ABSTRACT
The goal of this chapter is to help therapists identify an important dimension of psychospiritual integration that is not often discussed in the literature: the ways in which the relationship with the client tacitly embodies spirituality. Through exploring this aspect of integration, readers are able to become more intentional about how they pursue this dimension of integration with their clients. Again, we start with familiar material, the writing of humanistic/existential counselors about healing relationships. Based on this discussion, we introduce the concepts of transcendence and imminence from religious scholars Otto (1927) and James (1902), Polanyi’s (1962) idea of the tacit dimension as a fundamental way in which people influence one another, Buber’s (1970) I-Thou encounter, and Turner’s (1969/2017) articulation of the liminal space. Focusing on these areas highlights the ways in which helping includes formation, meaning that dispositions are important outcomes, not just knowledge and skills. Two dispositions are discussed in detail: mindfulness and unknowing. These concepts first must be located in the most recent trends in contemplative psychotherapy, and then broadened to their unique R/S origins.
