Book Description
This important new book brings together the work of top scholars and clinicians at leading universities and medical centers on the benefits and risks of transpersonal therapy. After comparing a variety of multicultural approaches-Zen Buddhism, existential phenomenology, and Christian mysticism, among many others-the book offers a wealth of information on specific disorders and the application of transpersonal psychology techniques such as visualization, breathwork, and "past lives" regression. With solid scholarship, wide scope, and accessible style, Textbook of Transpersonal Psychiatry and Psychology will become the standard work for students, researchers, clinicians, and lay readers interested in extending psychiatry and psychology into sciences that describe the functioning of the human mind, thereby building bridges between those disciplines and spirituality. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (7)

Transpersonal Psychology needed a definition
So many people, both professionals and laymen, just don't get it when it comes to transpersonal psychology (the word still gets a spelling underline in the word processor).This textbook is well organized and provides an excellent insight into the concepts.I would highly recommend it as a starting place for those who would like to know more as the bibliography and references can point to more extensive material.The book is also well written and edited as they kept the chapters in a logical sequence and short enough to complete in a minimum amount of time.

Excellent resource!
Because transpersonal psychology relies heavily on first hand (subjective) experience, it is extremely difficult to discuss this academically. Despite this difficulty, this book manages to explain and explore the phenomenon quite successfully. This is book covers the transpersonal experience from many different viewpoints and is an excellent resource book for research in this field. If you would like a shorter and more simple explanation of the transpersonal experience, I strongly suggest "The Ever-transcending Spirit" by Toru Sato. It is an absolute gem and should be read by everyone interested in transpersonal experiences!

Put it on your shelf
This book is a great reference book and if you are teaching a class in transpersonal psychology this should be the textbook for the class.It is very informative and the author is very clear in his understanding and dissemination of the information provided.It is a must have book.

Very Good overview
I am trying to learn more about transpersonal psychology and transpersonal practices.This book more than did the trick.It gave a good overview of the different angles the field touches. It gave great anectdotal stories as well. It is defineity a must have.It introduced many of the fathers of the field and there perspectives; Jung, Maslow, Wilber, Freud, Assogolini.It also showed the contributions of spirtiual traditions:Buddhism, Hinduism, Shamanism, Christianity, Kabbalah. It introduced many techniques used:guided imagery, past life regression, meditation, breathwork, psychedelics.

Entheogens: Professional Listing
"Textbook of Transpersonal Psychiatry and Psychology" has been selected for listing in "Religion and Psychoactive Sacraments: An Entheogen Chrestomathy."http://www.csp.org/chrestomathy ... Read more

Book Description
Since its original publication in 1980, this book has become a classic in transpersonal psychotherapy. This new edition contains articles by the major figures in the field, including new contributions by Stanislav Grof, John Nelson, Donald Evans, Charles Tart, Edward Hoffman, Seymour Boorstein, W. Michael Keane and Stephen Cope, Sylvia Boorstein, and Roger J. Woolger. The articles present a spectrum of widely diverse perspectives—from precise behavioristic work with attention training, through creative clinical pharmacology and theory development, to innovative use of chakra energies. The result is a rich and provocative summary of the state of the art in transpersonal psychotherapy.

The editor's focus is on the scientific healing/mysticism alliance, which dates back to the earliest shamans and in modern times has engaged William James, Carl Jung, Roberto Assagioli, and Abraham Maslow. In the book, some of the most respected pioneers in the field give their vision of the synergistic potential of these two powerful traditions. Transpersonal Psychotherapy describes a wide variety of uses of traditional and spiritual approaches for the alleviation of mental suffering and for spiritual development. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

A Classic
Actually this book is a classic one to the field.It was orginally published in 1980.There are gems of wisdom to be gained in this book, but it is not current with writers such as Wilber, Washburn, Wade, and Ferrer.So what?

The worst book in creation
This book is a discrace to the practice of transpersonal psychology/transpersonal psychotheraphy.Don't waste your time buying it or reading it.It is one of the most negative books in creation.The author would do better to burn it. ... Read more

Book Description

There is no shortage of research methods that are easily applied to the study of everyday human experience. How, though, does one attempt to study extraordinary human experiences ultimate values and meanings, peak experiences, transcendence, and heightened awareness, among others? Authors William Braud and Rosemarie Anderson introduce a series of transpersonal research methods that are intended to help researchers develop new ways of knowing and methods of inquiry. While these methods will be of particular interest to researchers in transpersonal psychology, humanistic psychology, or transpersonal studies applied to traditional fields, the authors argue that these approaches with their emphasis on developing intuition, empathy, self-awareness can benefit anyone involved in the research enterprise.

With its solid grounding in transpersonal studies and extensive coverage of qualitative approaches without ignoring quantitative approaches, Transpersonal Research Methods for the Social Sciences will be an invaluable addition to the libraries of researchers across many disciplines, as well as a supplement in research methods courses.

Customer Reviews (3)

Excellent guidance for transpersonal research
This book is an excellent resource for conducting transpersonal research.It's contents are clear, well-structured and comprehensive.This book has been much easier to understand and use than other books I have read on qualitative research methodologies.

A fundamental book for transpersonal research
During many times I red this amazing book. I think that this book is a landmark in development of methods to examine and experience the consciousness states. One of the most interesting aspects is to try apply this kind of knowledges to social dimension. Activity very well done. I recommend this book for psychologist, students and counsciousness researchers.

Best One Out There
Anderson and Braud are no armchair researchers or theorists in the transpersonal field.They bring a much needed dimension to the field in terms of research.The vast majority of transpersonal leaders are either theorists who ground their theories on top of other theories or those with very weak research designs. Anderson and Braud take no sides but present ways for every human science researcher to improve their methods of inquiry.Not only is the book the best in the field, it provides many outside resources to phenomenological, heuristic, action, case study, ethnographic, meta-study, statistical, and integral inquiry. A super book. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (9)

Excellent!
In my opinion, Stanislav Grof is the best, or at least one of the best, in his field of study.I have read most of his books and participated in a Holotropic Breathwork seminar weekend in Vermont.I highly recommend any educated person to familiarize him/herself with Grof's work (all of his books very informative and really make one think) and try a Holotropic Breathwork session.

An easy introduction to Grof
This was my introduction to stanislav's ideas.This book is almost a chapter by chapter introduction to all of Grof's different areas of research and writing.The written experiences of holotropic states are entertaining and informative.This book adds a needed understanding to psychology by examining consciousness around the time of birth.The author is obviously well versed on many topics, and presents sound logic and arguments throughout.Holotropic breathwork might be very useful for anyone suffering from their personality (especially to those that are fear based).This book is a relative easy introduction to Grof's ideas, and a welcomed step to combining science with unbiased spirituality.

Consciousnessresearch on the cutting edge

I first encountered Stanislav Grof in the late 'seventies at a seminar held in Pacific Grove, California. He was a featured speaker, and to say that I was impressed would be an understatement.

In this book, he discusses transpersonal psychology, involving a shift in awareness.Our psychologists and psychiatrists need to engage themselves in this transformational system and get outside the accepted paradigm of the current model of reality that scientists work within today, accepting certain basic assumptions, and move on to the equivalent of the quantum theory of consciousness.

He points out in another of his books, Beyond the Brain, that the Newtonian/Cartesian paradigm (a system of thought based on the work of Isaac Newton and Rene Descartes) is still accepted and the orthodox foundation of precepts in use in psychiatry, psychology, anthropology and medicine. He points out that physics has moved on to a new paradigm: relativity and quantum theory and beyond, while the previously named sciences have languished, and opines that it is time for psychiatrists and psychologists to re-examine their fundamental belief structure as well.

Grof said, at the seminar, that he was originally--in Czechoslovakia where he originated--a dyed-in-the-wool Freudian, until he began to perceive difficulties with that approach. He grew from there. He was one of the original medical investigators to use d-lysergic acid diethylamide in serious psychiatric research, from which he derived some astonishing results.

Grof was formerly Chief of Psychiatric Research at the Maryland Psychiatric Research Center and Assistant Professor of Psychiatry at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. He is no lightweight airhead, but rather is a highly qualified, credentialed and credible researcher. This and his other books are well worth your time, if you have the necessary vocabulary and the scientific background to benefit from them.

Grof makes a bold argument that understanding of the perinatal and transpersonal levels changes much of how we view both mental illness and mental health. His research in transpersonal experience evokes serious questions into such areas as reincarnation and the spritual side of the human being.

Joseph (Joe) Pierre,

author of The Road to Damascus: Our Journey Through Eternity
and other books

Consciousness explorer
a wise, hopeful, enlightened work from a truly qualified scientific humanist who has helped many for so many years. When reading Stan Grof, one's mind is treated to elegant research, philosophic musings, and poetic, smoothly flowing language that proves entertaining in its own right.

Grof builds a carefully laid out tapestry of thought unlike any other writer. Boldly going into dimensions that the orthodoxy fears, Grof consistently shows us that the best findings are often the result of adventurous undertakings.

One must truly venture into uncharted territories in order to discover hidden, powerful forces in the world.

All of Grof's work makes for a rich intellectual and spiritual treasure that will be edifying humankind indefinitely.

an archaic revival
As our planet is threatened by wars, terrorism-violence environmental degredation, the only antidote is turning back to the roots individully or in groups and bringing back the archaic revival, bringing back the message of the ancient traditions. Stanislav Grof does this elegantly with the eyes of a scientist. This book will require the mainstream Psychiatrists to re-construct their worldview. It is a detailed exploration and a new explanation of the nature of human consciousness and the nature of reality ... Read more

Book Description
The goal of an "integral psychology" is to honor and embrace every legitimate aspect of human consciousness under one roof. This book presents one of the first truly integrative models of consciousness, psychology, and therapy. Drawing on hundreds of sources—Eastern and Western, ancient and modern—Wilber creates a psychological model that includes waves of development, streams of development, states of consciousness, and the self, and follows the course of each from subconscious to self-conscious to superconscious. Included in the book are charts correlating over a hundred psychological and spiritual schools from around the world, including Kabbalah, Vedanta, Plotinus, Teresa of Ávila, Aurobindo, Theosophy, and modern theorists such as Jean Piaget, Erik Erikson, Jane Loevinger, Lawrence Kohlberg, Carol Gilligan, Erich Neumann, and Jean Gebser. Integral Psychology is Wilber's most ambitious psychological system to date and is already being called a landmark study in human development. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (21)

Pure Speculation
In the early chapters Wilbur makes the claim that modernism shifted the focus from ontology to epistemology. Unfortunately for him and his gullible readers, Wilbur gives no thought to epistemology or verification. Truth to him seems to be based on appeal to authority. He offers no arguments in this book, only assertions or quotes from others making unjustified assertions. Time and again he presents a false dilemma between total reduction of the mind/soul/spirit to physical matter and his robust mystic metaphysics. This is a FALSE dilemma, especially considering the identity theory hasn't been taken seriously in philosophy in over 30 years! Ken needs to quit trying to show how smart he is and spend some time catching up with the last 30 years of research in philosophy of mind and cognitive science. Very few philosopher or cognitive psychologists would take this book seriously because it is offering an integral alternative to ideas that are outmoded already, yet it doesn't recognize at all why those ideas are no longer talked about. Bottom line: Pure assertion/speculation and no argument. How do I verify that? He doesn't cite a single academic journal or present any justification for any of the premises he uses in his already spurious arguments (if you can even call them arguments). This is a great example of someone trying to do philosophy who has no formal training in philosophy. Sure its possible, but Wilbur is a good example for why philosophical training is useful. Perhaps if he had some he would understand why an appeal to an unqualified authority is fallacious.

One of Ken Wilber's more advanced and scholarly books
This book will not necessarily make good bed timing reading from the standpoint of being "light."Between the covers, it presents a deep exploration of the shortcomings of modern reductionistic ways of looking at the psyche and in its place posits and optimistic, embracing and holistic view that revives the original meaning of the term psyche in most broad sense i.e. mind or soul.

In Chapter One Ken Wilber points out that the great problem of psychology has always been that different schools of thought have taken one or a few aspects of psychology and declared it the only worthwhile aspect(s) worth studying.In his model, the goal is to honor and embrace every legitimate aspect of human consciousness.

Ken also looks at reality as a hierarchy (holoarchy) made of wholes that are also parts.He calls these holons and each one has four dimensions; 1) subjective; 2) objective 3) collective objective (objective systems); and 4) intersubjective (worldviews and cultures).He further argues that each dimension is not reducible to any other, which means that the subjective and intersubjective are legitimate areas of inquiry with their own unique validation criteria.

Ken Wilber's model also embraces a synthesis of over 200 worldviews and he includes mystical experience and other ways of knowing as legitimate epistemologies.He goes on to explain that the subjective nature of reality is "real," but that the scientific method is not the correct mode of inquiry for this exploring this domain.However, he says that its existence is both undeniable and has been explored for thousands of years by highly developed people of all faiths.In other words, we can have real knowledge of this area.

His model honors the full spectrum of human experience including the body, emotions, mind, soul and spirit.These are presented as different developmental levels which exist within each quadrant that make up an entire holon.

Another important part of Wilber's model is the notion of evolution.According to him, we are evolving personally and collectively toward higher states of being that include subtle and non-dual states.

Ken opens the book with a definition of psychology which very nicely summarizes the scope of this work:"Psychology is the study of human consciousness and its manifestations in behavior.The functions of consciousness include perceiving, desiring, willing, and acting.The structures of consciousness, some facets which can be unconscious, include body, mind, soul, and spirit.The states of consciousness include normal (e.g. waking, dreaming, sleeping) and altered (e.g. nonordinary, meditative).The modes of consciousness include aesthetic, moral and scientific."

According to Wilber, "the development of consciousness spans an entire spectrum from prepersonal to personal to transpersonal, subconscious to self-conscious to superconscious, id to ego to Spirit.The relational aspects of consciousness refer to its mutual interaction with the objective, exterior world and the sociocultural world of shared values and perceptions."I think this describes his notion of development well, but this is even further developed in his book the Atman project.

This book really represents a well-research and holistic model of the psyche including its intersubjective aspects.This is often a piece that is left out as though we are isolated monads wondering through the world.

While this text is valuable, fascinating and thorough, it is not the easiest read for people with a weak background in philosophy or psychology.If this applies to you, you may want to read his book "A Brief History of Everything" first.This presents his major ideas in a more "user friendly" format.

"The will to a system lacks integrity." - F. Nietzsche
I would think that a person such as myself would be an ideal audience for Mr. Wilber's ruminations on mind and spirit. Like the Pandit, I have a broad interest in interdisciplinary approaches to the psyche and the spirit. We share a taste for Eastern and Western philosophy, psychology, and the emerging discourses of self-organization and systems analysis. Yet for the life of me I cannot understand what this book is supposed to add to our understanding.

Wilber is extremely erudite and a strong thinker, I will grant him that. His book draws broadly from the marketplace of ideas and would seem cosmopolitan in a manner of speaking. Yet despite the variety of ideas he examines, this book remains narrowly confined by the basic self-absorption of its project.

What we have here is a work that articulates Wilber's framework for understanding and integrating a wide variety of approaches and techniques under an overarching interpretive system. All of the thoughts and thinkers he considers are neatly arrayed in their respective quadrants on his gigantic graphs. So? What does this get us, other than the intellectual autobiography of one well-read meditator? Is his thinking that it will not occur to researchers that there are other fields of study than their own, without such a framework?

Most of what he says is fairly obvious to anyone who looks at the material he digests for us like a mother bird. There will be readers, of course, who have no desire to come to terms in a meaningful way with the source material, and for them, Wilber will save a lot of reading.

In the final analysis, Wilber is a systematizer, which explains the strangely plastic and lifeless quality of his prose, for systems are strikingly inert. As Hugh Kenner observed, a system can only mechanically unfold, or decay, like the orbit of a satellite.

Ultimate Paradigm - Four Quads, Multiple Streams & Waves
This book is one of my favorite books. I say that because it represents a higher paradigm, actually the ultimate paradigm, which means it's continually subject to even higher paradigms. Behind all teachings, concepts, ideology, religion and science is psychology. Even though there are methods of psychology restricted to particular schools of thoughts, psychology itself exists behind that. And integral psychology is the higher of paradigms. Another wards, every book read, every concept, teaching, every system, no matter how accurate, significant, reliable, and proven empirically and so forth, when taken alone as the "one truth," amounts to reductionism. In most cases, empirical observation is known as flatland, as the observable facts are without the "forgotten truth" (Huston) and subjective reality which cannot be "proven" in objective terms.

Wilber is very detailed and the pages of footnotes confirms this, each point painstakingly laid out, many times repeatedly with emphasis on another particular angle. I've read the "Atman Project," "Theory of Everything," "Eye of The Spirit," and it's recommended to also read, "Sex Ecology and Spirituality" (you should see all the footnotes in that book!), "Spectrums of Consciousness," .....Eden," "History of Everything," "A Sociable God," "Sense and Soul," there's some more too, every book is connected to the Integral psychology. This book is really an eye opener and I highly recommend it. When to comes to the transformation and development of consciousness, Wilber's is an expert on the subject, devouring all other authors on this subject, either complimenting or criticizing it in one of his publications. I used to think I perceive all of my paradigms from a larger liberal paradigm and yet now I question such simplicity. And yet can I call this book that? After all, it will not take in one model as "all," but transcend it into another.

Pardon this over simplification, especially when it comes to Wilber - It's the four quadrants that I think can be weighed against every teaching. For instance I love Fijof Capra's "Tao of Physics," and it is an awesome analysis of the web of relational links found in physics and the Eastern counterparts. And yet, the book itself is monological, another wards it's an important work but only from the Upper Right Quadrant or objective lens. And so this needs to be taken in account with the other quadrants, the individual subjective, the collective subjective molds of thoughts we think through and the collective objective systems we perceive reality through as well. So every book, whether it's Freud's awesome repression psychoanalysis, which is limited to the Upper Left Quad or individual subjective, or Jung's archetypes which is limited to mostly the Lower Left Quad or collective subjective, or Marx's manifesto, which is limited to the Lower Right Quad or collective objective social system, or David Bohm's Implicate Order, which is limited to the Upper Right , which is the Individual Objective, all these are greatly significant, yet taken alone as dominant act in reductionism. His four quadrant approach is just fantastic in relations to evaluating fairly what ever it is you are reading. I was reading the Tao of Physics and it relates so well the outline of the web of relational links in quantum and eastern thoughts and yet it only falls within the upper right quadrants. I was reading Marx - lower right, Freud - upper left and so on. No matter how wonderful the theory in psychology, in political science, in neurology or biology, in cultural linguistics - they all fall within one or maybe two of the quadrants, all pieces, but never the whole and that is the point here. None can claim absolute, as this is reductionism, while each part is a whole makes up a larger whole/part which is part of a whole/part and so forth.

Now there are streams and levels within each quadrant and Wilber can get exhaustive here if he wants to - most of the footnotes are as significant as the chapter they are noted in and he loves going on footnote tangents, worthy of every morsel.

I'm impressed in the way Wilber defines much of the grown of consciousness in Sheldrake's theory of morphic fields or collective forces, waves and streams and various levels, which can be advanced more rapidly through altered states and yet cannot be omitted or overridden but most be personally developed and experienced in all.

The chapters on premoderism to modernism, but of more significance to myself, the chapter on modernism to postmodernism was the best I've had explained. using the deconstructuralism and both the validity and reductionist aspects - truly enlightening! Wilber is a special writer and personally, I think will go down in history as significant and prolific

There are many facets to this book. One is the pre-trans fallacy, where Wilber argues against his former teaching of romanticism of returning to the pre-ego self, as here he now teaches that the later development, as in the subtle and casual realms of consciousness are areas that include and transcend the ego, a whole/part within a larger whole, as opposed to the trashing of the ego and returning to the pre-ego. It is here that Jung's archetypes represent the subtle and if a collective consciousness relating to before the ego then a pre and not a trans development.

Also argued are Stan Grof's adaptation of Rankian analysis incorporated into his analysis ofthe LSD experience in the return to the pre-ego and what's more argued is the ideas of returning to the birth process psychologically or having to be re-born as in a return. Instead it is a return only to re-experience in the sense of re-living or returning only to loosen the particular repression and to then move back forward to both include and transcend the ego development. You must first fully develop the ego to the strongest or highest extent before transcending it to the higher development.

I just purchased books by Jenny Wade, Michael Murphy, Jurgen Habermas, Pappa Free John,Stan Grof, and a few more in conscious development and influences on Wilber.

Beyond brilliant: A great mind brings it all together
For everyone who has a sense that much of "modern" thinking overlooks the whole area of spiritual reality, Ken Wilber is a breath of fresh air blowing over what he calls the "flatland" of rationalist thought. With grace and wit, he integrates the insights of great thinkers and traditions into a view of reality and humankind that is both refreshing and challenging.But do take the author's suggestion and read the whole book without consulting the endnotes. Once you've finished, the endnotes make another book, but one that depends upon a basic understanding of Wilber's arguments.No wonder Wilber is the most widely read philosopher of our time. ... Read more

Book Description
An examination of four decades of research and practice in humanistic psychology, this work highlights the lasting contributions of humanistic psychology to the science of psychology and to the pursuit of personal and spiritual development. It explores the passions and goals of the founders and their vital legacy for the 21st century. Humanistic Psychology began as a movement of creative individuals who sought to remake psychology in the image of a fully alive and aware human being. Humanistic psychology emphasizes liberation from personal and social oppression and the pursuit of higher levels of human potential. Humanistic psychologists criticize scientific psychology for their emphasis on the measurement, prediction, and control of behavior, and protest the exclusion of such basic aspects of humanness as consciousness, values, freedom, love, and spirit from psychological investigation. This book will be of interest to undergraduate and graduate students and faculty in psychology as well as professionals in the field. ... Read more

Book Description

Product Description
Non-fiction: Psychology/Soul-Consciousness/Memoir/Self-Help.The author traces the development of Transpersonal Psychology as an academic discipline and its relationship to the understanding and development of our Soul/Consciousness.The "Stories of Fay" (Memoirs) provide examples of extreme deprivation and trauma.The examples are followed by steps to help you heal through cleaning up parts of your life, and transforming your life into one that nourishes your Soul by the use of Transpersonal Psychology. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Absolutely Brilliant!!
I cannot find all the words to describe how
I feel about this book.I just finished reading it
and I started to read it a second time. It's just
WOW!!

There is so much offered in this book that will
help countless others too.Those that are ready and
have the counsciousness to go the step further WILL
GET IT!!!! If you are looking for tools to help you through the difficulties and challenges in your life, this book is for you.

After reading the 'Stories of Fay', I am no longer
the same person, but an uplifted Soul that can see
more of how adversity teaches a person the lessons
they "Soul" came to this earth to learn.

This book has strenghtened my beliefs, and given
me more hope and love to appreciate myself, others
and the love and connectedness we share as Souls.

Your book will make a beautiful movie and help so
many people.A true gift to this world indeed.

I thank you from the bottom of my heart for all the tools and gifts you have shared here.

Hmm! Hmm! Hmm!Brilliant!!!!

... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Knowledge and Knowing
This is not a psychology book, but rather a text that should be read by anyone who is seriously interested in inquiry.As a teacher of research, it is no surprise to me that students generally dislike research classes.The academic view has become so focused on teaching methods for constructing knowledge that the actual experience of knowing has been quite forgotten.The contributors to this book remind us of the joy and liberation that can be experienced in the process of inquiry.

Talking about the ineffable.
Today psychologists nip closely at the heals of lawyers and doctors as top parasites in the lower intestine of public misfortune.There are nevertheless still a few dedicated people in the field who avoid the institutionalized witch-doctor clap-trap of this psuedo-science and approach human behavior head-on, pun intended, by looking at the raw data that is present immediately to all of us, human consciousness.What is the business of human consciousness?Their answer, "knowing", directly, intuitively and unencumbered by the prejudice of cyclical neuroses or circular rationalization.What are the limits of this consciousness/knowing continuum?There are none to be found anywhere.And, this is more more than a logical conclusion, it is an experiential, experimental conclusion.The editors, particularly Kaisa Puhakka, have no gimmicks of popular self-help to pander, no nine hundred numbers backed by Taro cards.They don't even offer statistics or new psychy buzz words.Yet, they have only language to talk about that which is basically ineffable.And for that, they do a more than servicable job of copernicus-izing psychology starting from the inside out. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Phenomenological Inquiry in Psychology: Existential and Transpersonal Dimensions
I did not begin reading the book. I purchased it as a gag because the author has the same name as me. ... Read more

Book Description
A comprehensive account of Robert Assagioli's psychosynthesis, a type of therapy that seeks to address both spiritual development and psychological healing and growth. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

A clear, comprehensive introduction
Psychosynthesis may not be as popularly known as psychoanalysis, depth psychology, etc., but it holds some tremendously powerful keys for self-understanding, self-renewal, and emotional healing that in turn lead to more empathetic and authentic relationships with others.This book is a clear and comprehensive introduction to psychosynthesis, outling such fundamental concepts as primal wounding, lower and higher unconscious, and subpersonalities within a developmental framework.It has stimulated my own growth and I have been recommending this book widely. ... Read more

Book Description
A bold new view of the human psyche, integrating Easternand Western approaches. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (4)

A highly recommended supplementary text especially recommended for psychologists and psychotherapists
Brant Cortright (Professor of Psychology, California Institute of Integral Studies) presents Integral Psychology: Yoga, Growth, and Opening the Heart, a daring new approach to psychology and healing that seeks to learn from Eastern methods that focus on the inner being and the psyche's spiritual foundation, as well as the Western methods that focus on the outer being and the injuries of body, heart, mind, and self. Chapters apply classical East Indian yogas as a means to perceive psychotherapy: psychotherapy as behavior change or karma yoga, psychotherapy as mindfulness practice or jnana yoga, and psychotherapy as opening the heart or bhakti yoga. An approach that combines the best of both worlds for psychological and spiritual healing and self-improvement lies at the heart of Integral Psychology. Though Integral Psychology touches upon spirituality, the concepts presented are emphatically not meant to convert the reader to any specific religion, but rather to promote healing and wellness for patients of all faiths and cultural backgrounds. The result is a highly recommended supplementary text especially recommended for psychologists and psychotherapists.

Psychology's Future
I frequently felt touched by the obvious sensitivity and care taken by Dr. Cortright in writing "Integral Psychology: Yoga, Growth and Opening the Heart".

"Integral Psychology" reaches beyond the bounds of empirical science to embrace the spiritual, and indeed the soul. Dr. Cortright insists this bold extension is essential for psychology if it is ever going to discover the defining essence of the human being.In looking to psychology's future, Dr. Cortright proposes a synthesis of western psychology and eastern spirituality.This synthesis is based on the life work of the great twentieth century Indian sage Sri Aurobindo.

Bringing western psychology and eastern spirituality together facilitates opening the heart. Both western psychology and eastern spirituality aspire to open the heart, although, as Dr. Cortright explains, each opens different areas of the heart.To open the heart fully they need each other.Opening the heart clears the way to discover the soul, the eternal core of the human psyche.

"Integral Psychology" is not a religious or dogmatic book.It is a thoughtful characterisation of the psychology traditions of the east and the west, with a result that is inclusive and respectful of both.This book challenges the rational mind and entices those serious about psychology and psychotherapy toward a deeper and expanded perspective.

Dr. Cortright gives us a new look at practical psychology.From this perspective, it is within our human potential to know our true self and the most profound purpose of physical existence.Reflecting the optimism of Sri Aurobindo, "Integral Psychology" embraces the notion, basic to eastern psychology, but revolutionary in western psychology, "that our deepest identity is a self-existent joy, love and light."

Our most essential identity is our soul, which is itself a spark of Divine love.Congruent with our deepest human aspirations, integral psychology aims to move us into alignment with our soul's consciousness.Expressing this unification in daily life is the next step in human potential and the goal of integral psychology.

Understanding Integral Psychology
Integral Psychology: Yoga, Growth and Opening the Heart, by Brant Cortright

Having read Dr. Cortright's earlier Psychotherapy and Spirit, I was pleased to discover that Integral Psychology was available this year, and read it immediately upon receiving it.It's been ten years since the earlier publication, and the author has [from my long-distance observation] made important progress in his spiritual growth, opening of the heart, and writing style during this time.

The book is based upon Sri Aurobindo's complex Integral understanding, and though it focuses upon psychological aspects of that theory, the spiritual and developmental features are also mentioned.Through Ken Wilbur's use of the term `Integral', many have become interested in the concept; Dr. Cortright presents a fuller explanation of how Aurobindo's thinking can be related to psychotherapeutic theory and practice.

It's a pleasure to read someone who is so steeped in an Eastern approach, and who can relate it to contemporary psychological, clinical issues.For example, whole chapters link behavior change therapy to karma yoga, mindfulness to jnana yoga, and heart-opening to bhakti yoga.In these and other chapters, sometimes with clinical examples, Dr. Cortright demonstrates his superior integration of Aurobindo's original theory, his own adaptations, and his use of such understanding in psychotherapy.

Some readers will be most touched by the early chapter, The Core Wounding of Our Time.Based in part on ego-psychology and self-psychology, Dr. Cortright suggests that "The core wounding of our time is a rip in the very fabric of the self", and goes on to suggest that it effects the mind, higher-, central-, and lower-emotional aspects, as well as the body and spirit.This essentially diagnostic chapter is an important precursor to the later therapeutic orientation.Others may be more interested in the concept and approach to spiritual emergency; since I've had little clinical experience with this proposed entity I found it less compelling.

More broadly, for the reader interested in the possibility of integrating the integral theory of Sri Aurobindo and the thinking of a contemporary clinician and Professor [California Institute of Integral Studies], this book is highly recommended.

What a Map!
Brant Cortright's Integral Psychology was for me a reader's digest version of the entire history of Psychology and Transpersonal Psychology into the even deeper realms of our being with Shri Aurobindo's " Integral Yoga".His "map" showed me, in a remarkably concise way, the ever deepening paths of the west and the profoundly deep offering from the east ofgrowing through the opening of our hearts and souls. For the beginner, what an overview this is and for the advanced one, what an acknowledgment of spirit and matter in it's evolution! ... Read more

Book Description
Explores the plausibility and value of viewingsynchronicity as a form of spiritual experience. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Excellent Explination of Transpersonal Psychology
This book is an excellent reference book to have on your shelf. It is a must buy. ... Read more

Natural Health, J.K. Tidmore
[Grof] attacks both his subject and readers like a commission salesman trying to close a much- needed deal. The resulting book is less about the mystical experience than about hubris and betrays the author's willingness to steamroller the reader's judgment. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (6)

Great Book
Grof has written a super book that describes the many aspects of spiritual development.He aligns his core thoughts along the thoughts of Ken Wilber.This how ever is not Wilberian book and has many original insights, not mere theory.Grof is a gifted psychiatrist with no axe to grind.He, unlike Wilber who believes his theories hold and explain everyone else's theories, is much more open and unthreatened.He brings different viewpoints to his writing, without claiming to be the end all or have the last word.Get this book, you will not be let down.

getting to know you, getting to know all about you.
this book is a must read for anyone sincerely searching self knowledge. it covers much ground regarding the magnificence of life and existence itself. breathtakingly deep and broad in its scope: personal experience of "God", ways to find "God". the validity of personal mystical experience, ways of getting there, the reason evil exists, the nature of ultimate good, the list goes on and on. Stanislav Grof is a master of the transpersonal and speaks "as one having authority". i can't possibly rate this book highly enough. buy it! its a feast for the mind as well as the heart.

Amazing
The book amazed me up to a certain level. It was very thorough and I found the topics pretty interesting. While searching for some answers about who we are, this book has convinced me that maybe the questions were and are wrong. I recommend everyone interested in parapsychology, reincarnationand issues like that read this book. Especially the chapter about good and evil was full of ideasthat had never crossed my mind. Very fulfilling.

A link between science and ancient mysteries
Grof tries to answer the basic questions about the nature of reality depending on his 40 year research on psychedelics and consciousness. In his attempt he links the pre-industrial cultural flora with modern scientificfindings. An amazing and shcoking book for those who assume to live in amaterial world.

Grof's "facts" highly questionable
While initialy intruiged by this summary of his life's work, I was verydissappointed to see Grof listing as fact a story of coincidence which didnot ever happen and, in fact, was apparently first told as a joke by BuddyHacket.For those of you that buy this book, the story of Neil Armstrongand Mr. Gorsky is not true. This laziness on Grof's part makes me questionthe other "unbeleivable" passages he casually mentions. Entirecareers are ruined on this type of careless error. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (5)

Great at CBT, Not so much with transpersonal psychology
Albert Ellis is a profound figure in the field of psychology, considered one of the grandfathers of CBT. While I have learned a great deal from him and his theories, his understanding of the field of transpersonal psychology is uninformed.

Far from being a dangerous form of psychology, research has shown that transpersonal therapy is effective and healing.Transpersonal psychology branches out from the traditional approach in the modern culture of scientism and takes on the study and integration of human spirituality. The challenge for the field is that it lies within a paradigm shift that seeks to move away from a materialist paradigm of existence (see Ferrer). Within the transpersonal framework, Ellis' ideas of CBT are embraced and integrated into a larger framework. Whereas in many psychological fields, spirituality is considered either unimportant, extraneous or pathological, transpersonal psychologists seek to affirm the higher aspirations and search for meaning of human beings.Furthermore, they find that spiritual experiences may be a source of healing.

It is my hope that those who are interested in transpersonal psychology, will come to their own opinions as to its strengths and its dangers by reading texts that will offer a deeper and more informed presentation of the theory and practice of transpersonal psychology.

For those interested in a deep understanding of the field, try these sources:

Short but great overview:
Moss, D. (Ed.), Humanistic and transpersonal psychology: A historical and biographical sourcebook (pp. 192-209). The Chapter entitled Hastings, Transpersonal psychology: the fourth force by Arther Hastings.

The Textbook of Transpersonal Psychology and Psychiatry. Authors: Scotton, Chinen and Bastista.
(The best overview of all the different aspects of the field out there)

Paths Beyond Ego. Walsh and Vaughan.

Integral Psychology. Ken Wilber.

Jorge Ferrer. Revisioning transpersonal theory: a participatory vision of human spirituality. (More complex, but well worth it. This one is for lovers of philosophy and theory. Ferrer challenges the framework of Wilber's work, the classic relativism v. universalism argument).

It is a fascinating and powerful field.If you must read this book, PLEASE, check out some of the books I mention above about transpersonal psychology and decide for yourself!!!



(Note: as to the reviewer comment referencing transpersonal as a cult, it is interesting to know that by embracing the importance of spirituality and psychology, transpersonal theorists play a large role in understanding the psychology of cults (see the chapter in the textbook of transpersonal psychology regarding cults.)

A brilliant look into the dangers of transpersonal psychology
Albert Ellis skewers the cult of transpersonal psychology- perhaps the epitome of wishful-thinking, paranormal dogma-with his keen logic and famously rational viewpoint.

He begins by exploring the tenets of transpersonal psychology, then those of Rational-Emotive Therapy (RET). He then goes on to contrast the two, showing with well-documented precision just how transpersonal psychology can actually be hazardous and can lead to neurosis, including how it is anti-humanistic, sabotages scientific thinking, blocks philosophical therapeutic change, and interferes with unconditional self-acceptance.

Of course, there are some who will say that transpersonal psychology has worked "wonders" in their lives, but you can find supporters who will say the same thing about every crazy cult in existence (that's why they're called cults).

Albert Ellis
Transpersonal psychology has worked wonders in my life. I wonder why such a renowned author would dis it.I think this book says more about Albert Ellis than about transpersonal psychology.

A waste of time and paper
This writer wasted time and paper writing such hogwash. The book is nothing more than a bunch of negative comments about a psychology he has never practice or research. He offers no valid reason other than personal bigotry as to why transpersonal psychology doesn't work. His whole book read as a fear of the new and unknown. Don't waste your time buying this book.

skewering new-age thinking
Albert Ellis, One of the most prolific writers of psychological self-help books (do an Author search on his name to see the breadth of his output)and the inventor of Rational Emotive Therapy, is a man who has zeropatience or tolerance for the fuzzy, the vague, notions of the supernaturalor dogmatism in any form.In this book he surveyed the writings of manypeople associated with, or known for promoting, Transpersonal Psychology(as of the late 80's).Over and over he finds them promoting"mysticism, occultism, supernaturalism, and religiosity," and sayall of them, including the well-known Ken Wilber, "foster absolutisticand dogmatic thinking." ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Jung and Eastern Thought
The text was very helpful in understanding many significant differences between the Eastern and Western thought in regards to spiritual consciousness.Jung helps us understand the Western unconscous mind and its relationship to the pro and cons of the practice of Yoga.

Excellent comparison of Jung mostly with Hindu thought
This is a well-written book balancing Jungian & Eastern thought in an unbiased manner-both similarities & differences.It covers yoga (Patanjali's)/Taoism; alchemy/Gnosticism, the collective unconscious=Self/ Brahman, synchronicity; mandalas/quaternity/circumambulation, karma/reincarnation, prana/libido/prajna, & Upanishads/kundalini.It has general topics & a very detailed comparison of Jung/Patanjali's yoga with considerable discussion of the Upanishads.Thus, it focuses mainly on Hinduism.There are a great many parallels, if not identities, between numerous concepts & views: p. 5: quoting Jung: "Taoist philosophy as well as yoga have very many parallels with the psychic processes we can observe in Western man."Perhaps the main similarities lie in the extensive comparisons of Jung's libido vs. yoga's prana, self-knowledge & prajna, mandalas & circumambulation as symbols of wholeness/Self, the relationship between the self & the All, & yoga vs. psychotherapy.It is erudite, convincing, yet readable.

Main differences between Jung & Eastern thought include Jung's view of the 2 directions-[Western extroverted sensing thinking judging (ESTJ) vs. Eastern introverted intuitive feeling perceiving (INFP)]:
p. 8: "The truth of the East is not in the Eastern way itself, but in the demonstrated need for a balance between intellect and intuition, between thinking and feeling...To be overbalanced in any one aspect of consciousness is a sign of immaturity and "barbarism", to use Jung's word for it. Consequently, it is not the case that the modem West should give up its highly developed scientific intellect-only that the intuitive and feeling aspects of psychic function must achieve an equally high development in Western consciousness so that a creative balance can be achieved, and a widening of consciousness result. While Jung openly admired the Eastern yoga principle of inclusiveness and balance between the opposing aspects of psychic function, it is clear that he felt that the East had overstressed the intuitive, just as the modem West had over-developed the scientific."
p. 14: "In Jung's view any unbalance in the split of psychic energy, while it may produce the short-term gains of rigorous specialization (e. g., modern Western technology), will, in the long run, prove detrimental."

This is the basis for Jung's several arguments against Westerners directly adopting Eastern methods:
p. 18: "Here Jung again sounds his warning that the solution for the Westerner cannot be found by taking up the direct practice of Eastern yoga. Says Jung, the neurosis or split within consciousness would then simply be intensified But what can be learned from the East is a general approach to be adopted so that the split, the imbalance between the opposites may be brought into harmony."
p. 22: "because the Westerner typically does not know his own unconscious, it is quite likely that when he finds the East strange and hard to understand he will project onto it everything he fears and despises in himself...he felt the direct practice of yoga by a Westerner would only serve to strengthen his will and consciousness and so further intensify the split with the unconscious...The outcome would be just as disastrous for the Western neurotic who suffers from the opposite problem of a lack of development of the conscious and a predominance of the unconscious."
p. 23: "Jung pointed out that if we try to snatch spiritual techniques directly from the East `'we have merely indulged our Western acquisitiveness, confirming yet again that 'everything good is outside.'"

Specific differences include those between Jungian empirical psychology & Eastern philosophy:
p. 61: "lack of distinction between philosophy and psychology that seems to typify much Eastern thought."
p. 62: "the older psychologies of the East and the medieval West are founded on metaphysical concepts which often have little relation to empirical facts."
p. 104: "Throughout his life Jung admitted his strong attraction to Indian karma and reincarnation theory, but its lack of empirical verification was the obstacle to its full acceptance."
p. 188: "The error of Eastern thought in this regard is that it is not firmly grounded in the empirical method and instead has allowed itself to become lost in unsupportable metaphysical speculation."
p. 189: "Jung never thought of his own psychology as a closed theory. To his last years he remained open to new ideas that could come from either East or West.But throughout his life it was his activity as a psychotherapist that kept Jung skeptical of Eastern metaphysics and rooted in the tradition of Western medical science."

Nonetheless, Jung strongly supported studying Eastern thought & adapting it to Western usage:
p. 9: "The West must not simply attempt to copy the Eastern spiritual yoga, or the East blindly adopt Western science. Each should study the other and gain inspiration from its example, but each must pursue its own development within its own historical consciousness.'"
p. 23: "we must get at Eastern values from within and not from without, seeking them in ourselves, in the unconscious."
While this may seem antithetical to Eastern approaches, the Buddha advised individuals to carefully weigh his words themselves and see how applicable they were to them.Also Vajrayana masters continue to advise caution in accepting a guru/lama and even in considering what the guru tells the to do-in light of their individual discriminating wisdom.

Most interesting is the high impact issue of full Samadhi (absorption or Buddhahood) which Jung denied since it involves the dissolution of the ego and, thus, of individual consciousness:
p. 142: "Can there be mystical experience without an individual ego?" Or put another way, ''Is unlimited consciousness of the fullness of reality psychologically possible?"
p. 161: Jung: "They do not realize that a 'universal consciousness' is a contradiction in terms, since exclusion, selection, anti discrimination are the root and essence of everything; that lays claim to the name 'consciousness"
p. 177: "To Jung, consciousness is very narrowly defined as that quality of being related to the ego. `Consciousness needs a center, an ego to which something is conscious.We know of no other kind of consciousness, nor can we imagine a consciousness without an ego.'"
However, IMHO this revolves around a differing definition of consciousness.And, even Jung once implied that it might be possible for the Self to assume consciousness vs. the ego.Of course, Jung viewed himself as an empiricist and, apparently, never met an actual Buddha. ... Read more

Book Description
Brings Asian theories of consciousness into dialogue withWestern psychotherapeutic practices. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Finally, the post- to post-modern
This is both an excellent introduction to nonduality, and a good (but brief) introduction to intersubjectivity theory.If you go in for the borderlands between psychology and spirituality, you will like this one.It is nice to see Blackstone and others working on what just might be "beyond" the terminal subjectivity of postmodernist therapies and theories to arrive at something that is not "immune" to subjectivity, but does transcend it. ... Read more