"Holy Fire is a great gift - the distilled wisdom of a lifetime of pioneering work on the frontiers of human psychology. Tom Yeomans embraces both ourselves and the wounded Earth in this healing journey. New ways of being and living emerge from this journey that are vastly more satisfying, collaborative and creative. Holy Fire is a luminous and penetrating exploration into the 'soul force' that we each bring to this pivotal time in human evolution."
Duane Elgin, author of The Living Universe and Awakening Earth
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The opening words of Yeoman's book, Holy Fire:
"This book is about human beauty - the deep beauty of the soul as it emerges and shines more and more fully within us. It is about the process by which this emergence comes to be, and the vicissitudes of the journey"The title, Holy Fire, evokes the experience of sheer vitality and life-force that I have come to see as the core of the human soul."
The following article features Tom Yeomans, who I consider one of a number of "species forerunners" in this series.
I studied psychosynthesis/spiritual psychology with Tom for some five years. I will be writing about him and also my early, specific application of principles of psychosynthesis. I currently use the principles in my private practice.
Introduction
A few months before meeting Tom, I had completed a rather traditional master's program (decades ago) in May. My internships consisted of a year working as a therapist in a state psychiatric facility and another working in a hospital-based hospice.
In previous years I had studied a range of humanistic "third force" psychologies (such as Gestalt Therapy) on my own, and had attended a number of silent, "insight" (Vipassana) retreats in the Theravadin Buddhist tradition with teachers including Joseph Goldstein, Jack Kornfield and Christopher Titmus. However, I had not found a clear way to integrate these two "paths of awakening".
During the Master's program I had invited some balance into a rather straightlaced curriculum by - the first year - creating a speakers' series (featuring individuals teaching Gestalt Therapy, Naturopathy, Insight Meditation, and Simonton Cancer Counseling). The second year I hosted a "holistic healing" conference. Both had been well received.
**
It was now September and I had taken a nap; I was awakened by a phone call from an acquaintance who informed me that Tom Yeomans had arrived from California and was going to be forming a group to teach Psychosynthesis. The group was going to meet that same night for the first time.
Although I did not know him and had been awakened from a sound sleep, she spoke so highly of his work that, on the spot, I decided to attend.
I intuited that this was an opportunity that should not be missed. The phone conversation turned out to be a true "wake-up call".
Initially I was a bit skeptical, wondering about the program's value. In fact, I stayed for five years - working with Tom in both larger and small groups, as well as individually.
That first night, I remember driving through a dramatic stormy night with much rain and lightning. When I arrived, I met a group of about eleven people. Tom was a tall, good-looking man with a chiseled face, a winning smile, a broad, lively, welcoming sense of humor and a rare blend of humility and authority. He clearly was also open, intelligent, knowledgeable - and an experienced teacher, therapist and spiritual practitioner.
This was exactly what I had been looking for.
Most importantly, through psychosynthesis he had arrived a unique synthesis of psychotherapy and spirituality. Tom's work suggested a way to blend the parallel approaches I had learned so far.
I was taken with Tom's invitation that it was possible for: "Life to live itself through us more deeply."
The Training
The training was a nine-month program, which met as a seminar once a month on weekends and as a hands-on training/practice group once a week in the evenings. Weeknight sessions were devoted to practicing the techniques we would use in individual work with clients. Monthly sessions brought the larger context and facets of psychosynthesis theory into focus. Topics included "identification", "disidentification", and "Self-Identification". as well as work with the patterns of images and energies within the psyche, the importance of experiential presence (unfolding present - moment to moment awareness), and the threefold levels of human consciousness: personal, transpersonal (including existential and multigenerational), and spiritual.
We also focused on embodying the role of the "guide", rather than "therapist": supporting a process of two human beings interacting in an "I-Thou" manner, and reducing the frequent, uneven power dynamics in the "therapist - patient" dyad.
Although much of our practice had to do with individual therapy, all of our work was seen in a planetary context. It also was a very rich experience of community.
Psychosynthesis
A summary of my learning:
Roberto Assagioli, an Italian psychiatrist, had left Sigmund Freud's psychoanalytic circle early the 20th century to devise a system of theory and techniques to evoke and facilitate the process of synthesis in human life. He proceeded from the basic observation that serious difficulties in the human psyche - emotional pain, a sense of imbalance, or meaninglessness - result when the natural process of synthesis is blocked. To this system he gave the name "psychosynthesis".
This was a therapeutic approach designed to facilitate the utmost growth and integration of the human mind, heart, and spirit.
Tom and his wife Anne had studied directly with Roberto in Florence, Italy in 1972. As Tom writes in his book Holy Fire:
"[Roberto] had spoken so deeply to what was essential to us and in us. We stayed, and over the next weeks with him we learned much about the soul and soul process that has remained central to our lives ever since. Roberto's gift was incalculable."
**
A crucial aspect of psychosynthesis counseling is the guide's ability to relate to the client as a Self - a center of both awareness and will (or choice). The basic understanding one wishes the client to receive is (as psychosynthesis practitioner, Alberto Alberti put it): "I have an illness [or dysfunction], but I am not my illness."
This attitude on the part of the guide consists of relating to the client in the context of his or her essential nature and their potential for health - while simultaneously acknowledging his/her current identifications and disabilities. Anne Yeomans describes this attitude in writing about Roberto Assagioli:
"He had the remarkable capacity to read through the layers of self-doubt, of anxiety and tension, of fears and insecurities, of false pride, to reach through these false identifications to the very core of a person - to one's essence - and recognize and greet and affirm it. He seemed to be able to see through the pain and the chaos of those who came to him, to their positive and creative inner core, and say to them both with and without words, 'This is who you are.' We have often said he spoke to the highest in us and we rose to meet him."
**
Psychosynthesis represents a new branch of psychology which has been designated as "transpersonal" or "spiritual," in that it incorporates a "height" as well as "depth" dimension. As such, it includes both the "lower unconscious" explored by Freud, as well as the superconscious dimension of the psyche, which carries our greatest potential.
Designed to understand and relate to the totality of the human psyche, it exists as a clear contrast to the classical, more reductionist approaches (such as psychoanalysis and behaviorism), which tend to consider all human experience as either an adaptive or a defensive process . Friedman, for example, states that psychoanalysis fails to adequately recognize the higher developmental levels discussed by Assagioli under the headings of "crisis of spiritual awakening." Suggested are deeper questions of identity and purpose than are provided by the ego and superego - which help us negotiate the rules and roles of society but offer little beyond.
(It should be noted that in recent years, spirituality has entered psychoanalysis [see, for example, the work of Mark Epstein, among others]).
Psychosynthesis seeks to direct our vision toward potentials for growth and evolution latent within: toward, as Assagioli wrote, "the grand promise of what each person could become". The approach can be used in individual work, with groups, organizations and hopefully in the future, nations.
The process of psychosynthesis appears to be essential to the human growth process itself; however, the limited assumptions and conventional concepts of modern culture can make some of its facets challenging to express.
For example, as a spiritual psychology, it suggests a synthesis of ways of living that are normally considered opposite: work and play, feelings and mind, love and will, practical and ideal, which can interweave and play upon one another toward ever higher levels of integration.
As Piero Ferrucci has noted, such syntheses release enormous amounts of psychological energy, leading to a positively spiraling growth process.
A few final elements of Yeomans's conception of working from a psychosynthetic perspective:
1) "The first is that this work goes best with others when you are doing it yourself in your own life."
2) As guides we need to also "learn to let go and accord the power and dignity to the client," and to allow the soul to guide the process. "This knowing may be hidden and need help to be revealed; however, it is the process of psychosynthesis itself, working within the client that knows where they need to go.
3) "Think of your silent experiential presence as the most powerful intervention have you can make. This energizes the soul force as nothing else can."
4) Open interventions: "What are you experiencing now?" "Stay with that." "Allow that experience." "These to not add anything to the soul process; they only amplify what is already [unfolding]." As a guide, the overall goal is cooperating with a movement toward wholeness and helping the client to learn to do so as well.
Application
In my own work (some decades ago) with schizophrenic patients and their families in a clinic, I faced the challenge that, despite the strength of psychosynthesis as a comprehensive model of human nature, the therapist who is primarily trained in psychosynthesis will very likely be less effective with clients at lower developmental levels. Of necessity, I used both a multiphasic approach (using modalities such as psychoeducation, family and group treatment) - and "stepped down" version of psychosynthesis.
What was essential - and of primary importance - was an "attitude of synthesis" on my part: an attitude which is always seeking and silently affirming the emerging potential of the client.
Our therapy team utilized a family-systems, psychoeducational model incorporating the recent research of Anderson et. al. and Bowen's multigenerational approach. The model was implemented via individual and family therapy, as well as through a network of groups led by team therapists.
The network included regular meetings of a "next step" group for clients preparing to leave the locked hospital ward, a client education group for clients in the community, two multiple-family groups (composed of schizophrenic clients and their parents), a parent support group, a sibling group, and a family education evening.
Key aspects of work with clients include aiding them in accepting and taking responsibility for their illness, the provision of up-to-date information on the dysfunction itself, and open discussion of the feelings associated with rehabilitation. Important discussions for family members include therapist' sharing of research data concerning family management of chronic mental illness and current treatments.
**
On any given day, there are 600,000 people with chronic schizophrenia under active treatment, and each year another 100,000 Americans are diagnosed with it for the first time. Usually manifesting when the individual is in his or her late teens or early 20s, parents are torn between "letting go" or "holding on" to their son or daughter who initially is dysfunctional (withdrawn, argumentative, bizarre) in ways they do not understand.
It is important for those of us unfamiliar with schizophrenia to keep in mind that, for the disabled person, the experience of insanity is almost always a terrifying one. Inner imaginings are mistaken for external events. Fantasy and reality become indistinguishable. The individual has lost the sense of the "usual" reality and tends to feel very much alone.
Distortions confuse; confusion frightens; fear becomes overwhelming and it is common to withdraw from other people; in this withdrawal from human contact, he or she is painfully alone. Yet being alone is in itself full of anguish, for it prevents an easing the confusion and perpetuates the madness.
Examples:
"When I am melting, I have no hands. I go into a doorway in order not to be trampled on. It is as if something is thrown in me, bursts me asunder."
"The voice said slowly, 'You've never been any good or use on earth. There is the ocean. You might just as well drown yourself. Just Walk in and keep walking. As soon as the voice was through, I knew by its cold command, I had to obey it."
"The noises of the city are different... with an incessant sound of dismay, sometimes fading away and coming back like waves. There is a whispering in the air, diffuse. Gradually words become clearly distinguishable. They are about her. She looks backward and there they are - peculiar men with grotesque faces who follow her. She runs home in a state of panic."
*
Yet, as James Hillman has pointed out - while humanistic and existential psychologies have attempted to counterbalance misuses of diagnostic categories - there remains "the very ugliness, misery and madness of psychopathology" with which one must always come to terms, "whitewashing none of its despair."
**
And yet...
Assagioli was known to speak of the "blessing of obstacles," pointing out their function in drawing out a person's latent will and permitting the individual to develop transpersonal qualities in the struggle to overcome difficulties. From this point of view, the difficulties life presents can be seen as opportunities for growth - and obstacles as challenges or steppingstones.
One client simply stated his hope and faith: "For every affliction, something is gained."
**
In our therapy team's psychoeducational, groupwork approach with families, a non-blaming attitude (either toward themselves or the affected family member) was stressed. Themes discussed include violence, negotiations with professionals, and the need for limit-setting with the ill member. Keeping an on-going, satisfying family life in the midst of financial and social disarray was another common topic. Providing warmth and sustenance to the disabled family member without overprotection was yet another concern.
The self-help aspects of such groups provide immediate opportunities for family members to care for and to offer knowledge to each other, as well as encouraging an openness in receiving help from others. Professionals played roles as facilitators, psychotherapists, and teachers. The clinic itself utilized an empowerment model, using a "power-with" rather than "power-over" approach.
The stories found daily amidst the clients, family, and staff of the clinic were essentially ordinary ones. Yet they suggest the potential of "breakdown" leading to the "breakthrough" of transpersonal qualities. Acceptance, courage, good will, receptivity, patience, and finally wisdom are the transpersonal qualities which life seems to demand from these individuals as their means to successfully grapple with mental illness.
There was no doubt that, for families - sadness, distress, anguish, and intense grief at witnessing their adult child's disintegration were everyday occurrences. One of my clients had been the protege' of a world-famous dance teacher. Now, however, she was living in a state hospital, unable to live in the community.
That said, an anonymously written book for women alcoholics catalogs the emergence of superconscious qualities out of the crucible of pain:
"Suffering softens us, helps us to feel more compassion and love toward one another... our sense of belonging to the human race, our recognition of the interdependence of all are the most cherished results of the gift of pain.... Our experiences with all other persons thereafter are deeper... pain offers wisdom. It prepares us to help others whose experiences repeat our own.... pain invites us to rely on many resources, particularly those within... paradoxically these periods strengthen our oneness with the Spirit."
**
The cornerstone of the psychosynthesis approach is the experience of an ever-present directional process, leading to the client's "next step" toward maturity, whatever it may be.
For those with chronic illnesses, it acts as a basis of faith and conviction, counteracting the fatigue, helplessness, and hopelessness encountered by client, family, and professional alike. Because the action of the professional is that of supporting clients, families and fellow professionals in cooperating with this powerful, innate movement toward health, such an orientation can offset the downside of psychiatric diagnoses.
As time went on, I became aware of an interesting process. Many members of our agency's clinical staff appeared to be applying principles of psychosynthesis instinctively and intuitively despite having training in clinical approaches other than psychosynthesis. Clients were held in a perspective of "wellness" as well as "illness". Client disempowerment due to self-fulfilling negative expectations and diagnostic labeling and was kept to a minimum.
The atmosphere of the clinic was often joyful and sincerely caring, despite the severe dysfunction of many clients and the high caseloads of staff members. This was possible due to the wisdom and compassion of the two women who directed the clinic and set a powerfully loving and enlightening tone.
Departure
Eventually, intuitively sensing that I desired training in complementary approaches, I moved on from psychosynthesis to seek out two other classical paths - a deeper psychoanalytic training and very focused immersion in Siddha Yoga.
Although Roberto had written that: "Psychosynthesis presupposes psychoanalysis," I had not found enough of the insights of the latter in the psychosynthesis training. I also was seeking a fully realized meditation master. In retrospect I probably was a bit critical in making the break. Even so, I continued to follow Tom's work through his writing.
**
When I met Tom, he was a strapping "young buck" of 40-something. We are both older now, seasoned by life and having taken different external journeys and a very similar inner path of growth. In time, he and I reconnected and have more recently corresponded as colleagues. Today. I consider Tom a spiritual friend and honor him as an extraordinarily profound influence on my own therapeutic work, as well as my understanding/practice of the spiritual path.
Tom's background is interesting. He initially was part of a group in California that was just beginning to develop Psychosynthesis as a discipline in America. He had invested many hopes and much energy in this initially promising group. However, in time it seemed to morph into a cult. Awash in real anguish, Tom left the group and came to the east coast.
As he states in Holy Fire, after helping to bring down what had become a highly dysfunctional and interpersonally destructive group, Yeomans found himself floundering, despairing and virtually paralyzed. Sitting in his living room, as if surrounded by a thick fog, he suddenly noticed a globe of the earth on the desk. The globe: "seemed to come straight at me through the fog. At that moment I heard in my head a voice saying, 'Everything from now on that I do has to be in terms of the planet.' I was flooded with a feeling of peace and recognition of the truth. I understood what my next step would be."
In time Yeomans would regain his balance and begin helping to restore Psychosynthesis in North America, further developing this discipline under the broader rubric of Spiritual Psychology. He began training professionals in individual and group work here and in Europe. The training group in which I participated served as a new beginning for both trainer and trainees alike.
Regarding groupwork, Yeomans evolved the Corona Process, which served as an anti-cult alternative, while simultaneously setting a foundation for spiritually generative groups. This process was closely related to what physicist David Bohm called a "coherent micro-culture". (Bohm suggested that such a micro-culture might serve as a seed for peace on our planet. Such work is sorely needed).
Yeomans also helped a Dutch colleague found a cancer research institute in Holland, and co-founded a post-graduate training institute with Russian psychologists in St. Petersburg. There he was able to share his highly creative approach to group leadership.
One of the themes upon which Yeomans was (and continues to be) focused is the link between personal maturity and species maturity. As he puts it:
"The various crises that we face now on the planet can be seen basically as a result of our immaturity and unconsciousness as a species, even though they take the form of economic, political, social, and environmental crises. The planetary crises that we are facing now, seen in this context, can catalyze us to take greater responsibility, to realize that we are not separate from planetary life [but deeply embedded in it], and to do the necessary work to grow ourselves up, i.e., to become the best of who we are as souls on earth."
And,
"In this sense we need to tap not only the spiritual strength of individuals and groups, but also that of the species, and draw on it for the vast amount of work that is needed. The individual can no longer wait for the leaders to solve the problems. The problems are too big and it is clearer than ever that the leaders we have are not always to be relied on for creative solutions."
**
Tom is the first of a number of luminaries whose work I hope to touch upon. Although - when I suggested that I wished to write an article including him as a species forerunner - Tom initially demurred, then kindly agreed. In having him be the first "forerunner", I seek to honor his gifts both to me, personally, and to the world.
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psychosynthesistrust.org.uk/ video-thomas- yeomans- assagiolis- birthday/
(Article changed on Aug 16, 2023 at 12:08 AM EDT)
(Article changed on Aug 16, 2023 at 2:02 PM EDT)
(Article changed on Aug 18, 2023 at 12:05 AM EDT)
