Analytic Meditative Therapy as the Inverse of Symbol Formation and Reification

Western psychotherapy tends to regard the mind and mental distress in terms of differing theoretical models. Mental distress can be also be usefully viewed as the result of erroneous reification—the confusing of symbols and concepts with reality. This paper describes the theory and practice of analytic meditative therapy. Inspired by non-dual Buddhist and other eastern wisdom traditions, it uses meditative and cognitive processes to control anxiety, deconstruct reified symbols and encourage contemplative resting in non-dual mental space, where reality and its appearance are coemergent and coalesced but distinct, and healing occurs naturally without the need for any specific additional effort.Jonathan R. Harrison was born in Manchester, England in 1943. He has a master’s degree in physics and mathematics from the University of Edinburgh, Scotland. He studied non-dual therapy with Dr. Peter Fenner in France and Israel and during a personal retreat at a Tibetan Buddhist monastery in India. Inspired by non-dual Buddhist and other wisdom traditions—Dzogchen and Mahamudra, Zen and Madhyamika, Advaita and Taoism—he currently lives and works in Israel, teaching analytical meditative therapy to individuals and groups.