To help organize my thinking about transpersonal psychotherapy, I have found it useful to distinguish three aspects of any approach to psychotherapy. This framework comes from Frances Vaughan, a transpersonal psychologist and author. (See her chapter in the book PATHS BEYOND EGO, page 160.) These three aspects are Context, Content, and Process.

Context refers to the attitude and orientation of the therapy, its basic assumptions and attitude. It includes the therapist's views of human nature, suffering, healing, and human potential. The context does not have to be explicitly acknowledged or recognized by the client, and often it is never mentioned overtly to the client. Usually context is seen as the province of the therapist. However, a student pointed out that the client may also be the one to hold the transpersonal context of therapy. She said she benefited from working with a therapist who was not transpersonally-oriented because she (the client) kept reminding herself of the deeper nature of her work.

In transpersonal psychotherapy, the therapist recognizes a transpersonal dimension to the client's suffering and healing, to the interactions between therapist and client, and to the therapeutic process. Several transpersonal psychologists have outlined their views of the basic assumptions of transpersonal psychotherapy. Of course, not all agree. Since there are differences, I prefer to talk about transpersonal therapies (in the plural). Examples include:

Brant Cortright. (1997). PSYCHOTHERAPY AND SPIRIT. SUNY Press.

Roger Walsh and Frances Vaughan (Eds.). (1993). PATHS BEYOND EGO. Tarcher-Putnam.

Bryan Wittine. (1993). Assumptions of transpersonal psychotherapy. In Walsh and Vaughan (Eds.). (1993). PATHS BEYOND EGO. Tarcher-Putnam. P. 165-171.

Here is my listing of some of the aspects of a transpersonal psychotherapy. (See also my other list of themes in transpersonal psychotherapy.)

1. EINSTEIN'S QUESTION: Albert Einstein is reported to have said that the fundamental question for human beings to ask is whether the universe friendly (unifiable, consoling) or unfriendly (neutral, fragmented, hostile, "other")? Transpersonal psychotherapies (along with most humanistic psychotherapies) answer that the universe is basically friendly (without denying the presence of suffering).

2. NONDUALITY: There is a fundamental interconnection and unity to all that is, a larger whole that extends beyond all the differences and discriminations we can make. Each element or part exists as part of a larger whole. Ken Wilber expands on Arthur Koestler's notion of HOLONS to make this point (see, for example, A BRIEF HISTORY OF EVERYTHING (1996, Shambhala Pub). Non-duality does not mean lack of difference; it means that these differences are on the surface and are not ultimate or final. All the other characteristics of transpersonal psychology or psychotherapy come from this understanding of nonduality. (For more, see my article in the forthcoming issue of THE HUMANISTIC PSYCHOLOGIST (Fall 1998) entitled: The Transpersonal Dimensions of Ecopsychology: Nature, Nonduality, and Spiritual Practice.

SELF-TRANSCENDENCE may also be given as a core of transpersonal psychology. Maslow used this term in his writings (e.g., THE FARTHER REACHES OF HUMAN NATURE), and it is closely related to this sense of nonduality. When we realize experientially and understand beyond an abstract idea that we are part of the cosmos, seamlessly and without a doubt, we transcend our senses of individual self. Remember that self-transcendence is not the same as losing self-identity. Rather it is an expansion of identity. You still know yourself as an individual, and you also know yourself as one with a larger existence. Sorry if I seem to be repeating this point, but it is one that hangs up a lot of us!

3. OPTIMAL MENTAL HEALTH: The focus of transpersonal psychotherapy is optimal mental health. At the same time, any psychotherapy focuses on a certain realm of human experience; that is, is it psychological, not spiritual. Its aim is the healing of psychological wounds and the building of healthy psychological patterns. Spiritual work, I would say, extends beyond the psychological. While these two realms overlap or are even aspects of the same continuum of human development, I think it helps to distinguish them. Psychotherapy supports spiritual work, but it is not the same.

A related idea is INTRINSIC HEALTH, the view that the person is basically good and healthy and that what happens is basically good, meaningful, and friendly. This is very tricky, as we all know when we are suffering. Here, "good" does not mean happy or pleasurable according to our images, wishes, or hopes. Rather, it stems from the nonduality of the universe. If the universe is a whole, it is healthy. If we are interconnected parts of that whole, we are also healthy. However, this is not a logical conclusion, but a perspective to be developed through personal experience.

It is also important to remember that health is a fluid, dynamic process. A healthy psyche includes conflict, diferentiation, challenge, and growth. Health is the freedom of the unfoldment and transformation of a person (or family or community). It is not a static, fixed condition in which everything fits a predetermined image of "what should be."

In terms of transpersonal psychotherapy, this is similar to Carl Rogers's views on Unconditional Positive Regard. Regardless of the person's suffering, confusion, or difficulties, we can hold each other as reflection or manifestations of a basically friendly universe. Further, we can recognize that we are ultimately part of the same larger whole that includes the other. I do not want to sound trite, but the images of two fingers on the same hand or two waves on the same ocean, do capture some aspects of the relationship between therapist and client from a transpersonal point of view.

AND...None of this should be taken to ignore or discount the importance of healthy psychological differentiation ("boundaries") or the presence of suffering, loss, grief, or pain. Still such suffering can be made meaningful if it is held in a larger context of intrinsic health. This context does not exactly take the pain away. In my own experience, it actually makes it more intense because I can allow myself to be more open to it. However, it does help me to remember that it contains within the potential for my growth, realization, and development and that it will change and transform.

We could say that the transpersonal psychotherapist's job is to support the realization of the client's intrinsic health and growth.

4. INCLUSIVITY: Transpersonal psychotherapy is inclusive on many dimensions. It recognizes the value of techniques and insights drawn from many other psychotherapies: psychoanalytic, cognitive, behavioral, humanistic, biological. Its aim is to apply the most useful strategy for the client's well-being. Each therapy has its value, as well as its limitations.

It is also inclusive in terms of cultural views of mental health. Much of transpersonal psychotherapy draws from other cultures. From Eastern cultures come views of human nature drawn from Hinduism, Yoga, Buddhism, Zen and practices such as meditation. From indigenous cultures come views of the relationship of individuals to Spirit and practices such as shamanism. These indigenous cultures include those of Native American Indians, Africans, South Americans, and ancient European Celts.

Finally, transpersonal psychotherapy is inclusive in terms of states of consciousness (SoCs). While other psychologies value primarily the normal waking SoC and perhaps dream states, transpersonal psychology recognizes the value and important of many states of consiousness, including those associated with meditation, various shamanic trances, and psychedelic drugs.

5. MAIEUSIS: I learned of this word from Steven Foster, a wilderness teacher, ecopsychologist, and fine thinker. It is an ancient Greek work referring to midwifery. Where most psychotherapies view therapy as fixing something which is broken, many transpersonalists view psychotherapy as a process of helping the person give birth to themselves, so to speak. This ties in to the notion of Intrinsic Health, trusting that given the proper support and guidance, the client's own innate wisdom will bring about healing and growth.

This sense of midwifing a psychological transformation, also suggests that transpersonal is non-manipulative, non-aggressive, and in a very real sense, non-violent. It is a kind of violence to a person to manipulate them into fitting into an image of psychological health.

For example, I recently spent time in the Agape healing community estabished by Professor Stanley Lifschitz (University of South Africa) in the Mamelodi Township outside Pretoria, SA. Agape is built on the notion that community heals and that everyone who comes has something important to contribute to the community. Everyone has a place. From the outside, Agape is set up like a mental health clinic, with student interns from several university psychology programs coming to support people from the township who are in distress. However, many people who come to Agape each Wednesday, come simply to be part of the community. Stevens is a young man who in most Western psychology clinics would be diagnosed schizophrenic and medicated. However, at Agape, he is recognized as an outstanding woodcarver and has the important task of making talking sticks for the community. I was moved to see this practice of a maeutic approach, non-violent, respectful, and optimistic applied in a direct and useful way. (I would add that this orientation is not unique to transpersonal psychology. Stanley uses the language of systems theory and community psychology rather than transpersonal psychology. Humanistic and existential psychology share this view of a non-violent psychotherapy.

6. PRESENCE, MINDFULNESS, and NON-REACTIVITY are key elements in most transpersonal psychotherapies. On the "side" of the therapist, this means being able to be present with the client's experience without judgment or reaction. On the client's "side," this means learning to be more aware, awake, and mindful of his/her own thoughts, attitudes, behaviors, and patterns. This is not exclusive to transpersonal psychotherapy, of course. Freud referred to the important of the therapist's awareness. Carl Rogers developed this notion and showed its importance in his research on "unconditional positive regard." Fritz Perls made it a cornerstone of Gestalt Therapy and Claudio Naranjo has written clearly on "Present-centeredness." This notion shows up in so many therapies that we could conclude it is a foundational element throughout the spectrum of (most) orientations to psychotherapy. AND I would suggest that it is central in transpersonal psychotherapy as one of the key goals of therapy and principle methods of working with clients.