Transpersonal psychology is still in the process of emerging. Transpersonal psychology is such a vibrantly fruitful area of psychological inquiry into humankind’s interior spiritual experiences and their transformative exterior biological, behavioral, and social manifestations that no final or complete definition of the field is possible at this time. The definitions of transpersonal psychology have evolved over the past 35 years and will likely continue to do so for some time to come (Lajoie & Shapiro, 1992; Lajoie, Shapiro, & Roberts, 1991; Shapiro, Lee, & Gross, 2002; Vich, 1992). As new research topics are explored, the “truths” of transpersonal psychology evolve into a still more comprehensive and integral vision of human possibilities. At the center of the various definitions of transpersonal psychology, however, is the core belief that the full extent of human potential is not yet known and that much remains to be discovered about the nature of reality and the nature of the psyche.
Transpersonal phenomena hint at the multi-dimensional nature of the human psyche. Because transpersonal psychology considers human personality action in a greater context, with greater motives, purposes and meanings than traditionally assigned to it, transpersonal theory and research has the potential to produce a more complete understanding of those great forces within yet beyond nature that gave birth to human life, mind, and consciousness.
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Transpersonal psychology is not merely another academic discipline, but a point of view. Transpersonal psychology is not defined only by the topics that it studies. Transpersonal psychology “is also a point of view, a perspective that can be applied to a wide variety of areas, not only in psychology but also in anthropology, sociology, and other disciplines involving human behavior” (Frager, 1989, p. 289).
Transpersonal theory…is not merely another academic discipline. The transpersonal vision is a way of thinking and living self, other, and world that can be diversely manifested not only in transpersonal states, but also in relationships, community, society, ethics, education, politics, philosophy, religion, cosmology, and almost any other area of human thinking, feeling, and action. …The final intention of any genuine transpersonal vision is not the elaboration of theoretical models to understand transpersonal phenomena, but to midwife an intersubjectively shared reality, a transpersonal reality. The ultimate aim of the transpersonal vision is to bring forth a transpersonal world. (Ferrer, 2002, p. 7)
Goals of transpersonal psychology. By encouraging us to explore the hidden contours of our own consciousness and the role that consciousness may place in the creation of reality, transpersonal psychology seeks to:
Expand each individual’s understanding of the “unknown” elements of the self and its greater world.
Broaden “official” concepts about the self to reveal the multidimensional nature of the human psyche.
Enlarge the vision of modern psychology to include a new, wider view of the co-participatory nature of personal and physical reality.
Develop a greater understanding of human potential and abilities.
Propose an alternate view of human nature in order that the individual and the species may achieve its greatest fulfillment.
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