CONTEMPORARY PERSPECTIVES IN TRANSPERSONAL PSYCHOLOGY
Transpersonal psychology is concerned with the nature of consciousness as it functions and manifests in experience and behavior. Transpersonal psychology focuses on the questions: What are the functions and structures, states and traits of consciousness as they develop over time? Above all, what are the “higher” post-post-conventional, post-formal operational, transpersonal “spiritual” aspects of consciousness? What is the phenomenology of spiritual experiences? What are the varieties, causes, effects, and correlates of transpersonal experiences and development? Does spirituality itself unfold in developmental stages and what is its relationship to other types of psychological development (cognitive, psychosocial, moral, emotional, sexual)?
Contemporary Approaches in Transpersonal Psychology
Transpersonalists differ as to what constitutes the major transpersonal perspectives. Transpersonal psychologists will differ about what precisely constitutes the major transpersonal perspectives. Beyond acknowledging the basic set of minimal assumptions articulated in the Articles of Association for Transpersonal Psychology (Sutich, 1972, pp. 93-97), transpersonalists will vary in what they count as “major” approaches in the field. Michael Washburn (2003) professor of philosophy at Indiana University, for instance, identifies five psychological perspectives as transpersonal:
Structural-hierarchical perspective typified in the work of Ken Wilber (1980) that focuses on the structure and development of human consciousness.
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Spiral-dynamic perspective typified in the work of Michael Washburn (1995) that focuses on the psychodynamics of human consciousness.
Participatory perspective typified in the work of Jorge Ferrer (2002) that focuses on the social construction of consciousness, knowledge, and reality.
Feminist perspective typified in the work of Peggy Wright (1998) that focuses on sex differences in spiritual development.
Ecological perspective typified in the work Fisher (2002) that focuses on the spirituality of creaturehood and the sacredness of Nature.
Because the aim of the present monograph is to keep transpersonal psychology in connection with mainstream psychology, perspectives that are defined in terms of specific content domains (i.e., feminist or ecological issues) or perspectives that are defined in terms of particular theory-ladened orientations designed to guide research (i.e., structural-hierarchical, spiral-dynamic, or participatory) will not be examined here.
Instead five perspectives that represent common approaches used in contemporary mainstream psychology (biological, environmental, cognitive, psychodynamic, phenomenological) and one perspective that is unique to transpersonal psychology (integral) and arguably represents the field’s most important contribution to the study of psychology will be described in terms of how they are used by transpersonal psychologists to look at exceptional human experiences and transformative capacities.
The Biological Perspective
The Environmental Perspective
The Cognitive Perspective
The Psychodynamic Perspective
The Phenomenological Perspective
The Integral Perspective
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