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Past-Life Imagery in Transpersonal Psychotherapy

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View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk brought to you by CORE provided by South East Academic Libraries System (SEALS) HEALING STORIES OF THE UNCONSCIOUS: PAST-LIFE IMAGERY IN TRANSPERSONAL PSYCHOTHERAPY Thesis submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the Degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY in Psychology ZELDA G KNIGHT ABSTRACT Theoretically this thesis was grounded in the discourse of transpersonal psychology and the related discourse of transpersonal feminism. The focus was on a particular category of transpersonal phenomena - past-life experiences. These experiences were viewed from a poetic and therapeutic perspective as being healing stories of the unconscious that served to articulate psychological and spiritual realities of the human psyche within both the personal and the collective unconscious. They were thus not questioned in regard to their literal occurrence. The central aims of this thesis were to (a) document and faithfully describe a participant's past-life experiences that occurred during selected psychotherapy sessions, (b) engage in a hermeneutic dialogue between the participant's past-life experiences and contemporary transpersonal literature, and, in so doing, to evaluate and extend existing theory, (c) uncover the archetypal significance of past-life experience and its relationship to the re-emerging Feminine within patriarchal culture and, finally, (d) show how the past-life stories and images contribute to the process of inner healing and transformation, a process termed 'spiritual emergence'. The research was a phenomenological-hermeneutic case study, comprising the selection of eight consecutive psychotherapy sessions in which nine past-life experiences were identified. These sessions were reduced to narrative synopses, and a hermeneutically grounded thematic analysis of a total of six past-life themes were explicated. Principle conclusions reached were that past-life stories and images contribute to the process of spiritual emergence and empowerment as well as to the re-emergence of the Feminine consciousness. Moreover, as healing stories of the unconscious, these past-life experiences can be understood as expressions of the collective struggle with unresolved archetypal forces within the collective psyche, as well as echoes of personal conflicts and dilemmas from the individual unconscious. ************************* iii CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS i ABSTRACT ii CONTENTS iii PREFACE x CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION 1 1.1 THE EMERGENCE OF TRANSPERSONAL PSYCHOLOGY 1 1.1.1 The theoretical foundations and historical context of transpersonal psychology 1 1.2 THE PRINCIPLES OF TRANSPERSONAL PSYCHOLOGY 6 1.2.1 Grof's contribution to the study of consciousness 7 1.2.1.1 Grof's model of the human psyche 8 1.2.2 Wilber's contribution to the study of consciousness: The spectrum of consciousness 13 1.2.3 Tart's contribution to the study of consciousness 21 1.3 PHILOSOPHICAL CHALLENGES TO THE CARTESIAN PARADIGM OF WESTERN SCIENCE 24 1.4 THE CONTRIBUTION OF JUNG'S WORK TO TRANSPERSONAL PSYCHOLOGY 29 1.4.1 The collective unconscious 29 1.4.2 The concept of the archetype 30 1.4.2.1 Hillman's view of the archetype 32 1.4.3 Archetypes and the complex 35 1.5 SYSTEMS OF CONDENSED EXPERIENCE - COEX 36 1.6 CONCLUDING COMMENTS 38 1.7 THE CENTRAL AIMS OF THIS THESIS 39 1.8 THE OVERALL STRUCTURE OF THIS THESIS 40 iv CHAPTER TWO: TRANSPERSONAL PSYCHOTHERAPY 42 2.1 INTRODUCTION 42 2.1.1 A definition of transpersonal psychotherapy 42 2.1.2 Principles for a transpersonal psychotherapy 44 2.2 THE CONCEPT OF SPIRITUAL EMERGENCE 49 2.2.1 Varieties of spiritual emergence 52 2.2.1.1 Kundalini awakening 56 2.2.1.2 Shamanic crisis 60 2.2.1.3 Emergence of past-life 'memories' 61 2.3 HEALING AS A MOVEMENT TOWARDS INTEGRATION AND WHOLENESS 62 2.3.1 The process of initiation and empowerment 64 2.4 THE CONCEPT OF SPIRITUAL EMERGENCY 65 2.5 PAST-LIFE EXPERIENCE IN PSYCHOTHERAPY 68 2.5.1 Past-lives may be viewed as fantasy or cryptoamnesia 70 2.5.2 Past-lives may be viewed as reincarnation 74 2.5.3 Past-lives may be viewed as material from the collective unconscious 77 2.5.4 A way forward 78 2.6 PHILOSOPHICAL HYPOTHESES AND PSYCHOTHERAPEUTIC ASSUMPTIONS 80 2.6.1 The first stage of past-life therapy: Identification 86 2.6.2 The second stage of past-life therapy: Symbolic and metaphoric exploration 87 2.6.3 The third stage of past-life therapy: Insight leading to creative productivity and service 89 2.7 CONTRAINDICATION FOR USE OF PAST-LIFE WORK IN THERAPY 90 2.8 CONCLUDING COMMENTS 91 v CHAPTER THREE: TRANSPERSONAL FEMINISM 93 3.1 INTRODUCTION 93 3.2 AN OVERVIEW OF THE PRINCIPLE ASSUMPTIONS OF CONTEMPORARY FEMINISM 95 3.2.1 Examples of control over women in contemporary patriarchal cultures 97 3.3 TRANSPERSONAL FEMINISM 98 3.3.1 The theoretical assumptions of transpersonal feminism 99 3.4 THE ANCIENT GODDESS CULTURES 104 3.5 THE EMERGENCE OF PATRIARCHY 108 3.5.1 The impact of the devaluation of women and the Feminine on the archetypal level of consciousness 110 3.5.2 The fear of women and the domination of nature 111 3.6 MENSTRUAL TABOOS AS RITUAL ENACTMENT OF PATRIARCHAL IDEOLOGY 113 3.7 RAPE AS RITUAL ENACTMENT OF PATRIARCHAL IDEOLOGY 117 3.8 THE WITCH HUNTS AS RITUAL ENACTMENT OF PATRIARCHAL IDEOLOGY 120 3.9 THE IMPLICATIONS FOR WOMEN OF PATRIARCHAL IDEOLOGY 125 3.10 THE PERSECUTION OF THOSE SEEKING ANCIENT WISDOM AS RITUAL ENACTMENT OF PATRIARCHAL IDEOLOGY 127 3.11 THE RITUAL OF SACRIFICE AS RITUAL ENACTMENT OF PATRIARCHAL IDEOLOGY 131 3.12 SUMMARY 133 3.13 CONCLUDING COMMENTS IN THE LIGHT OF CHAPTERS ONE, TWO AND THREE 134 vi CHAPTER FOUR: METHODOLOGY 136 4.1 INTRODUCTION AND BACKGROUND 136 4.1.1 Previous research 136 4.2 AIMS OF THE PRESENT RESEARCH 139 4.3 PRINCIPLES OF THE PHENOMENOLOGICAL AND HERMENEUTIC RESEARCH APPROACH 140 4.4 PRINCIPLES OF CASE STUDY RESEARCH METHOD 143 4.4.1 A note on the use of a single-participant in case study research 144 4.5 THE RESEARCH PROCESS 145 4.6 DATA SOURCES 145 4.6.1 The archival material and archival summary 146 4.6.2 A detailed biographical account written by Amanda 146 4.6.3 Eight consecutive taped and transcribed verbatim psychotherapy sessions 147 4.6.4 Written reports by Amanda on the selected past-life experience 147 4.6.5 Amanda's private journal 148 4.6.6 The therapist's notes on the sessions 148 4.6.7 Interviews and spontaneous conversations with Amanda 149 4.7 THE PROCEDURE OF DATA REDUCTION AND HERMENEUTIC DIALOGUE 151 4.7.1 Data reduction of sessions 151 4.7.2 Identification of themes 153 4.7.3 Selection of hermeneutic keys 154 4.7.4 Process of hermeneutic dialogue 156 vii CHAPTER FIVE: CASE PRESENTATION 157 5.1 AMANDA'S BIOGRAPHICAL DETAILS 157 5.1.1 Amanda's therapeutic history and an analysis of session type 160 5.2 THE PREVIOUS YEAR'S PSYCHOTHERAPY PROCESS (1991) 164 5.2.1 Amanda's psychotherapy process as a process of spiritual emergence 167 5.3 THE NARRATIVE SYNOPSES OF THE EIGHT SELECTED PSYCHOTHERAPY SESSIONS 170 5.3.1 An overview of the selected sessions 171 5.3.2 Session One 171 5.3.3 Session Two 181 5.3.4 Session Three 182 5.3.5 Session Four 188 5.3.6 Session Five 195 5.3.7 Session Six 196 5.3.8 Session Seven 204 5.3.9 Session Eight 212 5.4 THEMES IDENTIFIED IN THE PAST-LIFE EXPERIENCE 219 viii CHAPTER SIX: DISCUSSION 220 6.1 INTRODUCTION 220 6.2. THE PHENOMENOLOGICAL-HERMENEUTIC EXPLICATION OF THE PAST-LIFE SCENE OF ALMA 223 6.3 THE PHENOMENOLOGICAL-HERMENEUTIC EXPLICATION OF THE PAST-LIFE SCENE OF ANGELIQUE 227 6.4 THE PHENOMENOLOGICAL-HERMENEUTIC EXPLICATION OF THE PAST-LIFE SCENE OF ROSE 231 6.5 SUMMARY 234 6.6 THE PHENOMENOLOGICAL-HERMENEUTIC EXPLICATION OF THE PAST-LIFE SCENES OF ALPHONSE AND ALTHUS 234 6.7 THE PHENOMENOLOGICAL-HERMENEUTIC EXPLICATION OF THE PAST-LIFE SCENE OF ARMAND 239 6.8 THE PHENOMENOLOGICAL-HERMENEUTIC EXPLICATION OF THE PAST-LIFE SCENE OF MARTA 242 6.8.1 The COEX system 242 6.8.2 The phenomenological-hermeneutic explication 243 6.8.3 The transference phenomenon in psychotherapy 245 6.8.4 The phenomenological-hermeneutic explication 248 6.8.5 The notion of the inner child 250 6.8.6 The phenomenological-hermeneutic explication 253 6.8.7 The disempowerment of women and the Feminine within patriarchy 255 6.8.8 The phenomenological-hermeneutic explication 256 6.9 AMANDA'S PAST-LIFE SCENES AS CONTRIBUTING TO THE PROCESS OF SPIRITUAL EMERGENCE 259 6.9.1 Images of a sacred ritual of spiritual initiation 259 6.10 THE PHENOMENOLOGICAL-HERMENEUTIC EXPLICATION OF THE PAST-LIFE SCENES OF MILA AND DARION 260 ix CHAPTER SEVEN: CONCLUSION 268 7.1 THE WIDER COLLECTIVE STORY OF THE RE-EMERGING FEMININE WITHIN PATRIARCHAL CULTURE 272 REFERENCES 274 APPENDIX A 302 APPENDIX B 304 x PREFACE Over the last three decades, transpersonal psychology, as a specific paradigm of Western psychology, has emerged from the theoretical assumptions of behaviourism, psychoanalysis and humanistic psychology. However, the roots of this perspective are embedded in the major religious and philosophical concepts found in Eastern, European, and North American Indian spiritual traditions. A primary focus of the transpersonal paradigm is the study of experiences of nonordinary states of consciousness in which one's sense of identity or self extends beyond the individual or personal ego to encompass wider aspects of human experience, the psyche and the universe.
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