Transpersonal
Encyclopedia
The term transpersonal is often used to refer to psychological categories that transcend the normal features of ordinary ego-functioning. That is, stages of psychological growth, or stages of consciousness
, that move beyond the rational
and
precede the mystical. The term is highly associated with the work of Abraham Maslow
and his understanding of "peak experiences
", and was first adapted by the human potential movement
in the 1960s.
Among the psychological sciences that have studied transpersonal phenomena are Transpersonal psychology
, Humanistic psychology
and Near-Death Studies
. Among the forerunners to the development of transpersonal theory are the school of Psychosynthesis
(founded by Roberto Assagioli
), and the Analytical
school of C.G Jung
.
In integral theory, transpersonal refers to stages of human development through which a person
's self-awareness
extends beyond the personal
. Integral theorists include Ken Wilber
, Michael Murphy
, Michael Washburn, Allan Combs
, Jean Gebser
, Don Beck, and Clare Graves. The work of all of these theorists is inspired, in varying degrees, by the writings of the Hindu philosopher Sri Aurobindo
.
defines these as "The common denominator of this otherwise rich and ramified group of phenomena is the feeling of the individual that his consciousness expanded beyond the usual ego boundaries and the limitations of time and space." These include mystical states and near-death experiences also subject to the psychology of religion
. The idea of altered "states" of awareness is pivotal to this research. The conceptualisation, and other signifying processes of altered forms of awareness are studied in transpersonal psychology. Transpersonal psychotherapy consists of moving between these states,and learning techniques for disassembling and reassembling on different states/situations of altered realitymontage for the purpose of healing, which can be brought about by transpersonal psychotechnologies. This clarifies one of transpersonal psychology's roots in early psychedelic work, some of these psychotechnologies include research with psychedelic plants and chemicals such as LSD
, ibogaine
, ketamine
, peyote
, ayahuasca
and the vast variety of substances available to all human cultures throughout history. See: "Part III. Transpersonal Dimensions of Healing with Psychedelic States" Vol. 2. It can also be said that the attempts by transpersonal psychology is an intercultural approach to medicine
and ethnobiology
understood as a discourse raised from the academic community of the globalised university
sector of knowledge production encountering the so called herbalist
shaman or alchemist
.
Consciousness
Consciousness is a term that refers to the relationship between the mind and the world with which it interacts. It has been defined as: subjectivity, awareness, the ability to experience or to feel, wakefulness, having a sense of selfhood, and the executive control system of the mind...
, that move beyond the rational
Rationality
In philosophy, rationality is the exercise of reason. It is the manner in which people derive conclusions when considering things deliberately. It also refers to the conformity of one's beliefs with one's reasons for belief, or with one's actions with one's reasons for action...
and
precede the mystical. The term is highly associated with the work of Abraham Maslow
Abraham Maslow
Abraham Harold Maslow was an American professor of psychology at Brandeis University, Brooklyn College, New School for Social Research and Columbia University who created Maslow's hierarchy of needs...
and his understanding of "peak experiences
Peak experiences
Peak experience is a term used to describe certain transpersonal and ecstatic states, particularly ones tinged with themes of euphoria, harmonization and interconnectedness...
", and was first adapted by the human potential movement
Human Potential Movement
The Human Potential Movement arose out of the social and intellectual milieu of the 1960s and formed around the concept of cultivating extraordinary potential that its advocates believed to lie largely untapped in all people...
in the 1960s.
Among the psychological sciences that have studied transpersonal phenomena are Transpersonal psychology
Transpersonal psychology
Transpersonal psychology is a form of psychology that studies the transpersonal, self-transcendent or spiritual aspects of the human experience....
, Humanistic psychology
Humanistic psychology
Humanistic psychology is a psychological perspective which rose to prominence in the mid-20th century, drawing on the work of early pioneers like Carl Rogers and the philosophies of existentialism and phenomenology...
and Near-Death Studies
Near-death studies
Near-death studies is a school of psychology and psychiatry that studies the phenomenology and after-effects of a Near-death experience .-NDE :...
. Among the forerunners to the development of transpersonal theory are the school of Psychosynthesis
Psychosynthesis
Psychosynthesis is an approach to psychology that was developed by Roberto Assagioli, M.D. He compared psychosynthesis to the prevailing thinking of the day, contrasting psychosynthesis for example with Existential psychology, but unlike the latter considered loneliness not to be "either ultimate...
(founded by Roberto Assagioli
Roberto Assagioli
Roberto Assagioli was an Italian psychiatrist and pioneer in the fields of humanistic and transpersonal psychology. Assagioli founded the psychological movement known as psychosynthesis, which is still being developed today by therapists, and psychologists, who practice his technique...
), and the Analytical
Analytical psychology
Analytical psychology is the school of psychology originating from the ideas of Swiss psychiatrist Carl Jung. His theoretical orientation has been advanced by his students and other thinkers who followed in his tradition. Though they share similarities, analytical psychology is distinct from...
school of C.G Jung
Carl Jung
Carl Gustav Jung was a Swiss psychiatrist and the founder of Analytical Psychology. Jung is considered the first modern psychiatrist to view the human psyche as "by nature religious" and make it the focus of exploration. Jung is one of the best known researchers in the field of dream analysis and...
.
In integral theory, transpersonal refers to stages of human development through which a person
Person
A person is a human being, or an entity that has certain capacities or attributes strongly associated with being human , for example in a particular moral or legal context...
's self-awareness
Self-awareness
Self-awareness is the capacity for introspection and the ability to reconcile oneself as an individual separate from the environment and other individuals...
extends beyond the personal
Personal
Personal may refer to:* Personal hygiene* Personal identity * Personal web pagePersonal may also refer to:* Personal advertisement, an ad, like a classified ad, generally meant to find romance or friendship...
. Integral theorists include Ken Wilber
Ken Wilber
Kenneth Earl Wilber II is an American author who has written about mysticism, philosophy, ecology, and developmental psychology. His work formulates what he calls Integral Theory. In 1998, he founded the Integral Institute, for teaching and applications of Integral theory.-Biography:Ken Wilber was...
, Michael Murphy
Michael Murphy (author)
Michael Murphy is the co-founder of the Esalen Institute, a key figure in the Human Potential Movement and author of both fiction and non-fiction books on topics related to extraordinary human potential.- Biography :...
, Michael Washburn, Allan Combs
Allan Combs
Allan Combs is a consciousness researcher, neuropsychologist, and systems theorist. He considers his most significant work to be the development of a developmental/evolutionary model of the mind using concepts from systems science. Much of this was accomplished in collaboration with his friend and...
, Jean Gebser
Jean Gebser
Jean Gebser was a philosopher who described the structures of human consciousness, a linguist, and a poet.-Biography:...
, Don Beck, and Clare Graves. The work of all of these theorists is inspired, in varying degrees, by the writings of the Hindu philosopher Sri Aurobindo
Sri Aurobindo
Sri Aurobindo , born Aurobindo Ghosh or Ghose , was an Indian nationalist, freedom fighter, philosopher, yogi, guru, and poet. He joined the Indian movement for freedom from British rule and for a duration became one of its most important leaders, before developing his own vision of human progress...
.
Transpersonal states
Transpersonal psychology considers the concept of transpersonal states of awareness. Stanislav GrofStanislav Grof
Stanislav Grof is a psychiatrist, one of the founders of the field of transpersonal psychology and a pioneering researcher into the use of non-ordinary states of consciousness for purposes of analyzing, healing, and obtaining growth and insight into the human psyche...
defines these as "The common denominator of this otherwise rich and ramified group of phenomena is the feeling of the individual that his consciousness expanded beyond the usual ego boundaries and the limitations of time and space." These include mystical states and near-death experiences also subject to the psychology of religion
Psychology of religion
Psychology of religion consists of the application of psychological methods and interpretive frameworks to religious traditions, as well as to both religious and irreligious individuals. The science attempts to accurately describe the details, origins, and uses of religious beliefs and behaviours...
. The idea of altered "states" of awareness is pivotal to this research. The conceptualisation, and other signifying processes of altered forms of awareness are studied in transpersonal psychology. Transpersonal psychotherapy consists of moving between these states,and learning techniques for disassembling and reassembling on different states/situations of altered realitymontage for the purpose of healing, which can be brought about by transpersonal psychotechnologies. This clarifies one of transpersonal psychology's roots in early psychedelic work, some of these psychotechnologies include research with psychedelic plants and chemicals such as LSD
LSD
Lysergic acid diethylamide, abbreviated LSD or LSD-25, also known as lysergide and colloquially as acid, is a semisynthetic psychedelic drug of the ergoline family, well known for its psychological effects which can include altered thinking processes, closed and open eye visuals, synaesthesia, an...
, ibogaine
Ibogaine
Ibogaine is a naturally occurring psychoactive substance found in a number of plants, principally in a member of the Apocynaceae family known as Iboga . A hallucinogen with both psychedelic and dissociative properties, the substance is banned in some countries; in other countries it is being used...
, ketamine
Ketamine
Ketamine is a drug used in human and veterinary medicine. Its hydrochloride salt is sold as Ketanest, Ketaset, and Ketalar. Pharmacologically, ketamine is classified as an NMDA receptor antagonist...
, peyote
Peyote
Lophophora williamsii , better known by its common name Peyote , is a small, spineless cactus with psychoactive alkaloids, particularly mescaline.It is native to southwestern Texas and Mexico...
, ayahuasca
Ayahuasca
Ayahuasca is any of various psychoactive infusions or decoctions prepared from the Banisteriopsis spp. vine, usually mixed with the leaves of dimethyltryptamine-containing species of shrubs from the Psychotria genus...
and the vast variety of substances available to all human cultures throughout history. See: "Part III. Transpersonal Dimensions of Healing with Psychedelic States" Vol. 2. It can also be said that the attempts by transpersonal psychology is an intercultural approach to medicine
Medicine
Medicine is the science and art of healing. It encompasses a variety of health care practices evolved to maintain and restore health by the prevention and treatment of illness....
and ethnobiology
Ethnobiology
]Ethnobiology is the scientific study of dynamic relationships between peoples, biota, and environments, from the distant past to the immediate present....
understood as a discourse raised from the academic community of the globalised university
University
A university is an institution of higher education and research, which grants academic degrees in a variety of subjects. A university is an organisation that provides both undergraduate education and postgraduate education...
sector of knowledge production encountering the so called herbalist
Herbalist
An herbalist is:#A person whose life is dedicated to the economic or medicinal uses of plants.#One skilled in the harvesting and collection of medicinal plants ....
shaman or alchemist
Alchemy
Alchemy is an influential philosophical tradition whose early practitioners’ claims to profound powers were known from antiquity. The defining objectives of alchemy are varied; these include the creation of the fabled philosopher's stone possessing powers including the capability of turning base...
.
See also
- Transpersonal psychologyTranspersonal psychologyTranspersonal psychology is a form of psychology that studies the transpersonal, self-transcendent or spiritual aspects of the human experience....
- Humanistic psychologyHumanistic psychologyHumanistic psychology is a psychological perspective which rose to prominence in the mid-20th century, drawing on the work of early pioneers like Carl Rogers and the philosophies of existentialism and phenomenology...
- Near-death studiesNear-death studiesNear-death studies is a school of psychology and psychiatry that studies the phenomenology and after-effects of a Near-death experience .-NDE :...
- Analytical psychologyAnalytical psychologyAnalytical psychology is the school of psychology originating from the ideas of Swiss psychiatrist Carl Jung. His theoretical orientation has been advanced by his students and other thinkers who followed in his tradition. Though they share similarities, analytical psychology is distinct from...
- PsychosynthesisPsychosynthesisPsychosynthesis is an approach to psychology that was developed by Roberto Assagioli, M.D. He compared psychosynthesis to the prevailing thinking of the day, contrasting psychosynthesis for example with Existential psychology, but unlike the latter considered loneliness not to be "either ultimate...
- Transpersonal chakraTranspersonal chakraTranspersonal chakras are a line of several chakras that many yogis and meditation practitioners say are located sequentially above the crown chakra to a distance above the head of as far as about 18 inches .- Transpersonal chakras in Asian philosophy:Transpersonal...