The third factor that allows DEPTH Dialogue to be a radical transcendence of accepted possibilities is the exploration of certain experiential "functional learning" methods that have arisen in the last 50 years or less, that also do not rest on the accepted modern assumptions about mind and body, or other dualisms. These disciplines allow us to recover the kind of non-dual modes of experiencing that the ancient world lived in, according to the functional view of Socratic dialogue mentioned above.

And more specifically, they allow us to build on and transcend the drama mode that characterizes the lower "formal operations" level, thereby making the leap to levels of functioning beyond this. (See the previous section for an explanation of this.) The functional learning methods allow us to fully inplement the functional experiential view of Plato's Dialectic in a practical way. They have contributed the most in the quest to put the true inner Socratic Dialogue into practice.



The disciplines we are referring to include such "somatic" or "psycho-somatic" learning methods as The Alexander Technique, The Feldenkrais Method, The Trager Method, Body-Mind Centering, Akter Ahsen's Eidetics, the "inner game" of tennis, golf, etc., Stanislawski's Method Acting (which is the "inner game" of acting and doing), Lester Levinsons's "Sedona" Releasing Method,  Eriksonian Hypnosis,  Sensory Awareness, Sensory Integration, Gendlin's Focusing and Ilan Shalif's General Sensate Focusing.

These are some of the main ones that have been most useful. Many others could be mentioned also, but this is just to give you an idea of what is being referred to.

(Most methods of modern psychotherapy were also researched, including psychodynamic, cognitive and behavioral approaches. Even though they focus on similar territory to what DEPTH Dialogue explores, and hence at first seemed promising, they were found to be so mired in the limiting assumptions that characterize the dualistic symbolic mindset of the modern world that they proved to be hindrances more than helpers, both in theory and in practice. Most basically, they all operate under one or all of the following metaphors: the illness-diagnosis-cure metaphor, the problem-solution model, or the conflict-enactment-resolution (drama) metaphor - all of which are lower level "formal operations" constructs. No method of modern psychotherapy is an experiential functional learning discipline.)



None of the experiential functional learning methods actually enter into the practice of DEPTH Dialogue. What they contribute is an understanding of a completely new and radical way of approaching human experiencing as a holistic living aware process. Rather than using the current modern view that life consists of objects to be manipulated for certain effects, these methods dynamically interact with the actual present-time direct experiencing of the person and explore that experiencing, with no preconceived notions of what it is or what it should be.

(Certain other modern methods such as "neuro-linguistic programming" (NLP) that resemble experiential functional learning disciplines are not that at all. This is because, although they work with some (but not the most important) elements of inner experiencing, they do this in a manner of manipulating objects for specific effects - a mode that is characteristic of the lower "formal operations" activities and not of the higher level experiential functional modalities. They are what Socrates called "sophistry," which means pretense to wisdom, action for mere outward effects, mere imitation (what NLP calls "modeling") rather than entry into the real flow of inner experiencing.)



Because of this approach to human experiencing as a conscious lived fluid awareness, these functional learning methods have had remarkable and quick effects where other more conventional techniques have either failed,  have taken great lengths of time and effort, or have produced only superficial or non-lasting effects.

Rather than trying to fix, cure, heal, "re-program," or otherwise change a condition of some sort, these new methods have the effect of repatterning or reconfiguring the fundamental factors of the person's lived experiencing  that underly and give rise to observable conditions. It is because they operate on this more basic level that they have such deep, fast and far-reaching effects.



It is this repatterning or reconfiguration of the underlying factors of experiencing that DEPTH Dialogue makes use of, not by utilizing any of these methods themselves but by utilizing the principle of experiential repatterning. This is the factor that makes these methods so effective when other more conventional approaches fail.

DEPTH Dialogue is the only integral practice of personal growth that faithfully and truly extends and generalizes the major essential elements of experiential repatterning that were discovered in the field of bodywork, to the entire range of human experience. It is therefore the only large-scope personal growth practice that has the depth and effectiveness that these disciplines have had in their field.

(This is not an idle or arrogant claim. I have searched in vain for over thirty years for such a practice. If it in fact does exist, it is hidden away in a cave somewhere or the private domain of some esoteric teaching that is not known to the public.)



The extension of the principle of experiential repatterning to all of experiencing is not a simple matter of applying what is done in the somatic repatterning practices to the wider field of thoughts, emotions, sensations, etc. This doesn't work. Trying it has turned out to be a dead end.

What is needed is to find the same kind of entry ways into holistic experiencing as the somatic disciplines use in their work. This is a whole new level of exploration and discovery.

What made this deeper discovery possible was the guidance provided by Plato's Dialectic - specifically by the functional interpretation of that was presented in the last section. Looking at it functionally allows the extraction of its true inner dynamics. The true inner dynamics of deep Socratic dialogue is what finally gives the entry ways into deep holistic experiencing that correspond to the entry ways that somatic repatterning uses in its practices.



What this means is that there are certain key concepts in Plato's Dialectic that have shaped the discovery that allowed the extension of somatic experiential repatterning to the whole of human experiencing.

The most important of these are the concepts of "idea" and "form." In the experiential functional view of Dialectic these are dynamic concepts that refer to the actual process of manifesting any and all experiences from the deep inner workings of consciousness. They are the underlying formative elements of all experiencing.

When we touch into ideas and forms in our deep self-exploration we are at the entry ways to where experiential repatterning can take place on the deepest, broadest levels of life. This level of understanding and practice is what has made the extension of somatic repatterning possible, workable and effective.



DEPTH Dialogue not only extends somatic repatterning. It takes the principle of experiential repatterning to a new level. Instead of merely repatterning , DEPTH Dialogue has the effect of dynamic pattern transcendence. This goes beyond re-arranging the elements of experiencing, which is what repatterning does, into creating newness in the elements of experiencing.

With Dynamic Pattern Transcendence the old patterns of experiencing are not moved around, re-arranged or reconfigured. They don't really change at all in this sense. What happens is that they dissolve, fade away, disappear. Something entirely new emerges.

This is similar to having creative breakthroughs in any area of life, where something entirely new and unexpected emerges in an "aha!" moment. In DEPTH Dialogue the creative breakthroughs are on the most basic level of lived, felt experiencing, in the deep place where we live, feel and have our being.



Dynamic Pattern Transcendence is a principle of nature. What it means is that patterns in any natural system, however fixed and rigid they might appear to be, will go into a freer, more flexible, more flowing condition by themselves without force or effort if given a context that skillfully invites this.

The subtle and elusive action of Dynamic Pattern Transcendence was actually discovered in the field of bodywork repatterning, most clearly by Moshe Feldenkrais (Awareness Through Movement) and Milton Trager (Trager Bodywork and Mentastics.) However, neither of them articulated it as a general principle of nature nor extended the principle to the whole of human experiencing. This is what DEPTH Dialogue does, and this is what has made possible the rediscovery of the true inner dynamics of deep Socratic dialogue.



Trager, in particular, provided the element in bodywork that makes the leap from simple repatterning, simple reconfiguring of experiences, to Dynamic Pattern Transcendence. That element is what he called "hook-up." Hook-up means a subtle expansive feeling awareness of life that takes you beyond the immediate sensory focus of particular objects. It is an expansive feeling of life itself, not of any specific object or condition.

This element of hook-up, in skillful combination with repatterning methods, provides the context that allows the body to easily flow into more relaxed, open, freer states, without trying to make this happen. Trying to make this happen would in fact be counterproductive. So, this approach is really the only way that works. All other approaches "push the river." Hook-up is subtle and disarming. It gets in "under the radar" of defenses and resistances.

DEPTH Dialogue's extension of hook-up to reach into the deep primitive emotional system has been what has allowed DEPTH Dialogue to be so deep and far-reaching. It is what has allowed it to truly be a practice of full self-realization.



The practical principle that is the corollary of the principle of Dynamic Pattern Transcendence is that fine, detailed articulation in the process of direct inner bodily experiencing spontaneously results in dynamic pattern transcendence. So, this is a big part of what we do in DEPTH Dialogue, i.e. we make fine, detailed distinctions in our experiencing, on all levels and most particularly on the bodily sensate level (see below on Sensate Biofeedback.) Deep Emotional Pattern Transcendence into Happiness (DEPTH) happens spontaneously as a natural result of this.

The action of fine articulation in the process of direct experiencing was also developed in bodywork repatterning. It is, for instance, a major element of Bonnie Cohen's Body-Mind Centering. However, as  in the case of Feldenkrais and Trager, this action was not articulated as a principle nor generalized to include the whole range of human experiencing. DEPTH Dialogue takes these latter two steps, and thereby takes this breakthrough discovery far beyond its initial application in bodywork repatterning. This is what has made possible the rediscovery of the practical application of the true inner dynamics of deep inner Socratic dialogue.



The other principle from the repatterning methods that is central to DEPTH Dialogue is that of sensate biofeedback. This means that inner body sensations (proprioceptive sensations) are a natural biofeedback mechanism for the deep primitive emotional system.

Like external biofeedback using instruments, the internal mechanism changes the system by bringing awareness of the system into the feedback loop. By focusing on your internal bodily sensations you add information to the emotional system that allows that system to spontaneously adjust itself toward better functioning. The big difference is that we don't use instruments. Our inner bodily sensations are the natural instruments, already inside us waiting to be used.



It was found by Eugene Gendlin and other researchers at the University of Chicago in the 1960's that the only factor among all variables that made for successful psychotherapy was putting attention on bodily sensations.

This, of course, doesn't say a lot for modern psychotherapy, but it does give a direction for exploration beyond it. It was later discovered by Ilan Shalif in Israel in the 1980's that doing only this inner bodily focusing was enough to transform the emotional system, without any kind of psychotherapy or other verbal interpretation approaches. This put it squarely in the field of the functional learning disciplines.

So, what this really means is that focusing into the inner body sensations is the main factor in all deep experiential change. It is the main factor in all the "somatic" and "psycho-somatic" disciplines. It is that factor that is implicit in all of them, that makes them work when they do work. It is the one and only factor among all the variables that makes any of these methods work. (This is not to say that this is known or consciously used by most of them.)



What follows from this also is that if a seeming change, on whatever level (mind, body, emotions, etc.) doesn't happen in the bodily felt sense (the deep neuro-physiology) it is illusory - it hasn't happened at all in any real way, in any substantial way. You might be able to fool your mind and thinking into believing that something has happened, but your body knows differently. When you check in with your bodily knowing you will find out what is real and what is not.



DEPTH Dialogue simultaneously brings both the principle of Dynamic Pattern Transcendence and the principle of Sensate Biofeedback into activation and action, to give the deep emotional system an inviting context for naturally re-ordering itself into freer, more flowing pleasurable states. These new emotional states appear without trying to make anything specific happen. They come seemingly from “out of the blue” in a manner similar to artistic or inventive creative breakthroughs. The big difference here is that we now know how to effectively set this up to happen, through the specific practices of DEPTH Dialogue.

The deep emotional system - your deepest feelings, embodied in your physiology - controls your experiences, your reactions and responses, and really all aspects of your life. So, the creative breakthroughs you experience in DEPTH Dialogue unfold into deep, lasting breakthroughs throughout your whole being. You create entirely new experiences, responses, ways of being, and even a new, happier life and self.



This is why DEPTH Dialogue is an entirely unique new approach to personal growth and transformation. No method up until now has known of or utilized the principle of dynamic pattern transcendence along with the principle of sensate feedback, and so no other method has had the possibilities for the kind of quick, easy, deep creative breakthroughs that DEPTH Dialogue can facilitate.

And this is also why DEPTH Dialogue practice is unfailing in its effects and results. Universal principles govern functioning unfailingly. That is why they are called principles. "Universal" means that the principles apply to all situations and conditions in the domain of the principle. The application of universal principles, as in DEPTH Dialogue, uses this unfailing governance to produce effects. It is just a matter of knowing the principles and applying them.



DEPTH Dialogue is the deep inner dynamics of what Socrates and Plato called the Dialectic. They said that the Dialectic is true pyches therapeia (translation: soul care), i.e. true care for the soul into full, creative, dynamic self-realization. So, could we call DEPTH Dialogue a form of psychotherapy?

DEPTH Dialogue puts attention on many of the same basic elements of experience that modern psychotherapies do - namely, your inner world of thoughts, emotions, feelings and sensations, as well as the stories you tell yourself and other people that you call your life.

However, DEPTH Dialogue approaches this whole thing in a way that is radically different from any modern psychotherapy. It approaches it like the repatterning practices referred to in this section. More specifically, it uses the higher repatterning principle of Dynamic Pattern Transcendence.

So, if DEPTH Dialogue is a psychotherapy, as Socrates and Plato say it is (in the sense that they mean for that), it has the same relation to modern psychotherapies that the repatterning disciplines have to standard conventional physical therapies. And because of this, it has a scope, range, depth, truth and effectiveness that goes as far beyond standard psychotherapy as the repatterning practices go beyond standard physical therapies. In other words, it is in another world far beyond anything known or practiced in the modern world up until now.



Not only this. DEPTH Dialogue specifically and pointedly addresses the whole deep structure of the Narcissus ego-self that forms and maintains all suffering (see section on Deep Loving Friendship.) Without addressing and effectively dealing with this primary deep structure, any practice of psychotherapy, psychology, personal growth or transformation of consciousness winds up re-enforcing the basic causes of suffering rather than alleviating them.

This is because they focus on doing something to, with or about the ego-self when it is the deepest, most basic structures of the ego-self that is the cause of suffering. This must be completely transcended. It CANNOT be fixed because trying to fix it only takes you back into it. And the one who is trying to fix it is the very ego-self that it is trying to fix. (This is why modern psychotherapy is sometimes called interminable. Its deepest structure is an endless negative feedback loop.)



DEPTH Dialogue uses the principles of Sensate Biofeedback and Dynamic Pattern Transcendence, in the context of the naturally ego-transcending relationship of Deep Loving Friendship, to bring about complete transcendence of the Narcissus ego-structure into full transcendent self-realization beyond the scope of problems, suffering, "issues," and the like.

This movement beyond ego can only take place in and from a place beyond ego, and DEPTH Dialogue leads you to this through deep self-transcending self-exploration. The dynamics of ego-transcendence are built into the Dialectic, into DEPTH Dialogue, by virtue of its essential action being both a reaching into the natural intelligence of the body (beyond the ego-self's control) through sensate focusing, and a dynamic repatterning of the deepest, most fundamental causal elements of all your experiencing through use of Dynamic Pattern Transcendence.



Because of the natural far-reaching effectiveness of sensate focusing and dynamic repatterning, every time you do DEPTH Dialogue you get a spontaneous creative breakthrough. These breakthroughs, in themselves, take you beyond the structures of the ego-self, even if your focus of attention is some seemingly outward experience. But DEPTH Dialogue also leads you not just into exploration of your experiences but into deep exploration of the deepest formative elements of self. And this exploration inevitably leads you to spontaneous breakthroughs on that level. This is how the dynamics of the practice itself are ego-transcending, and in the most profound way.



So, these are the reasons that Socrates and Plato called the Dialectic (DEPTH Dialogue) the only true psychotherapy, the only true, effective care for the soul into full self-realization. DEPTH Dialogue is inherently ego-transcending in the deepest way, naturally leading through deep self-exploration of your deepest and truest life-feelings (soul) into spontaneous, ego-transcending creative breakthroughs to true, full self-realization.

Once you enter into this inevitable dynamic it is as if you are on a shooty-shoot to ultimate fulfillment and happiness. The pull and the momentum become unstoppable, like gravity pulling you down the shoot to the ground. Once you start into this motion you cannot and won't ever want to turn back to the old ways. Your true deep life-feeling (soul, psyche) knows it is on its way home, and this is all it has ever truly wanted. The excitement only grows until it inevitably reaches the fulfillment of its desire.



Even though, by the definition of Socrates and Plato, DEPTH Dialogue is true psychotherapy, it is evident from the above discussion that it is clearly different from anything that is called psychotherapy in the modern world. It is as different from modern psychotherapies as the repatterning practices are different from standard conventional physical therapies.

To make this distinction clear, instead of calling DEPTH Dialogue psychotherapy we might call it something like "psychological repatterning into newness" or "dynamic psychological pattern transcendence."

But to emphasize the most central factor of the practice that most makes it what it is, i.e. the repatterning into newness of the deepest feeling elements of your experiencing, it has been called D-E-P-T-H:

Deep Emotional Pattern Transcendence into Happiness

And to emphasize the dynamic interactive nature of the practice it has been called:

So, putting these two together, the true psychotherapy given to us by Socrates and Plato is called: