Strong and Beautiful Inside

We are stronger and more beautiful inside than we know. But we’ve seldom been shown this truth.

Too often, parents and society have limited us. Although religion and psychology have had many

positive effects on society, they have sometimes given people the wrong message about themselves.

Religion has told us that humans are sinful and require something outside ourselves to change.

Psychology has us believing that our basic and unconscious natures are primarily made up of conflict

and negative instincts, often requiring medication to manage.

https://www.amazon.com/Becoming-Person-Therapists-View-Psychotherapy/dp/039575531X

Psychoanalysis focusses on these inner conflicts and instinctive drives and says we can

fundamentally heal and strengthen by addressing this level of ourselves, implying these are at the

deepest level. Through this, we get a distorted notion of human nature as much shallower than it

really is.

Dissenting voices

Fortunately, there have always been dissenting voices.

For example, psychologist Carl Rogers found through years of clinical experience that the innermost

core of humans is positive in nature. He said hostile feelings uncovered in therapy were neither the

deepest nor the strongest dimension of personality.

About seventy years ago, psychiatrist, Sacha Nacht and others, proposed a non-conflictual zone of

the psyche which exists deeper than conflicts or co-exists with them while remaining unaffected. He

said that patients would be better able to see their conflicts for what they are – not all-engulfing – if

they were conscious of the deeper self and could anchor themselves to this stable point.

https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sacha_Nacht

Nacht said good psychotherapy should give the patient the means of establishing contact with this

deeper part of human nature that escapes the tumult of impulsions. He wrote:

“In the course of my experience in therapy, I was able to perceive in some of my patients that part of

themselves of which they were not wholly conscious and which did not participate in their conflicts

but remained outside of the psyche’s tumult, like a still point in a whirlpool of impermanence. I am

convinced that this still point exists in every human, that it is innate and, consequently, is in no way

dependent on the milieu or circumstances…

If people became conscious of it, it would help them to surmount their conflicts, to go beyond the

tumult which incessantly upsets them, and so enter this essentially peaceful zone and anchor

themselves to the only permanent point of their being.”

Classical Freud domination

The concepts of positive human nature and non-conflictual zones did not become mainstream

psychology. Instead, the classical Freudian model of psychoanalysis dominated. The average adult,

particularly pre–Gen Z, still largely limits self-experience to the conflicted level – the level of habitual

thoughts, emotions and drives. The habitual programs at this shallow level operate in the physical

world and created the masks we wear. Our illusion is like seeing ourselves in the mirror with a mask

and thinking “that’s my face”.

Perhaps the reason the Freudian model of psychoanalysis dominated is that it became good

business. Psychotherapy has made fortunes out of treating people stuck in the shallow level of

themselves. Alternatives have been downplayed in favour of the multi-billion-dollar industry built

around treating ‘sick’ people.

Another reason for the dominance of psychoanalysis in the history of psychology, is perhaps that it

offers externally provided solutions to peoples’ woes. People generally don’t want to take ownership

of their conditions and do difficult internal work themselves when professionals can give them a

blueprint.

Of course, psychology and psychiatry are not all wrong – they certainly have their place. But what

would be different if ideas like Rogers’ and Nacht’s had gained popularity decades ago?

Non-conflictual alternative

If Rogers and Nacht had become mainstream, perhaps the world would have more meditation and

mindfulness professionals teaching people to access the strength and beauty of the non-conflictual

zone for themselves. Mental health and wellbeing would be a spiritual* experience – an enlightening

journey to wholeness, not a therapy for healing sickness.

Perhaps we’d have a better understanding of our inner strength and beauty. More of us would be

able to find peace and harmony in our lives. There would be less anxiety, boredom, addiction, hurt,

crime and war. Pills to control anxiety, depression, neurosis and psychosis would be reserved for

necessary cases of chemical imbalances. Medicine would be dispatched less routinely.

* Mentioning the word ‘spiritual’ requires some explanation and a quick look at religion. Here, ‘spiritual’ refers to a deeper

dimension of experience, not explainable, but more than a purely physical, conflictual level of perception. If we’d had a

better understanding of the spiritual dimension of psychological wellbeing, not only would psychology be different, but

religion would be too. Religions would be more love and peace based and less judgemental and dogmatic. Religions would

be more guided by the common beauty within all of us, instead of distinguishing one another by the masks we wear.

What do we do now?

We learn to experience life from our non-conflictual zones, from our true selves. This is made

possible by some simple practices. But simple as they may be, they are not easy or short-term, so,

we must commit to doing this work.

Meditation is the core practice. Daily practice enables letting go of pent-up conflicts and delusional

programs of the mask and opening to inner strength and beauty. There are many variations of

meditation, including Buddhist detachment, transcendental meditation and Christian centring

prayer, as well as focus and mindfulness exercises such as guided meditations and breath work.

You could explore on your own, or you can reach out to Michael for discussion, advice and shared

practice sessions.

People who have discovered the healing of the non-conflictual zone, the true self, know that it is

accessed through practices of meditation and mindfulness. These fortunate ones know the

transformational effects of discovering you are more than your thoughts and emotions ravaged by

the whims of your circumstances. Let’s take a leaf out of their book. I’m not sure if we’ll change the

world. But we can balance ourselves. And once that happens, the people around us will be affected.

And they will affect others...