Bridging Personality and Spirit.

The etheric realm, with its formative forces, accompanies a new type of geometry which recognizes transient forms, mobile forms and interweaving forms in contrast to the static, immobile, fixed and ultimately material forms of conventional Euclidean geometry. These mobile forms project into infinity both around the organism and deep within its center. As such, they are descriptive of life, and what goes on in life forms, as contrasted to lifeless, inorganic formations. They also reflect themselves in the realm of thought.

I am a long trained and conventional Freudian psychoanalyst who through the years emerged from that base into an appreciation of Jungian psychology and, beyond that, spiritual psychology and spiritual psychotherapy. I had long lamented the fact that I didn't see visions the way some of my very advanced friends did. I didn't see colors; I didn't see swirling purple. But then one day I realized that in fact I was seeing colors and various thoughtforms. But I wasn't seeing them with the retina, looking outward into the daylight world. Instead, I was seeing them behind the retina, in the thought realm. Suddenly it dawned on me that this was just as legitimate a realm as that which lived in front of the retina. I found this confirmed in Rudolph Steiner's work, and then a further appreciation of it through the genius revelations of the famous poet and naturalist, Goethe.

I was much struck by reading The Plant Between Sun and Earth by George Adams and Olive Whicher, which reflects Goethe's and Steiner's instruction about the etheric realm and its expression in mathematics -- and, more importantly, in the living manifestation of plants.

Goethe described the archplant, which, to put it simply, was "the stencil in the sky" of the whole plant. In other words, in looking at a plant, he looked within to see what was reflected in his mind. By identifying with the plant, he was able to see the immediate stem, leaves, and possibly the blossom, but further than that, he experienced the entire process and plan from seed to leaves to blossom to seed again. He concluded that this was the archplant, the archform, which gives definition to the plant. It is the stencil in the sky. Furthermore, it is evident that there is an arch-form or an arch-type for everything that exists in the universe. And not only is it a stencil from which, through which, the subtle realms descend into physical formation, it is an ever-expansive stencil which defines and allows the infinite potential of the living organism. This itself is a reflection of the infinite creation potential of the Divinity Himself/Herself/Itself.

All of this is well known and defined in Eastern psychologies in which it is said that as God bestirred and created, reality became manifest. Vibrations descended through seven planes into materiality. I have always thought that the fourth plane, intermediate between the highest (Atma) and the material, was the soul. And the soul, as a transient being in itself, was created like a Janus-faced radar dish, receiving from above, projecting below; receiving from below and projecting above to inform the higher entities and God Himself of the experiences within this limited and limitation plane of physical existence. But the soul is also the residence of the archplan, and brings its influence from the invisible realms as it gathers itself between lives, and manufactures for itself increasingly dense, subtle vibrations in the thought plane, the astral-emotional plane, the etheric body and the physical body.

Now comes along this marvelous book, The Plant Between Sun and Earth, which defines in non-Euclidean, modern geometry, the geometry of mobile and living forms. Further, it also defines the etheric, formative self which gives rise to the plant -- on the one hand, the early leaves and blossoms reaching upward and enfolding the sun and God's energy, and on the other hand the root, digging into the earth and transmitting its essence to the earth ... and deriving earth's energy from the surround and transmitting it outward. The book defines that there is always an interplay between the etheric realms and the physical realms -- as manifest in the plant, but manifested, too, in all forms of life, including our humanity itself.

How does this reflect itself in psychotherapy? The Eastern philosophies speak of the usefulness of intuition. But Western science, including psychoanalysis, has disparaged intuition. Notwithstanding, intuition is that high mind which gives credit to and looks into the subtle, invisible realms. Let me give you a case history as an example.

Donald is a 44-year-old man who is highly successful in a number of businesses. He is a marvelous father of four children, and has a wife handicapped by a continual depression. He returned to me for therapy after having had an experience with me as his therapist when he was a six- to eight-year-old child. When he was six, he experienced an accidental explosion in which his best friend died, the body being burned to a crisp in the explosion. Ever after, he carried within himself a great need to ingratiate himself with people, which sometimes became very costly to him in his businesses. His need to please coordinated well with the selfish wishes of some of his partners.

He returned to me for follow-up at the age of 43, and has gone through a series of progressive difficult developments despite his former success in business and fatherhood. On one particular day, he entered and told me a dream which was very interesting, to say the least. Nevertheless, I felt bothered, and despite my interest in dreams, I studied my inner annoyance, wondering why. Honoring the inner realm of intuition, I ventured to say, "Do you somehow feel resistant to me?" He replied, "That was pretty sharp of you." He had looked into his own invisible realm and was able to say that he really hated to come here. He felt compelled to since I had, indeed, made special arrangements for him to come in on that day, putting myself out in order to do so. But there was no particular thanks forthcoming ... rather, an expression of resistance.

He went on to speak of resistance and brought out many things in contrast to the basically good relationship we had. He felt that maybe I was just after the money, that I myself was competitive with another therapist that he saw from time to time, but most of all, he discovered that he hated to feel small again. And he did feel small in coming back to me, not only because I had known him as a child but also because he had to admit to himself, and to me, his imperfections. More than that, I was able to guess -- because again the invisible realm of exploring revealed itself to me as a thought form, that he also felt a latent sense of guilt after the fire. He had not done anything wrong at that time, but he felt that the Fire Commissioner and everyone else would think that he was somehow at fault. He carried that feeling within him throughout life, again in the invisible realms.

While all of this may sound like standard psychoanalytic theory, and it is, the important thing is that these unconscious forces (which are so powerful in shaping lives and relationships) exist as important pervasive thoughtforms in the invisible realm, and exist also in the archplane. The therapist must meet the thoughtforms there in order that they be seen and transmitted to the patient. Then they must be grasped by the patient in the invisible, subtle realm of emerging thought, and transmitted to his conscious self as insight. These are the subtle energies that we carry within, emanate, and project to the archplane that hovers over the scene and also exists between us. This is an inner vision which begins in the physical planes of psychotherapy and is grasped by intuition. Sadly, this higher and finer appreciation of things is being lost in this fast-food era of biochemical brief psychotherapy and managed care reform. One can go on to speak of many examples of the use of spiritual knowledge and spiritual appreciation of the subtle energies in this expanded form of psychotherapy called spiritual psychotherapy.

To which I add this note, by an unknown poet, of our immortality as we live in the Subtle Realm:


	Exploring the Invisible Realm with Spiritual Psychotherapy Exploring the foundation of the bridge between personality and Spirit The etheric realm, with its formative forces, accompanies a new type of geometry which recognizes transient forms, mobile forms and interweaving forms in contrast to the static, immobile, fixed and ultimately material forms of conventional Euclidean geometry. These mobile forms project into infinity both around the organism and deep within its center. As such, they are descriptive of life, and what goes on in life forms, as contrasted to lifeless, inorganic formations. They also reflect themselves in the realm of thought. I am a long trained and conventional Freudian psychoanalyst who through the years emerged from that base into an appreciation of Jungian psychology and, beyond that, spiritual psychology and spiritual psychotherapy. I had long lamented the fact that I didn't see visions the way some of my very advanced friends did. I didn't see colors; I didn't see swirling purple. But then one day I realized that in fact I was seeing colors and various thoughtforms. But I wasn't seeing them with the retina, looking outward into the daylight world. Instead, I was seeing them behind the retina, in the thought realm. Suddenly it dawned on me that this was just as legitimate a realm as that which lived in front of the retina. I found this confirmed in Rudolph Steiner's work, and then a further appreciation of it through the genius revelations of the famous poet and naturalist, Goethe. I was much struck by reading The Plant Between Sun and Earth by George Adams and Olive Whicher, which reflects Goethe's and Steiner's instruction about the etheric realm and its expression in mathematics -- and, more importantly, in the living manifestation of plants. Goethe described the archplant, which, to put it simply, was "the stencil in the sky" of the whole plant. In other words, in looking at a plant, he looked within to see what was reflected in his mind. By identifying with the plant, he was able to see the immediate stem, leaves, and possibly the blossom, but further than that, he experienced the entire process and plan from seed to leaves to blossom to seed again. He concluded that this was the archplant, the archform, which gives definition to the plant. It is the stencil in the sky. Furthermore, it is evident that there is an arch-form or an arch-type for everything that exists in the universe. And not only is it a stencil from which, through which, the subtle realms descend into physical formation, it is an ever-expansive stencil which defines and allows the infinite potential of the living organism. This itself is a reflection of the infinite creation potential of the Divinity Himself/Herself/Itself. All of this is well known and defined in Eastern psychologies in which it is said that as God bestirred and created, reality became manifest. Vibrations descended through seven planes into materiality. I have always thought that the fourth plane, intermediate between the highest (Atma) and the material, was the soul. And the soul, as a transient being in itself, was created like a Janus-faced radar dish, receiving from above, projecting below; receiving from below and projecting above to inform the higher entities and God Himself of the experiences within this limited and limitation plane of physical existence. But the soul is also the residence of the archplan, and brings its influence from the invisible realms as it gathers itself between lives, and manufactures for itself increasingly dense, subtle vibrations in the thought plane, the astral-emotional plane, the etheric body and the physical body. Now comes along this marvelous book, The Plant Between Sun and Earth, which defines in non-Euclidean, modern geometry, the geometry of mobile and living forms. Further, it also defines the etheric, formative self which gives rise to the plant -- on the one hand, the early leaves and blossoms reaching upward and enfolding the sun and God's energy, and on the other hand the root, digging into the earth and transmitting its essence to the earth ... and deriving earth's energy from the surround and transmitting it outward. The book defines that there is always an interplay between the etheric realms and the physical realms -- as manifest in the plant, but manifested, too, in all forms of life, including our humanity itself. How does this reflect itself in psychotherapy? The Eastern philosophies speak of the usefulness of intuition. But Western science, including psychoanalysis, has disparaged intuition. Notwithstanding, intuition is that high mind which gives credit to and looks into the subtle, invisible realms. Let me give you a case history as an example. Donald is a 44-year-old man who is highly successful in a number of businesses. He is a marvelous father of four children, and has a wife handicapped by a continual depression. He returned to me for therapy after having had an experience with me as his therapist when he was a six- to eight-year-old child. When he was six, he experienced an accidental explosion in which his best friend died, the body being burned to a crisp in the explosion. Ever after, he carried within himself a great need to ingratiate himself with people, which sometimes became very costly to him in his businesses. His need to please coordinated well with the selfish wishes of some of his partners. He returned to me for follow-up at the age of 43, and has gone through a series of progressive difficult developments despite his former success in business and fatherhood. On one particular day, he entered and told me a dream which was very interesting, to say the least. Nevertheless, I felt bothered, and despite my interest in dreams, I studied my inner annoyance, wondering why. Honoring the inner realm of intuition, I ventured to say, "Do you somehow feel resistant to me?" He replied, "That was pretty sharp of you." He had looked into his own invisible realm and was able to say that he really hated to come here. He felt compelled to since I had, indeed, made special arrangements for him to come in on that day, putting myself out in order to do so. But there was no particular thanks forthcoming ... rather, an expression of resistance. He went on to speak of resistance and brought out many things in contrast to the basically good relationship we had. He felt that maybe I was just after the money, that I myself was competitive with another therapist that he saw from time to time, but most of all, he discovered that he hated to feel small again. And he did feel small in coming back to me, not only because I had known him as a child but also because he had to admit to himself, and to me, his imperfections. More than that, I was able to guess -- because again the invisible realm of exploring revealed itself to me as a thought form, that he also felt a latent sense of guilt after the fire. He had not done anything wrong at that time, but he felt that the Fire Commissioner and everyone else would think that he was somehow at fault. He carried that feeling within him throughout life, again in the invisible realms. While all of this may sound like standard psychoanalytic theory, and it is, the important thing is that these unconscious forces (which are so powerful in shaping lives and relationships) exist as important pervasive thoughtforms in the invisible realm, and exist also in the archplane. The therapist must meet the thoughtforms there in order that they be seen and transmitted to the patient. Then they must be grasped by the patient in the invisible, subtle realm of emerging thought, and transmitted to his conscious self as insight. These are the subtle energies that we carry within, emanate, and project to the archplane that hovers over the scene and also exists between us. This is an inner vision which begins in the physical planes of psychotherapy and is grasped by intuition. Sadly, this higher and finer appreciation of things is being lost in this fast-food era of biochemical brief psychotherapy and managed care reform. One can go on to speak of many examples of the use of spiritual knowledge and spiritual appreciation of the subtle energies in this expanded form of psychotherapy called spiritual psychotherapy. To which I add this note, by an unknown poet, of our immortality as we live in the Subtle Realm: OLD INDIAN PRAYER Do not stand at my grave and weep. I am not there, I do not sleep. I am a thousand winds that blow. I am the diamond glint on snow. I am the sunlight on ripened grain. I am the gentle autumn rain. When you wake in the morning hush, I am the swift uplifting rush Of quiet birds in circling flight. I am the soft starlight at night. Do not stand at my grave and weep. I am not there, I do not sleep. Do not stand at my grave and cry. I am not there, I did not die. Maurie D. Pressman, M.D. is the author of Enter the Supermind and co-author (with Patricia Joudry) of Twin Souls: A Guide to Finding Your True Spiritual Partner, republished by Hazelden. Dr. Pressman is Emeritus Chairman of Psychiatry at the Albert Einstein Medical Center in Philadelphia and Clinical Professor of Psychiatry at Temple University Health Sciences Center. He is Medical Director at the Center for Psychiatric Wellness, clinics that operate in Philadelphia and Haddonfield, N.J. These clinics bridge traditional and spiritual psychotherapy. Dr. Pressman can be reached at 200 Locust Street, Philadelphia, PA 19106; telephone 215-922-0204; fax 215-922-3008.


		by Maurie D. Pressman, M.D.