background noise

Dynamics of the Meditative Path

• Preliminary practices: inner space
• Dynamically: Paralysis of ego functions other than observing ego
• Danger is self-fragmentation
• Emptiness misunderstood as incompleteness
• Egolessness misunderstood as loss of psychodynamic ego

• Concentration: oceanic feeling
• Dynamically: Merger of ego and ego-ideal
• Danger is self-annihilation
• Emptiness misunderstood as a real nothingness
• Egolessness misunderstood as loss of ego boundaries, abolition of the self

• Mindfulness: surrender
• Dynamically: Loss of self-consciousness without loss of awareness
• Danger is self-abnegation
• Emptiness misunderstood as a quiet mind free of thoughts
• Egolessness misunderstood as relinquishment of the ego or repudiation of the self

• Insight: emptiness/relativity
• Dynamically: Understanding the representational nature of experience
• Danger is self-deception
• Emptiness misunderstood as a real disappearance
• Egolessness misunderstood as the absence of self-representation

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

“Terror and delight”

“…when the path of insight is analyzed carefully, stages with predominantly two contrasting affective tones can be discriminated, what the Visuddhimagga, the classic textbook of Buddhist psychology, calls experiences of “terror and delight”

…

…experiences of terror, on the other hand, derive from the investigating aspects of the mindfulness practice and from the insights that precipitate out of such practice. They are characterized by clear perception of the impermanent, insubstantial and unsatisfying nature of the self and the field of experience. These experiences are profoundly disturbing; they evoke discomfort, fear and anxiety, require the meditator to relinquish fundamental beliefs and identifications, and tend to be fragmenting and anxiogenic. 

…

The experience of terror, however, and the fruits of the insight practices, have little to do with the ego ideal. There is no satisfaction of a yearning for perfection in these experiences, no evocation of grandeur, elation or omnipotence. Rather, these experiences directly challenge the grasp of the deeply buried and highly treasured ideal ego. They confront the “illusory ontology of the self” (Hanly, 1984, p. 255), expose the ego as groundless, impermanent and empty, and overcome the denials that empower the wishful image of the self. When faced with these experiences, the meditator has nothing to fall back on; he must surrender his most closely guarded identifications, relinquishing them as “not me” and “not mine.” As described in the Visuddhimagga, He sees the non-existence of a self of his own … he sees of his own self too that it is not the property of another’s self… . He sees the non-existence of another’s self, thus `There is no other’s self anywhere’ He sees of another that that other is not the property of his own self thus `My owning of that other’s self does not exist’ So this mere conglomeration of formations is seen … as voidness of self or property of a self…. (Nyanamoli, 1976, p. 763)

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

Dual orientation of narcissism

“Guntrip (1971) insists that “every personality” hovers “between two opposite fears, the fear of isolation in independence with loss of ego in a vacuum of experience, and the fear of bondage to, of imprisonment or absorption in the personality of whomever he rushes to for protection” (p. 291). These two poles, of grandiosity or omnipotence on the one hand, and emptiness or insufficiency on the other, represent what Lou Andreas-Salome (1962), one of Freud’s great confidants, termed the “dual orientation of narcissism,” that of the “desire for individuality” with its associated feelings of “a ghostlike facsimile of existence” (p. 7) versus the “contrary movement toward conjugation and fusion” that involves “identification with the totality” (pp. 4-5).”

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

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.

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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.