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Complexity and Sustainability
No full textComplex dynamic system studies have been studied explicitly in the natural sciences, and most only implicitly throughout other fields. Yet much great social theory and philosophy is in fact based in complexity, and important concepts like postmodernism, risk, and collapse all stem from complexity. Six key terms are explored: nonlinearity, feedbacks, thresholds, hierarchies, emergence and self-organization, and dozens of related principles are discussed, with a focus on uncertainty, risk, vulnerability, learning, strategy, resilience, collapse and sustainability. The book surveys the role of these complexity principles in the natural sciences, social theory, transdisciplinary discourse, philosophy, and ethics, and shows how this complexity framework is a valuable lens for approaching the spectre of climate change and life in the Anthropocene.https://digitalcommons.ciis.edu/facultypublications/1053/thumbnail.jp
A Transcendent View of Gratitude:The Transpersonal Gratitude Scale
Get PDFThe importance of gratitude in interpersonal relationships is well recognized, but less
is known about experiences of gratitude beyond this domain. The authors sought to
examine the lived experience of gratitude as it arises in a transpersonal context. Drawing
from interviews with 68 adults, the authors generated 110 items. In two separate studies
(n = 314; n = 385) the authors culled the scale to sixteen items by using a combination of
Cronbach’s alpha, exploratory factor analysis, and assessments of content validity. Internal
consistency for the overall scale and the subscales was high with a Cronbach’s alpha of
0.88. A confirmatory factor analysis revealed strong fit indices for the factor structure. The
final scale exhibited good convergent validity, as quantified by positive correlations with
positive reciprocity, grateful disposition, empathy, and spiritual transcendence. In addition,
the final scale exhibited good discriminant validity, as quantified by negative correlations
with negative reciprocity. These results indicate that our assessment of gratitude is similar
to previous assessments of gratitude, but also distinct from scales that quantify negative
reciprocity. Conclusions are drawn regarding the theoretical structure of gratitude and the
importance of adding a transpersonal and spiritual dimension to the construct
A Possible Mechanism of Action for the Placebo Response: Human Biofield Activation Via Therapeutic Ritual
Get PDFThe lack of an identified mechanism of action for the placebo response contributes to its perception as clinically unimportant in Western medicine and minimizes its value as a contributing factor to the effectiveness of both conventional and alternative medical treatments. The therapeutic ritual is one of the principle contributors to the placebo response. Two key elements predicting salutogenic outcomes in both the placebo response and therapeutic ritual are patient meaning making and the patient/healer relationship. A detailed examination of human biofield dynamics shows its role in storing, communicating, and regulating the flow of information associated with healing in Western and non-Western medical models. The human biofield is particularly responsive to psychospiritual inputs, which may provide a model explaining the mechanism of action for these otherwise anomalous healing responses. Transpersonal studies provide methodological tools suitable to addressing the multiple paradigms found to be effective within the placebo response and therapeutic rituals, leading to the possible development of a transpersonal medicine
Informing a Psychedelic Society
No full textWhile psychedelics’ psychotherapeutic uses are becoming better known, Thomas Roberts surveys some of their lesser known additions to the “House of Intellect” including: consilience, mind emergence, inventing paradigms, problem solving, experimental humanities, enhancing cognition and intellect, Grofian interpretations, multistate theory, solving financial impediments, inventing novel cognitive processes and mindbody states, mind apps and mind design
Breathing New Life into Social Transformation: Holotropic Breathwork for social change leaders
No full textKey experiences and insights are presented from the application of Holotropic Breathwork to innovative leadership for social, political, and environmental change. Inspiring anecdotes and breakthroughs are recounted from prominent social change leaders, showing how their breathwork experience impacted their leadership for social transformation
The Transformative Power of Ketamine: Psychedelic States and a Personal History of Transformation
Get PDFA discussion of the nature of transformation and its relationship to psychedelic experiences— particularly ketamine experiences—is presented and discussed along with a schema for thinking about types of states that may be encountered and transformations that may occur related to psychedelic use and practice. This is followed by a longitudinal historical approach for portraying and examining personal transformation along with a proposed instrument— The Transformational Codex—for cataloging that history and the elements that compose it
Making Ketamine Work in the Long Run
Get PDFTreatments such as ketamine psychotherapy face substantial financial and regulatory obstacles to dissemination into widespread use. Newly patented medications are able to generate enough capital to pay for studies required for FDA approval, personnel to apply for coverage on insurance plans, and marketing to establish a successful launch. Ketamine is an older drug with considerable evidence of efficacy for treatment resistant depression, and almost 50 years of data concerning safety as an anesthetic agent. However, it can no longer be patented, so there is no incentive for pharmaceutical companies to help get it into widespread use. In this paper we discuss some of the complex issues surrounding use of ketamine in the outpatient setting and share information and practice pearls that have been gathered through communication with other practitioners and through direct experience with over 1000 treatments involving 120 patients in the last eight years. The safety and appropriateness of intramuscular ketamine treatment in the outpatient psychiatric office is discussed. We hope to help proponents of effective mental health interventions navigate the actual and potential challenges involved in safe application of this treatment option outside of hospital-based programs
The Alchemical Heart: A Jungian Approach to the Heart Center in the Upanisads and in Eastern Christian Prayer
Get PDFThe heart is a rich symbol in religious traditions both East and West. When interpreted through a Jungian alchemical lens, the heart emerges as a symbol of psychospiritual
transformation, integration, and healing. This article re-visions the metaphor of the heart in the Upanisads and in Eastern Christian prayer through the use of Jung’s lectures on the heart cakra, his transcendent function theory, and as Spirit Mercurius. Each facet of this lens offers a variegated approach through which to explore the heart as mediating center of psychic polarities, what Jung referred to as the union of opposites. When interpreted through an alchemical lens, the heart in both Eastern and Western traditions emerges as an alchemical womb of the philosopher’s stone, and offers the possibility of profound healing through the tension of opposites when held in the heart
A Brief History of Mind-Body Medicine
Get PDFFrom its earliest sources the medical tradition has recognized the causal role of the interface of mind and body in health and disease. Cultural and historical circumstances have determined the degree to which each of these two key factors are emphasized. In modern times we are emerging from an exclusive materialistic emphasis on biology to a renewed acceptance and understanding of the role of the mind and consciousness in health and disease. This re-balancing of the two great forces of healing can be traced to a progressive expansion of knowledge in the fields of stress, past-traumatic stress, biofeedback, cognitive and behavior psychology, psychoneuroimmunology, neuroscience, and personal and transpersonal consciousness. The Integral perspective is a useful integrative model that expresses the inter-dependence of consciousness and biology in health and disease, allowing the practitioner to integrate the expanding set of methodologies that enable an increasingly subtle clinical approach to the critical interface of mind and body in health and disease. This paper is a review of the ongoing development of an increasingly sophisticated and subtle mind/body knowledge that offers the modern practitioner a more expansive approach to the alleviation of disease and realization of human flourishing