Showing posts with label mystical experience. Show all posts
Showing posts with label mystical experience. Show all posts

Wednesday, 3 October 2012

Religion, and Mythology.

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Religion and mythology differ, but have overlapping aspects. Both terms refer to systems of concepts that are of high importance to a certain community, making statements concerning the supernatural or sacred. Generally, mythology is considered one component or aspect of religion. Religion is the broader term: besides mythological aspects, it includes aspects of ritual, morality, theology, and mystical experience. A given mythology is almost always associated with a certain religion, such as Greek mythology with Ancient Greek religion. Disconnected from its religious system, a myth may lose its immediate relevance to the community and evolve—away from sacred importance—into a legend or folktale.

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[edit] Religion and mythology

[edit] Definitions

Religion is commonly defined as belief concerning the supernatural, sacred, or divine, and the moral codes, practices, values, and institutions associated with such belief.[1] Religious beliefs and practices may include the following:
Some religions do not include all these features. For instance, belief in a deity is not essential to Buddhism.
The term mythology usually refers either to a system of myths or to the study of myths.[2] However, the word "myth" itself has multiple (and some contradictory) definitions:
  • 2007: According to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary, "Myth: "1 a: a usually traditional story of ostensibly historical events that serves to unfold part of the world view of a people or explain a practice, belief, or natural phenomenon. b: Parable, Allegory. 2 a: a popular belief or tradition that has grown up around something or someone; especially: one embodying the ideals and institutions of a society or segment of society. 2b: an unfounded or false notion. 3: a person or thing having only an imaginary or unverifiable existence. 4: the whole body of myths.[3]
In regards to the study of culture and religion, these are some of the definitions scholars have used:
  • 1968: The classicist Robert Graves defines myths as "whatever religious or heroic legends are so foreign to a student's experience that he cannot believe them to be true."[4]
  • 1973: Another classicist, G. S. Kirk, rejects the notion that all myths are religious or sacred. In the category of "myth", he includes many legendary accounts that are "secular" for all practical purposes.[5]
  • 1997: Folklorists define a myth as "a sacred narrative explaining how the world and humankind came to be in their present form".[6]
  • 2004: In religious studies, the word "myth" is usually reserved for stories whose main characters are gods or demigods.[7]
  • 2004: The classicist Richard Buxton defines a myth as "a socially powerful traditional story".[8]
  • 2004: Robert A. Segal, professor of theories of religion at the University of Lancaster, defines "myth" broadly as any story whose "main figures [are] personalities -- divine, human, or even animal. Excluded would be impersonal forces such as Plato's Good."[7]
See also: Mythology

[edit] The relationship between religion and myth

The relationship between religion and myth depends on what definition of "myth" one uses. By Robert Graves's definition, a religion's traditional stories are "myths" if and only if one does not belong to the religion in question. By Segal's definition, all religious stories are myths—but simply because nearly all stories are myths. By the folklorists' definition, all myths are religious (or "sacred") stories, but not all religious stories are myths: religious stories that involve the creation of the world (e.g., the stories in Genesis) are myths; however, religious stories that don't explain how things came to be in their present form (e.g., hagiographies of famous saints) are not myths.
It should be noted that most definitions of "myth" limit myths to stories.[9] Thus, non-narrative elements of religion, such as ritual, are not myths.

[edit] Similarities between different religious mythologies

Given any of the above definitions of "myth", the myths of many religions, both ancient and modern, share common elements. Widespread similarities between religious mythologies include the following:
  • Many religions involve an initial Paradise preceding ordinary historical time.[10]
  • Many religions involve the story of a god who undergoes death and resurrection (see life-death-rebirth deity).[1][2]
  • The mythical geography of many religions involves an axis mundi, or Cosmic Center.[11]
  • Many myths feature a global flood.[12]
The similarities between cultures and time periods can be useful, but it is usually not easy to combine beliefs and histories from different groups. Simplification of cultures and time periods by eliminating detailed data remain vulnerable or flimsy in this area of research.

[edit] Contrasts between different religious mythologies

Though there are similarities among most religious mythologies, there are also contrasts. Many mythologies focus on explanations of the universe, natural phenomena, or other themes of human existence, often ascribing agency to one or more deities or other supernatural forces. However, some religions have very few of this kind of story of cosmic explanation. For instance, the Buddhist parable of the arrow warns against such speculations as "[Is] the world eternal or not eternal? [Is] the soul different from the body? [Does] the enlightened exist after death or not?", viewing them as irrelevant to the goal of escaping suffering.[13]

[edit] Academic views

In academia, the term "myth" often refers to stories whose culture regards them as true (as opposed to fictitious).[14] Thus, many scholars will call a body of stories "mythology", leaving open the question of whether the stories are true or false. For example, in Tree of Souls: The Mythology of Judaism, English professor Howard Schwartz writes, "the definition of 'mythology' offered here does not attempt to determine if biblical or subsequent narratives are true or false, i.e., historically accurate or not".[15]
Since the beginning of modern philosophy and science in the 16th century, many Western intellectuals have seen myth as outdated.[16] In fact, some argued that the Christian religion would be better off without mythology, or even that Christianity would be better off without religion:
"[J. A. T.] Robinson argued in favor of 'the detaching of the Christian doctrine of God from any necessary dependence on a "supernaturalistic" worldview'. He understood this as a prophetic aspect of the Church's ministry to the world. [...] At this time atheism was regarded as the Christian Gospel that should be preached to the world. J. J. Altizer, for example, maintained [this] boldly by stating, 'Throughout its history Christian theology has been thwarted from reaching its intrinsic goal by its bondage to a transcendent, a sovereign, and an impassive God'. [...] [Dietrich] Bonhoffer called persistently for 'Religionless Christianity'."[17]
In the 20th century, many scholars have resisted this trend, defending myth from modern criticism.[18] Mircea Eliade, a professor of the history of religions, declared that myth did not hold religion back, that myth was an essential foundation of religion, and that eliminating myth would eliminate a piece of the human psyche.[19] Eliade approached myth sympathetically at a time when religious thinkers were trying to purge religion of its mythological elements:
"Eliade wrote about 'sky and sky gods' when Christian theology was shaken at its very foundations by the 'death of God' theology. He spoke of 'God up there' when theologians such as J. A. T. Robinson were busy with erasing the mythical language of [a] three-storied universe that underlies the early Christian thought and experience."[17]
Similarly, Joseph Campbell believed that people could not understand their individual lives without mythology to aid them. By recalling the significance of old myths, he encouraged awareness of them and the creation of myths for the contemporary age.[20]

[edit] Religious views

Most religions contain a body of traditional sacred stories that are believed to express profound truth. Some religious organizations and practitioners believe that some or all of their traditional stories are not only sacred and "true", but also historically accurate and divinely revealed, and that calling such stories "myths" disrespects their special status. Other religious organizations and practitioners have no problem with categorizing their sacred stories as myths.

[edit] Opposition to categorizing all sacred stories as myths

[edit] Modern-day opposition

Some religious believers take offense when what they consider to be historical aspects of their faith are labeled as "myth". Such believers distinguish between religious fables or myths, on one hand, and those sacred narratives which are described by their tradition as being history or revelation, on the other. For instance, the Catholic priest Father John A. Hardon insists that "Christianity is not mythology. What we believe in is not religious fantasies, no matter how pious."[21] The evangelical Christian theologian Carl F. H. Henry insisted that "Judeo-Christian revelation has nothing in common with the category of myth".[22]

[edit] The roots of the popular meaning of "myth"

Especially within Christianity, objection to the word "myth" rests on a historical basis. By the time of Christ, the Greco-Roman world had started to use the term "myth" (Greek muthos) to mean "fable, fiction, lie"; as a result, the early Christian theologians used "myth" in this sense.[23] Thus, the derogatory meaning of the word "myth" is the traditional Christian meaning, and the expression "Christian mythology", as used in academic discourse,[24] may offend Christians for this reason.
In addition, this early Christian use of the term "myth" passed into popular usage.[25] Thus, when essential sacred mysteries and teachings are described as myth, in modern English, the word often still implies that it is "idle fancy, fiction, or falsehood".[24] This description could be taken as a direct attack on religious belief, quite contrary to the meaning ostensibly intended by the academic use of the term. Further, in academic writing, though "myth" usually means a fundamental worldview story, even there it is occasionally ambiguous or clearly denotes "falsehood", as in the "Christ myth theory". The original term "mythos" (which has no pejorative connotation in English) may be a better word to distinguish the positive definition from the negative.[24]

[edit] Non-opposition to categorizing sacred stories as myths

Modern day clergy and practitioners within some religious movements have no problem classifying the religion's sacred stories as "myths". They see the sacred texts as indeed containing religious truths, divinely inspired but delivered in the language of mankind. Some examples follow.

[edit] Christianity

J.R.R. Tolkien's love of myths and devout Catholic faith came together in his assertion that mythology is the divine echo of "the Truth".[26] Tolkien wrote that myths held "fundamental things".[27] He expressed these beliefs in his poem Mythopoeia circa 1931, which describes myth-making as an act of "sub-creation" within God's primary creation.[28] The poem in part says creation is "myth-woven and elf-patterned":
"...There is no firmament,
only a void, unless a jewelled tent
myth-woven and elf-patterned; and no earth,
unless the mother's womb whence all have birth." - J.R.R. Tolkien
Tolkien's opinion was adopted by another Christian writer, C. S. Lewis, in their conversations: "Tolkien explained to Lewis that the story of Christ was the true myth at the very heart of history and at the very root of reality."[29] C. S. Lewis freely called the Christ story a "true myth", and he believed that even pagan myths express spiritual truths. In his opinion, the difference between the Christ story and pagan myths is that the Christ story is historically as well as spiritually true. "The story of Christ," writes Lewis,
"is simply a true myth: a myth working on us in the same way as the others, but with this tremendous difference that it really happened: and one must be content to accept it in the same way, remembering that it is God's myth where the others are men's myths: i. e. the Pagan stories are God expressing Himself through the minds of poets, using such images as He found there, while Christianity is God expressing Himself through what we call real things."[30]
Another Christian writer, the Catholic priest Father Andrew Greeley, freely applies the term "myth" to Christianity. In his book Myths of Religion, he defends this terminology:
"Many Christians have objected to my use of this word [myth] even when I define it specifically. They are terrified by a word which may even have a slight suggestion of fantasy. However, my usage is the one that is common among historians of religion, literary critics, and social scientists. It is a valuable and helpful usage; there is no other word which conveys what these scholarly traditions mean when they refer to myth. The Christian would be well advised to get over his fear of the word and appreciate how important a tool it can be for understanding the content of his faith."[31]
At a "Consultation on the Relationship Between the Wesleyan Tradition and the Natural Sciences" in Kansas City, Missouri, on October 19, 1991, Dennis Bratcher presented a discussion of the adaptation of Near Eastern mythical thought by the Israelites.[32] Bratcher argued that the Old Testament absorbed Near Eastern pagan mythology (although he drew a sharp distinction between the literally-interpreted myths of the Near Eastern pagans and the "mythopoetic" use of imagery from pagan myths by the Hebrews). During this presentation, he gave the following disclaimer:
"the term 'myth' as used here does not mean 'false' or 'fiction.' Even in my old and yellowed Webster's, 'fiction' is the third meaning of the word. In its primary and more technical meaning 'myth' refers to a story or group of stories that serve to explain how a particular society views their world."[32]

[edit] Judaism

Some Jewish scholars, including Dov Noy, a professor of folklore at Hebrew University and founder of the Israel Folktale Archives, and Howard Schwartz, Jewish anthologist and English professor at the University of Missouri – St. Louis, have discussed traditional Jewish stories as "mythology".[33]
Schwarz authored the book Tree of Souls: The Mythology of Judaism. It consists of myths and belief statements excerpted from—and, in some cases, synthesized from a number of excerpts from—both Biblical and non-Biblical Jewish texts. According to Schwartz, the Jewish people continue to elaborate on, and compose additions to, their traditional mythology.[34] In the book's introduction, Schwartz states that the word "myth", as used in the book, "is not offered to mean something that is not true, as in the current popular usage".[15]

[edit] Neopaganism

Neopagans frequently refer to their sacred stories as "myths". Asatru, a modern-day revival of Germanic Paganism, holds "that the Eddas, Myths and Norse Sagas are the divinely inspired wisdom of [its] religion".[35] Wicca, another Neopagan movement, also applies the term "mythology" to its stories.[36]

[edit] Miscellaneous

The Dewey decimal system covers religion in the 200 range, with books on "Religious mythology & social theology" a subset listed under 201.[37]

[edit] See also

General


Mythology of world religions

[edit] References

  1. ^ "Religion", Encyclopædia Britannica 2007.
  2. ^ "Mythology", OED, 2007.
  3. ^ "Myth", Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, 2007.
  4. ^ Graves 1968, p. v.
  5. ^ Kirk 1973, p. 11.
  6. ^ Dundes 1997, p. 45.
  7. ^ a b Segal 2004, p. 5.
  8. ^ Buxton, p. 18
  9. ^ Segal 2004, p. 5. See Buxton, p. 18: "There are three elements in [my] definition [of mythology]. The least problematic is the notion of story: a 'myth' is a narrative, a set of events structured into a sequence". (Bolding added)
  10. ^ Eliade, Myths, Dreams and Mysteries, 1967 p. 59.
  11. ^ Eliade, Myths, Rites, Symbols: A Mircea Eliade Reader, 1976, pp. 372-75.
  12. ^ For some examples, see Bierlein 2004, pp. 121-27.
  13. ^ "The Parable of the Arrow"
  14. ^ Eliade, Myth and Reality, p. 1, 8-10; The Sacred and the Profane, p. 95
  15. ^ a b Schwartz, p. lxxviii
  16. ^ See Armstrong, pp. 122-27. For example, an 18th century intellectual movement called deism rejected myths about divine intervention, limiting God's role to that of a first cause (Robinson), and a 20th century movement led by the theologian Rudolf Bultmann sought to "demythologize" Christianity, reinterpreting its myths as psychological allegory (Segal, pp. 47-51; Muthuraj). Some 19th and early 20th century secular scholars predicted that science would replace myth, even in religion. The anthropologist Edward Burnett Tylor argued that science was pushing traditional mythology out of religion, which would henceforth consist only of metaphysics and ethics (Segal, p. 14). And the anthropologist Sir James George Frazer even wrote, "In the last analysis, magic, religion, and science are nothing but theories of thought; and as science has supplanted its predecessors, so it may hereafter be itself superseded by some more perfect hypothesis" (Frazer, p. 712).
  17. ^ a b Muthuraj
  18. ^ Segal, p. 3
  19. ^ According to religious thought, said Eliade, myths establish models for human behavior, and "the more religious man is, the more paradigmatic models does he possess as a guide to his attitudes and actions" (Eliade, The Sacred and the Profane, p. 100). Eliade believed that modern novels, ideologies, customs, and pastimes contain "mythological elements" (Eliade, Myth and Reality, pp. 181-93), and that some mythological elements fall within the "transconscious", which Eliade defined as a set of universal human images, symbols, and sentiments (Eliade, Images and Symbols, pp. 16-17).
  20. ^ For example, Campbell claimed that mythology's primary function is "that of eliciting and supporting a sense of awe before the mystery of being" (Campbell, p. 519), and that mythology also serves "to initiate the individual into the order of realities of his own psyche" (Campbell, p. 521).
  21. ^ Hardon
  22. ^ Carl F. H. Henry, quoted by Mohler
  23. ^ Eliade, Myth and Reality, 1968, p. 162.
  24. ^ a b c Grassie, William (March 1998). "Science as Epic? Can the modern evolutionary cosmology be a mythic story for our time?". Science & Spirit 9 (1). "The word 'myth' is popularly understood to mean idle fancy, fiction, or falsehood; but there is another meaning of the word in academic discourse. A myth, in this latter sense of the word, is a story that serves to define the fundamental worldview of a culture .... Using the original Greek term mythos is perhaps a better way to distinguish this more positive and all-encompassing definition of the word."
  25. ^ Eliade, Myths, Dreams and Mysteries, 1967, p. 23.
  26. ^ Wood
  27. ^ Menion, 2003/2004 citing essays by Tolkien using the words "fundamental things".
  28. ^ Tolkien, Mythopoeia, circa 1931.
  29. ^ Pearce
  30. ^ letter to Arthur Greeves, quoted by Brown
  31. ^ Greeley, Myths of Religion; quoted in Bierlein 1994, pp. 304-5.
  32. ^ a b Bratcher
  33. ^ Schram
  34. ^ Schwartz, p. lxxv
  35. ^ "About Us"
  36. ^ "The Wheel of the Year / the Sabbats"; "What is Wicca?"; "Workshops and Talks"
  37. ^ "Dewey Decimal Classification (DDC) system". Online Computer Library Center, 2005. (PDF)

[edit] Sources

[edit] Further reading

[edit] External links

Look up religion or mythology in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.
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Monday, 1 October 2012

Transpersonal Psychology


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Transpersonal psychology is a school of psychology that studies the transpersonal, self-transcendent or spiritual aspects of the human experience. Transpersonal experiences may be defined as experiences in which the sense of identity or self extends beyond (trans) the individual or personal to encompass wider aspects of humankind, life, psyche or cosmos. [1]
A short definition from the Journal of Transpersonal Psychology suggests that transpersonal psychology "is concerned with the study of humanity's highest potential, and with the recognition, understanding, and realization of unitive, spiritual, and transcendent states of consciousness".[2]. Walsh & Vaughan [3] [4] suggests that Transpersonal psychology is the area of psychology that focuses on the study of transpersonal experiences and related phenomena. These phenomena include the causes, effects and correlates of transpersonal experiences and development, as well as the disciplines and practices inspired by them. Issues considered in transpersonal psychology include spiritual self-development, self beyond the ego, peak experiences, mystical experiences, systemic trance and other sublime and/or unusually expanded experiences of living.
Transpersonal psychology developed from earlier schools of psychology including psychoanalysis, behaviorism, and humanistic psychology. Transpersonal psychology attempts to describe and integrate spiritual experience within modern psychological theory and to formulate new theory to encompass such experience. Types of spiritual experience examined vary greatly but include mysticism, religious conversion, altered states of consciousness, trance and spiritual practices. Although Carl Jung, Otto Rank and others explored aspects of the spiritual and transpersonal in their work, Miller[5] notes that Western psychology has had a tendency to ignore the spiritual dimension of the human psyche.

Contents

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[edit] Origins and definition of the discipline

Lajoie and Shapiro[6] reviewed forty definitions of transpersonal psychology that had appeared in literature over the period 1969 to 1991. They found that five key themes in particular featured prominently in these definitions: states of consciousness, higher or ultimate potential, beyond the ego or personal self, transcendence, and the spiritual. Walsh and Vaughan[7] have criticised many definitions of transpersonal psychology, for carrying implicit ontological or methodological assumptions. They also challenge definitions that link transpersonal psychology to healthy states only, or to the "Perennial Philosophy". These authors define transpersonal psychology as being the branch of psychology that is concerned with transpersonal experiences and related phenomena, noting that "These phenomena include the causes, effects and correlates of transpersonal experiences, as well as the disciplines and practices inspired by them."[8]
Caplan (2009: p. 231) conveys the genesis of the discipline, states its mandate and ventures a definition:
Although transpersonal psychology is relatively new as a formal discipline, beginning with the publication of The Journal of Transpersonal Psychology in 1969 and the founding of the Association for Transpersonal Psychology in 1971, it draws upon ancient mystical knowledge that comes from multiple traditions. Transpersonal psychologists attempt to integrate timeless wisdom with modern Western psychology and translate spiritual principles into scientifically grounded, contemporary language. Transpersonal psychology addresses the full spectrum of human psychospiritual development -- from our deepest wounds and needs, to the existential crisis of the human being, to the most transcendent capacities of our consciousness.
—Caplan, Mariana (2009). Eyes Wide Open: Cultivating Discernment on the Spiritual Path. Sounds True. p. 231. ISBN 978-1591797326. http://books.google.com/books?id=cDX8zNEbUXoC. Retrieved 5 May 2010.

[edit] Development of the academic field

Amongst the thinkers who are held to have set the stage for transpersonal studies are William James, Carl Jung, Otto Rank, Abraham Maslow, and Roberto Assagioli.[5] Research by Vich[9] suggests that the earliest usage of the term "transpersonal" can be found in lecture notes which William James had prepared for a semester at Harvard University in 1905-6. The meaning then, different from today's usage, was in the context of James’ radical empiricism in which there exists an intimate relation between a perceiving subject and perceived object, and all objects are dependent on being perceived by someone.[10] Another important figure in the establishment of transpersonal psychology was Abraham Maslow. Maslow had already published work regarding human peak experiences, and was one of the people, together with Stanislav Grof and Viktor Frankl, who suggested the term "transpersonal" for the emerging field. Gradually, during the 1960s, the term "transpersonal" was associated with a distinct school of psychology within the humanistic psychology movement.[11]
In 1969, Abraham Maslow, Stanislav Grof and Anthony Sutich were among the initiators behind the publication of the first issue of the Journal of Transpersonal Psychology, the leading academic journal in the field.[11] This was soon to be followed by the founding of the Association for Transpersonal Psychology (ATP) in 1972. Past presidents of the association include Alyce Green, James Fadiman, Frances Vaughan, Arthur Hastings, Daniel Goleman, Robert Frager, Ronald Jue, Jeanne Achterberg and Dwight Judy. In the 1980s and 1990s the field developed through the works of such authors as Jean Houston, Stanislav Grof, Ken Wilber, Michael Washburn, Frances Vaughan, Roger Walsh, Stanley Krippner, Michael Murphy, Charles Tart, David Lukoff, Vasily Nalimov, Margret Rueffler and Stuart Sovatsky. While Wilber has been considered an influential writer and theoretician in the field, he has since personally dissociated himself from the movement in favor of what he calls an integral approach.
By common consent, the following branches are considered to be transpersonal psychological schools: various depth psychology approaches including Analytical psychology, based on Carl Jung, and the Archetypal psychology of James Hillman; the spiritual psychology of Robert Sardello;[12] psychosynthesis founded by Roberto Assagioli; Zen Transactional Psychotherapy created by Robert M. Anthony; and the theories of Otto Rank, Abraham Maslow, Stanislav Grof, Timothy Leary, Ken Wilber, Michael Washburn and Charles Tart.
Although the majority of mainstream psychology departments, as part of their curriculum, rarely offer training programs in transpersonal issues and practices,[13] Transpersonal perspectives are starting to be applied to such diverse fields as psychology, psychiatry, anthropology, sociology, pharmacology,[14] and social work theory.[15] Transpersonal therapies are also included in many therapeutic practices. Currently, transpersonal psychology, especially the schools of Jungian and Archetypal psychology, is integrated, at least to some extent, into many psychology departments in American and European Universities. Institutions of higher learning that have adopted insights from transpersonal psychology include The Institute of Transpersonal Psychology (US), California Institute of Integral Studies (US), John F. Kennedy University (US), Saybrook University (US), University of West Georgia (US), Atlantic University (US), Burlington College (US), Essex University (UK), Liverpool John Moores University (UK), the University of Northampton (UK), Leeds Metropolitan University (UK), Naropa University (Colorado), Pacifica Graduate Institute (CA), and Southwestern College (NM). There is also a strong connection between the transpersonal and the humanistic approaches to psychology. This is not surprising since transpersonal psychology started off within humanistic psychology.[16] In 1996 the British Psychological Society (the UK professional body equivalent to the APA) established a Transpersonal Psychology Section. It was co-founded by David Fontana, Ingrid Slack and Martin Treacy, and was according to Fontana[17] "the first Section of its kind in a Western scientific society".
Robert Frager, of the Institute of Transpersonal Psychology, and James Fadiman, of the Institute of Transpersonal Psychology, provide an account of the contributions of many of the key historic figures who have shaped and developed transpersonal psychology (in addition to discussing and explaining important concepts and theories germane to transpersonal psychology) in a textbook on personality theories[18] which serves to promote an understanding of the discipline in classroom settings. An example which points to the possibility that awareness and discussion of transpersonal psychology in mainstream classroom settings may be on the rise can be seen by the inclusion of a section on transpersonal psychology for the first time in a textbook by Barbara Engler[19] in which she asks the question, "Is spirituality an appropriate topic for psychological study?" Engler offers a brief account of the history of transpersonal psychology and a peek into its possible future in noting that G-H Jennings (1999) "suggests that transpersonal psychology, using Jung's typology, expresses the neglected inferior function in American psychology, needs to be incorporated into it, and offers great potential and promise for the development of psychology in the third millennium".[20]
Transpersonal psychology is many times regarded as the fourth wave force of psychology which according to Maslow even transcends the self-actualization of Humanistic psychology(1968).[21] Unlike the other first three schools of psychology i.e. psychoanalysis, behaviorism and humanistic psychology which more or less deny the transcended part of soul, transpersonal psychology integrates the whole spectrum of human development from prepersonality to transpersonality.[22] Hence transpersonal psychology can be considered the most integrated complete psychology, a positive psychology par excellence.[23] From personality to transpersonality, mind to meditation, neuroscience to Nirvana it is a complete wholesome science for all round development and treatment.[24]

[edit] Demarcations

Transpersonal psychology can be confused with Parapsychology. This may sometimes happen due to the overlapping and unconventional research interests of both fields. In short; parapsychology tends to focus more in its subject matter on the "psychic", while transpersonal psychology tends to focus on the "spiritual" (relatively crude though these categorizations are, it is still a useful distinction in this context). While parapsychology leans more towards traditional scientific epistemology (laboratory experiments, statistics, research on cognitive states), transpersonal psychology tends to be more closely related to the epistemology of the humanities and the hermeneutic disciplines (humanism, existentialism, phenomenology, anthropology), although it has always included contributions involving experimental and statistical research.
Transpersonal psychology may also, sometimes, be associated with New Age beliefs.[25] Although the transpersonal perspective has many overlapping interests with theories and thinkers associated with the term "New Age", it is still problematic to place transpersonal psychology within such a framework. Transpersonal psychology is an academic discipline,[26] not a religious or spiritual movement, and some of the field's leading authors, among those Sovatsky,[27] have criticized the nature of New Age discourse. Associations between transpersonal psychology and the New Age have probably contributed to the failures in the United States of America to get transpersonal psychology more formally recognised within the professional body, the American Psychological Association (APA).
Nowadays the distinction between transpersonal psychology and the psychology of religion, according to The Oxford Handbook of Psychology and Spirituality, is fading.[28]

[edit] Research

The transpersonal perspective spans many research interests. The following list is adapted from the Textbook of Transpersonal Psychiatry and Psychology[14] and includes:

[edit] Contributions to the academic field

Transpersonal Psychology has made several contributions to the academic field, and the studies of human development, consciousness and spirituality. Transpersonal Psychology has also made contributions to the field of psychiatry. One of the demarcations in transpersonal theory is between authors who present a fairly linear and hierarchical model of human development, such as Timothy Leary and Ken Wilber, and authors who present non-linear models of human development, such as Michael Washburn and Stanislav Grof. Timothy Leary, who was originally a professional psychologist and a professor of psychology, made a significant contribution to transpersonal psychology with the formulation of his "Eight Circuit Model of Consciousness", outlined in his book Info-Psychology.[29]
Ken Wilber's primary contribution to the field is the theory of a spectrum of consciousness consisting of three broad categories: the prepersonal or pre-egoic, the personal or egoic, and the transpersonal or trans-egoic.[5] A more detailed version of this spectrum theory includes nine different levels of human development, in which levels 1-3 are pre-personal levels, levels 4-6 are personal levels and levels 7-9 are transpersonal levels.[15] Later development of the theory also includes a tenth level.[30] Wilber has portrayed the development of human consciousness as both hierarchical and circular. His model is hierarchical in the way that development progresses from matter to body to mind to spirit. It is circular and uneven in the sense that the various developmental lines (e.g. morality, cognition, emotion, self-sense, etc.) don't always develop in tandem and thus progress can involve circling back to pick up the process. According to this theory different schools of psychology address different levels of the spectrum. Also, each level of organization, or self-development, includes a vulnerability to certain pathologies associated with that particular level.[15][31] That is, developmental tasks must be properly met or they might lead to developmental arrest.[13]
Wilber also describes a situation called the "pre/trans fallacy". According to Transpersonal theorists[32] western schools of psychology have had a tendency to dismiss or pathologize transpersonal levels, equating them with regressive pathological conditions belonging to a lower level. The pre/trans fallacy describes a lack of differentiation between pre-rational psychiatric problems and valid transpersonal problems.[15]
In contrast to Leary and Wilber, Michael Washburn[33] and Stanislav Grof[34] present models of human development that are not hierarchical or linear. Washburn presents a model that is informed by the Jungian perspective, and brings forth the notion of a U-turn.[35] In other words, he introduces the idea of "integration through regression". That is, regression in the service of transcendence.[13] Central to this model is the idea that the ego initially arose out of a "source" or "ground". Therefore, transpersonal development requires a return to this origins, before it can move on.[35] Or, as formulated by Sharma, Charak and Sharma:[13] ego revisits its nascent pre-ego origins in the unconscious in order to become integrated with its source and thereby transcend.
Grof, on the other hand, operates with a cartography consisting of three kinds of territories: the realm of the sensory barrier and the personal unconscious (described by psychoanalysis), the perinatal or birth-related realm (organizing principles for the psyche), and the transpersonal realm. According to this view proper engagement with the first two realms sets the stage for an ascent to the third, transpersonal, realm.[13] Grof applies regressional modes of therapy (originally with the use of psychedelic substances, later with other methods) in order to seek greater psychological integration. This has led to the confrontation of constructive and deconstructive models of the process leading to genuine mental health: what Wilber sees as a pre/trans fallacy does not exist for Washburn and Grof, for pre-rational states may be genuinely transpersonal, and re-living them may be essential in the process of achieving genuine sanity.[36]
As an alternative to many of the major epistemological and philosophical trends in the field, such as the focus upon experientialism (inner spiritual states) and perennialism (the legacy of the perennial philosophy), Ferrer[37] has suggested a revision of Transpersonal Theory that focuses more upon the great variety, or pluralism, of spiritual insights and spiritual worlds that can be disclosed by transpersonal inquiry. He calls this revision a "participatory turn".
Transpersonal Psychology has also brought clinical attention to the topic of spiritual crisis.[38] A spiritual crisis has to do with a person's relationship to existential issues, or issues that transcend the mundane issues of ordinary life. Many of the psychological difficulties associated with a spiritual crisis are not ordinarily discussed by mainstream psychology. Among these problems are psychiatric complications related to mystical experience, near-death experience, Kundalini awakening, shamanic crisis (also called shamanic illness), psychic opening, intensive meditation, and medical or terminal illness.[39]
The terms "Spiritual Emergence" and "Spiritual Emergency" were coined by Stanislav and Christina Grof[40] in order to describe a spiritual crisis in a person's life (precedents of Grof's approach in this regard are found in Jung, Perry, Dabrowski, Bateson, Laing, Cooper and antipsychiatry in the widest sense of the term). The term "Spiritual emergence" describes a "gradual unfoldment of spiritual potential with no disruption in psychological-social-occupational functioning".[41] In cases where the spiritual unfoldment is intensified beyond the control of the individual it may lead to a state of "Spiritual Emergency". A Spiritual Emergency may cause significant disruption in psychological, social and occupational functioning. Many of the psychological difficulties described above can, according to Transpersonal theory, lead to episodes of spiritual emergency.[13][39][42][43]
Because of the overlap of spiritual crisis and mental health problems, Transpersonal Psychologists[44] made a proposal for a new diagnostic category entitled "Psychoreligious or Psychospiritual Problem" at the beginning of the 1990s. The category was approved by the DSM-IV Task Force in 1993, after changing the title to "Religious or Spiritual Problem".[45] It is included in the fourth edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-IV).[46][47] According to Chinen the inclusion marks "increasing professional acceptance of transpersonal issues".[48] Besides signifying a greater sensitivity towards spiritual issues, and spiritually oriented narratives,[49] the new V-Code may also contribute to the greater cultural sensitivity of the manual and could help promote enhanced understanding between the fields of psychiatry and religion/spirituality.[50][51]

[edit] Criticism

Criticisms of transpersonal psychology have come from several commentators. One of the earliest criticisms of the field was issued by the Humanistic psychologist Rollo May, who disputed the conceptual foundations of transpersonal psychology.[52] Another early criticism regarded the relationship between Transpersonal Psychology and the ideas of William James. Although the ideas of James are central to the Transpersonal field, Alexander[53] thought that Transpersonal Psychology did not have a clear understanding of the negative dimensions of consciousness (such as evil) expressed in James' philosophy. This serious criticism has been absorbed by later Transpersonal theory, which has been more willing to reflect on these important dimensions of human existence.[54] Criticism has also come from the cognitive psychologist and humanist Albert Ellis, who has questioned the results of transpersonal psychotherapy [55], the scientific status of transpersonal psychology, and its relationship to religion and mysticism. [56] Friedman [25] has criticized the field of Transpersonal psychology for being underdeveloped as a field of science, placing it at the intersection between the broader domain of inquiry known as transpersonal studies (which may include a number of unscientific approaches) and the scientific discipline of psychology. Ferrer[37] has criticized Transpersonal Psychology for being too loyal to the perennial philosophy, for introducing a subtle Cartesianism, and for being too preoccupied with intrasubjective spiritual states (inner empiricism). As an alternative to these trends he suggests a revision of transpersonal theory. That is, a participatory vision of human spirituality that honors a wide assortment of spiritual insights, spiritual worlds and places.
Also, philosopher Ken Wilber, one of the early profiles within the transpersonal field, has repeatedly announced the demise of transpersonal psychology.[57][58]
From the standpoint of Buddhism and Dzogchen, Elías Capriles[59] has objected that transpersonal psychology fails to distinguish between the transpersonal condition of nirvana, which is inherently liberating, those transpersonal conditions which are within samsara and which as such are new forms of bondage (such as the four realms of the arupyadhatu or four arupa lokas of Buddhism, in which the figure-ground division dissolves but there is still a subject-object duality), and the neutral condition in which neither nirvana nor samsara are active that the Dzogchen teachings call kun gzhi (in which there is no subject-object duality but the true condition of all phenomena (dharmata) is not patent (and which includes all conditions involving nirodh or cessation, including nirodh samapatti, nirvikalpa samadhis and the samadhi or turiya that is the supreme realization of Patañjali's Yoga darshana). In the process of elaborating what he calls a meta-transpersonal psychology, Capriles has carried out conscientious refutations of Wilber, Grof and Washburn, which according to Macdonald & Friedman[60] will have important repercusions on the future of transpersonal psychology.
Doctrines or ideas of many colorful personalities, who were or are spiritual teachers in the Western world, such as Gurdjieff or Alice Bailey, are often assimilated into the transpersonal psychology mainstream scene. This development is, generally, seen as detrimental to the aspiration of transpersonal psychologists to gain a firm and respectable academic status. It could also be argued that most psychologists do not hold strictly to traditional schools of psychology — most psychologists take an eclectic approach. This could mean that some of the transpersonal categories listed above are considered by standard subdisciplines of psychology; religious conversion falling within the ambit of social psychology, altered states of consciousness within physiological psychology, and spiritual life within the psychology of religion. Transpersonal psychologists, however, disagree with the approach to such phenomena taken by traditional psychology, and claim that transpersonal categories have typically been dismissed either as signs of various kinds of mental illnesses, or as a regression to infantile stages of psychosomatic development. Thus, as illustrated by the pre/trans fallacy, religious and spiritual experiences have in the past been seen as either regressive or pathological and treated as such.

[edit] Applications and related disciplines

Transpersonal psychology has been applied to areas such as counselling, health, spiritual development, mind expansion, and to provide psychological security for self growth. Dr. William J. Barry established transpersonal psychology as a valid action research method in the field of education through his Ph.D. thesis and development of Transformational Quality (TQ) Theory [61]. Applications to the areas of business studies and management have been developed. Other transpersonal disciplines, such as transpersonal anthropology and transpersonal business studies, are listed in transpersonal disciplines.
Transpersonal art is one of the disciplines considered by Boucovolas,[62] in listing how transpersonal psychology may relate to other areas of transpersonal study. In writing about transpersonal art, Boucovolas begins by noting how, according to Breccia and also to the definitions employed by the International Transpersonal Association in 1971, transpersonal art may be understood as art work which draws upon important themes beyond the individual self, such as the transpersonal consciousness. This makes transpersonal art criticism germane to mystical approaches to creativity. Transpersonal art criticism, as Boucovolas notes, can be considered that which claims conventional art criticism has been too committed to stressing rational dimensions of art and has subsequently said little on art's spiritual dimensions, or as that which holds art work has a meaning beyond the individual person. Certain aspects of the psychology of Carl Jung, as well as movements such as music therapy and art therapy, may also relate to the field. Boucovolas' paper cites Breccia (1971) as an early example of transpersonal art, and claims that at the time his article appeared, integral theorist Ken Wilber had made recent contributions to the field. More recently, the Journal of Transpersonal Psychology, in 2005, Volume 37, launched a special edition devoted to the media, which contained articles on film criticism that can be related to this field.

[edit] See also

[edit] References

  1. ^ Walsh & Vaughan, 1993:203
  2. ^ Lajoie and Shapiro, 1992:91
  3. ^ Walsh & Vaughan, 1993:203
  4. ^ Walsh & Vaughan (1993: 202), trying to improve on other definitions, have proposed a definition which, in their view, entail fewer presuppositions, is less theoryladen, and more closely tied to experience
  5. ^ a b c Miller, 1998:541-542
  6. ^ Lajoie and Shapiro, 1992
  7. ^ Walsh & Vaughan, 1993
  8. ^ Walsh & Vaughan, 1993, p203.
  9. ^ Vich, 1988
  10. ^ Taylor, E. (May 1996) [1996]. "William James and transpersonal psychiatry". In Scotton, B.W.; Chinen, A.B.; Battista, J.R.. Textbook of Transpersonal Psychiatry and Psychology (1 ed.). New York: Basic Books. p. 26. ISBN 978-0465095308.
  11. ^ a b Chinen, 1996:10
  12. ^ Sardello, 2001
  13. ^ a b c d e f Sharma, Charak and Sharma, 2009
  14. ^ a b Scotton, Chinen and Battista, 1996
  15. ^ a b c d Cowley & Derezotes, 1994
  16. ^ Aanstoos, Serlin & Greening, 2000:23-24
  17. ^ Fontana et al., 2005, p. 5
  18. ^ Frager and Fadiman, 2005
  19. ^ Engler, 2009
  20. ^ Jennings, 2009, p. 377
  21. ^ "Transpersonal Psychology". Abraham-maslow.com. 2008-03-26. http://www.abraham-maslow.com/m_motivation/Transpersonal_Psychology.asp. Retrieved 2012-06-09.
  22. ^ [1][dead link]
  23. ^ "Britannica Online Encyclopedia". Britannica.com. http://www.britannica.com/bps/additionalcontent/18/36678143/Complementary-Research-Methods-in-Humanistic-and-Transpersonal-Psychology-A-Case-for-Methodological-Pluralism. Retrieved 2012-06-09.
  24. ^ [2][dead link]
  25. ^ a b Friedman, 2000
  26. ^ "Britannica Online Encyclopedia". Britannica.com. http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/704347/New-Age-movement/214741/Realizing-the-New-Age. Retrieved 2012-09-07.
  27. ^ Sovatsky, 1998:160-61
  28. ^ Miller, L. J., ed. (2012) [2012]. "Models of Spiritual Development". The Oxford Handbook of Psychology and Spirituality (1 ed.). Oxford University Press. p. 216. ISBN 978-0-19-972992-0.
  29. ^ Leary, 1980
  30. ^ Wilber, 1995, 1996
  31. ^ Walsh & Vaughan, 1996:62-74
  32. ^ Walsh & Vaughan, 1996:63
  33. ^ Washburn: 1994, 1995
  34. ^ Grof, 1975, 1985, 1998
  35. ^ a b Walsh & Vaughan, 1996:64
  36. ^ Rothberg & Kelly, 1998
  37. ^ a b Ferrer, 2001
  38. ^ Cowley & Derezotes (1994) note that transpersonal theory has an understanding of spirituality that is somewhat different from the popular understanding of spirituality as a statement of belief, or as a measure of church attendance; features that could rather be seen as indications of the religious dimension. Religious problems, that is problems associated with the religious dimension, have to do with possible psychological conflict resulting from a person's involvement with the beliefs and practices of an organized religious institution. Among these problems are experiences related to changing denomination, conversion to a new religion, intensification of religious belief or practice, loss or questioning of faith, and joining or leaving a new religious movement or cult (Lukoff, Lu & Turner, 1996:234)
  39. ^ a b Lukoff, Lu & Turner, 1996:236-39
  40. ^ Grof & Grof, 1989
  41. ^ Lukoff, Lu & Turner, 1996:238
  42. ^ Turner et al., 1995
  43. ^ In addition to this, Whitney (1998) has also made an argument in favor of understanding mania as a form of spiritual emergency.
  44. ^ Turner et al., 1995: 435
  45. ^ Turner et al., 1995: 436
  46. ^ See DSM-IV: "Other Conditions That May Be a Focus of Clinical Attention", Religious or Spiritual Problem, Code V62.89. American Psychiatric Association, 1994
  47. ^ Lu et al., 1997
  48. ^ Chinen 1996:12
  49. ^ Sovatsky: 179,187
  50. ^ Turner et al.:443)
  51. ^ The construct validity of the new category has been assessed by Milstein et al. (2000)
  52. ^ Aanstos, Serling & Greening, 2000:25
  53. ^ Alexander, 1980
  54. ^ Daniels, 2005
  55. ^ Ellis & Yeager, 1989
  56. ^ Ellis, 1989
  57. ^ "On Critics, Integral Institute, My Recent Writing, and Other Matters of Little Consequence: A Shambhala Interview with Ken Wilber". Part I: The Demise of Transpersonal Psychology. http://wilber.shambhala.com/html/interviews/interview1220.cfm/.
  58. ^ Wilber, Ken. A sociable God: toward a new understanding of religion. Shambala Publications. p. 51. ISBN 978-1590302248. http://books.google.com/books?id=cDX8zNEbUXoC.
  59. ^ Capriles 2000, 2006, 2007, 2008
  60. ^ "Macdonald & Friedman". 2006. p. ii. http://www.transpersonalstudies.org/ImagesRepository/ijts/Downloads/The%20International%20Journal%20of%20Transpersonal%20Studies,%202006,%20Volume%2025.pdf.
  61. ^ Barry,2012
  62. ^ Boucovolas, 1999

[edit] Bibliography

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  • Aanstoos, C. Serlin, I., & Greening, T. (2000). History of Division 32 (Humanistic Psychology) of the American Psychological Association. In D. Dewsbury (Ed.), "Unification through Division: Histories of the divisions of the American Psychological Association", Vol. V. Washington, D.C.: American Psychological Association.
  • Alexander, Gary T. (1980) William James, the Sick Soul, and the Negative Dimensions of Consciousness: A Partial Critique of Transpersonal Psychology. Journal of the American Academy of Religion, XLVIII(2):191-206
  • American Psychiatric Association. (1994). Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, fourth edition. Washington, D.C.: American Psychiatric Association.
  • Barry, W. J. (2012). Challenging the Status Quo Meaning of Educational Quality: Introducing Transformational Quality (TQ) Theory©. Educational Journal of Living Theories. 5, 1-26
  • Boucovolas, M. (1999). Following the movement: from transpersonal psychology to a multidisciplinary transpersonal orientation. Journal of Transpersonal Psychology, 31 (1) 27-39
  • Caplan, Mariana (2009). Eyes Wide Open: Cultivating Discernment on the Spiritual Path. Sounds True. ISBN 1-59179-732-2
  • Capriles, E. (2000). Beyond Mind: Steps to a Metatranspersonal Psychology. Honolulu, HI: The International Journal of Transpersonal Studies, 19:163-184.
  • Capriles, E. (2006). Beyond Mind II: Further Steps to a Metatranspersonal Philosophy and Psychology. San Francisco, California: The International Journal of Transpersonal Studies[2], 24:5-44.
  • Capriles, E. (in press). Beyond Mind III: Further Steps to a Metatranspersonal Philosophy and Psychology. Miami, Florida: The International Journal of Transpersonal Studies, special issue following vol. 25.
  • Capriles, E. (2007). Beyond Being: A Metaphenomenological Elucidation of the Phenomenon of Being, The Being of the Subject and the Being of Objects. Beyond Mind, Beyond Being, Beyond History: A Dzogchen-Founded Metatranspersonal Philosophy and Psychology. 1. Mérida, Venezuela. http://webdelprofesor.ula.ve/humanidades/elicap/en/Main/Bb-bm-bh.
  • Capriles, E. (2007). Beyond Mind: A Metaphenomenological, Metaexistential Philosophy, and a Metatranspersonal Metapsychology. Beyond Mind, Beyond Being, Beyond History: A Dzogchen-Founded Metatranspersonal Philosophy and Psychology. 2.
  • Capriles, E. (2007). Beyond History: A Degenerative Philosophy of History Leading to a Genuine Postmodernity. Beyond Mind, Beyond Being, Beyond History: A Dzogchen-Founded Metatranspersonal Philosophy and Psychology. 3.
  • Chinen, Allan B. The emergence of Transpersonal psychiatry. In Scotton, Bruce W., Chinen, Allan B. and Battista, John R., Eds. (1996) Textbook of Transpersonal Psychiatry and Psychology. New York: Basic Books
  • Cowley, Au-Deane S. & Derezotes, David (1994) Transpersonal Psychology and Social Work Education. Journal of Social Work Education, 10437797, Winter, Vol. 30, Issue 1
  • Daniels, M. (2005). Shadow, Self, Spirit: Essays in Transpersonal Psychology. Exeter: Imprint Academic. ISBN 1-84540-022-4.
  • Ellis, Albert (1989) Dangers of Transpersonal Psychology: A Reply To Ken Wilber. Journal of Counseling & Development, Feb89, Vol. 67 Issue 6, p336, 2p;
  • Ellis, Albert; Yeager, Raymond J. (1989) Why some therapies don't work: The dangers of transpersonal psychology. Amherst, NY, US: Prometheus Books.
  • Engler, Barbara (2009) Personality Theories: An Introduction, 8th ed., Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. ISBN 0-547-14834-8 | ISBN 978-0-547-14834-2
  • Frager, Robert, & Fadiman, James (2005) Personality and Personal Growth, 6th ed., Prentice Hall. ISBN 0-13-144451-4 ISBN 978-0-13-144451-5
  • Ferrer, Jorge N. (2001) Revisioning Transpersonal Theory. A Participatory Vision of Human Spirituality. New York: State University of New York Press (SUNY Series in Transpersonal and Humanistic Psychology)
  • Friedman, Harris (2000) Toward Developing Transpersonal Psychology as a Scientific Field. Paper presented at Old Saybrook 2 conference, May 11–14, 2000, State University of West Georgia
  • Fontana, David, Slack, Ingrid & Treacy, Martin, Eds. (2005) Transpersonal Psychology: Meaning and Developments. Transpersonal Psychology Review Special Issue. Leicester: British Psychological Society
  • Grof, Stanislav & Grof, Christina (eds) (1989) Spiritual Emergency: When Personal Transformation Becomes a Crisis (New Consciousness Reader) Los Angeles : J.P Tarcher
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  • Grof, Stanislav (1985). Beyond the Brain. Albany, New York: State University of New York Press.
  • Grof, Stanislav (1998). The Cosmic Game: Explorations of the Frontiers of Human Consciousness. Albany, New York: State University of New York (SUNY) Press.
  • Grof, Stanislav (2009). "Holotropic research and archetypal astrology". Archai: The Journal of Archetypal Cosmology (San Fransciso: Archai Press) 1. http://www.archaijournal.org/archive.html.
  • James, William (1902/1969) The Varieties of Religious Experience. London: Collier-Macmillan.
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  • Lajoie, D. H. & Shapiro, S. I. (1992). Definitions of transpersonal psychology: The first twenty-three years. Journal of Transpersonal Psychology, Vol. 24.
  • Leary, Timothy (1980)Info-Psychology. New Falcon Publications. ISBN 1-56184-105-6
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  • Lukoff, David, Lu, Francis G. & Turner, Robert P. Diagnosis. A clinical approach to religious and spiritual problems. In Scotton, Bruce W., Chinen, Allan B. and Battista, John R., Eds. (1996) Textbook of Transpersonal Psychiatry and Psychology. New York: Basic Books
  • Macdonald, D. & Friedman, H. Editors. (2006) Introduction. San Francisco, California: The International Journal of Transpersonal Studies[4], vol. 24, p. ii.
  • Miller, John J. (1998) Book Review: Textbook of Transpersonal Psychiatry and Psychology. Psychiatric Services 49:541-542, April 1998. American Psychiatric Association
  • Milstein, Glen; Midlarsky, Elizabeth; Link, Bruce G.; Raue, Patrick J. & Bruce, Martha (2000) Assessing Problems with Religious Content: A Comparison of Rabbis and Psychologists. Journal of Nervous & Mental Disease. 188(9):608-615, September
  • Rothberg, D. & Kelly, S. (Eds.) (1998) Ken Wilber in Dialogue. Wheaton, Illinois: Quest Books.
  • Sardello, Robert J. (2001) Love and the World: A Guide to Conscious Soul Practice. Great Barrington, Massachusetts: Lindisfarne Books.
  • Scotton, Bruce W, Chinen, Allan B. and John R. Battista, Eds. (1996) Textbook of Transpersonal Psychiatry and Psychology. New York: Basic Books
  • Sharma, Pulkit; Charak, Ruby & Sharma, Vibha. "Contemporary Perspectives on Spirituality and Mental Health". Indian Journal of Psychological Medicine. 2009 Jan-Jun; 31(1): 16–23.
  • Sovatsky, Stuart (1998) Words from the Soul : Time, East/West Spirituality, and Psychotherapeutic Narrative. New York: State University of New York Press (SUNY Series in Transpersonal and Humanistic Psychology)
  • Turner, Robert P.; Lukoff, David; Barnhouse, Ruth Tiffany & Lu Francis G. (1995) Religious or spiritual problem. A culturally sensitive diagnostic category in the DSM-IV. Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease, Jul;183(7):435-44.
  • Vich, M.A. (1988) "Some historical sources of the term "transpersonal". Journal of Transpersonal Psychology, 20 (2) 107-110
  • Walsh, R. & Vaughan, F. (1993). On transpersonal definitions. Journal of Transpersonal Psychology, 25 (2) 125-182
  • Walsh, R. & Vaughan, F. The worldview of Ken Wilber. In Scotton, Bruce W., Chinen, Allan B. and Battista, John R., Eds. (1996) Textbook of Transpersonal Psychiatry and Psychology. New York: Basic Books
  • Washburn, Michael (1994). Transpersonal Psychology in Psychoanalytic Perspective. Albany, New York: State University of New York Press.
  • Washburn, Michael (1995). The Ego and the Dynamic Ground (2d Ed.). Albany, New York: State University of New York Press.
  • Whitney, Edward (1998) Personal Accounts : Mania as Spiritual Emergency. Psychiatric Services 49:1547-1548, December. American Psychiatric Association
  • Wilber, Ken (1981) Up From Eden. Garden City: Anchor/Doubleday.
  • Wilber, Ken (1995). Sex, Ecology, Spirituality. Boston, Massachusetts & London: Shambhala.
  • Wilber, Ken (1996). Brief History of Everything. Boston, Massachusetts & London: Shambhala

[edit] Related reading

  • Aziz, Robert (1990). C.G. Jung's Psychology of Religion and Synchronicity (10 ed.). The State University of New York Press. ISBN 0-7914-0166-9.
  • Aziz, Robert (1999). "Synchronicity and the Transformation of the Ethical in Jungian Psychology". In Becker, Carl. Asian and Jungian Views of Ethics. Greenwood. ISBN 0-313-30452-1.
  • Aziz, Robert (2007). The Syndetic Paradigm: The Untrodden Path Beyond Freud and Jung. The State University of New York Press. ISBN 978-0-7914-6982-8.
  • Davis, John V. (2003). Transpersonal psychology in Taylor, B. and Kaplan, J., Eds. The Encyclopedia of Religion and Nature. Bristol, England: Thoemmes Continuum.
  • Metzner, Ralph (2008). The Expansion of Consciousness, paperback, Berkeley, California: Green Earth Foundation & Regent Press. ISBN 978-1-58790-147-8.
  • Metzner, Ralph (1998). The Unfolding Self: Varieties of Transformative Experience, rev. ed. of Opening to Inner Light, Novato, California: Origin Press. ISBN 1-57983-000-5.
  • Rowan, John. (1993) The Transpersonal: Psychotherapy and Counselling. London: Routledge
  • Schneider, Kirk (1987). "The Deified Self: A Centaur Response to Wilber and the Transpersonal Movement". Journal of Humanistic Psychology 27: 196–216.
  • Schneider, Kirk (2004). Rediscovery of Awe: Splendor, Mystery, and the Fluid Center of Life. St. Paul, MN: Paragon House.
  • Schneider, Kirk (2009). Awakening to Awe: Personal Stories of Profound Transformation. Lanham, MD: Jason Aronson.
  • Walsh, Roger (1989) Psychological Chauvinism and Nuclear Holocaust: A Response to Albert Ellis and Defense of Non-Rational Emotive Therapies. Journal of Counseling & Development; Feb89, Vol. 67 Issue 6, p338
  • Wilber, Ken (1989) Let's Nuke the Transpersonalists: A Response to Albert Ellis. Journal of Counseling & Development, Feb89, Vol. 67 Issue 6, p332
  • Igor V. Limar (2011). Carl G. Jung’s Synchronicity and Quantum Entanglement: Schrödinger’s Cat ‘Wanders’ Between Chromosomes. NeuroQuantology Journal, 09 (2). pp. 313-321.

[edit] External links

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