I was very excited to read Kristen's comments on the subject of music therapy and spirituality. As I said in my column, the more people will talk about the subject the more it will be present and recognized.
I am familiar with Kristen's dilemmas concerning how hard it is to discuss in an educational setting something that is mysterious or something that just "happens." For me, the main thing is to acknowledge such a phenomenon. To say out loud that there is such a thing in our lives and work.
I want to "jump into the water" and try to describe spiritual moments that I experience from time to time in my life and work. It is some kind of a sensation, a vibration that goes through my mind, body and spirit. It is a moment when everything fits together. Maybe I can compare it to Rollo May's Aha Moment. It is a special moment that is hard to describe. I don´t really know what words to use. But I know that it contains deep joy, a feeling of being whole. It is like a puzzle - you put all the missing pieces and all of the sudden there is no separation between the parts and everything is at one with everything. The whole is more than its parts. So it is like mind, body and spirit combined together. It rings right, it feels authentic. It is always intuitive. I don't plan it.
So, spiritual moment can be described as a transpersonal, sacred moment, a moment when I feel at one with eternity, one with nature. I am connected to my inner world - my inner guide is guiding me, yet at the same time I feel very much connected to a higher power that is inside and outside at the same time, with no separation. It can happen when I am playing music with my client, listening to music in a concert hall or at home, or reading a book.
I think that the Forth movement in psychology - Transpersonal Psychology - gives answers to the question of the difference between spirituality and religion. I couldn't agree more with Kristen that spirituality is a very different thing than religion. Personally I think that religion can be very dangerous. It can separate people instead of uniting them. It can bring evil, people kill and destroy in the name of God. I believe that spirituality has the power to do just the opposite - to unite people instead of separating them. To bring more love and peace to the world.
Today there are many books and articles about transpersonal psychology and spirituality. In Thomas Moore's book "Care of the Soul" I found accurate descriptions of some of my own experiences and resonated with much of what he says there. For me, reading such books has been very reassuring.
However, I think that as therapists we have to be careful in going into the realm of spirituality. I have to say that I don't think we can do spiritual work without doing psychological work first with ourselves. By psychological work I mean to go to therapy, to get to know ourselves, to work on our issues. Only then, I think, one can move to the spiritual level. In other words: If we do spiritual work without working on our issues, it can become dangerous. I also need to say that music therapists who do spiritual work need to know what they are doing and have a solid psychological and spiritual background (i.e. doing any kind of spiritual work like meditation and yoga, studying spirituality, going to workshops, going to spiritual therapy, etc.).
I also think that therapists need to know with whom they are working clinically. When a person comes to me and says that he or she wants to do spiritual work, I need to check very carefully where he is on a psychological level. I wouldn`t recommend this kind of spiritual work with anyone. When we work with patients who suffer from a weak sense of self, have no boundaries, presenting problems with reality testing, or patients with hallucinations (think they are God for example), work on a spiritual level can be dangerous. I basically work with people who are in good health and who really want to develop their spirituality and explore it.
I cherish these moments in my life and work and would like to invite others to talk about their spiritual experiences.
References
May, Rollo (1958). Contributions of Existential Psychology. In: May, R., Engel, E. & Ellenberger, E. F. (Eds.) Existence: A New Dimension in Psychiatry and Psychology. NY: Simon & Schuster.
Moore, Thomas (1992). Care of the Soul. NY: Harper Perennial
I was very excited to read Kristen's comments on the subject of music therapy and spirituality. As I said in my column, the more people will talk about the subject the more it will be present and recognized.
I am familiar with Kristen's dilemmas concerning how hard it is to discuss in an educational setting something that is mysterious or something that just "happens." For me, the main thing is to acknowledge such a phenomenon. To say out loud that there is such a thing in our lives and work.
I want to "jump into the water" and try to describe spiritual moments that I experience from time to time in my life and work. It is some kind of a sensation, a vibration that goes through my mind, body and spirit. It is a moment when everything fits together. Maybe I can compare it to Rollo May's Aha Moment. It is a special moment that is hard to describe. I don´t really know what words to use. But I know that it contains deep joy, a feeling of being whole. It is like a puzzle - you put all the missing pieces and all of the sudden there is no separation between the parts and everything is at one with everything. The whole is more than its parts. So it is like mind, body and spirit combined together. It rings right, it feels authentic. It is always intuitive. I don't plan it.
So, spiritual moment can be described as a transpersonal, sacred moment, a moment when I feel at one with eternity, one with nature. I am connected to my inner world - my inner guide is guiding me, yet at the same time I feel very much connected to a higher power that is inside and outside at the same time, with no separation. It can happen when I am playing music with my client, listening to music in a concert hall or at home, or reading a book.
I think that the Forth movement in psychology - Transpersonal Psychology - gives answers to the question of the difference between spirituality and religion. I couldn't agree more with Kristen that spirituality is a very different thing than religion. Personally I think that religion can be very dangerous. It can separate people instead of uniting them. It can bring evil, people kill and destroy in the name of God. I believe that spirituality has the power to do just the opposite - to unite people instead of separating them. To bring more love and peace to the world.
Today there are many books and articles about transpersonal psychology and spirituality. In Thomas Moore's book "Care of the Soul" I found accurate descriptions of some of my own experiences and resonated with much of what he says there. For me, reading such books has been very reassuring.
However, I think that as therapists we have to be careful in going into the realm of spirituality. I have to say that I don't think we can do spiritual work without doing psychological work first with ourselves. By psychological work I mean to go to therapy, to get to know ourselves, to work on our issues. Only then, I think, one can move to the spiritual level. In other words: If we do spiritual work without working on our issues, it can become dangerous. I also need to say that music therapists who do spiritual work need to know what they are doing and have a solid psychological and spiritual background (i.e. doing any kind of spiritual work like meditation and yoga, studying spirituality, going to workshops, going to spiritual therapy, etc.).
I also think that therapists need to know with whom they are working clinically. When a person comes to me and says that he or she wants to do spiritual work, I need to check very carefully where he is on a psychological level. I wouldn`t recommend this kind of spiritual work with anyone. When we work with patients who suffer from a weak sense of self, have no boundaries, presenting problems with reality testing, or patients with hallucinations (think they are God for example), work on a spiritual level can be dangerous. I basically work with people who are in good health and who really want to develop their spirituality and explore it.
I cherish these moments in my life and work and would like to invite others to talk about their spiritual experiences.
References
May, Rollo (1958). Contributions of Existential Psychology. In: May, R., Engel, E. & Ellenberger, E. F. (Eds.) Existence: A New Dimension in Psychiatry and Psychology. NY: Simon & Schuster.
Moore, Thomas (1992). Care of the Soul. NY: Harper Perennial