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WHAT IS TRANSPERSONAL PSYCHOLOGY Part Five: Transpersonal Psychology and Diversity
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Department of Psychology Metropolitan State College of Denver |
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How does transpersonal psychology express and nourish its multicultural roots and opportunities? What more can we do? How would psychotherapy and transpersonal practices be different if we celebrated our differences more deeply and if we lived our unity more thoroughly? |
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Transpersonal psychology has been influenced at least as much by Asian and indigenous spiritual systems as European psycho-logical and philosophical traditions. It has strong connections to the meditative traditions of Buddhism and Hinduism, shamanic traditions, esoteric and gnostic European systems such as alchemy and Celtic mysticism, indigenous African wisdom, and Native American spirituality. From its origins, transpersonal psychology has been strongly multicultural. As psychology (and our culture) wakes up to the reality of diversity and multicultural perspectives, transpersonal psychology has much to contribute. Transpersonal psychology is strongly multicultural. It values the diversity of expressions of human experience while recognizing the universality of its deeper dimensions. It actively seeks out and integrates insights on human nature and healing from a wide variety of cultures and recognizes the role of the cultural context in the experience of individuals and groups. Transpersonal psychology requires us to challenge our culturally-defined views of mental health and psychotherapy and to draw cross-cultural insights into counselling and education. It can and should do more in this area.
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I would say that transpersonal psychology recognizes two responses to the question of diversity. From one perspective, it can recognize and honor the astounding variety in the manifestations of being. It values a number of dimensions of diversity, including race, culture, gender, age, sexual preference, social class, and biodiversity. Our task is to honor these differences and eliminate bias and oppression from them. In transpersonal psychology, the value in diversity also extends to definitions of mental health and healing practices. For example, from a modern, Eurocentric point of view, many experiences in meditation or shamanic initiations (e.g., hallucinations, dissociations, body-image distortions) would be seen as pathological. However, from the perspective of meditative traditions or indigenous cultures, these are seen as normal signs of development or indications of extraordinary mental health. Extreme distortions of body image and hearing the voices of ancestors would likely trigger psychiatric treatment in a modern mental health center, but they could be cause for celebration as a shamanic call among indigenous people. Transpersonal psychology seeks to examine critically (as well as experientially) such nonordinary states in order to distinguish their healthy aspects from their distressing aspects. At the same time, I would add that transpersonal psychology's primary focus is not (or should not be) on states of consciousness, per se, but on the meaning of such states for individuals and their communities and on "the ground out of which all states arise" (Walsh and Vaughan, 1993b, p. 202).
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Transpersonal psychology also recognizes universal dimensions of being and the unity that underlies the variety of forms. From this perspective, differences shift to the background, and the fundamental nonduality of the universe comes to the foreground. Holism underpins the transpersonal approach. Transpersonal psychology has been criticized for emphasizing this oneness at the expense of diversity, and this criticism should be heard. I find myself particularly drawn to the argument that unity is an easier position to adopt for those in power than for those who are marginalized. The shadow of "We are one" may be blindness to subtle forms of discrimination and disempowerment. Nevertheless, unity is at the foundation of a transpersonal view. |
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