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The Making of a New-Age Therapist
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
HOW IS a therapist trained in the dynamics of unfolding consciousness? Not only must he know about the lower realms of mind dominated by desires, pleasures, pains and ego, but also the higher realms and beyond. That means having direct experience of higher spiritual dimensions—in other words, becoming no less than a spiritual aspirant himself. Much more than being in touch with animal instincts and being successful at gratifying basic needs, such a therapist must be a teacher in the highest sense of the word— that is, a truly moral and just person. And it’s perhaps here where the therapist realizes the most fundamental demands of his profession— and here that the deepest resistance to spirituality arises. For the therapist as for anyone else, the path demands a deep yearning for spiritual insight, and the courage to face the challenges and fears along the way.
Sai Baba has defined four stages in the course of one’s spiritual development—self-confidence, self-satisfaction, self-sacrifice and self¯-
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