Psychotherapy is the only form of therapy there is. Since only the mind can be sick, only the mind can be healed.
The problem
The problem is our view of ourselves as a weak “self” at the mercy of a cruel world. We see the world and the external forces as causing our suffering and see ourselves as experiencing the effect of these forces.
No one in this world escapes fear, but everyone can reconsider its causes and learn to evaluate them correctly.
The process of therapy
Psychotherapy is there to get us out of our illusions and into the truth. The truth is that we are not the effect of the world. We are not a weak “self” at the mercy of a cruel world. That whole picture is false. We have projected the world we see and we have constructed the “self” we believe in, which is just a self-concept. Thus, our mind is the prime cause and what we experience is its effects.
The therapist-patient relationship itself is a powerful healing agent, for in it the patient experiences a different self/world dynamic.
The goal of therapy
The goal of therapy is for the patient to let go of his anger by ceasing to see himself as a weak self at the mercy of a cruel world. Once his mind is cleansed of attack, he sees himself differently; he acquires a “beneficent self-concept.”
But this is not the goal with which patients enter therapy. Rather than letting go of their self-concept, they want to supercharge it. They want to gain new powers in therapy that enable them to win their war with the world. They want to solve their suffering without changing anything of substance on the inside. In contrast, the therapist’s initial goal is to change the patient “in some way that he believes is real.” They thus start out with conflicting goals. Their task is to give up these original goals and join in the true goal of therapy, for “it is only in relationships that salvation can be found.”
Psychotherapy’s whole function is to help the patient deal with one fundamental error; the belief that anger brings him something he really wants, and that by justifying attack he is protecting himself. To whatever extent he comes to realize that this is an error, to that extent is he truly saved.
Limits
Ideally, psychotherapy is a series of holy encounters in which brothers meet to bless each other and to receive the peace of God. Yet the ideal outcome is rarely achieved. Why is this so? Because of limits on progress, limits which typically make progress slow, inconsistent, and unreliable.
Limit #1: Readiness
Therapy begins with the realization that healing is of the mind, and in psychotherapy those have come together who already believe this. It may be they will not get much further, for no one learns beyond his own readiness. What the patient is ready for is the next step, not four steps down the road.
Limit #2: Resistance
The ego does not want to allow any real change and will resist the therapist trying to introduce it.
Resistance the ego’s way of looking at things; its interpretation of progress and growth. These interpretations will be wrong of necessity, because they are delusional. The changes the ego seeks to make are not really changes. They are but deeper shadows, or perhaps different cloud patterns. Yet what is made of nothingness cannot be called new or different. Illusions are illusions; truth is truth.
One asks for help; another hears and tries to answer in the form of help. This is the formula for salvation, and must heal.
Role of the psychotherapist
The psychotherapist is both a leader and a follower—walking ahead of the patient and behind the Real Helper. The psychotherapist is a leader in the sense that he walks slightly ahead of the patient, and helps him to avoid a few of the pitfalls along the road by seeing them first. Ideally, he is also a follower, for One should walk ahead of him to give him light to see. Without this One, both will merely stumble blindly on to nowhere. It is, however, impossible that this One be wholly absent if the goal is healing.
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Book a psychotherapy session.
Our session will be on Zoom in a secure and confidential environment and will last 60 minutes. Up to 6 sessions may be required. These sessions are offered free of charge.