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WHAT IS TRANSPERSONAL PSYCHOLOGY Part Four: Psychology and Spiritual Wisdom Traditions
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Department of Psychology Metropolitan State College of Denver |
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What is transpersonal psychology's place and contribution to psychology and spiritual wisdom? How does transpersonal psychology reflect the influences of both? |
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There are several possibilities for the role of transpersonal psychology in relation to psychology and spiritual traditions, and they are not necessarily mutually exclusive. Transpersonal psychology can be considered an area of psychology. The definition above makes it sound so; the same algorithm that defines other areas of psychology can be used with transpersonal psychology. Just as health psychology applies psychology to medical and health care concerns or school psychology applies psychology to school settings, transpersonal psychology applies psychology to a specific range of concerns, e.g., spirituality, optimal mental health, nonduality, and the quality of nonreactive presence and awareness. Each of these interfaces brings in new questions and generates new approaches, but they still fall within the broad outlines of psychology. Some influential early psychologists included transpersonal concerns at the center of psychology. Most notable, of course, is William James and his work on mysticism in The Varieties of Religious Experience (James, 1902/1958). However, the mystical and introspective aspects of early psychology were marginalized in efforts to move psychology away from philosophy and toward the hard sciences (where there was more power, prestige, and money). This marginalization included the rejection of qualitative and phenomenological methods as well as the rejection of experiences which were not measurable or replicable in laboratory studies, including the transpersonal. |
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On the other hand, is transpersonal psychology closer to spirituality than psychology? As such, it may be in a position to use modern psychology as a paradigm for translating the substance of the spiritual wisdom traditions into the contemporary culture. As previous forms of spiritual expression weaken, our deep hunger for the spiritual expresses itself in other ways. Since our culture is so psychologically-oriented, transpersonal psychology could be an avenue for reintroducing spiritual insights and practices as well as for developing new ones. Other arenas for such a bridging include medicine (e.g., Dossey, 1997) and environmental issues (e.g., Davis, in press). Certainly, at this point, transpersonal psychology is not a spiritual system, per se. However, is it possible that it is a step toward a uniquely contemporary, postmodern spirituality? Psychology has provided many insights which can support spiritual development (even though many approaches within psychology have either ignored or explicitly denied spirituality). There is wisdom in the psychoanalytic, behavioral, cognitive, humanistic, and systems perspectives that is useful to those exploring spirituality. Deep psychological experience, supported by any of these approaches, can unfold into the transpersonal. We can move from using psychology as a tool for self-regulation and self-exploration to using it for self-liberation. In this view, transpersonal psychology could emerge as the flowering of 100 years of psychology and a container for the emergence of a new world wisdom tradition. What are the dangers of seeing transpersonal psychology as a conduit for bringing spiritual wisdom into our time and place or as the beginnings of a new wisdom tradition? What are the possibilities? |
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