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60 SPIRIT AND THE MIND
I was in a large hall, something like a gymnasium. I think it was registration day because of the commotion. People were scurrying about and lining up at tables as if preparing to register for classes. I was approaching a table, carrying my books in my left arm. Under my right sleeve I felt an unfamiliar object, and then noticed that I was carrying a wooden statue of Sai Baba there. I thought it strange — I was embarrassed and wanted to keep it hidden from sight. While waiting my turn at one of the tables, I heard a voice coming from my right side. “What do you have up your sleeve, A.T.?” I tried to ignore the voice, but to my embarrassment it continued even more loudly. And then for the third time it repeated, “I said—what do you have up your sleeve?”
I was embarrassed to uncover the statue. Turning to face the person on my right, I was amazed to find that it was Sai Baba! My eyes were caught by a smile, which was full of mischief and joy. Immediately I was ignited with the same feeling. With high- intensity excitement and glee he said, “It’s me, it’s me, IT’S ME!” I was caught up in his energy and joyful beyond description. He had come to me!
Is this a dream about A.T.’s hidden love for her father? Does it express transference feelings toward me? Is it about control and her fear of revealing herself, or about her yearning for union with God and her mind’s struggle to hide from this yearning? Or could the dream represent all these themes—and if so, then which issues should be dealt with first?
Although this, of course, is determined by what is specifically happening in the treatment, one therapist’s choice may differ from another’s depending on their particular schools of thought. Ken Wilbur, whose thoughts about the nature of anxiety I’ve presented in Chapter 4, defines 10 levels of consciousness (see Appendix IV under the heading Transpersonal Psychology). He discusses the differences in theories, approaches and goals between Freudian, existential and transpersonal psychologies,1 seeing them as reflective of the different levels of consciousness that each addresses. He shows that the existential point of view includes the level of consciousness with which psychoanalysis deals, and goes beyond it, and that the transpersonal school addresses an even broader level of consciousness.
Let’s look at the psychological aspects of A.T.’s dream from a