Bridging Psychological Science and Transpersonal Spirit: A Primer of Transpersonal Psychology

The monograph that you hold in your hands is the product of a need for an introductory textbook in the field of transpersonal psychology. While transpersonal psychology has developed into a full-fledged scientific, professional, and academic discipline since its founding by Abraham Maslow more than 35 years ago, it remains on the margins of conventional mainstream scientific psychology. Whether or not transpersonal psychology will soon find its niche within the behavioral and social sciences is an open question. But when a discipline has inaugurated a number of peer-reviewed journals devoted to the subject matter of the field, founded several national and international professional societies that facilitate scholarly exchange among individuals involved in transpersonal therapy and research, and instituted numerous academic courses and degree programs in university settings around the world, then that discipline deserves a place within the framework of official psychology and ought to have adequate representation within mainstream college and university curricula. This monograph is a portion of a much larger project that is intended to deal with the first issue by addressing the second. If transpersonal psychology wishes to find itself incorporated within the framework of official psychology, then serious thought needs to be given to what might be taught in a generalized course in transpersonal psychology. This monograph will hopefully be of service in that regard. It represents the first chapter of a projected 12-chapter textbook in transpersonal psychology for 2-year and 4-year colleges that covers topics ordinarily addressed in the typical introductory psychology course, but from a transpersonal point of view – introduction, biological foundations, sensation and perception, states of consciousness, learning and memory, language and thought, motivation and emotion, development, personality theory and measurement, psychological disorders, psychotherapy, and...