Psychology Commons^™

Ciis Today, Spring 2007 Issue, Ciis

CIIS Today

This volume is the Spring 2007 issue of CIIS Today, the Magazine of the California Institute of Integral Studies.

Editors’ Introduction, Harris Friedman, Glenn Hartelius

International Journal of Transpersonal Studies

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Does The Concept Of “Altered States Of Consciousness” Rest On A Mistake?, Adam J. Rock, Stanley Krippner

International Journal of Transpersonal Studies

Block (2002) has argued that the multiplicity of meanings ascribed to consciousness is due

to the erroneous treatment of very different concepts as a single concept. Block distinguished

four notions of consciousness intended to encapsulate the various meanings attributed to

the term: phenomenal, access, self, and monitoring consciousness. We argue that what is

common to all of these definitions is the implicit distinction between consciousness and the

content of consciousness. We critically examine the term “altered state of consciousness”

and argue that affixing the qualifier “altered state” to consciousness results in a theoretical

confusion of consciousness and its content, that …

The Challenges, Prospects, And Promise Of Transpersonal Psychology, Paul F. Cunningham

International Journal of Transpersonal Studies

Several substantial critiques remain a source of fractionalizing debate within transpersonal

psychology, including the weakness of its definition, whether it is redundant with Wilber’s

integral psychology, whether it is a scientific field, whether it is too metaphysical, whether it

neglects the problem of evil, and what contribution can it make to mainstream psychology.

This article explicates these and related areas of critique and provides a response that identifies

the essential challenges and future prospects of transpersonal psychology. The article also

emphasizes the field’s unique role as a potential bridge connecting psychological science with

the transpersonal psyche in a way that …

Applying Quantitative Research Methods In Transpersonal Psychology: Introduction To Special Topic Section, Harris L. Friedman, Glenn Hartelius

International Journal of Transpersonal Studies

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Mindfulness In Measurement: Reconsidering The Measurable In Mindfulness Practice, Sharon G. Solloway, William P. Fisher Jr.

International Journal of Transpersonal Studies

Can an organic partnership of qualitative and quantitative data confirm the value of mindfulness practice as an assignment in undergraduate education? Working from qualitative evidence suggesting the existence of potentially measurable mindfulness effects expressed in ruler measures, a previous study calibrated a mathematically invariant scale of mindfulness practice effects with substantively and statistically significant differences in the measures before and after the assignment. Current efforts replicated these results. The quantitative model is described in measurement terms defined at an introductory level. Detailed figures and appendices are provided, and a program of future research is proposed.

A Third Model Of Self-Construal: The Metapersonal Self, Teresa L. Decicco, Mirella L. Stroink

International Journal of Transpersonal Studies

This research adds a third model and measure of self-construal to the current psychological literature: the metapersonal self-construal. This model extends previous theory and research, which has established two self-construal orientations to date: the independent and interdependent self-construal. The research presents a series of studies investigating the theoretical and psychometric properties of the third model and measure. Study 1 produced a valid and reliable 10-item self-report scale of the metapersonal self. Study 2 determined the scale to be low in social desirability bias. Studies 3 and 4 examined the convergent and discriminant validity of the three self-construal scales. Investigations among …

Book Review: The Untethered Soul: The Journey Beyond Yourself, By Michael A. Singer, Gene Thursby

International Journal of Transpersonal Studies

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Reports Of Transpersonal Experiences By Non-Native Practitioners Of The Native American Sweat Lodge Ceremony: A Critical Appraisal, Whit Hibbard

International Journal of Transpersonal Studies

Interviews with 30 experienced non-native practitioners of the Native American sweat lodge

ceremony revealed 184 reports of transpersonal experiences. Interview questions sought to (a)

disclose how practitioners discern or critique their own experiences, (b) consider alternative

explanations for practitioners’ experiences, and (c) critically reflect on the sweat lodge

ceremony per se as a spiritual practice. It was found that practitioners generally (a) interpreted

their experiences as trustworthy interactions with a spiritual reality, (b) did not seriously

consider alternative explanations for their experiences, and (c) neglected to reflect critically

on the sweat lodge ceremony per se as a spiritual practice.

Book Review The Fall: Evidence For A Golden Age, 6,000 Years Of Insanity And The Dawning Of A New Era, By Steve Taylor, Elias Capriles

International Journal of Transpersonal Studies

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Ketamine-Enhanced Psychotherapy: Preliminary Clinical Observations On Its Effects In Treating Death Anxiety, Eli Kolp, Scott M. Young, Harris Freidman, Evgeny Krupirsky, Karl Jansen, Laurie-Ann O’Connor

International Journal of Transpersonal Studies

Ketamine, a dissociative anesthetic commonly used by US physicians, has recently been

shown to be a powerful anti-depressant and is also capable of eliciting transpersonal experiences

that can be transformative. Although currently approved in the US only for use as an

anesthetic, physicians there can legally prescribe it off-label to treat various psychological/

psychiatric problems and it has been used for these non-anesthetic purposes in Argentina,

Iran, Mexico, Russia, and the UK, as well as in the US. The literature on using ketamine

psychotherapeutically is reviewed and two case studies using ketamine-enhanced psychotherapy

(KEP) for treating death anxiety in terminally-ill …

Ciis Today, Fall 2006 Issue, Ciis

CIIS Today

This volume is the Fall 2006 issue of CIIS Today, the Magazine of the California Institute of Integral Studies.

An Exploratory Investigation Into The Association Of Neuroticization, Cognitive Style, And Spirituality To Reported Altered States Of Consciousness In Women Experiencing Childbirth, Nikolai Gruzdev, Dimitri Spivak

International Journal of Transpersonal Studies

This study examined the relation of altered states of consciousness to neuroticization, spiritual experience,

and divergent thinking in a sample of women (N= 102) at late pregnancy and post-delivery. The results

suggest that stress associated with imminent childbirth is linked to higher levels of ASCs and that neuroticization

and spirituality seem to be implicated in the induction of ASCs.

Transpersonal Education: Problems, Prospects And Challenges, Paul F. Cunningham

International Journal of Transpersonal Studies

Despite its substantial scientific, academic, and professional achievements, transpersonal psychology has

not been fully incorporated within traditional undergraduate psychology curricula. One reason is conventional

psychology’s prejudiced perception of humanity’s spiritual nature. Other reasons lie within the field

of transpersonal psychology itself, including the lack of agreed-upon general curricular models, absence of

normative educational (student) outcomes, unstructured courses with restricted content coverage, and conceptual

and methodological disagreements among experts. One of the most pressing challenges facing contemporary

transpersonal education is the publication of an authoritative, standard textbook that would

effectively introduce undergraduate students to transpersonal psychology and facilitate the progress of …

Syncretism In Transpersonal Studies: Introduction To This Issue’S Special Topics Section, Harris L. Friedman, Douglas A. Macdonald

International Journal of Transpersonal Studies

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Statement Of Transition - Editor's Introduction, Douglas A. Macdonald, Harris Friedman

International Journal of Transpersonal Studies

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Phenomenological Analysis Of Experimentally Induced Visual Mental Imagery Associated With Shamanic Journeying To The Lower World, Adam J. Rock

International Journal of Transpersonal Studies

This study explored ostensibly shamanic journeying imagery by (a) assessing visual images across induction

techniques (i.e., sonic driving, Ganzfeld, relaxation, and sitting with eyes open); (b) determining combination(

s) of induction technique and instructions most associated with religious imagery; and (c) investigating

the origins of visual imagery. Six participants were randomly assigned to factorial combinations of

a 3 x 4 mixed design (levels of instruction x levels of induction) and were administered the Modified Affect

Bridge to explore the origins of mental imagery reported during the experimental conditions.

Phenomenological analysis yielded comprehensive constituent themes. Harner’s (1990) shamanic journeying,

coupled with …

Beyond Mind Ii: Further Steps To A Metatranspersonal Philosophy And Psychology, Elías Capriles

International Journal of Transpersonal Studies

Some of Wilber’s “holoarchies” are gradations of being, which he views as truth itself; however, being is

delusion, and its gradations are gradations of delusion. Wilber’s supposedly universal ontogenetic

holoarchy contradicts all Buddhist Paths, whereas his view of phylogeny contradicts Buddhist Tantra and

Dzogchen, which claim delusion/being increase throughout the aeon to finally achieve reductio ad absurdum .

Wilber presents spiritual healing as ascent; Grof and Washburn represent it as descent—yet they are

all equally off the mark. Phenomenologically speaking, the Dzogchen Path is “descending,” but not in

Washburn’s or Grof ’s sense—and “transpersonal” is not a synonym of “sanity.” …

Gebser's Integral Consciousness And Living In The Real World: Facilitating Its Emergence Using A Course In Miracles, Cornelius J. Holland, Douglas A. Macdonald

International Journal of Transpersonal Studies

This paper discusses certain parallels between the work of Jean Gebser, the European philosopher and student of consciousness, and A Course in Miracles (ACIM), a contemporary spiritual system. More specifically, it 1) establishes parallels between Gebser’s conception of the ego, especially its basis in anger, and the ego according to ACIM, and 2) shows how a forgiveness exercise may lead to a time-free present, called in ACIM, “The Holy Instant.”

Manifest, Hidden, And Divine: Introduction To Sefirot Aikido, Jack Susman

International Journal of Transpersonal Studies

The potential for forging a valuable relationship between two transpersonal systems, Aikido, a Japanese martial art and spiritual tradition, and Kabbalah, a Jewish spiritual tradition, is explored. Aikido is not simply a martial art, rather it is also a way to achieve a sense of the spiritual. However, especially for Westerners, many of its spiritual tenets are elusive, based on abstruse Japanese cultural roots, whereas Kabbalah, as a spiritual tradition more fully explicated for Western audiences, can provide an accessible framework for grasping some of Aikido’s deeper meanings. A blend of these traditions, called Sefirot Aikido, uses Kabbalah to understand, …

Ciis Today, Fall 2005 Issue, Ciis

CIIS Today

This volume is the Fall 2005 issue of CIIS Today, the Magazine of the California Institute of Integral Studies.

Fear No Spirits: A Pilgrim’S Journey Through The Brazilian Churches Of Ayahuasca, Robert Tindall

International Journal of Transpersonal Studies

This is an intimate account of a pilgrimage through the “Holy Land” of Daime, the Brazilian

frontier state of Acre, in which the author weaves together accounts of his own healing experience.

It also portrays the extraordinary variation and vitality of the communities there, both

indigenous and Catholic/Afro-Brazilian, who use ayahuasca as a sacrament.

Editors’ Introduction, Harris Friedman, Douglas A. Macdonald

International Journal of Transpersonal Studies

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Nondualism And The Divine Domain, Burton Daniels

International Journal of Transpersonal Studies

This paper claims that the ultimate issue confronting transpersonal theory is that of nondualism.

The revelation of this spiritual reality has a long history in the spiritual traditions, which

has been perhaps most prolifically advocated by Ken Wilber (1995, 2000a), and fully explicated

by David Loy (1998). Nonetheless, these scholarly accounts of nondual reality, and the spiritual

traditions upon which they are based, either do not include or else misrepresent the revelation

of a contemporary spiritual master crucial to the understanding of nondualism. Avatar

Adi Da not only offers a greater differentiation of nondual reality than can be found in …

Higher Self – Spark Of The Mind – Summit Of The Soul: Early History Of An Important Concept Of Transpersonal Psychology In The West, Harald Walach

International Journal of Transpersonal Studies

The Higher Self is a concept introduced by Roberto Assagioli, the founder of psychosynthesis,

into transpersonal psychology. This notion is explained and linked up with the Western mystical

tradition. Here, coming from antiquity and specifically from the neo-Platonic tradition, a

similiar concept has been developed which became known as the spark of the soul, or summit of

the mind. This history is sketched and the meaning of the term illustrated. During the middle

ages it was developed into a psychology of mysticism by Thomas Gallus, popularized by

Bonaventure, and radicalized by the Carthusian writer Hugh of Balma. Spark of the …

The Myth Of Nature And The Nature Of Myth: Becoming Transparent To Transcendence, Dennis P. Slattery

International Journal of Transpersonal Studies

The works by the American mythologist, Joseph Campbell, as well as the poetry of John Keats,

especially his “Ode to a Nightingale,” offer new ways to reimagine our relation to the earth, to

the dead and to language’s continued vitality. Beginning with a brief overview of some of the

major tenets of Campbell’s guiding force of the “monomyth,” which gathers all the various world

mythologies as inflections of one universal story, the essay then moves into a discussion of Keats’

poem in order to reveal the power of poetic utterance in reconfiguring a vital mythology. If there

is to be …

Myth, Archetype And The Neutral Mask: Actor Training And Transformation In Light Of The Work Of Joseph Campbell And Stanislav Grof, Ashley Wain

International Journal of Transpersonal Studies

This paper explores the influence of transpersonal thinking, including the mythological perspective

of Joseph Campbell and the holotropic perspective of Stanislav Grof, on actor training using

the neutral mask. An outline of training in the neutral mask is given, focusing on the approach

of David Latham, as experienced by the author in his own training. Points of correspondence

with the vision of Campbell and Grof, and their influence, are discriminated and discussed.

These correspondences open up two areas of inquiry: the transformative effect of the mask work

when conducted in a transpersonally-oriented set, and the use of the neutral mask …

The Transpersonal Tradition In Russian Culture, Vladimir Maykov

International Journal of Transpersonal Studies

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The Psychic Defense, Vitor Rodrigues

International Journal of Transpersonal Studies

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On Therapy By Means Of Spiritual Culture, Mark E. Burno

International Journal of Transpersonal Studies

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