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Unitlessness: Highlighting the Trans-Discursive Qualities of Nondualism and Implications for Psychological Terminology
Full text linkNondual awareness has recently gained increased interest in broader psychological research. In meditation contexts, it reflects the dissolution of subject and object, while in Maha_ya_na Buddhism, practitioners aim to develop insight that leads to awareness of nonduality in everyday-life situations. Traditionally, teaching of nondualism employed paradoxes to prompt nonconceptual inquiry into reconciling dualistic contradictions. To offer an approach to communicate nondualism to a modern audience of psychology researchers, the framework of unitlessness is introduced here, which differentiates between linguistic characteristics (units) and experiential phenomena (unity), both within an enveloping ineffability (unitlessness). This type of nondualism is trans-discursive, as it acknowledges the limitations of intellectual discussion in grasping its essence. This work aims to contribute to the clarification of terminology for research on mindfulness and nondual awareness, thereby enhancing the precision and depth of future studies in this area
Consciousness Studies in Community: Allan Leslie Combs’s Enduring Vision
No full textConsciousness studies can be found in many different disciplines. Allan Leslie Combs held an inclusive view of consciousness that was not limited to any one branch, and he inspired us to explore consciousness through many doorways. Together the authors share narratives about teaching and learning with Combs while reviewing key areas shaped by his legacy, including gatherings, archetypes, psychology, and synchronicity. Our shared intention is to honor Leslie’s legacy through a narrative that comes from the heart as well as the mind.
Keywords: consciousness studies, gatherings, archetypes, synchronicity, Allan Leslie Comb
On Consciousness and Death: In Conversation With Allan Leslie Combs—A Posthumous Study of an Influential Thinker’s Perspectives
No full textThe following is a summary of key findings from my analysis of the unconventional interviews that I posthumously conducted with Dr. Allan Leslie Combs in a creative take on qualitative interviews. This study is based on my viewing of several of his recorded interviews and talks and on reading two of his books, The Radiance of Being and Consciousness Explained Better. From these sources, I created a synthesis of theoretical responses from Combs to my interview questions for the purposes of this study. These findings include insights gained from my textual coding process and their relationship to emergent themes in Combs’s reflections on consciousness and death in the data from the interviews. I also share implications of the key findings in the interviews for understanding Combs’s views on the fear of death, the nature of consciousness, and what happens to consciousness at death. Also included in this analysis is a suggestion for the further research and study of Combs’s theories as well as recommendations for further studies with members of the consciousness studies and thanatology disciplines, among others. I present recommendations based on these findings.
Keywords: Combs, consciousness, death, integralism, interview, perennial philosophy, radiance, transdisciplinarit
Teaching for Transpersonal Learning
No full textThis article addresses the “why,” “what,” and “how” of teaching for transpersonal learning. Why transpersonal education is relevant for addressing modern social problems and the global ecological crisis, what it is like to teach for transpersonal learning, and how transpersonal learning becomes transformative are discussed. Three promising options in technology and consciousness studies for transpersonal learning—transpersonal media, multistate studies, and entheogenic education—are described and the challenges of introducing transpersonal education into academic settings and assessing educational (student) learning outcomes are reviewed. The relevance of Mezirow’s Transformation Theory to transpersonal educational psychology, with special attention to ecological perspective transformation, is then examined. The varieties of transpersonal education, including Integral Transformative Practice (ITP), and pedagogical issues related to the role of the teacher and the place of contemplative practice and spirituality in adult education are also addressed. Transpersonal education, at its best, is about healing the social problems and global ecological crises of our times, empowering individuals to express their ideals in whatever way is given, and learning to reclaim the vitality, exuberance, optimism, and wonder that is at the heart of embodied life
Portrait of a Mentor
No full textThis essay offers a sketch of Professor Allan Leslie Combs’s mentorship to doctoral students. It represents one student’s experience of the latter part of Combs’s long career as a psychologist, consciousness researcher, academic, speaker, author, and mentor. The paper is written from a first-person perspective by one of Combs’s very last doctoral students, with details taken from her initial journey into the doctoral program, through the beginnings of dissertation research and proposal defense, until the time Combs left this world. Some of the details contained herein may be recognized from the author’s presentations given at Combs’s retirement and memorial gatherings. The essay is written both to memorialize Combs’s superb contributions to consciousness studies, through his students and through his own research, and to provide a template of his noteworthy methods for other doctoral mentors. Keywords: Allan Leslie Combs, mentor, student, doctoral, consciousness studie
Teaching in the Transpersonal Paradigm
No full textThis article explores the transpersonal dynamics of teaching by presenting two core themes of The Living Classroom: 1) the synchronicities and energetic resonances that radiated invisibly around me as my spiritual practice deepened over time and 2) the “learning fields” that surround well-taught courses—fields of collective consciousness that can trigger new insights and powerful transformations in our students
An Interest-driven Approach: An interview with Professor Allan Leslie Combs
No full textOn March 17, 2024, I interviewed Professor Allan Leslie Combs about his teaching for my doctoral research project titled Teaching With Consciousness: A Narrative Inquiry Into Scholars’ Experiences Teaching About Consciousness Beyond the Brain. In January 2025, Leslie reviewed a draft of my interview write-up and emailed me, saying, “Beautiful work! And I have to say I am honored by the description you give of my own teaching philosophy.” This article draws on Leslie’s stories and applies their insights to the theory and practice of consciousness education—a field exploring perspectives on the source and nature of consciousness and their implications for ways of being, knowing, teaching, and learning.
Keywords: Allan Leslie Combs, consciousness education, consciousness studies, transformative learning, pedagogy, nondualism, student-teacher relationshi
Childhood Trauma and the Emergence of Precognitive Abilities: A Correlational Study
Full text linkThis study addresses the scientific tendency to misattribute the higher levels of belief in extra-sensory perception (ESP) of adult survivors of childhood trauma to cognitive errors when they may be a result of actual experience with ESP. Dissociative tendencies may contribute to precognition, which would be an adaptive skill for children living in unpredictable and traumatic environments. This study investigated the correlation between self-reported childhood abuse and neglect and precognitive abilities in 227 adults. The participants completed the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire, comprising subscales measuring emotional, physical, and sexual abuse, and physical and emotional neglect, and completed four online tasks measuring extra-sensory perception (ESP) developed by the Institute of Noetic Science’s IONS Discovery Lab. The ESP scores of participants who experienced severe childhood abuse/neglect were compared to those of participants who experienced little to no childhood abuse/neglect. The severely abused/neglected group performed significantly better on one precognitive task using a protocol for remote viewing (p \u3c .05), but other tasks showed little efficacy or correlation with trauma severity. Post-hoc analysis indicated that ESP skill was related more closely to higher childhood neglect than abuse, but because the two types of abuse are often present concurrently, the difference in level of association was not significant