background noise

False view on (and fear of) emptiness

“This is also the fundamental danger for the rest of us in progressing on the path of meditation. We are all prone to ignore the falsely conceived self by dwelling in the tranquil stabilization that meditation practice offers. These states, which can become ineffably sublime, offer experiences of oneness far removed from our usual personalities that can be mistaken for emptiness by an untrained practitioner. Yet the ultimate purpose of Buddhist meditation is not to withdraw from the falsely conceived self but to recognize the misconception, thereby weakening its influence. “Without disbelieving the object of this (misconception),” said Dharmakirti, “it is impossible to abandon (misconceiving it)” (Hopkins, 1987, p. 137). There is a deep, tenacious resistance to this disbelief, a kind of clutching that occurs, a fear of an emptiness that is conceived to be as real as the inherently existent I. In the words of Huang Po, “Men are afraid to forget their minds, fearing to fall through the Void with nothing to stay their fall. They do not know that the Void is not really void, but the realm of the real Dharma” (Blofeld, 1958, p. 41). “

— “Psychotherapy without the Self: A Buddhist Perspective”, Dr. Mark Epstein M.D.

Emptiness, depressive personality

“In the depressive personality, emptiness functions as a kind of one step beyond loneliness. Not only is the loved object missed and longed for, but there is an internal void and a feeling of an incapacity for love. There may be a deeply felt sense of unworthiness that attributes the loss of the other to the person’s own badness (Kernberg, 1975); thus depressed persons come to feel that they do not deserve to be loved or appreciated. The therapeutic value of meditation for these people lies in the establishment of contact with a valued internal object through the concentration practices that release feelings of love, joy, contentment, and oneness. This is not a substitute for establishing intimate relationships, but it does reveal to depressed personalities that they are capable of feeling what they thought themselves incapable of. “

— “Psychotherapy without the Self: A Buddhist Perspective”, Dr. Mark Epstein M.D.

Emptiness, schizoid personality type

“The schizoid personality tends to feel emptiness as an “innate quality” (Kernberg, 1975) of their being that makes them different from other people, who they can see have feelings of “love, hatred, tenderness, longing or mourning” (p. 215) that they find unavailable within themselves. The schizoid stance has been seen as a defense against feeling longing for “emotional supplies from a good object” (Stewart, 1985) or as the result of “destructive impulses turned from the object towards his own ego” (Klein, 1946, p. 19). In either case, these people feel disintegrated, rather than anxious, unable to experience emotion, unable to contact others, and most in touch with a “soothing” (Kernberg, 1975), “amorphous experience of indefiniteness and weakness” (Guntrip, 1971, p. 97). Successful meditation for them involves a gradual process whereby contact is first made with the ego ideal through the concentration practices, providing a sense of ontological security to counter their pervasive insecurity and allowing the soothing emptiness to be gradually relinquished. At this point the mindfulness practices can begin to uncover the emotional traces that have been unattended to. The obvious mis-use of meditation here is as a validation and reinforcement of the schizoid view of “no feelings” as an absolute truth. The Zen chant of “No eyes, no ears, no mouth, etc.” can readily serve as a schizoid defense when incorrectly apprehended.”

— “Psychotherapy without the Self: A Buddhist Perspective”, Dr. Mark Epstein M.D.

Emptiness, narcissist personality type

“Emptiness in the narcissist is a result of the void that is created in the internal world of object relations through the constant devaluation of others (Kernberg, 1982). This is a pervasive feeling that can be temporarily interrupted only by admiration from others (Kernberg, 1975), which tends to be all that is sought in intimate relationships.

…

Narcissists are much more likely to subvert the notion of “non-self” or “egolessness,” incorporating that image back into their ideal egos, becoming arrogant about their special understanding and using Buddhist veneration of emptiness as justification for their paucity of meaningful relationships.”

— “Psychotherapy without the Self: A Buddhist Perspective”, Dr. Mark Epstein M.D.

Emptiness, borderline personality

“…borderline personality, for instance, what is most lacking is the synthetic or integrative capacity of the ego to consolidate and maintain multiple, conflicting self/object representations. The relationship of the self with internalized object relationships is distorted by the defense of splitting, in which all good and all bad representations of the same person cannot be integrated. Similarly, splitting can persist between the grandiose, idealized self/object and the “deflated, debased” self/object (Lichtenberg,1975), and the ideal ego may remain fused with primitive all-good object representations, rather than separating off into the superego. The mindfulness practices actually strengthen the synthetic capacities of the ego (Epstein, 1988) by training the observing ego to attend to whatever arises without clinging or condemnation, thus allowing conflicting images to present themselves just as they are. So mindfulness practices can actually be very helpful in decreasing the pathologized emptiness of the borderline personality. However, if the insight practices into the emptiness of the ideal ego are attempted prematurely, there are real risks of the loss of the good self-images with which it may be fused, with the preservation and exacerbation of the all-bad, destructive images provoking the borderline’s characteristic defensive flight into depersonalization or identity loss.”

— “Psychotherapy without the Self: A Buddhist Perspective”, Dr. Mark Epstein M.D.