Psych. 2 – I. 2 – 4. & 2 – II. 1. Jesus: “‘Resistance to the truth’ is part of the ego’s usual way of looking at things. Consequently its interpretations of ‘progress and growth’ are focused only on strengthening that resistance. Of necessity, these interpretations will be wrong because they, too, are delusional.
Thus the ‘changes’ the ego seeks from psychotherapy are not really changes at all! They are but deeper shadows, or perhaps thought of as merely ‘different cloud patterns!’ Yet what is still made of nothingness cannot be called really new or different. Illusions are illusions; truth is truth!
Resistance, as defined here, can be characteristic of a therapist as well as of a patient. Either way, it sets a limit on psychotherapy because it restricts its very aims. Nor can the Holy Spirit fight against the intrusions of the ego on the therapeutic process. But He will wait, and His patience is infinite.
The Holy Spirit’s goal is wholly undivided always. Whatever resolutions patient and therapist reach in connection with their own separate and divergent goals, they cannot become completely reconciled as one until they join with His. Only then is all conflict over, for only then can there be certainty.
Ideally, psychotherapy would be a series of holy encounters in which brothers meet to bless each other and to receive the peace of God. And this will one day come to pass for everyone on the face of this earth, for who except one who is ‘a patient’ could possibly have come here?
The therapist is a teacher of God, albeit one with a somewhat more specialized function. He still learns through teaching, and the more advanced he is, the more he teaches and the more he learns. But whatever stage of learning he is in, there are patients who need him just where he is. For now, they cannot take more than he can give. Yet both therapist and patient will find sanity at last!
To be a teacher of God, it is not necessary to be ‘religious,’ or even to believe in God to any recognizable extent. It is necessary, however, to be teaching forgiveness rather than condemnation. Even in this, complete consistency is not required, for one who had achieved that point could teach salvation completely, in an instant, and without so much as a word! Yet he who has learned all things worth learning does not need a teacher, and those whose minds are already healed have no need for a therapist!
Relationships are still the temple of the Holy Spirit, and they will be made perfect in time, as they are restored to wholeness and eternity.”