Karlfried Graf Dürckheim (1896–1988): Endured Pain During Conscious Transition

Up to this point, we have reported on how great psychotherapists have lived and how they have died. We have also explained how outsiders have talked about how the therapists in question have faced their death. This chapter is to report on a man who told me about how he is facing his death and preparing for it before he died. It is Karlfried Graf Dürkheim, who together with Maria Hippius developed a psychotherapy method in the small Black Forest village of Todtmoos-Rütte, which is called “initiatic therapy”. Before he arrives there, he goes through many years of wandering and transformation—offspring of nobility, front officer, psychology professor, NS diplomat, “never again a soldier”, psychotherapist, mystic, Zen master, meditation teacher, and soul guide.