Spiritual Psychoanalysis

What if this were Mankind’s stored knowledge & wisdom? Earlier stories, myths, legends, & the Bible were passed by word of mouth across generations for untold millennia… until they could be recorded.

After 42 years at my West Village location, during the summer of 2023, I switched to a new office in NYC’s Flat Iron District at: 1123 Broadway--Suite 510, N.Y.C. I see individuals, couples, and groups in a private full-time clinical practice. I assist people needing help in their “spiritual growth,” though many don’t realize this in such terms when they begin.

Often, clients begin--just needing to talk--usually about something upsetting. They typically feel at odds with a friend, family, or boss. Sometimes they’re worried about something being “wrong” with them or how they’re living their lives, but they can’t be more precise.

Early in treatment, most ask for “a wish” to be granted--just as Aladdin did with his oil lamp genie. Usually, they ask for power--for “mastery skills”--so they can “fly” where they now stumble. Those who are afraid--wish for confidence. The blind--want to see. The mute--want to speak. The clumsy--seek gracefulness; and, the enraged search to rid themselves of toxic emotions.

What do the self-absorbed narcissists want? They seek to break free… ultimately of their self-encapsulated, isolated, momentary existence. They seek beings: in a whole new way… a creative harmonious part of the whole universe… an inspired servant of higher causes… of God. The opposite of being narcissistic is being a humble servant of God. Only some commit to thid fuller journey.

I teach becoming spiritually empowered. Having my income depend on insurance companies in exchange for referrals served me for a long while. But it became too restrictive given the paperwork and fees well below market rates that they set. Insurance companies are not “evil monsters.” They help psychologists develop… until they’re ready to… take the next step. I thank them for their help--and bid them, “Farewell.”

Below is the Flat Iron District, home of my new office. It's on Broadway between 25th & 26th St. Fees are: $ 300. per session for individual psychotherapy, $ 400. for couples therapy, and $ 150. for psychotherapy & witnessing groups. Visit my website… It’s a unique Spiritual Space Station & home to “the Gathering Place.” To ask questions or learn more, contact us through the website or by email: clifford.waldman@gmail.com

Integrating God & Soul With Modern Psychology:

Freud, Jung, the Bible, Maimonides, Maslow, & Beyond

Freud sought to cure pathology. He studied the ego and its functions to diagnose “malfunctioning”--then treat and cure it. He sought to make psychology another science. He succeeded by using the “medical model”--the approach used by medical doctors to understand the body and treat its ills. He probably also stretched the definition of “science” to include the objective observation and measurement of subjective phenomena.

If Freud was a curing doctor--Jung channeled a different archetypal energy. Jung was less a doctor--more a prophet. He sought to usher in an era of self-actualization and communal enlightenment. He sought a community where individuality, self-expression, and spirituality would be rewarded, not punished. This is the difference between a progressive society and a clan. Put differently, it’s the difference between a creative community and a mob.

Jung guided individual clients while sharpening their enlightenment and empowerment skills. He illuminated and generated growth in vibrant parts of their Souls he and they discovered together. These Soul parts are like “archetypal gold nuggets.” He nurtured these nuggets in the way a farmer waters seeds he’s planted. Carl knew his clients’ Souls were each, in their unique ways, migrating towards greater wholeness and fuller immersion within a spiritual community. He also understood if this “completion” didn’t occur in their lifetimes, it would in a future one. He knew they sensed this was their hope for salvation--becoming masters of their destinies would diminish their problems.

He also knew this would happen only when they were ready to… take the next step. He didn’t push them. You can push an unsure person, but you can’t push a person past what he’s ready for. Jung didn’t “manipulate” an outcome. He listened carefully to his clients--verbally and non-verbally. He studied their thoughts, feelings, and fantasies. Jung seemed to speak from a “zone” similar to our “dream world.”

The room often took on a unique dream-like atmosphere--with his articulate, quietly dramatic, charismatic style of welcoming “whatever needed to show itself.” He was more than disarming, he was evocative. To be disarming welcomes only what the other already knows. Jung welcomed all sorts of undiscovered subterranean energies, forces, entities, and mysteries. What he brought into the open was often dramatic, educational, mystical, prophetic, healing, and visionary.

Freud’s analytic system came from core Hebrew beliefs and values expressed in the Bible and Torah. Freud’s system is based upon a dynamic clash between id and ego which means between primitive emotional instinct and conscious mind. In Hebrew thought the “Earth Soul” or “Animal Soul” is contrasted with the “Divine Soul”. Before there were Hebrews--these values were embraced by Abraham. From him came three great Nations: the Hebrews, later the Christians, and still later the Muslims. Freud avoided “Divine language” as well as notions that embraced God. He felt many or most who believe in God are like children wanting to escape from and deny a reality they don’t like.

Freud stayed focused on how an Ego functions when healthy--and malfunctions as it “breaks down.” His science of psychoanalytic psychology established ways to measure psychic functioning and to treat “malfunctioning.” His work repeatedly revealed the powerful impact of childhood experience on lifelong attitudes, choices, and behaviors. It revealed the degree to which Society has allowed, even encouraged, us to deny entire dimensions of reality, especially ones that happen during childhood… like child abuse, Soul corruption, and enslavement.

Tyrants don’t care if they hurt others--to the contrary, their power depends upon mastery over slaves. But Freud, a stoic, grim-faced revolutionary, opened doors of denial & repression. This deeply impacted Society by exposing and shattering many of its long-standing illusions--ways Society had subtly controlled & used individuals. Shattering illusions threatens tyrants. Pushing this door opening was a step forward in human evolution… to our greater self-awareness--and to our Ego’s ability to reflect more fully upon our Id. Until discovered by our mind, or ego, our id lies in our unconscious instinctual life.

The one non-Jewish member of Freud’s followers was the one he first earmarked as his successor: Carl Gustav Jung. Aside from Freud being his mentor, Jung liked Jewish women. Years later as Freud’s favorite student… Freud and Jung’s powerful bond suffered a fatal rupture.

Near the end of their unique, profound & intimate teacher-student relationship over many years--arguments increased. One day, in the middle of such an argument, Freud fainted. Jung was tall, strong, and younger--he picked Freud up and placed him on his couch. When Freud’s eyes opened he looked at Jung. Freud seemed frightened & untrusting. They were never like family again.

Could a reason for their fallout be Freud realized things about himself as Jung pressed for his contrasting beliefs? Eventually, Jung could clarify his differences, and yet another decade of productive writing began. Perhaps what Jung proposed more fully channeled Judaic wisdom. For example, Jung’s beliefs about the Soul, angels, the Shadow, reincarnation, the Anima, atonement, Heaven, Hell, and God seem right out of the Bible.

In contrast to Jung’s passionate combining of science and the Divine Soul, Freud’s formulations were painted on, and so limited by a far more muted, mechanistic landscape. In his defense, his purpose of establishing psychology as a science compelled Freud to adopt the medical model, focus on “curing pathology”, and perhaps avoid anything “supernatural.”

Could Freud have feinted because he realized--as he “defended his newborn Science” of Psychoanalysis in his arguments with Jung--that he’d committed a terrible sin? Did he realize that by not thanking God for creating the universe & for being the source of his psychoanalysis, Freud had sinned? Did he know that by never mentioning God in his writings Freud was renounicing & defiling his Father in Heaven?

Had Freud made psychoanalysis into an idol--something to worship--like a God separate from Hashem? Was science “above” God? Was it “under” God? Was it “an equal God” to the “One God?” Perhaps Freud wondered in anguish as he feinted, “What have I done?”

If so, perhaps Freud had failed the test Abraham had passed with his son Issac: “Protect and follow God’s law--even before protecting the life of your child.” Did Freud disrespect God by not mentioning “who” or “what” created the id, ego, & superego? Why did Freud never describe the Soul or the Divine Soul? Some say “Ego” should be translated as “soul”--but Freud doesn’t use the word ego at all the way the Bible uses the word soul.

We’re beginning an Age of Individual Empowerment and Collective Enlightenment. It was prophetic when a Broadway show proclaimed: “This is the dawning of the Age of Aquarius… ” The reason there’ll be “... harmony and understanding… sympathy and trust abounding” is the Zodiac describes Aquarians as independent-thinking people who join with a partner or community if there’s an honest expression of feelings and values. Aquarians abhor being absorbed into a mob.

They must be creative--alone or with others.--to fulfill their mission. When we evolve and finally come together in a new way, something incredible happens. These are characteristics the Bible describes people having as the stage is set for the coming of the Messiah and World Transformation. Aquarius’ lyrics are:

“When the moon is in the Seventh House And Jupiter aligns with Mars Then peace will guide the planets And love will steer the stars…. This is the dawning of the age of Aquarius Age of Aquarius… Aquarius… Aquarius. Harmony and understanding Sympathy and trust abounding No more falsehoods or derisions… Golden living dreams of visions Mystic crystal revelation… And the mind’s true liberation… Aquarius… Aquarius… ”

The consequences of Freud’s subtle, conceptual yet profound revolution are huge. The Arts have effectively broadcast this collective psychic door opening. Aldous Huxley’s “Brave New World” and “Doors of Perception” were two of many works that helped define and usher in a new consciousness. Decades earlier, when Nietzsche said, “God is Dead,” he meant that Man’s living his life blindly following the teachings of a God or religion is outmoded--Society now needs independent thinkers. But what if the values of a religion’s belief system DO advocate for and guide our development to exercise our independent thought and free will? Then, God would be alive!

Perhaps Nietzsche didn’t believe there was a God--beyond our wish-fulfilling desperation. If so, it’s great he helped trumpet an end to blind belief, but then erred in not believing in a greater power than our mind. The explosion in the growth of the Arts that followed the opening of Society’s “door of denial” by Freud and other spiritual revolutionaries accelerated public enlightenment. Along with this increased awareness were inevitable backlashes of public opinion regarding topics found offensive or threatening by some. Though upsetting to pass through, controversies can also speed up social, cultural, and emotional growth.

The Hebrew lists of “mitzvahs” and sins are, in effect, a feedback reinforcement system to cultivate moral & spiritual growth. A core Biblical belief is: “Do as much good--mitzvahs--and as little bad--sins--as possible.” When we sin, we lower the integrity of our soul, others’ souls, and the world of souls around us. Mitzvahs should make us and God proud--they elevate the holy.

To atone for our sins, we need to learn how we were hurtful. This requires having empathy for the one we’ve hurt. Often we’ve hated someone as “an enemy” only to later regret how we’ve hurt them. Historical fits of anger can blind us--making it easier or more likely we’ll sin. Until we atone for our sins, we live divided, not whole. There’s a void within & a chasm between us and the world.

Living divided and isolated is “being in Purgatory.” It causes feelings of despair but we can still hope for love and forgiveness--usually not until time passes or something fades the sin’s shadow. When we lose all hope for redemption, forgiveness, salvation, and love--of ever returning to the Garden of Eden, which is Heaven on Earth, then we’re in Hell… or Gehonim.

These are not fictional places. They’re psychically & spiritually real places we experience as we go through life’s highs and lows--making wise and unwise choices. The Garden of Eden involves a real place. Our choices can alter our “karma” which involves a kind of energy we exude that draws certain types of people, experiences, and events to us. Good karma tends to bring good events & experiences. Mitzvahs improve karma… sins degrade karma.

At first, we’re impacted by the consequences of our parents’ mitzvahs and sins. As we grow, wiser hopefully, we become what emerges from our chosen mitzvahs and sins. The consequences of these choices impact us enormously. These choices determine whether we live in Heaven, Purgatory, or Hell. Like Hell and Purgatory, Heaven is a real psychic place we experience when life places us, or we choose to be in a holy place. The Garden of Eden is Heaven on Earth--while in it, we’re back in innocent loving harmony with all in the universe… with God.

How we define “good behavior and attitudes” is crucial--this is where lots of knowledge and wisdom is needed. We don’t live enough years to discover all 613 ways we can “do good.” Learning about all possible sins and mitzvahs can accelerate spiritual and moral development--helping us make wiser choices. A creative Rabbi, Priest, Imam, and spiritual psychotherapist all perform similar tasks as they teach clients or congregation members about sins and mitzvahs--to enhance the journey of their souls. There are differences in teaching styles and emphasis of importance regarding the various “lessons” between and within these groups regarding warmth and flexibility. For example, some reward mitzvahs more--while others punish sins more.

Perhaps it was this moral, spiritual, and cultural evolution--with his belief in God and the human Soul--that allowed Homo sapiens to prevail over Neanderthals in the “evolution contest.” The Neanderthal was the last evolutionary branch to prevail based on brute power dominance. Homo sapien was the first branch to prevail because of superior spiritual and emotional development which led to more creative communities and relationships. If needed, we could mobilize to kill with greater effectiveness because we had become a powerful group of creative independent thinkers--not an angry mob incited to kill.

The one non-Jewish member of Freud’s followers was the one he first earmarked as his successor: Carl Gustav Jung. Jung was Freud’s favorite student… before their bond’s fatal rupture. Jung had a similar fondness for Jewish women. Maimonides was a Rabbi & doctor a thousand years before Freud. He concluded people get diseases caused by the flawed way they live--with poor values, discipline, diet, and exercise. In this way, we can create our demise. Maimonides helped people by discovering and correcting “the poor ways and values by which they lived” 1,000 years before Freud described psychosomatic contributions to many medical illnesses.

3,000 years before Maimonides, the Bible described Joseph as a great moral man who was also a superb dream interpreter and prophet--he became a great ruler. This “dream language expert” learned certain important, timely truths directly from the “unconscious Soul” of himself or the dreamer telling him his dream. Our largely unconscious Soul is directly connected to God.

Dream language uses more emotionally charged, unprocessed--symbolic images than does normal conversational language. In the Bible, Joseph interprets one of the Pharoah’s dreams. He accurately told the Pharaoh how Egypt could avoid a terrible famine while becoming the most powerful country in the world. The Pharaoh follows his advice & Egypt becomes the greatest country. He appoints Joseph to a powerful position. This was 4,000 years before Freud’s, “The Interpretation of Dreams.”

Later, when the drought drove all to Egypt--the only country with extra grain==Joseph reunited with his family. Joseph saved his brothers though they’d betrayed him. In showing compassion for and mercy towards them, he showed how to make a better world based on the best in all of us--rather than letting his brothers’ worst “parts” degrade all into seeking revenge. That’s what moral & spiritual development looks like.

By 1900, Freud’s first writings were published and read. Many great analytic writers made wonderful contributions over the next five decades to psychoanalytic theory. In the 1960s the humanistic psychology movement added a… human tone to the Freudian analytic style of “classic” psychotherapy. The scientific detachment was replaced with warmer, at times playful relationships between therapist and client. Freud himself was less rigid than many followers. At times, he’d hold sessions with clients while walking through a nearby park.

Because of the humanistic movement, the medical model used by psychotherapists evolved and became more… human. It developed more “human tones,” often increasingly resembling a warmer parent-child relationship or a loyal best friend who selflessly won’t use the relationship for his or her own needs. One of the leaders of this humanistic psychology movement was Abraham Maslow. He described a spectrum of human development from “survival mode” where fighting to survive dominates, to “self-actualization mode” where one strives to pursue higher spiritual ideals.

Survival mode is degrading to the “Divine Soul” as the “Earth Soul” (“Animal Soul”) dominates. Our Divine Soul can flourish only in a self-actualizing family or community. Though they rarely addressed “God” directly, the Humanistic Psychology movement integrated many of the teachings of 85% of religions (Abraham’s Hebrews, Christians, and Muslims) and those of Psychoanalysis and Psychology. It sought to integrate East and West’s ideas and values.

The Humanistic Psychology movement embraced the sacred without uniformly addressing God--even though by definition, the sacred is what God touches as He enters this World. The Humanistic psychology movement humanized Freudian technique but may have confused or avoided the issue of how to marry God and science without killing either party.

Another piece of the puzzle in understanding how the evolution of Man’s consciousness and social development materialized with the birth of democracy. This form of government was the first to formally transfer the power from the most powerful to all citizens (ie, to elect a country’s leaders). Democracy was the first to empower citizens in contrast to Royalty, military leaders, and Tyrants who imposed their will over the masses. One spark from the eruption of Democracy’s birth may’ve been when King Leonidas and his 300 Spartan Warriors took their stand against Xerxes’ Persian Army of well over 30,000 to defend the rights of individuals within the Greek state of Sparta to decide their own fate--and to NOT become a slave to some “Earth-King” like Xerxes.

With a growing democracy in place, human evolution’s spiritual, moral, emotional, and creative development accelerated. This was a “communal evolutionary step.” By allowing free choice with important public questions, citizens in a democracy can have more free choice to decide on their country’s policies than if they lived in any other government. Democracy is the political system that allows one vote for every citizen. This requires an enlightened citizenry to succeed.

A later stage in our development--perhaps the next one--will complete this transition to a more enlightened style for all. Then, our species can guide its own evolution… or allow God to. This requires our educational systems to teach our youth and all who wish to learn these spiritual empowerment values and practices. Some programs do this, but even in the USA, there’s enormous political and systemic resistance to guiding students in their emotional, moral, creative, and spiritual development. Academia typically focuses on students’: cognitive, academic, & athletic development.

The rules “separating Church and State” were needed to stop a particular religion from being seen as favored by the government. But, these laws often degrade into a prohibition of God’s teachings in School. Let the moral and spiritual values of all religions and spiritual schools of thought be taught to our youth. Let them be exposed to everything… and then make their choices.

There’s much common ground in all religions that we could teach without favoring any. Teach them all--how they’re alike and how they’re different. When God’s teachings are restored to our kids’ education--along with the Sciences and other courses--then the World can be unified. Psychotherapy as it currently exists can work wonders for individuals… but cannot directly reach the masses yet as can public education.

If public education can’t provide this--auxiliary centers of learning are needed… like the Gathering Place which will be launched by the end of 2026.

Religion--Psychoanalysis, Psychology--Democracy:

Common Link: Spiritual Empowerment.

We’re experiencing global destabilization in unprecedented ways--coupled with great acts of human heroism. The human race is convulsing. A final tide of resistance has formed, as newly empowered citizens move forward in their next evolutionary step. Some emotional issues clients bring to therapy today are embedded in the tapestry of these worldwide existential crises.

Spiritual shockwaves are generated by human earthquakes. Russia has invaded Ukraine. War has erupted again in the Middle East when Hamas attacked Israel. Only a few years ago, thousands of citizens stormed the US State Capitol in a lawless attempt to overturn an election. Mass murders in our cities and even schools are now common. We have global warming, seas rising, earthquakes quaking, volcanoes erupting, droughts killing, floods drowning, and global pandemics.

This is the state of the World as clients come to therapy with problems that seem to involve more mundane dimensions of life. Their partner nags or complains--or their boss is upset with their performance. Their kids won’t talk with them. They may describe feeling directionless in their lives or careers. They may resent spending all day fulfilling what their boss, kids, and spouse want--only to go to sleep each night never sure what they want for themselves. They feel empty--with a lack of direction and purpose. It’s as if they’ve lost… or never known their Soul. They’ve never realized God intends for them a unique journey. Did they ignore his repeating voice, or fail to hear it?

Physics has a saying, “For every action, there’s an unequal and opposite reaction.” As those seeking enlightenment and empowerment move forward and join together, those too afraid or angry to join this evolutionary advance rise to attack and stop those growing. Why? If they don’t stop them, they’ll be passed by… eternally left behind to become dust. They’re not ready to evolve, so they try to prevent those advancing from leaving them behind. This angst permeates and polarizes countries and factions within countries. This is the ultimate contest the Bible alludes to… eventually leading to “a change in the order of things.”

It is time to step forward individually and together. Now is the time to become more empowered. The stakes are huge. Everything before was so we could take this next step together. Science and spirituality are meant to be married not divorced. Einstein found his balance between God and science just as he did between matter and energy. Freud’s core concepts are embedded in the ancient wisdom of the Bible and Torah.

In his first session, the typical client--if there is such a thing--would more likely beg to be told what to say to his fiance so she won’t call off their wedding. He doesn’t understand how his Mom’s request to go on their honeymoon could cause such a stir. If and when he’s ready to separate from his Mom and choose to truly marry--he’ll be ready to envision his kingdom. Only then--with his journey of empowerment underway--will he be ready for help in facing his dragons.