Abstract
Modern research of holotropic states (a large special subgroup of
non-ordinary states of consciousness), such as experiential psychotherapy,
clinical and laboratory work with psychedelic substances, field
anthropology, thanatology, and therapy with individuals undergoing
psychospiritual crises ('spiritual emergencies'), has generated a plethora
of extraordinary observations that have undermined some of the most
fundamental assumptions of modern psychiatry, psychology, and
psycho-therapy.
Some of these new findings seriously challenge the most basic philosophical
tenets of Western science concerning the relationship between matter, life,
and consciousness. This paper summarizes the most important major revisions
that would have to be made in our understanding of consciousness and of the
human psyche in health and disease to accommodate these conceptual
challenges:
1. Contrary to academic science, the 'software' of the human psyche is not
limited to postnatal biography and the Freudian individual unconscious. The
individual human psyche includes two important additional dimensions - the
perinatal domain, closely related to the trauma of birth, and the
transpersonal realm, the source of experiences transcending the body-ego -
and is essentially commensurate with all of existence.
2. Emotional and psychosomatic disorders of psychogenic origin cannot be
adequately explained from postnatal traumatic events; they have significant
perinatal and transpersonal roots. For this reason, effective psychotherapy
has to include these transbiographical domains and cannot be limited to the
work on the material from postnatal life.
3. In addition to manipulation of biographical material that is currently
used by various schools of Western psychotherapy, holotropic states offer
powerful experiential healing mechanisms that become available on the
perinatal and transpersonal levels of the psyche, such as reliving of
biological birth and the experience of psychospiritual death and rebirth,
past life experiences, archetypal sequences, episodes of cosmic unity, and
others.
4. Holotropic states, whether spontaneous or induced, mobilize intrinsic
healing forces within the organism. Properly understood and supported, they
can result in emotional and psychosomatic healing, positive personality
transformation, and consciousness evolution. They offer therapeutic
possibilities that are radically different from and superior to the
conventional efforts to rationally understand the dynamics of emotional
disorders and treat them by verbal psychotherapeutic interventions
reflecting the beliefs of various schools of psychotherapy.
5. Spirituality in its genuine form is a legitimate and important dimension
of existence and it is incorrect to discount it as a product of ignorance,
superstition, primitive magical thinking, or pathology. Mystical
experiences should not be seen as indications of mental disease, but as
normal and highly desirable manifestations of the human psyche that have
extraordinary healing and transformative potential.
6. Many of the experiences in non-ordinary states of consciousness
seriously challenge not only the current psychiatric and psychological
theories, but also the basic philosophical assumptions of Western
materialistic science concerning the nature of reality and the relationship
between matter and consciousness. In the light of the new findings,
consciousness is not a product of the neurophysiological processes in the
brain, but a fundamental aspect of existence that is mediated, but not
produced by the brain.
Holotropic Experiences and Their Healing and Heuristic Potential
The source of observations explored in this article has been long-term
systematic study of what academic psychiatry calls 'altered' or
'non-ordinary states of consciousness.' The primary focus of this research
was on experiences that represent a useful source of data about the human
psyche and on those that have a healing, transformative, and evolutionary
potential. For this purpose, the term 'non-ordinary states of
consciousness' is too general; it includes a wide range of conditions that
are not interesting or relevant from this point of view.
Consciousness can be profoundly changed by a variety of pathological
processes -- by cerebral traumas, by intoxications with poisonous
chemicals, by infections, or by degenerative and circulatory processes in
the brain. Such conditions can result in profound mental changes that would
be included in the broad category of 'non-ordinary states of
consciousness'. However, they cause 'trivial deliria' or 'organic
psychoses', states associated with general disorientation, impairment of
intellect, and subsequent amnesia. These conditions are very important
clinically, but are not of great interest for consciousness researchers.
This article summarizes observations focusing on a large and important
subgroup of non-ordinary states of consciousnes for which contemporary
psychiatry does not have a specific term. I have come to the conclusion
that, because of their unique characteristics, they deserve to be
distinguished from the rest and placed into a special category. For this
reason, I coined for them the name holotropic. This composite word
literally means "oriented toward wholeness" or "moving in the direction of
wholeness" (from the Greek holos = whole and trepein = moving toward or in
the direction of something). The full meaning of this term and the
justification for its use will become clear later in this paper. This name
suggests that in our everyday state of consciousness we are fragmented and
identify with only a small fraction of who we really are.
In holotropic states, consciousness is changed qualitatively in a very
profound and fundamental way, but it is not grossly impaired like in
organic psychoses or trivial deliria. We experience invasion of other
dimensions of existence that can be very intense and even overwhelming.
However, at the same time, we typically remain fully oriented and do not
completely lose touch with everyday reality. Holotropic states are
characterized by a specific transformation of consciousness associated with
dramatic perceptual changes in all sensory areas, intense and often unusual
emotions, and profound alterations in the thought processes. They are also
usually accompanied by a variety of intense psychosomatic manifestations
and unconventional forms of behavior.
The content of holotropic states is often spiritual or mystical. We can
experience sequences of psychological death and rebirth and a broad
spectrum of transpersonal phenomena, such as feelings of union and
identification with other people, nature, the universe, and God. We might
uncover what seem to be memories from other incarnations, encounter
powerful archetypal figures, communicate with discarnate beings, and visit
numerous mythological landscapes. Our consciousness might separate from our
body and yet retain its capacity to perceive the immediate environment and
remote locations.
Western psychiatrists are aware of the existence of holotropic experiences
but, because of their narrow conceptual framework limited to postnatal
biography and the Freudian individual unconscious, they have no adequate
explanation for them. They see them as pathological products of the brain,
symptomatic of a serious mental disease, psychosis. This conclusion is not
supported by clinical findings and is highly problematic, to say the least.
Referring to these conditions as 'endogenous psychoses' might sound
impressive to a lay person, but amounts to little more than acknowledgment
of the professionals' ignorance concerning the etiology of these conditions.
It is hard to imagine that and how a pathological process inflicting the
brain could produce the rich and intricate spectrum of holotropic
experiences, involving such phenomena as shattering sequences of
psychospiritual death and rebirth, encounters with archetypal beings,
visits to mythological realms, past life sequences from other cultures, or
visions of flying saucers and alien abduction experiences. In addition,
careful study of the nature of these experiences and the information they
convey directly contradicts such an interpretation. One of the tasks of
this paper is to explore the ontological status of holotropic experiences
and to demonstrate that they are phenomena sui generis - normal
manifestations of the human psyche that have a great healing and heuristic
potential.
Ancient and aboriginal cultures have spent much time and energy developing
powerful mind-altering techniques that can induce holotropic states. These
'technologies of the sacred' combine in different ways chanting, breathing,
drumming, rhythmic dancing, fasting, social and sensory isolation, extreme
physical pain, and other elements (Eliade 1964, Campbell 1984). Many
cultures have used for this purpose botanical materials containing
psychedelic alkaloids (Stafford 1977, Schultes and Hofmann 1979).
The most famous examples of these plants are several varieties of hemp,
'magic' mushrooms, the Mexican cactus peyote, South American and Caribbean
snuffs, the African shrub eboga, and the Amazonian jungle liana
Banisteriopsis caapi, the source of yagé or ayahuasca. Among psychedelic
materials of animal origins are the secretions of the skin of certain toads
and the flesh of the Pacific fish Kyphosus fuscus.
Additional important triggers of holotropic experiences are various forms
of systematic spiritual practice involving meditation, concentration,
breathing, and movement exercises, that are used in different systems of
yoga, Vipassana or Zen Buddhism, Tibetan Vajrayana, Taoism, Christian
mysticism, Sufism, or Cabalah. Other techniques were used in the ancient
mysteries of death and rebirth, such as the Egyptian temple initiations of
Isis and Osiris and the Greek Bacchanalia, rites of Attis and Adonis, and
the Eleusinian mysteries. The specifics of the procedures involved in these
secret rites have remained for the most part unknown, although it is likely
that psychedelic preparations played an important part in them (Wasson,
Hofmann, and Ruck 1978).
Among modern means of inducing holotropic states of consciousness are pure
active principles isolated from psychedelic plants (mescaline, psilocybine,
tryptamine derivatives, harmaline, ibogaine, cannabinols, and others),
substances synthetized in the laboratory (LSD, amphetamine entheogens, and
ketamine) (Shulgin and Shulgin 1991), and powerful experiential forms of
psychotherapy, such as hypnosis, neo-Reichian approaches, primal therapy,
and rebirthing. My wife Christina and I have developed holotropic
breathwork, a powerful method that can facilitate profound holotropic
states by very simple means - conscious breathing, evocative music, and
focused bodywork (Grof 1988).
There also exist very effective laboratory techniques for altering
consciousness. One of these is sensory isolation, which involves
significant reduction of meaningful sensory stimuli. In its extreme form
the individual is deprived of sensory input by submersion in a dark and
soundproof tank filled with water of body temperature (Lilly 1977). Another
well-known laboratory method of changing consciousness is biofeedback,
where the individual is guided by electronic feedback signals into
non-ordinary states of consciousness characterized by preponderance of
certain specific frequencies of brainwaves (Green and Green 1978). We could
also mention here the techniques of sleep and dream deprivation and lucid
dreaming (LaBerge 1985).
It is important to emphasize that episodes of holotropic states of varying
duration can also occur spontaneously, without any specific identifiable
cause, and often against the will of the people involved. Since modern
psychiatry does not differentiate between mystical or spiritual states and
mental diseases, people experiencing these states are often labeled
psychotic, are hospitalized, and receive routine suppressive
psychopharmacological treatment. My wife and I see these states as
psychospiritual crises or 'spiritual emergencies.' We believe that properly
supported and treated, they can result in emotional and psychosomatic
healing, positive personality transformation, and consciousness evolution
(Grof and Grof 1989, 1990).
Ancient and pre-industrial cultures have held holotropic states in high
esteem, practiced them regularly in socially sanctioned contexts, and spent
much time and energy developing safe and effective techniques of inducing
them. These states have been the main vehicle for their ritual and
spiritual life, as a means of direct communication with the archetypal
domains of deities and demons, forces of nature, animal realm, and the
cosmos. Additional uses involved diagnosing and healing diseases,
cultivating intuition and ESP, and obtaining artistic inspiration, as well
as practical purposes, such as locating game and finding lost objects and
people. According to anthropologist Victor Turner, sharing in groups also
contributes to tribal bonding and tends to create a sense of deep
connectedness (communitas).
Western psychiatry and psychology do not see holotropic states (with the
exception of dreams that are not recurrent or frightening) as potential
sources of valuable information about the human psyche and of healing, but
basically as pathological phenomena. Traditional clinicians tend to use
indiscriminately pathological labels and suppressive medication whenever
these states occur spontaneously. Michael Harner, an anthropologist of good
academic standing, who also underwent a shamanic initiation during his
field work in the Amazonian jungle and practices shamanism, suggests that
Western psychiatry is seriously biased in at least two significant ways
(Harner 1980).
It is ethnocentric, which means that it considers its own view of the human
psyche and of reality to be the only correct one and superior to all those
shared by other cultural groups. From this perspective, experiences and
behaviors for which there is no psychoanalytic or behaviorist explanation
are attributed to mental disease. According to Harner, Western psychiatry
is also 'cognicentric' (a more accurate word might be 'pragmacentric'),
meaning that it takes into consideration only experiences and observations
in the ordinary state of consciousness. Psychiatry's disinterest in
holotropic states and disregard for them has resulted in a culturally
insensitive approach and a tendency to pathologize all activities that
cannot be understood in the narrow context of the monistic materialistic
paradigm. This includes the ritual and spiritual life of ancient and
pre-industrial cultures and the entire spiritual history of humanity.
If we study systematically the experiences and observations associated with
holotropic states, it leads inevitably to a radical revision of our basic
ideas about consciousness and about the human psyche and to an entirely new
approach to psychiatry, psychology, and psychotherapy. The changes we would
have to make in our thinking fall into several large categories:
1. New understanding and cartography of the human psyche.
2. The nature and architecture of emotional and psychosomatic disorders.
3. Therapeutic mechanisms and the process of healing.
4. The strategy of psychotherapy and self-exploration.
5. The role of spirituality in human life.
6. The nature of reality.
1. New understanding and cartography of the human psyche.
Traditional academic psychiatry and psychology uses a model of the psyche
that is limited to postnatal biography, and the Freudian individual
unconscious. To account for all the phenomena occurring in holotropic
states, our understanding of the dimensions of the human psyche has to be
drastically expanded. I have myself suggested a cartography or model of the
psyche that contains, in addition to the usual biographical level, two
transbiographical realms: the perinatal domain, related to the trauma of
biological birth; and the transpersonal domain, which accounts for such
phenomena as experiential identification with other people, animals, and
plants, visions of archetypal and mythological beings and realms,
ancestral, racial, and karmic experiences, and identification with the
Universal Mind or the Void (Grof 1975). These are experiences that have
been described throughout ages in the religious, mystical, and occult
literature.
Postnatal Biography and the Individual Unconscious
The biographical level of the psyche does not require much discussion,
since it is well known from official professional literature. As a matter
of fact, it is what traditional psychiatry, psychology, and psychotherapy
are all about. However, there are a few important differences between
exploring this domain through verbal psychotherapy and through approaches
using holotropic states. First, in powerful experiential therapies, one
does not just remember emotionally significant events or reconstruct them
indirectly from dreams, slips of the tongue, or from transference
distortions. One experiences the original emotions, physical sensations,
and even sensory perceptions in full age regression. That means that during
the reliving of an important trauma from infancy or childhood, one actually
has the body image, the naive perception of the world, sensations, and the
emotions corresponding to the age he or she was at that time.
The second difference between the work on the biographical material in
holotropic states, as compared with verbal psychotherapies, is that in the
former, beside confronting the usual psychotraumas, people often have to
relive and integrate traumas that were primarily of a physical nature. Many
people have to process experiences of near drowning, operations, accidents,
and children's diseases, particularly those that were associated with
suffocation, such as diphtheria, whooping cough, or aspiration of a foreign
object.
This material emerges quite spontaneously and without any programing. As it
surfaces, people realize that these physical traumas have actually played a
significant role in the psychogenesis of their emotional and psychosomatic
problems, such as asthma, migraine headaches, a variety of psychosomatic
pains, phobias, sadomasochistic tendencies, or depression and suicidal
tendencies. The reliving of such traumatic memories and their integration
can then have very far-reaching therapeutic consequences. This contrasts
sharply with the attitudes of academic psychiatry and psychology which do
not recognize the direct psychotraumatic impact of physical insults.
Another new information about the biographical-recollective level of the
psyche that emerged from my psychedelic and holotropic research was the
discovery that emotionally relevant memories are not stored in the
unconscious as a mosaic of isolated imprints, but in the form of complex
dynamic constellations. I coined for them the name COEX systems, which is
short for 'systems of condensed experience.' A COEX system consists of
emotionally charged memories from different periods of our life that
resemble each other in the quality of emotion or physical sensation that
they share. Each COEX has a basic theme that permeates all its layers and
represents their common denominator. The individual layers then contain
variations on this basic theme that occurred at different periods of the
person's life.
The nature of the central theme varies considerably from one COEX to
another. The layers of a particular system can, for example contain all the
major memories of humiliating, degrading, and shaming experiences that have
damaged our self-esteem. In another COEX system, the common denominator
can be anxiety experienced in various shocking and terrifying situations or
claustrophobic and suffocating feelings evoked by oppressive and confining
circumstances. Rejection and emotional deprivation damaging our ability to
trust men, women, or people in general, is another common motif.
Situations that have generated in us profound feelings of guilt and a sense
of failure, events that have left us with a conviction that sex is
dangerous or disgusting, and encounters with indiscriminate aggression and
violence can be added to the above list as characteristic examples.
Particularly important are COEX systems that contain memories of encounters
with situations endangering life, health, and integrity of the body.
When I first described the COEX systems in the early stages of my
psychedelic research, I thought that they governed the dynamics of the
biographical level of the unconscious. As my experience with holotropic
states became richer and more extensive, I realized that the roots of the
COEX systems reach much deeper. Each of the COEX constellations seems to be
superimposed over and anchored in a particular aspect of the trauma of
birth. In addition, a typical COEX system reaches even further and has its
deepest roots in various forms of transpersonal phenomena, such as past
life experiences, Jungian archetypes, conscious identification with various
animals, and others. At present, I see the COEX systems as general
organizing principles of the human psyche. The concept of COEX systems
resembles to some extent Jung's ideas about psychological complexes (Jung
1960) and Hanskarl Leuner's transphenomenal dynamic systems Leuner 1962),
but has many features that differentiate it from both of these concepts.
The COEX systems play an important role in our psychological life. They can
influence the way we perceive ourselves, other people, and the world and
how we feel about them. They are the dynamic forces behind our emotional
and psychosomatic symptoms, difficulties in relationships with other
people, and irrational behavior. There exists a dynamic interplay between
the COEX systems and the external world. External events in our life can
specifically activate corresponding COEX systems and, conversely, active
COEX systems can make us perceive and behave in such a way that we recreate
their core themes in our present life (Grof 1975).
Before continuing our discussion of the new extended cartography of the
human psyche, it is important to briefly mention a very important and
extraordinary characteristic of holotropic states that played an important
role in charting the experiential territories of the psyche and that also
is invaluable for the process of psychotherapy. Holotropic states tend to
engage something like an 'inner radar,' that automatically brings into
consciousnes the contents from the unconscious that have the strongest
emotional charge and are most psychodynamically relevant at the time. This
represents a great advantage in comparison with verbal psychotherapy, where
the client presents a broad array of information of various kind and the
therapist has to decide what is important, what is irrelevant, and where
the client is blocking.
Since there is no general agreement about basic theoretical issues among
different schools, such assessments will always be idiosyncratic. They will
reflect the perspectives of the therapist's school, as well as his or her
personal views. The holotropic states save the therapist such difficult
decisions and eliminate much of the personal and professional bias of the
verbal approaches. This automatic selection of relevant material by the
patient's psyche also spontaneously guides the process of self-exploration
beyond the biographical level and directs it to the perinatal and
transpersonal levels of the psyche. These are transbiographical domains not
recognized and acknowledged in academic psychiatry and psychology.
The Perinatal Level of the Psyche
When our process of deep experiential self-exploration moves beyond the
level of memories from childhood and infancy and reaches back to birth, we
start encountering emotions and physical sensations of extreme intensity,
often surpassing anything we previously considered humanly possible. At
this point, the experiences become a strange mixture of the themes of birth
and death. They involve a sense of a severe, life-threatening confinement
and a desperate and determined struggle to free ourselves and survive. This
intimate relationship between birth and death on the perinatal level
reflects the fact that birth is a potentially life - threatening event. The
child and the mother can actually lose their lives during this process and
children might be born severely blue from asphyxiation, or even dead and in
need of resuscitation.
The reliving of various aspects of biological birth can be very authentic
and convincing and often replays this process in photographic detail. This
can occur even in people who have no intellectual knowledge about their
birth and lack elementary obstetric information. We can, for example,
discover through direct experience that we had a breech birth, that a
forceps was used during our delivery, or that we were born with the
umbilical cord twisted around the neck. We can feel the anxiety, biological
fury, physical pain, and suffocation associated with this terrifying event
and even accurately recognize the type of anesthesia used when we were
born. This is often accompanied by various postures and movements of the
head and body that accurately recreate the mechanics of a particular type
of delivery. All these details can be confirmed if good birth records or
reliable personal witnesses are available.
The strong representation of birth and death in our psyche and the close
association between them might surprise traditional psychologists and
psychiatrists, but is actually logical and easily understandable. The
delivery brutally terminates the intrauterine existence of the fetus. He or
she 'dies' as an aquatic organism and is born as an air-breathing,
physiologically, and even anatomically, different form of life. And the
passage through the birth canal is itself a difficult and potentially life
- threatening situation.
It is not so easy to understand, why the perinatal dynamics also regularly
includes a sexual component. And yet, when we are reliving the final stages
of birth in the role of the fetus, this is typically associated with an
unusually strong sexual arousal. The same is true for delivering women, who
can experience a mixture of fear of death and intense sexual excitement.
This connection seems strange and puzzling, particularly as far as the
fetus is concerned, and certainly deserves a few words of explanation.
There seems to be a mechanism in the human organism that transforms extreme
suffering, especially when it is associated with suffocation, into a
particular form of sexual arousal. This experiential connection can be
observed in a variety of situations other than birth. People who had tried
to hang themselves and were rescued in the last moment typically describe
that, at the height of suffocation, they felt an almost unbearable sexual
arousal. It is known that males executed by hanging typically have an
erection and even ejaculate.
The literature on torture and brainwashing describes that inhuman physical
suffering often triggers states of sexual ecstasy. In the sects of
flagellants, who regularly engage in self-inflicted torture, and in
religious martyrs, subjected to unimaginable torments, extreme physical
pain at a certain point changes into sexual arousal and eventually results
in ecstatic rapture and transcendental experiences. In a less extreme form,
this mechanism operates in various sadomasochistic practices that include
strangulation and choking.
The experiential spectrum of the perinatal domain of the unconscious is not
limited to emotions and physical sensations that can be derived from the
biological processes involved in childbirth. It also involves rich symbolic
imagery that is drawn from the transpersonal realms. The perinatal domain
is an important interface between the biographical and the transpersonal
levels of the psyche. It represents a gateway to the to historical and
archetypal aspects of the collective unconscious in the Jungian sense.
Since the specific symbolism of these experiences has its origin in the
collective unconscious, and not in the individual memory banks, it can come
from any geographical and historical context, as well as any spiritual
tradition of the world, quite independently from our racial, cultural,
educational, or religious background.
Identification with the infant facing the ordeal of the passage through the
birth canal seems to provide access to experiences of people from other
times and cultures, of various animals, and even mythological figures. It
is as if by connecting with the experience of the fetus struggling to be
born, one reaches an intimate, almost mystical, connection with the
consciousness of the human species and with other sentient beings who are
or have been in a similar difficult predicament.
Experiential confrontation with birth and death seems to result
automatically in a spiritual opening and discovery of the mystical
dimensions of the psyche and of existence. It does not seem to make a
difference whether this encounter with birth and death occurs in actual
life situations, such as in delivering women and in the context of
near-death experiences, or is purely symbolic. Powerful perinatal sequences
in psychedelic and holotropic sessions or in the course of spontaneous
psychospiritual crises ('spiritual emergencies') seem to have the same
effect.
Biological birth has three distinct stages. In the first one, the fetus is
periodically constricted by uterine contractions without having any chance
of escaping this situation, since the cervix is firmly closed. Continued
contractions pull the cervix over the fetus' head until it is sufficiently
dilated to allow the passage through the birth canal. Full dilation of the
cervix and descent of the head into the pelvis mark the transition from the
first to the second stage of delivery that is characterized by gradual
difficult propulsion through the birth pathways. And finally, in the third
stage, the newborn emerges from the birth canal and, after the umbilical
cord is cut, he or she becomes an anatomically independent organism.
At each of these stages, the baby experiences a specific and typical set of
intense emotions and physical sensations. These experiences leave deep
unconscious imprints in the psyche that later in life play an important
role in the life of the individual. Reinforced by emotionally important
experiences from infancy and childhood, the birth memories can shape the
perception of the world, profoundly influence everyday behavior, and
contribute to the development of various emotional and psychosomatic
disorders.
In holotropic states, this unconscious material can surface and be fully
experienced. When our process of deep self-exploration takes us back to
birth, we discover that reliving each stage of delivery is associated with
a distinct experiential pattern, characterized by a specific combination of
emotions, physical feelings, and symbolic images. I refer to these patterns
of experience as basic perinatal matrices (BPMs).
The first perinatal matrix (BPM I.) is related to the intrauterine
experience immediately preceding birth and the remaining three matrices
(BPM II. - BPM IV.) to the three clinical stages of delivery described
above. Besides containing elements that represent a replay of the original
situation of the fetus at a particular stage of birth, the basic perinatal
matrices also include various natural, historical, and mythological scenes
with similar experiential qualities drawn from the transpersonal realms.
The connections between the experiences of the consecutive stages of
biological birth and various symbolic images associated with them are very
specific and consistent. The reason why they emerge together is not
understandable in terms of conventional logic. However, that does not mean
that these associations are arbitrary and random. They have their own deep
order that can best be described as 'experiential logic'. What this means
is that the connection between the experiences characteristic for various
stages of birth and the concomitant symbolic themes are not based on some
formal external similarity, but on the fact that they share the same
emotional feelings and physical sensations.
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First Perinatal Matrix (BPM I).
While experiencing the episodes of undisturbed embryonal existence (BPM
I.), we often encounter images of vast regions with no boundaries or
limits. Sometimes we identify with galaxies, interstellar space, or the
entire cosmos, other times we have the experience of floating in the ocean
or of becoming various aquatic animals, such as fish, dolphins, or whales.
The undisturbed intrauterine experience can also open into visions of
nature - safe, beautiful, and unconditionally nourishing, like a good womb
(Mother Nature). We can see luscious orchards, fields of ripe corn,
agricultural terraces in the Andes, or unspoiled Polynesian islands. The
experience of the good womb can also provide selective access to the
archetypal domain of the collective unconscious and open into images of
paradises or heavens as they are described in the mythologies of different
cultures.
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When we are reliving episodes of intrauterine disturbances, or 'bad womb'
experiences, we have a sense of dark and ominous threat and we often feel
that we are being poisoned. We might see images that portray polluted
waters and toxic dumps. This reflects the fact that many prenatal
disturbances are caused by toxic changes in the body of the pregnant
mother. The experience of the toxic womb can be associated with visions of
frightening demonic figures from the archetypal realms of the collective
unconscious. Reliving of more violent interferences during prenatal
existence, such as an imminent miscarriage or attempted abortion, is
usually connected with a sense of universal threat or with bloody
apocalyptic visions of the end of the world.
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| | Second Basic Perinatal Matrix (BPM II).
When the experiential regression reaches the memory of the onset of
biological birth, we typically feel that we are being sucked into a
gigantic whirlpool or swallowed by some mythical beast. We might also
experience that the entire world or even cosmos is being engulfed. This can
be associated with images of devouring or entangling archetypal monsters,
such as leviathans, dragons, giant snakes, tarantulas, and octopuses. The
sense of overwhelming vital threat can lead to intense anxiety and general
mistrust bordering on paranoia. We can also experience a descent into the
depths of the underworld, the realm of death, or hell. As mythologist
Joseph Campbell so eloquently described, this is a universal motif in the
mythologies of the hero's journey (Campbell 1968).
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Reliving the fully developed first stage of biological birth when the
uterus is contracting, but the cervix is not yet open (BPM II.), is one of
the worst experiences a human being can have. We feel caught in a monstrous
claustrophobic nightmare, are suffering agonizing emotional and physical
pain, and have a sense of utter helplessness and hopelessness. Our feelings
of loneliness, guilt, absurdity of life, and existential despair can reach
metaphysical proportions. We lose connection with linear time and are
convinced that this situation will never end and that there is absolutely
no way out. There is no doubt in our mind that what is happening to us is
what the religions refer to as Hell - unbearable emotional and physical
torment without any hope for redemption. This can actually be accompanied
by archetypal images of devils and infernal landscapes from different
cultures.
When we are facing the dismal situation of no exit in the clutches of
uterine contractions, we can experientially connect with sequences from
the collective unconscious that involve people, animals, and even
mythological beings who are in a similar painful and hopeless predicament.
We identify with prisoners in dungeons, inmates of concentration camps or
insane asylums, and with animals caught in traps. We might experience the
intolerable tortures of sinners in hell or of Sisyphus rolling his boulder
up the mountain in the deepest pit of Hades.
Our pain can become the agony of Christ asking God why He has abandoned
him. It seems to us that we are facing the prospect of eternal damnation.
This state of darkness and abysmal despair is known from the spiritual
literature as the Dark Night of the Soul. From a broader perspective, in
spite of the feelings of utter hopelessness that it entails, this state is
an important stage of spiritual opening. If it is experienced to its full
depth, it can have an immensely purging and liberating effect on those who
experience it.
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| | Third Basic Perinatal Matrix (BPM III).
The experience of the second stage of birth, the propulsion through the
birth canal after the cervix opens and the head descends (BPM III.), is
unusually rich and dynamic. Facing the clashing energies and hydraulic
pressures involved in the delivery, we are flooded with images from the
collective unconscious portraying sequences of titanic battles and scenes
of bloody violence and torture. It is also during this phase that we are
confronted with sexual impulses and energies of problematic nature and
unusual intensity.
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It has already been described earlier that sexual arousal is an important
part of the experience of birth. This places our first encounter with
sexuality into a very precarious context, into a situation where our life
is threatened, where we are suffering pain as well as inflicting pain, and
where we are unable to breathe. At the same time, we are experiencing a
mixture of vital anxiety and primitive biological fury, the latter being an
understandable reaction of the fetus to this painful and life - threatening
experience. In the final stages of birth, we can also encounter various
forms of biological material - blood, mucus, urine, and even feces.
Because of these problematic connections, the experiences and images that
we encounter in this phase typically present sex in a grossly distorted
form. The strange mixture of sexual arousal with physical pain, aggression,
vital anxiety, and biological material leads to sequences that are
pornographic, aberrant, sadomasochistic, scatological, or even satanic. We
can be overwhelmed by dramatic scenes of sexual abuse, perversions, rapes,
and erotically motivated murders.
On occasion, these experiences can take the form of participation in
rituals featuring witches and satanists. This seems to be related to the
fact that reliving this stage of birth involves the same strange
combination of emotions, sensations, and elements that characterizes the
archetypal scenes of the Black Mass and of the Witches' Sabbath (Walpurgi's
Night). It is a mixture of sexual arousal, panic anxiety, aggression, vital
threat, pain, sacrifice, and encounter with ordinarily repulsive biological
materials. This peculiar experiential amalgam is associated with a sense of
sacredness or numinosity which reflects the fact that all this is unfolding
in close proximity to a spiritual opening.
This stage of the birth process can also be associated with countless
images from the collective unconscious portraying scenes of murderous
aggression, such as vicious battles, bloody revolutions, gory massacres,
and genocide. In all the violent and sexual scenes that we encounter at
this stage, we alternate between the role of the perpetrator and that of
the victim. This is the time of a major encounter with the dark side of our
personality, Jung's Shadow.
As this perinatal phase culminates and approaches resolution, many people
envision Jesus, the Way of the Cross, and crucifixion, or even actually
experience full identification with Jesus' suffering. The archetypal domain
of the collective unconscious contributes to this phase heroic mythological
figures and deities representing death and rebirth, such as the Egyptian
god Osiris, the Greek deities Dionysus and Persephone, or the Sumerian
goddess Inanna.
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| | Fourth Perinatal Matrix (BPM IV).
The reliving of the third stage of the birth process, of the actual
emergence into the world (BPM IV.), is typically initiated by the motif of
fire. We can have the feeling that our body is consumed by searing heat,
have visions of burning cities and forests, or identify with victims of
immolation. The archetypal versions of this fire can take the form of the
cleansing flames of Purgatory or of the legendary bird Phoenix, dying in
the heat of his burning nest and emerging from the ashes reborn and
rejuvenated. The purifying fire seems to destroy in us whatever is
corrupted and prepare us for spiritual rebirth. When we are reliving the
actual moment of birth, we experience it as complete annihilation and
subsequent rebirth and resurrection.
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To understand why we experience the reliving of biological birth as death
and rebirth, one has to realize that what happens to us is much more than
just a replay of the original event of childbirth. During the delivery, we
are completely confined in the birth canal and have no way of expressing
the extreme emotions and sensations involved. Our memory of this event thus
remains psychologically undigested and unassimilated. Much of our later
self - definition and our attitudes toward the world are heavily
contaminated by this constant deep reminder of the vulnerability,
inadequacy, and weakness that we experienced at birth. In a sense, we were
born anatomically but have not really caught up emotionally with the fact
that the emergency and danger are over.
The 'dying' and the agony during the struggle for rebirth reflect the
actual pain and vital threat of the biological birth process. However, the
ego death that immediately precedes rebirth is the death of our old
concepts of who we are and what the world is like, which were forged by the
traumatic imprint of birth. As we are purging these old programs from our
psyche and body by letting them emerge into consciousness, we are reducing
their energetic charge and curtail their destructive influence on our life.
From a larger perspective, this process is actually very healing and
transforming. And yet, as we are nearing its final resolution, we might
paradoxically feel that, as the old imprints are leaving our system, we are
dying with them. Sometimes, we not only experience the sense of personal
annihilation, but also the destruction of the world as we know it.
While only a small step separates us from the experience of radical
liberation, we have a sense of all-pervading anxiety and impending
catastrophe of enormous proportions. The impression of imminent doom can be
very convincing and overwhelming. The predominant feeling is that we are
losing all that we know and that we are. At the same time, we have no idea
what is on the other side, or even if there is anything there at all. This
fear is the reason that at this stage many people desperately resist the
process if they can. As a result, they can remain psychologically stuck in
this problematic territory for an indefinite period of time.
The encounter with the ego death is a stage of the spiritual journey when
we might need much encouragement and psychological support. When we succeed
in overcoming the metaphysical fear associated with this important juncture
and decide to let things happen, we experience total annihilation on all
imaginable levels. It involves physical destruction, emotional disaster,
intellectual and philosophical defeat, ultimate moral failure, and even
spiritual damnation. During this experience, all reference points,
everything that is important and meaningful in our life, seems to be
mercilessly destroyed.
Immediately following the experience of total annihilation - 'hitting
cosmic bottom'- we are overwhelmed by visions of light that has a
supernatural radiance and beauty and is usually perceived as sacred. This
divine epiphany can be associated with displays of beautiful rainbows,
diaphanous peacock designs, and visions of celestial realms with angelic
beings or deities appearing in light. This is also the time when we can
experience a profound encounter with the archetypal figure of the Great
Mother Goddess or one of her many culture - bound forms.
The experience of psychospiritual death and rebirth is a major step in the
direction of the weakening of our identification with the body-ego, or the
'skin-encapsulated ego,' as the British-American writer and philosopher
Alan Watts called it, and reconnecting with the transcendental domain. We
feel redeemed, liberated, and blessed and have a new awareness of our
divine nature and cosmic status. We also typically experience a strong
surge of positive emotions toward ourselves, other people, nature, God, and
existence in general. We are filled with optimism and have a sense of
emotional and physical well - being.
It is important to emphasize that this kind of healing and life - changing
experience occurs when the final stages of biological birth had a more or
less natural course. If the delivery was very debilitating or confounded
by heavy anesthesia, the experience of rebirth does not have the quality of
triumphant emergence into light. It is more like awakening and recovering
from a hangover with dizziness, nausea, and clouded consciousness. Much
additional psychological work might be needed to work through these
additional issues and the positive results are much less striking.
The perinatal domain of the psyche represents an experiential crossroad of
critical importance. It is not only the meeting point of three absolutely
crucial aspects of human biological existence - birth, sex, and death - but
also the dividing line between life and death, the individual and the
species, and the individual human psyche and the universal spirit. Full
conscious experience of the contents of this domain of the psyche with good
subsequent integration can have far - reaching consequences and lead to
spiritual opening and deep personal transformation.
The Transpersonal Domain of the Psyche
The second major domain that has to be added to mainstream psychiatry's
cartography of the human psyche when we work with holotropic states is now
known under the name transpersonal, meaning literally "beyond the personal"
or "transcending the personal". The experiences that originate on this
level involve transcendence of the usual boundaries of the individual (his
or her body and ego) and of the limitations of three-dimensional space and
linear time that restrict our perception of the world in the ordinary state
of consciousness. Transpersonal experiences are best defined by contrasting
them with the everyday experience of ourselves and the world - how we have
to experience ourselves and the environment to pass for 'normal' according
to the standards of our culture and of contemporary psychiatry (Grof 1975,
1988).
In the ordinary or "normal" state of consciousness, we experience ourselves
as Newtonian objects existing within the boundaries of our skin. As I
mentioned earlier, Alan Watts referred to this experience of oneself as
identifying with the "skin-encapsulated ego". Our perception of the
environment is restricted by the physiological limitations of our sensory
organs and by physical characteristics of the environment.
We cannot see objects we are separated from by a solid wall, ships that are
beyond the horizon, or the other side of the moon. If we are in Prague, we
cannot hear what our friends are talking about in San Francisco. We cannot
feel the softness of the lambskin unless the surface of our body is in
direct contact with it. In addition, we can experience vividly and with all
our senses only the events that are happening in the present moment. We can
recall the past and anticipate future events or fantasize about them;
however, these are very different experiences from an immediate and direct
experience of the present moment. In transpersonal states of consciousness,
however, none of these limitations are absolute; any of them can be
transcended.
Transpersonal experiences can be divided into three large categories. The
first of these involves primarily transcendence of the usual spatial
bariers, or the limitations of the 'skin-encapsulated ego.' Here belong
experiences of merging with another person into a state that can be called
'dual unity,' assuming the identity of another person, identifying with the
consciousness of an entire group of people (e.g. all mothers of the world,
the entire population of India, or all the inmates of concentration camps),
or even experiencing an extension of consciousness that seems to encompass
all of humanity. Experiences of this kind have been repeatedly described in
the spiritual literature of the world.
In a similar way, one can transcend the limits of the specifically human
experience and identify with the consciousness of various animals, plants,
or even a form of consciousness that seems to be associated with inorganic
objects and processes. In the extremes, it is possible to experience
consciousness of the entire biosphere, of our planet, or the entire
material universe. Incredible and absurd as it might seem to a Westerner
committed to monistic materialism, these experiences suggest that
everything we can experience in our everyday state of consciousness as an
object, has in the non-ordinary states of consciousness a corresponding
subjective representation. It is as if everything in the universe has its
objective and subjective aspect, the way it is described in the great
spiritual philosophies of the East (e.g. in Hinduism all that exists is
seen as a manifestation of Brahman, or in Taoism as a transformation of the
Tao).
The second category of transpersonal experiences is characterized primarily
by overcoming of temporal rather than spatial boundaries, by transcendence
of linear time. We have already talked about the possibility of vivid
reliving of important memories from infancy and of the trauma of birth.
This historical regression can continue farther and involve authentic fetal
and embryonal memories from different periods of intrauterine life. It is
not even unusual to experience, on the level of cellular consciousness,
full identification with the sperm and the ovum at the time of conception.
But the historical regression does not stop here and it is possible to
have experiences from the lives of one's human or animal ancestors, or even
those that seem to be coming from the racial and collective unconscious as
described by C. G. Jung (Jung 1956, 1959). Quite frequently, the
experiences that seem to be happening in other cultures and historical
periods are associated with a sense of personal remembering; people then
talk about reliving of memories from past lives, from previous incarnations.
In the transpersonal experiences described so far, the content reflects
various phenomena existing in spacetime. They involve elements of the
everyday familiar reality - other people, animals, plants, materials, and
events from the past. What is surprising here is not the content of these
experiences, but the fact that we can witness or fully identify with
something that is not ordinarily accessible to our experience. We know that
there are pregnant whales in the world, but we should not be able to have
an authentic experience of being one. The fact that there once was the
French revolution is readily acceptable, but we should not be able to have
a vivid experience of being there and lying wounded on the barricades of
Paris. We know that there are many things happening in the world in places
where we are not present, but it is usually considered impossible to
experience something that is happening in remote locations (without the
mediation of the television and a satelite). We may also be surprised to
find consciousness associated with lower animals, plants, and with
inorganic nature.
However, the third category of transpersonal experiences is even stranger
than the former two. Here consciousness seems to extend into realms and
dimensions that the Western industrial culture does not consider to be
'real.' Here belong numerous visions of archetypal beings and mythological
landscapes, encounters or even identification with deities and demons of
various cultures, and communication with discarnate beings, spirit guides,
suprahuman entities, extraterrestrials, and inhabitants of parallel
universes.
In its farthest reaches, individual consciousness can identify with Cosmic
Consciousness or the Universal Mind known under many different names -
Brahman, Buddha, the Cosmic Christ, Keter, Allah, the Tao, the Great
Spirit, and many others. The ultimate of all experiences appears to be
identification with the Supracosmic and Metacosmic Void, the mysterious and
primordial emptiness and nothingness that is conscious of itself and is the
ultimate cradle of all existence. It has no concrete content, yet it seems
to contain all there is in a germinal and potential form.
Transpersonal experiences have many strange characteristics that shatter
the most fundamental metaphysical assumptions of the Newtonian-Cartesian
paradigm and of the materialistic world view. Researchers who have studied
and/or personally experienced these fascinating phenomena realize that the
attempts of mainstream science to dismiss them as irrelevant products of
human fantasy and imagination or as hallucinations - erratic products of
pathological processes in the brain - are naive and inadequate. Any
unbiased study of the transpersonal domain of the psyche has to come to the
conclusion that these observations represent a critical challenge not only
for psychiatry and psychology, but for the entire philosophy of Western
science.
Although transpersonal experiences occur in the process of deep individual
self-exploration, it is not possible to interpret them simply as
intrapsychic phenomena in the conventional sense. On the one hand, they
appear on the same experiential continuum as the biographical and perinatal
experiences and are thus coming from within the individual psyche. On the
other hand, they seem to be able to tap directly, without the mediation of
the senses, sources of information that are clearly far beyond the
conventional reach of the individual. Somewhere on the perinatal level of
the psyche, a strange Moebius-like flip seems to occur and what was up to
that point deep intrapsychic probing becomes experiencing of the universe
at large through extrasensory means.
These observations indicate that we can obtain information about the
universe in two radically different ways: Besides the conventional
possibility of learning through sensory perception and analysis and
synthesis of the data, we can also find out about various aspects of the
world by direct identification with them in a holotropic state of
consciousness. Each of us thus appears to be a microcosm containing in a
holographic way the information about the macrocosm. In the mystical
traditions, this was expressed by such phrases as: "as above so below" or
"as without, so within."
The reports of subjects who have experienced episodes of embryonal
existence, the moment of conception, and elements of cellular, tissue, and
organ consciousness abound in medically accurate insights into the
anatomical, physiological, and biochemical aspects of the processes
involved. Similarly, ancestral, racial and collective memories and past
incarnation experiences provide quite frequently very specific details
about architecture, costumes, weapons, art forms, social structure, and
religious and ritual practices of the cultures and historical periods
involved, or even about concrete historical events.
People who experienced phylogenetic experiences or identification with
existing life forms not only found them unusually authentic and convincing,
but often acquired in the process extraordinary insights concerning animal
psychology, ethology, specific habits, or unusual reproductive cycles. In
some instances, this was accompanied by archaic muscular innervations not
characteristic for humans, or even such complex behaviors as enactment of a
courtship dance.
The philosophical challenge associated with the already described
observations, as formidable as it is all by itself, is further augmented
by the fact that the transpersonal experiences correctly reflecting the
material world often appear on the same continuum as and intimately
interwoven with others that contain elements which the Western industrial
world does not consider to be real. Here belong, for example, experiences
involving deities and demons from various cultures, mythological realms
such as heavens and paradises, and legendary or fairy-tale sequences.
For example, one can have an experience of Shiva's heaven, of the paradise
of the Aztec raingod Tlaloc, of the Sumerian underworld, or of one of the
Buddhist hot hells. It is also possible to experience oneself as Jesus on
the cross, have a shattering encounter with the Hindu goddess Kali, or
identify with the dancing Shiva. Even these episodes can impart accurate
new information about religious symbolism and mythical motifs that were
previously unknown to the person involved. Observations of this kind
confirm C. G. Jung's idea that, besides the Freudian individual
unconscious, we can also gain access to the collective unconscious that
contains the cultural heritage of all humanity (Jung 1959).
The existence and nature of transpersonal experiences violates some of the
most basic assumptions of mechanistic science. They imply such seemingly
absurd notions as relativity and arbitrary nature of all physical
boundaries, non-local connections in the universe, communication through
unknown means and channels, memory without a material substrate,
non-linearity of time, or consciousness associated with all living
organisms, and even inorganic matter. Many transpersonal experiences
involve events from the microcosm and the macrocosm, realms that cannot
normally be reached by unaided human senses, or from historical periods
that precede the origin of the solar system, formation of planet earth,
appearance of living organisms, development of the nervous system, and
emergence of homo sapiens.
The research of holotropic states thus reveals a baffling paradox
concerning the nature of human beings. It clearly shows that, in a
mysterious and yet unexplained way, each of us contains the information
about the entire universe and all of existence, has potential experiential
access to all of its parts, and in a sense is the whole cosmic network, as
much as he or she is just an infinitesimal part of it, a separate and
insignificant biological entity. The new cartography reflects this fact and
portrays the individual human psyche as being essentially commensurate with
the entire cosmos and the totality of existence. As absurd and implausible
as this idea might seem to a traditionally trained scientist and to our
commonsense, it can be relatively easily reconciled with new revolutionary
developments in various scientific disciplines usually referred to as the
new or emerging paradigm (Bohm 1980, Sheldrake 1981, Laszlo 1994).
The expanded cartography outlined above is of critical importance for any
serious approach to such phenomena as shamanism, rites of passage,
mysticism, religion, mythology, parapsychology, near-death experiences, and
psychedelic states. This new model of the psyche is not just a matter of
academic interest. As we will see in the following sections of this
article, it has deep and revolutionary implications for the understanding
of emotional and psychosomatic disorders, including psychoses, and offers
exciting new perspectives for therapy.
2. The nature and architecture of emotional and psychosomatic disorders.
Traditional psychiatry uses for the explanations of various disorders that
do not have an organic basis ('psychogenic psychopathology') explanatory
models that are limited to postnatal biography and the Freudian individual
unconscious. They emphasize such factors as traumatic influences in
infancy, childhood, and later life, pathogenic potential of psychological
conflict, the importance of family dynamics and interpersonal
relationships, and the impact of social environment.
The observations from the study of holotropic states of consciousness show
that emotional and psychosomatic disorders, including many states currently
diagnosed as psychotic, cannot be adequately understood from difficulties
in postnatal development. According to the new insights, these conditions
have a multilevel, multidimensional structure with important additional
roots on the perinatal level (trauma of birth) and in the transpersonal
domain (ancestral, racial, and collective memories, karmic experiences, and
archetypal dynamics). Bringing these elements into consideration provides a
radically new, much fuller and complete picture of 'psychopathology.'
Recognition of perinatal and transpersonal roots of emotional disorders
does not imply that the postnatal biographical factors described by
psychoanalysis are irrelevant for their development. The events in infancy
and childhood certainly continue to play an important role in the overall
picture. However, instead of representing the sources of these disorders,
they become important determinants for the emergence of psychological
material from deeper levels of the unconscious.
The unconscious record of the experiences associated with birth represents
a universal pool of difficult emotions and physical sensations that
constitute a potential source for various forms of 'psychopathology.'
Whether manifest symptoms and syndromes actually develop and which form
they take then depends on the reinforcing influence of traumatic events in
postnatal history or, conversely, on the mitigating effect of various
biographical factors. In addition, the emotional and psychosomatic
disorders can be co-determined by various transpersonal factors, such as
karmic, archetypal, or phylogenetic elements. They are thus the result of
a complicated interplay between biographical, perinatal, and transpersonal
factors.
Thus, for example, a person suffering from psychogenic asthma can trace
this disorder to a situation of near drowning at the age of seven, memory
of being choked in childhood by an older brother, an episode of whooping
cough in infancy, suffocation during birth, and past life experiences
involving strangling and hanging. Similarly, the material underlying
claustrophobia can include childhood memories of being repeatedly locked in
a closet or cellar in childhood, a history of swaddling, difficult birth,
and past life episodes of incarceration in a medieval dungeon and a Nazi
concentration camp, and so on.
The scope of this paper does not allow me to demonstrate how profoundly the
new observations change our understanding of a broad spectrum of specific
emotional and psychosomatic disorders. I have to refer the interested
reader to my earlier publication where I did this in considerable detail
(Grof 1985). In this context, I can only emphasize that the new conceptual
framework offers much more complete and convincing explanations for many
forms of 'psychopathology' and their various aspects that could not be
adequately accounted for by the existing schools of depth psychology.
3. Therapeutic mechanisms and the process of healing.
The new understanding of the dimensions of the human psyche and of the
architecture of emotional and psychosomatic disorders described above has
profound implications for therapy. Traditional psychotherapy knows only
therapeutic mechanisms operating on the level of biographical material,
such as remembering of forgotten events, lifting of repression,
reconstruction of the past from dreams, reliving of traumatic memories from
childhood, and analysis of transference. The work with holotropic states
reveals many important additional mechanisms of healing and personality
transformation that become available when our consciousness reaches the
perinatal and transpersonal levels.
This approach can be referred to as holotropic strategy of psychotherapy.
It represents an important alternative to the techniques of various schools
of depth psychology, which emphasize verbal exchange between the therapist
and the client, as well as to those experiential therapies that are
conducted in ordinary states of consciousness. The basic tenet of
holotropic therapy is that symptoms of emotional disorders represent an
attempt of the organism to free itself from old traumatic imprints, heal
itself, and simplify its functioning. They are not only a nuisance and
complication of life, but also a major opportunity.
Effective therapy then consists in temporary activation, intensification,
and subsequent resolution of the symptoms. This is a principle that
holotropic therapy shares with homeopathy. A homeopathic therapist has the
task to identify and apply the remedy that in healthy individuals during
the so called proofing produces the symptoms that the client manifests
(Vithoulkas 1980). The holotropic state of consciousness tends to function
as a universal homeopathic remedy in that it activates any existing
symptoms and exteriorizes symptoms that are latent.
This understanding does not apply only to neuroses and psychosomatic
disorders, but also to many conditions that mainstream psychiatrists would
diagnose as psychotic and see as manifestations of serious mental disease
(psychospiritual crises or 'spiritual emergencies'). The inability to
recognize the healing potential of such extreme conditions reflects the
narrow conceptual framework of Western psychiatry that is limited to
postnatal biography and the individual unconscious. Experiences for which
this framework does not provide a logical explanation are then attributed
to a pathological process of unknown origin.
Careful analysis of the phenomenology of 'spiritual emergencies' shows that
they constitute various combinations of perinatal, transpersonal, and
biographical experiences. Since the new extended cartography includes the
elements of all these domains, a conceptual framework that incorporates it
does not have to explain the origin of the content of these episodes. Their
experiential elements belong to the deep levels of the human psyche per se,
understood in this comprehensive way (Jung's 'anima mundi').
The theoretical explanation only has to account for the fact that some
people have to get involved in systematic spiritual practice, breathe
faster, or take a psychedelic substance to get to these levels of the
psyche, whereas for others the deep contents emerge in the middle of their
everyday life. The specific patterns of the experiences constituting these
episodes can be understood from the general principles governing the
dynamics of the psyche (COEX systems, perinatal matrices, archetypal
dynamics, etc.)
4. The strategy of psychotherapy and self-exploration.
The goal in traditional psychotherapies is to reach an intellectual
understanding of how the psyche functions and why the symptoms develop and
to derive from this understanding a technique and strategy that would make
it possible to correct thei emotional functioning of the clients. A serious
problem with this approach is the remarkable lack of agreement among
psychologists and psychiatrists about fundamental issues, resulting in an
astonishing number of competing schools of psychotherapy. The work with
holotropic states shows us a surprising radical alternative - mobilization
of deep inner intelligence of the clients themselves that guides the
process of healing and transformation.
An important assumption of holotropic strategy of therapy is that an
average person in our culture operates in a way that is far below his or
her real potential and capacity. This impoverishment is due to the fact
that they identify with only one aspect of their being, the physical body
and the ego. This false identification leads to an inauthentic, unhealthy,
and unfulfilling way of life and contributes to the development of
emotional and psychosomatic disorders of psychological origin. The
appearance of distressing symptoms that do not have any organic basis can
be seen as an indication that the individual operating on false premises
has reached a point where it became obvious that the old way of being in
the world does not work any more and has become untenable.
As the orientation toward the external world collapses, the contents of the
unconscious start emerging into consciousness. Such a breakdown can occur
in a certain limited area of life - such as marriage and sexual life,
professional orientation, and pursuit of various personal ambitions - or
afflict simultaneously the totality of the individual's life. The extent
and depth of this breakdown correlates approximately with the seriousness
of the resulting condition - development of neurotic or psychotic
phenomena. Such a situation represents a crisis or even emergency, but
also a great opportunity.
The main objective of holotropic strategy of therapy is to activate the
unconscious and free the energy bound in emotional and psychosomatic
symptoms, which converts these symptoms into a stream of experience. The
task of the facilitator or therapist in holotropic therapy then is to
support the experiential process with full trust in its healing nature,
without trying to direct it or change it. This process is guided by the
client's own inner healing intelligence. The term therapist is used here in
the sense of the Greek therapeutes, which means the person assisting in the
healing process, not an active agent whose task is to 'fix the client.'
Some powerful healing and transforming experiences might not have any
specific content at all; they consist of sequences of intense build-up of
emotions or physical tensions and subsequent deep release and relaxation.
Frequently the insights and specific contents emerge later in the process,
or even in the following sessions. In some instances the resolution occurs
on the biographical level, in others in connection with perinatal material
or with various transpersonal themes.
Dramatic healing and personality transformation with lasting effects often
result from experiences that altogether elude rational understanding. It is
important for the therapist to support the experiential unfolding, even if
he or she does not rationally understand it. Naturally, with increasing
experience, the therapist accumulates significant knowledge of the general
principles underlying this process, but this does not save him or her from
surprises. The dynamics of the psyche is exquisitely creative and cannot be
captured in a set of rigid routinely applicable formulas.
5. The role of spirituality in human life.
In the world view of Western materialistic science only matter really
exists and there is no place for any form of spirituality. Being spiritual
is seen as an indication of lack of education, superstition, primitive
magical thinking, wishful fantasies, and emotional immaturity. Direct
experiences of spiritual dimensions of reality are seen as manifestations
of serious mental disease, psychosis. Research of holotropic states of
consciousness has brought evidence that, properly understood and practiced,
spirituality is a natural and important dimension of the human psyche and
of the universal scheme of things.
To prevent confusion and misunderstanding that in the past have plagued
discussions about spiritual life and have created a false conflict between
religion and science, it is critical to make a clear distinction between
spirituality and religion. Spirituality is based on direct experiences of
ordinarily hidden dimensions of reality. It does not necessarily require a
special place, or a special person mediating contact with the divine,
although mystics can certainly benefit from spiritual guidance and a
community of fellow seekers. Spirituality involves a special relationship
between the individual and the cosmos and is in its essence a personal and
private affair. At the inception of all great religions were visionary
(perinatal and transpersonal) experiences of their founders, prophets,
saints, and even ordinary followers. All major spiritual scriptures -- the
Vedas, the Buddhist Pali Canon, the Bible, the Koran, the Book of Mormon,
and many others are based on revelations in holotropic states.
By comparison, the basis of organized religion is institutionalized group
activity that takes place in a designated location (temple, church,
synagogue), and involves a system of appointed mediators. Ideally,
religions should provide for its members access to and support for direct
spiritual experiences. However, it often happens that, once it becomes
organized, a religion more or less loses the connection with its spiritual
source and becomes a secular institution exploiting the human spiritual
needs without satisfying them. Instead, it creates a hierarchical system
focusing on the pursuit of power, control, politics, money, and other
possessions. Under these circumstances, religious hierarchy tends to
actively discourage and suppress direct spiritual experiences of its
members, because they foster independence and cannot be effectively
controled.
The observations from the study of holotropic states confirm the ideas of
C. G. Jung concerning spirituality. According to him, the experiences from
deeper levels of the psyche (in my own terminology perinatal and
transpersonal) have a certain quality that Jung called (after Rudolph Otto)
'numinosity'. The subjects having such experiences feel that they are
encountering a dimension which is sacred, holy, radically different from
everyday life, belonging to another order of reality. The term numinosity
is relatively neutral and thus preferable to others, such as 'religious',
'mystical', 'magical', 'holy', 'sacred', 'occult', and others, which have
often been used in problematic contexts and are easily misleading.
People who have experiences of numinous dimensions of reality open up to
spirituality found in the mystical branches of the great religions of the
world or in their monastic orders, not necessarily in their mainstream
organizations. True spirituality is universal and all-embracing and is
based on personal mystical experience rather than on dogma or religious
scriptures. Mainstream organized religions unite people within their own
radius, but tend to be divisive, because they set their own group against
all the others and often tend to either convert them or eradicate them.
There cannot be any conflict between true spirituality and correctly
understood science. Transpersonal experiences are a natural manifestation
of the human psyche and there is nothing unscientific in subjecting them to
serious study.
6. The nature of reality.
The necessary revisions that we have discussed up to this point were
related to the theory and practice of psychiatry, psychology, and
psychotherapy. However, the work with holotropic states brings challenges
of a much more fundamental nature. Many of the experiences and observations
that occur during this work cannot be understood in the context of the
monistic materialistic approach to reality and thus undermine the most
basic metaphysical assumptions of Western science.
The most serious of these conceptual challenges concerns the claim of
materialistic science that matter is the only reality and that
consciousness is its product. This thesis has often been presented with
great authority as a scientific fact that has been proven beyond any
reasonable doubt (Dennett 1991, Crick 1994). However, when it is subjected
to closer scrutiny, it becomes obvious that it is not and never was a
serious scientific statement, but a metaphysical assumption masquerading as
one. The gap between matter and consciousness is so radical and profound
that it is hard to imagine that consciousness could simply emerge as an
epiphenomenon out of the complexity of material processes in the central
nervous system.
We have ample clinical and experimental evidence showing deep correlations
between the anatomy, physiology, and biochemistry of the brain and
conscious processes. However, none of these findings provides a clear
indication that consciousness is actually generated by the brain. The
origin of consciousness from matter is simply assumed as an obvious and
self - evident fact based on the belief in the primacy of matter in the
universe. In the entire history of science, nobody has ever offered a
plausible explanation how consciousness could be generated by material
processes, or even suggested a viable approach to the problem.
The idea that consciousness is a product of the brain naturally is not
completely arbitrary. Its proponents usually refer to the results of many
neurological and psychiatric experiments and to a vast body of very
specific clinical observations from neurology, neurosurgery, and
psychiatry, to support their position. When we challenge this deeply
ingrained belief, does it mean that we doubt the correctness of these
observations? The evidence for a close connection between the anatomy of
the brain, neurophysiology, and consciousness is unquestionable and
overwhelming. What is problematic is not the nature of the presented
evidence but the interpretation of the results, the logic of the argument,
and the conclusions that are drawn from these observations.
While these experiments clearly show that consciousness is closely
connected with the neurophysiological and biochemical processes in the
brain, they have very little bearing on the nature and origin of
consciousness. Let us now take a closer look at the relevant clinical
observations and laboratory experiments, as well as the interpretations of
the evidence provided by traditional science. There is no doubt that
various processes in the brain are closely associated and correlated with
specific changes in consciousness. A blow on the head leading to brain
concussion or compression of the carotid arteries limiting the oxygen
supply to the brain can cause loss of consciousness. A lesion or tumor in
the temporal lobe of the brain is often associated with very characteristic
changes of consciousness that are strikingly different from those observed
in persons with a pathological process in the prefrontal lobe.
The symptoms associated with various lesions of the brain are often so
distinct that they can help the neurologist to identify the area afflicted
by the pathological process. Sometimes a successful neurosurgical
intervention can correct the problem and the conscious experience returns
to normal. These facts are usually presented as conclusive evidence that
the brain is the source of human consciousness. At first glance, these
observations might appear impressive and convincing. However, they do not
hold up when we subject them to closer scrutiny. Strictly speaking, all
that these data unequivocally demonstrate is that changes in the brain
function are closely and quite specifically connected with changes in
consciousness. They say very little about the nature of consciousness and
about its origin; they leave these problems wide open. It is certainly
possible to think about an alternative interpretation that would use the
same data, but come to very different conclusions.
This can be illustrated by looking at the relationship between the TV set
and the TV program. The situation here is much clearer, since it involves a
system that is human-made and incomparably simpler. The final reception of
the TV program, the quality of the picture and of the sound, depends in a
very critical way on proper functioning of the TV set and on the integrity
of its components. Malfunctions of its various parts result in very
distinct and specific changes of the quality of the program. Some of them
lead to distortions of form, color, or sound, others to interference
between the channels. Like the neurologist who uses changes in
consciousness as a diagnostic tool, a television mechanic can infer from
the nature of these anomalies which parts of the set and which specific
components are malfunctioning. When the problem is identified, repairing or
replacing these elements will correct the distortions.
Since we know the basic principles of the television technology, it is
clear to us that the set simply mediates the program and that it does not
generate it or contribute anything to it. We would laugh at somebody who
would try to examine and scrutinize all the transistors, relays, and
circuits of the TV set and analyze all its wires in an attempt to figure
out how it creates the programs. Even if we carry this misguided effort to
the molecular, atomic, or subatomic level, we will have absolutely no clue
why, at a particular time, a Mickey Mouse cartoon, a Star Trek sequence,
or a Hollywood classic appear on the screen. The fact that there is such a
close correlation between the functioning of the TV set and the quality of
the program does not necessarily mean that the entire secret of the program
is in the set itself. Yet this is exactly the kind of conclusion that
traditional materialistic science drew from comparable data about the brain
and its relation to consciousness.
Western materialistic science has thus not been able to produce any
convincing evidence that consciousness is a product of the
neurophysiological processes in the brain. As a matter of fact, it has been
able to maintain its present position only by resisting, censoring, and
even ridiculing a vast body of observations indicating that consciousness
can exist and function independently of the body and of the physical
senses. This evidence comes from parapsychology, anthropology, LSD
research, experiential psychotherapy, thanatology, and the study of
spontaneously occurring holotropic states of consciousness.
All these disciplines have amassed impressive data demonstrating clearly
that human consciousness is capable of doing many things that the brain (as
understood by mainstream science) could not possibly do. There exists, for
example, ample evidence suggesting that consciousness has access to
information that is not and cannot possibly be stored in the brain.
Discussing the characteristics of transpersonal experiences, I referred to
various situations, in which visionary states provided access to accurate
aspects of the universe that were previously unknown to the subject and
could not have been acquired through the conventional channels. Specific
case histories illustrating this phenomenon can be found in many of my
books ( Grof 1975, 1985, 1988, 1992, 1998).
However, let me focus on some even more striking evidence suggesting that
consciousness can under certain circumstances perform functions that reach
far beyond the capacities of the brain. What I have in mind is the
existence of out-of-body experiences (OOBEs) with accurate perception of
the environment. These can occur spontaneously, or in a variety of
facilitating situations which include shamanic trance, psychedelic
sessions, hypnosis, experiential psychotherapy, and particularly near-death
experiences (NDE) (Moody 1975, Ring 1982 and 1985, Sabom 1982). In all
these situations consciousness can separate from the body and maintain its
sensory capacity, while moving freely to various close and remote
locations.
Of particular interest are 'veridical OOBEs,' where independent
verification proves the accuracy of perception of the environment under
these circumstances. Recently, thanatologists Ring and Cooper (1997)
published a fascinating study indicating that such experiences can occur
even in people who are congenitally blind. Repeated reports confirming the
possibility of this 'apparent eyeless vision,' as Ring calls it, should
alone give mainstream scientists sufficient reason to seriously question
their beliefs concerning the relationship between consciousness and the
brain and, more generally, consciousness and matter.
* * *
CONCLUSIONS
In this paper, I have tried to briefly summarize some of the most
surprising and challenging observations from more than forty years of my
research of holotropic states of consciousness, focusing primarily on three
areas : psychedelic therapy, holotropic breathwork, and clinical work with
individuals undergoing spontaneous psychospiritual crises ('spiritual
emergencies'). The scope of this paper did not allow me to include specific
examples and case histories to support my position. However, I hope that
even in this sketchy form, I have succeeded to demonstrate that holotropic
states deserve serious attention of researchers and theoreticians.
The phenomena associated with holotropic states are truly extraordinary and
there is no doubt that they cannot be explained in terms of current
theories of psychiatry and psychology. In addition, they also seriously
question the basic philosophical assumptions of Western science, especially
its monistic materialism. Academic circles have so far ignored and made
light of the evidence that has been amassed by various avenues of modern
consciousness research in this regard. They have thus been able to avoid a
radical conceptual crisis that would be brought about by open-minded
critical evaluation of the existing data. I firmly believe that it would
lead to a radical change in our understanding of human nature and the
nature of reality that would equal in its depth and significance the
effects of the revolution in physics at the beginning of the twentieth
century.
__________________
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