Transpersonal Psychology Review
January 1, 2021
Steve Taylor
131 citations
Transpersonal psychology cannot avoid metaphysics, so it should explicitly adopt a post-materialist orientation. This article critiques Michael Daniels's skeptical stance toward metaphysics in his book *Shadow, Self, Spirit* and defends a 'soft perennialist' model against his criticisms. Four reasons support embracing post-materialism: metaphysical orientation is unavoidable; the field has traditionally held such a stance; evidence for post-materialism is compelling; and committing to it can help shift culture away from materialism's destructive effects. A pluralistic approach remains possible given the variety of post-materialist perspectives.
Transpersonal Psychology Review
January 1, 2020
Freya Harrild, David Luke
9 citations
This paper examines transpersonal psychology and ecopsychology together, focusing on their relationship with mystical experiences and the effects of nature-induced mystical experiences on ego-boundaries and psychological wellbeing. It argues that the re-emerging study of psychedelics—as positive agents for mental health, wellbeing, spiritual and creative growth, and social change—belongs inherently to a transpersonal ecopsychology. The paper concludes with a critical evaluation of these concepts and their implications for modern psychology.
Transpersonal Psychology Review
January 1, 2016
Elliot Cohen
1 citation
Originally presented at a conference on psychedelics, psychology, and spirituality, this paper offers critical perspectives on the role of psychedelics in the origins and development of transpersonal psychology. Reflecting on counter-culture figures such as Albert Hofmann, Abraham Maslow, and Ram Dass, the author highlights concerns and doubts they raised about the potential risks of psychedelics, arguing these concerns remain relevant today. The paper also examines varied positions on psychedelics within Buddhist, Jewish, Daoist, and Hindu spiritual traditions.
Transpersonal Psychology Review
June 20, 2025
Rachel Anderson
Transpersonal psychology can maintain scientific rigor while preserving its focus on consciousness beyond the brain-body paradigm. Existing quantitative and qualitative methods are likely sufficient if research questions do not limit inquiry. Removing ontological questions about consciousness would be counterproductive, as they distinguish the field. Tightening academic boundaries while building interdisciplinary bridges with researchers, philosophers, and practitioners will likely increase credibility and publication rates, allowing greater impact on psychology without diluting transpersonal phenomena.
Transpersonal Psychology Review
June 20, 2025
Mike J. Rush
This article continues an earlier argument that Western Esotericism contributed to transpersonal psychology by comparing the work of Roberto Assagioli, founder of psychosynthesis, with that of ritual magician Walter Ernest Butler. It presents ritual magic as a spiritual practice and highlights parallels between Assagioli's psychological methods and Butler's magical practices. The paper draws on scholarship in consciousness and transpersonal psychology.
Transpersonal Psychology Review
May 31, 2024
Stuart Whomsley
Occult and paranormal ideas from the late 19th and early 20th centuries shaped Freud's theories, and his work later influenced parapsychology and transpersonal psychology. This paper traces those lines of influence, starting with late 19th-century occultism and Freud's ambiguous stance toward it. It examines his essay "The Uncanny," his interest in telepathy, clairvoyance, fortune tellers, dream interpretation, and the magic of words. Freud's impact on Jung and Assagioli is discussed, followed by an assessment of his overall legacy for parapsychology and transpersonal psychology.
Transpersonal Psychology Review
May 31, 2024
David Furlong
Panpsychism proposes that consciousness is a fundamental, ubiquitous feature of the universe, present even in atoms and subatomic particles, which may possess a rudimentary form of consciousness or proto-consciousness. If true, evidence of consciousness should exist within simple quantum mechanical structures like the hydrogen atom, likely residing in its wave state. Applying wave/particle duality to human consciousness suggests that consciousness has both a particle and a wave state, and through ripple effects and quantum entanglement, anomalous psycho-spiritual human experiences that physicalism cannot explain may become understandable. No new physics is required, only a reframing of existing knowledge.
Transpersonal Psychology Review
January 1, 2022
Michael Daniels
In response to Steve Taylor's review of the revised edition of Shadow, Self, Spirit (2021), the author clarifies that their perspective rejects materialism and affirms the need for metaphysical concepts in transpersonal psychology. They argue that researchers should bracket metaphysical assumptions when studying transpersonal phenomena and prefer non-metaphysical explanations when sufficient. The author expands criticisms of Taylor's 'soft perennialism' and contends that Jorge Ferrer's participatory theory provides a more productive framework for understanding metaphysics, the diversity of spiritual experiences, and religious pluralism.
Transpersonal Psychology Review
January 1, 2022
Elliot Cohen
Transpersonal Psychology, though called the 'Fourth Force,' is often marginalized in mainstream psychology due to its focus on mystical, spiritual, and non-ordinary states of consciousness and its emphasis on subjective inquiry. Rather than assimilating into conventional paradigms, the field should embrace its outsider status to pioneer inclusive research methods and interdisciplinary encounters. Contemporary humanistic expressions of Eastern wisdom traditions (Hinduism, Buddhism, Daoism) increasingly stress ecological awareness, the Divine Feminine, and spiritually informed social justice. To avoid remoteness and spiritual bypassing, transpersonal psychologists must attend to political and socioeconomic conditions. The keynote argues that transpersonal psychology has always been a critical, radical approach capable of reinvigorating, re-enchanting, transforming, and transcending psychology.
Transpersonal Psychology Review
January 1, 2021
C. Laughlin, A. Rock
The phenomenologist Edmund Husserl's methods, though not originally aimed at transpersonal experiences, can be applied to them. Husserl argued that science must be grounded in the study of perception to distinguish elements of experience originating from the environment from those projected by the mind. His techniques of reduction and epoché, which help achieve a 'phenomenological attitude', are explained. The relevance of these methods to transpersonal studies is demonstrated through examples: the Taylor-Hartelius debate in transpersonal psychology and the study of absorption states in transpersonal anthropology and cross-cultural religion.
Transpersonal Psychology Review
January 1, 2020
Stuart Whomsley
Poetry and poets are examined through a transpersonal lens. The paper first explores how altered states of consciousness may play a role in the poet's creative act. It then turns to the reader, suggesting that reading poetry can induce transpersonal states or, at minimum, produce effects that extend beyond the literal meaning of the words.
Transpersonal Psychology Review
January 1, 2020
C. Laughlin, A. Rock
This essay offers an anthropological perspective on a neuroepistemological account of mystical experience. It first describes features of mystical experience, such as distortions in time- and space-consciousness. It then examines the epistemology of mystical experience, focusing on the debate between constructivists and decontextualists. The authors develop a neuroepistemological framework and show how it might inform that debate. Finally, they discuss methodological challenges—like phenomenological naiveté—that can impede such an account, and outline the attributes needed in researchers to address these challenges.
Transpersonal Psychology Review
January 1, 2020
Scott Buckler, April Woodward
Transpersonal psychology should develop empirical research on transpersonal practices. Self-actualisation, peak experience, and flow have been studied mainly with psychometrics, but these concepts have theoretical and methodological problems. Maslow's concept of self-transcendence, characterized by the plateau experience, offers an alternative for future research but has remained obscure for forty years. This paper advocates further study of the plateau experience by first defining it, then developing a plateau experience psychometric (PLEX), and using the PLEX in a validation study on the effects of shinrin-yoku (forest air breathing/bathing).
Transpersonal Psychology Review
January 1, 2019
J. Wade
Leadership was once seen as a sacred, spiritual calling, but became secular and transactional after Machiavelli and industrialization. In the late 20th century, sacred leadership reemerged alongside transpersonal psychology, producing four dominant spiritually-oriented models: servant, transformational, authentic, and ethical leadership. Despite William James and Abraham Maslow suggesting transpersonal psychology should engage with leadership as a driver of social change, the field has not yet done so. The current state of leadership research and world affairs offers transpersonal psychology a chance to remain relevant and contribute to the greater good.
Transpersonal Psychology Review
January 1, 2019
Scott Buckler, April Woodward, Ho Law
This paper critiques the current definition of transpersonal psychology and proposes a new understanding by drawing on a Taoist metaphor. It argues that transpersonal psychology is fluid and formless, like water, and that its nature cannot be fixed by any single definition. The author suggests that transpersonal psychologists should continue to use the term while allowing its meaning to evolve individually, as the ultimate truth lies beyond any definition.
Transpersonal Psychology Review
January 1, 2019
Scott Buckler, Jenni Gates
Transgender individuals are more likely to engage with spirituality than with organized religion, yet research on this topic is scarce. Given the high rates of personal distress and suicide risk in this population, effective support is needed. The authors argue that existential crises may be addressed through spirituality, noting that several cultures associate transgender identity with spiritual roles. This paper examines transgender and spiritual identity across cultures, reviews research in secular societies, and evaluates models that could provide spiritual support to integrate mind-body dysphoria by engaging the spirit.
Transpersonal Psychology Review
January 1, 2019
John Rowan, Law Ho
This paper critiques transpersonal psychologists for lacking direct experience of Nondual consciousness, the highest level of awareness in Wilber's model. It notes that most conference participants had not embodied this state, while major religious traditions—Judaism, Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, and Yoga—distinguish Subtle, Causal, and Nondual levels. The author argues that spiritual experiences typically arise from the Subtle level and are often mistaken for the Causal or Nondual. Psychologists must engage personally with all three levels to legitimately claim expertise in transpersonal psychology.
Transpersonal Psychology Review
January 1, 2018
Fraser Watts
The relationships among psychology, religion, and the transpersonal are muddled by unclear definitions. Religion is too varied to have a single essence, and the transpersonal is often defined by what it transcends rather than its own nature. Interest in the transpersonal has moved outside religion and remains a quasi-religion. Psychology faces an ambiguity in whether to observe religion, spirituality, and the transpersonal from a distance or to participate in them. The author argues that psychology should do both and integrate them, not choose one approach over the other.
Transpersonal Psychology Review
January 1, 2017
A meditation practice that combines mindfulness of present-moment experience with qualities of warmth and kindness can activate the soothing caregiving system. This adapted meditation integrates elements from mindfulness breath meditation, the soothing breath rhythm, and the affectionate breath, adding extra heartfulness.
Transpersonal Psychology Review
January 1, 2017
John Drew, Ho Law
This review argues that transpersonal values are indirectly communicated in workplace settings, subsumed under the term 'spirituality', which itself is subsumed under 'value'. The authors contend that transpersonal psychology has an important role in organizational practice and suggest ways to advance the discipline.
Transpersonal Psychology Review
January 1, 2016
Michael G. Rush
Transpersonal Psychology shares key characteristics with Western Esotericism, particularly the modern occult revival. The article argues that ideas from several key transpersonal psychologists align with Antoine Faivre's definition of Western Esotericism. It then examines whether this association is appropriate, discusses its implications, and explores the potential for re-synthesizing the two traditions.
Transpersonal Psychology Review
January 1, 2015
Dwight Turner, Jane Callaghan, Alasdair Gordon-Finlayson
The paper argues that the field of transpersonal psychology should incorporate African spiritual beliefs to avoid marginalizing non-Western perspectives. Using a culturally specific dream as an example, it critiques the field's limited engagement with African spirituality and suggests a more cosmopolitan approach is needed to prevent the creation of a spiritual 'Other.' The author explores reasons for this neglect and highlights the richness of African spiritual traditions.
Transpersonal Psychology Review
April 1, 2009
Adam J. Rock, Bianca Klettke
A review of rationalist and empiricist approaches to the problem of causality in metaphysics finds both lacking from a transpersonal perspective. The authors apply Charles Tart's concept of a 'state specific science' to advaita vedanta, a school of Hindu psychology. They argue that advaita vedanta qualifies as a state specific science because its practitioners apply scientific methods from within various grades of samadhi to enhance understanding of reality, consciousness, and self. The paper attempts to show that such a state specific science can provide experiential insights into the ontology of causation that are unavailable through a priori reasoning or normal consciousness sciences.
Transpersonal Psychology Review
April 1, 2009
Anthony Edwards
Social cognition and transpersonal psychology, often seen as distinct, can productively inform each other. Transpersonal psychology can benefit from social cognition research, while social cognition can incorporate insights from transpersonal psychology. The paper examines this interface across five social cognition topics: beliefs and attitudes, attribution theory, social representations theory, schema theory, and stereotyping. It also discusses potential applications of this integration.
Transpersonal Psychology Review
January 1, 2009
John Rowan, Michael Daniels, David Fontana et al.
A verbatim transcript of a structured dialogue between John Rowan and Michael Daniels on the work of Ken Wilber, mediated by David Fontana at a transpersonal psychology conference. The dialogue followed a pre-agreed format of presentations, reconciliation attempts, responses, open discussion, and a summary that ends abruptly due to a recording failure. A postscript discusses the origins of Wilber's levels of consciousness.