Transpersonal Music

Music Therapy 1996, Vol. 14, No. 1, 9-28

Wilbers Spectrum Model of Transpersonal Psychology and Its Application to Music Therapy

LAURIE RUGENSTEIN, MMT, RMT-BC MUSIC THERAPY CONCENTRATION COORDINATOR

THE NAROPA INSTITUTE, BOULDER, COLORADO

There are many models for understanding transpersonal experience and transpersonal psychology (Walsh &Vaughan, 1993). One of these, Wilbers Spectrum of Consciousness (1977) is explored in this article. This model provides a framework for understanding various levels of consciousness. Each level is associated with a particular sense of identity, ranging from narrow egocentricity to cosmic consciousness (Walsh & Vaughan, 1993). Wilbers model also shows how different psychotherapeutic approaches address a clients need at each level and can therefore be seen as complementary rather than oppositional. It is useful in music therapy practice not only because it provides a theoretical model for the expansion of consciousness and the journey toward wholeness, but also because it can accommodate all of the ways in which music therapy can impact a client. Excerpts from a case study are included to illustrate how music therapy addresses various levels of the Spectrum of Consciousness.

Introduction

As the discipline of music therapy has grown and developed during the past half century, there has been an interest in using existing psychotherapeutic theories as a frame of reference for various music therapy approaches (Rudd, 1980; Wheeler, 1981).

Wilbers Spectrum of Consciousness provides a frame of reference that accommodates many existing psychotherapeutic theories (see Figure 3, p. 17) and allows us to see how seemingly contradictory approaches, such as psychoanalysis and gestalt therapy, are actually complementary. They simply address different layers of consciousness. Because music addresses our multidimensional nature and affects us on several levels

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of consciousness, music therapy can function as a psychotherapeutic modality at all levels of Wilbers spectrum.

Evolution of Western Psychology

Western psychology grew out of two sources: experimental science and clinical concerns. Experimental science focused on observable, measurable behavior while ignoring the unobservable world of inner experience. This branch of psychology became known as behaviorism. Clinical psychology was concerned with treating pathology and focused on the subjective and unconscious. This branch of psychology was dominated by psychoanalysis. According to Walsh & Vaughan, behaviorism and psychoanalysis became known as the first and second forces of Western psychology (1993).

By the 1960s, changes were taking place in the culture at large. Among these changes were the questioning of the materialistic dream, the birth of the human potential movement, the introduction of Eastern meditative disciplines, and the experience of altered states of consciousness through the use of psychedelic drugs. It became apparent that Western psychology, with its focus on pathology or laboratory-controlled experiments, ignored important dimensions of human experience.

Humanistic psychology emerged out of these cultural changes. Abraham Maslow (1968), a founder of humanistic psychology stated:

This point of view in no way denies the usual Freudian picture, but it does add to it and supplement it. To oversimplify the matter somewhat, it is as if Freud supplied to us the sick half of psychology, and we must now fill it out with the healthy half. Perhaps this healthy psychology will give us more possibility of controlling and Improving our lives and for making ourselves better people (p. 5).

Humanistic psychology came to be known as third force psychology.

Foundations of Transpersonal Psychology

Maslow is also credited with originating transpersonal psychology. He nicknamed it fourth force psychology (1968) in relation to the first three forces of behaviorism, psychoanalysis, and humanistic psychology. Transpersonal psychology was, for him, the next logical step to follow humanistic psychology. Maslow (1968) considered humanistic,



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Wilbers Spectrum Model of Transpersonal Psychology 11

third force psychology to be transitional. It was viewed as a preparation for a still higher fourth psychology centered in the cosmos rather than in basic human need and interest.

Although it is difficult to formulate a single, all-inclusive definition of transpersonal psychology, the following descriptions convey the essence of the field:

Transpersonal psychology is concerned primarily with those aspects of human experience and behavior that lie beyond the personal, interpersonal, and social aspects studied in other psychological schools. I see the study of consciousness and its transformations as the central content area for transpersonal psychology (Metzner, 1898, p. 329).

What truly defines the transpersonal orientation is a model of the human psyche that recognizes the importance of the spiritual or cosmic dimensions and the potential for consciousness evolution (Grof, 1985, p. 197).

Often influenced by the recent influx of Eastern psychologies into the West, transpersonal psychology seeks to resolve what it considers the disproportionate attention given to mans psychological afflictions at the expense of his greatest potentialities. This movement may be understood as an attempt to reconnect the science of psychology with the perennial metaphysical teachings of spiritual traditions (Needleman & Eisenberg, 1987, p. 57).

Transpersonal psychology is concerned with the study of humanitys highest potential, and with the recognition, understanding, and realization of unitive, spiritual, and transcendent states of consciousness (Lajoie & Shapiro, 1992, p. 91).

Transpersonal psychology may not yet be considered mainstream. However, many of its basic principles have had a profound influence on the practice of psychotherapy. Transpersonal psychology works from a model that views human consciousness as being connected to something larger than the individual personality. It acknowledges the existence of the spiritual dimension and its impact on the individual psyche. Issues arising from dream states, paranormal experiences, spiritual experiences, and other non-ordinary states of consciousness are explored as part of the therapeutic process. Working from a transpersonal context, clients are often able to transform limiting core beliefs and patterns that may manifest as physical, emotional, mental, or physical difficulties.



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Ken Wilber is an outstanding theorist in transpersonal psychology who has made connections with concepts that are already widely used in psychology, expanding and extending these concepts into transpersonal realms. He has written more than twelve books and several hundred articles on psychology, sociology, philosophy, and religion. Much of his writing focuses on the interface between Eastern spiritual practices and Western psychology.

Wilber states that transpersonal psychology fully acknowledges and incorporates the findings of modern psychiatry, behaviorism, and developmental psychology, and then adds, where necessary, the further insights and experience of the existential and spiritual dimensions of the human being (1991, p. xi). The inclusive nature of Wilbers approach is evident in his construction of the Spectrum of Consciousness. The comprehensive nature of his theoretical model and its focus on growth, rather than pathology, provide a useful framework for the practice of music therapy.

Wilbers Spectrum of Consciousness

Wilbers (1977, 1979) Spectrum of Consciousness is useful to the practitioner because it serves as a model for investigating human consciousness from a transpersonal perspective, and for examining ways in which various therapeutic approaches work with different levels within this spectrum. Wilber has further expanded his concepts with his Spectrum of Development (1986) and in his recent book, Sex, Ecology, Spirituality (1995). However, an understanding of his basic spectrum model, presented in his earlier works, The Spectrum of Consciousness (1977) and No Boundary (1979), is helpful in providing a theoretical framework for his approach to transpersonal psychology.

Evolution of the Spectrum/Growth of Boundaries

After extensive study of the major world wisdom traditions, Wilber (1977) found that all of them-including Hinduism, Buddhism, Christianity, Taoism, Islam, and Judaism-speak of unity consciousness, a loving embrace of the universe as a whole. Experiences of unity consciousness have been recorded by Christian mystics, Buddhist meditation practitioners, and soldiers in combat. In these experiences, the individual feels, beyond the shadow of a doubt, that he or she is fundamentally one with all worlds. Ones sense of identity expands beyond the confines of body and mind and embraces the entire cosmos.



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Self

Not-Self

Figure 1

Wilbers premise is that unity consciousness is the natural condition of all sentient beings, but by creating boundaries of self versus not-self, we turn away from our true nature. To draw boundaries is to manufacture opposites. The question Who are you? means Where do you draw your boundary? Our boundaries are drawn at several levels and may be the result of social conditioning or intrapsychic conflict. Wilbers Spectrum of Consciousness provides a model for examining where and how these boundaries have been drawn and how we have cut ourselves off from our fundamental nature of unity consciousness.

Levels of the Spectrum

When a boundary is drawn at each level of the spectrum, a new perception of self and not-self is created. The following brief presentation of the four primary levels of the Spectrum of Consciousness demonstrates how consciousness shrinks from all-encompassing Unity Consciousness, to consciousness of the Total Organism, to consciousness at the Ego Level, and to consciousness at the Persona Level.

Level One: Unity Consciousness

The complete Spectrum of Consciousness is generated from this level of the Infinite, the Brahman, the Godhead, an all-inclusive, non-dualistic



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The Spectrum of Consciousness

TOTAL ORGANISM \

\ \

Figure 2. From No Boundary (unnumbered page between pp. 9 & 10), by K. Wilber, 1979, Boston: Shambhala. Compyright 1979 by Ken Wilber. Reprinted with permission.

TRANSPERSONAL BANDS

UNITY CONSCIOUSNESS universe (manifest and unmanifest)



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reality. At this level we are one with the basic energy of the universe. This could be considered our natural, complete state of consciousness. Wilber (1993) contends that this level is not an abnormal state of consciousness, nor even an altered state of consciousness, but rather the only real state of consciousness, all others being essentially illusions (p. 23).

As we move to other levels, we progressively draw boundaries, creating dualities of self vs. not-self. Every level of the spectrum is a progressive bounding, limiting, or constricting of ones real self.

Level Two: Total Organism

As we draw the first boundary, we shift from a cosmic identity with unity consciousness to a personal identity with the human organism. At this level we feel the world is separate from us, something out there. Supreme identity becomes individual identity and the duality between object and observer is born. At this level the conscious fear of death appears because our personal organism, or bodymind, is now experienced as something finite and separate from unity consciousness.

The story of Adam and Eve and the Fall is a story of a boundary being drawn and dualistic knowledge arising as human beings first saw the world as not-self. When Adam and Eve ate the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge, they became aware of themselves as individuals, separate from the rest of creation and from the Creator. They were no longer part of unity consciousness. This fundamental boundary between ourselves (perceived as existing within our bodies) and others (perceived as all that exists outside our bodies) has been generally accepted as fact in Western culture.

Level Three: Ego Level

Drawing the second boundary results split between mind and body. I, the ego, have a body. Cartesian philosophy supported this division between mind and matter, and Descartes, according to Achterberg, asserted that there was nothing in the concept of the body that belonged to the mind, and nothing of the mind that belonged to the body (1985).

The total organism is split into a disembodied psyche or mind, the ghost in the machine, and the body that it manipulates. We feel that we exist in the body, but not as the body. Our identity is now with selfimage, only a mental reflection of the total organism. At this level we have cut ourselves off from our bodies, and intellectual and symbolic processes dominate.



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Level Four: Persona Level

As the next boundary is drawn, we disown facets of the ego that seem undesirable. We refuse to admit unwanted aspects of ourselves into consciousness. We project these unwanted parts of ourselves onto something out there, either other people or life circumstances, and experience them as not-self. At this level we are left with a narrow, inaccurate, impoverished self-image or persona.

The unwanted parts of ourselves seem to constitute what Jung (1958) referred to as the Shadow. Priestly (1987) states: When the shadow is not acknowledged a person either rejects it totally and becomes a flat, shallow personality, or s/he projects its contents onto others, disapproving of them violently (p. 20).

As we move from identity with the universe, to identity with the organism, to identity with the ego, to identity with parts of the ego, the self becomes smaller and smaller and the not-self becomes larger and larger. When each boundary is drawn, a part of the self is projected out there and appears external, alien, and foreign.

The constriction and impoverishment we feel as the boundary becomes tighter and tighter, can lead to depression, addictive behavior, anxiety, and physical illness. We somehow sense that this is not what life is meant to be. This condition may lead us to seek assistance through psychotherapy or spiritual practice.

Involution of the Spectrum/Removing Boundaries

Descent and discovery begin when we become dissatisfied with life. Suffering is the initial recognition of false boundaries and the fragmented life supported by them. As boundaries are removed, parts of the self that seemed to exist out there are seen as our own reflection, and our field of awareness becomes more expansive, free, and undefended. The projected facets no longer threaten us because we recognize that they are us.

In order to descend the spectrum from the Persona Level toward the level of Unity Consciousness and reclaim disowned parts of the self two things must happen. First, we need to dissolve a boundary Then, we need tore-own what we have projected out there.

An important point Wilber (1979) makes in examining various schools of psychotherapy is that apparent conflicts among them may exist because they are addressing different perspectives, dimensions, and stages of human consciousness. Therefore, they are not contradictory but complementary.



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Therapies and the Levels of the Spectrum

Figure 3. From No Boundary (unnumbered page between pp. 9 & 10), by K. Wilber, 1979, Boston: Shambhala. Compyright 1979 by Ken Wilber. Reprinted with permission.



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Wilber (1993) states:

These schools do not need to overly concern themselves as to which is the correct approach to human consciousness because each is more-or-less correct when addressing its own level. A truly integrated and encompassing psychology can and should make use of the complementary insights offered by each school of psychology (p. 27).

Wilber has constructed a second diagram illustrating how various schools of psychotherapy address the task of integration at different levels of the Spectrum of Consciousness (see Figure 3, p. 17). It should be noted that when a school is assigned to one major level of the spectrum, it is done on the basis of the deepest level that school recognizes. A therapeutic approach assigned to any one level generally recognizes and addresses levels above it on the diagram (Wilber, 1993). For example, Jungs analytical psychology is placed in the Transpersonal Bands between Unity Consciousness and Total Organism because this is the deepest level of his work. However, Jungs work also addresses issues that arise at the Ego Level and the Persona Level.

The following is an outline of the tasks that are required at each level to reclaim the disowned aspects of Self.

Level Four: Persona Level

The task at this level is to dissolve the boundary between persona and shadow. We need to develop an awareness of those aspects of ourselves that we are projecting onto the world out there and reclaim them.

Therapeutic approaches addressing this level are simple counseling and supportive therapy (Wilber, 1979).

Level Three: Ego Level

At this level the task is to eliminate boundary between ego and body. The ego often feels trapped by the bodys sensitivity to pain. When the body is disowned and its sensations are deadened, suffering is minimized, but so is joy. We need to give up ego control so body sensations can reach the surface. When a strong emotion seeking discharge through activity is repressed, half of the muscles want to discharge, while the other half fight the discharge. If this cycle is repeated, chronic tension and further deadening results. Eliminating the ego/body boundary leads to the discovery that the very processes of life generate joy.

Therapeutic approaches that work on dissolving this boundary are



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psychoanalysis, psychodrama, transactional analysis, reality therapy, and ego psychology (Wilber, 1979).

Level Two: Total Organism

The task at this level is to remove the boundary between the organism and the environment. This is the place where we address issues of selfactualization, meaning in life, and life-death concerns.

Therapeutic approaches that address this level are bioenergetic analysis, Rogerian therapy, Gestalt therapy, existential analysis, and humanistic psychology (Wilber, 1979.)

Transpersonal Bands

This level exists between the Total Organism and Unity Consciousness. It is here we discover the transcendent Self. This is the realm of mythology, intuition, imagery and dreams. Repression at this level may affect the tone of society as a whole. The repressed urge to transcendence can take on bizarre forms such as black magic, occultism, misuse of psychedelic drugs, and cultic guru worship, all of which have manifested in our culture in recent years.

Therapeutic approaches that address the transpersonal bands are Jungs analytic psychology, psychosynthesis, and the work of individual therapists including Maslow, Progroff, and Grof (Wilber, 1979).

Level One: Unity Consciousness

The task at this level is to discover how we resist the present experience and unity consciousness. This task may be beyond the realm of psychotherapy. Wilber (1979) feels that various spiritual practices can bring us to the awareness of this resistance and guide us toward the experience of Oneness.

Music, Music Therapy and the Spectrum of Consciousness

Although music therapy is not directly addressed in Wilbers writing, there seems to be a place for it the Spectrum of Consciousness. Music has played an integral role in most of the world wisdom traditions and has been used as a vehicle for connecting and integrating the physical and spiritual realms (Berendt, 1987; Reck, 1977; Tame, 1984). It can function in a similar way in a transpersonal approach to psychology. Music provides us with direct, non-verbal experiences and facilitates the move-



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ment between different states of consciousness. As such, music can function as a vehicle to connect us with that which is greater than ourselves, and that which is the essence of the transpersonal approach to psychology.

Lorin Hollander (1988), concert pianist, speaks about the power of music in the following statement:

There are no words that adequately convey what music can express. Music deals with the highest reaches of the human soul. Every area of human experience is touched and expressed most beautifully and wonderously by music: the yearning, the searching, the joys and sorrows; the hopes, dreams, and visions; the emotions and the symbolic mythology of the unconscious. Yet, music is more.. The rhythm of music is a metaphor for all of life. Much of nature seems to manifest rhythmic movement. The universe itself is a manifestation of waves, vibrations, cycles. Music is a most profound mystical science (p. 10).

Music has been used as a model for describing the very essence of life. George Leonard (1978) states: At the root of all power and motion, at the burning center of existence itself, there is music and rhythm, the play of patterned frequencies against the matrix of time. Before we make music, music makes us (pp. 2-3).

Music also provides us with a connection to the Source. It is this aspect of music that is most profound in facilitating the journey toward unity consciousness. The following quote from Sara Jane Stokes in Healing Imagery &Music (Bush, 1995) speaks about the deeply spiritual state evoked by music:

It is as if music acts upon our very soul-awakening the impulses of the truth of who we are. Sometimes the transcendent quality of the music reveals itself in an ineffible experience of light, love and grace. In these peak moments, the music connects back to its Source and ours as well. This one Source is the Mystery at the core of Life. Through the music, it touches us and we are healed (p. 80).

When used within a therapeutic relationship music can help accomplish the two tasks involved in descending the Spectrum of Consciousness and moving toward wholeness: 1) dissolving boundaries and 2) reclaiming that which has been disowned. Music can fully integrate our dissonances, as well as our consonances (Hesser, 1988, p. 71) and provide us



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with a means of reintegrating those aspects we have named not-self. Aigen (1991) addresses this transformational quality of music:

As a symbol of transformation, music stands in the intersection between our inner and outer worlds. Its significance and therapeutic potential derives from its essence as that which can unite these realms (p. 92).

Music therapy can play a different role at each level of the Spectrum of Consciousness: working with intrapsychic conflict, healing the body/ mind split, and reconnecting us with the transpersonal realm.

Excerpts from a Case Study

Presenting Information

Dorothy, a 43-year-old woman, was experiencing depression and migraine headaches. She had been participating in weekly verbal therapy sessions for four years at the time she decided to investigate music therapy. Dorothy felt she had gained a great deal from her verbal therapy, but found that she was reporting on her emotions in sessions, rather than experiencing them. She was drawn to music therapy because she felt music could provide her with more direct access to her emotions. Music had also been an important part of her life. She played several instruments and sang in choral groups when she was younger.

During her initial interview she disclosed that she had been sexually abused as a young girl within a ritualized context. A group of Christian men, including some of her close relatives, forced her to sing Jesus Loves Me before raping her. Since Dorothy had been required to sing as part of ritual abuse she received, she developed a fear connected with making music. She wanted to overcome this fear, which was extremely painful for her, and reconnect with music as a positive force in her life.

When using the Spectrum of Consciousness as a template for assessment, it is important to remember that one does not move through the levels of the spectrum in a linear, sequential pattern. In the course of a twenty-four-hour period, one may span the entire spectrum. However, an individual spends most of his or her waking life within a narrow range (Wilber, 1977).

In assessing Dorothy, it was clear that boundaries had been created at all of the levels. These boundaries, originally created as protection from danger and pain, were now confining and no longer serving her. The



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strongest boundary was probably at the Ego Level, resulting in a split between mind and body. This split is frequently found in people who have been sexually and/or physically abused. Dorothys physical body was no longer willing to be disowned and was crying out for attention in the form of migraine headaches.

Music Therapy Interventions

Music therapy approaches used with Dorothy included the Bonny Method of Guided Imagery and Music (GIM) and instrumental and vocal improvisation. These approaches were chosen because each allows the psyche to seek its own level and to work in a fluid and creative manner.

The GIM process was conceived by Helen Bonny (1978) as a therapeutic technique that uses music itself, rather than the therapist, to evoke and direct the imagery experience. Bonny (1975) found that:

The multidimensional qualities of musical sound allow it to touch many levels of consciousness both simultaneously and/ or in sequence. The movement of music, the rise and fall of dynamics brings about a wide sweep of those levels or layers of consciousness (p. 130).

Bruscia (1995) describes GIM as follows:

GIM is an individual form of therapy, healing, or self-actualization which involves imagining to music in an altered state of consciousness while dialoguing with a guide. When used in psychotherapy, GIM is an uncovering technique which accesses unconscious material, facilitates cathartic release, and leads to deep insights of the inner psyche. GIM provides rich opportunities for both client and therapist to experience different modes of consciousness. In fact, changes in consciousness are essential to this method (p. 168).

Musical improvisations were based on themes from GIM experiences or drawings Dorothy did in her music therapy sessions. The drawings emerged from feelings, thoughts, or memories that Dorothy discussed in the verbal portion of her music therapy sessions. Her drawings were sometimes representational, depicting people, animals, or nature scenes. Other drawings were abstract renditions of feeling states and consisted simply of color and shape. Sometimes Dorothy chose to give a verbal interpretation of her drawings. However, they were used more frequently as a non-verbal means of connecting with her inner world and



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as a bridge to bring that world out through musical improvisation. In this way, the drawings functioned as an entrance point, or focal point, for the improvisations.

Orff instruments, drums, and voice were the primary modalities employed. The only structure imposed on the improvisation was the theme itself. This approach shares some similarities with work done by Mary Priestly (1994) and Diane Austin (1991), in that musical improvisation is used to access unconscious material and bring it to consciousness.

Addressing Various Levels of the Spectrum

The following excerpts give examples of ways in which music therapy addressed different levels of the Spectrum of Consciousness. Work on the various levels did not follow a linear pattern, and each level was revisited many times in the course of therapy.

Level 3: Dissolving the Boundary Between Ego and Body.

This was Dorothys third music therapy session and the first session in which GIM was introduced. The following pieces of music were selected for the session because I felt they could create a quiet, spacious atmosphere, supporting imagery without overwhelming Dorothy:

Debussy: Dances Sacred & Profane Debussy: Afternoon of a Faun Holst: The Planets, Venus Vaughan Williams: Fantasia on Greensleeves

The imagery that emerges for Dorothy is both visual and proprioceptive. She experiences a feeling of being held down by a claw-like iron hand reaching inside her left shoulder blade. She is physically unable to move her shoulder away from this gripping iron hand during the first two selections of music. She eventually pulls herself free and finds that she is inside a volcano with people grabbing at her feet. Dorothy climbs a ladder in her imagery to escape from the volcano. While she is doing this, she actually pulls herself part way up the wall next to the GIM floor mat. Dorothy eventually meets a gray fox who shows her a cave, which is a safe resting place inside the volcano. He tells her shes strong to have climbed the ladder. As the fox strokes her forehead, Dorothys body visibly relaxes and she states, Its hard to let my body get soft. It feels like Ive been hanging on for so long.

Dorothys own imagery, evoked by the music, allowed her to engage deeply with her body sensations, and receive information that was held



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in her body. She was able to do this without any physical touch from the therapist, which, at this point in her therapy, could have been frightening and overwhelming for her as an abuse survivor.

Several weeks after this session Dorothy reported that the low-grade pain she had frequently experienced in her left shoulder had not returned since the GIM experience.

Level 1: Approaching Unity Consciousness.

During this session Dorothy related a story of an experience she had while on a trip. It illustrates a way in which we can approach unity consciousness as ordinary boundaries of time and space are transcended and we experience interpenetration of the imaginal and physical world.

Dorothy had been participating in music therapy for approximately six months at the time of this session. She arrived at the session in a cheerful and excited mood. She told a story of driving in the mountains and seeing a partially dead tree that attracted her because of its stark beauty. Dorothy got out of her car and sat under the tree for some time. When she got up to leave, she found a large feather on the ground at the base of the tree. She brought the feather to her music therapy session to ask me what kind it was.

I knew what kid of feather it was, and, as 1listened to Dorothy relate the story, 1was reminded of a small part of a GIM session she had done several weeks earlier. I read the following to her from the transcript of that session:

A tree nearby is hit by lightning. Its singed and black, but part of its growing. I see an owl in the tree. Incredible energy in his eyes. Looking into my solar plexus. It feels like theres a big hole there, like he can see right through me. He says I need to strengthen my will. It feels scary. The owl tells me Im the one doing the judging, not him. His eyes are just mirrors.

After reading this portion of the transcript, I told her that the feather she had found was an owl feather!

What she had experienced several weeks earlier in the imaginal realm had been confirmed in the physical realm, breaking through boundaries of space and time, entering the level of unity consciousness where no boundary exists between the manifest and the unmanifest. Dorothy kept the owl feather to remind her that often she was the one making judgements about herself, and that the world out there only reflected these to her.



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Level 4: Dissolving the Boundary Between Persona and Shadow

This session took place after nine months of music therapy. Dorothy arrived for her session in a fearful state. She said she had discovered an ugly little girl who might hurt someone inside herself. She felt this was an internalized, broken-off part of herself.

I asked her to make a drawing of the ugly little girl. Dorothy drew a very small figure in the lower right corner of the paper, then filled the rest of the page with pictures of musical instruments, brightly colored jagged lines, dark areas, and a multi-colored musical staff at the top of the page. She titled her drawing Angry Music.

Dorothy then selected drums, a xylophone, a rain stick, and rattles to play the music she had depicted in her drawing. Her improvisation began tentatively, but soon expressed the level of energy depicted in her drawing. Eventually the music became softer and concluded with a single note, slowly repeated on the xylophone. Following the musical improvisation, Dorothy looked at her drawing and stated, The ugly little girl doesnt look mean and scary any more. She looks sad.

By consciously expressing the ugly little girls anger through music, Dorothy was able to reclaim the split-off part of herself. She was able to feel compassion, rather than fear, when she no longer experienced the ugly little girl as not-self.

Level 2: Organism/Environment (Entering the Transpersonal Bands).

This GIM session took place after eleven months of music therapy. Dorothy had developed new relationships with disowned parts of herself and seemed to be ready to expand her boundaries even further. The following music was selected because it can support and sustain a deeply spiritual experience. It seemed as if Dorothy may have been ready for such an experience.

Beethoven: Piano Concerto No. 5, Adagio Vivaldi: Gloria, Et in Terra Pax Bach: Toccata, Adagio and Fugue in C Faure: Requiem, In Paradisum Wagner: Lohengrin, Prelude to Acts I, III

The imagery begins in a forest, rich and lush with many plants and animals. Dorothy is relaxing in a hammock by a dripping waterfall when a man appears. She says, I cant tell whether or not Im supposed to be scared. Hes so tall I can barely see his face. I dont think Im



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supposed to be scared. Hes a hunter, but he always asks the animal first. He says he can bring me deer meat and cook it for me. He knows this is my place in the forest. Hes sorry he walked in without asking permission. He can protect me from the outside so no one else will intrude.

This was the first time Dorothy had any interaction with another human being in her imagery. The man that came to her could be seen as a manifestation of her own animus or as an archetypal figure: a strong hunter who is also a protector and nurturer. In either case, he carried an energy that was very different from the men who were perpetrators in Dorothys early life. This man respected her place in the forest. Dorothy now had the experience of a positive male archetypal figure from the transpersonal bands, which allowed her to begin experiencing these qualities in men who came into her life.

Approximately three months after this session, Dorothy and I agreed that she was ready to terminate her music therapy sessions. Her depression was much less severe and her migraine headaches had decreased in frequency. Dorothy had also begun playing her piano at home. Her experiences with improvisation in the music therapy sessions had helped overcome her fear of making music by providing her with a new, safe context in which to create sound and music. Dorothy had dissolved many of the boundaries that were constricting and confining her when she began music therapy. She lived with more freedom and less fear as the circle that separated self from not-self continued to expand.

My experience with Dorothy has shown me that Wilbers Spectrum of Consciousness can provide a working frame of reference for music therapy. I have begun to look at how various music therapy techniques address different levels of the spectrum. The following is an incomplete list, a work in progress, which will expand and grow with further clinical application of this model.

Persona Level:

l Improvisation, playing aspects of shadow l Using music as a projection screen for shadow elements, as in the

Bonny Method of GIM

Ego Level:

l Improvisation, movement, vocalization, releasing body holding l Using music and vocalization to awaken sensation in the body

Total Organism & Transpersonal Bands:

l Experiencing archetypal energy of music through playing or listening l Using music to evoke archetypal images, providing a gateway to the

transpersona1 realm



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Unity Consciousness:

l Music as a connection to the Source

Sufi Inayat Khan (1988) stated, There is nothing in this world which can help one spiritually more than music. Meditation prepares, but music is the highest for touching perfection (p. 78).

Conclusion

The preceding excerpts demonstrate ways in which Wilbers Spectrum of Consciousness can be applied in music therapy practice. These examples serve only as an introduction. It is hoped that other music therapists will find this model useful and engage in further exploration of its application to clinical work with a variety of clients.

The Spectrum of Consciousness provides a structure to contain experiences that occur on the intrapsychic, interpersonal, and transpersonal levels. It gives both the therapist and client a non-pathologically based model for understanding and working with beliefs that result in constriction and deadening of the psyche at any, or all, of these levels. Because the work of dissolving boundaries at different levels of the spectrum does not occur in a linear, sequential pattern, neither the therapist nor the client know what level (or levels) may be encountered in a particular session. The inner knowing of the client is the primary factor determining the direction of the work. However, the clients process can be greatly facilitated by the container created by music and the therapist. Music is a natural medium for transcending boundaries, and, as such, maybe one of the most powerful tools in transpersonal psychology

References

Achterberg, J. (1985). Imagery in healing. Boston: Shambhala. Aigen, K. (1991). The voice of the forest: A conception of music for music

therapy. Music Therapy, 10 (1), 77-98. Austin, D. (1991). The musical mirror: Music therapy for the narcissistically

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Laurie Rugenstein, MMT, MT-BC, FAMI received her BM from Berklee College of Music in Boston, and her MMT in Music Therapy from Southern Methodist University in Dallas. She served as Associate Director and Music Therapist for the Institute for Music, Health and Education. She is the founder and coordinator of the Masters Degree Program in Music Therapy at the Naropa Institute in Boulder. In addition, she developed and implemented a music therapy program with Hospice of Boulder County, where she currently holds the position of staff music therapist. She also has a private practice in music therapy, specializing in survivors of abuse.



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Main MenuMusic TherapyTable of ContentsPrologue Wilbers Spectrum Model of Transpersonal Psychology and Its Application to Music TherapyThe Role of Improvised Music in Psychodynamic Music Therapy with Adults Music Therapy-Holistic Model Becoming Friends with Your Mother: Techniques of qualitative research illustrated with examples from the short-term treatment...On Cycles: Beginnings, Endings, Beginnings Reflections Thoughts on AAMT On The Written Word

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