'Minding the Unconscious in the Present Moment Now'

DECEMBER 2022

Flip through any health and wellness magazine at your local grocery store, and you are bound to find some article or another pertaining to ‘Mindfulness,’ ‘Being Present,’ or ‘Being in the Now.’ What does it really mean to ‘be mindful,’ to ‘be present,’ or ‘be in the now’ when we are always carrying our past with us? Namely, to what degree are we ‘minding the mind’ or ‘being mindful’ to the extent the unconscious mind is not a part of the mainstream mindfulness movement discourse? How might an understanding of the dynamic unconscious aid us in understanding ‘being mindful’ or ‘present in the now’?  and could being ‘in the now and present’ also include ‘being in the past’ or the ’there and then’? Are we ever truly present, if we are always bringing our past, which influences ‘the now,’ as psychodynamic understanding of the mind would demonstrate? Thus, to what degree are we present or mindful when the unconscious is at work? 

The paper began by noting the popularity and commercialization of ‘mindfulness,’ ‘being present,’ and ‘in the now.’ I raised questions pertaining to how ‘present,’ ‘mindful,’ and ‘in the now’ are we when we are always bringing our past to bear superimposed to ‘the present moment’ as psychodynamic thought reveals. I then called attention to the tendency of how being present, mindful and ‘in the now’ may get understood as one in the same phenomena, and thus potentially conflated. These terms have their roots in the philosophy and anecdotal accounts of ‘nonduality.’ Nonduality is also a term that is not completely clear in the literature, and has no one definition, but many theories (Loy, 2012).

Some debate a version of the notions of nonduality, while veiled in different language and beliefs, are evident in all contemplative traditions, from “Greek philosophy through to Buddhism and Taoism and each of the mystical branches of the Abrahamic religions” (Martin 2010). The belief of nonduality is the cornerstone of the perennial philosophy, which maintains there is an underlying reality to all religions, even if the names to this reality are different (i.e., God, Emptiness, Tao, True Self) (Huxley, 1946). Some individuals who experience nonduality maintain it is an experience that is not able to be put in words (Martin, 2010). There has not been a significant amount of scientific data in the area of nonduality. However, some research was noted via the work of Jeffrey Martin (2010, 2020). Martin interviewed individuals who have experienced persistent forms of nonduality or what he referred to as nonsymbolic consciousness (PNSC). These research findings uncovered five core consistent categories of change for the individual: 1) sense of self (a change from a localized to non-localized sense of self), 2) cognition (reduction of self-related thoughts) 3) affect (a significant reduction in both the range and overall experience of affect, particularly negative affect) 4) perception (Participants reported a significant increase in their experience of and focus on what was happening in the present moment along with a dramatic reduction in thoughts about the past and future.) 5) memory (participants reported that they placed less importance on their personal memories, and their personal history in general. Both encoding and recall seemed to be affected depending upon where participants were located on the continuum) ranging on a continuum of 1 – 5+ of persistent non-symbolic consciousness (PNSC (Martin, pp. 9, 2020).

In my writing, I examined the commodification and commercialization of nonduality in light of the counterculture movement of the 1960s and nondual teachers made celebrity by Oprah Winfrey. Among these teachers, Eckhart Tolle, a NYT bestseller of The Power of Now was mentioned, as was Tolle’s account of what he deemed his awakening (Tolle, 1997). Kabat-Zinn’s (1994) definition of mindfulness was shared “paying attention in a particular way: on purpose, in the present moment, and nonjudgmentally” (p. 4)[1]

(and noted in comparison and likeness to Freud’s (1912) ‘evenly suspended attention’ in his Recommendation to Physicians Practicing Psychoanalysis.)

Psychological benefits of practices of mindfulness, presence and ‘nowness’ via meditation were discussed. Practices of attention which stress moment to moment awareness of the fluctuations or changes in the mind as objects of perception were compared to practices of concentration and insight, which focus on bringing one’s attention or awareness back to one’s breath, particularly at location of the breath’s sensation at the nasal cavity, or some other one-pointed and single object of awareness. Ancient texts of Hinduism and Buddhism were mentioned as it pertains to these texts’ explanations for meditation, and the bringing of awareness to alleviate suffering. Western psychology’s view of meditation as a form of stress reduction was also mentioned, as was a psychoanalytic view of the benefits of mindfulness meditation, in particular, toward the ego ideal being strengthened while the ideal ego is diminished (Epstein, 1986). [2]

Another perspective of the benefits of mindfulness meditation come from the psychoanalytic theory of object relations in that meditation can create an inner holding environment for the raw material of emotional experience to become symbolized in thought through the non-judgmental awareness of the meditator. This non-judgmental awareness can then serve as an auxiliary or observing ego (i.e., mother or therapist) which creates the conditions for raw affect to become symbolized in thought (Epstein, 2020).

In contrast to the benefits of meditation, the shadow side, or negative effects of mindfulness, being present, and ‘in the now’ were also discussed in the paper. In this vein, spiritual bypassing was defined as the use of spiritual ideas, practices, or experiences to sidestep or avoid facing unresolved emotional issues, psychological wounds, and unfinished developmental tasks (Welwood, 1984 & 2000). I described Wilber’s (2006) pre/trans fallacy whereby there is the tendency of individuals to understand pre-rational/pre-personal/’pathological’ experiences, such as states of (dissociation or and not equated to) schizophrenic breaks, for instance, as trans-rational/transpersonal experiences (e.g., Jung). That is, these pathological states are elevated to transpersonal states. Just the same, some individuals equate or reduce trans-rational/transpersonal experiences to be pathological or the pre-rational (e.g., Freud). The theoretical construct of the Wilber-Combs Lattice was described to further elucidate the pre-trans fallacy and aid in understanding how individuals might conceptually conflate ‘the (timeless) now’ of ‘no thought’ with what is to be (experientially or a priori) understood as a nondual, often more integrated state, with dissociation, for example. Revisions of the Wilber-Combs Lattice were noted (Disperna (2014), Kesler (2020, as cited in O’Fallon 2020), Martin (2010) and O’Fallon (2020). Wilber’s (2006) use of the analogy ‘ladder, climber, view’ to describe the process of development was stated. The ladder being the stages or structures of consciousness (WC Lattice Y Axis) via developmental lines (X axis) consisting and ranging from moral (Kohlberg, 1981), cognitive (Piaget, 1977), ego (Loevinger, 1976; Cook-Greuter, 1990)[3], religious/spiritual (Fowler, 1981), identity achievement (Marcia, 1976), self-actualization (Maslow, 1970), orders of consciousness/’evolutionary balances’ adult development (Kegan, 1982), values (Graves, 2005), psychosocial (Erikson, 1982), developmental structure-stages to name some. The climber being the individual’s ‘center of gravity’ at any given stage. Thus, ‘the view’ what ‘the climber’ is able to ‘see’ or view in ourselves, others, and the world (Wilber, 2006).

Last, in the paper I aimed to address how an understanding of the dynamic unconscious could aid in understanding how an inclusion of the past of ‘there and then’ might influence ‘present moment now’ experience/s. The psychoanalytic concepts examined in this light were that of the repetition compulsion (Freud, 1914) where past and repressed overwhelming experience have been forgotten, distanced, and likely dissociated, recure in the mind to be reexperienced as a means to achieve mastery over (present) experience. Consequently, the ‘present moment in the (temporal) now’ contains the ‘there and then’ of the past was emphasized (i.e. eastern notions of ‘karmas’, ‘samskaras’/western notions of ‘sins of the father’ and ancestral wounds/intergenerational trauma). A contemporary view of the repetition compulsion was then discussed via Russell, 2006. Unlike Freud (1914) who stressed the role of drive in the repression of forgotten memory, Russel (2006) stressed the importance of mastery of affect in the function and role of the repetition compulsion. Both Freud (1914) and Russell (2006) emphasize the necessity of the transference and therapeutic relationship in healing the repetition compulsion. Then, Winnicott’s notion of the true and false self was explained as it pertains to one’s sense of ‘being present’ and ‘presence.’ Throughout these explanations of how ‘being present’ and ‘in the now’ are usurped via the repetition compulsion phenomena and the false self-configuration, the phenomenon of dissociation as a form of defense and maladaptation of (relational) trauma were evident. 

*There is a notion that ‘negative energy seeks resolution.’ In philosophy and the quantum physics theory of retrocausality, it is understood that it may be possible for influence/s from the present or future to change the past. Thus, this raises the question, “How can ‘the present now’ or future, rewrite the past?” In his book, Healing Collective Trauma, Thomas Hübl (2020) states: “…when we integrate shadow or trauma, we’re utilizing this principle because healing past energy creates a forward ripple effect. This releases ‘light’ and energy that was previously held in (the) shadow, offering greater movement and freedom of will in the present” (p. 7).

[1] Freud (1912) had similar sentiments to make in his ‘Recommendations to Physicians Practicing Psychoanalysis’ when he spoke of ‘evenly suspended attention’. Freud described a state of “evenly suspended attention.” In this state of mind, the unconscious of the psychoanalyst is to become a “receptive organ” for the transmitting unconscious of the patient. This description set forth by Freud refers to an interactive process whereby the relationship between the patient’s and the psychoanalyst’s unconscious and conscious information is transmitted, received, and retransmitted back and forth between the two parties (Freud, 1912, p. 111). During moments of communication with patients, the psychotherapist is subjected to vast amounts of stimuli consisting of feelings, ideation, imagery, language, and behavior. Such sensory input is bound to influence the quality and level of one’s state of consciousness (Glucksman, 1998 as cited in Mishevski, 2013). 

[2] Ideal Ego has been defined as “the source of abstract ideas that the ego has about itself as perfect, complete, immortal, and permanent. It is the wellspring of vanity and self-righteousness…of narcissistic investment.” (Hanely, p. 255 as cited in Epstein, 1986). Whereas the Ego Ideal refers to a perfection to be achieved as an unrealized potential. The ego ideal might function as assurance to the self of its own inherent perfection.