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The Inner Door A Publication of the Association for Holotropic Breathwork™ International

!A Facilitator’s Relationship

to Breathers’ Emotions !by Kylea Taylor !

Sharanya posed a question that interested me. The question was this: “As Facilitators, “should” we “take on” Breathers’ feelings and work with them within ourselves (or at least be empathic and compassionate), or is it okay to detach and dissociate while doing the work, because it is just too hard to “take on” those feelings, or maybe even because it is not our business to take on others’ feelings?”

Immediately, however, this question, begs another, and that one is, “What is our job as Facilitators? What are we there to do while we are playing music, walking the room, watching for sudden movement or requests from Sitters, or even while we are doing bodywork with a Breather?”

When I was a GTT Trainer, I would listen and learn when Tav was teaching. As I remember, he used to ask a rhetorical question, something like, “What is a Holotropic Breathwork Facilitator?” Then he’d answer his own question. “We are just highly skilled pillow manipulators!” I think the answer to the question, “What is our job?” may not get as many laughs, but, in one sense at least, it could be as simple and in the same vein.

Our job is to provide a safe, skilled container so that Breathers and their own Inner Healers can have whatever healing into wholeness process arises. Do we have to engage with the material

!Archetypes, Mythic Imagination, and

Modern Society: The Re-Enchantment of the World !

by Stanislav Grof, M.D. !Excerpted from the expanded and revised lecture

entitled “Mythic Imagination and Modern Society: The Re-Enchantment of the World” presented at the

16th International Transpersonal Association Conference, Palm Springs, CA; June 2004

To read the whole lecture, please visit: http://www.grof-holotropic-breathwork.net/profile/

TheInnerDoor !Collective Unconscious, Archetypes, and the Nature of Myths

Understanding archetypes—governing principles of the collective unconscious as described by C. G. Jung (Jung 1959)—is extremely important for psychotherapy and self-exploration using holotropic states of consciousness. It also throws new light on a broad range of other areas: religion and mysticism, astrology, nature and the origin of art, scientific insights and inspiration, sociopolitical phenomena such as wars and revolutions, and others. I will begin this paper on the importance of mythic imagination and archetypal psychology for modern society with a brief discussion of the nature and dynamics of the archetypes and how our understanding of them has changed over the centuries. Following this, I will address more specifically the implications of archetypal thinking for a variety of disciplines and its

(continued on pg. 14)(continued on pg. 3)

Volume  24,  Issue  2         ISSN#  1524-­‐623X         April  2014

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From the Editor!A second issue—this might be real, after all. As always, my thanks to Alysson Troffer, whose eye

for detail is unsurpassed and probably unsurpassable. This is a pretty meaty issue, much longer than usual because we don't have to worry about paper. I

did get a message from Guy James, who pointed out that PDFs don’t read so well on the Kindle. There is a solution to this, which he offered me, but I have not yet followed up on it. So in the meantime, use a laptop or an iPad-like tablet or print it out. It’s worth the ink and paper!

Our deepest thanks to the contributors to this issue; we are so fortunate that they share their expertise and caring. Felipe Landaeta offers a lengthy essay about how the birth matrices show up in organizations. If you have been a part of an institution (as I have been for so very long), you know that Stan’s cartography is recognizable in the dynamics at play. Felipe sets it out for us clearly and also gives us some new ways to think about healing organizations. (Everybody do Holotropic Breathwork once a month??) Much to my delight, he writes in both Spanish and English so that we can now offer The Inner Door to our Spanish-speaking brothers and sisters—an appreciative acknowledgement that we are a multilingual, multicultural community. Por favor, share some more in your languages!

I received a few short pieces that I will have to keep for the next issue, but am happy to be able to include an interesting poem by Sandy Phocas. With the news ever-filled with the fear of death, she reminds us that expiration is the twin of inspiration. Deeper and faster—we know how!

Kylea Taylor responded to a question about working with Breathers’ and our own emotions in workshops. Speaking of inspiration, she is the real thing, in every way. I just bought a second copy of The Ethics of Caring (someone took mine) because I’m a Hospice volunteer and need some guidance. She is wise and consistently present to me; I feel great gratitude.

And finally—not least, but most—we have a special treat in the form of an essay from Stan. I have had to excerpt it, but there’s a link you can use to take you to the complete article.

The essay reminds us of the water we swim in—the realm of the archetypes. And, importantly, returning to a consciousness that incorporates the archetypes might give us what we need to keep on keeping on against many modern odds. Stan has been immensely supportive of The Inner Door, answering endless emails and putting up with my jitters. <3, as we say these days.

Enjoy. Write to me if you feel so moved: innerdoor@gmail.com Happy reading! Sharanya

!In This Issue

A Facilitator’s Relationship to Breathers’ Emotions by Kylea Taylor……………………………..…Pg. 1 Archetypes, Mythic Imagination, and Modern Society by Stan Grof………………………………..….Pg. 1 A New Understanding of Organizations by Felipe Landaeta……………………………Pg. 5 Una nueva comprensión de las organizaciones por Felipe Landaeta…………………………..Pg. 5 Inspiration and Expiration, A Poem by Sandy Phocas………………………….….Pg. 13 !

A note from Alysson … Most of the articles from the print issues of The Inner Door (August 2007 through November 2011) are now available on The Inner Door blog, along with some new articles not previously published in the print version. To access the blog, go to www.ahbi.org/profile/TheInnerDoor. Then, click the Blog Posts link in the left column. Even though those PDFs aren't, for now, available to non-paying AHBI members, most of the articles in them are available as individual posts on the blog.

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(Taylor…continued from Pg. 1) !that is surfacing in a Breather? Our acquired skill set includes that we are faster to move that pillow where it is most needed, and that we know when to start holding up the side of a blanket, and even that we are quicker to read body language to see when someone might need some particular, proximal physical support. But do we have to feel compassionate while we do these things? Is it okay to dissociate from difficult feelings in order to get these other Facilitating jobs done?

I remember an incident soon after I had begun assisting Tav and Stan in the Trainings. A woman who usually had deep and v e r y p h y s i c a l l y a c t i v e , d i s s o c i a t i v e B r e a t h w o r k experiences was lying down ready to start the session. I came over to check on her. She looked up at me, then sat up and looked straight into my disconcerted eyes for a long moment. ”Keep me safe!” she finally implored, with obvious terror at entering a space where she did not know what would happen and did not even know if she would be aware of what was happening. I managed to nod as she lay down again. As the music started, I realized that she had ratcheted up to a new level my motivation to be present. She had told me what my job was and pleaded with me to do it. As so often happens, the Breathwork participants teach us how to be Facilitators, teach us how to be present.

The best Facilitating I have done, I think, was when I was most present. Being “present” is not about feeling or not feeling, although both feeling and not feeling can occur during a state of “presence.” Being present involves being empty of any other internal agenda than simply being available for the participants’ process, whatever the process might turn out to be.

On the other hand, there were many sessions when I didn’t want to be where I was, either physically or emotionally, whether or not I was fully aware of my desires or conflicts at the time. Maybe I was too tired or hungry, or too fearful of not doing it right, or not wanting to notice some

process or issue of a Breather that I didn’t want to feel in myself. On the other hand, maybe I wanted too much to feel into an issue or process of a Breather, because the particular emotions that Breather evoked were ones I needed and wanted to feel and work within myself, even if I didn’t clearly understand that counter-transference.

Attention (or awareness) and self-compassion are the steppingstones to “Presence.” When I am attentive, I can usually show up to provide support when needed. I can do my job of

keeping Breathers safe in their process. I can dissociate from my feelings if they get in the way, hopefully promising myself that I will attend to them later. I can offer my willingness and intention to create a tender, safe, and corrective (if necessary)

experience for whatever arises. Self-compassion lets me remember that every impulse I have is a healing impulse, even if I may need to learn to accomplish its objectives in a more skilled behavioral way in the future. When I self-compassionately affirm to myself that I care about myself and others, I can more easily come back to “attention” whenever I find myself distracted, resistant, or dissociated.

There is no doubt that truly compassionate witnessing from a Sitter or a Facilitator can provide a corrective experience. I wrote about this in Considering Holotropic Breathwork (p. 15.)

Tenderness, both emotional and physical, is a major part of corrective experience in a Holotropic Breathwork session. When breathers are reliving birth, or early childhood, they often feel the trauma of omission. They did not get the sponsoring they needed at those early times. The regression allows, to some degree, a corrective experience of being well-nurtured and re-parented.

Because of the group context, there is a feeling of safety in receiving physical touch that would be difficult to achieve in a one-on-one therapy session. People

Being present involves being empty of any other internal agenda than simply being available for the participants’ process, whatever the process might turn out to be.

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have had significant realignments in self concept from such nurturing contact, feeling at long last, I am touchable, I am wanted, I am seen, and it is okay to be here (to be born, to be alive). Compassionate witnessing can also balance the experience of reliving trauma. A kind witness who sees and is empathic, and who is willing to feel into the pain the breather is experiencing, can make the experience tolerable.i At the same time, the idea that we, as

Facilitators, must always be in a state of Compassion is just an invitation to the inner Critic to take over and take us further away from attention or presence. Who are we to know, for example, when our own distraction is the perfect cosmic set-up for a Breather to relive abandonment consciously and for us to learn how to be more attentive? All we can do is the best we can at the time. Sometimes “presence” will happen. Other times, we are doing well just to muster attention, willingness, and self-compassion in the best way we are able in that moment.

When I do somehow become “present,” then willingness, attention, and self-compassion just “are,” without the effort of trying to create them. When I have been in the state of being “present,” I would best describe it as becoming one with all in the room. While walking around among the breathers and sitters in that state, I often find myself standing near someone right at the exact time that breather or sitter is about to need some external support. At those times of presence, my heart feels fully willing to be open, to feel whatever arises without judgment, to be the Relational Witness, mirroring in actual feeling what is happening. My Love feels timeless and not concerned about “when is lunch.” And, importantly, I can have both an open heart and effective cognitive awareness and physical functioning as a Facilitator. I can operate effortlessly in bi-modal consciousness to keep someone safe, while at the same time feeling deeply with them. I feel what there is to feel, and it

moves through me, not getting stuck. Presence brings Love, shared tears sometimes, fierceness as necessary, permission for gentle individuation, and whatever else seems to be needed.

As I continued to do my own deep inner work, I more often felt present when I was Facilitating Breathwork. In my experience, the result of constant and deep inner work is more Trust, Love, and Relational Presence to All That Is (including all that is in the Breathwork room.) All of us humans go back and forth between relational presence and focusing pretty internally - working with our own pasts, our own karma, and our own

complex life situations. My conviction is that we are always doing the best we can and that our willingness to do the job of keeping the Breather safe and our intention to be attentive and self-compassionate helps us do

even better (what will be the new best we can do then) next time. !

Reference: i. Taylor, Kylea. 2007. Considering

Holotropic Breathwork™: Essays and Articles on the Therapeutic and Sociological Functions and Effects of the Grof Breathwork. Hanford Mead Publishers, Inc. 15. !!

Kylea Taylor, M.S., M.F.T. is a licensed Marriage and Family Therapist, who is a Holotropic Breathwork™

Practitioner and was a Senior Trainer for the Grof Transpersonal Training from 1991-2007. She served as Editor

of The Inner Door and on the Board of AHBI for 17 years. Kylea wrote The Ethics of Caring based on her experience with the subtle ethical issues that arise in non-ordinary states work. She

teaches ethics online at the SoulCollage® Institute. She also wrote The Breathwork

Experience, Considering Holotropic Breathwork™, and edited Exploring

Holotropic Breathwork™. Kylea is President of SoulCollage Inc. and enjoys making and using her SoulCollage® card deck

and writing fiction.

In my experience, the result of constant and deep inner work is more Trust, L o v e , a n d R e l a t i o n a l Presence to All That Is.

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A New Understanding of Organizations and Organizational Experience:

A Proposal Based on Stanislav Grof’s Modern Consciousness Research !

by Felipe Landaeta In this essay, based on my understanding of

Grof’s theory of Basic Perinatal Matrices (BPMs) and my experience in working with organizations and companies, I theoretically connect both in such a way that people who are familiar with Grof’s theory can understand more about how people experience themselves in their workplaces. The basis of this proposal is the assumption that systems dynamics are deeply influenced by the state of consciousness of their leaders, who have the power to create the atmosphere within the organizations they lead.

What is the connection between Grof’s map of perinatal experiences of the psyche and the experiences of people in organizations and companies?

According to what Dr. Grof says (Grof 1975, 1985, 1993, 2002) and what we have been seeing in many people’s reports after Holotropic Breathwork workshops, contextual stimuli and vital circumstances tend to trigger and attract unconscious memories from the perinatal level, generating experiences that resemble positive and negative situations from this level of our psyches. These experiences could range from some mild symptoms (such as anxiety, fear, pains in the body, and so on) to major crises and psychopathologies (such as depression), inducing various emotional and psychosomatic problems in the individual.

Every organizational culture is the result of a complex and multivariable equation, mixing internal and external elements, combining these in many different ways, always having as a key and critical factor in the culture the belief system and management style of the people at the core of the organization. The deep spirit in which the organization is based, what I call the DNA of any organization (vision and mission deeply sensed), is part of the foundation of any organizational

Una nueva comprensión de las organizaciones y la experiencia

organizacional: Una propuesta desde la investigación

moderna de la consciencia realizada por Stanislav Grof !Felipe Landaeta !

En este ensayo, basado en mi comprensión de la teoría de las Matrices Perinatales Básicas (MPB) de Grof y mi experiencia trabajando con organizaciones y empresas, conecto teóricamente ambos en una forma en que quienes conocer la teoría de las MPB pueden entender más acerca de cómo las personas se experimentan a sí mismas en su lugar de trabajo.

Quienes no estén familiarizados con la teoría de las MPB pueden acceder a una comprensión diferente y más profunda de las dinámicas en las que se sostiene su lugar de trabajo. Esta propuesta se basa en el supuesto de que la dinámica de los sistemas está profundamente influída por el estado de consciencia de sus líderes, quienes a través de su poder pueden crear la atmósfera interna de las organizaciones que lideran.

¿Cuál es la conexión entre el mapa de Grof de las MPB y la experiencia de las personas en las organizaciones y empresas?

Durante la investigación realizada por Grof y actualmente en los reportes de muchas personas que han experimentado esta técnica en los talleres de Respiración Holotrópica que se llevan a cabo en diferentes partes del mundo, se observa una y otra vez que los estímulos del medio y las circunstancias vitales tienden a gatillar y traer a la superficie de la conciencia estos recuerdos perinatales, generando experiencias y recreando situaciones tanto positivas como negativas, desde leves síntomas hasta severas patologías.

Cada cultura organizacional tiende a remarcar elementos de una u otra matriz perinatal, influyendo de forma positiva y/o negativa en la experiencia que tienen sus

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culture and responds to the question: What is our purpose, and how is it served by the environment of this organization?

Every organization tends to create a certain type of internal space that affects the experiences of people who come in contact with the organization. That space is like an organizational ecosystem that acts as an energetic and emotional field that promotes life and expansion states or, in the opposite case, promotes contraction, fear, and negative states of consciousness in the workers. Depending on which of the four matrices dominates the energetic field of the organization, different kinds of experiences will manifest.

If a positive first matrix is the strongest energetic force, the organization will promote positive emotions, and expansive states of consciousness will abound. The ability to enjoy the beauty of the present moment, healthy and transparent work relationships, trust, love, and other positive characteristics are the anchors of the organizational and team performance. Present in these organizations is basic trust, and the perceptions that “I’m welcome here” and “I’m valuable” are in the air. It’s very possible that when people have the experience of belonging, it could raise love for the workplace and create greater and more profound engagement with their teams and organizations. Having a strong first matrix is a “bottom line” for sustainable and long-term organizations: It’s a starting point that creates the foundation for strong ties between people and the organizational core. This is consistent with the views of Cardona and Rey (2008) who argue that trust and commitment are the “unity”: the basic core that keeps systems alive and integrated in the long term and that energizes systems to address and survive crises. In these organizations, people want to belong, and they enjoy the present moment, with daily action based on profound meaning.

Organizations with a strong second matrix could be characterized by the presence of innumerable obstacles for high performance, and negative or destructive emotions dominating the organizational climate. In these organizations, victimization is the dominant way of thinking and feeling, generally based on a history of

trabajadores y afectando factores como clima, satisfacción, motivación, compromiso, estilo de dirección, resultados y otros.

Dado que la cultura de una organización es el resultado de una ecuación compleja y multivariable, estos elementos pueden combinarse de diversas formas y siempre tienen como factor clave y crítico las creencias y el estilo de gestión del núcleo de la organización y, más aún, el espíritu profundo con el que se funda dicha organización, lo que podría entenderse como el ADN: visión y misión profundamente sentidas.

Cada organización tenderá a un cierto tipo de configuración del espacio vital dentro de ella, tendiendo a generar un ecosistema, campo energético y emocional que influye directamente en las experiencias subjetivas de sus trabajadores. Los tipos de experiencia organizacional según la matriz dominante se detallan a continuación:

Las organizaciones con una “Matriz 1” fuerte son aquellas en que las emociones positivas abundan: la belleza, el disfrute del presente, las relaciones sanas y transparentes, la confianza, el amor y otras características positivas son ancla del funcionamiento. En estas organizaciones la confianza básica está presente, la percepción de que “yo soy bienvenido” y “valioso” se percibe en el aire. Al sentir que pertenezco soy capaz de querer mi lugar de trabajo y comprometerme. Una matriz 1 poderosa constituye el “bottom line” de las empresas sustentables a largo plazo: el punto de partida sobre el cual se construyen los vínculos, generando las condiciones básicas para trabajar. Esta postura se condice con la mirada de Cardona y Rey (2008), quienes señalan que la confianza y compromiso constituyen la “Unidad”: el núcleo básico que mantiene vivos e integrados a los sistemas y que además es lo que se ha observado poseen aquellas organizaciones que más perduran y que son capaces atravesar las crisis. En una organización con una fuerte matriz 1, las personas quieren estar y se disfruta el momento presente: el fin, el sentido es en sí mismo.

Las personas que forman parte de este tipo de organizaciones tienden a estar entregadas a algo superior, a un fin mayor, a una misión que

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authoritarian and vertical leadership or leadership of “command and control” (Echeverría 2000), where workers haven't had any power to influence, make decisions, and satisfy their internal and external clients. Under the influence of this matrix, relationships aren’t fluid, distrust is generalized, and the fear of making a mistake and of the consequent punishment are in the air. People in these organizations are full of anger, sadness, fear, and frustration, and most of them could be depressed or have associated symptoms such as passive or submissive attitudes, resignation, hopelessness, and lack of meaning.

These organizations are dominated by a management paradigm of “I-win-you-lose,” where strong individualism and the search for short-term financial goals are more important than the well-being of people, the teamwork process, and the need for an internal ecosystem that will result in the emergence of high-performance teams and a sustainable organization. Under this dynamic, we are trapped in a “languish zone” based on high and increasing levels of negativity (Fredrickson and Losada 2005; Fredrickson 2009). This scenario is suitable for the cultivation of various individual psychopathologies and psychosomatic problems such as depression, high levels of anxiety, burnout syndrome, and so on. Also, looked at through the lens of business, this way tends to create dissatisfied internal and external stakeholders because they feel that their needs and expectations are not fulfilled.

Organizations under the influence of a strong third matrix live in a constant struggle to achieve their goals. Grof (1985, 1993, 2002, 2005) says that this matrix manifests in our daily life as a need to struggle for future goals, and it makes us put our awareness on what we don’t have yet, generating a sense of constant discomfort. This matrix focuses on our gaps and on what doesn’t work, with a lack of appreciative consciousness about our personal and organizational resources, capabilit ies, competencies, and strengths. Although this matrix, as a general rule, generates a state of tension between the present and the desired state,

los trasciende, donde el hecho de hacer lo que hacen es un fin en sí mismo y la acción cotidiana está llena de sentido. No existe la búsqueda de poder individual y la dinámica interna de la organización es de un amoroso ganar-ganar.

Las organizaciones “Matriz 2” se caracterizan por presentar innumerables trabas para un buen desempeño y una serie de emociones negativas y destructivas. En este tipo de organizaciones la mentalidad predominante es de víctima, generalmente dada por una historia de liderazgo autoritario, vertical o de “mando y control” (Echeverría 2000), donde los trabajadores han tenido poco o nada de poder para ejercer influencia, tomar decisiones y satisfacer a sus clientes tanto internos como externos. Las relaciones son poco fluidas, la desconfianza es generalizada y el miedo a equivocarse y a ser castigado se siente en el aire. Las personas en este tipo de organizaciones están llenas de resentimiento, rabia, tristeza, miedo y/o frustración, muchos de ellos presentando cuadros depresivos o algunos síntomas asociados: pasividad, resignación, desesperanza, sumisión y/o falta de sentido.

Este tipo de organizaciones están dominadas por un paradigma de gestión interna de ganar-perder, donde la fuerza implacable del individualismo y la búsqueda de resultados financieros a corto plazo supera la preocupación por el bienestar de las personas, los procesos de trabajo en equipo y la construcción del ecosistema necesario para la emergencia de los equipos de alto desempeño y organizaciones sustentables. Este tipo de organización está atrapada en el languidecimiento por sus altos niveles de negatividad (Fredrickson y Losada 2005; Fredrickson 2009), se transforma en un escenario de cultivo de diferentes patologías físicas y psicológicas, suelen tener stakeholders internos muy insatisfechos (con un bajo nivel de unidad) y, como consecuencia, sus stakeholders externos también tienden a estar insatisfechos.

Las organizaciones “Matriz 3” viven en una constante lucha por lograr objetivos. Grof (1985, 1993, 2002, 2005) señala que esta matriz se caracteriza por manifestarse como una necesidad constante de ir tras objetivos y logros futuros,

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in its pure version, it doesn’t allow us to reach a resolution; ergo, it’s not a creative tension but rather a constant and endlessly increasing tension. Most organizations and companies benefit from this kind of force, as it works as a goal-oriented energy. This is nothing to be proud of because, under this logic, people become workaholics and tend to focus mainly on their individual work goals, ignoring other aspects of life.

These organizational cultures work as a time bomb for many people because sooner or later the individualism, the constant adrenaline, and the search for challenge will raise the stress to an unmanageable level with risks of sickness or burnout. If we pay attention, we realize that this is one of the characteristics of Western society: to become a workaholic, to feel a deep dissatisfaction with the present and a constant desire to have a future very different from the present, and a promise of “happiness” that we will reach in the future as a reward for strong effort.

Most organizations in our society tend to be stuck in this matrix with their endless search for future goals, their problems around different levels of harassment, and their dysfunctional relationships between managers and their teams. Also, it is typical that people at the top of these organizations struggle to have more and more power. In this third-matrix dynamic, the achievement of goals needs a winner and a loser: We need to defeat our competitors to reach the sky. These organizations show an imbalance: They could have very satisfied external clients and stakeholders but, at the same time, can have huge amounts of internal dissatisfaction caused by high levels of stress verging on burnout.

More evolved organizations, based on a “culture of performance” (Katzenbach and Smith 1995), allow people and teams to achieve their goals—moving toward the fourth matrix—and give people time to celebrate their achievements and develop individual and collective pride. Even though most companies still function in a third-matrix mode—under a lens of adrenaline, in constant struggle and stress—there are some that have periods of thinking, keeping things in perspective, working as teams, and generating

poniendo foco en lo que falta y generando una sensación constante de incomodidad. Tiene relación con poner el foco en las brechas y en lo que no funciona, con una falta de conciencia apreciativa respecto de los recursos, competencias y fortalezas que poseen las personas y la organización.

Si bien es una matriz que por regla general genera tensión entre el estado presente y el deseado, en su versión pura no llega a una resolución. Es decir, en lugar de ser una tensión creativa se transforma en una tensión constante y sin límites. Muchas empresas se benefician bastante de este tipo de funcionamiento ya que se tiende a alcanzar las metas: las personas se vuelven trabajólicas y tienden a cumplir con su trabajo. Lamentablemente estas culturas son una bomba de tiempo para muchos de sus integrantes, ya que tarde o temprano el individualismo, la constante adrenalina y búsqueda de logro les pasará la cuenta, corriendo el riesgo de enfermarse o “quemarse” (burnout). Si leemos con detención, este tipo de funcionamiento representa una de las características clásicas de nuestra época: convertirse en alguien trabajólico, insatisfacción con el presente, querer algo diferente a lo que hoy tengo y la promesa de una supuesta felicidad que llegará en el futuro como premio a un gran esfuerzo.

La mayoría de las empresas funciona con es ta lógica habiendo a lgunas más “evolucionadas” que otras. Las culturas menos evolucionadas dentro de esta categoría son aquellas donde la lucha por el logro es incesante (presentando el elemento del sufrimiento sin fin de la matriz 2) y en aquellas organizaciones patológicas se dan casos de acoso de todo tipo, relaciones con violencia (manifiesta o implícita) y lucha descarnada por el poder. Por otro lado, las organizaciones más avanzadas dentro de esta categoría son aquéllas que basadas en una “cultura de desempeño” (Katzenbach y Smith 1995) permiten una transición a la “Matriz 4”, dándose un tiempo para celebrar los triunfos y sentirse bien por lo ya realizado. Aunque algunas sigan operando bajo la lupa de la adrenalina, lucha incesante y del hacer, hay otras que se permiten períodos más largos para sentarse a

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new and creative ideas—all of which lead to performance that addresses and satisfies their clients and stakeholders, and generates innovation.

If the fourth matrix is fully activated in an organizational energetic field, the workplace will be a space for free creation and creative expression. Under the influence of this matrix, it is possible to reach goals by creating something new and to perceive and receive what emerges from healthy teamwork. Also, people could be surprised by the new possibilities that go beyond the known and could celebrate daily work experiences.

In terms of the work process, the fourth-matrix leadership style tends to be appreciative and horizontal (Fernández 2011); relationships are fluid with low or no barriers to communication; team effectiveness is based on relationships of high positivity, connectivity, and cooperation, generating an ideal internal ecosystem for the emergence of creativity and innovation. These organizations and teams have their roots in the “unity” (trust and commitment) and are consistent with the research of Marcial Losada (2004), who discovered that the critical factors for high performance are the high ratio of positivity over negativity (at least with communication based on three positive interactions for every one negative interaction) and high connectivity between team members.

After accomplishing their goals, people in these organizations have time to celebrate their achievements and develop some kind of pride of belonging. One key factor in these organizations is that they facilitate spaces for people to meet each other, remembering that meaning is created within ourselves and with others (Landaeta and Sanhueza 2009, in Fernández and Sanhueza 2009). These are spaces for articulating personal and organizational meaning, where passion and individual talents converge in wonderful work that reveals and surprises at every moment: as within so without (Fernández 2001). !Which is the best way for organizations?

Organizations under the influence of strong first and fourth matrices are clearly more evolved !

pensar, mirar en perspectiva, trabajar en equipo y generar ideas creativas dirigidas hacia la satisfacción de sus diferentes stakeholders y a la innovación.

En esta dinámica el logro necesariamente pasa por derrotar a un adversario externo. Estas organizaciones suelen tener un desbalance: mientras pueden tener satisfechos a varios de sus stakeholders externos pueden tener internamente un nivel de insatisfacción alto vinculado al estrés laboral y bordeando la línea del burnout.

Las organizaciones con una fuerte “Matriz 4” son aquéllas en las que la libertad y creatividad son ejes centrales de su funcionamiento diario. En ellas es posible tener la experiencia del logro que significa crear lo nuevo, recibir lo emergente, sorprenderse por las nuevas posibilidades que se abren, ir más allá de lo conocido y la experiencia de trabajo se convierte en una celebración.

En términos de proceso de trabajo el liderazgo tiende a ser apreciativo y horizontal (Fernández 2011), las relaciones son fluidas, con escasas barreras para comunicarse y basan su efectividad en una forma de vincularse marcada por una alta positividad, conectividad y cooperación, generando el ecosistema interno ideal para el emerger de la creatividad y la innovación. Este tipo de organizaciones tienen en su base la “Unidad” (confianza y compromiso) y se condicen con los descubrimientos de Marcial Losada (2004) en relación a los equipos de alto desempeño, quien señala que los factores críticos para el alto desempeño son una alta proporción de positividad sobre negatividad (al menos una positividad sobre negatividad de 2,913) y una alta conectividad entre los miembros de dicho equipo.

En estas organizaciones luego de que se alcanzan los logros se produce una especie de pausa, con la posibilidad de disfrutar lo alcanzado y de ingresar a los terrenos de la creatividad y la innovación expansiva para diseñar y rediseñar. Si bien las culturas “Matriz 3” pueden alcanzar los resultados, la cultura que poseen no permite que sus trabajadores realmente disfruten de los logros, dándose explicaciones del tipo “no tenemos tiempo”, “esto no es nada,” entre otras, pues deben “volver rápidamente a la máquina.”

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in terms of positive work experiences and the well-being of people. It is important to indicate that the first matrix has the base elements for a healthy organizational culture and that organizations based on the fourth matrix have many elements to be successful in the actual context. They allow the achievement of outstanding results and base their effectiveness on the well-being of people, generating high levels of identification and openly protecting the active principle of the organization: the people. While the first has the capacity to create the safe environment for internal clients, the second can create a balance between the well-being and satisfaction of internal and external clients.

Second- and third-matrix organizational cultures tend to destroy and sicken people because their mental maps say that “the end justifies the means.” In general, these cultures tend to generate huge expenses and to offer inefficient solutions to problems: They are trained to see the problems but not the causes of the problems. This happens because, under second-matrix dynamics, just a few people have power and influence, and they can’t see the origins of problems. In third-matrix dynamics, with the adrenaline of the moment and the tendency to focus on goals, people in power have neither the time nor the capacity to observe and make appropriate decisions. This is like trying to think with precision while we are feeling tired and breathless in the middle of a marathon: a very bad idea. !How can we get there? !

Be the change you want to see in the world. Mahatma Gandhi !

We have to focus on organizational DNA. This means that if we want to transform organizational cultures, we have to work with people at the top or at the core of organizations. On a personal level, if someone wants to access the positive matrices (first and fourth), the focus

Mientras tanto, en las organizaciones con una fuerte “Matriz 4” la experiencia de triunfo forma parte de la vivencia de las personas, y puede o no tener relación con los ritos, más bien es una forma de vivir y de ser de la organización. Esta experiencia tiene relación con un profundo orgullo de pertenecer a esta organización y un fuerte sentimiento de identificación con ella. La clave de estas organizaciones es que facilitan el encuentro entre las personas, recordando que el sentido es con uno mismo y con otros (Landaeta y Sanhueza 2009, en Fernández y Sanhueza 2009), articulando sentido individual y sentido

o r g a n i z a c i o n a l , c o n s t i t u y é n d o s e e n organizaciones donde la pasión y los talentos individuales confluyen en una maravillosa obra que se revela y sorprende a cada momento, partiendo por los mismos integrantes y

alcanzando a sus stakeholders externos, recordándonos que como es adentro es afuera (Fernández 2011). !¿Qué forma de funcionar es mejor?

Las organizaciones con una fuerte “Matriz 1” y “Matriz 4” son claramente las más evolucionadas en términos de experiencia positiva de trabajo y bienestar de las personas.

Las culturas “Matriz 2” y “Matriz 3” tienden destruir y enfermar a las personas que forman parte de ella, dado que la mentalidad de fondo es que “el fin justifica los medios”. Generalmente en estas culturas se tiende a generar grandes gastos y a ofrecer soluciones ineficientes que no apuntan a la base de los problemas: se tiende a apuntar a los síntomas en lugar de las causas. Esto debido a que en las culturas “Matriz 2” son sólo unos pocos los que tienen el poder y no ven los problemas donde están sucediendo (sólo ven en la superficie ya que no están cerca de los trabajadores) y en las culturas “Matriz 3” porque en la adrenalina del momento y al estar “en la máquina” no tienen el tiempo ni la capacidad para observar y tomar las decisiones más adecuadas. Es como trotar una maratón para

Un árbol con buena raíz crecerá saludable, atravesará fuertes cambios climáticos y se podrá sobreponer a enfermedades, mientras que uno con una raíz débil o enferma tenderá a decaer y morir.

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must be on self-management or self-mastery (Fernández 2011), on increasing levels of self-consciousness, on developing cooperative values, on establishing relationships based in trust and collaboration, and on understanding the value of developing one's consciousness and a healthy identity.

We must help organizational leaders increase their levels of personal integrity (Cordero and Fernández 2009, Fernández and Sanhueza 2009), pointing to what is said on a personal level and to the meaning that these people have created for their organizations. A tree with good roots will grow healthy, will weather change, and will overcome disease, but one with weak or sick roots will decay, fall, and, sooner or later, die.

Today, unfortunately, many leaders and influential people who individually are under the influence of negat ive matrices, with low self-a w a r e n e s s a n d h i g h resistance to change, are influencing and generating organizational cultures marked by second- and third-matrix elements. Possibly, through this behavior, they are reaching what they want in the short term, and they haven't had a vital crisis that forces them to change.

Every day, people are waking up, and many more are working on the evolution of their consciousness, recognizing the need for social and organizational change. They are the new leaders, who are differentiated from the rest by the amount of energy that they move, for their results, and for the degree of constructive passion they invoke. They are conscious that in every moment they have the opportunity to make positive changes for themselves and for others. In the future, this kind of leader will probably become a major reference for others. These leaders will transform organizations and will orient them with new methods of leadership, balancing goals and results against the well-being of people (Fernández 2011) and creating an ecosystem where people want to belong and feel welcome to deploy their talents (Dilts 1998).

ganarla y a la mitad, en medio del agotamiento y falta de aliento, ponerse a decidir los asuntos importantes de la propia vida: mala idea.

Es importante señalar que las organizaciones “Matriz 4” son las que el mundo de hoy requiere: permiten el logro de resultados sobresalientes y basan su efectividad en el bienestar de las personas, generando un alto grado de sentido de identificación y protegiendo abierta y claramente el activo principal de la organización: las personas. !¿Cómo avanzar hacia allá?

“Sé el cambio que quieres ver en el mundo” Mahatma Gandhi !

El foco debe ser trabajar el núcleo o ADN. Esto significa que, a nivel personal, si una

persona desea acceder a las matrices positivas, el foco debe ser la autogestión o automaestría (Fernández 2011), el aumento de la a u t o c o n c i e n c i a y e l desarrollo de valores más

cooperativos y expansivos, el establecimiento de relaciones de confianza y de colaboración, y el desarrollo de una identidad sana. Esto puede realizarse en solitario, acompañado por otros o combinando ambos en el transcurso del camino.

En las organizaciones debe trabajarse con los líderes de la organización y sus niveles de integridad personal (Cordero y Fernández 2009, en Fernández y Sanhueza 2009), apuntando a lo mismo recién señalado para el nivel personal y, además de eso, al sentido que dichas personas le han otorgado a la organización. Un árbol con buena raíz crecerá saludable, atravesará fuertes cambios climáticos y se podrá sobreponer a enfermedades, mientras que uno con una raíz débil o enferma tenderá a decaer y morir.

Lamentablemente existen hoy líderes de instituciones que individualmente se encuentran ubicados en matrices negativas, influyendo activamente para generar culturas del estilo “Matriz 2” y “Matriz 3” con escaso nivel de consciencia de las consecuencias y/o muy bajo interés en cambiar, dado que están obteniendo

Every day, people are waking up, and many more are working on the evolution of their consciousness, recognizing the need for social and organizational change.

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para sí lo que están buscando. Posiblemente aún no han tenido un tropiezo o quiebre lo suficientemente grande y tensionador que inevitablemente los haga cambiar de postura frente a la vida.

Aún así existen cada día más personas que están despertando a la necesidad de generar un cambio personal que les permita colaborar para realizar cambios en instituciones, organizaciones y a nivel social, de país y regionales. Ellos son los líderes que hoy se diferencian del resto, tanto por la energía que mueven como por los resultados y el nivel de convocatoria que obtienen. Están conscientes de que a cada momento tienen la oportunidad de realizar cambios positivos para sí y para los demás. Este tipo de líderes serán los grandes referentes del mañana pues transformarán las organizaciones y las orientarán desde una concepción de liderazgo que equilibre resultados con el bienestar de las personas (Fernández 2011) y creando un ecosistema al que las personas deseen pertenecer y se sientan bienvenidos a aportar y desplegar su talento (Dilts 1998).

Bibliography !Cardona, Pablo, Rey, Carlos. 2008. Dirección por Misiones. España: Deusto S.A. Ediciones !Dilts, Roberts. 1998. Liderazgo Creativo. España: Urano. !Echeverría, Rafael. 2000. La Empresa Emergente. Argentina: Editorial Gránica. !Fernández, Ignacio. 2011. GPS Interior. Chile: Vergara. !Fernández, Ignacio, Sanhueza, Jorge. 2009. Psicología para la Vida. Chile: Juan Carlos Sáez. !Fredrickson, Barbara & Losada, Marcial. 2005. “Positive affect and the complex dynamics of human flourishing.” American Psychologist, 60 (7) 678–686. !Fredrickson, Barbara. 2009. Vida Positiva. España: Norma. !Grof, Stanislav. 1975. Realms of the Human Unconscious. USA: Viking Press. !Grof, Stanislav. 1985. Beyond the Brain: Birth, Death and Transcendence in Psychotherapy. USA: SUNY. !Grof, Stanislav. 1993. La Mente Holotrópica. España: Editorial Kairós. !Grof, Stanislav. 2002. La Psicología del Futuro: Lecciones de la Investigación Moderna de la Consciencia. España: La Liebre de Marzo. !Grof, Stanislav. 2005. Psicoterapia con LSD. España: La Liebre de Marzo. !Katzenbach, Jon., Smith, Douglas. 1995. La Sabiduría de los Equipos. México: CECS

!Felipe Landaeta has been a Holotropic

Breathwork Facilitator since June of 2011. Since 2009 he has taught

Psychology at the Universidad Adolfo Ibañez in Santiago, Chile, where he is also

a coach in the Masters Program in Organizational Psychology. He has his

practice combining the holotropic framework with experiential approaches

such as Focusing and Family Constellations and he is currently a student of the Global PhD Program at

Sofia University.

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Inspiration !A little bit of the world entering my body, life-giving oxygen just exhaled by the trees now filling my lungs, my vigorous heart pumping it to every tissue of my body— allowing my muscles to stretch and flex, pushing and pulling the bones that carry me through the world, allowing my brain to ponder the nature of my own existence, as the lungs themselves keep inhaling and releasing the breath— this breath. It is the taking in that I forget about—not that I don’t breathe but I don’t always receive and remember that I am nourished by all of existence; I forget that this nourishment is free and ever-present. I forget that this breath animates my life in every moment. I forget that this is the nature of life. Yes I buy my food but that is not required. It is supplied by the land, by the plants and animals living there. I am thinking now about the rabbits and deer that live near my home— how there are no boundaries to their dwelling place, how they wander as they wish, living off the land. I forget that I could do the same—it is all there for me, just like the breath. The world offers itself to me in each moment. My deepest joy comes when I sit here on the earth amidst the trees and allow myself to just be. The trees know the secrets of the Universe, like the stars do and they will tell me if I listen. It only takes this breath, this deep inspiration, to let it all in. ! Expiration !To release from my body the breath of life, to let go, surrender, be at peace with nothingness, with the absence of what was. The last exhalation of life is the most significant— the final release of one’s essence in the world, leaving the body with an unnatural stillness. I came across a motorcyclist once, laying in the middle of the road, dead and not for long, as a few other motorists walked around him in shock and uncertainty, so I asked if someone had called 911 but didn’t get out of my car, knowing there was no point. Wanting to do something, I pulled over and prayed, then cried my helpless sadness at the violence that ripped away his life. He had a last breath— moist air escaping from nose or mouth, one final gift to the world before transcendence. I know why when we think of breathing we think of the inhalation— and why, so often, we hold our breath. It is the emptiness we fear when exhaling and how the tiny pause that follows can feel like forever, alone, before taking the world back into us —even though we know it is right there waiting for us, even though we know that letting it go is the only way to receive again.

Sandy Phocas is a shamanic practitioner who began her work as

a psychiatrist, later training in multiple healing and spiritual

practices including with shamans in the US, South America, and Africa.

This journey has led her to deeply trust in the wisdom hidden in the

deepest parts of ourselves and in the Universe. Her passion is sharing this path with others by helping

them to not only heal, but to profoundly access their own truth,

power, and creative life force energy. Sandy offers shamanic

healing, soul work, hypnosis, past-life

regression, Holotropic

Breathwork and mentoring.

Contact: ssatchi@earthlink.net

!(Grof…continued from pg. 1) !relevance for the global crisis we are currently facing.

According to the insights that have emerged from Jungian psychology, consciousness research, and scholarly mythological studies, archetypes are timeless, primordial cosmic principles underlying, informing, and forming the fabric of the material world (Jung 1959). The tendency to interpret the world in terms of archetypal principles first appeared in ancient Greece and was one of the most striking characteristics of Greek philosophy and culture. As Richard Tarnas pointed out in his sequel to The Passion of the Western Mind, entitled Cosmos and Psyche: Intimations of a New World View (Tarnas 2006), archetypes can be seen from several different perspectives: !

• In Homeric epics, they took the form of personified mythological figures, as deities such as Zeus, Poseidon, Dionysus, Hera, Aphrodite, and Ares.

• In the philosophy of Plato, they were described as pure metaphysical principles, transcendent Ideas or Forms. They possessed independent existence of their own in a realm not accessible to ordinary human senses. According to Plato, earthly things partake in the shape or character of these universal Forms or Ideas, but they fall far short of the perfect glory or perfect reality of these transcendent Forms or Ideas (Plato 1961).

• In modern times, C. G. Jung brought the concept of archetypes into modern psychology, describing them primarily as psychological principles. !

Jung’s analysis of the dreams and symptoms of his clients, as well as his study of world mythology, art, comparative religion, and the ritual life of native cultures, brought convincing evidence for the existence of the collective unconscious and for ontological reality of the archetypes as its governing principles (Jung 1956, 1959). Jung’s understanding of the nature and function of archetypes changed dramatically in the course of his life. In his early work, he saw them as

transindividual but essentially intrapsychic phenomena hardwired into the brain in a way similar to animal instincts. However, after he discovered and studied synchronicity—an “acausal connecting principle” that links intrapsychic events with happenings in the material world—he realized that they have what he called a “psychoid” quality (Jung 1960). This means that they govern not only the individual psyche, but also occurrences in the world of consensus reality. I have explored this fascinating topic in my other writings (Grof 1985, 2000, and 2006).

Jung observed that everyday life often brings striking coincidences that by far transcend any reasonable probability; they should not happen if the universe were governed exclusively by chains of causes and effects. He cited as examples the events in the life of the Austrian biologist Kammerer and Flammarion’s story of the rare plum pudding (Jung 1960). Moreover, he observed that in many of these coincidences, intrapsychic experiences such as dreams or visions form meaningful patterns with events in material reality. (See Jung’s example of the golden scarab or Campbell’s story about the praying mantis and a few others mentioned in my book When the Impossible Happens (Grof 2006).) This would be possible only if archetypes were cosmic organizing principles governing the human psyche, as well as material reality.

Joseph Campbell’s comparative studies of mythology brought strong supportive evidence for Jung’s later understanding of archetypes and represent an important complement to and support for Jung’s clinical explorations. Of particular interest in this regard is Campbell’s cross-cultural study of the archetypal motif of the Hero’s Journey that he referred to as “monomyth” because of its universal and ubiquitous nature transcending historical and geographical boundaries. He first described this motif in his 1947 classic The Hero with A Thousand Faces (Campbell 1968) and later demonstrated how it manifests in a variety of situations including the shamanic initiatory crisis, experiences in rites of passage, mysteries of death and rebirth, and in psychoses or spiritual emergencies. Additional validation of the ontological reality of archetypes came from

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psychedelic therapy and powerful non-drug experiential techniques (Grof 1985, 2000, 2006). !Archetypes and Sociopolitical Movements in History

Archetypal forces govern not only processes in the individual psyche, but also in the collective psyche; they are driving forces of human history. Medieval knights were asked to sacrifice their lives for Jesus and participate in the Crusades to recover the Holy Land from the Mohammedans. The Bohemian Hussites called themselves “Warriors of God” and sung their powerful chorale “Ye Who Are the Warriors of God” with such compelling power that it allegedly wreaked havoc among much larger armies of Crusaders they were about to engage and made them flee the battlefield. Hitler used archetypal symbols to influence his followers: the Vedic images of the swastika and the solar eagle, the Thousand Years’ Reich, and the supremacy of the Nordic race. Jung noticed that in the decade before WWII, the archetypal motif of Wotan kept appearing in the dreams of his German patients and discussed the political importance of the Wotan archetype for Germany and its future. He concluded that Germany was facing a national catastrophe that would be destructive and self-destructive in nature (Jung 1964). He also analyzed the personalities of Hitler, Stalin, and Mussolini and pointed out the mystical, “medicine-man” qualities in Hitler (Jung 1950). The idea that Hitler was a deranged mystic was explored also in Trevor Ravenscroft’s book The Spear of Destiny, in which he discussed the role that fascination by the sword that the Roman centurion Cassius Longinus used to pierce the side of Jesus (the “Holy Lance”) played in Hitler’s life (Ravenscroft 1982).

Marie-Louise von Franz discussed in her article “The Transformed Berserk” the importance that the vision of Wotanic Christ (Christ as Berserker), which the patron saint of Switzerland Nikolas von Flü experienced in his meditation, had for the future of her homeland. Following his vision, Nikolas negotiated peace for Switzerland in a conflict that threatened to develop into a bloody civil war. Von Franz attributed the fact that Switzerland had not been since that time involved in any war to this experience of its patron saint, in which he had integrated the shadow side in Jesus’s

personality (von Franz 1988). James Hillman amassed in his brilliant book A Terrible Love of War convincing evidence that war is a formidable archetypal force that has irresistible power over individuals and nations (Hillman 2004).

Ronald Reagan made in his speeches references to the Apocalypse and called the Soviet Union the “Evil Empire.” George W. Bush called his fight against Moslem terrorists a “crusade”; in turn, Moslem extremists use for political purposes the concept of jihad, the Holy War against the infidels. Moslem terrorists expect as reward for their suicidal attacks on infidels the delights of Paradise, including the virginal black-eyed houris. Similarly, in WWII, the Japanese kamikaze soldiers were referred to as “Divine Wind warriors”; they believed that they sacrificed their life for the living god “Emperor of Heaven” Hirohito.

The authors of the strategic doctrine refer to members of their community as the “nuclear priesthood.” The first atomic test was called “Trinity”: the unity of Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. The scientists who worked on the atomic bomb and witnessed the test described it in the following way: “It was as though we stood at the first day of creation.” And Robert Oppenheimer thought of Krishna's words to Arjuna in the Bhagavad Gita: “I am become Death, the Shatterer of Worlds.”

Work with holotropic states of consciousness, with and without psychedelics, offers fascinating insights into the archetypal and perinatal roots of wars and bloody revolutions. On the perinatal level, the reliving of various stages of biological birth is often associated with images of violent sociopolitical events and visions of archetypal figures and motifs. The connection between the archetypal elements and the stages of birth is very specific. I call these experiential clusters combining fetal elements with the corresponding archetypal imagery and scenes from the historical unconscious Basic Perinatal Matrices (BPMs) (Grof 1985, 2000).

While we are reliving episodes of undisturbed intrauterine existence (BPM I), we typically experience images from human societies where people live in harmony with each other and with nature. The archetypal domain contributes images of paradises and heavens of various cultures, images of beautiful unspoiled nature (Mother

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Nature), and Great Mother Goddess. Disturbing intrauterine memories, such as those of a toxic womb, imminent miscarriage, or attempted abortion, are accompanied by images of human groups living in industrial areas where nature is polluted and spoiled or in societies with insidious social order and all-pervading paranoia as described in Orwell’s novel 1984 (Orwell 1949). Corresponding archetypal images feature insidious and creepy demons.

Typical archetypal images associated with the onset of delivery are ominous whirlpools, giant engulfing or constricting monsters (dragon, Leviathan, whale, tarantula, octopus), or visits into the underworld. Regressive experiences related to the fully developed first clinical stage of birth (BPM II), during which the uterus periodically contracts but the cervix is not open, present a very characteristic picture. They portray oppressive and abusive totalitarian societies with closed borders, victimizing their populations, and “choking” personal freedom, such as Czarist or Communist Russia, Hitler's Third Reich, South American dictatorships, and the South African apartheid). Or they bring images of prisoners in prisons and dungeons, psychiatric patients in locked wards, and inmates in Nazi concentration camps or Stalin's Gulag Archipelago.

While experiencing these scenes of living hell, we identify exclusively with the victims and feel deep sympathy for the downtrodden and the underdog. Underlying all the above experiences is the archetype of hell: extreme physical and emotional suffering that will never end, complete with the images of devils and sinners. In Dante’s Divine Comedy, the inscription above the gate to hell reads: “Lasciate ogni speranza voi ch’entrate” (“Abandon all hope ye who enter”).

The experiences accompanying the reliving of the second clinical stage of delivery (BPM III), when the cervix is dilated and continued contractions propel the fetus through the narrow passage of the birth canal, feature a rich panoply of violent scenes: bloody wars and revolutions, human or animal slaughter, mutilation, sexual abuse, and murder. These scenes often contain demonic elements and repulsive scatological motifs. Additional frequent concomitants of BPM III are visions of fire: burning cities, the launching

of rockets, and explosions of nuclear bombs. Here, we are not limited to the role of victims, but can participate in three roles: that of the victim, of the aggressor, and of an emotionally involved observer.

The accompanying archetypal images portray battles of cosmic proportions: Ragnarok or Twilight of the Gods from Nordic mythology; a battle between the forces of Light and Darkness, such as Ormuzd and Ahriman’s armies from the Zoroastrian religion; Archangel Michael battling Satan’s hords; Mara’s army attacking the Buddha; or Armageddon. Additional archetypal motifs associated with BPM III are eerie scenes combining aggression, sex, and scatology, as exemplified by the Black mass rituals, satanic orgies, and Walpurgi’s Night (Sabbath of the Witches). When the third matrix approaches resolution, the accompanying archetypal visions feature figures representing psychospiritual death and rebirth—Jesus, Osiris, Dionysus, Quetzalcoatl, Inanna, or Phoenix—and exploding volcanos or deities associated with fire, such as Moloch or Pele.

The events characterizing the third clinical stage of delivery (BPM IV), the actual moment of birth and the separation from the mother, are typically associated with images of victory in wars and revolutions, liberation of prisoners, and success of collective efforts, such as patriotic or nationalistic movements. At this point, we can also experience visions of triumphant parades celebrating victory or of exciting postwar reconstruction. Archetypal motifs that belong here are scenes of rebirth of deities and demigods, rainbow spectra, peacock designs, Great Mother Goddesses, and images of deities appearing in light (angelic beings, gandharvas and apsaras, and others).

I described these observations, linking sociopolitical upheavals to stages of biological birth, in my first book, Realms of the Human Unconscious (Grof 1975). Shortly after its publication, I received a letter from Lloyd deMause, a New York psychoanalyst and journalist. DeMause is one of the founders of psychohistory, a discipline that applies the findings of depth psychology to history and political science (DeMause 1975, 1986). Psychohistorians study such issues as the relationship between the childhood history of political leaders and their

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system of values and process of decision-making or the influence of child-rearing practices on the nature of revolutions of that particular historical period. DeMause was very interested in my findings concerning the trauma of birth and its possible sociopolitical implications because they provided independent support for his own research.

For some time, deMause had been studying the psychological aspects of the periods preceding wars and revolutions. It interested him how military leaders succeed in mobilizing masses of peaceful civilians and transforming them practically overnight into killing machines. His approach to this problem was very original and creative. In addition to analysis of traditional historical sources, he drew data of great psychological importance from caricatures, jokes, dreams, personal imagery, slips of the tongue, side comments of speakers, and even doodles and scribbles on the edge of the rough drafts of political documents. By the time he contacted me, he had analyzed in this way seventeen situations preceding the outbreak of wars and revolutionary upheavals, spanning many centuries since antiquity to most recent times (DeMause 1975).

DeMause was struck by the extraordinary abundance of figures of speech, metaphors, and images related to biological birth that he found in this material. Military leaders and politicians of all ages describing a critical situation or declaring war typically used terms that equally applied to perinatal distress. They accused the enemy of choking and strangling their people, squeezing the last breath out of their lungs, or constricting them and not giving them enough space to live (Hitler's “Lebensraum”). We could illustrate this by a recent example: Osama bin Laden threatening in his videotape that he would turn the United States into a “choking hell.”

Equally frequent were allusions to dark caves, tunnels, and confusing labyrinths, dangerous abysses into which one might be pushed and the threat of engulfment by treacherous quicksand or a terrifying whirlpool. Similarly, the offer of the resolution of the crisis comes in the form of perinatal images. The leader promises to rescue his nation from an ominous labyrinth; to lead it to the light on the other side of the tunnel; and to create a situation where the dangerous aggressor and

oppressor will be overcome, and everybody will again “breathe freely.”

Lloyd DeMause's historical examples at the time included such famous personages as Alexander the Great, Napoleon, Samuel Adams, Kaiser Wilhelm II., Hitler, Khrushchev, and Kennedy. Samuel Adams, talking about the American Revolution, referred to “the child of Independence now struggling for birth.” In 1914, Kaiser Wilhelm stated that “the Monarchy has been seized by the throat and forced to choose between letting itself be strangled and making a last ditch effort to defend itself against attack.” During the Cuban missile crisis, Krushchev wrote to Kennedy, pleading that the two nations not “come to a clash, like blind moles battling to death in a tunnel.”

Even more explicit was the coded message used by Japanese ambassador Kurusu when he phoned Tokyo to signal that negotiations with Roosevelt had broken down and that it was all right to go ahead with the bombing of Pearl Harbor. He announced that the “birth of the child was imminent” and asked how things were in Japan: “Does it seem as if the child might be born?” The reply was: “Yes, the birth of the child seems imminent.” Interestingly, the American intelligence listening in recognized the meaning of the “war-as-birth” code.

Particularly chilling was the use of perinatal language in connection with the explosion of the atomic bomb in Hiroshima. The airplane was given the name of the pilot's mother, Enola Gay, the atomic bomb itself carried a painted nickname “The Little Boy,” and the agreed-upon message sent to Washington as a signal of successful detonation was “The baby was born.” It would not be too far-fetched to see the image of a newborn also behind the nickname of the Nagasaki bomb, “Fat Man.” Since the time of our correspondence, DeMause collected many additional historical examples and refined his thesis that the memory of the birth trauma plays an important role as a source of motivation for violent social activity.

The issues related to nuclear warfare are of such relevance that I would like to elaborate on them using the material from a fascinating paper by Carol Cohn entitled “Sex and Death in the Rational World of the Defense Intellectuals” (Cohn 1987). The defense intellectuals (DIs) are civilians who

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move in and out of government, working sometimes as administrative officials or consultants, sometimes at universities and think tanks. They create the theory that informs and legitimates United States' nuclear strategic practice, such as how to manage the arms race, how to deter the use of nuclear weapons, how to fight a nuclear war if the deterrence fails, and how to explain why it is not safe to live without nuclear weapons. Cohn had attended a two-week summer seminar on nuclear weapons, nuclear strategic doctrine, and arms control. She was so fascinated by what had transpired there that she spent the following year immersed in the almost entirely male world of defense intellectuals (except for secretaries). She collected some extremely interesting facts confirming the perinatal dimension in nuclear warfare. In her fascinating paper, she mentions eight historical examples, where coded messages and other communications about the development and testing of atomic and hydrogen bombs involved references to birth and newborns.

Further support for the pivotal role of the perinatal and archetypal domains of the unconscious in war psychology can be found in Sam Keen's excellent book The Faces of the Enemy (Keen 1988) and a TV documentary of the same name. Keen brought together an outstanding collection of distorted and biased war posters, propaganda cartoons, and caricatures from many historical periods and countries. He demonstrated that the way the enemy is described and portrayed during a war or revolution is a stereotype that shows only minimal variations and has very little to do with the actual characteristics of the country and culture involved.

He was able to divide these images into several archetypal categories according to the prevailing characteristics (e.g., Stranger, Aggressor, Worthy Opponent, Faceless, Enemy of God, Barbarian, Greedy, Criminal, Torturer, Rapist, Death). According to Keen, the alleged images of the enemy are essentially projections of the repressed and unacknowledged shadow aspects of our own deep unconscious. Although we would certainly find in human history instances of just wars, those who initiate war activities are typically substituting external targets for elements in their

own psyches that should be properly faced in personal self-exploration.

Sam Keen's theoretical framework does not specifically include the perinatal domain of the unconscious. However, the analysis of his pictorial material reveals a preponderance of archetypal images that are characteristic of BPM II and BPM III. The enemy is typically depicted as a dangerous octopus, a vicious dragon, a multiheaded hydra, a giant venomous tarantula, or an engulfing Leviathan. Other frequently used symbols include vicious predatory felines or birds, monstrous sharks, and ominous snakes, particularly vipers and boa constrictors. Scenes depicting strangulation or crushing, ominous whirlpools, and treacherous quicksand also abound in pictures from the time of wars, revolutions, and political crises. The juxtaposition of pictures from holotropic states of consciousness that depict perinatal experiences with the historical pictorial documentation collected by Lloyd DeMause and Sam Keen represents strong evidence for the perinatal and archetypal roots of human violence.

According to the new insights, provided jointly by observations from consciousness research and the findings of psychohistory, we all carry in our deep unconscious powerful energies and emotions associated with the trauma of birth that we have not adequately mastered and assimilated. The symbolism associated with them is drawn from deep archetypal sources. For some of us, this aspect of our psyche can be completely unconscious, until and unless we embark on some in-depth self-exploration with the use of psychedelics or some powerful experiential techniques of psychotherapy, such as Holotropic Breathwork or rebirthing. Others can have varying degrees of awareness of the emotions and physical sensations from the perinatal and transpersonal level of the unconscious.

Activation of this material can lead to serious individual psychopathology, including unmotivated violence. It seems that, for unknown reasons, the awareness of the perinatal elements can increase simultaneously in a large number of people. This creates an atmosphere of general tension, anxiety, and anticipation. The leader is an individual who is under a stronger influence of the perinatal energies than the average person. He also has the ability to

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disown his unacceptable feelings (the “shadow” in Jung's terminology) and to project them on the external situation. The collective discomfort is blamed on the enemy, and a military intervention is offered as a solution.

Historical and astrological research of Richard Tarnas threw fascinating new light on DeMause’s idea of the collective tension originating in the perinatal unconscious, which typically precedes the onset of wars and revolutions. In his meticulous research, Tarnas recognized the deep correlations between the phenomenology of what I call the BPMs and astrological archetypes (BPM I and Neptune, BPM II and Saturn, BPM III and Pluto, and BPM IV and Uranus). He also was able to demonstrate throughout human history deep correlations between the periods of wars and revolutions and hard aspects of Pluto, Saturn, and Mars (Tarnas 2006). This demonstrates a close connection between sociopolitical events and dynamics of archetypes associated with various planets. !

Search for a New Planetary Myth Historian Arnold Toynbee and mythologist

Joseph Campbell noticed that all cultures of the past had been governed by an underlying myth or a combination of myths. Toynbee is often quoted for his prediction of an important development in Western civilization: “The coming of Buddhism to the West may well prove to be the most important event of the twentieth century.” Joseph Campbell used to raise in his lectures the question: “What are the myths that are driving the Western civilization?” He himself emphasized the importance of the Search for the Holy Grail myth in its relation to individualism characterizing Western society: The knights of the Holy Grail decided to pursue the search for the holy chalice on their own. We can also think about the two major myths of the modern era: Paradise Lost vs. Ascent of Man (Tarnas 1993). Equally appropriate seem to be the motifs of the Abduction and Rape of the Feminine, psychospiritual death and rebirth, and a variety of others, such as Faust, the Sorcerer’s Apprentice, Frankenstein, the Prodigal Son, and the Tower of Babel. !

Joseph Campbell also often asked: What will be the myth of the future? And he expressed his hope that it would involve overcoming fragmentation and creating a planetary civilization. It would be a New Atlantis, where people would live in harmony with others and with nature, benefiting from the astonishing discoveries of science and technology, but using them with wisdom coming from a deep spiritual place. Achievement of this goal would also involve psychospiritual rebirth and liberation and the return of the feminine.

Since we are talking about planetary civilization, I would like to mention a very interesting observation that seems very relevant in this regard. One of the most surprising discoveries in my work with psychedelics and with Holotropic Breathwork was the ease with which individuals in holotropic states of consciousness (including myself) transcended historical and geographical boundaries and experienced archetypal figures, motifs, and domains from just about any culture in human history. Over the years, I have myself experienced in my own psychedelic sessions episodes from many different mythologies and religions of the world: Hindu, Buddhist, Tibetan Buddhist, Moslem, Christian, Egyptian, Shinto, Australian Aboriginal, Native American, South American, and others.

This has to be a new phenomenon. Many pre-industrial cultures had and used powerful consciousness-expanding technologies, including psychedelic plants. Had the collective unconscious in its entirety been as easily accessible for them as it seems to be for modern subjects, we could not have distinct culture-specific mythologies. We have to assume that, for example, the Tibetans experienced primarily Tibetan deities and Huichol Indians in Mexico Huichol deities. There are no descriptions of the Dear Spirit Kayumare or Grandfather Fire Tatewari in the Bardo Thödol or those of the Dhyani Buddhas in the Huichol lore.

It seems that this increased accessibility of various domains in the collective unconscious parallels what is happening in the material world. Until the end of the fifteenth century, Europeans did not know anything about the New World and its inhabitants and vice versa. Many human groups in remote parts of the world remained unknown to

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the rest of the world until the modern era. Tibet was relatively isolated until the Chinese invasion in 1949. Today, telephone, short-wave radio stations, television, jet travel, and more recently the Internet, have dissolved many of the old boundaries. Let us hope that what is happening in the inner and the outer world are indications that we are moving toward a truly global civilization. !Bibliography !

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Stanislav Grof, MD, is a psychiatrist with more than 50 years of experience researching non-ordinary states of

consciousness. He is one of the founders and chief theoreticians of transpersonal psychology and founder of the International

Transpersonal Association. He is the author of many books, including Holotropic Breathwork: A New

Approach to Self-Exploration and Therapy (with Christina Grof), When the

Impossible Happens, Psychology of the Future, The Cosmic Game, and The

Ultimate Journey. Contact: www.stanislavgrof.com

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