(Inner space as the bridge between psychology and spirit)
He shows how inner spaciousness can be experienced in somatic, psychological and spiritual ways, details some of the many levels of inner space and, more importantly, illustrates how these experiences of space can lead to fundamental healing and integration of our being. This experiential understanding of non-identification with content, discovering the pattern of object relations and self-representations as grasped images in the mind, is called the Truth of Selflessness, the central key to the Buddha’s realization and enlightenment.
The mind is then taken to be the field or sphere of our thoughts, images, feelings, emotions, sensations, and perceptions, plus the apparatus or agent that deals with all these impressions.
The Western casual use of “mind” generally refers to the content of experience, while the Eastern use of the word usually emphasizes the substratum, or the container, of experience. The Western “mind” is the stuff of experience itself, the inner events, the thoughts, feelings, sensations and perceptions; in the East, “mind” is seen more as the ground of all experience.
Our objective in this book, however, is much more ambitious than achieving this understanding and integration of the two points of view regarding the mind. We are interested in seeing how this understanding will make it possible for us to eliminate the usually accepted contradistinctions between mind and spirit, between psychology and religion, and between psychological understanding and spiritual (essential) development.
(Psychic structure: how object relations build the self-image)
He saw the personality (or in his terms, the mind) as a structure—a psychic structure—composed of three units: id, ego, and superego. (Literally translated, the words he used for these three concepts are the It, the I, and the Over-I.)
The psychic structure is simply the structure of the content of experience. It is the pattern or patterning of the content of mind and experience.
A psychologically separate identity develops slowly as the infant interacts with its environment, especially with its mother.
Thus the identity, with its mental apparatus (psychic structure), is a construction in the mind. The particular structure of the mind, the particular patterning of the content of the psyche (ultimately resulting in the sense of self), is something that develops, something that grows.
The literature on spiritual development, on essential or inner development, on all matters of religious concern, generally uses the term “ego” to mean something which is seen as the barrier to spiritual realization. The literature on depth psychology, however, uses the term with a very different meaning. The ego referred to by Freud, and which ego psychology studies, is not the ego which is the barrier to spiritual
The psychoanalytic term “ego” refers, rather, to the functional self, which is the site, organizer, and coordinator of the functions of perception, memory, mobility, and so on.
The exact sense in which the ego identity is a barrier to spiritual development will become clear in later chapters.
The stages of development of internalized object relations—that is, the stages of infantile autism, symbiosis, separation-individuation, and object constancy—reflect the vicissitudes of the earliest substructures of the psychic apparatus.
affect disposition linking them are the basic object relations derived substructures that gradually evolve into more complex substructures (such as real-self and ideal-self, the real-object and ideal-object representations). Eventually, they will become integrated as intrapsychic structures in the ego, superego and id.
According to Kernberg, an object relation consists of three parts: a self-representation, an object-representation, and an affect (a certain emotional content) linking the two. A representation of self or object means an image, partial or total, of the self or object. This image is not necessarily always visual or mental. It can be emotional, tactile, or auditory.
Since for obvious reasons our capacity for detachment from our own self is at best very limited, our self-cognizant functions contribute only moderately to our conception of the self.
Because any experience, whether pleasurable or not, leaves its memory trace as a certain impression of oneself, a certain impression of the other person or object, and an affect between the two, Kernberg’s triad of the self-representation, the object-representation and the affect become the building blocks of the infant’s psychic structure.
the various object representations fuse to make an overall object-image, and the various self-representations also fuse to make a total and cohesive self-image.
This self-image is not the external image that most people think of as “self-image”; it is more of an inner, comprehensive, mostly unconscious image of oneself, of which the external image (basically the social facade) is just a part. Thus the entire world-view of a person, the structure of his world, so to speak, consists of this overall self-image plus the total constellation of object images, in relation to each other.
After consolidation, the self-image not only gives the individual his sense of personal identity, but determines more than anything else his subsequent experience of himself, his life, and his environment. It determines his sense of being, his inner experience, and everything else about him.
So the thoughts that go through a person’s mind are not really accidental, chaotic, or disconnected, although they may sometimes appear so. They appear chaotic because a large segment of the self-image is unconscious or preconscious, and thus shapes thoughts and experiences in a way that the conscious mind cannot be aware of. This fact makes it possible for a person, by careful observation of the patterns and trends in his thoughts, to gain much information concerning his sense of identity.
Some boundaries allow more freedom than others, but every individual has specific boundaries which limit his particular experience and action.
(How self-image bounds experience and generates contraction)
What do the boundaries of the self-image bound?
We know that self-image is a content of the mind that determines the nature of further contents of the mind, as we have seen. Our question here pertains more to the nature of the mind than to its content. Here we depart from the usual range of psychoanalytic theory, which generally doesn’t question the nature of the mind at these levels.
What is the mind, what is it made of, and how does self-image determine our perception of it? In other words, what is the mind besides its content? Where does this content exist?
As some of the boundaries imposed on the individual by his self-image are dissolved, he gains greater freedom of perception and action. For instance, as the “weak” person understands his “weakness,” as he sees its genesis and understands its psychodynamics, this boundary of “weakness” is challenged and gradually dissolves.
expanded. In the dissolution of a self-boundary there usually involves, sooner or later, a sense of expansion, of experiencing oneself as more spacious. Of course, it is likely that anxieties will arise in response to the expansion, anxieties which will be experienced as contraction, particularly in borderline personality structures, as we will discuss later.
As the boundaries of the self are pushed further and further out, a progressively greater sense of spaciousness results.
(The body-image of the empty hole and the arising of space)
She now realizes, however, how her sense of herself as incomplete, as missing something, as inferior to others, and as empty, is based on a physical body-image of having and empty hole at the region of her genitals. She is not at this point aware of having something there—a vagina. She is aware only of a lack, an empty and dark hole. This has been her unconscious body-image, which is now surfacing to consciousness.
After the fear subsides, her state becomes light, bouncy and expanded. Her sense of herself is spacious and open. It is similar to experiencing the space around her body, but fresh and clear.
It is important to note here that the main cause of her anxiety is the unexpectedness and the unfamiliarity of the experience of the loss of boundaries, both physical and mental. We can infer this from the fact that when she understands these causes of the anxiety, it subsides, and the experience becomes one of a pleasant spaciousness and a sense of joyful freedom. In fact, in a short time her chest area feels expansive and open, and she feels a warmth, a fine gentleness and a loving kindness.
Of course, it can be experienced as a form of spaciousness, but we are asserting here that if the awareness is more refined as a result of dissolving more self-boundaries, the experience is definitely and directly of open space—open, empty, and freeing.
Our evidence suggests that the more the rigid boundaries of the self are made porous and dissolved, the clearer and sharper becomes the experience of the mind as space. The experience of one’s self and one’s mind as open, pure spaciousness, an empty clear space, becomes increasingly available.
And ultimately it becomes clear that we are not a subject experiencing this spaciousness—we are the spaciousness.
The beginner seldom observes the presence of space, and for beginners the space lasts only for a very short time and does not fully develop into the spacious quality. It goes unnoticed and is not allowed to develop because awareness of it will bring formidable anxieties in the beginner. So it is quickly repressed, and we tend not to point out its presence, because bringing it to the consciousness of the student will only evoke resistances that will make the work more difficult.
He mentions how he always thought he was not like his father and never wanted to be like him in any way. In other words, he is now becoming conscious of his identification with his father—the defended-against self-image, in this case, of a passive, feminine man.
Space brings about expansion in the qualities of our senses, our sensations, and our mental capacities. It deepens our intuition. It expands our awareness into new dimensions of ourselves, some we would never have conceived could exist. It brings new capacities for perception and experience. In addition, space has the surprising and powerful capacity of expanding itself, continuously increasing the openness and dissolution of boundaries, allowing ever-greater understanding of ourselves and our minds.
The development of the self-image simply represents a gradual building and structuralization of boundaries in the mind space. Here we see the relationship between mind as content and mind as ground. Space is mind as ground. Mind as content is a result of boundaries in this space. In fact, these boundaries are the mind as content, are what constitutes the psychic structure.
(Ego as structuralized space: dissolving boundaries reveals the ground)
In other words, the process of ego development is a process of bounding space, of building static boundaries in the openness of the mind. It is the carving of structure out of space, and the resulting psychic structure then is simply a structuralized space. This explains very clearly why when self-boundaries are dissolved, space appears. What happens is that the structuralization is dissolved, the boundaries are “melted.” When the structure is melted, the nature of the mind with no structure is revealed, and this is space.
It is the carving of structure out of space, and the resulting psychic structure then is simply a structuralized space.
which include the idea of mind as space as a commonplace understanding, we must note here that our interpretation does not conflict in any way with the findings of object relations theory and ego psychology in general.
It is interesting that the practicing period is, for the toddler, an experience of expansion and joy, just as in the course of the rediscovery and experience of space.
In other words, there has to be some psychic structure present for there to be object anxiety, the fear of disintegration.
(Buddhist meditation and the mind’s nature as open space)
Some of those systems, especially the Buddhist one, had worked out a detailed understanding of how the ego is built, or more accurately, how it exists minute to minute as a separate structure. Buddhist meditation techniques lead the practitioner toward a direct, experiential knowledge of the nature of mind as space.
Fundamentally there is just open space, the basic ground, what we really are. Our most fundamental state of mind, before the creation of the ego, is such that there is a basic openness, basic freedom, a spacious quality; and we have now and always had this openness… the confused mind is inclined to view itself as a solid on-going thing, but it is only a collection of tendencies, events. (Chogyam Trungpa, Cutting Through Spiritual Materialism, pp. 124–125.)
All forms of psychotherapy can be seen as a process of altering or modifying the patient’s self-image.
The final outcome is a modified self-image, usually a more expanded one, that allows more choice in experience and action, and hence less suffering.
(Beyond therapy: thawing ego boundaries until space is direct experience)
What if we go beyond this limit of trying to achieve a “normal” condition, if in fact we continue the process of working on the self-image starting with the normal person, the average healthy individual who already functions in a normal state? Working with such a person, who might be motivated to pursue such a process by an intuition of a deeper or truer state of being, we can continue bringing to consciousness elements of the self-image to be checked with “reality,” and allowing them to be modified or dissolved to encompass more “reality.” Through this process, the person’s experience of himself becomes more and more open and spacious until this openness culminates in the direct experience of the nature of the mind: space. It is a gradual process of thawing the frozen boundaries of the ego identity and liberating more and more space.
The theory and techniques of psychoanalysis and
but for the understanding of the nature of the mind.
space. As the individual understands himself more—in the process of resolving many emotional conflicts and dissolving many boundaries—his awareness develops and becomes refined. This gradual process of creating more openness and refining one’s awareness eventually produces the direct experience of space.
This means that at any point, the transference consists of a self-image, an object-image (in this case projected on the analyst), and an affect between the two. A unit of object relations is revived from the past and transferred onto the present relationship.
However, at the beginning of the therapeutic process, the focus will naturally be on the overall self-image and the overall projected image—generally the superego seen in the person of the analyst. So the overall self-image and the overall superego are usually analyzed first in a general way, the analysis proceeding to increasingly specific object relations as the process deepens. Both the self-image and the projected image are understood psychodynamically and genetically. Usually the process of psychotherapy focuses more on the affect in the object relation unit, which is usually called the transference feeling. Our methods here focus more on the self-image, so that more boundaries are dissolved and more space is liberated. This usually happens only implicitly in the process of psychotherapy.
The transference is expressed more and more directly by means of a certain object relation which is used defensively against an opposing one reflecting the repressed drive derivatives. In the case of both defense and impulse determined object relations, the patient may re-enact the self-representation of that unit while projecting the object representation onto the analyst or, at other times, project his self-representation onto the analyst while identifying with the object representation of the unit. (Ibid., p. 211.)
The deepening experience of space is bound to reach such deep recesses of the mind, since it will ultimately, if pursued completely, uncover all repressed content of the unconscious.
This is due to many factors: i. Distorted body-image is frequent and has obvious painful emotional consequences. ii. Distorted sexual body-image is the most frequent and the most distressing in terms of consequences. iii. When an unconscious distorted body-image is revealed to consciousness, it is easy to check it against reality, for reality in this case is the actual body of the individual. This is in contrast to the psychological self-image, which is usually much harder to check against “reality” because “reality” in this case is not as defined and clear as the physical body.
iv. In studying body-image, the individual is already acutely aware of spatial extension and hence becomes easily aware of space in its dimension as a spatial openness. v. As we will see later, much of the defensive structure is an attempt to fill or repress the genital hole, which we mentioned in some of the case histories. This self-image of an empty dark hole occurs in both men and women. From one perspective it is a state of castration; from another, deeper perspective it is experienced as a deficient and empty state of the self. We will show later that both perspectives function as a unity, although the perspective of genital castration surfaces first. The castration perspective is operative in the process of experiencing space through analyzing the sexual body-image, because understanding the genital hole leads directly and smoothly to the experience of space. vi. Superego analysis can lead to space through bringing the genital hole to awareness. As Kernberg says in the passage quoted above, it is the superego that is usually first encountered in the transference. Continued analysis and psychodynamic understanding of the superego in its various representations will ultimately lead to the main pillar of this part of the psychic structure, namely the castration complex. According to Freud, the superego is developed mainly to repress the Oedipus complex which in turn is due to castration anxiety:
Unconscious intrapsychic conflicts are never simple conflicts between impulse and defense; rather, the drive derivative finds expression through a certain primitive object relation (a certain unit of self- and object-representation); and the defense, too, is reflected by a certain internalized object relation. The conflict is between these intrapsychic structures. Thus, all character defenses really reflect the activation of a defensive constellation of self- and object-representations directed against an opposite and dreaded repressed self- and object-constellation. (Harold P. Blum, op. cit., p. 210.)
The interpretation of this object relation made him aware of the repressed unit, which is the image of himself as an angry and rebellious child, of me as a cruel castrating father, and of the affect of murderous rage. In the process of becoming aware of the self-image which was involved in his resistance and comparing this with his conscious self-image, space manifested. Space then dissolved or erased his defensive self-image, allowing to emerge the defended-against image of the rebellious and angry child, an aspect of his character I had seen for some time, but which he could not acknowledge until this time.
The perception of the body, both from outside and inside, becomes objective. Space seems to allow objective perception. In terms of physical reality, it removes distortion. This is the reason that when an individual experiences space while retaining unconscious distortions of body-image, distortions in the perception of physical reality result that are sometimes experienced as spatial hallucinations or disturbances in the perception of body balance.
This illustrates the primary reason for the extreme difficulty encountered when an individual attempts to achieve a clear experience of open space through meditation techniques, as in Eastern spiritual schools; for the experience of space, because it involves the dissolving of defenses, will bring into consciousness any distortions in body-image. The defense mechanisms of the ego will then automatically mobilize to
prevent consciousness of the affective experiences associated with these distortions. This mobilization of defenses in effect amounts to the repression of space. Space not only reveals distortions, but because it exposes self-boundaries, it naturally brings into consciousness all the identifications making up these boundaries, as well as any affects and memories connected to them. Naturally then, space will be vehemently defended against. Space is actually dynamically repressed; and this fact, besides explaining the difficulty in experiencing space, indicates the usefulness of psychodynamic techniques to those seeking this experience.
A crucial aspect of our technique is holding both images—the conscious self-image and the newly arising unconscious self-image—simultaneously in one’s attention for the space to appear and for the affects to become conscious. Evidence suggests that if the person becomes aware of a previously unconscious self-image without contrasting it with the conscious one, not much happens, or rather, resistances against affects seem to stay in force.
Here it suffices to say that the ego identity becomes increasingly “transparent”; the person’s experience depends less and less on unconscious self-images and object relations units. Thus the person comes into clearer, more objective contact with the environment, and as the experience of space is allowed, there arises naturally within that space a clear, full presence, which without the rigidity and defensiveness of ego can assume ego’s functions in a vastly more mature, objective and deeply fulfilling manner.
This challenge usually manifests as anxiety, because the exposure of unconscious self-boundaries actually lifts certain repressions, and the possibility of lifting any repression arouses anxiety. This is because repression is a response to anxiety:
However, in the deeper experiences of space another kind of anxiety becomes more important—what is called object anxiety, the fear of disintegration or of losing one’s sense of identity. This is understandable since space erases boundaries, some of which make up the self-image which forms the sense of ego identity. So space is really experienced as a threat to the ego. In fact it is a threat to a rigid and frozen ego that needs its territory, boundaries, and separateness in order to be defended.
Penny is a beautiful young woman with a dependent self-image who has been experiencing difficulty in having the close intimate relationship she has longed for over many years. She has already become aware of the body-image of a cavity in the pelvic region, but has not yet admitted to wanting her mother. Every time she comes close to this feeling, she starts feeling frustrated and cold, which leads to feelings of anger toward her mother and to wishes of pushing her away.
(The golden merged state: what we really seek in intimacy)
It is interesting to note here that the desire for merging is not really a desire for another person, it is rather a desire for the merged state, the golden and sweet fullness.
It is not uncommon for the merged state to arise when space is allowed.
This state of love turns out to be the shiny golden state. The more she recognizes the state, the more it expands. She feels as if there are running rivers inside her. She feels pleasure, love, merging. She recognizes her feeling as what she has always sought in intimate relationships.
Space is not always needed for experiencing the merged state, nor does space always lead to this golden merged state. But allowing the experience of the symbiotic wish without resistance or fear always leads to the golden merged fullness. And as we have seen, awareness of the empty cavity, whose connection with space we will further elucidate in later chapters, often brings awareness of the symbiotic wish.
In this case, space simultaneously holds two opposites: emptiness and fullness. It feels empty and light, but also feels full and has density. Space here is not an absence, but a presence. This is unfamiliar for the ordinary mind. However, this unfamiliarity is only a boundary that can be dissolved, or in this case itself seen as a space. This phenomenon is known in Buddhism and referred to as the unity of emptiness and form. The prajna-paramita sutra says: “Form is empty, emptiness is form; form is no other than emptiness, emptiness is no other than form.” (Chogyam Trungpa, Cutting Through Spiritual Materialism, p. 188.)
Spiritual and metaphysical schools have always maintained that there is more to a human being than the usual personality whose categories of experience are limited to physical sensations, emotions, and mental thoughts and images. For this reason, many adherents of these schools criticize and even reject Western psychology and psychoanalysis; for the various formulations of psychology do not admit of other categories of experience. Similarly, then, psychologists of most persuasions either ignore or reject the ideas of the spiritual and metaphysical schools. The aspect of a human being that is not the product of physical heredity, environment or upbringing, is sometimes referred to as Essence or Being.
(Essence vs personality: Gurdjieff on what is truly one’s own)
G.I. Gurdjieff, a Russian teacher of essential development, gives a clear differentiation between personality and essence: It must be understood that man consists of two parts: essence and personality. Essence in man is what is his own, personality in man is what is “not his own.” “Not his own” means what has come from outside, what he has learned, or reflects, all traces of exterior impressions left in the memory and in the sensations, all words and movements that have been learned, all feelings created by imitation—all this is “not his own,” all this is personality… A small child has no personality yet. He is what he really is. He is essence. His desires, tastes, likes, dislikes, express his being such as it is… Essence is the truth in man; personality is the false. But in proportion as personality grows, essence manifests itself more and more rarely, and more and more feebly, and it very often happens that essence stops in its growth at a very early age and grows no further. It happens very often that the essence of a grown up man, even that of a very intellectual and, in the accepted meaning of the word, highly “educated” man, stops on the level of a child of five or six. (P.D. Ouspensky, In Search of the Miraculous, pp. 162–163.)
The birth (finding) and development of the personal essence has to do with the issues of symbiosis and separation-individuation. This is because the personal essence is the real person, which is usually usurped by the ego-personality.
Seeing and experiencing the empty hole will shed light on all the reactions and associations at once, and put them within a unified perspective. The feeling of weakness, of passivity, of inferiority, of dependency, of castration, and the defenses against all of these, like feelings of superiority and attempts at getting recognition and approval, are all mere reactions to the empty hole.
(The path through the empty hole to Being and essence)
The way to space is obvious and easy: The self-image must be uncovered and understood. All defenses against the empty hole must be recognized and understood. Phallic identifications which are used for defensive purposes must be broken down and dismantled. This leads to the experience of castration, of emptiness, of deficiency. Now identification with this state must be seen and understood. This reveals the genital hole. Experiencing this emptiness, accepting it and understanding it allows it to develop into space, the spacious nature of our mind. This freedom, this peace, then allows the unfolding of our true Being, our essence. This is a fundamental change; the very identity is shifted. This experience of emptiness which allows the unfoldment of Being is expressed beautifully in the following passage by J. Krishnamurti:
Just as will infuses men with a sense of manhood and women with a sense of femininity, softness and delicacy do the same for both sexes. Softness, delicacy, and sweetness are culturally seen to be feminine qualities. However, regardless of how they are referred to, they have nothing to do with sexual differences. They are qualities of Being, which transcend gender. We return to a previous case, Mark, who at some point allowed the full experience of space. We find him here in a private session where breathing and methods to move energy are used.