Psychotherapy, Science, and Spirit: Nonlinear Systems, Hakomi Therapy, and the Tao

Abstract

This article explores how contemporary science may inform psychotherapies that also allow for concepts of “Spirit.” Hakomi therapy is used as one example for exploring such an integration. The discussion begins with tenants from the philosophy of science outlined by Bateson and Wilber, and how Hakomi therapy incorporates them into therapeutic principles also influenced by Buddhism and Taoism. These metaprinciples lead into a discussion of the sciences of complex nonlinear systems and to further implications for psychotherapy. The conditions for fostering transformation in a complex adaptive system are discussed in terms of spiritual concerns for raising consciousness in the world.

Keywords:

• psychotherapy
• philosophy of science
• sciences of complexity
• nonlinear systems
• Hakomi therapy
• mindfulness
• Taoism
• consciousness

Notes

1. The italicized quotes interspersed throughout the article are from various chapters of Lao Tzu's book of wisdom, the Tao‐te ching as found in and expounded upon in Johanson & Kurtz (1991). Though the quotes theoretically relate to the issue at hand, they are sometimes placed without comment. The reader is free to muse about their connections or ignore them.

2. Wilber (1995) takes the word “Kosmos” from the Pythagoreans, and uses it in the most comprehensive sense to include all manifestations of life. It is contrasted with “cosmos” which includes only the external, physical aspects of life, or what Wilber refers to as the right‐sided flatland of the four quadrants.