The Way of the Psychonaut Volume One: Encyclopedia for Inner Journeys by Stanislav Grof

Author:Stanislav Grof [Grof, Stanislav]
Language: eng
Format: epub, azw3
Publisher: Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies
Published: 2019-08-01T07:00:00+00:00

According to Adler, the sexual drives and the tendencies toward sexual perversions of various kinds, as emphasized by Freud, are only secondary expressions of this guiding principle. The preponderance of sexual material in the fantasy life of the neurotic is simply a jargon, a modus dicendi, expressing strivings toward the masculine goal. This drive for superiority, totality, and perfection reflects a deep need to compensate for all-pervasive feelings of inferiority and inadequacy.

In his therapeutic practice, Adler emphasized the active role of the therapist. He interpreted society for the patient, analyzed his lifestyle and goals, and suggested specific modifications. He gave encouragement, instilled hope, restored the patient’s faith in himself, and helped him to realize his strength and ability. In Adler’s psychology, the therapist’s understanding of the patient is considered to be essential for the successful reconstruction of the patient. The patient’s insight into his own motivations, intentions, and goals is not seen as a prerequisite for therapeutic change. Adler saw the Freudian concept of transference as erroneous and misleading, and as an unnecessary obstacle to the therapeutic progress. He emphasized that the therapist should be warm, trustworthy, reliable, and interested in the patient’s well-being in the here and now.

The observations from LSD work and other experiential approaches bring an interesting new perspective and insight into the theoretical conflict between Adler and Freud. In general, this controversy is based on the erroneous belief that the complexity of the psyche can be reduced to some simple fundamental principles. The human mind is so complex that many different theories can be constructed, all of which seem to be logical, coherent, and explain major facts of observation, yet at the same time are mutually incompatible or actually contradict each other.

More specifically, the disagreements between psychoanalysis and individual psychology reflect a lack of awareness of the spectrum of consciousness with its different levels. In this sense, both systems are incomplete and superficial, since they focus exclusively on the biographical level and do not acknowledge the perinatal and transpersonal realms. Consequently, projections of various elements from these neglected areas of the psyche appear in both systems in a distorted and diluted form.

The conflict between the emphasis on the sexual drive and on the will toward power and masculine protest appears to be important and irreconcilable only as long as one’s knowledge of the psyche is limited to the biographical level. As we have already discussed, intense sexual arousal (including activation of the oral, anal, urethral, and genital erogenous zones) and feelings of helplessness, alternating with desperate attempts to mobilize one’s strength and survive, represent integral and inseparable aspects of the dynamics of BPM III. Although in respect to the death-rebirth process, there may, temporarily, be more emphasis on the sexual or the power aspect of the perinatal unfolding, the two are inextricably interwoven.

As an example, the study A Sexual Profile of Men in Power by Sam Janus, Barbara Bess, and Carol Saltus is based on more than 700 hours of interviews with high-class call girls from the East Coast of the United States (Janus, Bess, and Saltus 1977).

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