Expanding the scope of "trans-humanism": situating within the framework of life and death education - the importance of a "trans-mystical mindset".
Huy P. Phan, Bing Hiong Ngu, Chao-Sheng Hsu, Si-Chi Chen, Lijuing Wu
Frontiers in Psychology April 23, 2024 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2024.1380665 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Theoretical or philosophical paper Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Topics | Mysticism |
| Keywords | Human flourishing Human growth Human potential Human development Human well-being Human experience Personal growth Self-actualization Existential questions Meaning of life Ultimate questions Life and death Mortality Human existence Philosophy of life Spiritual mindset Spiritual growth Spiritual understanding Holistic perspective Inner wisdom Consciousness Human spirituality |
| Citations | 7 |
| Key points | Proposes that a "trans-mystical mindset"—a higher-order state of consciousness for interpreting mystifying life and death phenomena beyond ordinary psychic boundaries—may help people rationalize, appreciate, and understand metaphysical contexts and mystical experiences, and asks whether philosophization can yield perceived scientific evidence for studying mysticism. |
Abstract
Life and death education, as noted from the literatures, has been studied and researched extensively in China, Malaysia, and Taiwan. Our own research undertakings over the past several years, situated in different sociocultural settings have delved into aspects of life and death that could help advance theoretical understanding of the subject matters (e.g., does the meaning of “effective life functioning” connote differing interpretations for different cultural groups?). Situating within the framework of life and death education, we expand the study of trans-humanism by introducing an extended prefix or nomenclature known as “trans-mystical”. Specifically, our philosophized concept of trans-mysticism considers a related concept, which we term as a “trans-mystical mindset”. A trans-mystical mindset, differing from an ordinary mindset, from our philosophical rationalization, is defined as “a person’s higher-order state of consciousness, espousing her perception, judgment, belief, and attempted interpretation of life and death phenomena that are mystifying and fall outside the ordinary boundaries of human psyche.” Our focus of inquiry, as reported in the present article, seeks to advance our proposition: that a trans-mystical mindset, unlike an ordinary mindset, may help a person to rationalize, appreciate, and understand metaphysical contexts, mystical experiences, and the like. This focus, interestingly, serves to highlight an important discourse - namely, that there is a dichotomy in theoretical lenses (i.e., objective reality vs. individual subjectivity) that a person may use to rationalize the significance or non-significance of universal contexts, events, phenomena, etc. (e.g., a person’s experience of “premonition”). As such, then, there is an important question that we seek to consider: whether philosophization, or the use of philosophical psychology, would yield perceived “scientific evidence” to support or to reject the study of metaphysicism, mysticism, and the like? For example, does our philosophization of an “equivalency” between a person’s trans-mystical mindset and her experience of self-transcendence help to normalize and/or to scientize the subject matters of metaphysicism, mysticism, etc.?
Comparable studies
Other theoretical and historical papers on mysticism, most cited first.
| Study | Year | Design | Participants |
|---|---|---|---|
| The mystical mind: probing the biology of religious experience | 2000 | Theoretical or philosophical paper | |
| Religious and Mystical Experiences as Artifacts of Temporal Lobe Function: A General Hypothesis | 1983 | Theoretical or philosophical paper | |
| The Problem of Pure Consciousness: Mysticism and Philosophy | 1993 | Edited collection of essays | |
| Irreducible Mind: Toward a Psychology for the 21st Century | 2020 | Theoretical or philosophical paper | |
| Mysticism and schizophrenia: A phenomenological exploration of the structure of consciousness in the schizophrenia spectrum disorders. | 2016 | Theoretical or philosophical paper |
Citations in the library
Cites 9
- Transpersonal psychology: Defining the past, divining the future. The Humanistic Psychologist 2007
- Transpersonal Psychology as a Scientific Field International Journal of Transpersonal Studies 2002
- Transcending the self to transcend suffering. Frontiers in Psychology 2023
- From Self-Transcendence to Collective Transcendence: In Search of the Order of Hierarchies in Maslow's Transcendence. Frontiers in Psychology 2022
- The Challenges, Prospects, and Promise of Transpersonal Psychology International Journal of Transpersonal Studies 2007
and 4 more in the library