Our Psychotherapy Course: A Brief Summary of What We’ve Seen So Far

Albert Einstein once said, “…the distinction between past, present, and future is only a stubbornly persistent illusion.” This was a sophisticated and scientific way for Einstein to say that “time does not exist. What exists is Real. And Real is not temporary.” It also means, “Real is infinite. Real cannot be threatened. And what is unreal does not exist.”

This Truth has also been reached by all the five major systems of thought (Science, Philosophy, Religion, Spirituality, and Metaphysics). This Truth has also remained counterintuitive to how we’ve been socialized, including how we are living our lives and seeing ourselves, and how we interacting with the world.

Failure to recognize such a counterintuitive Truth is part of the puzzle that explains why there has been so much suffering in the world. This puzzle is at the heart of what our 1-year Psychotherapy Certificate Course, is all about. We have completed 5 of our 53 weeks, so far, and while this is still less than 10% of our curriculum, it is worth summarizing as we go, in the spirit of making it as user friendly as possible for all.

Let us summarize some key points that we have seen so far:

Our current way of thinking and perceiving is not rooted in Reality, and the following five points help summarize the reason why.

1. Nothing in itself has any intrinsic meaning. Things are neutral.

2. We and only we assign meaning and values to things. We decide what they are, and what they are for

3. We assign meaning, define things, explain things, without really understanding them, while at the same time we make ourselves believe that we do understand them

4. Because we do not really understand things, all we can rely on to assign meanings or values to things is our past

5. All our mind is preoccupied with is past thoughts

As Einstein says, our past is a, “stubbornly persistent illusion.” It persists. It seems vividly real. It is stubborn. But one thing for sure, it is not real. It is an illusion. This means that all we rely on to assign meanings or values to things is an illusion. As such, the meanings we assign to things are illusory. And because all our mind is preoccupied with is with past thoughts, we can say with certainty that our mind can think and perceive only based on that which it is preoccupied with – an illusion.

Now, we have also seen that Reality is also in our mind, that it is simply being overshadowed by our Ordinary or Normal Blueprint (Genetics and Experiences/environment), and that the decision, determination, willingness, and commitment to think and perceive differently would be not only the first step, but also a huge step towards perceiving Reality.  This means a number of things, including the following:

1. Perceiving everything with an open mind

2. Perceiving things for what they really are

3. Perceiving things for what they really are for

In other words, we will be able to know that we are perceiving differently, when:

1. We perceive things as being neutral

2. We are no longer in need of assigning meanings or values to everything

3. We perceive the Real purpose behind everything, as part of a shared purpose, which is that of being for our own best interest

We are unable to complete this brief summary without talking about another major point that is worth being mastered by everyone. It is that it may be easy for us to see ourselves as victims in the world. While we all claim victimhood at one point in our life or another, it is liberating for us to insightfully understand that victimhood is merely our own illusion because we cannot be the victim of our own making. In other words, each one of us has created our own world, our own reality, and our mind is preoccupied with attack thoughts, with past thoughts – with illusion and has been perceiving and making up our world accordingly. To say that we are a victim of our own world is then antithetical. And the understanding that no one, except ourselves, will ever be able to save us from our own state of victimhood, which we have been authoring, can be one of the most powerful, hopeful, and empowering messages anyone of us can ever hear. It also means that part of understanding this includes taking 100% responsibility for our making. For this to take place, we will benefit from looking at how we have been making our world and reality, so we can move to a more conscious way of being in the world.

In essence, we have been “victimizing,” ourselves:

1. Through attack thoughts towards ourselves, others, and the “world,”

2. By perceiving thoughts as meaningful and therefore following them

3. By making up images in our brain and creating effects out of things that are neutral otherwise.

If, as Nelson Mandela said, we ought to change education in order to change the world; If, as Mahatma Gandhi said, we ought to be the change we want to see in the world; we can say for sure that we have what it takes to be the change, to change the world, and to change education in our field of mental health. For education consists of unlearning and relearning, perceiving differently, and perceiving from illusion to Reality.

Now, because it is a process, it means it does not happen overnight. Because it is empowering, it does not mean it guarantees power overnight. It needs to be practiced, experienced, and shared until Reality becomes the basis for our mind. Then and only then, we will be able to elevate ourselves to a new way of being in the world, be the difference for our loved ones, our patients and clients, our agencies, our field, and for the whole world.

We will know our own peace, our own satisfaction, and our own fulfillment. We will know our own freedom, our own authentic success, and our own self-actualization. A knowing that is not intellectual, but rather, experiential, and rather transformative. The only question is: Are you willing and committed to reaping these benefits?

Let us answer that question without thinking through the lens of our past, and without worrying about the future. Let us say, “yes” today. Let us renew our “yes” each day. And let us live each day through the lens of that new insightful understanding. And let us allow it to use us.

Now, see you on Tuesday, October 13th, 7-9pm EDT, when we will be talking about How to Perceive.

We thank you for your incredible commitment, and we send you Love,

Karen and Mardoche