Spirituality and Psychotherapy The Matter of "Separation Anxiety" and Beyond

Drawing from Feuerbach, Kierkegaard, Buddhism, and Yoga, this article looks at consciousness as infmitely divisible sentience congruent with relentless impermanence. It then examines infantile "separationanxiety" (and thus, aU sorts ofanxious psychopathologies) as, in part, an initiato1y spiritual experience into the iufmity of consciousness and its congruence witb eternal time. Further, it explores "self-soothing," while integrating existential, neuroendocrinal, and spiritual discourses on this phenomenon. Based upon these observations, it suggests refinements in the clinical mood ofthe "holding environment," including "clinical admiration" and "clinical shy awe."