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Layers of Fear Levels of Love
CHAPTER EIGHT
WE MAY dream of contact with our innermost joy, bliss and love—with the divine (as in A.T.’s dream)—but reaching it is something else again. The road inward may be frightening and lonely, requiring openness and courage as we face layers of fear one by one, calling upon deepening levels of love to dispel the darkness, until we finally realize our core reality— unconditional love. Following is a detailed account of one psychiatric session with A.T., which recapitulates in microcosm the two years of treatment that preceded it. Perhaps, in an insight-oriented therapy like this, where there is a systematic uncovering of layers of defense and pain that constrict consciousness, we may see more clearly the underlying psychological and spiritual issues, their relative importance, and how the therapist’s orientation (whether primarily psychological or spiritual) affects the direction and outcome of the
therapy.
I’d like to clarify that my intention here is not to offer conclusive
proof of any particular theory, but to examine impressions gleaned 69