A. Impulses toward an ultimate state are continuous in every person.
The first key idea that defines a transpersonal orientation posits the existence of “ultimate states” and “impulses toward” those states. The term “ultimate states” has many levels of meaning but basically means that each being (or manifestation of consciousness) comes into existence with inner ideals and values that seek fulfillment. Each being is endowed with an impulse toward self-actualization and the fulfillment of “Being-values” (Maslow’s phrase). Each being, in other words, comes into existence with an inner impetus to fulfill and actualize its “self,” to seek the greatest possible fulfillment and extension of its own innate abilities and its own interior systems of “value fulfillment” in a way that benefits not only the individual, but the species as well (Roberts, 1981b, p. 256).
Impulses toward ultimate states are instinctoid and required for health and growth. This impulse toward ultimate states of growth and actualization is not learned but is inbred and innate. It is “instinctoid” (i.e., biologically necessary to avoid illness and achieve growth) (Maslow, 1971, p. 316). It is an inner predisposition meant to motivate all persons in the proper directions and lead them to express their abilities.
Quality, not quantity, of life is most important. The impulse demands that a certain quality of experience be maintained by which the individual and species can attain its main goals and fulfill those particular qualities that are characteristic of it (Roberts, 1981b). Its operation engenders a sense of safety, assurance, and an expectation that needs will be satisfied, abilities actualized, and desires fulfilled. It is constantly operative and acts as a creative, rejuvenating, compensatory force that maintains and supports life and that triggers the proper bodily responses required for health and growth. The impulse toward ultimate states is evident in those conditions of body and mind that promote feelings of physical health and psychological vitality, peace and joy (Butts, 1997a).
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B. Full awareness of these impulses is not necessarily present at any given time.
The second key idea that defines a transpersonal orientation recognizes that impulses toward an ultimate state may not be something we are always aware of in daily life and that the egotistical self can pretend not to know the impulse exists. There may be beliefs blocking in that direction that blind the individual to the existence of such impulses. Negative expectations or concepts, fears and doubts, when multiplied and hardened, may begin to diminish the person’s own natural impulses toward “ultimate” states of health, expression, and fulfillment. Using their free will, individuals can stray from that great impulse, forget it, ignore it, or deny its existence.
Impulses toward ultimate states continue to exist whether they are consciously materialized or not. The impulse toward ultimate states of being and knowing (the “farther reaches of human nature” to use Maslow’s phrase), however, continues to operate beneath the surface of conscious awareness whether the person is aware of them of not. The individual will still possess the impulse but will be unable to perceive his or her own greater fulfillment, uniqueness, or integrity and will become blind to other attributes with which he or she is naturally gifted and to which the impulse is intended to lead.
The individual may spontaneously experience but not recognize impulses toward ultimate states. Naturally and left alone, the individual will at various times spontaneously experience such impulses, though they may not recognize them as such. During those times, you may suddenly
Feel at peace with yourself and your world.
Feel a part of events of which you usually considers yourself apart.
Feel unexpectedly happy and content with your daily life.
Feel one with the universe.
Experience something in which you seem to go beyond yourself.
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States of grace. When the impulse toward ultimate states consciously manifests itself, the individual experiences what writer and mystic Jane Roberts (1974) calls “states of grace” or “illumination,” though the person may not use those terms (pp. 175-196). During such times, there occurs an emotional recognition and appreciation of one’s own intrinsic worth, good nature, and necessary place within the framework of existence. Such experiences are natural and a part of our biological heritage.
C. The realization of an ultimate state is essentially dependent on direct practice and on conditions suitable to the individual concerned.
The third key idea that defines a transpersonal orientation acknowledges that, although transcendental experiences may occur spontaneously, what is often needed to allow such impulses to become consciously materialized is a belief in their existence, an intense desire and expectation of their occurrence, and a disciplined openness that permits their emergence. Individuals do not lose contact with such impulses simply because they do not focus upon them or trust them. Often a “path” or disciplined spiritual practice is required that serves to expand the private reality of each individual and his or her understanding of the “unknown” elements of the self and its greater world.
Spiritual practice “opens what is closed,” “balances what is unbalanced,” and “reveals what is hidden”. Engaging in a spiritual practice such as “insight meditation” for a sufficient amount of time, for instance, can generate enough experiential data to counteract an individual’s limited ideas of the nature of the psyche and the nature of reality so that it becomes easier for the egoistically-oriented portions of the self to accept the possible existence of other streams of perception and consciousness (see, for example, J. Goldstein & Kornfield, 1987; Kornfield, 1993). As this occurs and the individual’s ideas of his or her own reality become changed and expand, the limitations to personal growth become removed. Once the individual acknowledges the existence of such impulses and as he or she learns to trust them, the person will quite naturally be led to give freer expression to the source of his or her own creativity and being.
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D. Every individual has the right to choose this own path.
The fourth key idea that defines a transpersonal orientation accepts the existence of individual differences, free will, and choice. In the creative field of reality that is characterized by probable actions and events, there is always more than one way to discover the vital reality of the “impulse toward ultimate states” or to become acquainted with those deeply creative aspects of one’s own being. Actions and events that are worthwhile, desirable, and significant for one individual may be meaningless to another because of differences in temperament, inclination, curiosity, training, education, past experience, or desire for knowledge. Individual’s can choose among courses of action precisely because they are uniquely suited to sense what course of action will lead to their own most probable development and fulfillment.
Each person lives by their intent, which springs up about the force of their being…Your will is your intent. All the power of your being is mobilized by your will, which makes its deductions according to your beliefs about reality. … The will…operates according to the personality’s beliefs about reality, so its desires are sometimes tempered as those beliefs change. … Each of you use your will in your own way. Each of you have your own way of dealing with challenges…. No one can be healed against his or her will. There is no such coercion. (Roberts, 1979b, pp. 388-389)
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Alternate visions and versions of transpersonal psychology. Beyond these four minimal assumptions that define a transpersonal orientation articulated in the Articles of Association for Transpersonal Psychology (Sutich, 1972, pp. 93-97), transpersonalists are free to recognize, acknowledge, and accept more theory-ladened philosophic assumptions about the nature of reality that makes transpersonal phenomena possible in the first place.
Philosophy cannot be divorced from action. Although transpersonal studies prides itself has being basically independent of any particular religious, metaphysical, or philosophical worldview, the fact of the matter is that there is a continuum of philosophies, metaphysics, worldviews, and theoretical orientations that guide both transpersonal inquiry and interpretation of the facts that human inquiry reveals. Ontology can be divorced from epistemology only in theory, never in practice. As physicist Werner Heisenberg once said: “What we see is not nature, but nature exposed to our method of questioning.” Philosophy cannot be divorced from action. Just as any cognitional theory presupposes some theory of personality who has the cognitions, so does every epistemology presuppose a particular metaphysic about the nature of the world it seeks to know and that makes such an epistemology possible, legitimate, and worthwhile. Metaphysical frameworks, worldviews, and philosophies necessarily form the implicit context within which the obtained data (data of sense or data of consciousness) are interpreted and given meaning in terms that are understandable to the comprehending ego. Otherwise, they might make no sense to the physically-oriented self.
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Perspectives are often highly theory-ladened. The various perspectives to the contemporary study of transpersonal phenomena, like the various definitions of transpersonal psychology itself, are often highly theory-ladened and metaphysically laden, and imply, either overtly or covertly, a commitment to certain beliefs and presuppositions about the nature of human experience and behavior, the nature of the psyche, the relationship between mind and body, and the nature of physical reality itself (Walsh & Vaughn, 1993b).
A continuum of theoretical orientations exist. Some perspectives may assume that “a transcendent reality underlies and binds together all phenomena” (Valle, 1989, p. 261) or that a Transpersonal Self exists. Other perspectives may deny the independent and separate existence of transcendent realities apart from the human experiencer or deny the existence of a transpersonal self as occurs in more Buddhist-oriented interpretative frameworks.Wilber’s (1977) Spectrum of Consciousness model requires adoption of a particular worldview that includes concepts such as a “Great Chain of Being” and a “Perennial Philosophy.”
One end of the continuum of theoretical orientations: The Perennial Philosophy. One theoretical orientation that many transpersonal psychologists believe to be essential to transpersonal inquiry and that has been most engaged in critical disputes in the paradigm debates of recent years is the theory-ladened “spiritual universalism” of what is known as the “perennial philosophy” (Ferrer, 2002; Huxley, 1970).
Philosophia perennis… the metaphysic that recognizes a divine Reality substantial to the world of things and lives and minds; the psychology that finds in the soul something similar to, or even identical with, divine Reality; the ethic that places man’s final end in the knowledge of the immanent and transcendent Ground of all being. (Huxley, 1970, p. vii)
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The perennial philosophy is a statement of the universal, common ground of all spiritual traditions, that single truth that underlies the apparent diversity of religious forms and that integrates harmoniously all the religious traditions from ancient to modern times.
Known as the “perennial philosophy” – “perennial” precisely because it shows up across cultures and across the ages with many similar features – this world view has, indeed, formed the core not only of the world’s great wisdom traditions, from Christianity to Buddhism to Taoism, but also of many of the greatest philosophers, scientists, and psychologists of both East and West, North and South. So overwhelmingly widespread is the perennial philosophy…that it is either the single greatest intellectual error to appear in humankind’s history… or it is the single most accurate reflection of reality yet to appear. (Wilber, 1997, pp. 38-39)
The Perennial Philosophy as a foundational metaphysical framework. Many transpersonal psychologists believe that the “Perennial Philosophy” (a phrase coined by the philosopher Leibniz) provides “an identifiable structure or essence that characterizes any particular psychology or philosophy as transpersonal” (Valle, 1989, p. 261). It includes the following five premises:
A multidimensional reality exists that includes yet transcends three-dimensional physical existence and of which all consciousness (human and nonhuman) is a unique, valid, and significant manfestation of an infinitely greater gestalt of meaning and organization. The everyday world and our personal consciousness is a manifestation of a larger, divine reality.
The conscious ego is only a portion of a much larger, inner multidimensional identity and consciousness. All beings have a hidden, “higher” and “deeper” identity that reflects, or is connected to, the divine element of the universe.
The self-evidential quality of this knowledge is such that it is experienced as indubitable fact, truth, and reality. The legitimacy and significance of transpersonal experiences is self-validating.
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Ego-directed consciousness has available to it knowledge concerning its multidimensional origin and identity, its infinite creativity, its unlimited possibilities of development, and the greater “unknown” reality in which it dwells. The powers of the Higher Self can be awakened and harnessed to take a central part in the everyday life of the individual.
An expansion of consciousness and identity follows upon appropriate practice of a spiritual path as the individual ego becomes aware and acquainted with the knowledge and intuitions of one’s inner self and allows them to flow through the conscious ego. This “awakening” is the purpose or goal of life.
The perennial philosophy is a primary theoretical orientation in transpersonal psychology. Many transpersonal psychologists subscribe to this “universalist vision of a common core of spirituality” (Ferrer, 2002, p. 3). Ken Wilber (1994), a foremost writer in the field says: “the aim of transpersonal psychology ….is to give a psychological presentation of the perennial philosophy and the Great Chain of Being” (p. x). France Vaughn (1982), one of the leaders of the transpersonal movement, also asserts that the transpersonal perspective “has its roots in the ancient perennial philosophy” (p. 38), and “recognizes the transcendent unity of all religions and sees the unity in the mystical core of every spiritual tradition” (p. 37). Stanislav Grof (1998) states: “Modern consciousness research has generated important data that support the basic tenets of the perennial philosophy” (p. 3).
Figure 3-2 presents eight “key assumptions that define a transpersonal approach” to the practice of psychotherapy (Cortright, 1997, p. 16), that integrates the five premises of the perennial philosophy and the four assumptions of a transpersonal orientation expressed in the Articles of Association for Transpersonal Psychology.
Figure 3-2. Key Assumptions of an Transpersonal Approach to Psychotherapy
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Figure 3-2. Key Assumptions that Define a Transpersonal Approach to Psychotherapy
(Cortwight, 1997, pp. 16-21)
1. Our essential nature is spiritual.
“The transpersonal view gives primacy to the spiritual source which supports and upholds the psychological structures of the self” (p. 16).
2. Consciousness is multidimensional.
“The normal, ordinary consciousness most people experience is but the most outward tip of consciousness…. Other dimensions or aspects of consciousness show the cosmic connectedness of all beings” (p. 16).
3. Humans beings have valid urges toward spiritual seeking, expressed as a search for wholeness through deepening individual, social, and transcendent awareness.
“The search for wholeness…takes the individual into increasing levels of self-discovery, actualization, and seeking for transcendence…. Not only is spiritual seeking healthy, it is essential for full human health and fulfillment. The definition of mental health must include a spiritual dimension to be complete…The deepest motivation for all human beings is the urge toward spirit…The growth of consciousness focuses upon building up the physical, emotional, mental structures of the self…Transpersonal psychology completes the process, putting this motivational path into the context of a spiritual journey” (p. 17).
4. Contacting a deeper source of wisdom and guidance within is both possible and helpful to growth.
“Western psychotherapy seeks to uncover a deeper source of guidance than the conscious ego or self (e.g., Gestalt therapy’s “wisdom of the organism,” Jungian psychotherapy’s “Individuation of the Self,” Self psychology’s “real self,” existential psychotherapy’s “authentic self”)…. All of modern psychotherapy may be seen to be an intuitive groping toward a deeper source of wisdom than the surface self….It is a deeper, spiritual reality that is the source of the self’s or the organism’s wisdom” (p. 18).
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Figure 3-2. Key Assumptions that Define a Transpersonal Approach to Psychotherapy
(Cortwight, 1997, pp. 16-21)
5. Uniting a person’s conscious will and aspiration with the spiritual impulse is a superordinate health value.
“Affirming the infinite ways in which the spiritual impulse may express itself is a primary value in transpersonal psychotherapy. This cognitive set and, more fundamentally this spiritual orientation, puts one into greater alignment with the healing forces of the psyche and the universe…. Transpersonal psychology supports the spiritual urge…In spiritual seeking it is crucial for the therapist to honor all spiritual paths. Dogmatic clinging to any particular spiritual practice is severely limiting to transpersonal practice…There is no one way to the Divine, the paths are as varied as there are individuals, and a broad knowledge of and respect for these varied paths (including atheism) is crucial” (p. 19).
6. Altered states of consciousness are one way of accessing transpersonal experiences and can be an aid to healing and growth.
“From its beginnings transpersonal psychology has been influenced by altered state research in general and psychedelic research in particular… While not for everyone, the judicious induction of altered states of consciousness has a respected place in transpersonal work” (pp. 19-20).
7. Our life and actions are meaningful.
“Our actions, joys, and sorrows have significance in our growth and development. They are not merely random, pointless events…. Often it is the wounds and tragedies of life that provide the impetus to make the inward journey… The outer, surface show is not the only perspective, and there is a larger process of transformative growth occurring” (pp. 20-21).
8. The transpersonal context shapes how the person/client is viewed.
“A transpersonal approach (in agreement with the humanists) views the client, just like the therapist, as an evolving being and fellow seeker” (p. 21).
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