Let’s face it — in order for any psychotherapy to become truly spiritual, it first needs to be well grounded in the universal principles of unconditional love, acceptance and honor the Universal Life Force. Therapy can only shift to this higher level of consciousness, however, if the client is helped into freeing his inner spirit to fully become, paradoxically, what it actually already IS.
Psychotherapy, Spirituality & the Universal Life Force
In order to begin this process of radical self-acceptance, however, the therapist must first be willing to fully acknowledge and honor the Universe Life Force as it’s expressing itself through a client at this time.
Seen in this light, all presenting symptomatology is then considered to be an integral part of how the Life Force is currently manifesting both in (and FOR) a client.
Consequently, as problematic as these symptoms might seem for the client, their appearances are not seen as intrinsically “wrong” or “bad.” Instead, the therapist simply assumes that these troublesome issues are present and foreground in this client’s life for some very important reasons. The therapist’s job, then, is to help the client discover what the Life Force is really “up to” in choosing to express itself to this client at this particular time and in these particular ways.
Above all, the therapist must always avoid making any assumption that the client is, somehow, “NOT OK” for being as they are. In short, it’s never suggested that they need to be “corrected” or “improved” in order to become more “normal.”
Consequently, since the client is now not being labeled as “broken” and, somehow, in need of being “fixed,” his unconscious resistance to his process of full and complete self-acceptance is subsequently greatly reduced.
Unlike many other current modalities, the focus of this kind of “radical-acceptance therapy” is NOT primarily to “change” the client from being what he is. On the contrary, the client has been staying stuck simply because he’s unconsciously been refusing to fully BE who he already is…including his inner “warts” and all.
In short, what’s really been keeping him stuck is his inner resistance to fully embracing the unvarnished and unclaimed truth about what’s been showing up in his own “heart-of-hearts.” Ironically, by his refusal to admit and embrace the truth about “what’s so” for him and to challenge his own long-time personal myths, he has unwittingly created for himself a kind of “psychic constipation.”
Consequently, if the client is ever to have the courage to become who he COULD be, he has to first be willing to have the courage to fully “be” who he already IS… right now.
Why is this necessary? Because the Life Force only allows us to change from where we ARE. Try as we might, we cannot begin to change from a place where we are NOT.
Here’s how it works: Before the client can say “NO” to how he is, he has to first become willing to say “YES” to how he is.… and to do so with full and absolute integrity. If he doesn’t say “YES,” however, then whatever uncomfortable truth that the client is not fully owning about himself will likely go unconscious, split off from his awareness and then will often end up “owning” HIM.
The effective therapeutic encounter will assist the client in fully facing and embracing …through love and acceptance…both the true nature of himself as well as the true nature of life, itself …as it’s all showing up for him in this moment.
The underlying assumption here is that the manifesting grace from the Life Force is never wrong. Assuming that its motives are, essentially, benign, the client begins to recognize that his symptoms are really only life-lessons and should be considered less as “problems-to-be-solved” and more as “gifts-in-disguise.”
Consequently, the client soon stops asking such self-incriminating questions like, “Why is this happening TO me?” and, instead, starts inquiring “Why is this happening FOR me?” He then can begin to query himself, “How can I better use what’s showing up? How can I learn more about myself from whatever’s arising?”
As the client begins to more fully align himself with how the Life Force is manifesting in his daily life, he’ll naturally become more authentic with himself, more compassionate with others and more empowered with the world.
Be sure to check out our Spiritual Voices section, spirituality (general blog posts that touch on spirituality), Spiritual Health and Spiritual Events. Also check out where Science and Spirituality Meet.
Chuck Hillig is a California state-licensed psychotherapist, an author of five books in seven languages and a familiar speaker at both the Science and Nonduality Conferences and at the Annual Gatherings of American Mensa.
