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Assessing the Effectiveness of Core-Shamanism on a Group of Westerners: A Brief Research Report
Get PDFA study was conducted on Western adults who participated in a group undergoing initiation into therapeutic shamanism. It investigated how shamanic work could be a factor triggering changes in persons who never had been previously immersed in such a tradition. Five groups, each composed of six people for a total of 30 participants, met eight times over a period of four months. Analyzing questions asked of the 27 who completed the program resulted in the following identified themes: experiences of the group, trust in the shamanic practitioner, raised awareness of their feeling states, experiences of the shamanic journeys, understanding of the origin of personal difficulties, solutions discovered to improve one’s life, identification of striking moments, belief in the existence of “spirits,” and other relevant changes like disappearance of allergies, improved self-confidence, more assertiveness, a desire to live, optimism, the capacity to live in the present moment and to make choices. The structural role of ritual and trance in this type of program is highlighted, including discussion about implications of the changes reported
Transpersonal Dimensions in Islamic Spirituality
Get PDFThe Sufi tradition that arose within Islam describes a compelling and varied map of the self and its transformations. Over the span of a millennium of practice and discourse, Sufis have explored and detailed the stages of the journey of selftransformation towards their ultimate aim of union with the One. Their models of the spiritual journey and of the emergent transpersonal self, extensively contextualized in phenomenology, epistemology, theology and ontology, offer singular insights into a richly detailed holistic psychology of self-realization and the making of the complete human
Entheogenic and Nature-Oriented Transpersonal Experiences, and Inspirations and Challenges of Ecological and Sociopolitical Activism: Applying Participatory Action Research, Heuristic Inquiry, and Thematic Analysis to Empower Activists
Get PDFIn original research on empowering adult North Americans who aspire to address the ecological crisis (N = 21), heuristic inquiry, participatory action research, and thematic analysis were applied to examining the challenges and inspirations to coresearchers\u27 broadly defined activism. The following themes emerged: Entheogenic and nature-oriented transpersonal and awe-evoking experiences; identifying origins of the ecological crisis; high and low political efficacy—inspired activism; relations with nature increased wellbeing; psychospiritual development and activism were mutually stimulating; challenges to activism and nurturing selfgrowth to overcome challenges; individuation needs inspired and were a challenge to activism; ecologically conscious collaboration and lifestyle transformation fostered psychospiritual growth. Many coresearchers expressed negative attitudes toward sociopolitical activism, suggesting a need for psychospiritual supports to evoke collaborative sociopolitical transformation
An Illustration of Cooperative Inquiry Design: Finding Our Way to Precious Knowledge, Together
Get PDFAlthough transpersonal psychology and practices are inherently holistic, vitally informed by an ontology of interconnectedness, and fundamentally open to practices that challenge hegemonic norms in research practices, the use of participatory methods that implement these ideals, remains scarce. The purpose of this paper is to reveal the details of the transpersonal research I co-conducted, which used Cooperative Inquiry to analyze the transpersonal phenomenon of psychospiritual transformation, for researchers and practitioners who seek an example to guide their investigations. My intent is to stimulate enthusiasm for this method by providing an overview of cooperative inquiry followed by a detailed account of the decisions and activities involved in the research design, data collection and analysis procedures, and validity measures complemented by a brief account of the results
The Mushroom, the Frog, and the Rainbow of Desire: A Participatory-Psychedelic Spiritual Emergence
Get PDFThis article will explore a spiritual emergency through a myth or fairy tale that emerged at the same time I had a frightening brush with death. Two days before the accident I had ingested psilocybin mushrooms. Michael Washburn, among other transpersonal theorists, will be used to interpret, amplify and re-frame this potential ‘psychotic episode’ with ‘borderline features’ into something more, perhaps, on the threshold of a shamanic initiation in a liminal state. The mythic sequence in my story anticipates the death-rebirth (perinatal pattern) and evolution of consciousness in the LSD research of Stanislav Grof; an evolution given epic participatory elucidation by Richard Tarnas; and an evolution consummated in the erotic desire for nature found in the panpsychism of Freya Mathews
Intimations of a Spiritual New Age: III. Martin Heidegger’s Phenomenology of Numinous/Being Experience and the “Other Beginning” of a Futural Planetary Spirituality
Get PDFThe phenomenology of numinous or Being-experience in the later Heidegger is the focus in this third in a series of papers on a group of independent figures— also including Jung, Reich, Toynbee, Teilhard de Chardin, and Simone Weil—who beginning in the crisis years of the 1930s envisioned versions of a futural “New Age” spirituality to address a globalizing materialism and its disenchantments—and so also creating a context for much of contemporary transpersonal and consciousness studies. A preliminary consideration of Heidegger in the contexts of transpersonal psychology, religious studies, the macro-histories of Toynbee and Sorokin, James on “pure experience,” and spirituality as intelligence must also lead to some reckoning with Heidegger’s disastrous initial involvement with National Socialism. Considered here in terms of a spiritual metapathology of narcissistic inflation/grandiosity, it was his way past this episode that led from the mid 1930s on into his radical critique of a globalizing technology of universal commodification and to an answering futural potential for a spiritual “Other Beginning” and “last god”—re-sacralizing humanity for the “guardianship” and “sheltering” of planet and life
Toward a New Theory of Gender Transcendence: Insights from a Qualitative Study of Gendered Self-Concept and Self-Expression in a Sample of Individuals Assigned Female at Birth
Get PDFSex and gender are two concepts that are often conflated in popular culture. However, those who experience dissonance between their assigned sex and gender identity intimately understand the difference between sex, a biologicallybased distinction, and gender, a confluence of social and behavioral factors that contribute to understanding who one is as well as how one is seen by others. The gendered self-understanding and self-expression of 170 North Americans who selfidentified as gender nonconforming and who were assigned female at birth were explored using a transpersonal lens and thematic analysis. Data suggested a range and variety of gendered self-concepts that aligned across two broad themes: binary (female/woman; male/man) and non-binary (gender nonbinary; trans masculine) gender core identities. Themes of gendered self-concept, expression in behavior, dress style and appearance, and surgical body modification are discussed. These data support the application of transpersonal theory to transgender identity development, and they underscore the need for more research to test the validity of a new theoretical model of gender transcendence discussed herein
Transpersonal Dimensions in Islamic Spirituality
Get PDFThe Sufi tradition that arose within Islam describes a compelling and varied map of the self and its transformations. Over the span of a millennium of practice and discourse, Sufis have explored and detailed the stages of the journey of selftransformation towards their ultimate aim of union with the One. Their models of the spiritual journey and of the emergent transpersonal self, extensively contextualized in phenomenology, epistemology, theology and ontology, offer singular insights into a richly detailed holistic psychology of self-realization and the making of the complete human
From Romantic Jealousy to Sympathetic Joy: Monogamy, Polyamory, and Beyond
Get PDFThis paper explores how the extension of contemplative qualities to intimate relationships can transform human sexual/emotional responses and relationship choices. The paper reviews contemporary findings from the field of evolutionary psychology on the twin origins of jealousy and monogamy, argues for the possibility to transform jealousy into sympathetic joy (or compersion), addresses the common objections against polyamory (or nonmonogamy), and challenges the culturally prevalent belief that the only spiritually correct sexual options are either celibacy or (lifelong or serial) monogamy. To conclude, it is suggested that the cultivation of sympathetic joy in intimate bonds can pave the way to overcome the problematic dichotomy between monogamy and polyamory, grounding individuals in a radical openness to the dynamic unfolding of life that eludes any fixed relational identity or structure