Part 1: Working with Self & No-Self: An Integrated Approach to Subjectivity
This program is part of a year long path called Buddhism and Psychotherapy: A Healing Partnership. Please click here for more information on the full path program.
In this module, we will explore the Buddhist teachings of anatta, or no-self, in conversation with a Western psychological understanding of self and its development. We will read classic Buddhist texts and their commentaries, alongside developmental and psychoanalytic texts exploring how selfhood is formed within the parent/infant dyad and in family systems. With an emphasis on the need for a well-developed sense of personhood, or subjectivity, we will explore the model of spiritual mentor/student, in contrast with the therapist/patient model in psychotherapy. Themes will include the Buddhist and psychotherapeutic understanding of mind as the foundation of selfhood and how it is shaped in the context of relationship.
This program is open to meditators of all experience levels and will be especially relevant to clinicians interested in the clinical applications of Buddhist contemplative practice.