California Institute of Integral Studies
California Institute of Integral Studies librariesNot a member yet
1665 research outputs found
Sort by
Neurological Disability Perspectives on Sexuality through Social Media Platforms
No full textABSTRACT:
As part of the California Institute of Integral Studies (CIIS) Human Sexuality Summer Research Fellowship, the Neurological Disability group collected social media data regarding the intersections of neurological disability and sexuality. For the purpose of the database, neurological disability is determined as self-identified neurological disorders and mental health diseases that can be congenital or acquired, including but not limited to: autism, depression, anxiety, traumatic brain injury, etc. (Wade, 1996). Key terminology for neurological disorders included both a review of literature focusing on biomedicalization of terminology and social justice terminology, as well as a practical review of the efficacy of the search terms through a trial and error method on respective platforms (Jette, 2009; Anastasiou et al., 2014; Andrews et al., 2019). The fellows were mindful of language that reflected medical diagnosis, advocacy language, and layman\u27s terms. Importantly, the structure of the fellowship split the overarching topic of disability into neurological disability and physical disability, using their expertise fellows included or excluded data based on the self-declared identities of the social media user, if a post or comment included the mention of multiple disabilities that crossed both physical and neurological, the data was only collected if the primary conversation was in relation to neurological disability. Data that focused more on physical disability was flagged for colleagues on the physical disability team. Key terms regarding sex/sexuality were brought under the umbrella sexual function and practice, however items regarding sexual identity and partnership were captured.
Once terminology was agreed upon, fellows combined one key term from neurological disability with a term from sexuality and modified based on Algospeak inorder to generate data from their respective social media sites, combinations included but were not limited to neurodivergent and sex, ADHD and sex, depression and sex toys. Algospeak, refers to codes or modified words that social media users utilize in order to navigate around safety features on various platforms; fellows were mindful to capture major algospeak guides (i.e. seggs vs sex) in order to effectively find data (Delkic, 2022). The data was organized to capture posts, comments, and key demographic information
Buddhism and Transpersonal Psychology
Full text linkIn the debate between Freud and Romain Rolland the latter asserted the infants’ oceanic feeling to be saner than the adults’ limited sense of self, and that mystics recover the oceanic feeling without losing the learning achieved during socialization. Freud retorted that the oceanic feeling involved a sense of shelterlessness, and whoever went through derealization was psychotic and needed to be cured. However, the feeling of shelterlessness comes from the fledging sense of separation, and although derealization is a dangerous process, when it develops unhindered the result is greater sanity. So, Buddhism and TP agree in valuing transpersonal and holotropic experiences, but TP must learn from Buddhism to distinguish between kinds of holotropic and transpersonal experiences, and attribute different value to them: the formless realms of the highest tier of samsara, the neutral condition of the base-of-all in which the precious human possibility is squandered, Awakening, different types of nirvana..
The Varieties of Afterlife Experience: Epistemological and Cultural Implications
Full text linkWhen parapsychologists talk about survival, they are usually implying personal survival, that is, a process in which memories, motivations, and personality characteristics of a given person somehow persist after bodily death. Are there other conceptions of survival (and of personal identity) that deserve further scientific examination? My purpose with this brief commentary is to expand on Rock et al’s approach by urging survivalists to discuss and investigate further the many different conceptions of (and explanations for) survival. I propose we critically reflect on our theoretical assumptions and their epistemological and cultural consequences
On the Topology of the Noosphere
Full text linkAs a young child I had a certain set of dreams, the enigma of which remained mysteriously hovering in my memories to this day. In one of these earliest dreams of my life, I am playing hide-and-seek with my friends, but am observing myself from an external third-person perspective, just as all my dreams had regularly been until then. I remember that the next morning, my waking conscious mind had noticed this split between self and observer and judged it unusual, and so in the following night’s dream, I somehow willed my observer self to merge into the body of my self that was being observed. In this apparently spontaneous lucid experience, I forced myself into what I deemed to be a proper first-person subjective experience. My dreams have never been the same since then. I began to miss the third-person view and wonder why I did what I had done to get rid of it, and in general puzzle over the deeper meaning of these events
Effects of Mindfulness and Holotropic Breathwork on the Rehabilitation of Adolescents Who Use Psychoactive Substances: A Pilot Study
Full text linkThis pilot study aims to compare the effects of mindfulness and holotropic breathwork treatments on adolescents in the rehabilitation process for psychoactive substance use. Participants comprised 18 female adolescents aged 15–18 admitted to the Fundación Grupo de Apoyo, affiliated with the Colombian Family Welfare Institute. The Fundación is dedicated to rehabilitation from, detoxification from, and prevention of psychoactive substance use. The study utilizes a mixed methods approach with an exploratory design. Heart rate is used as an important indicator of psychological well-being and overall cardiovascular health, and the mean pretest/posttest heart rates of the control and experimental groups are compared quantitatively. The effects of both treatments on the study population are described qualitatively. The results show a reduction in heart rate in the mindfulness group compared to the control. The narratives of the participants and the institution’s workers show positive changes in emotional regulation and coping, better communication, and a reduction in stress and anxiety or the desire to use, as a result of both experimental treatments
Western Buddhism and Transpersonal Psychology: Cross-Hermeneutic and Engaged Approaches
Full text linkContemporary Buddhism has been fashioned from cross-cultural interactions between a long history of Asian traditions and the expansionist drive of modernity. As part of this engagement, Buddhism, particularly in the West, has developed a close relation with transpersonal psychology. This essay forms an introduction to the special issue of articles approaching this relation between Buddhism and psychology in different ways. While some articles probe the difference in aims of the two disciplines, some are concerned with the decontextualized uses of Buddhist techniques such as mindfulness, some explore the possibilities of Buddhist practice in cognitive or other psychological terms and some ground Buddhism in ecopsychological concerns as forms of engagement. This paper outlines the historiography of modern Buddhism and introduces the papers in this special issue of IJTS
Cognitive Illusion, Lucid Dreaming, and the Psychology of Metaphor in Tibetan Buddhist Dzogchen Contemplative Practices
Full text linkA classic set of eight similes of illusion (sgyu ma’i dpe brgyad) are employed recurrently throughout Indian and Tibetan Buddhist literature to illustrate the operations of cognition, its correlative perceptions, and experiences that emerge. To illustrate a Buddhist psychology of metaphor, the fourteenth century Tibetan scholar and synthesizer of the Dzogchen (rdzogs chen) or Great Perfection system, Longchen Rabjam Drimé Ödzer (1308-1363), composed his poetic text, Being at Ease with Illusion. This work on illusion is the third volume in Longchenpa’s Trilogy of Being at Ease (Ngal gso skor gsum) in which he presents a series of Dzogchen instructions on how to settle totally at ease. To complement each volume in his trilogy, Longchenpa composed auxiliary contemplative guidance instructions on their meaning (don khrid). This article contextualizes Longchenpa’s meditation manual on Being at Ease with Illusion, a translation of which is included in the appendix. Special attention is given to Dzogchen practices of lucid dreaming and working with cognitive illusions to spotlight underlying contemplative dynamics and correlative psychological effects. To analogically map these Tibetan language instructions in translation, this article interprets Buddhist psychological understandings of cognitive and perceptual processes in dialogue with current theories in the cognitive sciences
Zen and the Art of Doughnut Economics: When Limits are Strangely Liberating
Full text linkKate Raworth\u27s celebrated book, Doughnut Economics: Seven ways to think like a 21st century economist, calls for a reconciliation of our design principles for society and the economy with the rhythms and tolerances of ecological systems. It will demand something akin to a new axial revolution that will have to be experienced as much in the body and in the intimacies of a renewed care and appreciation for our relational and ecological selves as in the collective re-design of our societies, democratic decision-making and collective provisioning. Buddhist scholarship offers a distinctive contribution to this conversation invoked in a book that has sparked a global movement
Reflections on Panpsychism, Pantheism, Panentheism and The Hard Problem of Consciousness
Full text linkThis article discusses the concepts of panpsychism, pantheism, and panentheism with the intention of formulating a theory and response to what is referred to as the Hard Problem of Consciousness, the question put forth in the latter 20th century by the philosopher David Chalmers (and by many others historically) concerning why and how we have phenomenal experiences. Panpsychism is the view that the ubiquitous presence of consciousness is an elemental principium of the natural world. Pantheism is defined as a philosophy which equates divinity with all reality. Panentheism asserts that God is intrinsic in all things in the known universe, yet is also separate and autonomous across time and space. The Hard Problem of Consciousness is addressed here in panpsychistic, pantheistic, panentheistic, psychodynamic, spiritual, and religious terms
New Perspectives: How a Dancefloor of Paradigms Can Save the World
Full text linkThis paper explores how the consciousness of Indigenous peoples can facilitate the development of new paradigms to address global issues like climate change and adaptation to global warming. It explores how Indigenous and Western notions of consciousness differ and cannot be reconciled in contemporary models of consciousness without colonising Indigenous ways of knowing. It differentiates maternal and patriarchal consciousnesses and contrasts the body/heart pathway found in many Indigenous cultures with the mental field activity of the Western psyche. Using the concept of a multi-paradigmatic dancefloor, I propose a new model for developing global thinking on complex problems, inviting academics and leaders to explore the radical possibilities that emerge at the intersection of consciousnesses where profound creativity arises. I contend that this bold step is imperative to release the genius needed to address our society’s local and global issues at this moment in time