J o u r n a l of Religion and Health, Vol. 30, No. 2, S u m m e r 1991
The Spiritual Dimension of Cognitive Therapy IRVING M. ROSEN, M.D. ABSTRACT: There has been a quiet buildup of interest in spirituality within psychiatry. However, spirituality tends to be a vague and fuzzy concept to psychiatrists and probably to other psychotherapists. The field is surprisingly large, and there is space in this paper only to present a skeletal outline of the cognitive aspects of it. My observations come from spiritual issues discussion groups for inpatients and a religion and psychiatry clinic for outpatients at Butler Hospital.
While the biomedical thrust of psychiatry has surged forward, at the same time there has been a quiet buildup of interest in spirituality, sparked by, but not confined to, therapeutic approaches for the addictions. Purposes of this paper are twofold: to point to and organize some of the boundaries of the spirituality field and to show its relevance and usefulness in the everyday work of psychotherapy. The field is surprisingly large; I shall present only a skeletal outline of one aspect of i t - - t h e cognitive, leaving out the experiential and energy aspects, which are not as easy to grasp or to incorporate into our work. My observations come from a spiritual issues discussion group held weekly with inpatients at Butler Hospital for the past five years and from a religion and psychiatry clinic for outpatients at Butler and from seeing ever more clearly spiritual issues in the general run of patients. Definitions of spirituality are about as numerous as people who define it. Here are a few examples: "how we experience ourselves in relation to what we designate as the source of ultimate power and meaning in life and how we live out this relationship"; 1 "our relationships with one's self, with others and with the universe"; 2 "human existence in which body, soul and spirit are integrated into a unity. ''3 Other definitions may include references to meaningmaking, to a transcendent dimension, to relationship with God. Such definitions are of limited help because they introduce words that are also hard to Irving M. Providence, Spirituality tion in New
Rosen, M.D., is Director of the Religion and Psychiatry Clinic at Butler Hospital in Rhode Island. This paper is modified from one presented as part of a symposium in and Psychotherapy at the A n n u a l Convention of the American Psychiatric AssociaYork City, May 14, 1990. 93
9 1991 Institutes of Religionand Health
94
Journal of Religion and Health
define. David Elkin and associates, in reviewing major writers who have approached spirituality from a more phenomenological perspective, concluded that none provided a clear comprehensive definition. 4 Spirituality appears to be basic to and different from religion. "Churches and temples do not have a monopoly" on it though "at its best religion is the incubator and reservoir of the world's most vital spiritual values." I suspect that one reason for the indefinability of spirituality is that a really adequate definition would contain disparate elements. One aspect of its meaning concerns the nature of the person as a total organism unreduced; yet another aspect points to the emerging witnessing Self referred to in meditational or transpersonal psychology; and yet another aspect concerns itself with the disappearance of this Self in the enlightenment phase. Some traditions and writers create coherence by using a developmental scheme as, for example, the chakra system of Hinduism, the needs hierarchy of Maslow, ~ the spectrum of consciousness of Ken Wilber2 I will take my lead from Wilber, since he links his spectrum to psychotherapy schools, seeing them as directed to solving the problems of particular levels of development. I make use of Wilber's sequence but flesh it out and modify it from my own work with patients. Figure 1 shows a simple spectrum of consciousness moving from the body level to the ego level where various therapies attempt to create a healthy and responsible ego by healing splits and meeting developmental needs. The ego is then able to effectuate the emergence of a growing, resilient, balanced, purposeful whole person with constructive attitudes, who can find meaning, come through suffering, commit to trust and love, and deal effectively with stress and the stress emotions of anxiety, anger, guilt, shame, and grief. From the matrix of the whole person there emerges the witnessing Self, and finally the consciousness of the witness drops off and the person becomes one with reality. The field comprising the Whole Person, Witnessing Self, and Beyond Self appears to be the domain of spirituality. If the word cannot be defined, at least we can surround it and point to its territory. Note that a difficulty with the spiritual field is that it requires flexibility in using wholistic, existential, and transpersonal ways of thinking. I will not go over all the possible issues that might be considered under the major headings. That is the basis for a rather long course. Let me present some cases, complex and simple. A case with many issues was that of a 26year-old athlete who lost a leg in an accident. He went to a psychiatrist for treatment of phobias and depression. He was enraged at fate. He no longer felt like a m a n nor the proud athlete. Attempts at treatment with various medications and dynamic psychotherapy availed little. Such a case opens to a dimension of spirituality posing such issues as acceptance and response to reality, also to awareness of attachment to body, to other's opinions, and to self-image. The awareness that his integrity and essence as a whole person do not depend on such attachments, important as they are, is necessary if he is to transcend his trauma, his disability, and his suffering. His bitterness must
95
Irving M. Rosen
FIGURE 1 A S p e c t r u m of Consciousness: Levels of D e v e l o p m e n t a n d Perspective ( Body ) ( Ego )
( Whole Person )
Organic ....
medical model
Conscious - Unconscious Split - - - Psychoanalytic model The Differentiating Ego - - - Identity Growth model H a r m o n i z i n g B o d y a n d M i n d - - H e r e a n d N o w m o d e l s ( G e s t a l t , etc.)
Organism - - Whole Person model C o n s t r u c t i v e R e s o l u t i o n of S t r e s s E m o t i o n s
( Self )
The Witnessing Self- - - Meditation model
\
Beyond Self- - - Enlightenment
Transpersonal Psychology
B u d d a h o o d J Sainthood
be resolved; he needs to think through his attitudes and beliefs about fate, God, and the universe, and he must find new directions for his life which will inexorably move o n - - a tall order which will sorely test him. But this achievement is possible. Here is a much simpler case: a 40-year-old woman was depressed, unable to resolve feelings of rage and guilt. When married 20 years before, she and her husband had settled into the roles of compliant wife and dominant husband. Gradually, her unhappiness increased. They went for counseling, and the husband, becoming aware of his domineering attitude, was able to change to the point where the wife had no valid complaint. She was stuck with her anger. Was she able to get revenge for years of being put down? Yet she felt guilty as well as angry. It became clear that there was nothing else for her to do b u t to become responsible for her negative emotions and to choose to let them go. The anger in particular was no longer giving her useful information. She was able to change that, and her depression lifted. Not everyone is healthy enough to take such a step and may need therapy to get to that point. Note that she did not repress anger; she transcended it. An elderly woman was referred with depression. She and her husband had sold their beloved home which was now too large, and they had moved into what appeared to be a quite adequate apartment according to the husband. She felt
96
Journal of Religion and Health
out of place, then angry, then depressed. She wanted to get out, but they had a lease for six more months. It was pointed out that she was faced with a reality situation for awhile and would have to accept it. She made a revealing statement, "You mean I have to make up my mind?" The issues on my charts all come from case material. I will just make a few remarks about what is included under the two major sectors of the domain of spirituality. In Figure 2, the Whole Person Inventory asks, "What is the nature of a person?" If persons are seen as static, then they are not seen as whole persons. If they do not take responsibility for their time, they fall into limbo and anxiety. Patients can be relieved repeatedly in the short term but m a y go downhill in time if not seen in a longitudinal frame. Kobasa, in the book The Hardy Executive, found challenge, commitment, and control as ingredients of hardiness. 7 Perhaps even more basic, I think, are toughness, a capacity for tolerating discomfort and pain, which is required even to go through treatment, and resilience, which Flach links with creativity, s I will comment on the interesting issue of world views. I was trying to treat a very depressed and suicidal 55-year-old executive whose number one position was reduced when his company was taken over by a larger one. I was reading a paper by Kahn, Kroeber, and Kingsbury 9 in the Journal of Humanistic Psychology contrasting the Western Staircase model where only the top is good and anything less is bad (or as the executive put it, "failure and death") with a Chinese model they called the Roller Coaster model which goes up and down. I shared this paper with the executive, who saw that he was trapped in his world view. In fact, he said he really did not like his work anymore and really wanted to work in developing young executives even at a drastically reduced pay. About theological attitudes I have listened to hundreds of patients in our spiritual issues discussion groups and have a strong impression that most are a m a t e u r theologians and that their attitudes toward God, however conceived, have significant bearings on their feelings and behavior. The person eventually must take responsibility for resolving the so-called negative or stress emotions. The religious and spiritual literature long before the advent of dynamic psychiatry had worked out methods of preventing people from dangerously wallowing in these emotions. Forgiveness and reconciliation, confession and atonement, mourning and faithfulness are ways frequently expounded for dealing with the emotions as existential realities. I consider loneliness, boredom, and meaninglessness to be whole person emotions. In this context loneliness is triggered when one is out of touch with a part of oneself, whether it is emotion, intellect, or body feeling; boredom when one is out of touch with one's interests or talents; meaninglessness when one is uninvolved in some enterprise. Joy, enthrallment, and sense of meaning would be among positive whole person emotions. Figure 3 lists some of the powers and effects of meditation. Though meditation is an attempt at stilling the m i n d - - a non-thinking--much can be learned from this exercise as one listens to one's Self. Many of the effects are self-explanatory, but I will
97
Irving M. Rosen
FIGURE 2 Whole P e r s o n Inventory 1. T h e P e r s o n as a D e v e l o p i n g O r g a n i s m E x p a n d i n g a n d g r o w i n g vs. s t a g n a t i o n a n d r e g r e s s i o n W h a t is l o n g i t u d i n a l view of c o u r s e of p e r s o n ' s life? 2. T o u g h n e s s or h a r d i n e s s f a c t o r - - R i g i d i t y v s . f l e x i b i l i t y 3. B a l a n c e - - - b a l a n c e v s . d e p l e t i o n a. W o r k - P l a y Altruism - Selfishness Giving - Getting Independence - Dependence Togetherness - Aloneness Activity - Passivity b. B a l a n c e a m o n g body a n d self, f a m i l y , con~munity, a n d religion c. B a l a n c e in t i m e focus: p a s t , p r e s e n t , a n d f u t u r e 4. V a l u e s : H i e r a r c h y of V a l u e s V a l u e Conflicts V a l u e j u d g m e n t s a b o u t t h e i r lives, s y m p t o m s , t r e a t m e n t , etc.
5. G o a l s a n d e x p e c t a t i o n s 6. B e l i e f s a n d w o r l d v i e w s 7. A t t i t u d e s : S e c u l a r - hope, despair, g r a t i t u d e , h u m i l i t y , a n d c o m m i t m e n t Theological - f a i t h 8. W h o l e P e r s o n E m o t i o n s : L o n e l i n e s s , boredom, m e a n i n g l e s s n e s s
comment on the notion that rationality has limits. Patients not only overthink, attributing meanings to people's words and behaviors that are not there, b u t frequently and inadvertently create koans that they then agonize over. Koans are Zen teaching riddles that frustrate reason though they sound reasonable. 1~ "What is the sound of one hand clapping?" is perhaps the best known. My patients have uttered these statements: "I would marry him, but how do I know that someone better won't come along? .... How do I know I won't go crazy? .... Why am I homelier than my sister? .... Why, when I applied to Brown, did the number of applicants go up?" I have collected dozens of them. The therapist recognizes a koan when he or she gets a frustrated sensation. The enlightenment phase is one that few people attain. It tends to beckon as an ideal which may lead to expectations of perfection and eventual disappointment and exhaustion. However, the sense that we are part of a unity does, both in the East and West, enhance feelings of belonging and compassion. To conclude, there are four words that are keys to the concept of spirituality as it relates to cognition. The words are responsibility, perspective, reality, and transcendence. Spirituality thus considered is not fuzzy, escapist, irrational, unreal, or irrelevant. It is exactly the opposite.
98
Journal of Religion and Health
FIGURE 3 Powers and Effects of Meditation CENTERING: Changes focus of control, creates field independence Balances self vs. others Prevents depletion Reduces negative emotions and loss of self DETACHING (Letting Go): We are not our minds, emotions, roles Finds our essential self - "The Witness" Resolves anger Provides freedom, breaks addictions T EAC HES Limits of Rationality: Prevents overthinking, allows letting go and accepting mystery LIMITS J u d g i n g and Comparing: Prevents alienation, allows enjoyment of present unique situation ENHANCES Self-Control: Enables us to stop feeding our minds' morbid images and to imagine positive ones INCREASES OBJECTIVITY: Improves quality of love FORCES MIND INTO THE H E R E AND NOW: Reduces anxiety ALLOWS US TO GO WITH THE FLOW: Combats static thinking BRINGS US TO SENSE OF UNITY LOSS OF SELF-CONSCIOUSNESS: Enhances sense of belonging
References 1. Thayer, N.S.T., Spirituality and Pastoral Care. Philadelphia, Fortress Press, 1985. 2. Whitfield, C.L., Alcoholism and Spirituality. Baltimore, Maryland, The Resource Group, 1984. 3. Studzinski, R., Spiritual Direction and Midlife Development. Chicago, Loyola, 1985. 4. Elkins, D.N., et al., "Towards a Humanist Phenomenological Spirituality," J. Humanistic Psychology, 1988, 28, 5-18. 5. Maslow, A., Toward a Psychology of Being. New York, Van Nostrand Reinhold, 1968. 6. Wilber, K. No Boundaries. Boulder, Shambhala, 1978. 7. Maddi, S., and Kobasa, S., The Hardy Executive. Chicago, Dorsey, 1984. 8. Flack, F., Resilience. New York, Fawcett Columbine, 1988. 9. Kahn, M., et al., "The I Ching as a Model for a Personal Growth Workshop," J. Humanistic Psychology, 1974, 14, 39-51. 10. Kubose, G.M., Zen Koans. Chicago, Regnery, 1973.
The Spiritual Dimension of Cognitive Therapy IRVING M. ROSEN, M.D. ABSTRACT: There has been a quiet buildup of interest in spirituality within psychiatry. However, spirituality tends to be a vague and fuzzy concept to psychiatrists and probably to other psychotherapists. The field is surprisingly large, and there is space in this paper only to present a skeletal outline of the cognitive aspects of it. My observations come from spiritual issues discussion groups for inpatients and a religion and psychiatry clinic for outpatients at Butler Hospital.
While the biomedical thrust of psychiatry has surged forward, at the same time there has been a quiet buildup of interest in spirituality, sparked by, but not confined to, therapeutic approaches for the addictions. Purposes of this paper are twofold: to point to and organize some of the boundaries of the spirituality field and to show its relevance and usefulness in the everyday work of psychotherapy. The field is surprisingly large; I shall present only a skeletal outline of one aspect of i t - - t h e cognitive, leaving out the experiential and energy aspects, which are not as easy to grasp or to incorporate into our work. My observations come from a spiritual issues discussion group held weekly with inpatients at Butler Hospital for the past five years and from a religion and psychiatry clinic for outpatients at Butler and from seeing ever more clearly spiritual issues in the general run of patients. Definitions of spirituality are about as numerous as people who define it. Here are a few examples: "how we experience ourselves in relation to what we designate as the source of ultimate power and meaning in life and how we live out this relationship"; 1 "our relationships with one's self, with others and with the universe"; 2 "human existence in which body, soul and spirit are integrated into a unity. ''3 Other definitions may include references to meaningmaking, to a transcendent dimension, to relationship with God. Such definitions are of limited help because they introduce words that are also hard to Irving M. Providence, Spirituality tion in New
Rosen, M.D., is Director of the Religion and Psychiatry Clinic at Butler Hospital in Rhode Island. This paper is modified from one presented as part of a symposium in and Psychotherapy at the A n n u a l Convention of the American Psychiatric AssociaYork City, May 14, 1990. 93
9 1991 Institutes of Religionand Health
94
Journal of Religion and Health
define. David Elkin and associates, in reviewing major writers who have approached spirituality from a more phenomenological perspective, concluded that none provided a clear comprehensive definition. 4 Spirituality appears to be basic to and different from religion. "Churches and temples do not have a monopoly" on it though "at its best religion is the incubator and reservoir of the world's most vital spiritual values." I suspect that one reason for the indefinability of spirituality is that a really adequate definition would contain disparate elements. One aspect of its meaning concerns the nature of the person as a total organism unreduced; yet another aspect points to the emerging witnessing Self referred to in meditational or transpersonal psychology; and yet another aspect concerns itself with the disappearance of this Self in the enlightenment phase. Some traditions and writers create coherence by using a developmental scheme as, for example, the chakra system of Hinduism, the needs hierarchy of Maslow, ~ the spectrum of consciousness of Ken Wilber2 I will take my lead from Wilber, since he links his spectrum to psychotherapy schools, seeing them as directed to solving the problems of particular levels of development. I make use of Wilber's sequence but flesh it out and modify it from my own work with patients. Figure 1 shows a simple spectrum of consciousness moving from the body level to the ego level where various therapies attempt to create a healthy and responsible ego by healing splits and meeting developmental needs. The ego is then able to effectuate the emergence of a growing, resilient, balanced, purposeful whole person with constructive attitudes, who can find meaning, come through suffering, commit to trust and love, and deal effectively with stress and the stress emotions of anxiety, anger, guilt, shame, and grief. From the matrix of the whole person there emerges the witnessing Self, and finally the consciousness of the witness drops off and the person becomes one with reality. The field comprising the Whole Person, Witnessing Self, and Beyond Self appears to be the domain of spirituality. If the word cannot be defined, at least we can surround it and point to its territory. Note that a difficulty with the spiritual field is that it requires flexibility in using wholistic, existential, and transpersonal ways of thinking. I will not go over all the possible issues that might be considered under the major headings. That is the basis for a rather long course. Let me present some cases, complex and simple. A case with many issues was that of a 26year-old athlete who lost a leg in an accident. He went to a psychiatrist for treatment of phobias and depression. He was enraged at fate. He no longer felt like a m a n nor the proud athlete. Attempts at treatment with various medications and dynamic psychotherapy availed little. Such a case opens to a dimension of spirituality posing such issues as acceptance and response to reality, also to awareness of attachment to body, to other's opinions, and to self-image. The awareness that his integrity and essence as a whole person do not depend on such attachments, important as they are, is necessary if he is to transcend his trauma, his disability, and his suffering. His bitterness must
95
Irving M. Rosen
FIGURE 1 A S p e c t r u m of Consciousness: Levels of D e v e l o p m e n t a n d Perspective ( Body ) ( Ego )
( Whole Person )
Organic ....
medical model
Conscious - Unconscious Split - - - Psychoanalytic model The Differentiating Ego - - - Identity Growth model H a r m o n i z i n g B o d y a n d M i n d - - H e r e a n d N o w m o d e l s ( G e s t a l t , etc.)
Organism - - Whole Person model C o n s t r u c t i v e R e s o l u t i o n of S t r e s s E m o t i o n s
( Self )
The Witnessing Self- - - Meditation model
\
Beyond Self- - - Enlightenment
Transpersonal Psychology
B u d d a h o o d J Sainthood
be resolved; he needs to think through his attitudes and beliefs about fate, God, and the universe, and he must find new directions for his life which will inexorably move o n - - a tall order which will sorely test him. But this achievement is possible. Here is a much simpler case: a 40-year-old woman was depressed, unable to resolve feelings of rage and guilt. When married 20 years before, she and her husband had settled into the roles of compliant wife and dominant husband. Gradually, her unhappiness increased. They went for counseling, and the husband, becoming aware of his domineering attitude, was able to change to the point where the wife had no valid complaint. She was stuck with her anger. Was she able to get revenge for years of being put down? Yet she felt guilty as well as angry. It became clear that there was nothing else for her to do b u t to become responsible for her negative emotions and to choose to let them go. The anger in particular was no longer giving her useful information. She was able to change that, and her depression lifted. Not everyone is healthy enough to take such a step and may need therapy to get to that point. Note that she did not repress anger; she transcended it. An elderly woman was referred with depression. She and her husband had sold their beloved home which was now too large, and they had moved into what appeared to be a quite adequate apartment according to the husband. She felt
96
Journal of Religion and Health
out of place, then angry, then depressed. She wanted to get out, but they had a lease for six more months. It was pointed out that she was faced with a reality situation for awhile and would have to accept it. She made a revealing statement, "You mean I have to make up my mind?" The issues on my charts all come from case material. I will just make a few remarks about what is included under the two major sectors of the domain of spirituality. In Figure 2, the Whole Person Inventory asks, "What is the nature of a person?" If persons are seen as static, then they are not seen as whole persons. If they do not take responsibility for their time, they fall into limbo and anxiety. Patients can be relieved repeatedly in the short term but m a y go downhill in time if not seen in a longitudinal frame. Kobasa, in the book The Hardy Executive, found challenge, commitment, and control as ingredients of hardiness. 7 Perhaps even more basic, I think, are toughness, a capacity for tolerating discomfort and pain, which is required even to go through treatment, and resilience, which Flach links with creativity, s I will comment on the interesting issue of world views. I was trying to treat a very depressed and suicidal 55-year-old executive whose number one position was reduced when his company was taken over by a larger one. I was reading a paper by Kahn, Kroeber, and Kingsbury 9 in the Journal of Humanistic Psychology contrasting the Western Staircase model where only the top is good and anything less is bad (or as the executive put it, "failure and death") with a Chinese model they called the Roller Coaster model which goes up and down. I shared this paper with the executive, who saw that he was trapped in his world view. In fact, he said he really did not like his work anymore and really wanted to work in developing young executives even at a drastically reduced pay. About theological attitudes I have listened to hundreds of patients in our spiritual issues discussion groups and have a strong impression that most are a m a t e u r theologians and that their attitudes toward God, however conceived, have significant bearings on their feelings and behavior. The person eventually must take responsibility for resolving the so-called negative or stress emotions. The religious and spiritual literature long before the advent of dynamic psychiatry had worked out methods of preventing people from dangerously wallowing in these emotions. Forgiveness and reconciliation, confession and atonement, mourning and faithfulness are ways frequently expounded for dealing with the emotions as existential realities. I consider loneliness, boredom, and meaninglessness to be whole person emotions. In this context loneliness is triggered when one is out of touch with a part of oneself, whether it is emotion, intellect, or body feeling; boredom when one is out of touch with one's interests or talents; meaninglessness when one is uninvolved in some enterprise. Joy, enthrallment, and sense of meaning would be among positive whole person emotions. Figure 3 lists some of the powers and effects of meditation. Though meditation is an attempt at stilling the m i n d - - a non-thinking--much can be learned from this exercise as one listens to one's Self. Many of the effects are self-explanatory, but I will
97
Irving M. Rosen
FIGURE 2 Whole P e r s o n Inventory 1. T h e P e r s o n as a D e v e l o p i n g O r g a n i s m E x p a n d i n g a n d g r o w i n g vs. s t a g n a t i o n a n d r e g r e s s i o n W h a t is l o n g i t u d i n a l view of c o u r s e of p e r s o n ' s life? 2. T o u g h n e s s or h a r d i n e s s f a c t o r - - R i g i d i t y v s . f l e x i b i l i t y 3. B a l a n c e - - - b a l a n c e v s . d e p l e t i o n a. W o r k - P l a y Altruism - Selfishness Giving - Getting Independence - Dependence Togetherness - Aloneness Activity - Passivity b. B a l a n c e a m o n g body a n d self, f a m i l y , con~munity, a n d religion c. B a l a n c e in t i m e focus: p a s t , p r e s e n t , a n d f u t u r e 4. V a l u e s : H i e r a r c h y of V a l u e s V a l u e Conflicts V a l u e j u d g m e n t s a b o u t t h e i r lives, s y m p t o m s , t r e a t m e n t , etc.
5. G o a l s a n d e x p e c t a t i o n s 6. B e l i e f s a n d w o r l d v i e w s 7. A t t i t u d e s : S e c u l a r - hope, despair, g r a t i t u d e , h u m i l i t y , a n d c o m m i t m e n t Theological - f a i t h 8. W h o l e P e r s o n E m o t i o n s : L o n e l i n e s s , boredom, m e a n i n g l e s s n e s s
comment on the notion that rationality has limits. Patients not only overthink, attributing meanings to people's words and behaviors that are not there, b u t frequently and inadvertently create koans that they then agonize over. Koans are Zen teaching riddles that frustrate reason though they sound reasonable. 1~ "What is the sound of one hand clapping?" is perhaps the best known. My patients have uttered these statements: "I would marry him, but how do I know that someone better won't come along? .... How do I know I won't go crazy? .... Why am I homelier than my sister? .... Why, when I applied to Brown, did the number of applicants go up?" I have collected dozens of them. The therapist recognizes a koan when he or she gets a frustrated sensation. The enlightenment phase is one that few people attain. It tends to beckon as an ideal which may lead to expectations of perfection and eventual disappointment and exhaustion. However, the sense that we are part of a unity does, both in the East and West, enhance feelings of belonging and compassion. To conclude, there are four words that are keys to the concept of spirituality as it relates to cognition. The words are responsibility, perspective, reality, and transcendence. Spirituality thus considered is not fuzzy, escapist, irrational, unreal, or irrelevant. It is exactly the opposite.
98
Journal of Religion and Health
FIGURE 3 Powers and Effects of Meditation CENTERING: Changes focus of control, creates field independence Balances self vs. others Prevents depletion Reduces negative emotions and loss of self DETACHING (Letting Go): We are not our minds, emotions, roles Finds our essential self - "The Witness" Resolves anger Provides freedom, breaks addictions T EAC HES Limits of Rationality: Prevents overthinking, allows letting go and accepting mystery LIMITS J u d g i n g and Comparing: Prevents alienation, allows enjoyment of present unique situation ENHANCES Self-Control: Enables us to stop feeding our minds' morbid images and to imagine positive ones INCREASES OBJECTIVITY: Improves quality of love FORCES MIND INTO THE H E R E AND NOW: Reduces anxiety ALLOWS US TO GO WITH THE FLOW: Combats static thinking BRINGS US TO SENSE OF UNITY LOSS OF SELF-CONSCIOUSNESS: Enhances sense of belonging
References 1. Thayer, N.S.T., Spirituality and Pastoral Care. Philadelphia, Fortress Press, 1985. 2. Whitfield, C.L., Alcoholism and Spirituality. Baltimore, Maryland, The Resource Group, 1984. 3. Studzinski, R., Spiritual Direction and Midlife Development. Chicago, Loyola, 1985. 4. Elkins, D.N., et al., "Towards a Humanist Phenomenological Spirituality," J. Humanistic Psychology, 1988, 28, 5-18. 5. Maslow, A., Toward a Psychology of Being. New York, Van Nostrand Reinhold, 1968. 6. Wilber, K. No Boundaries. Boulder, Shambhala, 1978. 7. Maddi, S., and Kobasa, S., The Hardy Executive. Chicago, Dorsey, 1984. 8. Flack, F., Resilience. New York, Fawcett Columbine, 1988. 9. Kahn, M., et al., "The I Ching as a Model for a Personal Growth Workshop," J. Humanistic Psychology, 1974, 14, 39-51. 10. Kubose, G.M., Zen Koans. Chicago, Regnery, 1973.
