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Full-Text Articles in Psychology

Transpersonal Space/Time Through The Arts, Lisa Herman Jan 2015

Transpersonal Space/Time Through The Arts, Lisa Herman

International Journal of Transpersonal Studies

As transpersonal researchers and practitioners work to articulate the meaning of transpersonal individually and collectively, I suggest conceptualizing transpersonal space/time as real in a physically felt sense. This embodied knowing is best practiced and expressed through the arts. The premise is situated within a larger field using the term liminal as a parallel meaning construct for transpersonal I present my own work referencing a range of disciplines where scholars and practitioners using the terms liminal, transpersonal and others, artfully express their understanding of extra-ordinary experience. A personal example through creative writing is offered demonstrating the way my body/mind inquiring into …


Non-Duality: Not One, Not Two, But Many (Editor's Introduction), Glenn Hartelius Jan 2015

Non-Duality: Not One, Not Two, But Many (Editor's Introduction), Glenn Hartelius

International Journal of Transpersonal Studies

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Mirror Gazing For Cultural Bereavement: A Mixed-Methods Study Into The Impact Of A Restricted Sensory Environment Meditation Process (Psychomanteum) On Culture Shock In Expatriates, Samuel W. Root Jan 2015

Mirror Gazing For Cultural Bereavement: A Mixed-Methods Study Into The Impact Of A Restricted Sensory Environment Meditation Process (Psychomanteum) On Culture Shock In Expatriates, Samuel W. Root

International Journal of Transpersonal Studies

Thirteen expatriates experienced an individual 2-3 hour psychomanteum process, including pre- and post-meditation interviews based on cultural bereavement theory, mirror gazing in a restricted sensory chamber, art work, and follow-up surveys. Repeated measures of negative affect were administered at pretest, posttest, and follow-up periods. Correlational analyses revealed significant reductions in total culture shock and mood disturbance at follow up. Extraversion, home country, and importance of religion/ spirituality were significant covariates in change on total culture shock scores at posttest. Qualitative analyses revealed four categories of effects: clarified emotional conflicts, letting go, shifted perspectives, and reviewed success factors. The psychomanteum process …


Clay As A Spiritual Practice, Kat Mciver Jan 2015

Clay As A Spiritual Practice, Kat Mciver

International Journal of Transpersonal Studies

art, expressive arts, spiritual practice, clay, clay as a spiritual practice, art therapy, Mary Magdalene, interior light, surrender, Divine Presence


The Mariner’S Way Of Individuation: An Insight Into The Jungian Principle Of Acausality, Parisa Shams, Farideh Pourgiv Jan 2015

The Mariner’S Way Of Individuation: An Insight Into The Jungian Principle Of Acausality, Parisa Shams, Farideh Pourgiv

International Journal of Transpersonal Studies

As a Romantic poet who was especially interested in the workings of the mind, Coleridge, in The Rime of the Ancient Mariner, has dealt with notions, ideas, and images that lend themselves to a Jungian reading, specifically from the perspective of the principle of synchronicity which is to be the focus of this analysis. The theory of synchronicity, being the principle explaining the concurrence of psychic states and external events which bear no causal relationship, could be employed to bring up a novel interpretation of the poem. The causally unrelated but meaningful succession of events in the course of the …


Songwriting And Transformation: The Subjective Experience Of Sharing Self Through Song, Hilary F. Beech Jan 2015

Songwriting And Transformation: The Subjective Experience Of Sharing Self Through Song, Hilary F. Beech

International Journal of Transpersonal Studies

This qualitative heuristic study explored the subjective experience of transformation resulting from the practice of songwriting in nonclinical populations, through semistructured interviews with 12 songwriters, 6 men and 6 women, aged 35-69. Thematic content analysis yielded 6 top-level themes: Connecting, Communicating, Wellbeing, Affirmation, Personal Growth, and Making A Difference. Subthemes of Connecting reflect a wide variety of transpersonal experiences. The Communicating subthemes capture ways in which songwriting afforded participants a language superior to speech for Expressing Feelings, Sharing Self, and Sending A Message. Participants reported Personal Growth, expressed through subthemes Processing Experience (making meaning of painful material) and Empowerment. Learning …


The Art Of Observation And Experience, Andrée Salom Jan 2015

The Art Of Observation And Experience, Andrée Salom

International Journal of Transpersonal Studies

Mindfulness practices aim to develop intentional awareness of the present moment. This paper touches on two of the difficulties that may arise in the course of such practice. On the one hand, the present moment may be overwhelming if there is an over-identification with the content that the practices uncover. On the other hand, the present moment may seem excessively foreign if there is an over-identification with the witnessing of such content. Art can prevent an over-identification on both poles of this equation by acting as a container for content, a source of somatic discharge, and a facilitator for observing …


Leadership Intelligence Before And After Participation In Ugl Leadership Training, Maria Ekegren, Anna Maria Dåderman Jan 2015

Leadership Intelligence Before And After Participation In Ugl Leadership Training, Maria Ekegren, Anna Maria Dåderman

International Journal of Transpersonal Studies

The aim of this study was to examine whether there was a difference in three types of leadership intelligence (spiritual intelligence, emotional intelligence, and rational intelligence) before and after participation in a specific leadership training course. Leadership intelligence was assessed with the aid of the Leadership Intelligence Questionnaire (LIQ; Dåderman, Ronthy, Ekegren, & Mårdberg, 2013). The study included 125 participants (M = 38 years, SD = 8), 82 of whom were women. The participants achieved significantly higher mean scores in the three types of leadership intelligence after participation in leadership training, than their mean scores before the training. This professional …


Transpersonal Psychology And An Agnostic Experiential Exploration Of Mediumship And The Ostensible Phenomenon Of Life After Death, Elliot Benjamin Jan 2015

Transpersonal Psychology And An Agnostic Experiential Exploration Of Mediumship And The Ostensible Phenomenon Of Life After Death, Elliot Benjamin

International Journal of Transpersonal Studies

This paper presents results of an autoethnographic personal experiential research study of mediumship and the ostensible phenomenon of life after death. The researcher’s experiences center on his attempt to make contact with his deceased brother, as part of a doctoral research project. The researcher concludes with a skeptical interpretation of the phenomenon of medium-facilitated communications regarding the deceased; he suggests these are likely to involve cold reading, sensory cues, coincidence, and subjective validation rather than constituting genuine evidence of life after death. The researcher’s conclusions leave room for the possibility of a paranormal interpretation, though this is not favored.


Further Developing Transpersonal Psychology As A Science: Building And Testing Middle-Range Transpersonal Theories, Harris L. Friedman Jan 2015

Further Developing Transpersonal Psychology As A Science: Building And Testing Middle-Range Transpersonal Theories, Harris L. Friedman

International Journal of Transpersonal Studies

Further developing transpersonal psychology as a science has been impeded by the over emphasis on two approaches to building theory, namely grand theories that attempt to explain everything and mini-theories that avoid explaining much of anything. In between these extremes are “middle-range” transpersonal psychology theories that can better allow for scientific progress. They bracket metaphysical and supernatural approaches common in transpersonal grand theories, and accept the possible generalizability of findings commonly rejected by transpersonal mini-theories. The transpersonal construct of self-expansiveness illustrates one way that middle-range transpersonal theories can lead to a program of cumulative empirical research and empirically informed practices. …


Introduction To The Special Topic Section On Arts And Consciousness, Dorit Netzer Jan 2015

Introduction To The Special Topic Section On Arts And Consciousness, Dorit Netzer

International Journal of Transpersonal Studies

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The Lost Dialogue Of Artists: Negotiating The Conjuring Of Art, Diane L. Meyer Jan 2015

The Lost Dialogue Of Artists: Negotiating The Conjuring Of Art, Diane L. Meyer

International Journal of Transpersonal Studies

This article examines the nature of the duologue between artist and creative source, as a lost interplay and negotiation within the gestation of the work in a uniquely individual language that can never be fully revealed, translated, or understood by a viewer. The author, an elder, late career studio artist, draws comparisons to sacred language and interpretation positing that the conversations and relationships that form between artist and art are very different from those between works of art and humanity and have never been appropriately examined from an insider perspective. She offers reflections and writings of master artists as an …


Connecting To The Sacred Through Contemplative Gaze, Diane L. Meyer Jan 2015

Connecting To The Sacred Through Contemplative Gaze, Diane L. Meyer

International Journal of Transpersonal Studies

Visual contemplation can do more than convey images, it can transmit to the soul in ways that both inform and inspire. The artist shares the experience of empathic connection with another artist that may be cultivated by engaging with pieces that evoke emotional and somatic responses, and then entering into creative conversation with the artist by following their gestures, brush strokes, movement, marks, and color decisions.


Japan Dreaming, Jill Mellick Jan 2015

Japan Dreaming, Jill Mellick

International Journal of Transpersonal Studies

Art has its own voice, and demands that the artist listen, feel, and give it birth. This account relates the artist's experience of creating two works in a series entitled, "Japan Dreaming," works that evoke Japanese scrolls, fabric space dividers, paper streamers, kimono, and gates into sacred space.


Alchemy Series, Ellen Questel Jan 2015

Alchemy Series, Ellen Questel

International Journal of Transpersonal Studies

As medieval alchemists did not distinguish between psyche and matter, so too the artist, the images, and the materials of art are partners in the process of revealing. The artist shares her process of working with the archetypal images presented here.


Altered States Of Consciousness And Creative Expression, Micah Linton Jan 2015

Altered States Of Consciousness And Creative Expression, Micah Linton

International Journal of Transpersonal Studies

Hypnagogia, a state of consciousness between wakefulness and sleep, provides a palette where conscious awareness intertwines with dream images. This state is compared with synesthesia, the imaginal realm, and Jung's active imagination process as inspiration for artistic creation.


Poetry And Nature, Judy L. Todd Jan 2015

Poetry And Nature, Judy L. Todd

International Journal of Transpersonal Studies

Poetry reaches in and touches the felt sense of awe, of grief, of sacred space; it is the crucible within which loss sparks renewal and trauma transforms into initiation. The author offers two poems with narrative context to illustrate its role in her personal experience.


Poetry And Consciousness, Diana Raab Jan 2015

Poetry And Consciousness, Diana Raab

International Journal of Transpersonal Studies

Poetry is more than words—it is a state in which internal and external worlds come together in awareness and give birth to something more true than what either can reach alone. The author offers two poems along with their context and reflections on the function of poetry.


Mystical Poetry And Imagination: Inspiring Transpersonal Awareness Of Spiritual Freedom, Dorit Netzer Jan 2015

Mystical Poetry And Imagination: Inspiring Transpersonal Awareness Of Spiritual Freedom, Dorit Netzer

International Journal of Transpersonal Studies

The author describes the philosophical and empirical aspects of an intuitive inquiry that explored 24 individuals’ (ages 30-80) mental images and creative expression in response to selected mystical poetry through a three-step procedure named Imaginal Resonance. Participants’ imaginal encounters with the poems inspired transpersonal awareness of spiritual freedom—a participatory, co-creative experience of self-awareness beyond personal concerns. Intuitive examination of the data and a hermeneutic analysis uncovered participants’ symbolic expressions of qualities such as awakening, personal development, introversion, expansion, connection, and liberation. Imaginal resonance facilitated a temporary glimpse of spiritual freedom, which was soon hindered by reasoning, questioning, commentary, comparison, anticipation, …


Exploring Soul Loss Through Arts-Based Research, Jacqueline Linder Jan 2015

Exploring Soul Loss Through Arts-Based Research, Jacqueline Linder

International Journal of Transpersonal Studies

Arts-based approaches to scholarly inquiry are becoming increasingly common in qualitative research. The research presented here examines the psychospiritual impact of childhood sexual abuse (CSA), and a spectrum of soul loss was identified including soul wounding, soul withering, soul shattering, soul flight, soul theft, and soul murder. Part of the data set consisted of 24 mandalas by participants and the researcher, as well as one integrative drawing based on the use of imaginal resonance. The art data permitted a depth of insight into the psychospiritual impact of sexual abuse that went beyond what had been provided by other data streams. …


Singing And Participatory Spirituality, Paul D. Freinkel Jan 2015

Singing And Participatory Spirituality, Paul D. Freinkel

International Journal of Transpersonal Studies

The author describes and examines participatory knowing, participatory spirituality, and psycho-spiritual growth and transformation as experienced by a group of accomplished singers through their singing and the process of learning to sing. In so doing, his study brings rich contemporary research narrative as evidence of the key elements of the participatory revisioning of transpersonal theory. In this article the author reports parts of the results and conclusions of an intuitive inquiry that explored the peak experiences, plateau experiences, and consequent transpersonal growth of nine classically trained singers, including the researcher, and one advanced practitioner of sacred chant. All participants had …


A Photo Reverie: Creative Synthesis In Intuitive Inquiry, Paul D. Freinkel Jan 2015

A Photo Reverie: Creative Synthesis In Intuitive Inquiry, Paul D. Freinkel

International Journal of Transpersonal Studies

Creative synthesis is the last phase of heuristic research where the researcher uses his or her tacit and intuitive understanding of the research findings to synthesise and portray these findings through a creative medium. In this short paper and accompanied photo-reverie, the author demonstrates how he used a creative synthesis in an intuitive inquiry to portray the inner dimensions of his research into the transpersonal implications of singing.


Musical Creativity And Mindfulness Meditation: Can The Practice Of Mindfulness Meditation Enhance Perceived Musical Creativity?, John Z. Newton Jan 2015

Musical Creativity And Mindfulness Meditation: Can The Practice Of Mindfulness Meditation Enhance Perceived Musical Creativity?, John Z. Newton

International Journal of Transpersonal Studies

The relationship between musical creativity and mindfulness meditation is explored through a qualitative study of three composers’ individual experiences of musical creativity and participation in eight guided mindfulness meditation sessions. Through qualitative interviews conducted before and after completion of a mindfulness course, data was analyzed and categorized into themes in order to identify whether the practice of mindfulness meditation had enhanced participants’ perceived musical creativity. Themes from the first set of interviews (Expression, Harmony, Intuition) represent the participants’ subjective experience of musical creativity, while themes from the second set (Enhanced focus and awareness, Nonstriving) outline subjective changes reported by each …


Of The World That Freely Offers Itself: An Exploration Of Writerly/Artistic Rituals, Geri Lipschultz Jan 2015

Of The World That Freely Offers Itself: An Exploration Of Writerly/Artistic Rituals, Geri Lipschultz

International Journal of Transpersonal Studies

The author, a fiction writer, explores the relationship between the writer/artist and the so-called Muse, especially with respect to working rituals that precede the artist’s creative expression and make it more accessible. She takes an informal approach to a collaborative inquiry and experiments with her own musings as she navigates through her colleagues’ responses to a questionnaire in which she asks them to qualify and self-analyze their pre-writing/painting rituals and ensuing working habits. Her attempt to deepen her own experience by understanding the experience of others unfolds in this lyric essay in which linguistic strategies serve to differentiate inner process …


Transpersonal Art—Does It Bite?, Judy Schavrien Jan 2015

Transpersonal Art—Does It Bite?, Judy Schavrien

International Journal of Transpersonal Studies

This article addresses the question of whether or not political perspective and content enrich transpersonal art and studies. The artist’s argument for making the range of the transpersonal inclusive, not just transcendent but also immanent, employs examples from her art as well as descriptions of her process. She sets the discussion in three contexts: that of art criticism, contemporary and traditional; that of art production; and that of the field of transpersonal studies. In regard to the latter, she both defines and examines the role of spiritual bypass, and argues the importance of resisting the temptation to take refuge in …