IAS: Sufism Psychology Forum

Spirituality, Psychology, and Harmony: Sufism and Psychology Panel Discussion

The Sufism and Psychology Panel at the 7th Annual Sufism Symposium was held in Bellevue, Washington on May 26th. Panelists included George Pransky Ph.D., Shams Prinzivalli, Ph.D., and Amineh Amelia Pryor MFT, and were introduced by Sanaa Joy Carey Ph.D.

Dr. Carey began by expressing deep gratitude to the founders and co-directors of the International Association of Sufism, the hosts of the Symposium, Seyyedeh Nahid Angha Ph.D. and Shah Nazar Seyyed Ali Kianfar Ph.D., for their many years of gracious, selfless, dedication to the service of Allah. She defined the frame for the Panel Discussion and the Symposium as "to develop a language to speak effectively about the Divine Mystery and spiritual dimension of Being within a culture that does not have this shared language, and to return to the perspective of wise people of every culture and every age - that we are whole, part of the Whole, and connected with every part of the Whole." She helped us to prepare to experience the meanings beyond the presenters words by meditating in our hearts so that we might be aware of the "peace beyond the illusion of separation".

The first presenter was Dr. Pransky, a psychologist and consultant to organizations in the Seattle area. He stated that the job of counselors and spiritual leaders ought to be identical, to help people achieve the understanding to see life in a life-enhancing way. According to Dr. Pransky, the key to this lies not in techniques or rituals, but in turning people's attention from their experience toward it's source, from the created toward the source of creation.

While psychology typically tries to intervene at the level of behavior, or of the thoughts that shape behavior and our views of reality, Dr. Pransky suggests that it is unhelpful to focus on these as they are constantly changing, but rather to look for the source of thought, a formless space where the soul is "uncontaminated by anything that is happening to them". Being grounded in this understanding is the basis for the stability that allows people to got through life's experiences, pleasant and unpleasant, gracefully, and this is what Dr. Pransky states that everyone wants.

In order to facilitate this insight, the counselor herself or himself must be genuinely in touch with this place within themselves. Then the client will experience them as genuine and trustworthy and allow themselves to be touched in their hearts. When they experience this heart-to-heart connection, they are more likely to allow themselves to be influenced to contact the formless place, before thought, and experienced for themselves a genuine change of heart, which represents the potential for real change.

The next speaker was Dr. Prinzivalli, naturopath, psychologist, spiritual counselor, and director of the Shadhuli Sufi Center for Healing and Mystical Studies in northern New Jersey. Like Dr. Pransky, Dr. Prinzivalli also believes that it is useless to focus on the negative manifestations of human psychology, or even to try to change or fix anything on that level. Rather, she states, it is necessary for the healer to accept people exactly as they are, without judgement, and to hold them in the heart with all their imperfection. This, she tells us, is a skill of Sufism and is known in her school as "containment".

This imperfection and "brokeness" is seen as the inevitable result of living in the physical realm where darkness and light are mixed, but it is also in this realm where their is the unique opportunity to redeem "all the things that have gotten disconnected from their root in the Divine". This state of disconnection is described by the Arabic word Kafir, often translated from the Quran as "Unbeliever". It derives from the root kfr, which means cover, and refers to the embedded light that is hidden within the apparently negative aspects of the personality. This cover must be "rubbed off" by the friction of life to reveal the hidden light. It is the task of the healer to recognize the hidden Divine Name or quality within the manifestation, and reflect it to the other, even if they are not themselves able to recognize. In this way the light becomes brighter. What is wanted is for the healer to hold the other with acceptance and love, even knowing that they are covered, living in both the physical and Divine realm simultaneously.

The third speaker was Ms. Pryor, psychotherapist, meditation teacher, and director of the Sufism and Psychology Forum, as well as being co-editor of its Newsletter. Ms. Pryor spoke specifically about the theme of the Symposium, Universal Harmony, from the perspective of Sufi psychology. She first explained that Sufis are those who believe in the Unseen, because they see it.

Ms. Pryor states that the "psychology of Sufism is based on the understanding that to achieve universal harmony we must first achieve harmony within ourselves". When we do so, separation between ourselves and the universe disappears and we gain access to infinity where all limitations fade. There we experience the meaning of la illaha illa'llah - there is nothing but the Divine. She reminds that we are included in that "nothing".

Whereas much of the Western psychological approach looks at the relations between our inner and outer worlds, Ms. Pryor believes this to be an unreliable way to achieve balance, as both are continuously changing. In Sufism, harmony is achieved through submission to the Divine rules of existence, which is the meaning of Islam. In this way balance is achieved and one has a stable foundation to move about in the world of nature with constancy and self-reliance.

The key to this is finding ourselves, as most of us live on the surface of existence. To connect with ourselves we must move from the surface or change to the realm of eternity where we will find our unchanging essence, the self that is connected to the universal harmony that is already all around us. There "macrocosm and microcosm come into balance, the unknown becomes known, and the Unseen is seen with clarity in all its perfection"

Ms. Pryor also advises us that this journey is not easily accomplished without the guidance of a knowledgeable teacher. In order to qualify oneself for such a teacher, one must strive to develop the finest qualities of a student by cultivating a deep longing within the heart.

[For a fuller exposition of this theme, see the article Universal Harmony in the Sufism and Psychology Forum Newsletter, Vol. III, No. 2, upon which Ms. Pryor's talk was partially based.]