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My Model of Integration

I have heard it said somewhere, maybe from a pulpit, that there is nothing more dangerous than a person with a belief. This thought has become more and more profound to me as I have grown older and seen it from various points of view. A person with a belief is one who is empowered to action. Action is the real danger, because action is human free will making choices. Our choices can have a wide range of effect, ones that can result in life or death outcomes, or something more subtle, such as staying with or choosing a different breakfast cereal to eat. Surprisingly, the danger of our choices is not so clear, because danger is something that finds definition only within one's own belief. This way of looking at life, especially in psychology, to me fits best into existential theory, with some modifications from the Bible.

I cannot accept the existential theory in its purist form because I perceive its ultimate ramifications as blasphemous. Buddhism and Hinduism are seen as based upon pure existential themes. These two beliefs say that all theories about reality and life are equally true. This idea leads to the destruction of logic. Armed with this thinking, the Buddhist philosopher Nagarjuna proposed (logically deduced) an Eightfold Negation. This proposal claimed that there was neither birth nor death, neither coming nor going, neither permanence nor extinction, and neither unity nor diversity (Rychlak, 1981). He sees reality as illusion. The only true reality is found by transcending the illusion of space and time through transcendental meditation. To me, the blasphemy is for us to believe that we could fully exist beyond space and time, because that realm can only be filled by God. The desire to raise ourselves to God's level was what led both the human race and a third of the angelic race to fall into sin (Genesis 3:5; Isaiah 14:12-14).

How could I use a theory that seems so antithetical to biblical teaching? I can do this if I limit existential therapy to our phenomenal perceptions, rather than trying to define the true nature of reality. From a phenomenal view, we are the product of our own experience and our own ideas. We then endow meaning to our experience. If Adam in the Garden of Eden were a pure existentialist, he would have truly believed that the animals God brought before him to name would not really exist if he did not endow them with a name, thus giving them significance and purpose. Mainstream existential thought seems to have avoided this problem by assuming that there are certain givens we must deal with authentically. To me, this is saying that to some degree, we all live in the same world and are facing the same problems.

Existential therapy is useful to me because its emphasis is on our own unique experience of reality. Many existentialists seem to argue that reality is simply our perceptions transmitted from our five senses, and interpreted by our brain. Many are not willing to trust what they appear to be perceiving. As a Christian, I do not have a problem with that, mainly because I have chosen by faith to accept my sensory input I receive through my senses, and my ability to accurately process the data, like the majority of the "unenlightened" who have been ignorant of philosophy. I believe that my inputting and processing abilities could be malfunctioning for some reason, but God would provide the grace to overcome the malfunctions from within or without me. I believe phenomenally that God designed us with certain traits (ways we process data). This, coupled with each person's environmental history, has a great influence on the choices that we make. What we have is the ability and responsibility to actively adjust the way we process the data we have, including data received long ago to make good decisions. In other words, we need to be willing to change our way of thinking to maximize our potential.

How can I integrate existential thought with my belief that regardless of what I do as a Christian, God will cause all things to work together for my good, and that I will ultimately become like Christ through God conforming me to Christ's image (Romans 8:28-29)? Is there therefore such a thing as free will? My faith must accept the paradox that we have 100 percent free will and responsibility, yet at the same time, God predestines each of our steps. I see this as part of grace, that even with wrong choices, God still brings us through to become His holy sons and daughters.

How do I see the essential drive within existential therapy? It is the will to be, our desire to emerge from the background of nothingness as a figure emerges from the ground. Biblically speaking, I believe that this drive is the essence of the human spirit. Our forefather Adam was not a living soul until God breathed into him his own spirit (spirit comes from the word wind). The Bible abounds with examples of where people cease to live after they are said to breathe their last. The most famous example is at Christ's death (John 19:30; Luke 23:46; Mark 15:37). Matthew 27:50 equates this with yielding up His spirit. The human spirit is the center of our will and our willpower.

What is health in existential therapy? It is to transcend what is, and create a better future for ourselves and others. It is not a goal, but a process, and for a Christian, includes a pilgrim's progress, which requires heeding of God's road signs, found in His scripture. It is growth of our awareness within the three existential domains: the eigenwelt, or world of our inner feelings, the umwelt, or the physical world around us, and the mitwelt, or the social world of people. This growth includes becoming aware of more and more choices we can make in life, ability to identify better choices, and engaging our will into making the better choices. Growth includes continual increase of the ability to differentiate between separate things, such as a small child who eventually realizes that the dreams he has in his sleep are not part of the world outside, but something separate and inside him.

Most existentialists do not accept the division of the eigenwelt into conscious and unconscious parts. Maybe their reluctance to do so is because it may appear to them it is dividing the self into various entities, resulting in loss of identity. They tend to see the unconscious simply as rigid patterns of behavior due to limited awareness. I see the unconscious as this, plus it being a pool full of possibilities that both the unconscious and conscious parts of our self can choose to act upon.

What is pathology in existential therapy? It is being stuck in rigid patterns of behavior due to limited awareness, otherwise known as the definition of the unconscious by most existentialists. By our own actions, we throw our Dasein (meaning "being there"). This means that we constrict our awareness of possibilities, and accept only a limited few based upon our past experiences. This produces the thoughts and feelings of losing autonomy and independence, like being limited to some level of wakefulness. Each day when we wake up, it usually is experienced (at least for me) as a gradual series of recalling various aspects of my life, such as my job, wife, chores, God, and so on. Maybe one reason for us having to repeat this sleep cycle is so that daily we are given a new gracious chance to rearrange our thinking in a newer and healthier way, or at least give us a hint on how it is done. Sleep seems to be the closest anyone gets to death without dying in this life. The Bible makes it clear that a Christian must take up his cross daily, and follow Christ (Luke 9:23). The Apostle Paul talks of dying daily, and proceeds to talk about death as a seed that rises up to something greater than before (I Corinthians 15:31-44). Dying to following a rigid will alone seems to be the clear message here. Flexibility, or a heart of flesh as opposed to one of stone (Ezekiel 11:19) is health. A literal heart of stone cannot think or feel (absolutely constricted), whereas a heart of flesh can think and feel, thus be aware not only of themselves, but of others.

There are two kinds of guilt in existential therapy: existential guilt and neurotic guilt. Existential guilt results from willful actions we commit upon others. I believe this guilt is a product of a clash between our choices we make that are counter to the internal set of God's laws that are written into each of our hearts (Romans 2:14,15). It is a product of our sins. The beginning point for cure of this type of guilt is repentance, which means doing an about-face, 180-degree turn away from doing the wrong behaviors. Complete healing of this guilt requires submitting and drawing near to God, cleansing our hearts by becoming humble, and through confession of our sins (James 4:7-10; I John 1:9).

Neurotic guilt results from actions committed upon us by others. We are not responsible for this kind, but due to constrictions we have in our awareness, we have chosen to accept responsibility for these actions. The path to recovery for this guilt begins with growth of awareness that results in better differentiation between our eigenwelt (our inner world) and the offending mitwelt (the social world of people). Complete healing from this guilt is a dying to this way of relating to others, which includes going through the stages of grief (denial, depression, anger, and so on), ending with us forgiving the offending party.

Regarding existential therapy, there are two kinds of anxiety: existential and neurotic. Existential anxiety is due to loss of world, loss of self. Purist existentialists view death as this ultimate loss, where they see it as our awareness is constricted all the way down to zero awareness, resulting in our figure fading back into ground. This anxiety results in feelings of boredom and emptiness (Rychlak, 1981). The entire book of Ecclesiastes deals with this anxiety. I believe the specific source of this anxiety is the result of God putting into each of us a God-shaped empty space that we naturally yearn to fill (Ecclesiastes 3:11). Our tendency is to try and fill this void with various finite things, but the void never changes. Only God Himself with His Spirit can fill this void (Psalm 107:9; Romans 8:6,9,10).

Neurotic anxiety is due to our constriction of world-design, or how we view the mitwelt (social world) and umwelt (physical world). Narrow awareness in these two areas results in feeling uptight, jumpy, and nervous. The Bible calls this the result of us having "vain (empty) imaginations," which leads our hearts into becoming "darkened" (Romans 1:21). The ultimate way to destroy this darkness is through contact with the true Light, the Word, Whose name is Jesus (John 1:1,9).

What is the role of the therapist in existential therapy? It is to develop a relationship between the therapist and client that includes a sense of trust. Through the trusting encounter, the therapist encourages the client to see other possible choices they can make with their life, other than the ones that reside in their limited world-designs that they have constricted themselves to. This relationship reminds me of something called triangulation, which I learned about in Marine Officer Candidates School. Triangulation is a technique using trigonometry principles to calculate the exact position of a target using the information inputted from two known locations. The client and therapist represent the two known locations, and the sharing of the two creates valuable information about a new possible choice in the client's life, which represents the third new location, a new target to be reached. The more accurate the client and therapist are in the relationship, the more accurate will be the new insight that will be manifested. In this relationship, accuracy would have to do with each person presenting as much of their whole self as they can to the other, in an accepting, non-judgemental way. This encourages unconscious parts of ourselves that are full of beneficial possibilities to come into the light of consciousness to be offered as new paths the client can take in their life. William Heard refers to this third new point as a new reality called the between, which is generated by two or more people going beyond relating to the other only regarding a few of their characteristics, seeking to experience the other person as a unified whole person who is unique, something that is beyond definition.

The therapist must be willing to enter into what the client sees and feels, how they experience reality. This is like going through a door that leads to the unknown, a place that takes courage for both the client and therapist to enter. When this door is entered, true dialogue begins, which leads to seeing and experiencing new possibilities (Heard, 1993). I believe this encounter is what God wants us to experience with others, since we are told to rejoice with those who rejoice, and weep with those who weep (Romans 12:15). In so doing, we will generate the wisdom to do the right things at the right time (Ecclesiastes 3:1-8). The greatest result for two or more entering this dialogue is the special presence of Christ Himself in the between if the encounter is done in His name (Matthew 18:20). With Christ's special presence, even though He has always been the same yesterday, today, and forever (Hebrews 13:8), the relationship with Him causes all things to become new for us (2 Corinthians 5:17), which includes wonderful paradigm shifts in how we see and relate to Jesus and to others.

References

Heard, W. G. (1993). The Healing Between, pp. 14-31. Jossey-Bass Publishers, San Francisco.

Rychlak, J. F. (1981). Introduction to Personality and Psychotherapy, Second Edition, pp. 619-663. Houghton Mifflin Company, Boston.