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Full-Text Articles in Psychology
Buddhism And Transpersonal Psychology, Elías Capriles
Buddhism And Transpersonal Psychology, Elías Capriles
International Journal of Transpersonal Studies
In the debate between Freud and Romain Rolland the latter asserted the infants’ oceanic feeling to be saner than the adults’ limited sense of self, and that mystics recover the oceanic feeling without losing the learning achieved during socialization. Freud retorted that the oceanic feeling involved a sense of shelterlessness, and whoever went through derealization was psychotic and needed to be cured. However, the feeling of shelterlessness comes from the fledging sense of separation, and although derealization is a dangerous process, when it develops unhindered the result is greater sanity. So, Buddhism and TP agree in valuing transpersonal and holotropic …
Unexpected Side Effects: A Cautionary Note On Challenges Of Persistent Self-Transcendence, Elizabeth D. Stephens, Harris L. Friedman
Unexpected Side Effects: A Cautionary Note On Challenges Of Persistent Self-Transcendence, Elizabeth D. Stephens, Harris L. Friedman
International Journal of Transpersonal Studies
Self-transcendence is an ambiguous construct without consensual meaning, yet many claim that it relates to, or even causes, beneficial outcomes. Few discuss its potential deleterious side effects, choosing to focus primarily on positive effects. However, anything with sufficient potency to heal may have unintended side effects, especially when it leads beyond a transitory state to becoming an enduring trait, such as when self-transcendence (ST) becomes persistent self-transcendence (PST). With PST, evidence is overviewed here, along with two illustrative case reports, that people can suffer emotional difficulties, motivation changes, loss of self-reflexivity, anhedonia, dissociation, depersonalization, memory problems, and other psychological concerns. …
After Awakening, The Laundry: Is Nonduality A Spiritual Experience?, Jenny Wade
After Awakening, The Laundry: Is Nonduality A Spiritual Experience?, Jenny Wade
International Journal of Transpersonal Studies
Historically the exclusive purview of contemplative religious paths, awakening into nonduality was considered the pinnacle of human attainment, even if, in some traditions, it proved to be the threshold to even more sublime states. Awakening was traditionally available only to dedicated elite seekers, usually renunciates who practiced for years in monastic communities, their progress directed by the authorities of their lineage. Today technologies for creating the electroencephalographic signatures of advanced meditators are available for purchase, and esoteric religious practices like Zen meditation and asana yoga have been secularized as stress-reduction techniques and physical exercise, respectively. Increased numbers of teachers of …
Two Modes Of Sudden Spiritual Awakening? Ego-Dissolution And Explosive Energetic Awakening, Steve Taylor
Two Modes Of Sudden Spiritual Awakening? Ego-Dissolution And Explosive Energetic Awakening, Steve Taylor
International Journal of Transpersonal Studies
A typology of experiences of sudden spiritual awakening is suggested, proposing that they may occur in two major forms, or modes. In a study of 19 cases of self-reported sudden spiritual awakening (within a larger sample that included cases of wholly gradual spiritual awakening), it was found that 13 cases could be interpreted in terms of either (a) a sudden collapse of the ego or self-system (egodissolution) or (b) a kundalini-like explosive release of energy. Both these types of spiritual awakening appeared to be most frequently induced by intense forms of psychological turmoil, such as bereavement, depression, addiction, and intense …
From Philosophy To Phenomenology: The Argument For A “Soft” Perennialism, Steve Taylor
From Philosophy To Phenomenology: The Argument For A “Soft” Perennialism, Steve Taylor
International Journal of Transpersonal Studies
This paper argues for a soft perennialism, distinct from the hard perennialism which suggests that spiritual and religious traditions are expressions of the same underlying spiritual realities. There are two reasons why it is necessary to think in terms of a soft perennial model: firstly, because of a number of important common themes or trends across spiritual traditions; and secondly (and most importantly) because when the process of expansion of being or awakening occurs outside the context of spiritual traditions, broadly the same themes and tendencies appear, suggesting that there is a common landscape of experience which precedes interpretation and …
The Peak At The Nadir: Psychological Turmoil As The Trigger For Awakening Experiences, Steve Taylor
The Peak At The Nadir: Psychological Turmoil As The Trigger For Awakening Experiences, Steve Taylor
International Journal of Transpersonal Studies
A study of 161 temporary awakening experiences showed that over 23% were triggered by, or associated with, intense turmoil and distress (Taylor, 2012b). Examples of some of these turmoil-induced awakening experiences are given, illustrating the wide variety of traumatic experiences involved. (The type of trauma was found to be less important than its intensity.) These temporary awakening experiences are contrasted with permanent suffering-induced transformational experiences (SITEs). A distinction is made between a primary shift, involving the establishment of a new self-system (which occurs in SITEs), and the secondary shift which may occur after temporary awakening experiences, when the individual’s self-system …