Psychology, religion and the transpersonal

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.

Study at a glance

Abstract

The relationships between psychology, religion and the transpersonal are difficult to clarify because of confusion and uncertainty about the key terms. ‘Religion’ is so diverse that there is no single essence of religion that is found in all its manifestations. The ‘transpersonal’ is also hard to define, one of the issues being that it is often defined largely in what it goes ‘beyond’ rather than what it is in itself. It is suggested that interest in the transpersonal has migrated out of religion and in some respects remains a quasi-religion. Finally there is often an ambiguity in how psychology should engage with religion, spirituality and the transpersonal, whether it should play the role of the detached observer or whether it should participate in what it is also studying. I suggest that it should do both and should integrate them as best it can, rather than choosing one over the other.