Sacred Mirror: Nondual Wisdom and Psychotherapy (Omega Book) [Paperback]

The Sacred Mirror is truly a landmark book in the history of psychotherapy, and can be considered "must reading" for all therapists, therapists-in-training, their instructors, and, I daresay, many spiritual teachers. Editors John Prendergast, Peter Fenner, and Sheila Krystal have done an outstanding job, not only in the quality of their own articles (for instance, senior editor John Prendergast's "Introduction" and his article for chapter 4, "The Sacred Mirror: Being Together," are alone well worth the modest price of the book), but also in the high quality of all the other multi-faceted papers they have inspired their fellow authors to draft. Note that all these papers are original, not having been previously published elsewhere.

Each essay is a gem. Having spent over three decades in "the nondual way" exploring its relevance for authentic living, loving, working and serving, I had wondered, before reading this book, just how much new insight could be generated by having so many contributors to this topic, "Nondual Wisdom in Psychotherapy" (the book's subtitle). After all, Alan Watts had brilliantly touched on many issues in his classic "Psychotherapy East and West," and Ken Wilber had written a fair amount on the nondual culmination of the psycho-spiritual development process.

I was pleasantly surprised.

Whereas there is some overlap, especially in that each author must define what "nondual" means for them--and the term tends to evoke a lot of the same definitions--even here I was impressed at the wealth of nuance in how each author has truly "owned" the language of nonduality, and doesn't merely sound like s/he is parroting nondual wording from the Perennial Wisdom traditions of Advaita Vedanta, Kashmir Saivism, Zen Buddhism, Vajrayana Buddhism, and contemplative Taoism (the main five sacred traditions that have engendered the rise of nonduality in the West).

Not only are these pages abundantly filled with "nondual insight" and good conceptual overview, most of the authors present transcripts or synopses of interesting individual cases clearly showing how nondual awareness-- arising either spontaneously or via gentle suggestion -- allowed for the therapeutic relationship to deepen profoundly and then, suddenly or gradually, radical healing/wholing could occur.

Limited space for this review prevents my discussing each of the papers presented in The Sacred Mirror. Suffice it to say that this book should be required reading for anyone working in the fields of transpersonal, humanistic or depth psychology. Persons in other "helping professions" and many other walks of life will also greatly benefit from reading this authentic compilation of enlightened teachings, thoroughly grounded in psychotherapeutic sensitivity and pragmatic common sense.

Congratulations and "Thank you!" to Prendergast, Fenner, Krystal, John Welwood, Jennifer Welwood, Dorothy Hunt, Dan Berkow, Richard Miller, Stephan Bodian, Lynn Marie Lumiere, Bryan Wittine, and Adyashanti for their truly fine contributions.

Only three criticisms of the book: 1) I don't recall in any of the papers (I might have missed something) any discussion of the ancient warnings by nondual sages that a person be relatively free of certain basic "defilements" before being introduced to nonduality (i.e, that only the One Is, that one's real nature is the Absolute, that "the sage transcends right and wrong"). Such warnings are given lest any immature persons misappropriate nondual glimpses or teachings for reifying or aggrandizing their own limited egocentricity (leading to the problematic "psychic inflation" that Carl Jung warned about).

2) Many persons can fall into a veritable "spiritual vertigo" when their initial nondual breakthroughs occur (recall the cases of Narendranath with Sri Ramakrishna and Paul Brunton with Ramana Maharshi, to give only two examples); I don't recall any of the authors dealing with this potential phenomenon in the therapeutic or nontherapeutic contexts.

3) A minor quibble: the "selected bibliography" could have been expanded by about 1 page to be more extensive without being exhaustive. For instance, I (and probably other readers) would have liked to have seen listed some classic works on the Sankara advaita and Kashmir Saiva advaita traditions, Yoga Vasishtha, Ribhu Gita, Ashtavakra Gita (etc.), more Ch'an/Zen and Taoist works, and works from some especially clear advaita teachers of the modern era like Douglas Harding and Wei Wu Wei [Terry Gray]--though several sages of great stature-- Ramana Maharshi, Nisargadatta Maharaj, Jean Klein and others are referenced here. From a transpersonal psychology perspective, two classic works, Dr. Arthur Deikman's *The Observing Self* and Erich Fromm's *To Have or To Be* would also be quite relevant for this bibliography.

I must add that the one reviewer here who dismisses this book with "two fat gold stars" and denigrates the need for psychotherapy, suggesting that people simply read a few teachings from Ramana Maharshi, has not truly understood Maharshi's wisdom or the ancient distinction between the conventional and absolute levels (preliminary and final levels) of upadesha / spiritual instruction. Ramana was entirely open to his disciples utilizing whatever approach works for their authentic awakening in Atma/Self and their ongoing abidance in this nondual Love-Awareness. Thus, he readily supported disciples' and visitors' involvement in the various margas, the "pathless paths" or ways of spiritual awakening-- including wisdom and self-enquiry (jnana and atma-vicara), devotion (bhakti, especially abheda bhakti, devotion without any concept of duality between God and self), Patanjali's 8-limbed yoga system, and selfless service (seva). Had Ramana known about transpersonal psychotherapy, I'm sure he would have encouraged anyone chronically suffering mental/emotional challenges to avail themselves of this form of therapeutic help to work through their suffering to genuine freedom.

It is not enough to enquire (a la Ramana's well-known "final approach") "Who is suffering?" or "Who needs psychotherapy?" to live authentically in the miracle of this spaceless-timeless here-now. When a person still has some unreleased, major identification with one of the koshas (physical, psychological, or psychic "sheaths" of karma), trying to launch themselves into the nondual "beyond the witness" state in almost all cases will not produce happy results. To know this is simply basic wisdom and compassion. And along this line, The Sacred Mirror is an invaluable contribution.

The critic also indirectly mentions the Buddha, who, 2500 years ago, urged that we be a light unto ourselves. But this critic fails to mention that the Buddha and other enlightened masters in his lineage(s) strongly encouraged association with a wise "spiritual friend" (kalyana mitra) and any number of (at least) 40 methods of meditation and inquiry into the source and causes of "attachment, aversion and egoic delusion" (lobha, dosa, moha). The therapists who have contributed to The Sacred Mirror are using "skillful means" (upaya) in helping anyone in pain to do just that and thereby come to real, final freedom.

And yes, this situation is a wonderfully wild, wacky PARADOX, for, ultimately, there are no separate beings needing therapy or "final states" of anything. One finds here only Buddha-nature, only Awareness, only God. YET... YET, as part of this enjoyment of purely nondual experiencing (no experiencer, nothing to be experienced), the nondual One can easily manifest in its dream-play of Awareness, a "someone" "buying" "this fine book" and "enjoying wonderful release"! No problem. Nothing really happening.

--Timothy Conway, Ph.D. (East-West Psychology, CIIS), author of *Women of Power and Grace: Nine Astonishing, Inspiring Luminaries of Our Time* and the forthcoming book *India's Modern-Era Sages: Nondual Wisdom Teachings from the Heart of Freedom.*

Reality, Self, unconditioned mind, awakening, presence, silence, emptiness, being, nondual. If these are words you'd like to hear associated with psychotherapy, this book will be very welcome.

The Sacred Mirror is a collection of original writings by leading practitioners of nondual psychotherapy. Each author -- in his or her own fashion, and with varying degrees of emphasis -- addresses the nature of nondual disposition, what nondual therapy is, how it is practiced, and its role in psychotherapy. It is angled toward psychotherapists and the healing of psychological problems, but will appeal to anyone interested in nonduality, whether a professional healer or not. This book will be appreciated by one who senses or knows presence, whether one is held, or holds, in presence.

Since the function and work of the guru or spiritual teacher is essentially the same as that of the nondual therapist, both voices are heard from each author. Since these authors and therapists are intimate with nondual awareness, there is no underlying difference. What nondual therapists possess that most gurus do not, is formal training in psychology and a set of skills allowing them to practice conventional psychotherapy.

The first two chapters give overviews of nonduality and nondual therapy. John J. Prendergast, in the first chapter, asks whether the nondual approach makes for a new school of psychotherapy. He talks about how nonduality fits into practice. He addresses whether psychotherapy is evolving into a vehicle for transmission of truth, and whether awakening therapists are in the same lineage as Buddha or other great sages of all time. Prendergast speaks of the primary and secondary impacts of awakening. He discusses psychotherapy methods and skills in light of nondual awareness and how awakening impacts the psychotherapist.

Following the first two introductory chapters is an interview with Adyashanti. This, the third chapter, could also be considered an introductory chapter, as it gives further overview of nondual therapy and nonduality. Adyashanti is a significant character in this book since he is an outsider to the profession of psychotherapy yet works one on one with people who are awakening. His perspectives on nondual therapy would seem to be important. The interviewers ask over two dozen excellent questions, not including follow-up questions and comments.

Chapter Four is by Prendergast, who writes, "When we look into an ordinary mirror, we see how we appear. When we look into a sacred mirror, we see who we are." The role of "sacred mirror" has traditionally belonged to the guru or spiritual teacher. This chapter describes how the role is being played by the therapist and explores ways of including this function into transpersonal psychology.

Chapter Five is entitled, A Nondual Approach to EMDR: Psychotherapy as Satsang, by Sheila Krystal. EMDR stands for eye movement desensitization and reprocessing. For the reader who has some familiarity with EMDR, this chapter gives an excellent, sometimes sizzling, introduction. Having no knowledge at all of EMDR or the associated terminology, I had to search online for background information, which helped me more fully appreciate what Krystal has compiled.

Chapter Six is authored by John Welwood. Its theme is, "Being fully human means honoring both these truths -- immanence, or fully engaging with our humanness, and transcendence, or liberation -- equally. If we try to deny our vulnerability, we lose touch with our heart; if we fail to realize our indestructibility, we lose access to enlightened mind. To be fully human means standing willingly and consciously in both dimensions."

Chapter Seven is by Dorothy Hunt, and is entitled Being Intimate with What is: Healing the Pain of Separation. Here are a few major points:
-- "When what is awake directly touches its own experience of anything, there is deep intimacy with what is. ... In this intimacy we find ourselves undivided."
--"(This realization of our undivided being) is unfailingly healing because it experiences itself as a whole."
-- This intimacy is not conceptual, not another idea or identification to be harboured. It is not separate from this or what is. It is direct experience. Any conceptualization is movement away from the experience of this. "Healing happens when we are not separating ourselves from the authentic truth of the moment."

Chapter Eight is by Dan Berkow: A Psychology of No-thingness: Seeing Through the Projected Self. "Therapy therefore facilitates exploration, gives feedback, and promotes inquiry. The effects of self-imposed friction are addressed honestly and without either minimizing or exaggerating. The psychosomatic and relational repercussions of self-protection are clarified with self-examination. The dropping of the projection of a separated self is the choiceless awareness of moment-to-moment being."

Chapter Nine, by Richard C. Miller, is about nonduality and Yoga Nidra. "Yoga Nidra is an ancient tantric Yoga practice that reflects the perspective of Awareness both as the inherent ground of our essential beingness and the container, agent, agency of our healing into the understanding that this is so."

In Chapter Ten, Stephan Bodian speaks about deconstructing the self via inquiry. "The inquiry that I describe in this essay, which now arises naturally with my clients, draws upon The Work, the self-inquiry of Advaita Vedanta, and the phenomenological investigation of experiential psychotherapy."

Chapter Eleven is called Healing Trauma in the Eternal Now. Lynn Marie Lumiere sets forth that nondual awareness is unconditional love and as such accepts extreme ecstasy and extreme trauma equally. "It is only in this embrace of the manifest by the unmanifest that true transformation or healing takes place," she says.

Jungian Analysis and Nondual Wisdom, by Bryan Wittine, is the twelfth chapter. "This chapter is about the journey in Jungian analysis of a spiritual seeker named 'Jenna,' who longed to know God. It is also about a defensive process I call 'psychospiritual splitting,' which nearly derailed Jenna's quest. Finally, it is about our analytical relationship and a nondual understanding of spirituality; both of which were central to her journey."

Chapter Thirteen is written by Jennifer Welwood. The author describes how we develop a conditioned identity. She states, "We lose the true support of our deeper nature and seek refuge in the false support of our conditioned identities. This is how our samsaric confusion manifests at the level of psychodynamics."

Nonduality as a term, as a word, remains a stranger to vast stretches of the fields not only of psychology, psychiatry, and psychotherapy, but of religion, spirituality, physics, and philosophy. And to music, art, literature, ecology, architecture, athletics, nonduality is barely a phantom; it has barely breathed in those spaces. This book, The Sacred Mirror, introduces nondual wisdom or nonduality to the field of psychotherapy. This book provides an education in nondual wisdom, an enjoyable expression of nonduality, and an opening to a new direction in psychotherapy.

Jerry Katz

As a therapist in training, I have been confounded again and again by my mind's attempts to find a "theory" of human change that fits my actual experience of being human. The simple recognitions of the "direct approach" of the non-dual wisdom traditions - that silence is our essential nature and that this silence unfolds in form - provide the "un-theory" that my mind has always sought but has never been able to find. Reading the words of these seasoned practitioners is to be invited into this silence again and again. Their case presentations, observations, and recognitions speak intimately to the practice of being with another human being in an authentic way. I am grateful for every word.