In much of our work, particularly with polarities and with suffering, we use “the great formula of the Tao” and “stand out of the way” (PHG, p. 138; Lao Tsu, 1983, p. 9 and passim). We allow our clients to disengage from their preconceptions and become present to the whole of their experience, supporting the destruction of fixed figures that do not permit the ground of what is flow into the figure of what is becoming (PHG, p. 9). As in Taoist teachings, people can thus enter the “fertile void,” the creativity of the self in which all exists in a ceaseless motion of formless form. Then fresh new figures can arise. (Lao Tzu, 1983, p. 25; PHG pp. 138-39; 141; Perls, 1973, p. 99).
Furthermore, Gestalt therapy has central elements of the “perennial philosophy,” Huxley’s term for the common ground of all spiritual philosophies (1945/90). Huxley noted that all spiritual traditions, no matter how disparate their external forms –– dogmas, creeds, rituals, etc. –– have a similar esoteric, inner form. All these traditions are based on transcendence and unity. At certain moments, the time-and-space of ordinary reality is transcended and the unity of the spiritual ground emerges.
Gestalt therapy has these spiritual underpinnings in its organizing principle of the process of contact. The stages of contact can be considered as a description of transcending ordinary reality and entering into an experience of unity (Wolfert, 1989). In the contact continuum, we move in a series of shifting figures and grounds to final-contact (PHG, pp. 179-207). From the deliberateness of the ego functions' identifications and alienations in contacting, we move with, "a sense of readiness...that perhaps the theologians call faith", to final-contact where there is a relaxation of conscious considering, the dissolving of boundaries, and a unity of figure and ground in which splits of mind, body and external world are healed; and in the aftermath, growth occurs (PHG, pp. 5, 17-18, 193-97).
Final-contact often takes place in Gestalt therapy sessions. Then we, therapist and client, identify with the coming self and dwell together beyond our individual perspectives in a flow of spontaneous absorption for a short while. Perls called these moments of transcendence “mini satoris” (1973, p. 131), that is, mini spiritual awakenings. How can we allow these mini-satoris to flower into fuller awakenings and utilize the spiritual more fully in Gestalt therapy?
Let us look at the figure-ground shifts in the stages of contact. If the progression is slowed down enough to become aware, then, in the moment between the deliberations of selecting (contacting) and the experience of being fully there (final-contact), it is usually possible to sense an instant of being in the air, of risking moving into the unknown. Actually, with enough awareness, it might be possible to sense each shift of figure and ground, each moment of difference in which there could be some uncertainty. Even an apparently smooth progression without any blocks, if slowed down enough, has moments of uncertainty, risk and confusion.
One way of enabling a fuller spiritual experience is to empty the ground more completely as the work progresses. Rare is the work that cannot go deeper. We could stay with each uncertainty more fully, letting it blossom into a fertile void. The longer and more completely the client can stay with the void, the deeper the grounds we are opening and the more energy and excitement can pour into the emerging whole. This would correspond to mindfulness or insight meditation, where we follow our awareness and allow it to deepen (Beck, 1993; Goldstein & Kornfield, 1987).
Another possibility would be analogous to concentration meditation, which entails staying with a focal point (Gifford-May & Thompson, 1994). In this case, the focal point would be the figure of concern. So we could stay with the final figure as the point of concentration and breathe with it, for example, allowing it to deepen more and more, connecting moment by moment, breath by breath, allowing the energy and excitement to link to a larger and larger field. After all, Blake could see the world in a grain of sand (1790/1993). In this case also it would be important to stay with any uncertainty that comes up in order to keep allowing the fertile void.
Over the millennia, many portals for entering spiritual experience have been written about. In my limited encounters, however, they have always involved allowing expansion into the unknown — into the fertile void. It is important to note that some people can stay in the void without any difficulty, and in fact, even with excitement or joy. This is not frequent, however. Most find it very difficult to support the swirl of confusion that is the usual experience of the void. When we can stay with the turmoil, however, it can lead to deep spiritual experiences. It is through these means that consciousness and reality can be profoundly known, a new connection to the universe forged, and deep healing can occur.
Spiritual healing is particularly important for clients whose final grounds of security have been shattered –– those with metaphysical wounds (PHG, p. 232). There are many such survivors of severe trauma or tragedy who could heal more completely if we would focus on their breached grounds of ultimate safety and thereby allow them to find new connections to the universe (Wolfert, 1996/98).
A spiritual perspective is also useful for those with less profound difficulties. Everyone could benefit from dwelling more deeply in the fertile void. Although Gestalt therapy theory is written as if contact sequences were neatly separated (PHG, pp. 182-84), in practice this is not so. There is unfinished business on top of unfinished business, and all rest on a sea of unexamined basic premises. The longer we can dwell in the fertile void, then the deeper our contact is, the fuller our experience in the moment and the emptier of background the post-contact space.
In the formless form of the fertile void, past habits can loosen and new possibilities arise. As we stretch out the time between contact sequences, we can empty the ground more and more, and then the ground of the ground, and even the ground of that ground, until we experience our basic premises. As we stay with the void, the past is gone, the future is not yet.— there is only the now. This is a time of profound newness when all things are possible. Then we can return to ordinary reality with renewed vigor and a larger perspective — and dwell more fully in the flow of life.
Practice at the EAGT Conference Panel,"The Spiritual Dimensions of Gestalt Therapy"
There was a good deal of confusion and many false steps in the spirituality panel presentation. Our panel was not assigned a translator. We tried several different methods of handling this difficulty, and in fact, started our presentation several times. But each time, someone found the way we were proceeding intolerable and stopped what was happening. There was bickering, confusion and delay. At last a satisfactory solution was found, and we started in earnest. But by that time, we had only an hour left for 7 speakers and audience participation. Worse than that, everyone’s nerves were jangled from the false starts and animosity.
I was to speak last, and so I took the opportunity to put spiritual theory into practice. While the other panelists were speaking, I silently reflected on the meaning of our difficulties. How strange, I thought, that we had such a breakdown in communication in a spirituality presentation. What could I make of it? Even stranger, no one was talking about our chaotic start and the undercurrent of residual agitation that was so palpable to me. There was an elephant in the room, and no one was speaking about it.
I was in a state of confusion during the other panelists’ talks as I focused on the meaning of our obstacles, false steps and failures of contact. At last it was my turn to speak. I had the experience of holding all of the roiled energy of our turmoil, all of the swirling chaos of our false starts and friction, our breakdowns in communication, our agitation and fragmentation. I held it all in the fertile void.
From my experience of the whirling void, I spoke of our spiritual challenge. I appealed to people to view the obstructions to our communication as a spiritual opportunity. I asked them to allow our difficulties to point us to finding a deeper way of relating, a spiritual ground of connection and communication. As I held all the jangled energy in the room, I extended the invitation to go deeper and dwell spiritually in the moment — to move beyond separateness and expand our spiritual connection. I sustained that possibility by dwelling in contact as deeply as I could, continuing to speak from the formless form. Throughout my talk, I kept creating deeper connection, both in my words and in my support of all the energy in the room — allowing each bit of residual anxiety and fragmentation to come to the surface and melt away. The agitation gradually drained from the room, and we became peaceful and quiet as we found the spiritual ground to be with one another.
Since the energy was so roiled in this presentation, it seemed more important to me to practice spirituality on the panel than to discuss the theory of it — although as you can see from the first section of this article, I am interested in theory as well.
- Beck, C.J. (1993) Nothing Special: Living Zen (San Francisco: HarperSanFrancisco)
- Blake, W. (1790/1993) The Marriage of Heaven and Hell (New York: Granary)
- Gifford-May, D. & Thompson, N.L. (1994) “‘Deep States’ of Meditation: Phenomenological Reports of Experience” Journal of Transpersonal Psychology 26:117-138.
- Goldstein J. & Korngold J. (1987) Seeking the Heart of Wisdom: The Path of Insight Meditation (Boston: Shambhala)
- Hart, W. (1987) The Art of Living: Vipassana Meditation as Taught by S. N. Goenka (San Francisco: HarperSanFrancisco)
- Huxley, A. (1945/90) The Perennial Philosophy (New York: HarperCollins)
- Lao Tsu (1983) Tao Te Ching (New York: Concord Grove Press)
- Nhat Hanh, T. (1976) The Miracle of Mindfulness! A Manual on Meditation (Boston: Beacon Press)
- Perls, F.S. (1973) The Gestalt Approach & Eye Witness to Therapy (Ben Lomond, CA: Science and Behavior Books)
- Perls, F.S., Hefferline, R. & Goodman, P. (1951/1994) Gestalt Therapy: Excitement and Growth in the Human Personality (Highland, NY: Gestalt Journal Press)
- Rahula, W. (1959/1974) What The Buddha Taught (New York: Grove Press)
- Wolfert, R. (1989) “The ‘Perennial Philosophy’: Spiritual Aspects Of The Stages Of Contact” Presented at the New York Institute for Gestalt Therapy.
- Wolfert, R. (1996/98) “The Broken Doll: A Survivor’s Journey Into Life” in B. Feder & R. Ronall, eds., A Living Legacy of Fritz and Laura Perls: Contemporary Case Studies (New York); in The Gestalt Review 2:3:189-231.
- Wolfert, R. (1997) “Self in Experience, Gestalt Therapy, Science and Buddhism: An Evolving Synthesis” Presented at the New York Institute for Gestalt Therapy
Ruth Wolfert has been on the faculty of the New York Institute for Gestalt Therapy for nearly 20 years and has served as Vice President, Conference Co-Chair and Workshops Chair. She is the director of The Chrysalis Institute, a center devoted to the treatment of traumatic stress, and on the board of the Association for the Advancement of Gestalt Therapy. Her most recent interest is in writing, and some of her articles are listed in the references. She has a private, group, and training practice in New York City and gives many workshops throughout the year.
(Ruth Wolfert died subsequent to the publishing of this article. It is one of her final contributions.)
