Psychology Commons^™

Subjectivity Is No Object: Can Subject-Object Dualism Be Reconciled Through Phenomenology?, Brent Dean Robbins, Harris L. Friedman, Chad V. Johnson, Zeno Franco

International Journal of Transpersonal Studies

Transpersonal psychology has at times critiqued the broader psychology field for perpetrating a somewhat arbitrary Cartesian subject-object divide. Some phenomenologists claim that reframing this purported divide as an experienced phenomenon can defuse its philosophical impact. If subjective experiences are viewed as continuous with the lifeworld out of which objective phenomena are abstracted, the divide between these is revealed as a somewhat arbitrary, if useful, construction. This, in turn, challenges psychology to engage with subjective phenomena in a more substantive way. In this paper based on excerpts from a protracted email conversation held on the American Psychological Association’s Humanistic Psychology (Division …

Sensory Dots, No-Self, And Stream-Entry: The Significance Of Buddhist Contemplative Development For Transpersonal Studies, Charles D. Laughlin

International Journal of Transpersonal Studies

Based on the author’s nearly 50 years of meditation, it is observed that as a given alternative state is accessed and used over the span of years, experiences and capacities within that state are not merely static but may themselves shift as a practitioner develops neuropsychologically. An ethnographer using a substance within the context of a cultural practice may gain helpful direct insights into that cultural practice, but the researcher may fail to realize that the state attained by a novice may be substantively different from that gained by an elder or shaman with years of experience in the practice. …

Nature, Human Ecopsychological Consciousness And The Evolution Of Paradigm Change In The Face Of Current Ecological Crisis, Karen Palamos

International Journal of Transpersonal Studies

This paper explores factors that contribute to the ecological crisis of the contemporary time, including philosophical, psychological, and spiritual beliefs that have contributed to the current situation. Recognition is paid to the role of reductionist Cartesian thought and centuries of attempted separation from nature. Contributions of Jungian, post-Jungian, depth, and transpersonal scholars fortify an understanding of the subtle perceptual shifts for change to become possible. Recognition of humanity’s interconnectivity with all life is proposed as a key factor in building motivation toward becoming agents of change, concluding with a call for co-created praxis toward regeneration of connection to life in …

Taylor's Soft Perennialism: A Primer Of Perennial Flaws In Transpersonal Scholarship, Glenn Hartelius, Glenn Hartelius

International Journal of Transpersonal Studies

This response to Taylor's essay in this issue concludes that his notion of soft perennialism is unworkable and shows no promise as a theory to explain spiritual diversity. Numerous specific shortcomings of the paper are described, then it is used as basis for identifying three broad categories of error that occur in some transpersonal scholarship. Examples from Taylor's paper are supplemented with similar errors in papers by other transpersonal scholars.

Yamato Kotoba: The Language Of The Flesh, Yukari Kunisue, Judy Schavrien

International Journal of Transpersonal Studies

This inquiry builds on the work of such thinkers as David Abram and Maurice Merleau-

Ponty; like their work, it addresses the fact that people in the Western developed world,

through their acculturations, sacrifice intimacy with the natural world. The article explores

one remedial measure: the Yamato Kotoba language of the Japanese. This is a language

before the Chinese injection of spoken and written words, one that preserves the earlier

words better suited, the authors propose, to expressing the interpenetrating experience of

the person with—in this case the Japanese—natural setting. Such an intimacy appears, for

instance, in Basho’s Haiku. In …