ABSTRACT
The several models for spiritual presence in psychotherapy that have been presented—the supernatural, the developmental, the expansive, the empathic, the sacred, and the crisis models—are neither exhaustive nor mutually exclusive. They are presented as points to a star, each leading to a center beyond itself and shared in common. In systems thinking, such boundaries, drawn on mental processes in terms of “consciousness” and “skin,” are artificial and deceiving. Every family develops its own shared mentality, governing mutual perceptions, roles, and interactions, even though it may not be so dramatic as in the case of a shared delusional system. The human predicament in the systemic model is found in the inherent limitations of individual consciousness rather than in some primal disruption of a harmonious and innocent state of being. The spiritual expectation is found in a certain wisdom, as Gregory Bateson calls it, that comes with recognition of and guidance by this total systemic character of creation.
