Abstract

When the darkness of authoritarianism looms over a society, it can cause psychological fragmentation. This research explores traumatic psychospiritual effects of authoritarianism and Sufi psychology’s concepts of wholeness and Source. It asks how treatment oriented to the wisdom of Sufism and Persian mysticism and reconnection with Source may benefit psychotherapy clients. In this context, darkness is defined as malevolent and cruel forces that rise in power, whereas Source is defined as that which one draws power from. Hermeneutic, alchemical hermeneutic, and heuristic methodologies integrate into a theoretical analysis of the author’s traumatic response to the rise of authoritarianism in Donald Trump’s U.S. presidency and the transgenerational traumatic effects of the Iranian Revolution of 1979. The author finds that what is missing from the worldview that contextualizes Western-centric research is what is missing from Western psychology: the spiritual and psychological are not separate, but the intertwined parts of the whole.