This article examines foundational tenets of logotherapy and proposes an embodiment-focused reinterpretation of Frankl’s dimensional ontology. We begin by contrasting negative orientations to suffering via the existential vacuum with positive orientations to transformation grounded in three expressions of the noetic: discovery of meaning, self-detachment, and self-transcendence. Next, we...
This essay addresses a lacuna in humanistic psychology concerning stabilized spiritual consciousness. Building on Maslow’s “high plateau,” it introduces “Living Transcendence” as a phenomenological term for this stable trait. Drawing on research with spiritual exemplars, the trait is described as an experience with specific noetic, affective, embodied, and relational qualities, their constancy,...
Black women’s engagement with Buddhism represents a distinct and under-examined pathway for healing from anti-Blackness. Drawing on publicly available memoirs and essays, this qualitative narrative inquiry explores how Black women describe their experiences with Buddhist practice in relation to racialized suffering and meaning-making. Using an interpretive thematic analysis, I identified three...
This study investigates how self-reported contact experiences with advanced non-human intelligences transform participants’ beliefs, values, and worldviews through a descriptive, generative, and interpretive phenomenological lens. Beginning in a position of bracketing, I suspend judgment on the source or origin of the phenomena, while taking in all that appeared as an object of conscious...
Despite decades of research, psychiatric pharmacotherapy remains limited in its clinical effectiveness and understanding of therapeutic mechanisms. Dominant approaches, rooted in symptom-scale-driven randomized controlled trials (RCTs) and biological reductionism, often fail to capture the complex, subjective, and context-dependent nature of psychotropic drug effects. In this article, we...
Modern societies face an increasingly pervasive existential challenge: individuals struggle not only to discover but also to sustain meaning in life. Even when meaning is found, it may collapse when the world ceases to make sense, life loses its value, and purpose no longer provides fulfillment. Yet existing research has largely focused on meaning discovery, leaving the question of how meaning...
Emerging evidence suggests psychedelic-assisted therapies ameliorate symptoms of psychopathology. However, less is known about how psychedelics influence positive psychological functioning (e.g., compassionate love, self-compassion, and life satisfaction). These constructs may be relevant in understanding how psychedelics exert their therapeutic effects, as they are central to both intra- and...
This article introduces the Theory of the Psychological Matrix, a transpersonal and structural model of personality that integrates psychoanalytic, humanistic, and spiritual dimensions of the self. The theory proposes a tripartite structure of consciousness (rational mind, individual unconscious, and global unconscious) and identity (I, Self, Higher Self), each serving a role in psychological...
Microdosing psychedelics is an increasingly popular phenomenon where small amounts of psychedelic drugs are taken regularly. Qualitative data have been published regarding the experiences of microdosers, but never in the context of a randomised controlled trial. Semi-structured video interviews with 40 healthy males were conducted following a double-blind placebo-controlled trial of 10 µg of...
Until recently, mainstream psychiatry has eschewed the clinical consideration of spiritual matters. This article traces key historical influences leading to the inclusion of a ‘Religious or Spiritual Problem’ category (RoSPc) in the American Psychiatric Association’s (APA) Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM). First, I discuss psychiatry’s ‘spiritual’ aversion issue and...
As recreational psychedelics increase, it is important to understand possible consequences, like identity disturbance, and how they may be mitigated with harm-reduction techniques. For example, people may spend time in nature or engage in journaling after recreational use to “self-integrate.” The present study aimed to investigate differences in measures of well-being and identity disturbance...
Spiritual emergency is a phenomenon wherein individuals undergoing psychological crises may experience altered states of consciousness with transpersonal themes resembling symptoms of psychopathology. Rather than mere pathology, these altered states can catalyze a psychospiritual evolution for the individual in a generative direction, including flashes of wisdom that can benefit the collective....
Peak and mystical experiences can be seen as states of consciousness that exist on a spectrum of varying intensity and duration. They are often described as moments of profound joy, ecstasy, and awe that involve feelings of noetic quality, decreased self-salience, and heightened interconnectedness. The renewed interest in psychedelics as a potential tool for therapeutic intervention has been...
There are substantial differences between the current FDA and research-driven approach to psychedelic use in Western cultures and traditional uses among Indigenous peoples. While the research-driven, evidence-based approach to identifying risks and benefits for particular conditions used in the United States and elsewhere helps ensure safety and efficacy, there is a risk of failing to...
This paper makes the argument that the burgeoning field of Filipino psychology (formally known as Sikolohiyang Pilipino), which draws its concepts and frameworks from the everyday indigenous experience of Filipinos, is fundamentally transpersonal. By surfacing the implicit psychology embedded in language, folklore, and customary behavior, various cultural notions related to personhood, growth,...
This article explores the temporal disturbances experienced in depression and the potential effectiveness of mindfulness-based interventions in addressing these disturbances. Drawing upon a Husserlian framework, this article examines the three temporal phases of experience: retention, primal impression, and protention. These phases constitute the temporal fusion that allows us to perceive an...
Mindfulness and compassion meditation practices have repeatedly been shown to have a positive impact on empathy and prosocial behavior. This study examines the perceived influence of compassion meditation on the psychotherapist’s empathy and clinical practice, beyond benefits already gained from a practice of mindfulness meditation. Three psychotherapists, who had already been practicing...
As humanity has been utilizing psychedelic substances for millennia, much knowledge has already been accumulated about the exploratory potential and therapeutic power of the psychedelic-induced nonordinary states of consciousness (NSC). However, we still have only a limited understanding of the process that unfolds in mind and the brain. Only recently have systematic investigations become...
This special issue collects papers that explore the relationship between phenomenology and mindfulness with the goal of creating a fruitful dialogue between these two traditions, so as to bring into relief the overlaps and incongruities, exploring historical as well as systematic connections. Both phenomenology and mindfulness are inclusively construed: the former (phenomenology) is understood...
Psychedelic drugs are currently being investigated for their potential to facilitate a variety of long-lasting psychological changes. One area that has yet to be systematically investigated in psychedelic research, however, regards changes in aesthetic experience (i.e., one’s attitudes, perceptions, and expression of art). This is surprising given the wealth of anecdotes directly noting...
In this article, an attempt is made to free mindfulness from its modern psychologically utilitarian interpretation and display its ontological-existential essence. To do that, the essay offers the existential roots of human suffering and the ontological meaning of attachment that is found at the basis of suffering. Heidegger’s philosophy is used to show that due to our anxious rejection of the...
Mindfulness practices adapted from Theravada Buddhism have become widespread among many in Western societies who seek stress reduction and greater present-centeredness. Less well-known is the mindfulness practice in Sufism–the mystical path of Islam–known as meditative remembrance ( dhikr). While mindfulness is often understood as a self-help technique, the aim of Buddhist and Sufi meditative...
Expectancy effects for many psychoactive substances appear to play a role in consumption, problematic use, subjective responses to acute administration, and subsequent effects. Expectancies of psychedelics have received little attention in published research despite their reputation for creating dramatic changes in subjective state. Psilocybin-assisted treatment (PAT) improves depression, but...
Death awareness, which is an integral part of Stoic philosophy, has received little attention in either therapeutic training or empirical psychological research. This study seeks to address this gap by investigating participants’ experiences of completing a Stoic death writing intervention. To understand newcomers’ experiences being in-daily-death-contemplation, in-depth, semi-structured...
Maslow suggests that a study of “superior” human specimen might have the potential to identify biological traits that distinguish flourishing individuals from those who are languishing. Maslow’s recommendation is open to criticisms. First, his method is circular. Second, the thrust of Maslow’s project has a eugenic ring to it. However, while Maslow’s eugenic vision should be sidelined, his call...