Those of you who have read some of my earlier posts will recall that I used to work as a psychotherapist and hypnotherapist. I moved into this field after my first glimpses of the Truth. During this time, I was reading Tao Te Ching and books on Zen. One book I read was ‘Big Heart, Big Mind’ by Dennis Merzel. Merzel was a Zen teacher who had developed a process to give insight into Oneness and Universal Consciousness. This process was actually a slightly Zen-oriented psychotherapeutic technique that sought to explore the various ‘parts’ or ‘voices’ of an individual’s personality that may be in conflict with each other. In recognising these parts and their different agendas but their shared positive intention for the individual, the theory was that some sense of integration would be achieved. What Merzel did was to move through these personal/separate voices but also explore that part of an individual that was beyond the separate self – i.e. Big Heart, Big Mind.

I was working with clients who had everyday worries and problems which were usually fear based and located in time – be it the past or the future. Although I was still yet to have the biggest ‘shift’ of all myself, I had a sense that right now all is fine. It is only the mind fleeing ‘now’ and making a run for the past or future that creates the existence of a problem with psychological and emotional suffering. I wanted a way to contextualise this suffering for the individual within the realm of the infinite and by doing so, diminish and to some extent trivialise what was being experiences as all-consuming. So, I occasionally used a very condensed version of the Big Mind process that I brought into therapy sessions. I didn’t overtly use hypnosis but the client usually ended up in a trance-like state.

I’ll illustrate this process with an example dialogue below. You will see the progression through increasingly less ‘personal’ and less ‘separate’ perceptual positions. You will recall from my recent posts that I have been attempting to convey the idea that the ‘I’ that I now feel I am, post-realisation, is the ‘I’ that is the universal ‘I’. When Jesus said ‘I am the way, the truth and the Life’, he was talking from the place of the universal ‘I’. When he said ‘the kingdom of God is within you’, he was telling his disciples that they too were the universal ‘I’.

Anyway, back to the example dialogue…

I would like to speak to the Controller.
OK. Yes, this is this controller.
Can you tell me what the controller’s job is?
I control everything. I like to make sure everything is just right for John.
What is your ultimate purpose?
To protect John from things, to keep him safe, to keep him alive.
Where are you, what are your physical limits?
I am inside John’s head. Well, in his mind.
OK. So, what scares you?
The unexpected. New things. Speed. Other people.
What reassures you?
Being indoors. Being in the driving seat.
OK, thank you Controller. Can I now speak to the Critic?
Yes.
Critic, what is your purpose?
To keep John from letting himself and others down.
Anything else?
Yes, to judge others so John feels good about himself.
How do you keep him from letting himself down?
By telling him that he should do better, that he can do better.
What do you fear?
John becoming complacent.
How do you perform your role?
I bother John by continually telling him that he is not good enough, that he could do better.
Will you die?
Yes, when he dies.

And so on…

This process goes on through a variety of voices – the believer, the non-believer etc. Most of these voices reside in the mind. They all have a positive intention for John but they are all the cause of constant mental noise and the identification with these voices – the belief in what they say as truth – is what causes suffering.

Next, we would work with the seeking mind, This voice typically wanted to obtain everything for the individual but this usually boiled up to seeking love, freedom and peace (hey, that could be a great name for a blog!).

We would then move on to the non-seeking mind. A typical dialogue would be as follows:

So, non-seeking mind. What is your role?
I don’t really have one. I am content with everything already. I have enough already.
What do you do for John?
I try to keep the other parts of John’s mind from constantly searching for something. He is already complete. He doesn’t need anything else.

A leap is then made from the personal to the trans-personal and the therapist asks to speak to Big Heart, Big Mind.

Are you there Big Heart, Big Mind?
Yes.
Where are you?
I am everywhere. I am within John but also looking at John on the planet Earth from high up in space. I feel as if I am the universe,
What is your purpose?
I have no purpose other than to simply be. All things happen just as they happen and that’s just fine.
What do you fear?
I fear nothing. I am all things. To fear them would be to fear myself.
What do you want for John?
To stop thinking that all those voices are right. They mean well but they don’t speak the truth.
What do you see when you look at the planet, look at John?
I see him and everyone else worrying about the most inconsequential of things! Why do people hurt each other so much? It’s ridiculous.
Do you have an end? Will you die?
No. Never. How could I die? I am eternal.

Etc.

Usually, when speaking from the place of Big Heart, Big Mind, there is a recognition of the transpersonal, the sense of the universal ‘I’. At this point, there was a palpable change in the individual. I would ask what message the Big Heart wanted to send down to the individual, any words of guidance or reassurance. Love was usually the key message conveyed to the individual.

I’m not endorsing this process nor am I saying that sensing the place of Big Mind or Big Heart is the same as awakening. It does, however, represent another way to convey to readers the sense of universal ‘I’ that resides in all things, is infinite and eternal but can be sensed within our own body.

I’d appreciate any comments you may have on this post.