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Transformative Inquiry: A Transdisciplinary Research Approach to Integral Learning
No full textIn this session Joanne will share the structure, approach and facilitation practices for a course that is “on” now. She reflects about her teaching thus far and on the students and their struggles and insights, and questions whether the class as a whole is coming to a transformed understanding about knowing and the topic at hand. This presentation of a particular course’s design and how it is lived by instructor and students sets a context for inviting thought about “transformative inquiry,” “transdisciplinary research,” and “integral learning” and how these might express themselves in course design generally. The intention is to open a way to mutually explore what we instructors understand about these concepts and to consider how they might inform teaching and learning at CIIS
Transpersonal Sociology: Origins, Development, and Theory
Get PDFTranspersonal theory formally developed within psychology through the initial definition of the field in the publishing of the Journal of Transpersonal Psychology. However, transpersonal sociology also developed with the Transpersonal Sociology Newsletter, which operated through the middle 1990s. Both disciplines have long histories, while one continues to flourish and the other, comparatively, is languishing. In order to encourage renewed interest in this important area of transpersonal studies, we discuss the history, and further define the field of transpersonal sociology, discuss practical applications of transpersonal sociology, and introduce research approaches that might be of benefit for transpersonal sociological researchers and practitioners
Religion and Spiritual Experience: Revisiting Key Assumptions in Sociology
Get PDFIn this paper, we examine the dominant materialist assumption that there is an inherent conflict between sociology, religion, and spirituality. We will suggest that such a conflict is not fundamental and that accepting the possibility that religious experiences might reflect contact with a transcendent reality can enrich the theoretical possibilities of sociology, supplementing rather than replacing existing insights
Intentional Kayaking: Awakening to Intimacy Within the Natural World
Get PDFThis article explores the notion of intimacy within the natural world. The author blends personal quest with scholarship from transpersonal psychology, spirituality, nature writing, and philosophy. It highlights the results of a thematic content analysis of journal entries made during a week of kayaking with the conscious intention of being in better relationship with a specific lake community. A thematic analysis of the journal entries that followed this experience revealed that that certain actions, attitudes, and ways of being increased intimacy and contributed to a greater sense of spirituality. She posits that we can all achieve greater spiritual connection and intimacy with the natural world by cultivating what Maslow refers to as the “plateau experience” and by incorporating the wisdom of nature writers whose craft is dependent on cultivating reciprocity, connection, and love within the natural world
Shakespeare’s Cymbeline and the Mystical Particular: Redemption, Then and Now, for a Disassembled World
Get PDFCymbeline reflected Shakespeare’s late-in-life aspirations for a world redeemed. Those in baroque England, past the first burgeoning of Renaissance vision, were nevertheless making a literal New World abroad. Likewise, Shakespeare arrived at a vision both post-innocent and post-tragic. As they compared to tragic heroes, he down-sized the late play characters; still, he granted them a gentler end. Late characters and worlds suffered centrifugal pressures; yet, ultimately, centripetal forces, internal and external, brought selves and worlds together. Relevant to today’s disassembled world, the study tracks Shakespeare’s approach to unification: He rebalanced gender, internal and external; he placed an emphasis on feminine and pastoral virtues, crucial for navigating a seemingly chaotic but beneficent cosmos. In addition, his vision in Cymbeline was mystical, relying on acute and shifting contextual awareness, and the power of a vivid particular to transport beyond the rational
Understanding Bohm’s Holoflux: Clearing Up a Conceptual Misunderstanding of the Holographic Paradigm and Clarifying its Signifigance to Transpersonal Studies of Consciousness
Get PDFThroughout the past 31 years transpersonal anthropologists and transpersonal psychologists seeking a scientific language to discuss anomalous phenomena and the farther reaches of human nature (or to invoke a discussion of ultimate reality, universal mind or cosmic consciousness) have referred to the holographic paradigm, the conceptual origin of which is directly related to David Bohm’s implicate order theory. In 1982 and 1984 Bohm discussed the holographic paradigm’s limitations (and more specifically his concept of holomovement) to accurately represent his implicate order theory, suggesting instead the more precise conceptual reference holoflux; yet the limited publication of this correction has not been noticed by those who continue to champion the holographic paradigm. This paper reiterates Bohm’s 1982 and 1984 correction, and discusses its implications for transpersonal theory
All Religions or No Religions? Integral Standpoint: Theory and Practice
No full textDr. Haridas Chaudhuri a major American exponent of the Integral Yoga focused on comparative religion in the institute he created (CIIS.) One of his major works, Modern Man’s Religion, also discussed religion, as a part of practice. On the other hand, the Mother (Mirra Alfassa), after her supramental realization felt that religion was mired in ignorance and, in her charter for the city of Auroville she repeated twice that at Auroville there would be no representations or public support of religions. So what then is view of the Integral Yoga? In this talk I will argue that Integral practice affirms both these positions
Developing Transpersonal Resiliency: An Approach to Healing and Reconciliation in Zimbabwe
Get PDFZimbabwe has been experiencing one of the worst economic and humanitarian crises in modern times, after its people have suffered from horrific episodes of political violence. An approach to healing and reconciliation in Zimbabwe aimed at developing transpersonal resiliency, called Lament, Welcome, and Celebration (LAWECE), was designed to be culturally appropriate through involving two distinct versions of psychological and spiritual intervention, one appropriate for traditional Shona values and one for Christian values. LAWECE involves a sequence of activities focused on both individual and community healing, starting with a lamentation process acknowledging the atrocities, followed by a welcoming process that invites all to participate (including perpetrators of the violence), and culminates with a celebratory process to consolidate the healing. Throughout there is a respect for diversity of religious and secular perspectives, congruent with its transpersonal perspective