[Morita Therapy Related to Eastern Views of Nature]

Psychotherapies have developed closely associated with cultures. The 21st century was the era during which Western intellect, or scientific thought, was by far the predominant influence in the world. Under the influence of such scientific thought, psychoanalysis, behavior therapy, and cognitive therapy were developed, from which various psychotherapies have been derived. These can be regarded as control models with which ego enhancement is aimed at by control- ling symptoms or conflicts. Morita therapy is a psychotherapy which lies at the other end of the spectrum. The thera- peutic mechanism of this psychotherapy is based on the oriental understanding of human beings, which include naturalism or one embodiment theory for mind, body, and nature, consid- eration of human ego and language as definite, and relational theory (a Buddhist idea that every phenomenon arises in mutual relationships). In this paper, I would like to : 1) clarify the characteristics of Morita therapy related to eastern views of nature, and 2) discuss the characteristics of self and acceptance/behavior change. As for self, contrary to mind-body dualism, nature lies at the bottom of all of us, on which the body exists, on which the mind exists. These are mutually related and inseparable, while being open to one another. In Morita therapy, the mind (consciousness) is understood only to a limited extent in relation to nature and the body (unconsciousness). It therefore strongly questions the omnipotent interpretation of thought mediated by lan- guage, which the other psychotherapies sometimes present. Morita therapy aims to be in touch with body and nature in different approaches. The above is what "following nature" means. It is the understanding that fears (inner nature) have to be accepted as nothing but fears, and desires (also inner nature) cannot be given up. By awakening to the fact that there are things that are out of our control, one realizes the presence of desire for life that self-pos- sesses, and its exertion becomes a possibility. This is what we call the state of "Arugamama (being as-is) ", being comprised of the tension between the two poles of desire and fear, which is highly dynamic. Arugamama is the same as the concept of mindfulness to accept fear/anguish as it is. Aru- gamama remains from the concept of desire for life, to assume a dynamic recovery. This is a very useful concept to resolve the narcissism in modern times.