We know the fundamentals of transpersonal psychology, which is a branch of psychology that integrates the aforementioned psychology and spirituality, so it can be defined as a spiritual psychology.
This approach encompasses the practices of psychology together with the spiritual principles of the East, such as Buddhism, and the West, such as Christianity, studying the events of the psyche with the sense of human identity, trying to solve the psychological traumas transcending the ego.
How did transpersonal psychology come about?
Transpersonal is a term associated with spirituality . It means m s there or through personal, where the identity of the human being comes into contact with a more significant and invisible reality .
The origins of transpersonal psychology date back to 1901, when William James, an American psychologist taught a course called `` Gifford Lectures '' at the University of Edinburgh .
During these classes, James guided the study of religious experiences under a psychological approach, based on authors such as CG Jung, Richard M. Bucke and Roberto Assagioli.
These classes were the cornerstone of the school of transpersonal psychology that had its origin in the late 60s, where a group of psychologists and psychiatrists believed it necessary to create a branch of psychology that studied the phenomena of consciousness related to spirituality.
The basics of transpersonal psychology
Transpersonal psychology addresses psychological issues related to spirituality, such as spiritual development, mystical and metaphysical experiences, near-death experiences, spiritual practices and crises, non-ordinary states of consciousness, memory of supposed past lives, psychic abilities, inner guidance, synchronicity and trances, among others.
Ken Wilber, a leading American psychologist in the study of transpersonal psychology, distinguishes three levels of consciousness development :
- Prepersonal level (pre-egoic) : the stage of development in which the human being is not yet aware of his mind (babies).
- Personal level (egoic) : when the child becomes aware that he is a different person than others, he thinks.
- Transpersonal (trans-egoic) level: The level reached through spiritual development, which transcends identification with the body and mind, and which allows to reach a higher level of consciousness.
This theory of the development of consciousness has been expanded by other authors. One of them (Wilber's model) would cover 9 levels of development, 3 of them pre-personal, 3 personal levels and 3 transpersonal levels .
Transpersonal psychology has received various external influences from spiritual and religious currents, as well as from different philosophical schools, since its study is directly related to the study of consciousness as a phenomenon .
He has also had internal influences derived from the work of various psychologists and psychiatrists, such as Stanislav Grof and Kenneth Wilber.
Stanislav Grof was a psychologist, psychiatrist, doctor and psychonaut who experimented with LSD to relive traumatic episodes and open the doors of perception, and developed holotropic breathing, a technique of introspection and expansion of consciousness.
Kenneth Earl Wilber Jr. is an American philosopher practicing various forms of Buddhist meditation that focuses his work on the study of human evolution integrating science and religion .
Other authors who have studied and provided various analyzes in the field of transpersonal psychology are Alyce and Elmer Green, Robert Frager, Daniel Goleman, Charles Tart, Stanley Krippner, Roger Walsh and John Welwood, among others.
The foundations of transpersonal psychology are based on a science that has contributed to broadening the vision of the academic field by relating it to the study of consciousness, spirituality and human development but, in addition, this branch of psychology has contributed to the development of various aspects in the fields of psychiatry and psychotherapy.
Seen on Holistic Planet, by Pedro, editor of the White Brotherhood
