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.
