in a completely new way. (JC: What about emotions; what did you experience there?) I had no emotions; I stopped myself and turned back. (JC: Was it ecstasy or tears?) No, I was very present here on earth, but the earth looked completely different. Me and the surroundings merged. I felt a sense of completion, I think; not just joy or happiness, nothing manic, but a sense of “being,” a sense that “here I am.” (FH: Is the word bliss appropriate?) No. (FHH: It’s a sense of being in the world, a greater sense of aliveness). Yes.

JC: Betty, why were you holding back your tears?

Betty: I guess I didn’t want to get too emotional about something that happened earlier today. I could have gone into it and lost everything else.

Crampton: Perhaps you feared that the tears belonged to your inner core, but tears are one of the outer layers. It came in the fourth layer. There were twelve layers, so the tears are really very much on the outside. This is one of the advantages of this method, I think. It illustrates that the frightening aspects of ourselves are actually very superficial. In-depth analysis usually does not go deep enough to go through this layer and contact the inner center, which is always positive and radiant.

JC: Betty, have you gone through any kind of training in meditation or any other type of inward search like this in your life? You were talking about Buddha, and you were sitting in a very upright position with your palms facing up.

Betty: I have only had a little training in meditation or Zen, but I am very aware that there is a connection.

FHH: Martha, what was your reaction to Betty’s sense of danger in the grandiose?

Crampton: This is very, very common…. (Betty: I have been accused of being grandiose many times, so I am very aware of this possibility.) One patient experienced this as being on the edge of a whirlpool or maelstrom in a small boat, and he was terrified of being sucked in. I think it is partly due to the fear of loss of identity in this mysterious type of becoming one.

Betty: I experienced that in the sun, where I identified with the sun, but then felt like I had to separate myself because that was my task, because that was what I had to do and what I was there for.

RB: What if you hadn’t separated from the sun and stayed there longer? I feel like rationality got in the way and ruined something.

Betty: No, I don’t think so; it wasn’t exactly rationality, it’s more something about myself, as someone recently told me – that I was Bodhisattva-like because I was able to “turn on” a lot of other people. In relation to this person to a degree that he felt it was nirvana – without being able to get there himself. Maybe I’m not meant to be there, but to help people get there.

RB: That’s what I mean, you limit yourself that way.

JC: It’s nice to know that we can control it. (RB: And stop?) Yes. It’s not just theory that we can burn out in such an experience.

Betty: No, I really had the feeling that it’s not just about being rational.

RB: No, I didn’t mean rational when you say “no”, but something inside you that says: “No, no. Don’t go in there”.

Betty: It wasn’t a sense of danger; it was almost a sense of destiny, like, “This is where I’m going, this is what I’m going to do.” Like I was going to find the ring when I entered the cave. The symbolism, by the way, came from various literary allusions. Tolkien (the author of The Lord of the Rings, ed.) denies any symbolism in all his books. It’s surprising how well the images fit with the Tolkien stories – Golom, the cave, the ring; and having to step into the fire, which is where Golom had to go. In the book, it was Golom who was destroyed in the fire, so maybe you’re right here.

JC: One more thing: It is important that the therapist has some personal experience with the inner self in order to be able to guide the patient to this experience.

Crampton: Yes, the therapist should know the way himself in order to guide another person. It also seems to me that the patient could indirectly absorb something – almost by osmosis – from the therapist who has had the experience.

FH: Jack, you talk about using the visual “Who Am I?” with people with serious problems. Would you use it from the beginning of treatment? Or is it something that you introduce at a later stage after exploring the problems in a more conventional way?

Crampton: When dealing with very disturbed subjects, we often get stuck in the outer layers and have to work our way through them first. I find it helpful to move on as soon as possible.

JC: At one point, Betty, you were sitting in a very upright manner, and that wasn’t Betty. All of a sudden your palms were facing up, and if we could have measured your spine at that point, it would have been as straight as it could possibly be. (RB: That’s Betty too!) You were beaming, it was explained.

Betty: I don’t know what the rest of you saw, but I was absolutely certain that I was beautiful at that time; I know that. Maybe not beautiful in the conventional sense, but beautiful, I was.

Crampton: It can be helpful to meditate on this image of yourself as the sun when you are at home and experience yourself as your true self. I think you will find that you don’t need the runny nose.

JC: It’s like some of the experiences we did at Assagioli. We focused on the sun and imagined we were walking straight into it. It’s interesting that you spontaneously expressed the same thing, Betty.

Crampton: Completely inexperienced subjects who have never heard a word of symbolism or philosophy can often come up with all these classic symbols. It’s almost like a textbook. It’s the collective unconscious.

Crampton: I will now give you a few typical examples from my own practice. Later we can discuss some practical issues related to the use of this method.

I will begin with a 38-year-old man, an engineer, who is in couples therapy with his wife. His wife originally came to therapy because of anxiety symptoms. Since there were no marital problems, he also came to therapy and soon discovered that he had problems himself. The visualization took place in a private session that lasted 40 minutes.

First layer: At first he couldn’t get any image at all; he found it difficult to visualize. He got a feeling and said, “There’s an image in the back somewhere.” He got the impression that there were very strong blockages blocking his way. Eventually it came to the image of a floor full of machinery. This is very normal as an outer layer.

Second layer: Beneath this floor full of machinery, my patient saw a vague image of a man. He was naked and trapped by the layer of machinery. Then he experienced a blockage for a while and opened his eyes. When he opened his eyes, he had the feeling that there was a door that he could not open. So I asked him to close his eyes again and open the door.

Third layer: He did this and entered a room that was filled with books and where there was a feeling of silence and warmth.

Fourth layer: “There are hills and mountains on the horizon, and the sky is clear. Cows are grazing in the fields. It’s outside.”

Fifth layer: “A summer house by the sea when I was a boy. I have a memory of some of the happiest experiences of my life there. It was a place where we experienced freedom – a place where we could express ourselves.”

Sixth layer: “Myself as a young man with a newspaper route. It gave me status – a sense of independence and achievement.”

Seventh grade: “I see other kids bobsledding down a long hill. I was never allowed to do it, even though my friends did, because my parents thought it was too dangerous.” (long pause)

Eighth layer: “I have reached a layer that contains pain and frustration. There are a number of things here that I wanted to do and experience, but that I did not and could not. This layer looks like a big, black hole of water – I knew immediately what it was when I saw it”. (In fact, some subjects are able to spontaneously interpret the meaning of their images. MC) “As soon as I came into contact with this, I retreated, as if it were red-hot. I have the experience that I can walk around it, but never into it. It was like a black cloud or a storm. It represents sadness and disappointment. Every time I found myself approaching this, I felt sadness and withdrew.”

Ninth layer: “I felt almost like I was in an elevator going down this layer of frustration through a series of underground caverns until I reached the bottom and stopped. In front of me was an image of a bright, bright light – brilliant. I could hardly believe this image because I had known for a long time that this light was somewhere inside me, and it was like recognizing something I already knew, but which I was seeing for the first time.”

Tenth layer: (long pause) “I can’t understand it. There was an image almost like of a formless spirit. Then there was a pool of water, and when the spirit came to it, it made the water ripple, just like when we throw a stone into the water and the rings spread out from the center.”

Eleventh layer: (long pause, a startled whistle, a shiver). “I began to see sunshine – the sun – and then I had a feeling of rays of light coming from above from somewhere beyond my vision. It all became dizzying for me – like a television screen where the picture is blurred, and I stopped and opened my eyes. I was afraid of disappearing somewhere and never coming back.”

Twelfth Layer: The subject was encouraged to go back to the visualization and allow himself to experience what happened when he was not afraid. Again he saw the rays of light coming from above and mingling with the image of the spirit he had seen before. He described it as the play of the sun on the surface of the water. However, he was unable to overcome his fear and withdrew from the experience when his tension became too great. It seemed likely that he was on the verge of a deeper mystical experience that symbols could not describe, but it was clear that he was not yet fully ready for this experience. The subject was asked to meditate on the various positive images of the self that he had experienced, and as he learned to relax in relation to the various outer defenses of his personality – particularly the outermost layer of rigidity, represented by the floor full of machinery – he would be ready to move into a deeper experience where he would become one with the universal self.

The subject’s reactions to this experience were interesting. His immediate reaction was great joy at the awareness that there is something deeper within him than the black layer of frustration. The black layer seemed less threatening, and he no longer felt that it was something he had to escape from, as he had gained a sense of strength and inner security through contact with the positive core of his being. In the following session he reported that he experienced himself as quieter, less noisy than before, and with less need to impress people. He felt more relaxed and less inclined to harbor resentment and feelings of inferiority. He spoke of an awakening to a new sense of freedom, although it is still weak and easily lost, but he knows that it is there and that it will continue to grow. Being a typical engineer with a sober empirical attitude, he found it hard to believe that things could happen so quickly and that an experience that took place in his “imagination” could have such a profound effect on his life. He feels that it will take him some time to really make sense of it all. This attitude is reminiscent of RM Bucke’s experience that it generally took many years for people who had a spontaneous experience of what he called “cosmic consciousness” to be able to fully integrate the experience into their lives.

FH: One of the conclusions that Leuner draws from this method is that they can be very difficult to interpret. When the patient is involved in his images, the images have their own independent direction, and the feelings arise spontaneously in response to the images. The therapist does not need to interpret or ask the patient, “Why do you say this or see that?” To ask him to interpret is to ask him to think.

Crampton: I use interpretation in my therapy, but not always. Sometimes I find it beneficial.

RB: Yes, and I use it when time is tight, but if I have time, I leave out interpretation altogether and think it’s better that way. When the person is allowed to discover it for themselves, the therapy is more meaningful.

JC: I skipped interpretation so long ago that I don’t even need to think about it. When someone starts talking about “What is the interpretation of this?” I have to go back 15 or 20 years in my thinking to early psychodynamics. These images grow and have a life of their own; and we sit there and observe them rather than try to control them; they have a life of their own, and they have movement.

PSK: How would you describe the dynamics that take place in this process?

RB: Stick to the feedback technique and you won’t have any trouble refraining from interpreting; just some form of feedback on what the person is telling you.

PSK: So you strengthen the image. (RB: Yes, and bring more emotions to the surface). And will he understand that and continue? (RB: Very much so; you are just giving him the opportunity to come forward).

JC: Patients will get irritated if you start trying to take control in any way; they will get confused and try to push you away. Many times, as soon as you get involved, they will block. Sometimes I will ask them, “Where am I?” (in their visualization), and they will say, “You are sitting over there under the tree,” or “You are right there.” So you have to stay there—wherever they have placed you in their visualization. Therefore, the less you do, other than creating the framework, the better it will go.

Crampton: I’m afraid I pushed Betty too much tonight because I was very conscious of time, and that’s never good.

FH: Yes, I had the feeling that you were pressuring her, and spontaneously she interpreted a lot herself.

Crampton: I find it helpful to ask patients what they are feeling, and the interpretation will shine through their emotions.

FH: It seems to me that this technique would be particularly suitable for psychotic people who are hospitalized.

JC: In the hospital, the patients will have already run away, and your job is to bring them back to something that can be called reality. What I do is ask them to do simple things like look at a postcard and tell me what they see, or have them listen to music and pick out an instrument in an orchestra to follow. Or I ask them to walk down a street and look in shop windows and notice what they see. The purpose is to try to establish some kind of communication. Once they have done that, and they are cooperating, and I have some contact, I can start using the “Who am I?” method. If they are just sitting there staring into space, all I can do is prescribe more Thorazine (an antipsychotic medication, ed.). Or I put them on an extra three grams of Niacin and tell them to come back for another appointment in three weeks, and we go from there.

Crampton: The problem with psychotics is often that they have had an experience of the transpersonal self, but they have misinterpreted that experience. They may start to think, “I am God,” or something like that, so they need help interpreting their experience.

JC: Yes, but it’s hard to go back to the runny nose, to the daily routine, to do what their real work is. You see, it’s the same issue with people who take LSD or marijuana; in a sense they’ve encountered the transpersonal self and want to stay there – they don’t want to get away from the experience.

Crampton: Where people seem to want to stay seems to be an intermediate step before they reach the true self. In Betty’s case, she described the dark place she reached as “very quiet; it feels deep; it has a quality, but it seems to be where I settle down.” I think that’s where people get stuck.

RB: Have you had anyone continue to the light?

Crampton: Yes; I have a patient who in the deeper layers continues to the sun. Let me read his record to you:

First layer: A circular path – a spiral. At first I saw a set of concentric brass rings. Now I can see myself walking along a path through the forest. The sunlight shines through the trees. It seems to be a route of discovery, not very well marked, but I clearly have a feeling that I am on the right track.

Second layer: I am in the Garden of Eden – where I sit with a large drawing board. It looks as if I am working on an architect’s drawing of the universe, where I am trying to demonstrate the place of man in the overall plan.

Third layer: A cloud that is grayish blue. Now it becomes pearly or silver. The whole thing seems to have come out of a volcano that came into view for a brief moment. The cloud is all there is, and it is not some discreet little thing. There is a sense of wonder. The cloud looks as if it is flashing or sparkling, as if there are points of light in the middle of it. It could represent the entire universe either before creation or at the beginning of creation; or it could be some kind of warning or premonition of something that is going to happen – a kind of enigma.

Fourth layer: An eagle with spread wings, as if ready to fly away.

Fifth layer: The same bird flying – as if about to fly into the sun. The bird is black, and the golden light of the sun is reflected in its wings. The sun is a deep gold or orange.

Sixth Layer: This is difficult to understand. It is as if I were looking down from a mountain onto a vast sunlit plain. On the plain is an impressive array of geometric figures that appear to be made of silvery metal. There is a triangle, a double spiral—as if the two spirals were intertwined like two snakes standing upright—and a sphere. They are grouped in a trinity in the lower left corner. In the upper right corner is a light bluish-red background with a white swan or heron—a bird with long legs standing upright. The bird represents peace or sublime calm. The triangle seems to represent truth—it rings when touched. The sphere represents beauty to me, and the snakes or spirals could represent love or goodness—I would say wisdom, combining both of these. The two spirals seem to preside over the other geometric symbols. That is the prevailing theme. If these three symbols remain there, the bird symbolizing harmony or sublime tranquility will always be present on this royal background.

Seventh layer: A colleague and I and Roberto Assagioli meet for the last time on a shore. Above us is a large V, spread out like the legs of a rainbow. This seems to indicate that RA is giving us a final message. The two legs of the rainbow indicate that our work will radiate upward and outward.

Eighth layer: A golden plain or surface. This time there is only the spiral or the double silvery serpent. At the end of the plain there is a sun – now more golden – which casts its rays on the spiral, which in turn casts a shadow. The scene is motionless and has an aspect of eternity.

Ninth layer: A boundless ocean – the sun shimmers on the waves. The sun – with various spirals that look like silver spirals – radiates like a corona. Just then the silver cloud returned, and the ocean’s sparkle stopped. The cloud and the sun seem to have merged. The cloud is clearer than it was before – like a pulsating light with thin rays of extra light. It is something between gold and silver – with the warmth of gold and the light of silver – pearly gold. The pearly cloud is all that there is – a warmer feeling now – a feeling of joy.

Tenth Layer: I see the same synthesis that took place in the previous stage taking place over and over again.

SW: What happens if you ask a patient to go through this experience more than once?

Crampton: I’m glad you asked. The case I just read to you was a repeat. What seems to happen is that the person gets in touch with the inner layers more quickly the second time. There seems to be a progressive process towards greater development of the symbolism of the self. It may be that the first experience has promoted this development.

FHH: Martha, did you find that these people are in closer contact with reality after such an experience?

Crampton: Definitely. (FHH: So there is no danger of getting lost in the light?)

JC: When this issue is discussed with psychiatrists, they often talk about the danger of inducing a psychosis.

In every session or seminar I attend, people bring this up. They do it out of honest concern and say, “You’re going to make them psychotic,” and yet we’ve presented psychotic people and shown how they were cured!

FH: Are there types of patients where you would definitely avoid using this method?

Crampton: I don’t know enough about the method to give you a good answer. I’ve never tried it on a psychotic patient, so I just don’t know. (FH: What about depressed people?) It’s excellent for depressed people.

HH: This ties into what I wanted to ask. Dr. Assagioli always gives a warning or contraindication and instructions when he describes a technique in his book. At what level of this technique have you found it necessary to provide a warning?

Crampton: As I mentioned, we often come into contact with very disturbing or repressed material quite quickly in the outer layers. One subject came into contact with his homosexual problems of which he was completely unaware—his latent homosexuality—and became terribly disturbed by it. So we had to stop and work through it before we could continue. When a subject becomes so disturbed, we must not end his session and leave him in that state.

The cases I have described provide a few typical examples of subjects who have completed the exercise in one session (i.e., one period of time that can vary from about 30 minutes to an hour). The number of steps involved in each case varies from 10 to 27. However, it is the exception rather than the rule to find cases in clinical practice who can complete the experience in one session of this length. Perhaps more “normal” subjects can do so—at least from my experience with the self-actualization group at the YMCA University—although there is not yet sufficient data on the different populations to make a precise statement about it. Most patients who are in psychotherapy—with moderate to high psychopathology—will probably need several sessions of this method before they are able to reach the inner self. I have some patients who have passed through as many as 40 or 50 layers without contacting any superconscious content or having any experience of the self. It is an open question whether such patients will be able to do so if we continue long enough. I suspect that they might be able to, although for practical reasons it would be preferable in such cases to take time to work through some of the fear and conflict they experience in the process before continuing the journey inward. This helps the patient to keep up his spirits and will probably speed up the process of the visual “Who am I?” in the long run.

It is important to give such patients great encouragement, as they often feel that there is “nothing good” in them, and their difficulty in associating themselves with positive images may tend to confirm this assumption. They must be convinced that if we dig long enough, there is always something under the mud; that all who work with this method must cross a negative “landscape” before they are able to contact the true and positive self, and that experiencing our deepest fears and conflicts is a sign of progress. We can talk about what Jung called “the shadow” – the unaccepted parts of our personality that we must learn to face and integrate in order to achieve a state of wholeness. We can also talk about what Perls called “the realm of the dead” that must be crossed in order to reach our inner core of life and spontaneity. For those who are poetically inclined, we can talk about the path that leads through the valley of the shadow of death before we are led upward toward the mountain peaks, or about Dante’s visit to hell and purgatory before he was able to reach the Garden of Eden.

We need to gain more experience with this method to be able to say something about its indications and contra-indications, the people for whom it will work well, and the types for whom it will not work. Preliminary observations suggest that it is best suited for use with people who have sufficient intellectual and cultural background to understand its principles, with people with some intuitive ability, and who do not feel unduly threatened by the revelation of material from their unconscious. Certain more prosaically oriented people will object to the whole principle of visualization, maintaining that it is “only imagination” and refusing to see any possible quality in it. Such types of people must be treated by other methods until their intuitive abilities are better developed. The effectiveness of this method is to some extent limited by the person’s ability to experience the emotions associated with the images; if they have little emotion involved, the experience is likely to have less impact, although it may still be useful in illustrating the existence of a positive inner self and in indicating various problem areas.

The method does not seem particularly suitable for group work, except perhaps as a demonstration. It generally takes too long to support individual group members one by one. However, it can be very useful to go through the method with a “good” subject so that the other group members can get a glimpse – at least on someone else’s behalf – of the reality of the inner self.

An important prerequisite is that the person using this method is an experienced therapist, who should also have a good background knowledge of the symbolism of the superconscious and the self in order to be able to safely guide the person to the goal. The person will often feel that he has reached the goal before he actually has, and it is necessary for both the therapist and the person to have a feeling of having reached the end of the road before they stop. It is advisable to go a step further than both parties feel is necessary to be safe, since the “science of the self” is still very young and we do not yet have any clearly established rules to follow in this matter.

One point we should consider is the relationship between the visual “Who am I?” technique and the verbal “Who am I?” technique. Preliminary observations suggest that the visual form is both more powerful and more risky than the verbal form. Just as when we use strong medicine, we must be aware of possible dangerous side effects. Unlike the verbal form, the visual form is not a method that should be used with a disturbed person, and therefore, like the aforementioned, it cannot be used between sessions. However, used in conjunction with a trained therapist, it may lead to a deeper and more vivid realization than the verbal method can. This depth is not only in terms of material from the lower unconscious; it may go much deeper in terms of an exploration of the superconscious as well – or into what has been called the “heights” as opposed to “depth” psychology. The verbal form is more likely to lead to awareness of the personal self – of ourselves as a separate individual – whereas the visual method seems more apt to lead to awareness of the transpersonal self and the superconscious. It is possible, however, to use the visual form to indirectly promote awareness of the personal self in the same way as when a person experiences a resistance (a curtain falling, etc.) and realizes that it is he who is holding the curtain in place. However, I have not yet experienced in my experience with this method a direct image of the personal self as such. This strengthens Assagioli’s claim that the personal self has no reality in itself, but is simply a projected fragment on the personality plane of the permanent center, which is the transpersonal self. But again, we must recognize that all this requires much deeper study.

I wish to emphasize an analogous point, namely, the question of the transformation or reduction of the higher energies of the transpersonal self into a form in which they can be integrated into daily life. Psychodynamics has explored the laws which govern the sublimation of the sexual and aggressive drives into higher forms of expression such as artistic and scientific achievement and into altruistic love. What is needed now is a formulation of the fundamental laws which govern the transformation of the higher spiritual energies into forms in which they can be utilized at the level of the personality. We must not only learn to remove the 10,000 veils of Maya—as they say in the East—in order to perceive the reality of the self, but we must learn how to release this inner light so that it can radiate into the world. I have used several techniques in my own practice—meditation, visualization, body movement, and the call for social and artistic expression—and would welcome any suggestions of this or other types.

References

PART TWO, REFERENCES

1. Assagioli, Roberto: “Psychosynthesis – A collection of fundamental writings”, Forlaget Levende Visdom, 2005
2. Crampton, Martha: “Answers from the Unconscious” (the article can be found at www.psykosynthese.dk)
3. Desoille, R.: “Le Réve Eveillé en Psychotherapie” , Paris PUF, 1945. “Guided visualization” (the article can be found at www.psykosynteze.dk)
4. Eliade, Mircea: “Images and Symbols”, New York: Sheed and Ward, 1961.
5. Gerard, Robert: “Psychosynthesis – A psychotherapy for the whole person” (the article can be found at www.psykosynteze.dk)
6. Godel, Roger: “Essais Stir l’Expérience Libératrice”, Paris: Gallimard, 1952.
7. Humphreys, Christmas: “Concentration and Meditation” , London: Watkins, 1959, pp. 125-130
8. Maslow, Abraham H.: “Religions, Values, and Peak-Experiences” . Columbus, Ohio: Ohio State University Press, 1964.
9. Shapiro, Stewart B.: “Explorations in Positive Experience: An Existential Approach to Psychotherapy” , Explorations, No. 8, July 1966, pp. 25-40.