Esoteric Psychology and Psychoanalysis
Esoteric Pyschology and Psychotherapy
Brad Berg
This brief talk will address how esoteric psychology can be applied in mental health treatment.
After 37 years of service in the mental health field I am now retired. I have also spent hundreds of hours studying Esoteric Psychology Volumes 1 and 2 and attempting to apply the Teachings.At the first annual conference of the 7 Ray Institute, I was on a panel discussing how to determine one’s Rays. So, many helpful therapeutic modalities have been developed over the years, including CBT, EMDR for trauma, and protocols for recognizing and managing suicidality.
Developments are slow but sure in understanding serious illnesses like Schizophrenia, Bipolar Disorder, and Borderline Personality Disorder.Recent research into the human brain has shown that there are genetic anomalies and predispositions for having these types of illnesses, which are medical illnesses, not mental illnesses, due to their biological causes impacting the brain.This understanding can help end the stigma of mental illness.
Schizophrenia is of particular interest from an esoteric perspective. I have worked with a couple of hundred people with this disorder.In some cultures, people who hear and see things that most of us can’t, are considered to have a gift. One possible explanation for someone seeing things others can’t, whether they are angels or demons or glowing colored orbs, is that they are way too open to the astral plane.The door opens and often they can’t close it. Another way to look at it is that people with Schizophrenia don’t have the usual veil between their subconscious and conscious mind.The sleep state overlaps and is present when one is awake, making it impossible to tell what is real, and what is not.
Given what Carl Jung suggested about our collective unconscious, people who have Schizophrenia may be picking up on what’s happening in the subconscious of others.I don’t know about you folks, but I find that my own thoughts are plenty enough to deal with.Thank goodness for Patanjali and Raja Yoga.
People with schizophrenia are often experiencing forms of what the Tibetan calls the lower psychism, though it can be more than that too.On rare occasions, the receptivity may be emanating from a higher level. It’s really good that anxiety and depression are treated with meds by medical prescribers, but mostly symptoms are treated, not causes. Just to be sure you know. Psychologists and Social Workers can’t prescribe meds. Psychiatrists are medical doctors with advanced training. NP’s and PA's can also offer prescritions.
Recent research has shown that antidepressants – like SSRI’s - don’t work by leaving more chemicals in the synapse - the space between two nerve cells.This is a provocative example of the current lack of scientific understanding regarding the functioning of the brain. While much of the general public has come to accept there is a mind/body connection, for many academicians and psychologists, the mind is still seen as an activity of the brain.One day science will develop a device to actually recognize and see the mind, and thought. Kirlian photography, which purportedly sees our aura, is a step in that direction.
If a therapist can maintain a meditative like state during a session, then he or she will be able to use the intuition to assist the patient. True connection between patient and therapist is necessary for effective treatment. An insightful, intuitive therapist can see and sense the causes of the underlying psychological dynamics at play, which energetically live between cause and effect. A good therapist then helps a person become more self-aware and develop means to overcome obstacles to growth. Psychological dynamics are internalized emotions, moldy thought forms, and energetic patterns from past experiences which are still simmering below the surface in the crucible of the psyche. Psychology talks about defense mechanisms to cope with inner discomfort, but does not really begin to understand them in terms of energy that are still living within us. Energy which can be related to over stimulation, blockage, or the seething life of the kama-manasic response of the psyche that just won’t dissipate, keeping the individual stuck.
The medical and mental health fields are only now emerging from their infancy. Mainstream psychology doesn’t really recognize the existence of the mind and therefore lacks a real understanding of consciousness. Nothing exists if you can’t see it with an MRI, CT or X-Ray. This will be the next major steps in psychological development:to understand the difference between the physical brain, and thinker, thoughts and thinking. Even Shakespeare knew that ‘thoughts are things.’
The Tibetan refers to soul as the integrating factor of our sensory and cognitive impressions. It’s what makes us different than animals. It seems evident that animals can think and feel on a rudimentary level, but they lack the sense of “I” that a human being has. And from studying the Tibetan’s work via AAB, we know that it’s the soul that produces, and is, consciousness itself. The mind is the sixth sense and it is the soul that integrates all experience.
Consider, who is thinking, who imagines and creates, who chooses a career, who prefers Mozart rather than the Beatles?How could a brain, that mushy, bloody blob of tiny electric wires, do those things?Aren’t the convolutions of our brain the physical manifestation of the nadis in the head – the filaments which are the energetic conduits of our etheric body?This is the same as the endocrine glands being the physical precipitation of our chakras.
The root of the word psychology is psyche ~ or, soul.This meaning is currently lost in modern psychology as it does not recognize that we have, or that we are, a soul. Of course, branches like Transpersonal Psychology and Psychosynthesis do. What’s coming is a coalescing of psychological, scientific, and spiritual fields.These distinctions are apparent, not real or necessary--consider HBP’s subtitle for the Secret Doctrine: the synthesis of science, religion and philosophy.
Meditation is often used by so many folks to manage stress, not for deepening contact with soul. Meditation will increasingly become part of therapy as the masses become more accepting of the soul as something we can experience. The soul will
eventually be seen as the source of our conscience, and that word means ‘with knowing.’Well, who is actually doing the knowing and where is that info coming from.Guiding someone to hear and follow their conscience can have profound value.
Astrology can be useful if the client’s chart is available, but I emphasize to keep it real simple- knowing the sun sign, which is essentially about the personality and its tendencies and characteristics, can be helpful at present. We already are our sun sign. The ascendant represents the energetic qualities available for the soul to use in order to express itself and its intentions. A client who is open to what astrology offers can be encouraged to try and use, the qualities of the ascendant.This can make a real difference, especially if you are working on the techniques of integration and fusion that the Tibetan presents in Esoteric Psychology Vol. 2. Creative pursuits and productive service may be a result of these efforts.
When we come to a consideration of the Seven Rays – it might be helpful toask ourselves if we can truly know the Rays of another person?It’s a fascinating idea, but it’s usually too early for us to really know another’s Rays, or even our own. We can’t rely on our concrete mind, as it makes too many associations. We need to sense the vibration and the expression of the Rays.One’s supposed Ray structure is just for us to consider, not for the client. There is a risk of the therapist acting on a wrong assumption. Because a client is very analytical, I might accurately think she has a 5th Ray mind, and that she is too analytical and cerebral.I might then steer her away from mental activities, when actually, her soul came into this incarnation with a 5th Ray mental body because the opposite is true…she has a 2nd Ray soul, and in this lifetime, she needs to develop her mental abilities.
And what if the client is interested in the Alice Bailey books and wants to know what I think their Rays are. Suppose, because they love to plan and are so adaptable, they believe it when I tell them they have a 3rd Ray personality, but they don’t? Their whole sense of self can be distorted for decades or maybe for the rest of this life. I encourage you not to tell others what you think their Rays are. But we can help each other work on it. One of the best tools to determine your Rays, is to know your glamours. They are the lower expression of the Ray qualities, which we need to transmute into their virtues.
Psychedelics, have seen a renewal of use in therapy, but run a risk of misuse or experiencing more than one bargains for.There can be neuronal changes that may be permanent from just one use. One spiritually insightful use can change your life, but then it’s up to meditation, not drugs, to get you to that altered state again.Psychedelics can help with insight in therapy or for those working on self-transformation. Just be exceedingly careful when you play with fire, even if it’s called .Some people with depression who use hallucinogens, sink deeply into themselves and feel detached from the outer world and their depression can get worse.
Color therapy, primarily using colored light, is a field that will grow in the near future.
Sound therapy, exposure to tones and music, can disrupt stagnant thoughtforms and unprocessed emotions, and as I hope you all know, can be great for our mood! Sound can also build. Take a look at page 335 of Letters on Occult Meditation for info on the use of color and sound.
Most minds function on the concrete levels of the mental plane. As we function more abstractly, or better yet, become aware on and receptive to buddhic and intuitional levels, we will have a more productive and service-oriented life. Other areas that will eventually evolve into the mainstream of psychology include - the state of our chakras, a person’s karma, which personality vehicle is the target of your soul focus, and on what level we are polarized - usually emotionally but maybe mentally. Causal polarization is a rather long-term goal.
By studying the Teachings on esoteric psychology and working it out in our own lives, we are helping to move forward the current state of the field of psychology.Esoteric Psychology provides potent tools we can use to transform ourselves into what is possible, assist others along the way, and serve the Plan. May we all be successful in our efforts.Thank you.