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PSYCHIATRISTS EFFECT CURES IN VIRTUAL REALITY GROUP THERAPY SESSIONS --- Self-Projection Technology Provides Key for Healing the Psyche --- Special to the Sentinel-Observer by Richard Elkins Human Features Reporter Readers of the Sunday Magazine know that the new cyberspace has become part of my regular beat. My weekly magazine feature "The Meeting Room of the Week" describes the "meeting rooms" that have been set up in cyberspace using self-projection softbot technology. My reporting from cyberspace has mostly been in a humorous vein, because there are a lot of strange meeting rooms out there. About one month ago I visited a meeting room in which several people, each claiming to be Jesus Christ, met under the auspices of their therapists. The idea was to get the patients to confront their delusions and to abandon their psychosis. My story on the Jesus Christ meeting room was reported in last week's Sunday Magazine. Insofar as I could tell, no apparent cure was effected by this process, and each of the patients left the hour long session as convinced as ever that he was Jesus Christ in the flesh. I received quite a bit of mail concerning that article especially from psychiatrists and psychologists who use meeting rooms in cyberspace to effect dramatic cures of delusional patients. I was invited by the Silicon Valley Psychiatry Group, which is associated with the Hospital of the Silicon Valley University, to observe such a group therapy session. Little did I realize, when I agreed to observe the group therapy session, that the subject matter would be so close to the subject that I reported upon last week. This time, however, the therapy was effective. What follows is an account of what transpired during the therapy session. I donned my virtual reality suit and self-projected into virtual space, heading for the address that was given to me for the Silicon Valley Psychiatry Group. I entered an immense bluish space at the center of which was a circle of six chairs. I sat down. Several minutes later a form emerged from the blue and joined me. "I am Dr. Al Hallaj," a distinguished looking gentleman informed me. Dr. Hallaj projected as a handsome man, in his mid-fifties, I would say, with graying hear and a gray beard. He had olive colored skin and he seemed to be of middle eastern origins. "The patients will soon be arriving," he told me. "These men and women suffer from the delusion that they are God. Not God as Son of God, but God as God. God, the Creative Reality. Now, suffice it to say that this is a serious delusion, a psychosis, so we should view each and every one of these patients as potentially dangerous." This made me nervous until I realized that they could not possibly do me any bodily harm since I was attending the session not as an actual person but as a virtual self-projection. "How do you propose to cure them of this delusion?" I asked, taking out my virtual notepad. "I will force them to confront the truth that they could not all be God. I will force them to confront each other. The result could be dangerous. I think you will see the logic behind my method once I start to interact with the patients." Before I could ask another question, the patients all arrived as a group. There were four of them: Harry, Sue, Mike and Alice. At least, that is what their name tags said. There were no obvious signs that these people were delusional. They all looked quite ordinary. The patients took their seats in the meeting room circle. One of the patients, Harry, nodded in my direction and I nodded back. Dr. Hallaj was the first to speak. I was astonished that he was so up front right from the start. "You people suffer from a delusion. You all claim to be God, the Creative Reality. I am here to cure you of that delusion." The patients consulted with one another at this point. I found this peculiar. I had just assumed that they were strangers who did not have much contact with one another outside of the group therapeutic context. Harry spoke up first. "You are the deluded one, Al, and we're here to get you to see that." Dr. Hallaj bolted up in his chair, as if he were preparing himself for a tough fight. "This is the ultimate defense of the delusional psychotic," he shouted, "to maintain that he is sane and that everyone else is crazy." Sue spoke up next. "Who are you, Al? Who are you?" Dr. Hallaj replied sternly. "I know who I AM. Who are you?" Sue snapped right back. "There is only one Being who can say 'I AM' and that is God. Do you presume to take away that right from God?" Dr. Hallaj did not relent. "I AM who I AM, and I am not God." Sue's voice was firm, not yielding in any way. "Then tell us you who you are, Al. Tell us. Who are you?" Dr. Hallaj's cartoon face showed a flash of anger. "I am me. I am certainly not God. God is God and I am me. You are the deluded ones. Can you in any way claim to be on a par with God? How can you even dare compare yourselves to God?" Mike joined the fray. "Now isn't that the height of arrogance to say 'I am not God'? To say 'I am not God' is to imply a self-existence that is separate from God. If you are not God, then who are you? You must be someone other than God. But, there is only one ME, only one Being who can say 'I' and that is God. Are you claiming to exist apart from God, as a separate being?" Dr. Hallaj's cartoon face became distorted with either fear or rage. "I am me. God is God. We are different. I am not God. You are the deluded ones!" It was Alice's turn. "Each of us has realized our complete nothingness before God, who alone has any absolute existence, yet you, YOU assert your own existence. Only God has the right to make an assertion like that. You need to admit your own nothingness before the infinity of God." "I'll do no such thing!" Dr. Hallaj shouted. But, his voice had changed. He seemed to be on the defensive. "I am not nothing as compared to God or as compared to anything or anyone. I AM SOMEBODY! I AM AL HALLAJ. I KNOW WHO I AM!" At this point I became somewhat nervous. I was starting to feel that the group therapy session was getting out of control. The patients seemed to be gaining the upper hand. I thought of jumping in, but Dr. Hallaj, sensing my intention, waved to me as if to indicate that I should stay out of it. Harry spoke up next. "Then, what exactly is your relationship to God? Are you denying the reality of God?" Dr. Hallaj seemed to regain his composure. "Look, you are the people who are deluded. I am the one who should be asking the questions. You say that you are God. Now, from the point of view of modern psycholo- ... " Sue interrupted at that point. "We do not say that we are God. We say that only God exists. God is the only reality. Thus, we have no right to assert our existence as opposed to God's existence. We have been annihilated within God. Thus, we express the pure, original creativity of God in human form." Dr. Hallaj seemed at a loss for words. "Look, I am Al Hallaj. I know who I am. I am Al Hallaj. I am not God. I'm not even sure that there is a God, but I know that I AM." The patients conferred once again. Their cartoon faces indicated deep concern. Finally, Harry got up from his chair and approached Dr. Hallaj. "What do you think you're doing?" Dr. Hallaj asked. It wasn't clear whether these words were said in fear or in anger. Harry stood in front of Dr. Hallaj. "Since you insist that you have a reality separate from God, that you have a me that is separate from the ultimate ME, we have decided to open your inner eye to the true nature of who you are and who God is. We are going to do this by supernatural means, because there is no way that we can pierce through your deluded mind using ordinary therapeutic means." Dr. Hallaj was acting like a cornered rat. "Get back to your seat! Who do you think you are spreading these filthy delusions of yours? I can have you committed to a .... ." But before Dr. Hallaj could finished his threat, Harry placed the palm of his virtual hand on the middle of Dr. Hallaj's virtual forehead. At that point Dr. Hallaj's virtual face took on a remarkable appearance, once of complete amazement, awe and shock. After about two minutes, Dr. Hallaj arose from his chair, filled with energy. He started to shout, "I am God! I am the Creative Reality! I am God!" He continued shouting this with great joy even as he vanished into the blue. Now I was alone with the patients. I felt this fear deep down in my bones until I reminded myself that this was merely cyberspace. These patients could not harm me. I could always get out of my virtual reality suit. Harry came up to me. "Hello, I am Dr. Harry Roland, and these are my colleagues from the Silicon Valley Psychiatry Group. We apologize for being late. Did Al Hallaj try to convince you that he was the doctor?" "Yes," I replied. "Well, we're the doctors! He was the patient," Dr. Roland said, chuckling quietly, as the other doctors smiled and laughed. "Holy smokes!" I exclaimed. "Well, the important thing is that he's cured," Dr. Roland remarked. "What actually happened here?" I asked. "Al Hallaj experienced the total destruction of his former self. He experienced the total desolation and destruction that is required in order for a person to realize his true identity, his connection to God," Dr. Roland replied. The doctors took their seats as I tried to absorb what had happened. Then, all as one, the four doctors shouted "Next!" and with that another patent with a confused self-identity emerged from the blueness.
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