Philosophy Commons^™

Surfing The Absolute: Comments On Volume 22 Of The Ijts, Don Diespecker

International Journal of Transpersonal Studies

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Cosmic Connectivity: Toward A Scientific Foundation For Transpersonal Consciousness, Ervin Laszlo

International Journal of Transpersonal Studies

The principal aim of this paper is to overview some of the salient existing empirical data supporting

the possibility of an interconnectivity of consciousness that extends beyond the conventionally

recognized confines of body and mind. Thereafter, the article provides possible explanations

of this apparent interconnectivity drawn from the work of Jung and recent developments in

physics.

“All Mind? No Matter”: The Self-Regulation Paradigm, Stanley Krippner

International Journal of Transpersonal Studies

In this short article, the author discusses the conflict between materialistic and transcendental

paradigms in accounting for the nature of reality. After speculating on the meaning and implications

of an idealist perspective where consciousness is seen as the fundamental ground of all

phenomena, the author reframes the consciousness versus matter debate in terms of complex

systems theory. Such a reframing allows for the mutual coexistence of both matter and consciousness

in a manner which is nonreductive and inclusive of different epistemologies.

A Secret Poem For You, Jorge N. Ferrer

International Journal of Transpersonal Studies

In this paper, the author presents a poem entitled “Plenitude.” The poem, originally written by

the author’s father (José Antonio Noguera Gimenez) in Spanish, is offered by the author as a vehicle

for the exploration of self, life, spirit, and nature. Both the Spanish and English versions of the

poem are provided.

Animal Mind As Approached By The Transpersonal: Notion Of Collective Conscious Experience, Axel A. Randrup

International Journal of Transpersonal Studies

The discussion of animal mind in this paper is based on an idealist philosophy contending that

only conscious experience is real, based on the transpersonal notion of collective conscious experience.

The latter has earlier been explained by the author as experience referred to a group of

humans as the subject, the We. Here it is contended that also a group of humans and animals

can be seen as the subject of collective conscious experiences. The author argues that the notion

of collective conscious experience provides a possibility for studying the problems of animal mind

and the related human problem of …

Metaphysical Tracking: The Oldest Ecopsychology, David Kowalewski

International Journal of Transpersonal Studies

Ecopsychology—the use of nature for understanding and healing the soul—has become accepted

as a legitimate tool by theorists and practitioners alike. Yet one important dimension of the

field has been ignored: metaphysical tracking. This article brings to light a number of mystical

phenomena that trackers, ancient and modern, have experienced, and suggests their common

root in the so-called energy body. The implications for psychospiritual growth are then

described. Finally, alternative explanations and new avenues for research are discussed.

A Revised Paranormal Belief Scale, Jerome J. Tobacyk

International Journal of Transpersonal Studies

A 26-item Revised Paranormal Belief Scale is introduced which provides a measure of degree of

belief in each of seven dimensions: Traditional Religious Belief, Psi, Witchcraft, Superstition,

Spiritualism, Extraordinary Life Forms, and Precognition. Improvements from the original 25-

item Paranormal Belief Scale (Tobacyk & Milford, 1983) include adoption of a seven-point rating

scale as well as item changes for three subscales: Precognition, Witchcraft, and Extraordinary

Life Forms. These improvements provide greater reliability and validity, less restriction of range,

and greater cross-cultural validity.

Natural Crazy Wisdom, Kidder Smith, Susan Burggraf

International Journal of Transpersonal Studies

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Two Suitors: A Parable, Richard Tarnas

International Journal of Transpersonal Studies

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Images Of The Intrapersonal Organization: Soul Making At Work, Mary A. Hazen, Jo A. Isbey

International Journal of Transpersonal Studies

In this paper, the authors use archetypal theory to explore the relationship between personal and

organizational development and the role of tacit knowledge and active imagination in such development.

The authors claim that organizational change occurs within each person as well as at the

more frequently studied levels of small group and large system; and that individuals and their relationship

with work and the organization as experienced develop concurrently. The authors’ position

is illustrated through a case taken from a larger qualitative study using methods of data collection

and analysis rooted in an interpretive framework.

Process, Structure, And Form: An Evolutionary Transpersonal Psychology Of Consciousness, Allan Combs, Stanley Krippner

International Journal of Transpersonal Studies

In the spirit of William James, we present a process view of human consciousness. Our approach,

however, follows upon Charles Tart’s original systems theory analysis of states of consciousness,

although it differs in its reliance on the modern sciences of complexity, especially dynamical systems

theory and its emphasis on process and evolution. We argue that consciousness experience

is constructive in the sense that it is the result of ongoing self-organizing and self-creating

(autopoietic) processes in the mind and body. These processes follow a broad developmental

agenda already described by psychologists such as Jean Piaget. Similar constructive transformations

of consciousness appear …

Primal Spirituality And The Onto/Phylo Fallacy: A Critique Of The Claim That Primal Peoples Were/Are Less Spiritually And Socially Developed Than Modern Humans, Steven Taylor

International Journal of Transpersonal Studies

Many theorists—including Freud, Habermas and Wilber—have suggested that there are strong

parallels between ontogeny and phylogeny, and that the development of the human species has

followed the same basic pattern as the development of the individual from birth to adulthood. I

discuss this view in relation to archaeological and anthropological knowledge of the world’s “primal

peoples.” I look at the spiritual, moral, and social development of primal peoples and find

that, in almost every instance, they are more advanced than these theorists suggest, possessing

characteristics which only occur—ontogenetically—at the higher “fulcrums” of development. I

argue that Wilber’s spectrum model cannot …

Entheogens: True Or False?, Roger Walsh

International Journal of Transpersonal Studies

Despite 40 years of dialogue, debate still continues over whether psychedelics are capable of

inducing genuine mystical experiences. This paper first reviews the arguments against this possibility

and shows that all of them contain shortcomings. One reason the debate still continues is

that there has been no adequate theory of mystical states and their relationship to the factors

which produce them. Consequently a theory of mystical states based on Charles Tart’s systems

model of consciousness is proposed. This theory suggests how identical states of consciousness can

be induced by very different means, including contemplative practices and chemical substances,

and yet …

Editors’ Introduction, Harris Friedman, Douglas A. Macdonald

International Journal of Transpersonal Studies

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Experience, Culture And Reality: The Significance Of Fisher Information For Understanding The Relationship Between Alternative States Of Consciousness And The Structures Of Reality, Charles D. Laughlin, Jason C. Throop

International Journal of Transpersonal Studies

The majority of the world’s cultures encourage or require members to enter alternative states of

consciousness (ASC) while involved in religious rituals. The question is, why? This paper suggests

an explanation for the culturally prescribed ASC from the view of Fisher information. It argues

from the position, first put forward by Emile Durkheim in his magnum opus, The Elementary

Forms of the Religious Life, that all religions are grounded in reality. It suggests that many of the

structural elements of cultural cosmologies are similar and that the ritual induction of ASC may

help to bring individual experience into greater accord …

Mysticism And Its Cultural Expression: An Inquiry Into The Description Of Mystical Experience And Its Ontological And Epistemological Nature, Evgeny Torchinov

International Journal of Transpersonal Studies

The purpose of this paper is to critically explore the nature and ontological and epistemological

significance of differences observed in how various cultural traditions describe and explain such

experiences. After an initial consideration of definitional issues, the article focuses on the arguments

supporting and challenging the idea of mystical experience being a universal phenomenon

and a vehicle for true knowledge. The article also examines the problem of the unity of the mystical

experience as a definite state of consciousness and the multiplicity of its sociocultural and

civilizational expressions and descriptions conditioned by different cultural and historical factors.

An Integral Approach To Depression, Harris Friedman, Douglas A. Macdonald

International Journal of Transpersonal Studies

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Gnostic Dilemmas In Western Psychologies Of Spirituality1, Harry T. Hunt

International Journal of Transpersonal Studies

Early Gnosticism is identified as a form of Weber’s inner-worldly mysticism that, following the

critique of Plotinus, entailed spiritual metapathologies of inflated grandiosity, despair, and/or

social withdrawal. These vulnerabilities re-emerge in the naturalistic psychologies of spirituality

begun by Emerson, Nietzsche, Jung, and Maslow and more implicitly within contemporary personality

and neuropsychological research on numinous/transpersonal experience. An updated

version of Gnostic dilemma and its conflicted dualism may be endemic to any would-be science

of the spiritual and to much current transpersonal psychology as well.

Integral Approach In Transpersonal Psychotherapy, Laura B. Gilot

International Journal of Transpersonal Studies

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Clinical Depression: A Transpersonal Point Of View, Jaime L. Llabres

International Journal of Transpersonal Studies

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Spirituality Of Depression, Marc-Alain Descamps

International Journal of Transpersonal Studies

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The Perennial Philosophy, Axel Randrup

International Journal of Transpersonal Studies

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An Integral Perspective On Depression, Dinu S. Teodorescu

International Journal of Transpersonal Studies

The integral approach to therapy proposes to accommodate all the etiological factors of

unipolar depression in its theory, as well as to make use of all existing therapies, both pharmacological

and psychological, in the treatment of unipolar depression. Integral Therapy is

compared to cognitive therapy to find evidence for its superiority over the cognitive

approach. It appears that the cognitive therapy is more cost-effective than Integral Therapy

as an individual approach in the treatment of depression, but that the integral perspective

accounts better for etiological factors.

The Essence Of Transpersonal Psychology Contemporary Views, S. I. Shapiro, Grace W. Lee, Philippe L. Gross

International Journal of Transpersonal Studies

The authors compiled 80 chronologically ordered passages from the contemporary psychology

literature that address the essence of transpersonal psychology. A thematic analysis of

these passages revealed that the two most frequent categories, occurring 53 (66.2%) and 49

(61.2%) times respectively, were: (a) Going beyond or transcending the individual, ego, self,

the personal, personality, or personal identity; existence of a deeper, true, or authentic Self;

and (b) Spirituality, psychospiritual, psychospiritual development, the spiritual, spirit. Other,

less frequent, themes included: special states of consciousness; interconnectivity/unity; going

beyond other schools of psychology; emphasis on a scientific approach; mysticism; full range

of consciousness; greater …

Unattached Mind, Shoshin Lchishima

International Journal of Transpersonal Studies

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Arrest, Interrogation, Prison Life, V. V. Nailmov

International Journal of Transpersonal Studies

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Dinomor: Evoking Memories Of Dino's Dreams And Death, Tonu R. Soidla

International Journal of Transpersonal Studies

This is a transpersonal fantasy about the last days of the dinosaurs ca. sixty-five million years ago. I suppose that communication with the Timeless (or if one prefers to put it--with Another) in one's mind precedes intraspecies communication and that one of the first recognizable acts of mystical life is surrender. A more specific and of course more far-out and irreverent hypothesis underlying this fantasy is that--unlike the bulk of individual memory records--Timeless memory "seeds" of unspecified origin are transmittable by a [retro]enterovirus. This leads to the possibility of horizontal transmission of this type of memory. In the new host, …

Dancing With The Trickster Notes For A Transpersonal Autobiography, Stanley Krippner

International Journal of Transpersonal Studies

This autobiographical essay focuses on "transpersonal," "anomalous," and "exceptional"

experiences, those elements often ignored when individuals write the stories of their lives.

Nevertheless, these experiences have life-transformative potentials that may be more salient

than the activities usually serving as the basis for autobiographical accounts.

The Last Time I Saw Fritz, Marc L. Joslyn

International Journal of Transpersonal Studies

Zen is not merely an exotic practice imported from the Orient; it is the constantly fresh

realization ofTrue Nature everywhere and at every time. So, it may be expected that sparks

of Zen will be found in all cultures. Hence, having been engaged with Zen practice since 1964,

the author reminisces here about how he turned to Zen after his study of Gestalt psychology

and his encounter with Gestalt therapy in the person ofFritz Perls. Gestalt therapy as usually

practiced is not Zen, the author concludes. But if it clears the way for a glimmer of the Self

which has …

Wu Wei In Chuang Tzu As Life-Systematic, Kuang-Ming Wu

International Journal of Transpersonal Studies

Wu wei (non-doing) in Chuang Tzu is expressed in story-bits reflecting life-slices. They are lifesystematic,

not random, not having a system. One; Chuang Tzu is a dragonfly over the pond of

life, dotting the water of daily ongoing without dotting it. Two; the dotting is dot-sayings that

yam life's concrete bits into story-coherence. Three; Chuang Tzu dots and struts around to let

others say, and life-coherenc.e appears. FoUl'; life-coherence is a life-family of concrete bits, a

thread of many life-fibres twisted together. Five; Chu Hsi and Chuang Tzu have dot-sayings

that draw readers into making systems of their own to …