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Paths
To Enlightenment
The
Pre-Trans Fallacy
Bruce
Bibee
The
transpersonal realms are grouped into four plateaus… the
Force, the Spirit, the Void, and the Unseen and Eternal.
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One of the biggest problems with
spirituality is knotted up in the Pre-Trans fallacy. How do we
distinguish between what is pre-rational and what is trans-rational?
Both states are “irrational,” but pre-rational has to do with
superstition, voodoo, magical thinking, ego-inflation, and so on,
whereas trans-rational has to do with truly mystical states of
consciousness.
To keep us from engaging in this
fallacy, it’s useful to organize human development as a series of
discreet stages from birth to Enlightenment. Numerous authors have, in
fact, commented that these developmental stages are something mankind
itself is going through.
The model I will be using is from
Ken Wilber’s work. (A more thorough treatment of this subject would be
in his book, A Marriage of Sense and Soul.)
We’ll need to first define a couple of terms. Pre-operational thinking
is a term from the developmental psychologist Jean Piaget. It means the
kind of thinking that is normal from birth to about 5 years old.
Concrete operational is normal from about 6 to 10 years. Formal
operational begins around age 12 and continues into adulthood.
As humankind has progressed
through these stages, there have been religions that emerged as
legitimate expressions of each stage. For example, at the
pre-operational level, Voodoo is a typical religion. At the concrete
operational stage, fundamentalism might be typical—the late-stage
mythic worldview that is the final evolution of magical thinking.
Keep in mind that the concrete
operational stage is age-appropriate for a preteen, yet it was also the
norm for the “mythic-membership” communities of the Middle Ages.
Where there are mismatches between the culture’s stage and the
individual’s stage, culture wins. Galileo, for example, had evolved to
the next stage of formal operational thinking, but his culture could not
support him because he was ahead of his time. His ideas were thus
considered heresy within the concrete-mythic thinking of his peers.
The great mythic traditions
continued until about the 16th Century when folks like Galileo began
calling for a more rational or scientific worldview. This period of
history clearly reveals one of the pathological aspects of the concrete
operational agenda: hierarchies. Not just any kind of hierarchy, but
rigid, strict, and severely enforced hierarchies—hierarchies with the
Inquisition to back them up. Further, since the myths that organized
society at that time were concrete themselves, any attack on the
hierarchy was received as blasphemy, heresy, and iconoclasm. Thus, the
god/goddess and divine emperor/empress were attacked by those who
advocated for science. So, the Church of the 16th Century was under
attack by those who were progressing to the next stage, as well as by
those who were regressing back to the stage of magic. Scientists and
sorcerers were the perceived enemy, and both met with the Inquisitors.
Of additional note is that when
one is at a certain stage, the previous stage is perceived as the known
enemy while the next stage is perceived as the unknown enemy. From one
point of view this is accurate, since the worldview
of each stage is discarded, while at the same time the structural
components of the superseded stage are included (transcend and
include). The worldview of pre-operational is magic; the structural
components are the ability to form images, words, and symbols. The
worldview of concrete operational is mythic; the structural components
are rules and the ability to take on roles. Magic is discarded in favor
of mythic. Mythic is then discarded with the advancement to formal
operational and replaced by a rational worldview, which is discarded at
the next level, and so on.
Piaget tested for the emergence of
formal operational thinking with glasses of liquid, some colored, some
clear. The task is to make a yellow solution. The child who has reached
the formal operational stage will intuit that all combinations must be
tried.
In this experiment, a
pre-operational child who makes the yellow liquid determines that the
yellow happened as a magical event. The concrete operational child
determines that yellow is a function of the liquid itself (less magical
but still a far cry from reason). But the formal operational child
determines that yellow is a function of the relationship between the colors themselves. The ability to think
about relationships between or among things or classes of things gives
rise to a new, rational perspective. The mythic worldview is discarded,
and with it the hope for miracles that can be coerced from the god or
goddess on behalf of the beseeching ego-self.
To proceed with the
problem-solving tasks of life, the rational man or woman needs to
understand the relationships involved in the problem itself. Hard
sciences (physics, biology, genetics, mathematics, and so on) are
studies of the objective or measurable relationships. The so-called soft
sciences (philosophy, psychology, sociology, ecology, and so on) are
studies of the more intangible relationships.
The person builds now on concrete
operational thinking, which has, as one of its defining characteristics,
the ability to take the role of another. With formal operational
thinking, this ability expands to include many “others”
simultaneously, and to consider the ramifications (relationships) of
what might happen “if.” As we mature into this kind of thinking, we
necessarily need to abandon ego-centricism in most of its forms and
adopt a more world-centric view. In doing so, we find ourselves external
to our own egos. We find ourselves in the Observer Self (written about
at length in last issue’s column).
On the down-side, the religious
expression of this level is called “scientism”—the religion of
science. This “religion” will take the young adult up to the limit
of the ego itself. That limit is known as vision-logic, and is analogous
to Maslow’s level of self-actualization. It is here that scientism
runs headlong into existential despair. Ken Wilber commented:
“From
the depths, [the self] cries out to gods no longer there, searches for a
meaning not yet disclosed...Its very agony is worth a trillion happy
magics and a million believing myths, and yet its only consolation is
its unrelenting pain—a pain, a dread, an emptiness that feels beyond
the comforts and distractions of the body, the persona, the ego, looks
bravely into the face of the Void, and can no longer explain away either
the Mystery or the Terror. It is a soul that is much too awake. It is a
soul on the brink of the transpersonal.” (1995, p. 263-4)
The transpersonal realms are
grouped into four plateaus, and our vehicle to explore these realms is
the Observer Self. These realms are: Nature mysticism, Deity mysticism,
Formless mysticism, and the Great Mystery. On each of these plateaus,
one is working or dealing with a distinct energy. Another way of
thinking about these plateaus is to call them: the Force, the Spirit,
the Void, and the Unseen and Eternal. Each plateau has its own religious
expressions.
The Nature mysticism level (Force)
gives us access to the energy of Nature itself. In Chinese this energy
is called ch’i (or qi).
Manipulating this energy, then, is within the domain of acupuncturists,
yogis, shamans, martial artists, and so on.
The Deity mysticism level (Spirit)
provides us with the archetypal world of Platonic Form. From here, we
can enlist the aid of a spiritual teacher or guide. We can tap into the
pure energy of Compassion, Integrity, Right Relationship, and so on.
When we get to Formless mysticism
(Void), however, we descend into the black hole that God spoke into,
“Let there be Light.” This is the place before good and evil, prior
to yin and yang. This is the place of potential that various types of
meditation can bring us to.
Finally, at the Clouds of Mystery
(Unseen and Eternal), we must drop our egos entirely. We must exit our
vehicle, the Observer Self, and merge with the Source. Once that merger
is complete, we will have attained Oneness—the final
Enlightenment—what is call satori in Zen.
And, from what those who have done
that have told us, the only game in town now is to return to Earth and
help others get there.
Bruce
Bibee, MTP, is a Licensed
Professional Counselor and a Kung-Fu San Soo Master. You can reach him
at 562-1242.
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Lust,
Dualism and the "Other"
Bruce
Bibee
"When there is other, there is fear."
~ The Upanishads
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Lust is an obsession with dualism, for it is the competition between the body and soul for dominance. Dualism is the primitive religious doctrine unable to rise above the fight between Good and Evil. It's black and white thinking. In Western religion, dualism has its roots in Zoroastrianism: an all-good god (Ahura Mazda), so the story goes, competes against an all-evil god (Ahriman) until the end-times. At which point, the good guys win. Sound familiar, I know. People have been predicting the onset of the end-times since the Babylonian Captivity (when Zoroastrianism first entered Jewish thought). The whole cosmology of fallen angels, Satan, and whatnot was adopted also. Furthermore, the practice of demonizing others and claiming membership in the 'elect' (those who are saved after the end-times are the elect) comes from Zoroastianism as well.
Lust, then, is a demonizing of the flesh. The body, along with all things physical (including Mother Earth), are in Satan's domain. Lust is the strategy by which Satan claims his own. By contrast, all things spiritual are good, and man claims his status among the elect by denying the flesh.
Obviously, this repressive agenda won't work, even though Western civilization is a chronicle of escalating repression: the Crusades, the Inquisition, ethnic cleansing, and so on.
One key to transcending dualism is via a thorough study of the 'other.' To begin this study, the Upanishads are helpful. This collection of Hindu sacred texts claim: "When there is other, there is fear." This fear becomes the basis for ethnocentric thinking, which is nothing more than either-or thinking at the societal level. It’s all a version of: my group is good; your group is bad. Why is your group bad? Because we don't know you, and we're scared. Why are we scared? Well, because your group is probably evil—committed to all kinds of wicked (typically lustful) practices. As a matter of fact, we think it would be a good idea to eliminate your group from the face of the earth and convert whoever is left to our god and our goodly practices.
At an internal (rather than societal) level, dualism forces us to make the body 'other.' Bad body must be whipped into shape. However, the mechanism of repression dictates dire consequences, because when I push a part of me down (repression), all I'm really doing is channeling my energy to the repressed part. Then, since it's a denied part of me, there is nothing and no one to monitor its activities. Hence, it acts out according to its appetites: food, drugs, sex, violence, etc.
So, that's the bad news. Dualism demands we split the world in two. Repress the bad half; cling to the good half. It’s a doomed agenda even though humankind has been trying to make it work for thousands of years.
The good news comes with the insight we can control what we own. If I own my body, I can control it. If I own that I'm a child of Mother Earth, I can align myself with Nature. If I own that I'm a social being, I can share the planet. I can then find a way to harmonize myself with those 'others' who aren't really all that different after all.
Bruce Bibee, MTP, is a Licensed Professional Counselor and a Kung-Fu San Soo Master. You can reach him at 562-1242, or visit his web-page: www.brucebibee.com.
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My Path of Inner Growth
by Glenn Key
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Are
you in the right place, with the right people, doing what you
know is perfect for you? |
I chose to be born the
middle child of a fundamental Christian preacher and devoutly
religious wife in Texas. I grew up believing everything was sin:
dancing, wearing shorts, slang, kissing boys, and even movies. I grew
up studying the Bible faithfully. One winter in my teen years, Dad
decided the family should spend every Sunday afternoon studying the
Bible all the way through. I can still remember how boring it was as
he read all “the begats.” Not exactly exciting to three restless
young people! At sixteen, I began teaching the Bible to young
children, and for many years I continued studying and teaching the
beliefs I had been taught in my childhood. While working on a degree
in education and communication at a large Christian college, I met and
married the father of my two sons. He and I worked together with music
in large churches around Texas and later relocated to Tennessee where
we were writers in the religious publishing business.
All this time
my intuitive powers were being developed, and I was becoming aware
that the interpretations of the Bible I had been taught were not
always accurate. I kept thinking, “There has to be more. Where is
the love?” What about Jesus saying, “All that I do, you can do and
even greater?” I was confused. I wondered why those I had been
listening to were not interpreting the scriptures correctly.
My search for
truth began! My spiritual guru
arrived from South Carolina for dinner. I learned that he was doing
non-verbal communication as a faculty member at a school for
emotionally disturbed children who had never spoken. When I began
writing professionally, he had been my first editor. There had been an
immediate connection, because he also had a background in the
fundamental Christian church, although he had recognized his spiritual
gifts and was using them to teach young children. After dinner he
answered many of the perplexing questions that had plagued me through
the years. He met my two young sons and told me things about them that
he had no way of knowing. Many years later, he was proven extremely
accurate. He talked of God, spirit, and astrology. His visit resulted
in my intense drive for more understanding of the paranormal and
metaphysical realms.
I began
studying astrology and numerology although I was afraid to trust those
intuitive messages I had gotten most of my life. My mother called them
“woman’s intuition.” Still very involved in wanting to do what
my parents, husband, and church expected of me, I kept my studies
secret. Secret, until one day a song awakened me. I heard the words, “I’ve
gotta be me, I’ve gotta be me.” I realized I was not me.
I was a fake! I was everything everyone else wanted me to be. My
mother had died, saying I had been everything she wanted me to be.
That was true; I had lived my life thus far trying to please everyone
else but myself.
I wanted to be
my real self, my best honest self. I threw away the wig my husband
wanted me to wear “so every hair would be in perfect place.”
I lost weight and chose my own clothes for the first time in my
marriage. I became more open in expressing my knowledge. I found
others who were also on their path to truth. When I needed support
from my husband—not necessarily for my new spiritual beliefs—he
was not there for me, and the marriage ended.
With my
newfound wisdom and astrology and numerology tools I had concrete,
visible evidence for the doubts in my youth. I learned I was an
earth-bound three-planet Virgo. That explained why I have to see
everything in black and white. With my first astrology teacher’s interpretation of my natal
horoscope, I understood who I was, why I did the things I did, why I
had the abilities I had, and why I had the insecurities I had.
My thirst for
more study in the metaphysical realm did not diminish even though I
was in the midst of sustaining a successful international marketing
business. I began to calculate natal charts for friends and relatives,
never planning to become a professional. Many were so enamored with my
interpretations, however, that after doing free charts for many years,
I began to charge a small fee. This was the professional beginning of
what was to become my life’s work. For the next fourteen years, I
traveled throughout the United States and Canada, counseling and
giving lectures at fairs, expos, and festivals of all kinds.
In 1999, Spirit revealed to me that it was time to leave Tennessee—but to
where? I acquired astrological relocation mapping software. It
revealed why living in Tennessee had not been good for my marriage,
but was actually good for my emotional changes. One of my sons thought
I was becoming senile when I announced that Anchorage, Alaska, was the
best place in the world for me to live. Although I had traveled many
places, I had never been to Alaska. I didn’t know anyone there.
However, while flying over the magnificent mountains, I knew I was
home! Two months later I began living in Anchorage and immediately
found people throughout Alaska who were eager to learn from me.
Jupiter, the
planet of opportunity and expansion, was strong in my relocation map
of Anchorage. This quickly proved accurate: I was featured in the Anchorage Daily News, offered
a twice-weekly TV show, appeared on a call-in radio show, promoted the
Alaska Whole Life Festivals
and received both the Master of Metaphysical Science and Doctor of
Metaphysical Science degrees.
Are you in the
right place, with the right people, doing what you know is perfect for
you? My path to inner growth came first from an intensive drive to be
in sync with my highest purpose, once I knew what it was. I became
involved with seekers like me in the Unity Church. I began studying
and reading spiritual books such as “The
Game of Life and How to Play It,” “A
Course in Miracles,” “A
Return to Love,” and books by Deepak Chopra and Wayne Dyer. I
wrote in my grateful book every night. I learned to regularly send
telepathically peace, love and
forgiveness to people I needed to forgive and release from my life.
Each
person has to find his or her own way for personal growth. Find yours.
It is worth the effort!
Dr.
Glenn Key
is a Spiritual Counselor and Promoter of the Alaska Whole Life
Festivals. Phone toll free 1-877-729-0342 for counseling services,
written reports and her book, “Along
the Path:” http://www.glennkey.com.
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Moving
Beyond the War on Terror
by Bruce Bibee
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Where
do we go from here? |
Pre-modern cultures shared a common view of man as organically bound
to the state. To oppose the state was unlawful, blasphemous, and
unthinkable. But beginning with Thomas Aquinas and the Scholastics,
the idea of the basic dignity of man (Christian or not) was seen as a
dignity no state could rightfully violate. This idea emerged and
exerted more and more pressure on the body politic until its final
evolution in the U.S. Constitution. Historic wisdom, then, gives us a
full-bodied view of our freedoms and responsibilities.
One gem of
ancient wisdom is the Art of War by Sun Tzu. This text was written during the Axial Age,
which peaked circa 500 BCE, and supported an explosion in human
consciousness led by Lao Tzu, Confucius, Gautama the Buddha, Socrates,
Plato, Aristotle, and Kings David and Solomon. The Axial Age laid the
philosophical foundations for civilization in Europe and Asia. In his
book, Sun Tzu codifies warfare during the Warring States period in
China, and his insights remain valid to this day. Indeed, our war is
going badly because we are violating many of the principles Tzu laid
out. For example, he states that:
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If the
ruler is in accord with the Tao, the Tao causes people to be
fully
in accord with the ruler.
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If you
expose the army to a long campaign, the state’s resources
will be inadequate.
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One who
excels in employing the military does not conscript the people
twice or transport provisions a third time.
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The army
values being victorious; it does not value prolonged warfare.
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Preserving
the enemy’s state capitol is best.
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Preserving
their army is best.
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Subjecting
the enemy’s army without fighting is the true pinnacle of
excellence.
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Those
that excel at warfare should first make themselves unconquerable
in order to await the moment when the enemy can be conquered.
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One who
is free from errors directs his measures toward certain victory,
conquering those already defeated.
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The
vanquished army fights first, then seeks victory.
(Ralph Sawyer, translation) |
Our
President’s war has violated these ancient principles, and that’s
why it is failing. In failing, the apologists retreated to viewing as
organically bound to the state, because disagreement was blasphemous.
The pre-modern expectation was that we would simply cosign Bush’s
behavior. Since we did not, the mid-term election defeat resulted. And
now we’re looking at what comes next. Where do we go from here?
We could
attempt to create an American Empire, forcing Pax
Americana on the world. We could more fully embrace the world
community by submitting to the World Court as a good faith gesture. We
could chart many different courses forward from where we are now.
What history
shows, though, is that social justice, the dignity of man, and
guaranteed liberty and freedom for all races of men is the course
forward that Judeo-Christianity has consistently supported. And Islam
has followed that lead.
If
we examine this war from the platform of history, we can see the
wisdom of Sun Tzu. He deemed war to be such a disaster for the state
that the emperor should not enter into war unless it was the last
resort. In service of that, he suggested approaching a belligerent
country with trade, cultural exchange, and/or some kind of mutual
interests. Therefore, to win this “war on terror” we need to find
a way to coexist with our own fundamentalists as well as those in
Islam and Israel. We need to find common ground and mutuality of
interest among them all. Or, as Jesus said, we will need to learn how
to “love our enemies.”
Bruce
Bibee
is a Licensed Professional Counselor in private practice and a kung-fu
instructor. His one published book is The
Deep Healing Process, Infinity Publishing.
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The
Evolution of Enlightenment: “Have You Lost Your Senses?”
by Warren
Dale Blackford
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The
invitations are now going out bulk rate and not just to the
monasteries! Evolution has kicked it up a notch. Our Presence is
NOW required. |
One of my richest memories
is watching my daughter, as a toddler, wandering around our simple
living room in Lincoln, Nebraska. She was joyfully intent on
experiencing everything she could lay her tiny hands upon. And she
didn’t stop with sight and touch. Everything went to her nose and
mouth for a thorough examination; every sound piqued her curiosity as
well, drawing her attention like bee to clover.
The key to joy
and peace of mind is single-mindedness. Young children don’t reason
this, they live it. They haven’t yet opted into the compulsive noise
loop of thinking about past and future. They’re far too busy
investigating what is, using full attention to blissfully absorb the
smorgasbord of sensory delight. Priorities are clear: sensation before
reflection, doing that serves being.
As children
grow up, they adopt the addiction of compulsive thinking. Very few are
guided within the continuing awareness of him/herself as Observer of
the world experienced—and, even so, it may be that Being, true
freedom, can only be truly appreciated from an experience of its lack.
Sensing
reveals presence. Thinking masks it.
“There’s so much speculating
going on that a lot of us never get around to living.
Life is always walking up to us and saying, ‘Come on in, the
living’s fine,’ and
what do we do? Back off and take its picture.”
. . . Russell Baker
We’ve
reached the point on evolution’s curve where thinking has become
both the problem and the pathway to freedom. By identifying with our
minds, we’ve attached to the belief that our thinking tells us who
we are—psychological selves in becoming. This false sense of
identity defies natural dissolution back into the nothingness of
pre-formed thought by its maintenance through non-stop affirmation
from the blabbering, bully of (mostly unconscious) self-talk that
spawned it. It has become an entity and it clings to its existence in
the shadows of our minds, insisting that its irrational premises
remain hidden, tenaciously threatening the host with unimagined pain,
suffering, and confusion unto death over any real inquiry of or
challenge to its absurd authority. We defer to it and allow it to
think us.
And now this
shared, thinking compulsion finds itself butting heads against an
active, unhindered evolutionary imperative—the immediate opportunity
for present moment awareness of what is (i.e., Being and the
dissolution of mind identification). It is an evolutionary next step
in illumination of consciousness and resulting transformation of the
earth—Collective Awareness in Being: that is, the global realization
of “I Am” within one and
all simultaneously. It is helpful to realize the impetus and impact of
this macrocosm upon our microcosm. For me, it’s where faith is
strengthened in the face of the darkness and confusion that I can
experience through my resistance to surrender, understanding that
providence or evolution and I are always “joined at the hip” so to
speak, and that where I self-will blindness or hesitancy, evolution
remains on track—not only unimpeded by my will, but inclusively
orchestrating my resistance within its larger purpose.
So, why
cooperate with evolution and how?
Why? Simple: to
release the experience of human suffering that forces our cooperation.
How? Simple as
well: practice being present by seeing and accepting what is. The good
news is that this isn’t as difficult as our thinking would have us
believe. History points to centuries of disciplined meditation and
spiritual practice as a powerful way, often under the tutelage of an
enlightened master—a rite by special invitation.
Well, the
invitations are now going out bulk rate and not just to the
monasteries! Evolution has kicked it up a notch. Our Presence is NOW
required; thus, windows into Being are presently opening within all
human experience.
One of the
clearest evidences of this expansive opening unto Being is the wide
portal that has manifested by sensing the body and the world. Prior to
this, the primary portal was focused in the mind through the direct
discipline of stilling it in meditation using mantras (rote and/or
sacred words) and mandalas (images). By focusing attention repeatedly
on these words or images, it is possible to stop the mind from
thinking. However, it has often taken years of practiced discipline to
do so. Why?
Because the mind is the noisiest place in town—where all the
non-stop chatter is raging. But you don’t need to go there.
The mind
cannot think and sense at the same time—impossible. When I feel the
breeze blowing across my face, I sense or notice it. If I then relate
it to a similar time and place or choose to treat the chill, I am
thinking. It may appear that I am sensing and thinking simultaneously;
however, when closely observed, the switching back and forth is
apparent. Sense and stop thought. Think and stop sensation.
The Secret is
out! The Pearl of Great
Price is no longer hidden! The place where the incessant chatter stops
within the Bliss of Being is NOW available and you don’t need a
master or an initiation to find it. Evolution has opened it for you,
released it mainstream. And it is so simple. It’s your ability to
use your mind to sense what is. In so doing, you throw the ‘Stop
Thinking’ switch inside and Being is present. Get this: Sensing
opens Being; thinking masks it. Even with a little practice of
sensing/noticing/observing the moment (Reality), the mind chatter
around past and future (Illusion) stops. You can experience Being
right now. In fact, Now is the only time to Be!
A suggestion:
start with the body. It’s close, sensory and personal. And here’s
a simple exercise.
Sit in a
straight-backed chair or lie on your back. Direct your attention
slowly into each part of your body. Sense (instead of think) about
each part. Some pointers: Close
your eyes and think of your right shoulder. Notice where your mind
goes. Now close your eyes and ask yourself without verbally
responding, “How do I know my right shoulder exists? Without moving
or looking at it, how do I know that I even have a right shoulder?”
Notice how your attention moves into your shoulder.
The language
you use to guide will also help. Directing with words like “notice
my toes,” “find my foot,” “sense my wrist,” draws attention
to sensation. Use words that work for you.
Slowly work
your way through each part (toes, feet, ankles, lower legs, etc.) of
your body while noticing and sensing each part. Take five to ten
seconds in each area. After reaching the head, go through the body
from top to bottom and back up again two times, only more rapidly,
taking time to notice/sense each part. Then sense your whole body as
one unit. Now, drop the image; sense the energy. Can you sense the One
who is sensing? Don’t look; just sense.
If you wander,
simply catch yourself and come back to task. Sensing stops thought.
Silence and stillness, at first, may enable thinking. Don’t give
your “self” the moment
to think. Relax and trust yourself—and Beyond. One moment of notice
will reveal Being.
Remember,
Being is not something you gain: it’s a gift already received. In
one moment your thinking drops. You are left with Heaven looking back
at you, with a perfect eye for precious detail.
This
article is Part Two of a five-part series. Next issue: How Being
restores sanity, dissolving the psychological-identification matrix
wherein all suffering, trauma and addiction is formed and stored.
The
Reverend Warren Dale Blackford is an author, speaker, teacher and Spiritual
guide. He lives in Anchorage and can be reached at 907-746-6089 and at
strong4man@gmail.com.
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Bodhisattva
Musings
by Bruce Bibee
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I
think that buried within the heart of every bureaucrat is a
bodhisattva wanting to emerge. But it’s not the current
reality. |
A friend of
mine was a statewide trainer for counselor-types. We need continuing
education units to stay licensed as psychotherapists, psychologists,
chemical dependency counselors, and so on. What my friend observed was
that about eighty percent of those who showed up in her classroom were
bureaucrats. They had no feel for what they did. They weren’t
healers. They had no compassion for those they purportedly served.
They were not on a bodhisattva path at all. The other twenty percent
were, however—and since they are so terribly out-numbered by
bureaucrats, I’m acknowledging them by commenting on the Bodhisattva
way.
‘Bodhisattva’
is a Buddhist term used to honor a person who has formally pledged to
forego his/her enlightenment until all sentient beings are
enlightened. When done formally, the vows are these four:
I vow to liberate
all beings, without number
I vow to uproot endless blind passions
I vow to penetrate dharma [truth] gates beyond measure
I
vow to attain the way of the Buddha
If
we translate these into a code of ethics for counselors, what would we
get? I think we’d get an expansion of the four vows. Consider the
following verse, originally penned by Santideva, an 8th-century
Bodhisattva—here translated from A
Guide to the Bodhisattva Way of Life (Snow Lion Publications,
1997):
May
I be a guard for those who are without protector,
A guide for those who journey on the road;
For those who wish to go across the water,
May I be a boat, a raft, a bridge.
May I be an isle
for those who yearn for landfall,
And a lamp for those who long for light;
For those who need a resting place, a bed,
For all who need a servant, may I be a slave.
May
I be the wishing jewel, the vase of plenty,
A word of power, and the supreme remedy.
May I be the tree of miracles,
And for every being, the abundant cow.
Like
the great earth and the other elements,
Enduring as the sky itself endures,
For the boundless multitude of living beings,
May I be the ground and vessel of their life.
Thus,
for every single thing that lives,
In number like the boundless reaches of the sky,
May I be their sustenance and nourishment
Until they pass beyond the bounds of suffering.
If
you let this poetry sink in and then ask yourself, “Wouldn’t it be
nice to have a counselor who operated off this agenda?” the answer
is likely yes.
I
think that buried within the heart of every bureaucrat is a
bodhisattva wanting to emerge. But it’s not the current reality.
The reality of
social services is that it’s an interesting mixture of stuff that
works—sometimes. To put this in context, let’s start at the
beginning. There are four forces (so far) in the evolution of
psychology. First there was Behavioralism; then Freudian
psychoanalysis; third was Humanistic; and fourth was Transpersonal.
Each added to our understanding of the human condition in wildly
different ways.
Behavorialism
is “a theory
of learning based upon the idea that all behaviors are acquired
through conditioning. Conditioning occurs through interaction with the
environment. According to behaviorism, behavior can be studied in a
systematic and observable manner with no consideration of internal
mental states.” (See: http://psychology.about.com/od/behavioralpsychology/f/behaviorism.htm)
Freudian
psychoanalysis “refers to a specific type of treatment where the
analyst, upon hearing the thoughts of the analysand (analytic
patient), formulates and then explains the unconscious basis for the
patient's symptoms and character problems.” (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psychoanalysis)
Humanistic
Psychology is “focused
on uniquely human issues, such as the self, self-actualization, health, hope, love, creativity, nature, being, becoming, individuality, and meaning—in short, the
understanding of what it means to be human.” (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Humanistic_psychology)
Transpersonal
Psychology is “the extension of psychological studies into
consciousness studies, spiritual inquiry, body-mind relationships and
transformation.” (http://www.itp.edu/about/tp.cfm)
One would hope
that a counselor had training in all four areas, as each complements
the others. Behavioral psychology, for example, is responsible for
Assertiveness training, Stress Management training, Self-care
training, Conflict Resolution training, and the whole broad and
important study of how conditioning works on the human system.
However, as
noted in the above description of Behaviorism, a behavioral counselor
could care less about your inner states of being. (And when those
states are superfluous to the issue at hand, then it is good they are
ignored.) But what happens when those inner states of being are the
problem? Then psychoanalysis is a preferable tool to get the job done.
In my view, Carl Jung’s archetypal psychology (similar to Freudian
in that they are both ‘psychodynamic,’ but different in
fundamental ways) is my choice for an alternative to Behavioralism.
But what
happens when the problem is quality of life rather than some kind of
pathology? Well, neither of the above work very well, but Humanistic
psychology rises to this challenge. What’s been called the ‘human
potential’ movement is grounded in this discipline.
But what
happens when the problem is a spiritual disease, such as
addictions—then what? Then Transpersonal psychology steps forward as
the theory of choice. And since this theory does respect the other
points-of-view, it has flexibility.
Thus, with
these forces of psychology as background, we can examine the
Bodhisattva path as a path for counselors. The Bodhisattva path has
ten parts or disciplines: Generosity;
Moral discipline; Patience; Vigor; Meditative concentration; Wisdom;
Skillful means (developed by helping others); Aspiration (or the
ability to choose one’s place of rebirth and/or destiny); Power; and
Primordial wisdom.
Buddhism
does operate in a hierarchical fashion (unlike Taoism, for example),
so these disciplines build upon one another. For example, you need the
first six in order to have a hope of developing Skillful Means and
actually aiding others in a way that’s helpful.
The
larger question I’m posing, however, is: Shouldn’t counselors be
on this path? The fact is that some are (whether they know it or not).
Sadly, though, most are not. Most are busy worrying about Medicaid
billing formats, medication management, HIPPA compliance, and other
non-essential issues—at least, non-essential in terms of immediate
benefit to the client/patient.
People
get ‘better’ because someone cares. That’s the ground state from
which all healing springs. In shamanism, healing is known to work only
because the gods take compassion on those for whom others plead their
case. The path for those who would plead for others is the Bodhisattva
path. And I’ll say it once more: Too bad we don’t have more
counselors who walk this path. Then again, thank God for those who do.
Bruce
Bibee
is a licensed professional counselor in private practice and a Kung-fu
instructor. His one published book is The
Deep Healing Process, Infinity Publishing.
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Detox
and Dance
by Dawn Baumann Brunke
The theme of this issue of
Alaska Wellness is detoxification. On basic levels I think of detox as
letting go of what is old and sludgy, stubborn and toxic, so that we
can open up to what is healthy and happy in our lives. I’ve been
working on my own version of this for some time, both internally and
externally. It seems I’m continually on a quest to lighten up and
let go of things that I haven’t used in several years (which among
decluttering specialists means it’s well past time to go!). No easy
feat for someone who is forever thinking, ‘Well, maybe this will
come in handy someday…’
One of the things I’ve come to
learn is that part of the process of letting go is directly related to
being aware of what we take in. This means attuning our consciousness
to who we are right now. It’s about being aware of balance in our
life—letting go of what ‘could’ or ‘should’ be, letting go
of comparisons to others, and, instead, attuning to who we are right
here, right now. There’s something funny about this
coming-home-to-self business. In fact, I’m convinced that the
workings of the Universe are founded upon a fairly lively—and highly
ironic—sense of humor.
However, we’re not always in
tune with the Universe’s groovy zone of joy. I am often reminded of
this, sometimes several times a day. Cleaning out a closet or starting
a detox diet can be downright grumpy-making. So, what to do? And how
to ensure that what we are taking in is as healthy as what we are
releasing?
One quick solution: dance!
Really? Yes. Taking a quick break to dance with the universe has been
cosmically proven to reduce stress, make you smile, and release the
multitude of heavy thoughts that can cause you to take yourself too
darn seriously. It also offers a deep, heartfelt reminder that we’re
all in this together—cellularly connected, soulfully attuned.
A good-natured guy named Matt
Harding revealed this on a worldwide scale by a cool little video he
calls Dancing with the Universe. Less than 24 hours after being posted
at You Tube in 2008, it had over a million hits. If you haven’t seen
it yet, you’re in for a real treat. If you have seen it, you already
know how much fun it is to watch again and again and again...
Matt’s premise was simple:
what would happen if the entire planet began dancing together to the
same song? Factor in 14 months of travel to film through 42 different
countries—Zanzibar to Yemen, the Netherlands to Kuwait, Mexico to
Fiji and Israel and Iceland. Add to that a cast of thousands—from
raucously screaming kids in the Solomon Islands to a beach of
scuttling crabs on Christmas Island; from leaping lemurs in Madagascar
to huge gatherings of laughing, jumping, wildly gyrating people in
Paris and Madrid, Dublin and Istanbul, Texas, California, Japan, New
Guinea, New York, Belgium, Taiwan and Singapore. Finally, put it all
together with one awesome song (beautifully sung and based on an
equally beautiful poem by Rabindranath Tagore), and you have 4.5
minutes of joy-filled encouragement to let go of all that is heavy and
holds you down. (To learn more or to see the film, check out Matt’s
site: Dancing with the Universe at www.wherethehellismatt.com).
The more we release that which
isn’t helpful or healthy in our lives, the more space we have to
take in that which is whole and true and good, the more freedom to see
ourselves as we really are. And who are we, really? Cosmic dancers,
getting jiggy with the Universe.
Dawn Brunke is
the editor of Alaska Wellness and the author of Animal Voices,
Awakening to Animal Voices, and Shapeshifting with Our Animal
Companions. See www.animalvoices.net
for more.
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