exploring the inner world intro

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EXPLORING THE INNER WORLD- -T HE RA PE UTI C I NT RO SP ECT IO N AND THE HEALING SELF--

by

Edward G. Muzlka, Ph~D.

Psychological Investigations of A Zen Monk and TherapIst

THE CENTER FOR STUDIES OF THE SELF1312 HARVARD STREETSANTA MONICA, CALIFORNIA90404( 21 3) 82 8- 29 53


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Copyright ~ 1986 by Edward G. HuzikaAll rights reserved. No part of thisbook may be used or reproduced in anym.anner whatsoever without written per-mission from the author except in thecase of brief quotations in re~lews forinclusion ina magazine, newspaper orbroadcast. ..

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TABLE OF OOr~'rENTe

Preface

IntroductIonChapter 1: A Renaissance of Subjectivty.

Chapter II: The Phenomenology of Self.Part I: T heoretic Overview: I nt ro sp ect ion T yp esand Purposes; What is the S elf?P artII : T he S ubj~ctive Aspect: I ntrod uction toMicroa na lysis; Wor tz ian M icr oa nal ysI s.

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Chapter III: The Dialectical Model: Philosophical, 56Metap hysical and C linical I mp lications.The Theory; OrIgin of the S elf; Differen-tiation as Dialectical ProgressIon; Differ-entIation into Realms and Objects; The InperCore Self and the U nconscious; Visual A sp ectsof Witnessing; I Seeing I; S plI tting andR eflexivity; Imp lications for T herap y; Trans-ference & R egression; C linical E xa mp les.

Appendix A: O neness a nd T ranscendenta lInterpenetration: Regression or Real?

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Appendix B: U nr es ol ved P rob lems.

Chapter IV: Therapeutic Introspection and theHealing Self: Personal and ClinicalApplications.

Epilogue: The Meaning of Selfless and No-MindExperiences.

Glossary of Terms Used In this Study:

Bibliography:

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Western psychoanalysis makes a mistake In Confusing theself with Ideas and images knowna,$ the self-representation.The East has an ancient techno 09Y of introspectiveself-investigation, but also has erred by ignoring the per-sonal self in favor of exploring impersonal aspects of theunderlying consciousness. If the powerful Eastern techniquesare combined with the Western emphasis on the personal self,it is possible to attain far different insights and healingoutcomes from traditional Western psychodynamic therapies anda different explanation for religious. phenomena.The experience of a personal self (or lack of it), andmaintaining that self in relationship is a focus of currenttheology, developmental psychology and cl1n1cal studies. Itis also the most pervasIve problem of our culture. Theauthor believes this indicates a new order of spiritual ex.""perlence has been added to the Western psyche: The ex-per lance of the other as both se1f and not-se If,' merged anddependent I yet separate and autonomous. .

The basis is laid here to combine Eastern and WesterndiSCiplines into a phenomenological" or experience-nearp~ychotherapy~ and to found a new~ spiritualIty intimatelyjoined with psychologYI explaining the spectrum of religiousexperience , including the transcendent , as or iginat ing frollldevelopmental individuation and communion with anotherperson. This work is dedicated to understanding the separat.eself in relationship, and ,fitting these insights into aspirituality of personal humaness.A UT HO R'S BIO GR AP HY- - - - - - ~ ~ - - - - - - - - - -Dr. Muzlka began study of Eastern religions through in-

itiation into Kriya Yoga when he was 14. He received hisBachelor's degree in philosophy and Master's in publicmanagement from Case-Western Reserve University. After ashort time as a management consultant, he began full-time Zenstudies under Sasaki Roshi, and then for several years withZen masters Maezumi Roshi, the Venerable Thich Thien-An andSeung Sahn Soen-sa~ receiving his first ordination as a Zenmonk in 1973. In 1980 he met Swami Muktananda from .hom hegained an understanding of Kashmir Shavism. As a counselingmonk at the International Buddhist Meditation Center he hasmet most of the major spiritual teachers of our time.He completed his Ph.D. studies in clinical psychology,specializing in object relations theory and psychodynamictherapYI writing his dissertation on the psychology andpsychopathology of spirituality. He has been teaching Zenand the psychology of spirituality at the UCLA~ UCSD~ and UCIrvine Extensions, and the University of Oriental StUdiessince 1975. He Is in private practice as a psychological as-sistant in Santa Monica, pursuing full licensure as a clini-cal psychologist and is the founder of the Center for Studiesof the Se If.Iv


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INTRODUCTION

This book Is the culmination of over 25 years of researchinto understanding the structure of the self and the meaningof various self exp eriences. My investigation beganae an in-terest in oriental philosophy and spiritual practices where Ifound the ancient Buddhist texts and monks' biographies espe-cially fascinating. The philosophical viewpoints presentedthere were simultaneously exotic and captivating. Later I wasto dlscover that the type of spiritual search chosen, mine andtheirs, 15 indicative of personality type, underlyingpsychological dynamics) and also the subjective way the sear-cher percetves the world. I was drawn to the E~st because thepersonalities described in those biographies. the metaphysicalsystems they chose and the experiences they had. all reflectedaspects of .my own expel"Ience. Tha.t approach vel"ified and ar-ticulated portions of my World-view which were not verlfle~in my own milieu or intellectual tradition.

Eventually I was to become a Zen monk studylng under raanyfamous and not so famous Zen masters, TIbetan Lamas and Hinduyogis Including Zen master Seung Sahn and Swami Muktananda.A series of personal problems in 1978 led to a long course ofpsychotherapy and a shifting of interest towardspsychoanalytic theory. After what seemed like an endless andfrustrating search for someone who made sense in this field, Idiscovered the work of James Grotstein and through him,Melanie Klein and the British School of psychoanalysis. Theyall shared my concern with the internal structure of the selfand the relationships between the self and the self's repre-sentations of itself and others.

I felt as if I had finally come home- by finding thisForroup of people who really understood my

all these authors I feel a deep gratitude.writings of Harry Guntrlp and Fairbairn

subjectivity.Not only did

strike athe

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resonance in m y heart, they pointed to a possible b~idge be-tw~en the self concepts found In the East--especially those Iwas most familiar with: Zen.. Kashmir Shaivl.sm and ctner -Buddhist Schools--and the Western self concepts originating inthe early psychoanalytic tradition..developed and changed bythe humanists on one hand..and by the ego psychologists andobject-relations theorists on the other. Grotstein's work(1980) on his dual track theory laid the groundwork for my ownspeculations on dialectical processes as agents in thedevelopment of psychological structure~ both in the infant andin therapy.

Many years passed in this psychologically oriented inves-tigation of self and in a narrow sense I felt finished with myspiritual search by discoverlng how important personalrelationships were for me. Eastern spirituality tends towardsa hermetic ideal of self-illuminatibn and solitaryenlightenment. Four years of therapy made me realize thatdespite the wonderful experiences .I had in this type of selfexploration and the deep philosophies I had wrestled with formany years, that there was still something missing. I stillfelt an alienation and loneliness, feelings that had con-tributed to becomlng a monk searching for ultimate meaningmany years before.

Additionally~ as a counseling priest I saw how most ofthe people that came to see m e used their spiritual practicesand beliefs to avoid psychological problems and psychologicalpain. Successful therapy requires an ability to stay withone's own pain and with the pain of others without bolting.Instead of facing pain, they pursued spiritual practices tofeel better by generating masking altered consciousness statesor by idealizing their Guru and participating in his greatnessso as not to feel their own imperfections or depression.

By 1982 I had begun to formulate the idea thatspirituality was often used as an escape from relationship sand from pain within the self--the same sort of painful

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anxiety that Guntrip, Laing and Falrbairn found In theschizoid personality and that Gunderson, Bach and Kernbergfind in their various d efini. tions of personality disorders.Rather than a manifestation of a transcendent sphere of Atmanor God, spirituality most often was just an escape from beingordinary, failed relationships and psychological pain.Problems in the self became translated and prOjected intouniversal questions and searches. Unfortunately, clinicalpsychology itself had only partial answers to the problemsthat religion tried to resolve through metaphysics andspiritual practices. Freud never promised a cure from. pain,but only re-lief from neurotic suffering which becomes"ordinary human unhappiness."

Recently I met with a Zen master who had also ex-perienced severe personal problems which led him to questionhimself, and with whom I had studied many years before. Hewas very int.erested in some of the ideas that I was suggest-ing, especially in ideas about the process of identificationand how that leads to change. He almost sholJted in his ownexcitement that this too was the central problem of Buddhism:What is the self, and with what experiences do we identify,what exper1ences do we let into the self?Another Zen master stated this problem as the need forZen students to attain a new center of gravity (a shift ofperspective within the subjective sense of self). Inized that l'Ilypiritual search had not ended, but that

recog-we had

discovered an important interface (the problem of identifica-tion) between the spiritual endeavor and the therapeutic chal-lenge of healing. Indeed, my entire therapeutic style hadstemMed from the strong phenomenological and experiential in-clinations that had first motivated my entering Zen, andwhich were reinforced by havIng been a monk in that tradi-tion for many years.

Further talks with th1s Zen master and others has alsohelped me to reformulate object relations theory within a


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more phenomenological and experiential framework than itspsychoanalytic meaning origin allowed# yet not ignoring theobvious impact of meaning an bow we experience the worlti.Areevaluation of my own spiritual experience and several yearspractice counseling Zen and yoga students has led me toreformulate that Zen experience within a psychologicalframework.

The result. I think, is a workable synthesis of two in-trospective tr-adtt ons within a framework I callphenomenological psychoanalysis. It borrows from the BritishSchool part of its understanding of the self, while usingEastern techniques to introspect that self-structure. Easternintrospectionpsychoanalytic

can be more detailed and analytic than theendeavor, and can be used to artlculateiea-

tures analysts havellissed for lack of a technique and of anappropriate descriptive language. Eastern traditions alsohave emphasized certain polarized aspect:3the consciousnessunderlying self-experience to a degree that the West is on.lybeginning to appreciate.

The centrality of the question of self seems so evidentto me that I cannot conceive of a successful metapsychologicalscheme not preoccupied with unraveling its complexity. TheBritish School made sense because it addressed this problemand has been a focus for clarifying and articulating what Ihave learned about my own and other selves.

In the paper that follows I will try to tie togetheraspects of Eastern metaphysical approaches to the self withobject-relations theory. It will also become clear that Ihave changed from belng primarily a Buddhist philosopher tenyears ago to an object-relations oriented clini~lan today.Conversely. I also i~dicate how Eastern spiritual practice5~espeCially certain meditation forms (Shlkantaza, Mahamudra andVipassana)# can be used with an understanding of contemporarypsychoanalytic theory to create powerful new therapeutic ap-proaches that remain within the context of psychoanalytic

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thInkIng, and therefore acceptable tomalnst~eam therapIstsworking to find new skills and a new understanding.

'l'hrougbou'l.;ttiis book I make the poinccbat;t;hera.py is adialectical process of first witnessing something new~ andthen becoming that newness. Then we re-witness that newnessby objectifying it) and remerge with it once again. So strongis my belief that this dialectical process is intrinsic toself formation that I have written this book with a built indialectic. The first and the third chapters are Aobjective,while the second and fourth chapters look at the same subjectmatter from the inslde--from a subjective viewpoint.

Readers unfamiliar with either psychoanalytic theory orlacking meditation experience may wish to omit chapter threeon their first reading_ This is the key theoretical chapterbut may initially be too difficult for some. Chapter four isthe most experiential, personal and therapy oriented segmentof this book and may be read after chapte~ one's easy intro-duction and skim.ming through chapter two's experiential, butrigorous presentation. The epilogue, the clinical materialof chapter three, and to a lesser extent, appendix A, are allquIte readable.

A workbook is being prepared to accompany this volUme. Itwill consist of a series of exercises and meditations that onecan practice alone, or can be used by a therapist to aidclIent disclosure and initiate the healing processes presentedin this book. These exercises teach a kind of analytic intro-spectiontherapist

that can be immensely valuable for the psychodynamicin the same way that guided visualizations, dream

work and other Gestalt techniques can asilst the articulationof experience.

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