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A Therapeutic Dilemma
CHAPTER NINE
“HOW ARE you feeling now?” I asked after a while. Looking utterly defeated, A.T. replied, “I feel terrible, I feel like bursting, shouting and yelling. And then my mind tries to blank it out—it says not to think about it, to get away from it any way that I can, it’s not good to feel this terrible. But what can I do? You tell me to be open to these feelings, that it’s important not to hide from reality. I don’t understand the purpose, but I don’t seem to have any choice anyway—I couldn’t get rid of it if I tried.” Then she fell
silent.
There comes a time in therapy when the mind stops and nothing
comes—because there is nothing more to come. This silence is the mind being empty, different from the tense silence when hiding from feelings. Likened to the profound effect of a Zen Koan,1 it is the stillness of a mind humbled by a vision beyond its comprehension. No amount of earthly relationship can resolve it. What is needed is a transpersonal relationship: a relationship with divinity, allowing
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