However, not al occult traditions of the day shal turn into tradition in course of time. In some of them the process of “renewal” of basic set of notions and practices proceeds with such a speed that there is no chance for it to attain any kind of “traditional” character. Another obstacle that prevents from tradition forming is the large-scale participation that results in low control of practice eff ectiveness and adequate character of personal modifi cations. Th e large-scale systems of the kind rather tend to turn into neo-religious organizations with fetishization of basic ideas and practices degrading to the level of mere religious rituals.
8.3. PSYCHOLOGICAL PARADIGMS
OF MODERN OCCULTISM
As it has been already said, among al phenomena of religious life of the day it is occultism that is mostly rich in psychological content and in psychopractices of various kinds. However any investigation of this content is possible only subjected to unifi cation and conceptualization of occult terminology in terms of modern psychology since every occult school uses its own set of terms. Such work has been done by the author in his article [223].
In terms of psychology one can single out fi ve major directions of inner work in contemporary occult systems, each of them based upon certain paradigm. Here they are:
1) actualization of psychic processes;
2) development of one’s consciousness and self-consciousness; 3) clearing up one’s subconscious mind;
4) de-programming of one’s super-conscious mind;
5) attaining one’s inner wholeness.
Let us speak in details about each direction and its core paradigm.
Actualization of psychic processes. Psychological origin of this paradigm and corresponding group of practices can be traced back to 258 Andrey G. Safronov. PSYCHOLOGICAL PRACTICES IN MYSTIC TRADITIONS: FROM ARCHAIC TO OUR DAYS
F. Perls’ Gestalt psychology and Gestalt-therapy that were based upon occult teaching of G. Gurdjieff and Zen [187]. In scope of these doctrines they have noticed that a big volume of data that is perceived by sense organs is not fi xed by human consciousness. A man “looks but does not see, listens to but does not hear, eats yet does not feel the taste of food”.Gestalt experts thought this was happening due to the fact that people mostly never concentrate their mind in the state of
“here and now” sincetheir mind is always busy solving various problems, recollecting some past images, fi nishing some unfi nished dialogues. Th e same happened to senses, feelings and emotions that in-fl uence our life and come as reasons of our actions and relationships, though they are not always conscious, supraliminal. According to Gestalt approach al these things reduce the volume of free energy that every man has, thus reducing the rate of his adaptability to common life situations. In order to overcome the situation man should train his staying in the “here and now” state both at the level of sense organs and his emotional sphere. Th is principle came as a basis for therapeutic method of Gestalt-therapy.
We should notice these were yet classical esoteric systems that contained techniques we can interpret as practices of actualization. Th is class of techniques was thoroughly studied in Tantra. A big number of meditations among those 112 contained in Vijnana Bhairava Tantra are dedicated to actualization.
“At that time, feeling the sensation of an ant crawling in the body, one experiences the supreme bliss”.
Vijnana Bhairava Tantra
Practices of such kind were an important element of Zen. Th ere is a well-known parable about a Zen master who decided he should again become a learner when he understood he could not remember whether it was to the left or to the right from his umbrella that he had left his sandals, i.e. he became aware that the action had been done mechanically.
It terms of occult schools of the day these were G. Gurdjieff (who was speaking about practices of actualization yet before F. Perls) and Osho [183] who were paying major attention to actualization. For instance, here is the “Stopframe” technique that can be probably cal ed PSYCHOLOGICAL PRACTICES IN MYSTIC TRADITIONS: FROM ARCHAIC TO OUR DAYS. Andrey G. Safronov 259
as one of the most outstanding Gurdjieff ’s methods: a group of participants are busy with their daily pursuits when suddenly one cal s “Stop” and they are to stand still and to become aware of the posture that the command found them at. In his “Orange Book” Osho describes a big number of techniques meant for actualization: “Smoking meditation”,
“De-automation” and so on. In its mostly complete way actualization of psychic processes is examined in F. Perls’ Gestalt-therapy that very fast turned from psycho-therapeutic system into a school of half-occult type.
Many schools use methods of actualization as preparatory techniques and consider their main value to be not only their ability to expand one’s consciousness by means of actualization but also their feasibility for individual’s progressive training of introspection that is essential for work at further stages.
Development of one’s consciousness and self-consciousness. Followers of modern occult systems attach much importance to crystallization of one’s consciousness and self-consciousness development. Th is evidently correlates with rise of existential philosophy and corresponding discourses. Such psychopractices could have also become actual due to impact of corresponding philosophic ideas. It was G. Gurdjieff who introduced the term “crystal ization of one’s consciousness” into occult tradition. In this way he defi ned formation of stable inner world within an individual. A well-known researcher of Gurdjieff ’s works Professor A. Rovner [205, pg.129] noted that some of his ideas had occurred due to infl uence of Nietzsche’s writings. One’s awareness played a very important — if not principal — role in the teaching of D. Krishnamurti.
Many eff ective techniques that are focused on crystal ization of one’s consciousness are drawn in works of C. Castaneda [108].
Among techniques proposed by C. Castaneda we should fi rst of all mention the one called “Th inking about Death”. Th e subject matter of the technique is that one should constantly be aware that any moment of one’s life, including this current minute, can be the last one since
“Death is always over your left shoulder”. Th e eff ect of this meditation is based upon a concept that a man might certainly live the last moment of his life to his best advantage, i.e. in a more conscious way, since there is already no future for him, while his past has no lon-260 Andrey G. Safronov. PSYCHOLOGICAL PRACTICES IN MYSTIC TRADITIONS: FROM ARCHAIC TO OUR DAYS
ger any value. One may not say that this was a brand new technique.
Psycho-technique of the kind had been described in Bushido — samu-rai’s code of conduct — mostly in the same very manner. From the point of philosophy the grounding for such class of techniques comes from works of Heidegger and Sartre. In terms of methods meant for crystal ization of one’s consciousness C. Castaneda proposed very effective exercises of stalking, the art of conscious action, like “Transformation”, “Transformation by Woman” and others. Th e eff ect of these techniques is related to the fact that when forced to play a role that is unusual for him, a man shall necessarily engage his conscious mind for making every next step. Th e choice of conceptual y unordinary role —
or better the one that absolutely does not match with any kind of one’
previous experience — shal in favourable concourse of circumstances enable one to feel his inner essence and being.
Speaking about G. Gurdjieff ’s system we should fi rst of all mention the “Stopframe” technique which has been described earlier. It helps to attain the eff ect of consciousness crystal ization due to relation between this process and actualization.
Among meditations of the same goal proposed by Osho we may speak about meditations “Are you here?”, “Allow a Star Inside”, “Don’t try to deceive yourself” described in the Orange Book.
We should also note that within traditional esoteric systems there were also a number of meditations that facilitated crystal ization of one’s consciousness. For instance in Yoga they used to practice “Contemplation of fi re or light right between one’s eyebrows”; while doing this meditation it was necessary that one could feel the light as if coming from inside, as if it was originating from one’s consciousness, and not to observe it from aside. Th e already mentioned technique of
“Bringing up a spiritual child” comes as variation of consciousness crystal ization practiced in Taoism yoga.
Th e notions of “clearing up one’s subconscious mind”, i.e. letting out suppressed feelings and emotions that give rise to neurotic stress, also occurred due to ideas of psychoanalysis. One may distinguish between two major categories of methods meant for clearing up one’s unconscious mind that are advanced by diff erent systems.
Analytical methods are those based upon one’s becoming aware PSYCHOLOGICAL PRACTICES IN MYSTIC TRADITIONS: FROM ARCHAIC TO OUR DAYS. Andrey G. Safronov 261
of various objects from subconscious mind and using their side phenomena (dreams, emotional stresse etc.). In order to do the practice of the kind one should have a rather expanded conscious mind (solid ego in terms of psychoanalysis) and good introspection abilities. Th e body of analytical methods goes back to various schools of psychoanalysis though in fact they are similar to Buddhist Vipassana that has been earlier described.
Cathartic methods are grounded upon immediate abreaction of feelings and emotions that evoke one’s anxiety, and they donot require one’sbecoming aware of these emotions. Th ey include crying therapy and breathworks like holotropic breathwork, rebirthing etc.
Th e systems of the day consider clearing up one’s subconscious mind to be a signifi cant stage within the process of one’s self-improvement not only because it helps to reduce the rate of neurotism that is characteristic for today’s individual, but also because it releases psychic energy that is necessary for a more profound inner work. Th e most complete set of practices was proposed by Osho; moreover the diversity of techniques proposed made it possible for everyone to select a meditation that would help him to get free from a certain type of unrealized emotions. In fact Osho reproduced the Buddhist practice of individual selection of meditations at some new level. Here are some techniques drawn in his “Orange Book”.
“Dynamic meditation” is by no means Osho’s discovery. Th is is a very eff ective meditation of cathartic type.
“Laughing meditation” helps to get free from unrealized emotional energies and comes as a practice of artifi cial y evoked laughing within a certain period of time. One should attain the state when it shall cause genuine laughter, when one shal be able to lose oneself in laughter.
“Pillow-Beating” facilitates one’s letting his unrealized anger come up. “Pant like a dog” — another cathartic meditation that uses the power of breathing. It helps to let one’s anger go.
“Nataraj meditation” is a cathartic meditation that helps to distribute energy that makes basis of haste and fussiness.
“Shake” — a cathartic meditation that enable one’s muscles be loose and lets one’s subconscious desires go out.
262 Andrey G. Safronov. PSYCHOLOGICAL PRACTICES IN MYSTIC TRADITIONS: FROM ARCHAIC TO OUR DAYS
“Mirror gazing” — an eff ective meditation that facilitates actualization of one’s unconscious fears.
“Go into your fear” — the eff ect of meditation is similar to that from the previous one.
Mostly al meditations proposed by Osho have one common feature — the majority of them are of cathartic kind.
Within the system of C. Castaneda there is an interesting technique called “Erasing personal history”, or “Recovering one’s lost energy” that in terms of psychology can be treated as the one meant for clearing up one’s subconscious mind. One can fi nd the most detailed description of this technique in Taisha Abelar’s “Th e Sorcerer’s Crossing”. Th e core subject-matter of this technique lies in “recovering one’s lost energy from a situation in the past where it was wasted, and in releasing the energies received in such situations from other people”.
Diff erent techniques that can be also treated as methods of clearing up one’s subconscious mind exist in systems that originated in connection to transpersonal psychotherapy. Among them one can mention those based upon cathartic power of breathing; like holotropic breathwork, wan-weishen and rebirthing, and those with focus on one’s body: thanato-therapy, “repeated” birth and many others. Unlike many techniques of purely occult kind, these psychotherapeutic techniques presuppose there is a therapist who corrects actions of his patient and thus increases in times its therapeutic eff ectiveness (of course provided that therapist is a highly skilled expert). In general we should note that psychotherapy became a kind of a bridge for esotericism on its way to European culture.
Th e fol owers of modern esoteric systemsalso consider de-programming of one’s super-conscious mind, i.e. getting fee from stereotypes, mindsets and complexes induced within the process of individual’s upbringing, to be an element of self-improvement process.
It was yet Z. Freud who said that the majority of psychological problems are caused by contents of one’s super-conscious mind. E.
Berne, the developer of transaction analysis, was the fi rst to describe in details the role of parental programming in individual’s further life, but he has not proposed any eff ective technique that could help PSYCHOLOGICAL PRACTICES IN MYSTIC TRADITIONS: FROM ARCHAIC TO OUR DAYS. Andrey G. Safronov 263
deliver from such programs. Later on, due to methods of Erickson’s hypnotherapy and neuro-linguistic programming there appeared such methods as reframing (the description of the technique is drawn further); however it is not de-programming that the majority of such techniques deal with, but re-programming, i.e. replacement of some programs with other programs that are more eff ective for a certain individual. Here we should note that the main potential of superconscious mind’ de-programming and re-programming raises a number of philosophic and ethical questions referred to benefi ts of one system of values (and thus of here-related programs) in comparison to another one. Th e idea of de-programming has been thoroughly concerned by representatives of “rebellious” Zen and other systems of the kind. It is interesting to note that both transaction analysis together with other systems that practice the method of inner de-programming emerged in the second half of the XX-th century when society was enthusiastic about revising old values, or in fact was busy performing de-programming of “collective unconscious mind”. On the other hand it was the period when man fi rst faced the idea and practical results of cybernetics and it provoked the desire to describe human psyche with help of corresponding terminology. “Both conscious mind and body come as parts of one (cybernetic) system” [40].
Cybernetic model attracts one’s mind due to its pseudo-simple character. However, notwithstanding whether one accepts or rejects this model, one cannot but see that its acceptance facilitates a much more prompt disintegration from all behavioral forms than any philosophic reasoning of humanitarian psychological schools does.
We shal draw the techniques of inner de-programming used in various esoteric systems.
“Inner chase” — the technique proposed by C. Castaneda. It consists of conscious, deliberate “chasing” after stereotype actions that prevent one from developing, with their further elimination. Th ere are some other exercises proposed by this author in his book that have the same goal: “Changing one’s appearance”, “Breaking up regulations”,
“De-structuring one’s ego”.
“Reframing”. It is a technique used in neuro-linguistic programming though it obviously has magic origin. It is based upon search for 264 Andrey G. Safronov. PSYCHOLOGICAL PRACTICES IN MYSTIC TRADITIONS: FROM ARCHAIC TO OUR DAYS
situation when a super-conscious mindset is incorrect and is absurd to follow. Th e moment of individual’s becoming aware of this situation may come as cathartic relaxation of the program.
Th e majority of occult systems consider the work on attaining one’s inner integrity that comes down to synthesis of various elements of individual’s psyche (subpersonalities) to be the peak phase of one’s inner work. Finding individual’s in-wholeness altogether comes as one of the most interesting observations that both mystics and psychologists made almost in parallel. Th e main category of subpersonality that was actively used in Gestalt-psychology, psycho-synthesisand later on found itself in sociology as Mead’s Role theory was initial y introduced by G. Gurdjieff . Subpersonalities are solid structures usual y assigned with conscious mind, emotions, desires and other features that in fact come as individual’s various sides (facets) [207, pg. 345]. G. Gurdjieff used to compare human psyche with a battlefi eld where diff erent parts of his psyche fi ght for control over individual’s behaviour. In case there is no “master”, i.e. individual’s genuine “self” that can be crystal ized out of other psyche elements within the process of hard inner work, this fi ght never ends. Th is struggle can be easily observed at the moment when a person is in doubt trying to make his choice between several variants. In fact such doubt comes as a confl ict between two or several subpersonalities that have diff erent points of view. Individual’s choice depends upon a subpersonality that shall gain the upper hand. Another bright example that il ustrates interaction between subpersonalities is the inner dialogue — talk between subpersonalities. In his times Gurdjieff was not yet aware of cybernetics’ ideas and thus he described the process rather it terms of mechanics; however in his descriptions one may defi nitely trace the motive of individual’s psyche being subjected to programming. Th e main goal of his system may be formulated in the fol owing way: “A man must cease being a machine and start being a human being”. Th is goal implies certain techniques of working with subpersonalities.
One can single out two goals in work with sub-personalities. Th e minimum goal is to attain coherent state of psyche, i.e. the state in which there is no confl ict between subpersonalities: they all cooperate for the benefi t of one single aim. Here they use diff erent techniques of inner consent; one can use the six-stage model of inner agreement PSYCHOLOGICAL PRACTICES IN MYSTIC TRADITIONS: FROM ARCHAIC TO OUR DAYS. Andrey G. Safronov 265
proposed by NLP. Complete integration of al sub-personalities, i.e. attaining integrality, wholeness of one’s consciousness comes as a more complicated task. Th is state has a particular feature: a person that has attained the state is able to remain himself in any situation, i.e. he has neither inner nor external need for playing any roles. Th e techniques that help to achieve such states are given in works of R. Assagioli [13]
and his followers, for instance, L.J. Rainwater. Some techniques are given in works of Osho, like meditations “Funny Faces” and “Mirror Gazing” that can be used for actualization of existing subpersonalities.
Th e techniques of working with subpersonalities are also proposed in neuro-linguistic programming. In their majority these are techniques aimed at attaining coherent state of one’s psyche.
Traditional esoteric systems also contain methods that can be treated as work meant for synthesizing subpersonalities and attaining inner wholeness. First of al this is Tibetan method of merger with yidams.
In fact, from the point of psychology, yidams can be interpreted as personifi cations of various parts of individual’s psyche; moreover, in Tibetan yoga yidams are openly admitted to be “products of the mind”. In this case merger with yidams can be treated as techniques of progressive symbolic actualization of one’s personalities that come from diff erent layers of individual’s unconscious mind with their further synthesis.
In Tibetan sources they say that one should be very careful in doing this practice for in case energetic capacity of a subpersonality happens to be larger than energetic capacity of individual’s consciousness, the consciousness my disintegrate within the subpersonality; that is why there is a certain strict successions in which Tibetan masters give meditation yidams to their learners.
266 Andrey G. Safronov. PSYCHOLOGICAL PRACTICES IN MYSTIC TRADITIONS: FROM ARCHAIC TO OUR DAYS
SUMMARY
1. Occultism is a specifi c phenomenon in spiritual life of society that bears features of religion, esotericism and science yet conceptually diff ers from them.
2. Th e goal of occultism is to conciliate the results of natural sciences that are contemporary to authors of corresponding teachings with religious worldview.
3. Like all other elements of culture, occult notions also evolve in parallel with it. Th e source for this evolution comes from evolution of natural notions.
4. Occultism of the newest time has its specifi c features: it is extremely psychology-oriented in its essence; it is individualistic in its orientation and is focused on social success.
5. Modern occult psychopractices are in general grounded upon fi ve basic paradigms that bear psychological character and have been adopted from post-psychoanalytical psychotherapy.
Section IX
SOCIO-CULTURAL
FUNCTIONS OF
PSYCHOTHERAPY
IN SOCIETY OF TODAY
9.1. PHILOSOPHIC AND RELIGIOUS
SOURCES OF PSYCHOTHERAPY
Th ere is no doubt that psychical treatment of a man has been existing as long as the mankind itself. Yet the history of psychotherapy is conventional y considered to have started form hypnologist Franz Anton Mesmer [342] who lived at the time of King Louis XVI, for he thought he had discovered some new power that acted inside a person — the animal magnetism. It is worth mentioning that Mesmer’s ideas were not new and they were dating back to European occult tradition and the concept of Paracelsus added with scientifi c interests of encyclopedia era. At that time many researcher were trying to treat diff erent diseases by means of magnet. Mesmer summarized al these teachings and he believed there existed a kind of inner magnetic forces that could be managed. Th e treatment started from rituals that were getting patients into specifi c states of consciousness. Patient being in this state, doctor was transmitting him his “emanation”, or “fl uid”, usual y in an indirect way by means of touching him with a “charged” item.
Th e patient had the feeling of the fl uid moving inside, he was getting into state of some fancy and mental crisis that usual y resulted in recovery since the therapist was sure that after taken to its peak state the disease shal certainly discontinue.
In order to verify the validity of Mesmer’s experiments they created a special commission that consisted of acknowledged researchers —
Franklin, Lavoisier and Guil otin, and they passed the deadly sentence of that time: it was not the “fl uid” that caused the recovery. Patients 268 Andrey G. Safronov. PSYCHOLOGICAL PRACTICES IN MYSTIC TRADITIONS: FROM ARCHAIC TO OUR DAYS
were cured by their imagination. Mesmer was accused of immorality and he was deported due to “improper use of his male appeal”.
It was probably this verdict that was the fi rst to mention the main peculiar feature of therapeutic activity. It is not an objective factor but the relationships between client and therapist that make basis of the infl uence. Later on when they realized the signifi cance of relations of the kind C. G. Jung defi ned psychotherapy as “treatment of a soul and by means of a soul”. Th ere is another known defi nition: “psychotherapy is a joint wandering when a client searches for himself and a therapist acts as a guide”.
From this mentioned subjectivity there comes another particularly important feature of psychotherapy: there is no objective way tocon-fi rm its eff ectiveness. By the way, even today there isn’t any school of psychotherapy where one could say for sure whether it was physician’s metaphor or client’s own imagination that helped him to recover.
And indeed, let us show that psychotherapy of today does not comply with any criterion of scientifi c content approved by philosophy.
Criterion of verifi cation (the Vienna Circle, neo-positivism): science always strives for verifi cation of its hypotheses, laws and theories by means of empiric data. Th e situation of psychotherapy is of total y opposite character. A well-known Russian psychotherapist A. Sosland, author of “Fundamental Structure of Psychotherapeutic Method, or Th e Way One May Launch His Own School in Psychotherapy” [247] has paid attention to the following fact. None of newly-established therapeutic schools not only was able, but even tried to substantiate the necessity of its launching and to confi rm eff ectiveness of its methods, either relative or absolute. Moreover, any reliable objective scientifi c substantiation of validity of psychotherapeutic theories and of their techniques’ eff ectiveness is a very diff erent task altogether. Perhaps the experience of a patient comes as the only criterion of psychotherapy effi cacy, but this experience is subjective by defi nition and in no way it can be subjected to verifi cation or reproduction. According to these very reasons psychotherapy does not meet the falsifi cation criterion formulated by K. Popper [194] either.
Th e paradigm criterion introduced by T. Kuhn [124] tel s us that each science contains one (sometimes more than one) fundamental PSYCHOLOGICAL PRACTICES IN MYSTIC TRADITIONS: FROM ARCHAIC TO OUR DAYS. Andrey G. Safronov 269
theory — the paradigm — that in some particular time the majority of scientists adhere to. Taking into consideration al proviso related to indefi nite defi nition of a paradigm one cannot but admit that there are achievements in science that are acknowledged by the whole academic community, or at least by its major body. Th ere is no science unless in some sphere of life there occurs a fund of universally acknowledged achievements. Th e situation with psychoanalysis is even more interesting since, according to sayings of Z. Freud, it puts a claim on having status of a “science”. Th e problem is redoubled by the fact that a number of basic notions of psychoanalysis have become old-fashioned and run counte