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On Void States

article by Paul W. Ashton

I have used the term "void states" to describe a very varied set of mental conditions that have a subjective commonality. By this I mean that individuals with very different psychopathology (and even individuals who are simply going through one of life's precarious stages) may describe themselves as "being in a void." Having a way of thinking about and differentiating these states, one from another, is of significance because these states are so different from each other and their management is varied. The condition of "being in a void" may be the result of some trauma or life-event or it may be part of the structure of an individual. That is, it might be a sort of developmental stage in, say, the creative cycle of synthesis, thesis and antithesis, or due to an actual arrest in development, one that leads to a condition of stuck blackness and sense of meaninglessness. Or it may even be an indication of profound spiritual development.

While some void states are "pure hell" and like hell they are full of pain but lead nowhere, others may be filled with meaningful "psychic suffering" that enables the sufferer to move through the purgatorial fires and thus attain paradise. As the mystics from any of the various religious groups have attested, the experience of God is one of non-differentiation, an immersion in Oneness, in the "Cloud of Unknowing" as the English Mystic called it. I have come to think of the hell-type void as the black void, because that is the colour that sufferers use to depict it, and I contrast that with the white-void which seems to be the state in which boundaries are lost as spiritual "perfection" is approached. Clearly the management of these two conditions will be very different although they may both be described in similar terms, e.g. "I do not know who I am", "I do not know who God is", "I feel lost or abandoned" etc.

In my monograph From the Brink: Experiences of the Void from a Depth Psychology Perspective, I have attempted to delineate different examples of void states in an initial section entitled The Territory. The chapters in this section comprise "On the territory of the void," "A walk on the wild side: connecting the void with people," "Primary or secondary?" and "Psychotherapy and spirituality." A section on The Origins of the Void Experience comprises five chapters: "Empty of oneself," "The void in psychogenic autism," "Another 'black hole,'" "Memory within the borderline condition" and "Trauma as a void experience." In this section, as can be guessed from the chapter titles, the focus is on the origin of various "pathological" void states. They have as their origins

The third section is Amplifications, and this section gives examples, from mythology, literature and religion, that amplify the concept of the void. Chapters here are "Myths and legends of the Creation," "Dimitri's void," "The King's sacrifice" (from a play by a South African playwright), "The 'Birthday Present'" and "The dark night of the soul." This more poetic understanding of the void gives way to a section on Treatment that contains chapters on "Aspects of treatment of void states," "Connections, walls and windows" (about musical explications as well as ideas of containment and linking), and "On active imagination." This latter is because I consider Active Imagination to be an important adjunct to treatment. There is a final section on Individual Experiences that has two chapters describing how gender effects an individual's experience of the void.

The overall purpose of the book was to increase therapists' awareness of the void, to help them categorise individual's experience of it, and finally to offer some constructive ideas about managing "void dwellers."

While From the Brink was in the process of being written I embarked on another project that was aimed at showing that the void was not just an arbitrary concept that I had invented. To this end I invited a variety of individuals to write essays about the void from the point of view of their particular professions or passions. The result was Evocations of Absence: Multidisciplinary Perspectives on Void States. This book was published by Spring Journal Books in 2007.

What makes Evocations of Absence so special is that its authors, who were only guided in the sense of being asked to write from their present interest, all had their own take on the void. The authors were: a poet and professor of Creative Writing, four Jungian analysts (one of whom was a theologian too), a political philosopher, a music therapist, an Authentic Movement practitioner and an artist. Some of the chapters described very personal encounters with the void whereas other authors wrote describing aspects of the void (and the different types of void) from the point of view of music, art, poetry, movement or religion. One of the analysts wrote a profound essay on the neurobiology of void states. Interestingly there was a common sense that through allowing a conscious encounter with the void, instead of avoiding it, some transformation could happen. So, despite its title, this turned out to be a profoundly optimistic book.

These two books can be seen as companion books. One explores in depth and the other expands in breadth, this difficult and painful but ultimately rewarding encounter with an intrapsychic experience that has received scant attention in the psychoanalytic literature.

Paul Ashton is a psychiatrist and Jungian analyst in private practice in Cape Town. In addition to his many books, he has published various reviews and articles and lectures about music, art, literature, and the Void. He is a member of the South African Association of Jungian Analysts and is the editor of Mantis, the journal of the Southern African Association of Jungian Analysts.

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Music and Soul

About Music and Psyche

Paul Ashton and Stephen Bloch are Jungian Psychoanalysts living and working in Cape Town. They both have an abiding interest in music of different sorts and Music and Psyche came together from that interest as well as a fascination and curiosity about how music functions both as an agent of healing and as a medium that touches areas of the psyche that words cannot. Realising that they could not themselves cover such a vast subject in the depth that they wanted to, they invited authors with differing interests and backgrounds to participate in the project by submitting essays on any aspect of music that gripped them at the time of writing.

The result is a lovely book which has been written by 13 different authors. Two of them are music therapists, one a composer, one a singer and theologian, another a psychoanalyst and the remainder from a Jungian background. All share a love of music. To enhance the experience of what the writers are expressing a CD accompanies the book. About half the chapters in the book are "illustrated" on this CD.

There are two interviews, both with individuals who may be referred to as "grandfathers" in the tradition of depth-psychology, as well as having been steeped in music. Mario Jacoby was a professional classical violinist before he became a Jungian analyst and author of many books and papers. Michael Eigen is a psychoanalytic psychotherapist with a passion for music. He is also a prolific writer with about 18 books to his credit. These interview subjects use music primarily as a metaphor for the analytic process and encourage psychotherapists to listen within theirsessions with a musical ear.

Although Kevin O'Connell's essay on Stravinsky's Rite of Spring is written from a musician's point of view, it is deeply psychological too, raising ideas that connect as much with "soul" as with compositional techniques. When William Willeford writes about "the blues" he is writing as much about the human condition as he is about the music of that name. His essay is one that has been put with two others that demonstrate the healing power of music in a more communal setting. One of these is Melinda Haas's chapter that describes the Venezuelan-developed idea called El Sistema. This is based on a concept that true democratic principles as well as feelings of self-worth can be developed through orchestral playing and that every child should have that opportunity. Chris Wildman writes about his experience as musician in a "playback" theatre type group that assists individuals and groups deal with difficulties that have affected them as a community. His examples bring us insight into the lives of the people he describes as well as into music itself.

Recently a journal appeared with a paper describing the usefulness of music in a neuroscience institution in the US. There was no mention of what type of music was being played and when one of the authors was contacted her response was: "Well we just play music." What an undifferentiated reply! There are so many different types of music and so many individuals in the world who reacte differently to the same music. In Stephen Bloch's chapter on the Black Sun he describes music as an "acoustic image" and demonstrates how different compositions evoke different psychological experiences of what has been described in largely visual terms as "The Black Sun". That chapter and his chapter on Mercy deepen one's psychological understanding as well as supplying examples of music from many different sources that are outside our usual ambit.

In another idiom Paul Ashton writes about the varied effects of sounds generated by different instruments and brings together diverse theories about the different parts of the brain that are implicated in processing the various aspects of which music is composed. These encompass rhythm, tone, tune or melody, and harmony, etc. Music can have an effect on the body and the mind, generating pain relief or aggravating pain, causing excitement or restfulness and giving rise to distinct emotions. How that happens is the subject of his chapter.

Larry Wetzler has written two chapters that link clinical and theoretical concepts (of Winnicott, Bion and Lacan) with the idea of music as a healing "substance." Something similar is discussed, but in a very different way, by Helen Anderson who explores the nature of Beethoven's Piano Sonata No 31. Both authors' give clinical examples from their practices. It is apparent that one of them chose the music for the patient whereas the other worked with the music brought. In both cases the music, and the process, was healing.

Two New Yorkers describe musical compositions as products, or at least descriptors, not only of the composer's individual time and place, but of his psychological make-up too. Melinda Haas writes movingly about Mahler and his Ninth Symphony and Laurel Morris about Robert Schumann's life and music. Both writers broaden one's understanding of both music and the psyche.

Bringing us into the 20th Century by exploring particularly its less formal music, John Beebe develops the idea of the anima as expressed though the voices of popular singers. This soulful chapter deepens our thinking about voices, performers, men, women and human psychology. William Willeford in his chapter about "the blues" expands our understanding of that very human condition and demonstrates how effective "singing the blues" or listening to "the blues" can be in alleviating it. Patricia Skar describes her development as musician and analyst and articulates the idea of music being a bridge to the deepest recesses of one's mind or to the widest reaches of the infinite, whichever way one would like to see that.

Music and Psyche ends appropriately with a chapter by the Irish singer and theologian Noirin Ni Riain. Through her writing, and her voice on the accompanying CD, the reader/listener is transported, through silence and music, into a new experience of the ineffable beyond.

Fisher King Press publishes an eclectic mix of worthy books including Jungian Psychological Perspectives, Cutting Edge Fiction, and a growing  list of alternative titles.

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