Consciousness and Spirit

Thought Fields and the Relationship to Consciousness and Spirit
©2007 John H. Diepold, Jr., Ph.D.

These pages will explore the interface of thought field psychotherapies with consciousness and spirit. In particular, conjecture about how the thought field serves as an interfacing bridge or entry into the vast resources of the unconscious mind, which links us to the timeless, collective unconscious articulated by Carl Jung, morphogenetic fields and morphic resonance as theorized by Rupert Sheldrake, and ultimately to the spirit and beyond.

While the terms conscious and unconscious are familiar to most psychotherapists, the idea and utilization of spirit is less familiar in traditional psychotherapy. Perhaps this is so because the term spirit conveys many meanings. However, let's begin with more common ground and the levels of consciousness as traditionally employed in psychology and psychotherapy.

In a typical two-dimensional view of the mind involving the theorized constructs of the conscious and the unconscious, the unconscious area is much greater in size than the conscious area.

I remember an example used in graduate school to exemplify the difference in apparent size and ability of these two mind levels. To paraphrase, we were asked to imagine placing a golf ball on top of the Houston Astrodome (the first domed stadium). It was then explained by comparison that the golf ball was equivalent to the conscious mind, and the Astrodome equivalent to the unconscious mind. Now, that was a big difference! Not to mention that as psychologists we would have to use the information the patient brought to us with his or her "golf ball" and then locate and treat the related cause somewhere in their "Astrodome" without so much as a floor plan beyond projective psychological testing. However, I believe the concept and utility of thought fields make navigating the known and unknown much easier.

The conscious and unconscious minds constantly exchange information. The information exchange is most likely simultaneous across the many biological, neuro-chemical, cognitive, affective, and info-energetic network systems. I hypothesize that when we attune a thought field that multi-level information exchange instantly occurs bringing conscious and unconscious knowledge and info-energy to the fore regarding the specified thought field. (See Figure 1)

The thought field can be conceptualized as an information hub that links conscious and unconscious resources that can be readily accessed and treated via meridian-based and other energy oriented psychotherapies. The resulting vibrational changes in Frequency-Resonance-Coherence (FRC) due to treatment (e.g., "field-shifting" of info-energy in the thought field, absence of perturbation or elater influence emotionally, "cognitive clarity", physiological adaptations) are similarly and instantly communicated from thought field to both conscious and unconscious levels of mind. Accordingly we think, feel, and act differently as our biochemical and corporeal structure follows suit in its own way. This is the more obvious and easy part.

Figure 1.

Two-dimensional View: The Relationship of the Thought Field with Consciousness

So what really constitutes our unconscious "Astrodome"? What is it and where does it come from? How does it work? How does it influence our life now, and how do we influence it? But let's see what happens when we take the flat, two-dimensional view of the thought field with consciousness and turn it on its side. My interpretation of this maneuver results in a four-dimensional view of interactive, info-energy communications when using thought field-directed energy psychology treatments. In this diagram the unconscious connects to far more than repressed childhood memories and is truly a resource activated in treatment. (See Figure 2)

Figure 2:
Four-dimensional view:
Thought Field Directed Energy Psychology Treatment
Engaging Consciousness & Spirit

From this perspective we now see the richness and the depth of the communication available, which would support the unusually quick and robust results frequently obtained with thought field-directed energy psychology treatments. The depth and breadth would also account for occasional spontaneous reports by patients about seemingly odd or unusual thoughts, feelings, and images that sometimes accompany resolution of longstanding or complex issues.

The different levels or layers of info-energy, beginning with conscious knowledge and thought, surround the personal unconscious. The thought field pierces all the interacting levels and layers and transmits and receives info-energy from all areas. The next level involves our physical body energy as reflected in our neurological, biochemical, and electrical activities. We now go beyond the physical body in the next layer and into the electromagnetic, magnetic, and subtle energies that surround us and influence the info-energy we receive and transmit. These outer body energy levels are sometimes referred to as auric sheaths, bio-fields, or they are delineated in more precise detail as physical D-space, conjugate physical R-space, emotional, and mental domains by Tiller (1997) and Tiller, Dibble, and Kohane (2001). The levels or layers of rings are undetermined but eventually interact with the info-energy from morphogenetic fields and morphic resonance (Sheldrake, 1995) and past lives influences (Weiss, 1988, 1992; Newton, 1994) that impact our current life. The universal or collective unconscious melds with the current personal unconscious somewhere in the timelessness beyond Tiller's mental domain.

Now we are back to the concept and role of spirit; the intangible ingredient of who and what we are. Etymologically the word "spirit" comes from the French "espirit" and the Latin "spiritus" pertaining to breath, vigor, courage, life, and the soul and from "spirare" meaning to blow or breathe. Spirit is most often used as a noun with a multitude of meanings. Webster's New World Dictionary lists 16 definitions and Microsoft Word offers 16 synonyms. The term spirit, as relevant to thought field therapies and consciousness, would reflect the definitions describing spirit as "the life principle", which is "regarded as separate from matter", and consisting of "real meaning; true intention". [It is neither the intention nor within the scope of this presentation to infer or discuss spirit in a religious sense. However, you may if you wish.]

Spirit might be considered the most fundamental aspect of our being, similar to the pure, guiding energy of Shen (Woollerton and McLean, 1979), and therefore affect our lives in diverse ways that lend to so many definitions. Perhaps it is the spirit that binds the collective unconscious, providing us with the strength, courage, character, fortitude, heart, chutzpah, and will to master life's challenges and strive to overcome adversity without giving up the ghost. The experience of common fears, traumatic events, sorrows, and even the joys of all humankind, is contained in the essence of our far-reaching spirit. It is the driving force that guides healers to heal, teachers to teach, and the wounded to mend; it is the force that drives us to seek knowledge. The spirit is our intangible connection to one another and to the simultaneous experience of a timeless past, present, and future that serves as a powerful resource throughout life's journey. While there has been many ways to engage the spirit throughout history, and no doubt many more ways will be devised in the future, it appears at this time that the thought field provides a direct and convenient avenue to the spirit via facilitation of our info-energy system with thought field-directed psychotherapies.

Reference

The interested reader is referred to the following text for all contained references:

Diepold, J.H. Jr., Britt, V., and Bender, S.S. (2004). Evolving Thought Field Therapy: The Clinician's Handbook of Diagnoses, Treatment, and Theory. W W Norton Professional Books, NY, NY.