"wholeness" before and after 1945

A response to the article by Hans-Joachim Bieber in the previous issue

  • Stefan Schmitz
Keywords: Karlfried Graf Dürckheim, National Socialism, wholeness, egolessness, community, individualism

Abstract

Count Karlfried Dürckheim was one of the first teachers of Zen-Meditation in Germany. Apart of that, together with Maria Hippius, he founded his own spiritually oriented psychotherapy, which is strongly influenced by Zen-Buddhism in its teaching and approach. Dürckheim has become acquainted with Zen-Buddhism during two stays in Japan between 1938 and 1947. During this time however, he was mainly active there as a propagandist of National Socialism. Hans-Joachim Bieber is of the opinion that also in Dürckheim’s teaching, which he developed after 1945, some terms and concepts are “contaminated by National Socialism”, such as in particular the term ‘wholeness’. The author of this article advocates the opposite view and documents it.

Author Biography

Stefan Schmitz

graduate psychologist and non-fiction writer. He has written an introduction to the teachings of Karlfried Graf Dürckheim with the title "Spiritual Initiation and immanent Transcendence." Other recent publications by him are in particular „Transpersonale Psychologie“ and „Von der Geburt bis zur Erleuchtung – Das spirituelle Entwicklungsmodell Ken Wilbers“ and „Der Vierte Weg von Gurdjieff“ und „Jenseits von Achtsamkeit“.

Published
2019-07-23
Issue
Vol. 25 No. 1 (2019): Issue 1/2019
Section
Artikel