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Spiritual Psychology A Case Study

A case study may serve to illustrate the manner in which Spiritual psychology can work. Frank is a man of 45, married with two children. He is a successful businessman and runs his own Internet company. He is very comfortable materially and the world regards him as happily married. However, he is aware that he has always avoided intimacy with others and has become alienated from his wife and family. At the same time, his constant need to keep busy has led to an angina condition. His doctor has referred him to the psychologist for stress relief and told him he will be dead from a massive heart attack he doesn't’t change his ways.

We start by taking a history of Frank’s life, which brings out the salient issues, such as his impoverished early family life and an abusive relationship with his father. We recognise that his search for power and affluence is a strategy to replace the lack he feels inside. Sadly, it means his focus is on landing business deals and he is constantly thinking about ways to maximise the profits of his company whilst neglecting his family and exploiting his workers. He is an opportunist and expedience is his watchword. All this points to the tendency towards third ray personality qualities, such as opportunism, deceit, materialism and constant preoccupation with thinking and work. We see the positive side of his third ray personality in his mental agility, ability to strategise, handle money and business matters and his capacity for abstract thought.

Frank spends his spare time playing on the stock exchange and Internet trading. All of this is quite satisfying to him because he is focussed in his personality and he equates happiness with a busy mind and his material well being. However, ill health has become a reality for him and has awoken him to the fact that life has a limited duration and that his time may be running out. Now he has to start thinking about how he is living his life. His wife has despaired of him for years.

A glance at Frank’s esoteric astrology chart, particularly his ascendant Capricorn and its ruler Saturn, points to his destiny in this life being the capacity to lead, to manipulate matter and to be an effective organiser. In other words, the chart points to the presence of first, third and seventh ray qualities. With a Capricorn Ascendant Frank’s personality strength and weakness is his earthy nature. We don’t take a rigid view of his ray structure, but instead we add it to what we know of him from the interview. Knowing there is a strong third ray quality to the personality or mind indicates the need for integration through stillness. A simple numerological assessment confirms that independence and leadership are important aspects of his nature. So, this tells us about his personality but what of his Soul? He expresses no interest in such things, but the counsellor knows that there doesn’t have to be some formal avowal of his spirituality for Frank to be capable of love and relationship. Those capacities are inherent in all of us.

What we can tell from his chart is that there aren’t many “love” rays active and that he is more on the “will” line of focus. Understanding the need for balance we then consider strategies for helping Frank learn how to love and accept himself and others. (If on the other hand he had possessed a surplus of love energy we would then look at ways to develop more will and discipline). In this case, the assessment indicates that Frank needs to start to focus a little on his heart. In fact, we all need to do this but Frank is in danger if he doesn’t do so. His overbearing and unruly will is driving him to an early grave.

Frank’s Jyotish birth chart analysis indicates he has a strong 10^th house of vocation, but the time lines indicate imminent problems in his business life. This tells the counsellor that life is preparing a loud wake up call for Frank and that its purpose may be to help his Soul gain some ascendancy over what is a very tenacious and powerful personality. The chart also gives hints about past life credit, early childhood and so on.

The counsellor shares the ray and astrological results with Frank and then settles down to build a relationship with him. Frank is also taught relaxation and meditation techniques to help quieten his overactive mind and give him an awareness of the contrast between an active and quiet mind. Through discussion he becomes aware of how his personality resists his Soul and how he often assumes he is smarter than everyone else. He treats others like objects to be manipulated. By accessing his own feelings Frank becomes aware of what has been motivating his ambition. His abusive relationship with his father alienated him and he silently vowed to outstrip him. Underneath, Frank feels extremely vulnerable. He gradually learns that other people are human and often suffer at his hands. Then he is directed to the development of his Soul, enabling him to develop the benevolent and educative side of his leadership capacities. He can learn to draw people together focused on a common goal.

The astrological time lines he receives help him to understand the best time for doing certain activities and why he feels blocked at other times. The example of a caring and interested counsellor models the missing relationship with a positive figure and this in itself improves Frank’s feeling of relationship to others. The counsellor notices from the beginning of the sessions that although he is a driven man, Frank also has a deep hunger for love, one that has left him feeling emotionally starved for years. Building his awareness of these hidden factors allows for an enormous outpouring of feeling on Frank’s part and some months are spent on working through and resolving his attitude to his father and his own lack of self-worth. By the end of the counselling process Frank is more relaxed and has developed the understanding to go on and develop his capacity for loving and intuitive action.

Of course, in this example the deeper aspects of his spiritual identity don’t really emerge. Frank is entering the earlier stages of the spiritual path, but he has the advantage of an effective and willing personality. He is at the level of an probationer on the Path. The converse example is that of the young man who comes to counselling with a strong interest in “spirituality” but with little sense of identity. The powerful meditation techniques he has been using only serve to wash away his tenuous personality identity, leaving him feeling vague, lost and ungrounded. He needs ego-building techniques to help him steer his own personality life and then his natural spirituality can come into play. Every client is different and each calls for a different way of relating and the use of different techniques. Many clients will thrive through the positive relationship alone.