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Notes to Transformation - Chapter 1 - THE
JOURNEY
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Through taking the journey I have been released from anxiety, guilt
and loneliness and been gifted with a deep calmness and contentment
I would not have thought possible. Life has become much simpler.
The self-centred preoccupation of my ego has gradually been evaporating
to be replaced with an uncomplicated desire to serve. I have experienced
the reality of my soul and have come to understand that the soul
has a journey of its own. In deciding to support my soul’s
journey I have gained peace and intuition. The soul, in its turn,
is gradually opening me to the spirit and that essential quality
of completeness that Jung called the Self.
Gradually over the past fourteen years I have gone deeper and deeper
along the path. Though I have been interested in spiritual issues
for a quarter century and went into analysis for a time in the 70s,
it was not until the shock of being separated from my wife, Hilary,
and being forced to face the unpalatable truths about myself, that
the journey began. After we parted, Hilary boldly attended encounter
workshops in her own search for clarity, and was so strengthened
by them I wanted the same. The changes which happened helped to
bring us back together again on a totally new basis. It was certainly
not easy to break the old roles, but our relationship has grown
deeper and deeper as we have discovered how to love the independence
in one another. We have always been drawn to different teachers
and disciplines and we still follow our own direction and personal
way of working.
I began with occasional rebirthing and attending various weekend
courses. I read a lot, especially Carl Jung, and would meditate
on Ram Dass’ Be Here Now. But even with Hilary’s urgent
prompting, part of me remained reluctant and it was not until seven
years ago that I threw caution to the wind and enrolled in a three-month
full-time training in transpersonal psychology at the Living Water
Centre. I was extremely fortunate that this wonderful place was
just down the road in the Blue Mountains. The impact of weeks spent
in process was so deep and true for me that I completed four of
these trainings over the next three years. Ahrara Carisbrooke, who
directed the Centre, has been my teacher ever since. She has led
me along many difficult paths with the clarity and love I needed
to get me through my childhood issues. I learned that my mind was
not able to cope with some experiences and had to take second place
to my feelings, though it remains a best friend, as you will see
from this book. I have worked with many other teachers over the
years, learnt Sandplay from Patrick Jensen, went to California to
learn Voice Dialogue from Hal and Sidra Stone, and to Colorado for
the Diamond Approach of the Ridhwan School with Jean Berwick and
Deane Shank.
Although most of these courses were intended to train people to
be therapists, I chose them for my own inner growth. As I worked
through or into many of the stages discussed here, life became less
difficult and even the many financial complexities and dramas I
had already written into my days began to ease off so I now feel
that for the first time I have a life of my own. With Ahrara’s
guidance I have come to a serenity and easefulness I could never
have imagined. It was at this point I felt ready to share with others
and to support them on their journey. Hilary had already been practicing
Voice Dialogue for some time and had built her own sandplay room
in the attic when I joined her. Together, we turned our Federation
house with its large old-fashioned garden into a home for inner
work. This book has grown out of one of our ten-day training courses
where we presented the bones of this material for the first time
in 1993.
Though I have absorbed the teachings of innumerable people, I have
kept these notes within the limits of my own experiences and those
of my clients. It is only in describing the outer reaches of the
journey that I have barely glimpsed that these notes stray beyond
personal experience. Though biographical issues will form the major
part of the book, only a small proportion of the journey itself
is concerned with our parental and childhood issues. A larger proportion
of the way is devoted to recovering all the material buried in the
unconscious, no matter how frightening or unacceptable it may seem.
Another very large part reconnects us with our soul and then supports
the soul to unite with the Self. The final stage, so it is written,
can transform the body, soul and Self into conscious yet mystic
oneness with the All.
Southern Hemisphere Distributor: West Grinstead Publications - contact:
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