I N T R O D U C T I O N



Spectrum Counseling is a relatively new field of processes related to an applied synthesis of concepts central to spiritual traditions, and their sacred psychologies. The field is focused on facilitating conscious evolution in human beings.

Since this discipline is being developed as a Mind-Science, 2 for research and development of intra-human phenomena, within the context of internal exploration and discovery, spectrum counseling may also be described as a unique form of intra and inter human communications, under the heading of Transpersonal Psychology.

In describing transpersonal psychology, Frances Vaughan, a contemporary psychotherapist states:

"Transpersonal" can be distinguished from "transcendent" in that it refers to the transcendental as manifested in and through the person. Transpersonal psychology is therefore concerned with experiences and aspirations that lead people to seek transcendence, as well as the healing potentials of self-transcendence. 3

In this context, the person referenced, may be understood as one's worldly personality, developed by way of some given enculturation process, commencing at birth, and continuing through maturation. This 'person', from a Freudian perspective is called ego; a range of mind which primarily interacts with the external world. Synonymous with 'ego', is the term, 'self', with lower case 's', as opposed to the word, 'Self', which, when used in a transpersonal sense, usually implies a sense of being which transcends the person.

Most systems of psychology attempt to investigate the relationship between human experience and the potential physiological processes that are, theoretically, integral with experience. The psychoanalytic and psychotherapeutic areas of psychology are partly oriented toward helping people function comfortably, within some socially acceptable range of behavior, whenever this norm has become consciously unmanageable and disrupted.

Transpersonal psychology is distinct from other systems in terms of primary focus. In this realm, personal experience of meta-dimensional perception is our universal ground of exploration. This work, however, is not without therapeutic value, if worth, in this circumstance is expressed as, or related to the development of intuitive wisdom, coupled to emotional balance in human beings.

Human conscious evolution is inexorably linked to human action, feeling, and perception. These descriptors are specific manifestations of energy whose topology is within ourselves. Understanding and creatively using this internal flow, or intra-human dynamic, is part of the spectrum counseling process.


The acceptance of a new personal paradigm for research and development is a requirement for Spectrum Counseling practice. This involves an initial conceptualization of ourselves as a worldground of potential exploration and discovery.


Representing this worldground is the idea of an intrinsic, Higher Nature, within us, or Self, which incorporates, and simultaneously is, or expands beyond the boundaries of our normal and abnormal personality facets. The wavefront of this Self may be understood as a series of stages which are sometimes singularly dominant within us, and in other instances, operate as overlapping clusters of energy. Using action, feeling, and perception as analogs, many people would agree that this descriptor triad of energies often overlap, generating internal conflict.

Much of this internal conflict can be resolved through application of the spectrum counseling approach to intra- human communications, which, in this sense, references communication between different levels or stages of the Self. The Sufi Model, used in spectrum counseling, includes not only the stages of the Self, but a triad of inherent capacities, or Manifest Faculties 4 extant within human beings.

The interplay among the stages and faculties can be enhanced through the application of appropriate techniques, specifically related to faculty refinement.

At times, the stages of the Self, by way of purification of the Faculties, become One! And, is experienced as One, where there is no fragmentation of consciousness, or bifurcation of being into, Self and Other, or I and Thou, you and me, God and Humanity. These nodes may come in flashes, and are on occasion, expressed in mystical treatises, and other forms of symbolic representation. In truth, at these moments, transcendence is experienced beyond articulation.

The residual energy which remains in the body when these states pass, seems to enhance the complex of the Self in terms of the body, and subsequently assists in collectively influencing the other inherent faculties. Perception may then allow us access more often to the Higher Nature of the Self, and the beginning of the peeling away of veils of illusion, which tend to limit understanding of one's potential.

Working in spectrum counseling requires a basis of Platforms for research and development in internal exploration. Platform in this context implies a foundation from which a process can be initiated.

The disciplines of Heuristics and Phenomenology serve in this capacity. The Model Maps used are key concepts from traditional psychologies, or spiritual traditions, with emphasis on the Sufi Model. The methods, tools, and techniques applied in exploration, discovery and purification, are various forms of meditation, Neuro-Linguistic Programming, Self Hypnosis, Bodywork, Journalizing, and Absorption Study.

The use of basic meditation practice for relaxation 5 and stress reduction is generally beneficial, however, spectrum counseling practice is unique in contrast, since the process stimulates a broader band of potential internal impacts, with emphasis on refinement of an energy complex of faculties.

As a discipline related to Self search for discovery of meaning in qualitative work, heuristic investigations can be applied across a range of inter and intra-human activity. There are many applications as well, in phenomenology, which may lead to the essential qualities of shared human events, through the study of experiential structure, by means of descriptive analysis.

In spectrum counseling, the heuristic and phenomenological platforms are specifically oriented toward comprehending a triad of Manifest Faculties, in terms of facilitating the extraction of Essence through experiential understanding of Higher Nature.