Context II: The Sacred and Profane in Psychological Practices
We now move from our general review of professions as sources of both secular and sacred power (opportunities and challenges) to a more specific focus on the discipline of psychology. We suggest that some of the services psychologists provide are more “sacred” than others. Those doing in-depth psychotherapy clearly dwell in the sacred domain. Eliade himself “outs” psychoanalysis as being a sacred journey (Eliade, 1959, p.p. 208):
“The patient is asked to descend deeply into himself, to make his past live, to confront his traumatic experiences again; and, from the point of view of form, this dangerous operation resembles initiatory descents into hell, the realm of ghosts, and combats with monsters. Just as the initiate was expected to emerge from his ordeals victorious-in short, was to ‘die’ and be ‘resuscitated’ in order to gain access to a fully responsible existence, open to spiritual values-so the patient undergoing analysis today must confront his own ‘unconscious, haunted by ghosts and monsters, in order to find psychic health and integrity and hence the world of cultural values.”
By contrast, those engaged in psychotherapeutic processes that are more behavioral in scope and focus primarily on symptom relief could be considered “secular” practitioners. They are not taking their client on a journey into the client’s inner life; rather, they are trying to help their client lead a less stressful and more productive life—amenable goals of a more secular and profane nature. It should be noted, however, that even behavioralists will sometimes speculate on the underlying (sacred) sources of their client’s discontent. O. Hobart Mowrer, a noted behavioral psychologist and psychotherapist, proposed that the primary cause for anxiety is a misalignment with the scared dictates of God.
The more we venture away from the divine source, the more likely we are to lead an anxiety-filled, purposeless life. In offering this evangelical Christian perspective, Mowrer is replicating many animistic perspectives of more “primitive” origins. When one is alienated from a specific spiritual source, then one is estranged from all meaning and purpose in life. This source might be a sacred tree or totemic animal. It might instead be one’s home, tribe or village. To be far away from Yahweh is not much different from being far away from one’s sacred ground or therapist.
What about psychological practices that are engaged outside the therapy office? We would suggest that most psychological testing is quite secular in nature, though projective tests have a certain mystery and magic about them that make their interpretation more like the musings of village mystics than the numerical calculations of a behavioral scientist. On the other hand, the consulting done by those engaged in organization development (OD) hovers on the edge of a sacred domain. This is not only because organizations (and communities) are saturated with spirituality (Bush, 2014; Bergquist, 2023) but also because those doing OD enter this practice with a strong set of values (Burke, 1987). They tend to hold profound beliefs about the essential goodness of people (Rogers, 1995), especially when working together toward a common purpose (Lewin, 1999; Bergquist, 2003).
