The American Enlightenment was a period of intellectual ferment in the thirteen American colonies in the 18th to 19th century, which led to the American Revolution, and the creation of the United States of America. The American Enlightenment was influenced by the 17th-century European Enlightenment and its own native American philosophy. According to James MacGregor Burns,
the spirit of the American Enlightenment was to give Enlightenment
ideals a practical, useful form in the life of the nation and its
people.
The American Enlightenment applied scientific reasoning to
politics, science, and religion. It promoted religious tolerance and
restored literature, arts, and music as important disciplines worthy of
study in colleges. A non-denominational moral philosophy replaced
theology in many college curricula. Some colleges reformed their
curricula to include natural philosophy (science), modern astronomy, and
mathematics, and "new-model" American style colleges were founded.
Politically, the age is distinguished by an emphasis upon economic liberty, republicanism and religious tolerance, as clearly expressed in the United States Declaration of Independence. Attempts to reconcile science and religion resulted in a rejection of prophecy, miracle, and revealed religion, resulting in an inclination toward deism among some major political leaders of the age.
The term "American Enlightenment" was coined in the post-World
War II era, and was not used in the eighteenth century when English
speakers commonly referred to a process of becoming "enlightened."
Dates
Various dates for the American Enlightenment have been proposed, including 1750–1820, 1765–1815, and 1688–1815. One more precise start date proposed is 1714, when a collection of Enlightenment books by Jeremiah Dummer were donated to the library of the college of Yale in Connecticut. They were received by a post-graduate student Samuel Johnson,
who studied them. He found that they contradicted his Puritan
learning. He wrote that, "All this was like a flood of day to his low
state of mind",
and that he found himself as if "emerging out of the glimmer of
twilight into the full sunshine of open day". Two years later in 1716
as a Yale Tutor, Johnson introduced a new curriculum into Yale using
Dummer's donated Enlightenment books. Johnson offered what he called
"The New Learning",
which included the works and ideas of Francis Bacon, John Locke, Isaac
Newton, Robert Boyle, Copernicus, and literary works by Shakespeare,
Milton, and Addison. Enlightenment ideas were introduced to the
colonists and diffused through Puritan educational and religious
networks especially through Yale College in 1718.
Religious tolerance
Enlightened Founding Fathers, especially Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison and George Washington, fought for and eventually attained religious freedom
for minority denominations. According to the founding fathers, the
United States should be a country where peoples of all faiths could live
in peace and mutual benefit. James Madison summed up this ideal in 1792
saying, "Conscience is the most sacred of all property."
A switch away from established religion to religious tolerance
was one of the distinguishing features of the era from 1775 to 1818.
The passage of the new Connecticut Constitution in 1818 has been proposed as a date for the triumph if not the end of the American Enlightenment. That new constitution overturned the 180-year-old "Standing Order" and The Connecticut Charter of 1662, whose provisions dated back to the founding of the state in 1638 and the Fundamental Orders of Connecticut. The new constitution guaranteed freedom of religion and disestablished the Congregational church.
Intellectual currents
The American Enlightenment on the one hand grew from works of European political thinkers such as Montaigne, John Locke,
Jean Jacques Rousseau who themselves derived ideas about democracy form
from admiring accounts of American Indian governmental structures
brought back from European travelers to the “new world” after 1500.
Concepts of freedom and modern democratic ideals were born in "Native
American wigwams” and found permanence in Voltaire’s Huron.
While between 1714 and 1818, an intellectual change took place that
seemed to change the British Colonies of America from a distant
backwater into a leader in various fields — moral philosophy,
educational reform, religious revival, industrial technology, science,
and, most notably, political philosophy, the roots of this change were
home grown.
America saw a consensus on a "pursuit of happiness" based political
structure based in large part on Native sources, however misunderstood.
A non-denominational moral philosophy replaced theology in many college curricula. Yale College and the College of William & Mary were reformed. Even Puritan colleges such as the College of New Jersey (now Princeton University) and Harvard University
reformed their curricula to include natural philosophy (science),
modern astronomy, and mathematics. Additionally, "new-model" American
style colleges were founded, such as King's College New York (now Columbia University), and the College of Philadelphia (now University of Pennsylvania).
The Scottish Enlightenment also influenced American thinkers. David Hume's Essays and his History of England were widely read in the colonies, and Hume's political thought had a particular influence on James Madison and the Constitution. Another important Scottish writer was Francis Hutcheson. Hutcheson's ideas of ethics, along with notions of civility and politeness developed by the Earl of Shaftesbury, and Addison and Richard Steele in their Spectator, were a major influence on upper-class American colonists who sought to emulate European manners and learning.
By far the most important French sources to the American Enlightenment were Montesquieu'sSpirit of the Laws and Emer de Vattel'sLaw of Nations. Both informed early American ideas of government and were major influences on the Constitution. Voltaire's histories were widely read but seldom cited. Rousseau's influence was marginal. Noah Webster used Rousseau's educational ideas of child development to structure his famous Speller. A German influence includes Samuel Pufendorf, whose writings were also commonly cited by American writers.
Science
Leading
scientists during the American Enlightenment included Benjamin Franklin
for his work on electricity, William Smith for his organization and
observations of the Transit of Venus, Jared Eliot for his work in metallurgy and agriculture, the astronomer David Rittenhouse in astronomy, math, and instruments, Benjamin Rush in medical science, Charles Willson Peale in natural history, and Cadwallader Colden for his work in botany and town sanitation. Colden's daughter, Jane Colden, was the first female botanist working in America. Count Rumford was a leading scientist, especially in the field of heat.
Architecture, arts, and culture
After 1780, the Federal-style of American Architecture began to diverge from the Georgian style and became a uniquely American genre; in 1813, the American architect Ithiel Town designed and in 1814–1816 built the first Gothic Style church in North America, Trinity Church on the Green in New Haven, predating the English Gothic revival
by a decade.
In the fields of literature, poetry, music, and drama some nascent
artistic attempts were made, particularly in pre-war Philadelphia, but
American (non-popular) culture in these fields was largely imitative of
British culture for most of the period.
J.G.A. Pocock explained the intellectual sources in America:
The Whig canon and the neo-Harringtonians, John Milton, James Harrington and Sidney, Trenchard, Gordon and Bolingbroke, together with the Greek, Roman, and Renaissance masters of the tradition as far as Montesquieu,
formed the authoritative literature of this culture; and its values and
concepts were those with which we have grown familiar: a civic and
patriot ideal in which the personality was founded on property,
perfected in citizenship but perpetually threatened by corruption;
government figuring paradoxically as the principal source of corruption
and operating through such means as patronage, faction, standing armies
(opposed to the ideal of the militia); established churches (opposed to
the Puritan and deist modes of American religion); and the promotion of a
monied interest—though the formulation of this last concept was
somewhat hindered by the keen desire for readily available paper credit
common in colonies of settlement.
Liberalism and republicanism
Since the 1960s, historians have debated the Enlightenment's role in
the American Revolution. Before 1960 the consensus was that liberalism, especially that of John Locke, was paramount; republicanism was largely ignored. The new interpretations were pioneered by J.G.A. Pocock who argued in The Machiavellian Moment
(1975) that, at least in the early eighteenth-century, republican ideas
were just as important as liberal ones. Pocock's view is now widely
accepted. Bernard Bailyn and Gordon Wood pioneered the argument that the Founding Fathers of the United States were more influenced by republicanism than they were by liberalism. Isaac Kramnick, on the other hand, argues that Americans have always been highly individualistic and therefore Lockean.
In the decades before the American Revolution (1776), the
intellectual and political leaders of the colonies studied history
intently, looking for guides or models for good (and bad) government.
They especially followed the development of republican ideas in England. Pocock explained the intellectual sources in the United States:
The Whig canon and the neo-Harringtonians, John Milton, James Harrington and Sidney, Trenchard, Gordon and Bolingbroke, together with the Greek, Roman, and Renaissance masters of the tradition as far as Montesquieu,
formed the authoritative literature of this culture; and its values and
concepts were those with which we have grown familiar: a civic and
patriot ideal in which the personality was founded on property,
perfected in citizenship but perpetually threatened by corruption;
government figuring paradoxically as the principal source of corruption
and operating through such means as patronage, faction, standing armies
(opposed to the ideal of the militia), established churches (opposed to
the Puritan and deist modes of American religion) and the promotion of a
monied interest—though the formulation of this last concept was
somewhat hindered by the keen desire for readily available paper credit
common in colonies of settlement. A neoclassical politics provided both
the ethos of the elites and the rhetoric of the upwardly mobile, and
accounts for the singular cultural and intellectual homogeneity of the
Founding Fathers and their generation.
The commitment of most Americans to these republican values made inevitable the American Revolution,
for Britain was increasingly seen as corrupt and hostile to
republicanism, and a threat to the established liberties the Americans
enjoyed.
Leopold von Ranke,
a leading German historian, in 1848 claims that American republicanism
played a crucial role in the development of European liberalism:
By abandoning English
constitutionalism and creating a new republic based on the rights of the
individual, the North Americans introduced a new force in the world.
Ideas spread most rapidly when they have found adequate concrete
expression. Thus republicanism entered our Romanic/Germanic world... Up
to this point, the conviction had prevailed in Europe that monarchy best
served the interests of the nation. Now the idea spread that the nation
should govern itself. But only after a state had actually been formed
on the basis of the theory of representation did the full significance
of this idea become clear. All later revolutionary movements have this
same goal... This was the complete reversal of a principle. Until then, a
king who ruled by the grace of God had been the center around which
everything turned. Now the idea emerged that power should come from
below... These two principles are like two opposite poles, and it is the
conflict between them that determines the course of the modern world.
In Europe the conflict between them had not yet taken on concrete form;
with the French Revolution it did.
"Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness"
Many historians find that the origin of this famous phrase derives from Locke's position that "no one ought to harm another in his life, health, liberty, or possessions." Others suggest that Jefferson took the phrase from Sir William Blackstone's Commentaries on the Laws of England. Others note that William Wollaston's 1722 book The Religion of Nature Delineated describes the "truest definition" of "natural religion" as being "The pursuit of happiness by the practice of reason and truth."
That all men are by nature equally
free and independent, and have certain inherent rights ... namely, the
enjoyment of life and liberty, with the means of acquiring and
possessing property, and pursuing and obtaining happiness and safety.
Both the Moderate Enlightenment and a Radical or Revolutionary Enlightenment were reactions against the authoritarianism, irrationality, and obscurantism of the established churches. Philosophers such as Voltaire depicted organized religion as hostile to the development of reason and the progress of science and incapable of verification.
An alternative religion was deism,
the philosophical belief in a deity based on reason, rather than
religious revelation or dogma. It was a popular perception among the philosophes, who adopted deistic attitudes to varying degrees. Deism greatly influenced the thought of intellectuals and Founding Fathers, including John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, perhaps George Washington and, especially, Thomas Jefferson. The most articulate exponent was Thomas Paine, whose The Age of Reason
was written in France in the early 1790s, and soon reached the United
States. Paine was highly controversial; when Jefferson was attacked for
his deism in the 1800 election, Democratic-Republican politicians took pains to distance their candidate from Paine.
Unitarianism and Deism were strongly connected, the former being brought
to America by Joseph Priestley. Doctor Samuel Johnson called Lord
Edward Herbert the "father of English Deism".
Transpersonal psychology, or spiritual psychology, is a sub-field or school of psychology that integrates the spiritual and transcendent aspects of the human experience with the framework of modern psychology. The transpersonal is defined as "experiences in which the sense of identity or self extends beyond (trans) the individual or personal to encompass wider aspects of humankind, life, psyche or cosmos". It has also been defined as "development beyond conventional, personal or individual levels".
Lajoie and Shapiro
reviewed forty definitions of transpersonal psychology that had
appeared in academic literature over the period from 1968 to 1991. They
found that five key themes in particular featured prominently in these
definitions: states of consciousness; higher or ultimate potential; beyond the ego or personal self; transcendence; and the spiritual. Based upon this study the authors proposed the following definition of transpersonal psychology: Transpersonal
Psychology is concerned with the study of humanity's highest potential,
and with the recognition, understanding, and realization of unitive,
spiritual, and transcendent states of consciousness.
In a review of previous definitions Walsh and Vaughan suggested that transpersonal psychology is an area
of psychology that focuses on the study of transpersonal experiences
and related phenomena. These phenomena include the causes, effects and
correlates of transpersonal experiences and development, as well as the
disciplines and practices inspired by them. They have also
criticised many definitions of transpersonal psychology for carrying
implicit assumptions, or presuppositions, that may not necessarily
define the field as a whole.
Hartelius, Caplan and Rardin
conducted a retrospective analysis of definitions of transpersonal
psychology. They found three dominant themes that define the field: beyond-ego psychology, integrative/holistic psychology, and psychology of transformation.
Analysis suggested that the field has moved from an early emphasis on
alternative states of consciousness to a more expanded view of human
wholeness and transformation. This has moved the field into
consideration of the impacts of states of consciousness and exceptional
experiences on the psychology of the whole person.
Caplan (2009: p. 231) conveys the genesis of the discipline, states its mandate and ventures a definition:
Although transpersonal psychology is relatively new as a formal discipline, beginning with the publication of The Journal of Transpersonal Psychology
in 1969 and the founding of the Association for Transpersonal
Psychology in 1971, it draws upon ancient mystical knowledge that comes
from multiple traditions. Transpersonal psychologists attempt to
integrate timeless wisdom with modern Western psychology and translate
spiritual principles into scientifically grounded, contemporary
language. Transpersonal psychology addresses the full spectrum of human
psychospiritual development – from our deepest wounds and needs, to the
existential crisis of the human being, to the most transcendent
capacities of our consciousness.
The perspectives of holism and unity are central to the worldview of transpersonal psychology.
Development of the field
Origins
The thinkers who have set the stage for transpersonal studies are William James, Carl Jung, Roberto Assagioli and Abraham Maslow. More recent attention has brought to light transpersonal aspects of Jean Piaget's
untranslated French works, and argued that Piaget's transpersonal
experiences and theoretical interests were a major motivation for
Piaget's psychological research. A review by Vich
suggests that the earliest usage of the term "transpersonal" can be
found in lecture notes which William James had prepared for a semester
at Harvard University in 1905-6. The meaning then, different from today's usage, was in the context of James' radical empiricism,
in which there exists an intimate relation between a perceiving subject
and a perceived object, recognizing that all objects are dependent on
being perceived by someone. Commentators also mention the psychedelic movement, the psychological study of religion, parapsychology,
and the interest in Eastern spiritual systems and practices, as
influences that shaped the early field of transpersonal psychology.
Another important figure in the establishment of transpersonal psychology was Abraham Maslow,
who had already published work regarding human peak experiences. Maslow
is credited for having presented the outline of a fourth-force
psychology, named transhumanistic psychology, in a lecture entitled "The
Farther Reaches of Human Nature" in 1967. In 1968 Maslow was among the people who announced transpersonal psychology as a "fourth force" in psychology, in order to distinguish it from the three other forces of psychology: psychoanalysis, behaviorism and humanistic psychology. Early use of the term "transpersonal" can also be credited to Stanislav Grof and Anthony Sutich.
At this time, in 1967–68, Maslow was also in close dialogue with Grof
and Sutich regarding the name and orientation of the new field. According to Powers the term "transpersonal" starts to show up in academic journals from 1970 and onwards.
Both Humanistic and Transpersonal psychology have been associated with the Human Potential Movement, a growth center for alternative therapies and philosophies that grew out of the counter-culture of the 1960s at places like Esalen, California.
Formative period
Gradually,
during the 1960s, the term "transpersonal" was associated with a
distinct school of psychology within the humanistic psychology movement.
In 1969, Abraham Maslow, Stanislav Grof and Anthony Sutich were among
the initiators behind the publication of the first issue of the Journal of Transpersonal Psychology, the leading academic journal in the field. During the next decade significant establishments took place under the banner of transpersonal psychology. The Association for Transpersonal Psychology was established in 1972. An international initiative, The International Transpersonal Psychology Association, was founded by Stanislav Grof, and held its first conference in Iceland in 1973. This was soon to be followed by the founding of the Institute of Transpersonal Psychology, a graduate training center, in 1975 . The institute was founded by Robert Frager and James Fadiman in response to the academic climate of the 1970s, and included transpersonal and spiritual approaches to psychology.
Soon other institutions, with transpersonal psychology programs,
followed. Among these were Saybrook Graduate School, the California
Institute of Asian Studies (now California Institute of Integral
Studies), JFK University, and Naropa.
In the 1970s the field developed through the writings of such
authors as Robert Frager, Alyce and Elmer Green, Daniel Goleman, Stanley
Krippner, Charles Tart, Roger Walsh, John Welwood, and Ken Wilber. Wilber emerged as a leading figure and major theoretician of the field. Another important contributor to the field, Michael Washburn, was drawing on the insights of Jungian depth psychology. According to Smith,
Wilber and Washburn presented the major guiding theories of
transpersonal development. The 1980s were also characterized by the work
of Stanislav and Christina Grof, and their concept of spiritual emergence and spiritual emergencies.
The period also reflected initiatives at the organizational
level. In the early 1980s a group within APA division 32 (Humanistic
Psychology) argued in favor of establishing transpersonal psychology as a
separate division within the framework of the American Psychological Association.
A petition was presented to the APA Council in 1984, but was turned
down. A new initiative was made in 1985, but it failed to win the
majority of votes in the council. In 1986 the petition was presented
for a third and final time, but was withdrawn by the executive board of
Division 32.
The interest group later re-formed as the Transpersonal Psychology
Interest Group (TPIG), and continued to promote transpersonal issues in
collaboration with Division 32.
The 1990s introduced new profiles who contributed insights to the field. Among these authors we find Brant Cortright, Stuart Sovatsky, David Lukoff, Robert P. Turner and Francis Lu. Cortright and Sovatsky made contributions to transpersonal psychotherapy. Both authors published their primary work as part of the SUNY-series.
Lukoff, Turner and Lu, writers in the clinical field, were the authors
behind the proposal for a new diagnostic category to be included in the
DSM-manual of the American Psychiatric Association. The category was called "Psychoreligious or psychospiritual problem" and was approved by the Task Force on DSM-IV in 1993, after changing its name to Religious or spiritual problem.
While Wilber has been considered an influential writer and
theoretician in the field of transpersonal psychology, his departure
from the field was becoming more obvious during the decade of the 1990s.
Although the date of his departure is unclear, Freeman
notes that Wilber had been distancing himself from the label of
“transpersonal”, in favour of the label of “integral”, since the
mid-1990s. In 1998 he formed Integral Institute.
On the organizational side the decade was marked by a steady increase in membership for the Association for Transpersonal Psychology, stabilizing at approximately 3000 members in the early nineties. In 1996 the British Psychological Society
(the UK professional body equivalent to the APA) established a
Transpersonal Psychology Section. It was co-founded by David Fontana,
Ingrid Slack and Martin Treacy and was, according to Fontana, "the first
Section of its kind in a Western scientific society". In the second half of the decade commentators remarked that the field of transpersonal psychology had grown steadily and rapidly.
Later developments
The beginning of the 2000s was marked by the revisionary project of Jorge Ferrer, which is considered to be an important contribution to the field. His main publication from this era, Revisioning Transpersonal Theory - A Participatory Vision of Human Spirituality (2001), was part of the SUNY Series in Transpersonal and Humanistic Psychology.
In 2007, the Journal of Transpersonal Psychology and the
International Journal of Transpersonal Studies were accepted for
indexing in PsychINFO, the journal database of the American
Psychological Association. In 2012 the Institute of Transpersonal
Psychology announced that it was changing its name to Sofia University,
a change that included a new profile in the academic landscape, with an
expanded graduate program featuring computer science and business. In 2016, the California Institute of Integral Studies launched an online PhD degree in Integral and Transpersonal Psychology, founded and chaired by Glenn Hartelius, including Jorge Ferrer on its faculty, and sponsoring publication of the International Journal of Transpersonal Studies.
Branches and related fields
Several
psychological schools, or branches, have influenced the field of
transpersonal psychology. Among these schools we find the Analytical psychology of Carl Jung, the psychosynthesis of Roberto Assagioli, and the humanistic psychology of Abraham Maslow. The major transpersonal models of psychotherapy, as reviewed by Cortright, are the models of Ken Wilber, C.G Jung, Michael Washburn, Stanislav Grof, and Hameed Ali.
Dr. William J. Barry established transpersonal psychology as a
valid action research method in the field of education through his Ph.D.
thesis and development of Transformational Quality (TQ) Theory. Applications to the areas of business studies and management have been developed. Other transpersonal disciplines, such as transpersonal anthropology and transpersonal business studies, are listed in transpersonal disciplines.
Transpersonal art is one of the disciplines considered by Boucovolas,
in listing how transpersonal psychology may relate to other areas of
transpersonal study. In writing about transpersonal art, Boucovolas
begins by noting how, according to Breccia and also to the definitions
employed by the International Transpersonal Association in 1971,
transpersonal art may be understood as art work which draws upon
important themes beyond the individual self, such as the transpersonal
consciousness. This makes transpersonal art criticism germane to
mystical approaches to creativity.
Transpersonal art criticism, as Boucovolas notes, can be considered
that which claims conventional art criticism has been too committed to
stressing rational dimensions of art and has subsequently said little on
art's spiritual dimensions, or as that which holds art work has a
meaning beyond the individual person. Certain aspects of the psychology
of Carl Jung, as well as movements such as music therapy and art therapy,
may also relate to the field. Boucovolas' paper cites Breccia (1971) as
an early example of transpersonal art, and claims that at the time his
article appeared, integral theorist Ken Wilber
had made recent contributions to the field. More recently, the Journal
of Transpersonal Psychology, in 2005, Volume 37, launched a special
edition devoted to the media, which contained articles on film criticism
that can be related to this field.
Other fields of study, that are related to transpersonal psychology, include near-death studies, parapsychology and humanistic psychology. The major findings of near-death studies are represented in the Textbook of Transpersonal Psychiatry and Psychology, and in The Wiley-Blackwell Handbook of Transpersonal Psychology. The near-death experience is also discussed in relation to other transpersonal and spiritual categories. The major findings of parapsychology are also represented in the Textbook of Transpersonal Psychiatry and Psychology, and in The Wiley-Blackwell Handbook of Transpersonal Psychology.
There is also a strong connection between the transpersonal and
the humanistic approaches to psychology, as indicated by the sourcebook
of Donald Moss. Although transpersonal psychology is considered to have started off within,
or developed from humanistic psychology, many of its interests, such as
spirituality and modes of consciousness, extend beyond the areas of
interest discussed by humanistic theory. According to writers in the field
transpersonal psychology advocates for an expanded, spiritual, view of
physical and mental health that is not necessarily addressed by
humanistic psychology.
A few commentators
have suggested that there is a difference between transpersonal
psychology and a broader category of transpersonal theories, sometimes
called transpersonal studies. According to Friedman
this category might include several approaches to the transpersonal
that lie outside the frames of science. However, according to Ferrer the field of transpersonal psychology is "situated within the wider umbrella of transpersonal studies".
Transpersonal psychology may also, sometimes, be associated with New Age beliefs and pop psychology. However, leading authors in the field, among those Sovatsky, Rowan, and Hartelius have criticized the nature of "New Age"-philosophy and discourse. Rowan even states that "The Transpersonal is not the New Age".
Although some consider that the distinction between transpersonal psychology and the psychology of religion,
is fading (e.g. The Oxford Handbook of Psychology and Spirituality),
there is still generally considered to be a clear distinction between
the two.
Much of the focus of psychology of religion is concerned with issues
that wouldn't be considered 'transcendent' within transpersonal
psychology, so the two disciplines do have quite a distinct focus.
The research of transpersonal psychology is based upon both quantitative and qualitative methods,
but some commentators have suggested that the main contribution of
transpersonal psychology has been to provide alternatives to the
quantitative methods of mainstream psychology. Although the field has not been a significant contributor of empirical knowledge on clinical issues, it has contributed important quantitative research to areas such as the study of meditation.
Theories on human development
One
of the demarcations in transpersonal theory is between authors who are
associated with hierarchical/holarchical, sequential, or stage-like
models of human development, such as Ken Wilber
and John Battista, and authors who are associated with Jungian
perspectives, or models that include the principle of regression, such
as Michael Washburn and Stanislav Grof.
Ken Wilber and John Battista
The transpersonal psychology of Ken Wilber is often mentioned as an influential theoretical framework for the field. Wilber is often regarded as a leading theorist and pioneer of the transpersonal movement, but he has not been actively associated with the label for quite some time. Several commentators note that he has distanced himself from the transpersonal field in favour of a new model that he calls integral. However, his psychological model still remains influential to the practice and development of transpersonal psychology, and transpersonal themes remain a central part of his own work. Central to his theory of consciousness is
a synthesis of eastern and western psychologies and models of human development.
Wilber's model of consciousness consists of three broad
developmental categories: the prepersonal or pre-egoic, the personal or
egoic, and the transpersonal or trans-egoic.
A more detailed version of this model includes nine different levels of
human development, in which levels 1-3 are pre-personal levels, levels
4-6 are personal levels and levels 7-9 are transpersonal levels. Later versions also include a tenth level. The transpersonal stages, or the upper levels of the model, are the home of spiritual events and developments.
The framework proposed by Wilber suggests that human development is a
progressive movement through these stages of consciousness. The theory implies that different schools of psychology are associated with different levels of the model,
and that each level of organization, or self-development, includes a
vulnerability to certain pathologies associated with that particular
level. Each level also represents developmental tasks that must be properly met, or they might lead to developmental arrest.
A basic tenet of Wilber's transpersonal psychology is a concept called
the "pre/trans fallacy". That is, a confusion of transpersonal
progression with prepersonal regression. According to writers in the field
western schools of psychology have had a tendency to regard
transpersonal levels as pathological, equating them with regressive
pathological conditions belonging to a lower level on the model. The
pre/trans fallacy describes a lack of differentiation between these two
categories.
Wilber's understanding of the levels of consciousness, or reality, ranging from matter to body to mind to soul to spirit, or from prepersonal to personal to transpersonal, is often referred to as the "Great Chain of Being". This overarching framework, that is adapted from the "perennial philosophy" of the worlds great spiritual traditions, is later reformulated by Wilber as the "Great Nest of Being". That is, not just a simple linear hierarchy, but a kind of nested hierarchy, or holarchy. Human development, and evolution, is considered to move up this holarchy.
The 1990s marked a move into the world of integral ideas for
Wilber. According to commentators he stopped referring to his work as
transpersonal, in favor of the term integral, by the mid-1990s. Literature now confirms that he has shifted from transpersonal psychology to integral psychology. According to Brys & Bokor Wilber presented major parts of his integral approach in the years 1997-2000.
The integral theory included a four quadrant model of consciousness and
its development, whose dimensions were said to unfold in a sequence of
stages or levels. The combination of quadrants and levels resulting in
an all-quadrant, all-level approach. The theory also included the
concept of holon, "a whole that is simultaneously part of some other
whole", and holarchy, "hierarchical holons within holons". According to reviewers, the spiritual dimension was central to Wilber's integral vision.
Similar to the model presented by Wilber is the information
theory of consciousness presented by John Battista. Battista suggests
that the development of the self-system, and of human psychology,
consists of a series of transitions in the direction of enhanced
maturity and psychological stability, and in the direction of
transpersonal and spiritual categories. His model presents a series of
developmental tasks with corresponding levels of consciousness and
psychopathology, and discusses therapeutic interventions in relation to
the different levels and transitions.
Michael Washburn and Stanislav Grof
Michael
Washburn presents a model of human development that is informed by
psychoanalysis, object-relations theory, and the depth psychology of the
Jungian perspective.
In the context of transpersonal psychotherapy Washburn's approach has
been described as a «revision of Jung's analytical psychology».
According to Washburn transpersonal development follows the principles of a spiraling path. Central to his model is the understanding of a dynamic ground; a deep level of the unconscious, with spiritual qualities, that the person is in contact with in the prepersonal stage of development.
According to commentators Washburn describes three stages of human
development; the pre-personal, the personal and the transpersonal, also described as; pre-egoic, egoic and trans-egoic.
In the pre-stage (up to age 5) the child is integrated with the dynamic
ground. Later in life this contact is weakened, and the prepersonal
stage is followed by a new stage of development where the ego is
dissociated from the dynamic ground. This happens through the process of repression, and marks the stage of adulthood, and of the mental ego (egoic stage).
However, later in life there is the possibility of a re-integration with the dynamic ground, a trans-egoic stage.
According to Washburn this transpersonal development requires a kind of
U-turn, or going back to the dynamic ground, in order for the ego to
become integrated with its unconscious dynamics. This aspect of Wasburn's model is described by commentators as «a going back before a higher going forth». A regression that paves the way for transcendence, and a fully embodied life. Washburn's approach to transpersonal development is often summed up as «regression in the service of transcendence»which, according to Lev,
is a "twist of the phrase, regression in the service of the ego".
Washburn has contrasted his own perspective, which he calls
spiral-dynamic, to the developmental theory of Ken Wilber, which he
calls structural-hierarchical. The differing views of Washburn and Wilber are mentioned by several commentators.
Stanislav Grof, on the other hand, operates with a cartography
consisting of three kinds of territories: the realm of the sensory
barrier and the personal unconscious (described by psychoanalysis), the
perinatal or birth-related realm (organizing principles for the psyche),
and the transpersonal realm. According to this view proper engagement with the first two realms sets
the stage for an ascent to the third, transpersonal, realm.
His early therapy, and research, was carried out with the aid of
psychedelic substances such as lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD),
psilocybin, mescaline, dipropyl-tryptamine (DPT), and
methylene-dioxy-amphetamine (MDA). Later, when LSD was prohibited, Grof developed other methods of therapy, such as holotropic breathwork.
His early findings,
which were based on observations from LSD research, uncovered four
major types of experiences that, according to Grof, correspond to levels
in the human unconscious: (1) Abstract and aesthetic experiences; (2)
Psychodynamic experiences; (3) Perinatal experiences; (4) Transpersonal
experiences. Grof returns to many of these findings in later books.
Psychodynamic levels, which correspond to the theory of Sigmund Freud,
is the area of biographical memories, emotional problems, unresolved
conflicts and fantasies. Perinatal levels, which correspond to the
theories of Otto Rank, is the area of physical pain and agony, dying and
death, biological birth, aging, disease and decrepitude. Transpersonal
levels, corresponding to the theories of C.G. Jung, is the area of a
number of spiritual, paranormal and transcendental experiences,
including ESP phenomena, ego transcendence and other states of expanded
consciousness. In order to bring structure to the psychodynamic and
perinatal levels Grof introduces two governing systems, or organizing
principles: The COEX-system, which is the governing system for the
psychodynamic level, and the Basic Perinatal Matrices, which represent
the birthing stages and is the governing system for the perinatal level.
Grof applies regressional modes of therapy (originally with the
use of psychedelic substances, later with other methods) in order to
seek greater psychological integration. This has led to the
confrontation of constructive and deconstructive models of the process
leading to genuine mental health: what Wilber sees as a pre/trans
fallacy does not exist for Washburn and Grof, for pre-rational states
may be genuinely transpersonal, and re-living them may be essential in
the process of achieving genuine sanity.
Stuart Sovatsky
The
idea of development is also featured in the spiritual psychotherapy and
psychology of Stuart Sovatsky. His understanding of human development,
which is largely informed by east/west psychology and the tradition and
hermeneutics of Yoga, places the human being in the midst of spiritual
energies and processes outlined in yogic philosophy. According to
Sovatsky these are maturational processes, affecting body and soul.
Sovatsky adapts the concept of Kundalini as the maturational force of
human development. According to his model a number of advanced yogic
processes are said to assist in "maturation of the ensouled body".
Transpersonal theory of Jorge Ferrer
The scholarship of Jorge Ferrer
introduces a more pluralistic and participatory perspective on
spiritual and ontological dimensions. In his revision of transpersonal
theory Ferrer questions three major presuppositions, or frameworks for
interpretation, that have been dominant in transpersonal studies. These
are the frameworks of Experientalism (the transpersonal understood as an
individual inner experience); Inner empiricism (the study of
transpersonal phenomena according to the standards of empiricist
science); and perennialism (the legacy of the perennial philosophy in
transpersonal studies).
Although representing important frames of reference for the initial
study of transpersonal phenomena, Ferrer believes that these assumptions
have become limiting and problematic for the development of the field.
As an alternative to these major epistemological and
philosophical trends Ferrer focuses upon the great variety, or
pluralism, of spiritual insights and spiritual worlds that can be
disclosed by transpersonal inquiry. In contrast to the transpersonal
models that are informed by the "perennial philosophy" he introduces the
idea of a “dynamic and indeterminate spiritual power.”
Along these lines he also introduces the metaphor of the "ocean of
emancipation". According to Ferrer "the ocean of emancipation has many
shores". That is, different spiritual truths can be reached by arriving
at different spiritual shores.
The second aspect of his revision, "the participatory turn",
introduces the idea that transpersonal phenomena are participatory and
co-creative events. He defines these events as "emergences of
transpersonal being that can occur not only in the locus of an
individual, but also in a relationship, a community, a collective
identity or a place." This participatory knowing is multidimensional,
and includes all the powers of the human being (body/heart/soul), as
understood from a transpersonal framework. According to Jaenke
Ferrer's vision includes a spiritual reality that is plural and
multiple, and a spiritual power that may produce a wide range of
revelations and insights, which in turn may be overlapping, or even
incompatible.
Ferrer's approach to participatory thinking has been taken-up in
the context of psychoanalysis. Drawing from Ferrer's criticisms of
perennialism, Robin S. Brown adopts the participatory paradigm as a means to fostering clinical pluralism.
Transpersonal psychotherapy
Early
contributions to the field of transpersonal psychotherapy includes the
approach of Walsh & Vaughan. In their outline of transpersonal
therapy they emphasize that the goals of therapy includes both
traditional outcomes, such as symptom relief and behaviour change, as
well as work at the transpersonal level, which may transcend
psychodynamic issues. Both Karma Yoga and altered states of
consciousness are part of the transpersonal approach to therapy.
According to Walsh & Vaughan the context of karma yoga, and service,
should also facilitate a process whereby the psychological growth of
the therapist could provide supporting environment for the growth of the
client.
Several authors in the field have presented an integration of
western psychotherapy with spiritual psychology, among these Stuart
Sovatsky and Brant Cortright. In his reformulation of western
psychotherapy Sovatsky addresses the questions of time, temporality and
soteriology from the perspectives of east/west psychology and
spirituality. Besides drawing on the insights of post-freudians, such as
D.W. Winnicott, Sovatsky integrates his approach to psychotherapy with
an expanded understanding of body and mind, informed by the philosophy
of Yoga.
Cortright, on the other hand, has reviewed the field of
transpersonal psychotherapy and the major transpersonal models of
psychotherapy, including Wilber, Jung, Washburn, Grof and Ali, as well
as existential, psychoanalytic, and body-centered approaches. He also
presents a unifying theoretical framework for the field of transpersonal
psychotherapy, and identifies the dimension of human consciousness as
central to the transpersonal realm. He also addresses clinical issues
related to meditation, spiritual emergency, and altered states of
consciousness. According to commentators
Cortright challenges the traditional view of transpersonal psychology
that a working through of psychological issues is necessary for
progression on the spiritual path. Instead he suggests that these two
lines of development are intertwined, and that they come to the
foreground with shifting emphasis.
A transpersonal approach to clinical practice has been outlined by psychoanalyst Robin S. Brown who draws from relational psychoanalysis, analytical psychology, and participatory theory.
Within contemporary psychoanalysis it has been suggested that, from a
clinical point of view, postulating a transcendent dimension to human
experience is theoretically necessary in promoting non-reductive
approaches to therapy.
The first book to survey the field of spiritually oriented psychotherapy, published by the American Psychological Association in 2005, included a chapter on the Transpersonal–Integrative Approach to therapy.
Clinical and diagnostic issues
Transpersonal psychology has also brought clinical attention to the topic of spiritual crisis, a category that is not ordinarily recognized by mainstream psychology.
Among the clinical problems associated with this category, according to
transpersonal theory, are: psychiatric complications related to
mystical experience; near-death experience; Kundalini
awakening; shamanic crisis (also called shamanic illness); psychic
opening; intensive meditation; separation from a spiritual teacher;
medical or terminal illness; addiction. The terms "spiritual emergence" and "spiritual emergency" were coined by Stanislav and Christina Grof in order to describe the appearance of spiritual phenomena, and spiritual processes, in a persons life.
The term "spiritual emergence" describes a gradual unfoldment of
spiritual potential with little disruption in psychological, social and
occupational functioning.
In cases where the emergence of spiritual phenomena is intensified
beyond the control of the individual it may lead to a state of
"spiritual emergency". A spiritual emergency may cause significant
disruption in psychological, social and occupational functioning.
Many of the psychological difficulties described above can, according
to Transpersonal theory, lead to episodes of spiritual emergency.
At the beginning of the 1990s a group of psychologists and
psychiatrist, affiliated with the field of transpersonal psychology, saw
the need for a new psychiatric category involving religious and
spiritual problems. Their concern was the possibility of misdiagnosis of these problems. Based on an extensive literature review, and networking with the American Psychiatric Association Committee on Religion and Psychiatry, the group made a proposal for a new diagnostic category entitled "Psychoreligious or Psychospiritual Problem". The proposal was submitted to the Task Force on DSM-IV in 1991. The category was approved by the Task Force in 1993, after changing the title to "Religious or Spiritual Problem". It is included in the fourth edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-IV), as a minor category.
The text of the new category did not mention the particular spiritual problems, or psychiatric complications, listed above.
According to the authors of the proposal
the new category "addressed problems of a religious or spiritual nature
that are the focus of clinical attention and not attributable to a
mental disorder". In their view there exist criteria for differentiating
between spiritual problems and mental disorders such as psychosis. This concern is also addressed in the DSM-IV Sourcebook. According to Lukoff and Lu, co-authors of the category, religious or spiritual problems are not classified as mental disorders. Foulks
also notes that the new diagnosis is included in the DSM-IV-TR
nonillness category (Other Conditions That May Be a Focus of Clinical
Attention).
Addition of the new category to the DSM-system was noticed by a few psychiatric publications, and the New York Times. Several commentators have also offered their viewpoints. Chinen notes that the inclusion marks "increasing professional acceptance of transpersonal issues", while Sovatsky sees the addition as an admittance of spiritually oriented narratives into mainstream clinical practice. Smart and Smart
recognizes the addition of the category, and similar improvements in
the fourth version, as a step forward for the cultural sensitivity of
the DSM manual. Greyson, representing the field of Near-death studies, concludes that the diagnostic category of Religious or spiritual problem "permits differentiation of near-death experiences
and similar experiences from mental disorders". In a study from 2000
Milstein and colleagues discussed the construct validity of the new
DSM-IV category religious or spiritual problem (V62.89).
According to commentators
transpersonal psychology recognizes that transcendent psychological
states, and spirituality, might have both negative and positive effects
on human functioning. Health-promoting expressions of spirituality
include development and growth, but there also exist health-compromising
expressions of spirituality.
Organizations, publications and locations
A leading institution within the field of transpersonal psychology is the Association for Transpersonal Psychology, which was founded in 1972.
Past presidents of the association include Alyce Green, James Fadiman,
Frances Vaughan, Arthur Hastings, Daniel Goleman, Robert Frager, Ronald
Jue, Jeanne Achterberg and Dwight Judy. An international organization, The International Transpersonal Psychology Association, was founded in the 1970s, and has more recently been revived by Harris Friedman.
Also, a European counterpart to the American institution, the European
Transpersonal Psychology Association (ETPA), was founded much later. The leading graduate school is Sofia University, formerly the Institute of Transpersonal Psychology. According to sources the university is private, non-sectarian, and accredited by the Western Association of Schools and Colleges.
Leading academic publications within the field include the Journal of Transpersonal Psychology and the International Journal of Transpersonal Studies. Smaller publications include the Transpersonal Psychology Review, the journal of the Transpersonal Psychology Section of the British Psychological Society. In 1996 Basic Books published the Textbook of Transpersonal Psychiatry and Psychology, a standard text that included a thorough overview of the field. In 1999 Greenwood Press published a title called Humanistic and transpersonal psychology: A historical and biographical sourcebook, which includes biographical and critical essays on central figures in humanistic and transpersonal psychology. A recent publication, The Wiley Blackwell Handbook of Transpersonal Psychology, is one of the latest and most updated introductions to the field of transpersonal psychology.
Although the perspectives of transpersonal psychology has spread
to a number of interest groups across the US and Europe, its origins
were in California, and the field has always been strongly associated
with institutions on the west coast of the US.
Both the Association for Transpersonal Psychology and the Institute of
Transpersonal Psychology were founded in the state of California, and a
number of the fields leading theorists come from this area of the US.
Reception, recognition and criticism
Reception
Reception
of Transpersonal psychology, in the surrounding culture, reflects a
wide range of views and opinions, including both recognition and
skepticism. Transpersonal psychology has been the topic of a few
academic articles and book reviews in other academic fields, including
Psychiatry, Behavioral Science, Psychology, Social Work, Consciousness Studies, Religious Studies, Pastoral psychology, and Library Science.
Several commentators have expressed their views on the field of
transpersonal psychology and its contribution to the academic landscape.
Hilgard,
representing the contemporary psychology of the early 1980s, regarded
transpersonal psychology as a fringe-movement that attracted the more
extreme followers of Humanistic psychology. He did however remark that
such movements might enrich the topics that psychologists study, even
though most psychologists choose not to join the movement. Adams
also observed the fringe-status of transpersonal psychology, but noted
that the work of Wilber had provided the field with some amount of
legitimacy. Cowley and Derezotes,
representing the Social Work theory of the 1990s, regarded
transpersonal psychology as relevant for the development of spiritual
sensitivity in the helping disciplines. Bidwell,
representing the field of pastoral psychology, saw transpersonal
psychology as a developing field that had largely been ignored by his
own profession. He did however believe that transpersonal psychology
could contribute to the areas of pastoral theology and pastoral
counseling. Elkins,
writing for the field of spiritually oriented psychotherapy, considered
that transpersonal psychology had grown away from its roots in the
humanistic movement and that it had established its own theories and
perspectives.
Taylor,
representing the field of Humanistic Psychology, presented a balanced
review of transpersonal psychology in the early nineties. On the
negative side he mentioned transpersonal Psychology's tendency toward
being philosophically naive, poorly financed, almost anti-intellectual,
and somewhat overrated as far as its influences. On the positive side he
noted the fields integrated approach to understanding the phenomenology
of scientific method; the centrality of qualitative research; and the
importance of interdisciplinary communication. In conclusion he
suggested that the virtues of transpersonal psychology may, in the end,
outweigh its defects. In a later article Taylor
regarded transpersonal psychology as a visionary American
folk-psychology with little historical relation to American academic
psychology, except through its association with Humanistic psychology
and the categories of transcendence and consciousness.
Ruzek,
who interviewed founders of transpersonal psychology, as well as
historians of American psychology, found that the field had made little
impact on the larger field of psychology in America. Among the factors
that contributed to this situation was mainstream psychology's
resistance to spiritual and philosophical ideas, and the tendency of
Transpersonal psychologists to isolate themselves from the larger
context.
A few small attempts have been made to introduce Transpersonal
psychology to the classroom setting. Perspectives from transpersonal
psychology are represented in a widely used college textbook on
personality theories, marking the entrance of transpersonal themes into mainstream academic settings. In this book author Barbara Engler
asks the question, "Is spirituality an appropriate topic for
psychological study?" She offers a brief account of the history of
transpersonal psychology and a peek into its possible future. The
classroom dimension is also present in a book on personality theories by
authors Robert Frager and James Fadiman.
In this publication they provide an account of the contributions of
many of the key historic figures who have shaped and developed
transpersonal psychology (in addition to discussing and explaining
important concepts and theories germane to it), which serves to promote
an understanding of the discipline in classroom settings.
Noting that the majority of mainstream psychology departments
rarely offer training programs in transpersonal issues and practices as
part of their curriculum, graduate programs in humanistic and transpersonal psychology have been made available at a few North-American Universities. Among these we find John F. Kennedy University in Orinda, which included transpersonal psychology in its holistic studies program, and Burlington College in Vermont. In 2012 Columbia University announced that they were integrating spiritual psychology, similar to the perspectives taught at Sofia University (California), into their clinical psychology program.
However, although transpersonal psychology has experienced some minor recognition from the surrounding culture, it has also faced a fair amount of skepticism and criticism from the same surroundings. Freeman
mentions that the early field of transpersonal psychology was aware of
the possibility that it would be rejected by the scientific community.
The method of inner empiricism, based on disciplined introspection, was
to be a target of skepticism from outsiders in the years to come.
Several commentators have mentioned the controversial aspects of
transpersonal psychology. Zdenek,
representing a moderate criticism from the 1980s, noted that the field
was regarded as controversial since its inception. Other commentators,
such as Friedman, and Adams, also mention the controversial status of the field. In 1998 the San Francisco Chronicle reported on the holistic studies program at the John F. Kennedy University
in Orinda, which included a transpersonal psychology department. The
program was considered to be unique at the time, but also controversial.
Commentators presented their skepticism towards the program. Another controversial aspect concerns the topic of psychedelic substances.
Commenting upon the controversial status of psychedelic and entheogenic
substances in contemporary culture, authors Elmer, MacDonald &
Friedman
observe that these drugs have been used for therapeutic effect in the
transpersonal movement. The authors do however note that this is not the
most common form of transpersonal intervention in contemporary therapy.
According to Lukoff and Lu the American Psychological Association
expressed some concerns about the "unscientific" nature of
transpersonal psychology at the time of the petition (see above) to the
APA. Rowan
notes that the Association had serious reservations about opening up a
Transpersonal Psychology Division. The petitions for divisional status
failed to win the majority of votes in the APA council, and the division
was never established.
Commentators also mention that transpersonal psychology's association
with the ideas of religion was one of the concerns that prohibited it
from becoming a separate division of the APA at the time of the petition
in 1984.
Commenting on the state of the field in the mid-nineties Chinen
noted that professional publications, until then, had been hesitant to
publish articles that dealt with transpersonal subjects. Adams noted that the field has struggled for recognition as a legitimate field of study in the academic community, while Parsons noted that Transpersonal psychologys naive perennialism, misreading of
religious texts, lack of methodological sophistication, and weak
epistemology had not been well received by most in academia.
Criticism, skepticism and response
Criticism and skepticism towards the field of transpersonal psychology has been presented by a wide assortment of commentators, and includes both writers from within its own ranks, as well as writers representing other fields of psychology or philosophy.
Critical remarks from within the field include the observations
of Lukoff and Lu, and the criticism of Walach. In their contribution to
the field of spiritually oriented psychotherapy Lukoff and Lu
discuss the strengths and weaknesses of transpersonal psychotherapy and
transpersonal psychology. Among the strengths is its basis of theory
and practice that allows for communication and dialogue with other
cultures, and native healers. Among the weaknesses is a lack of
theoretical agreement, which has led to internal debates, and attention
from critics who question the validity of the transpersonal approach.
Another source, close to the field, is The Wiley-Blackwell Handbook of Transpersonal Psychology. In a chapter from this book
Walach brings attention to unsolved problems within the field.
According to the editors the criticism represents "the sort of
self-criticism that is mandatory within a responsible discipline".
Criticism from other profiles, close to the field, also include the observations of Ken Wilber and Jorge Ferrer.
Wilber, one of the early profiles within the transpersonal field, has
repeatedly announced the demise of transpersonal psychology.
However, the early transpersonal theory of Wilber was itself subject to
criticism, most notably from humanistic psychologists Rollo May and
Kirk Schneider. Even though Wilber has distanced himself from transpersonal psychology in favour of integral philosophy, his transpersonal model has continued to attract both recognition and criticism.
Among the critics of Wilber we also find Ferrer, who in 2001 published a revision of transpersonal theory. In this revision he criticized transpersonal psychology for being too loyal to the perennial philosophy, for introducing a subtle Cartesianism,
and for being too preoccupied with intrasubjective spiritual states
(inner empiricism). As an alternative to these trends he suggests a
participatory vision of human spirituality that honors a wide assortment
of spiritual insights, spiritual worlds and places.
Criticism from humanistic psychology
One of the earliest criticisms of the field was issued by the humanistic psychologist Rollo May, who disputed the conceptual foundations of transpersonal psychology.
According to commentators May also criticized the field for neglecting
the personal dimension of the psyche by elevating the pursuit of the
transcendental, and for neglecting the "dark side of human nature". Commentators note that these reservations, expressed by May, might reflect what later theorists have referred to as "spiritual bypassing". Other commentators
have suggested that May only focused on "New Age popularizations of
transpersonal approaches". However, criticism has also come from other
profiles in the field of humanistic psychology. Eugene Taylor and Kirk Schneider have raised objections to several aspects of transpersonal psychology.
Relationship to science and scientific criteria
The
field of transpersonal psychology has also been criticized for lacking
conceptual, evidentiary, and scientific rigor. In a review of criticisms
of the field, Cunningham writes, "philosophers have criticized
transpersonal psychology because its metaphysics is naive and
epistemology is undeveloped. Multiplicity of definitions and lack of
operationalization of many of its concepts has led to a conceptual
confusion about the nature of transpersonal psychology itself (i.e., the
concept is used differently by different theorists and means different
things to different people). Biologists have criticized transpersonal
psychology for its lack of attention to biological foundations of
behavior and experience. Physicists have criticized transpersonal
psychology for inappropriately accommodating physic concepts as
explanations of consciousness."
Others, such as Friedmans suggested that the field is underdeveloped as a field of science
and that it has, consequently, not produced a good scientific
understanding of transpersonal phenomena. In his proposal for a new
division of labour within the transpersonal field he suggests a
distinction between transpersonal studies, a broad category that might
include non-scientific approaches, and transpersonal psychology, a more
narrow discipline that should align itself more closely with the
principles of scientific psychology. However, this criticism has been
answered by Ferrer
who argues that Friedmans proposal attaches transpersonal psychology
to a naturalistic metaphysical worldview that is unsuitable for the
domain of spirituality.
Albert Ellis, a cognitive psychologist and humanist, has questioned the results of transpersonal psychotherapy,
the scientific status of transpersonal psychology, and its relationship
to religion, mysticism and authoritarian belief systems. This criticism has been answered by Wilber who questioned Ellis' understanding of the domain of religion, and the field of Transpersonal Psychology; and Walsh who questioned Ellis' critique of nonrational-emotive therapies.
Other commentators, such as Matthews,
are more supportive of the field, but remarks that a weakness of
transpersonal psychology, and transpersonal psychotherapy, has been its
reliance on anecdotal clinical experiences rather than research. Adams,
writing from the perspective of Consciousness Studies, has
problematized the concept of introspective 'data' that appears to make
up the "database" of transpersonal psychology. Walach and Runehov have
responded to this issue.
Transpersonal psychology has been noted for undervaluing
quantitative methods as a tool for improving our knowledge of spiritual
and transpersonal categories. This is, according to commentators,
a consequence of a general orientation within the field that regards
spiritual and transpersonal experience to be categories that defy
conceptualization and quantification, and thereby not well suited for
conventional scientific inquiry.
Other Criticism
From the standpoint of Dzogchen,
the teachings from Tibetan Buddhism, and Buddhism generally, Elías
Capriles has objected that transpersonal psychology fails to distinguish
between the transpersonal condition of nirvana, which is inherently liberating, those transpersonal conditions which are within samsara
In the process of elaborating what he calls a meta-transpersonal
psychology, Capriles has carried out refutations of Wilber, Grof and
Washburn.
Although the ideas of William James
are considered central to the transpersonal field, Gary Alexander
thought that transpersonal psychology did not have a clear understanding
of the negative dimensions of consciousness (such as evil) expressed in
James' philosophy.
This criticism has been absorbed by later transpersonal theory, which
has been more willing to reflect on these important dimensions of human
existence.
Skepticism towards the concept of spiritual emergencies, and the
transpersonal dimension in psychiatry, has been expressed by Alison
J.Gray.
According to Cunningham, transpersonal psychology has been
criticized by some Christian authors as being "a mishmash of 'New Age'
ideas that offer an alternative faith system to vulnerable youths who
turn their backs on organized religion (Adeney, 1988)".
According to John V. Davis Transpersonal psychology has been criticized for emphasizing oneness and holism at the expense of diversity.
