Transpersonal Studies

he International Journal of

Volume 28(1), 2009

Table of Contents
Editors IntroductionHarris Friedman and Glenn Hartelius iii
Holarchical Development: Discovering and Applying Missing Drives from
Ken Wilbers Twenty TenetsKevin James Bowman 1
Paradigm Shift, Then and Now: The Shakespearean Winters Tale and
Renewal Through the FeminineJudy Schavrien 25
Reflections on Transpersonal Psychologys 40th Anniversary, Ecopsychology,
Transpersonal Science, and Psychedelics: A Conversation Forum
Mark A. Schroll, Stanley Krippner, Miles A. Vich, James Fadiman, & Valerie Mojeiko 39
AyahuascaFrom Dangerous Drug to National Heritage: An Interview with
Antonio A. ArantesBeatriz Caiuby Labate & Ilana Goldstein 53

SPECIAL TOPIC:
Perspectives in Spirituality
Introduction to Special Topic SectionGlenn Hartelius and Harris Friedman 65
A Viable Model and Self-Report Measure of Spiritual Intelligence
David B. King & Teresa L. DeCicco 68
Identity and Spirituality: Conventional and Transpersonal Perspectives
Douglas A. MacDonald 86
Xenophilia as a Cultural Trap: Bridging the Gap Between Transpersonal
Psychology and Religious/Spiritual TraditionsHarris Friedman 107
Reconciling Modern Knowledge with Ancient Wisdom
Papalii Failautusi Avegalio 112
Towards a Transpersonal Psychology of Daoism: Definitions, Past Research,
and Future DirectionsChristopher Cott & Adam Rock 119
Reflections on a Silent Meditation Retreat: A Beginners Perspective
Chad V. Johnson 134
The Plurality of Religions and the Spirit of Pluralism: A Participatory Vision
of the Future of ReligionJorge N. Ferrer 139

International Journal of Transpersonal Studies 
 The International Journal of Transpersonal Studies
Volume 28, Issue 1, 2009

Editors Board of Editors (continued)

Harris Friedman
Jacek Brewczynski (USA)
Glenn Hartelius
Sren Brier (Denmark)
Coordinating Editor Elias Capriles (Venezuela)
Les Lancaster Michael Daniels (UK)
Managing Editor John Davis (USA)
James D. Pappas Wlodzislaw Duch (Poland)
James Fadiman (USA)
Honorary Editor
Stanley Krippner Jorge N. Ferrer (Spain/USA)
David Fontana (UK)
Editors Emeriti Joachim Galuska (Germany)
Don Diespecker
David Y. F. Ho (Hong Kong, China)
Philippe Gross
Douglas A. MacDonald Daniel Holland (USA)
Sam Shapiro Chad Johnson (USA)
Bruno G. Just (Australia)
Publisher
Sean Kelly (USA)
Floraglades Foundation, Incorporated
1270 Tom Coker Road Jeffrey Kuentzel (USA)
LaBelle, FL 33935 S. K. Kiran Kumar (India)
2009 by Floraglades Foundation, Inc. Charles Laughlin (Canada/USA)
All Rights Reserved Olga Louchakova (USA)
Vladimir Maykov (Russia)
ISSN (Print) 1321-0122
Axel A. Randrup (Denmark)
ISSN (Electronic) 1942-3241
Vitor Rodriguez (Portugal)
Board of Editors Brent Dean Robbins (USA)
Manuel Almendro (Spain) Mario Simes (Portugal)
Rosemarie Anderson (USA) Charles Tart (USA)
Liora Birnbaum (Israel) Rosanna Vitale (Canada)
Laura Boggio Gilot (Italy) John Welwood (USA)

ii International Journal of Transpersonal Studies

 Editors Introduction
Introduction
T
he first 2009 issue of the International Journal of
Transpersonal Studies offers 4 articles of general
interest, as well as a special topic section titled,
Perspectives in Spirituality (separately introduced). The
first of our general papers is by Kevin Bowman titled,
Holarchical Development: Discovering and Applying Missing
Drives from Ken Wilbers Twenty Tenets.
Bowman thoughtfully reconsiders some of the
many implications of Ken Wilbers All Quadrants All Levels
(AQAL) theory, attending to some of its problems and
suggesting some important extensions to this approach.
This paper evidences that Wilbers seminal work, decidedly
transpersonal despite Wilbers recent abandonment of
the term transpersonal, is not just one that Wilber alone
can revise (as in the various self-numbered stages he
has used to describe the evolution of his own work),
but also one that inspires continued changes by others.
The fruitfulness of a theory is one mark of its impact
and Wilbers insights continue to inspire work within
the transpersonal community. Whether or not readers
enjoy Wilbers work, his contributions are undeniably
important to transpersonal studies. In addition, Bowman,
as an economist, has also added a unique flavor to his
treatment of AQAL theory, namely by using it to analyze
contemporary political and economic decision-making
processes, especially as they might apply to environmental
and social causes. In this sense, Bowmans applications of
Wilbers work show the vital importance of transpersonal
theory for understanding some of the most pressing
problems of our time. The transpersonal approach is not
just abstract and otherworldly but, instead, also offers
helpful conceptualizations applicable to the conventional
world that less integrative approaches simply cannot easily
grasp.
International Journal of Transpersonal Studies, 28, 2009,International
pp. iii-iv
The next of our general papers is, Paradigm
Shift, Then and Now: The Shakespearean Winters Tale
and Renewal Through the Feminine, by Judy Schavrien.
It is not just so-called exotic cultures that bring insights
into transpersonal psychology, but the recent past
of Western culture itself is fertile with transpersonal
implications. Schavrien readdresses the Winters Tale
with renewed appreciation from a transpersonal slant,
focusing primarily on its vision of the feminine, but
also dealing historically with the setting of the play
during a time of great shifts in worldviews and social
institutions. She also continuously ties her observations
into the present day when contemporary humans still
struggle with similar change dynamics, demonstrating
how an understanding of many issues with contemporary
importance were presaged by the great bard in this play,
which has often been relegated as one of his minor works.
Through Schavriens explication, the Winters Tale can be
reconsidered as perhaps one of his most relevant works
to our current struggles. In addition and befitting an
article on Shakespeare, Schavrien writes with great wit
and fluidity, ensuring that studies of literature remain an
important part of transpersonal studies.
We are especially pleased to offer, as our next
paper, an inspiring dialogue among some of the founders
of transpersonal psychology, namely Miles Vich, James
Fadiman, and Stanley Krippner, joined by Mark Schroll
and Valerie Mojeiko, titled Reflections on Transpersonal
Psychologys 40th Anniversary, Ecopsychology, Transpersonal
Science, and Psychedelics: A Conversation Forum. In this
entertaining and freewheeling discussion, readers can
gain a glimpse into the beginnings of the transpersonal
movement and how it is interpreted today by some of
those who played an essential role in its emergence. This
vibrant discussion also deals with many contemporary
Journal of Transpersonal Studies iii
issues of importance, such as the relationship between
ecopsychology and transpersonal psychology in consid
eration of the grave risks to humankind that seem to
inure from anthropogenic global climate change, as well
as the relative pros and cons of U.S. clinical programs in
transpersonal psychology increasingly seeking accreditation
from the American Psychological Association. This is a
must-read for anyone interested in the connectedness of
the historical transpersonal movement with its present day
evolution.
Our last paper for the general section is Ayahuasca
From Dangerous Drug to National Heritage: An Interview
with Antonio A. Arantes, by Beatriz Caiuby Labate and
Ilana Goldstein. The prominent Brazilian anthropologist,
Antonio A. Arantes, is interviewed regarding the many
implications of ayahuasca practices potentially becoming
officially recognized as part of Brazils cultural heritage.
Unlike most discourse on transpersonal topics, this
interview gets into various legalisms in a very sophisticated
way, such as dealing with how aspects of immaterial culture
can be preserved without deadening them into stagnant
parodies of a living tradition. That Brazil as a nation is
struggling with how to deal beneficently with an avowedly
transpersonal practice, which is affected by various, and
often contradictory, laws and agreements, as well as
intertwined at so many levels with social institutions (e.g.,
the implications of ayahuasca tourism on the integrity of
indigenous cultures and local economies), demonstrates
the need for nuanced applications of transpersonal views.
Together, these four papers provide a fascinating
account of how the transpersonal is situated deeply within
the larger world. They also point to the likelihood that the
transpersonal perspective will become increasingly salient
for dealing with global problems that elude the grasp of
other, less inclusive perspectives.
Harris Friedman, Editor
University of Florida
Glenn Hartelius, Editor
Institute of Transpersonal Psychology
One of the Editors Farewell Note
I am pleased to announce that I have accepted the role of
Senior Editor of the International Journal of Transpersonal
Studies (IJTS), after having served as an editorial board
member in 2002 and, since 2003, as Co-editor with
Doug MacDonald, then as solo Editor, and most recently
as Co-editor with Glenn Hartelius. It is my belief that
iv International Journal of Transpersonal Studies
journals should not be fiefdoms ruled in perpetuity by
editors but, rather, seven years is a sufficient tenure for an
editor and then it is time to move on. As Senior Editor,
my appointment will be primarily honorific and limited
to 3 years, after which I will join the ranks of the other
Editors Emeriti. During these 3 years, I will continue to
support my current Co-editor, Glenn Hartelius, who will
assume the role of solo Editor effective with the upcoming
2010 issue. Glenn received his doctorate from California
Institute of Integral Studies in East West Psychology this
year and already has published a number of important
papers within transpersonal studies. He has been Co-
editor of this journal since 2007 and has been de facto
bearing the brunt of the editorial load since 2008. In
addition to his fine editorial work, Glenn serves as a faculty
member at the Institute for Transpersonal Psychology.
As I transition, I want to thank the previous Editors and
Co-editors of IJTS, especially Doug MacDonald whose
dedicated work as Co-editor with me for several years
was invaluable! I also want to the thank the editorial
board members and the many manuscript peer reviewers
who have helped keep the journal vibrant, as well as our
contributors and readers who are discovering the journal
in increasing numbers since it has become online. Last,
I thank the Floraglades Foundation, which continues to
provide financial support for IJTS. I step down with full
confidence in Glenns leadership as the journal moves
forward in a number of exciting ways as the newly designated
journal of the International Transpersonal Association.
Harris Friedman, Editor
University of Florida
Call for Collaboration
H arris Friedmans farewel note would be incomplete
without pointing out that but for his personal
initiative, perseverance, and charming powers of
persuasion, this journal would certainly have disappeared
from publication at the end of 2006. He has been a
diligent and faithfully supportive mentor and partner in
the enterprise of sustaining and renewing the journal.
With his departure from the daily operations of the
journal, it is time to put out a call for individuals interested
in participating in its preparation and publication. Areas
where contribution is needed include the following:
Reviewer
Those interested in reviewing articles for the
journal should submit their educational background, as
well as area(s) of expertise and interest. Reviewers who
Friedman & Hartelius
participate regularly and ably may be considered for
inclusion on the Editorial Board.
Special Topic Editor
Each issue of the journal typically has a special
topic section; individuals interested in guest editing a set
of articles on a special topic may submit their educational
background along with a proposed topic.
Associate Editor
Persons possessed of vision and enthusiasm
and boundless energy are invited to support the further
development of this publication in the role of Associate
Editor. Interested individuals should submit educational
background and experience in academic writing and
publishing.
Benefactor
The journal is offered online without cost, in part
because this allows its articles to reach a wider audience
especially readers with compatible interests who may not
be acquainted with the transpersonal community. It has
run on a meager budget for several years, and its operations
could be both enhanced and expanded through additional
funding. Tax-deductible charitable donations to support
the journal are welcomed.
As the second longest running transpersonal
journal, the International Journal of Transpersonal Studies
continues to contribute to transpersonal thought and
literature in a contemporary context. Yet its preparation
and publication requires collaboration with many parts
of the transpersonal community. For those interested in
participating in this process, application for any of the
aforementioned positions can be made to Glenn Hartelius
at payattention1@mac.com

Glenn Hartelius, Editor

Institute of Transpersonal Psychology

International Journal of Transpersonal Studies 

vi International Journal of Transpersonal Studies
 Holarchical Development:
Discovering and Applying Missing Drives
from Ken Wilbers Twenty Tenets
Kevin James Bowman1
Augsburg College
Minneapolis, MN, USA

Ken Wilbers AQAL model offers a way to synthesize the partial truths of many theories
across various fields of knowledge such as evolutionary biology and sociology, developmental
psychology, and perennial and contemporary philosophy to name only a few. Despite its
reconciling power and influence, the model has been validly criticized for its static nature
and its overemphasis on the ascendant, versus descendant, path of development. This
paper points out areas of Wilbers writing that suggest a way to overcome these criticisms.
Doing so allows for the refinement of AQALs Twenty Tenets for an extension of its formal,
dynamic features. This is accomplished first by relating Wilbers original dynamic drives to
the quadrants and levels enabling the quadrants and levels to then predict additional drives
not specified by Wilber. The full set of drives then suggests clarifications of assumptions and
applications of the model regarding transcendence and inclusion in order for the refined
model to be internally consistent. The result helps correct for AQALs ascending bias, a bias
which overemphasizes a linear path from lower to higher stages of development. Instead,
more possibilities emerge such as those in which ascending development is overly dependent
on a higher capacity with inclusion of only basic, lower core capacities. This is in contrast
to more fully realizing the potential for development of individuals or societies in the more
fundamental, lower levels, through deeper inclusion within higher capacities. Also, given
the other horizontal drives that are predicted by the model, further possibilities are explored
for differing directions of, and emphasis in, development.

Keywords: Ken Wilber, AQAL, dynamic drives, Twenty Tenets, ascending

and descending, eros and agape, holonic development, holarchy.

A Brief Overview of the AQAL Model of this more inclusive, integral perspective on reality

T
he AQAL model, developed by contemporary
philosopher and integral theorist Ken Wilber,
offers a framework within which to synthesize
what Wilber sees as the partial truths of many disparate
fields of study. The goal of his approach is to bring together
the insights of science and mysticism as elements of a
larger, integral understanding of what Wilber has called
the Kosmos (Wilber, 2000c, p. xii).
The term Kosmos refers to a universe that
contains not only the objects of the exterior world, the
cosmos of science, but also the contents and events of
the inner world of experience, including those aspects of
reality pointed to by spiritual and mystical experience.
Wilber sees science and spirituality not as competing
paradigms, but as partial and complementary aspects
Holonic Development
International
Journal of Transpersonal Studies, 28, 2009, pp. 1-24
(Wilber, 2000c, p. 273).
One of Wilbers earlier contributions was a model
of human development that moved from pre-personal
levels to personal levels, much as standard developmental
psychology proposes, but then has the potential to continue
beyond conventional ego maturity to transpersonal levels.
Wilber saw conventional development as only part of a
larger evolutionary journey through a spectrum of stages of
consciousness, one that can ultimately carry the individual
on to higher levels of spiritual awareness.According to
Wilber (1999a), this marked the second phase of his work
with the 1980 book The Atman Project. By comparison,
Wilbers 2006 book Integral Spirituality has more recently
unveiled aspects of his fifth phase of work (which includes
integral methodological pluralism).
International Journal of Transpersonal Studies

 Wilbers fourth phase of theoretical development
produced the four-quadrant model, introduced in the 1995
publication of Sex, Ecology, Spirituality, which suggested
that patterns of development toward higher levels can
be seen not only in the development of individuals, but
also in the evolution of human societies and the natural
world. As seen in Figure 1, this model divides reality into
four quadrants, four windows through which the Kosmos
can be viewed: interior-individual (subjective), interior-
collective (inter-subjective), exterior-individual (objective),
and exterior-collective (inter-objective). Each quadrant is,
as it were, a facet of the Kosmos through which its unitary
unfoldment can be viewed.
This is the basic structure of the AQAL model:
four quadrants representing four aspects of reality, each
quadrant divided into evolutionary levels of development
from most primitive to most advanced, where
development in one quadrant is correlated in certain ways
with development in other quadrants. For example, in
the exterior-individual quadrant (Upper Right, or UR,

Figure 1. Wilbers human developmental stages in four quadrants

Subjective Quadrant (UL) Objective Quadrant (UR)

INDIVIDUAL
(North)
6. vision logic or integral 6. SF3

5. relativistic 5.

4. formal operational 4. SF2

3. concrete operational 3. SF1

2. concepts 2. complex neocortex

1. symbols 1. neocortex
INTERIOR EXTERIOR
(West) (East)

1. archaic 1. foraging tribe

2. magic 2. horticultural village

3. mythic or traditional 3. agrarian early state/empire

4. rational 4. industrial nation-state

5. pluralistic 5. early informational

6. centauric 6. mature global

COLLECTIVE informational
(South)
Inter-subjective Quadrant (LL) Inter-objective Quadrant (LR)

 International Journal of Transpersonal Studies Bowman

in AQAL terms), development moves through levels from
atoms to molecules to simple organisms to those with a
complex neocortex. This mirrors the interior-individual
quadrant (Upper Left [UL]), where the simplest levels
represent rudimentary prehension and irritability and the
higher levels move into formal logic and what Wilber calls
vision-logic and beyond. The interior-collective (Lower
Left [LL]) and exterior-collective (Lower Right [LR]) each
have their respective trajectories of development through a
series of evolutionary levels (see Wilber, 2000c, p. 198, for
a figure that contains all of these stages).
For the purposes of this paper, analysis will be
restricted to the topic of human development. Therefore
Figure 1 reports the lowest, most fundamental stage of
human existence as stage number one up to the most
recent, highest stage that has been solidly documented.
Higher levels beyond stage six may have been achieved in
a very small portion of the population, but even stage six
has been stably sustained by less than 2% of the world
population (Wilber, 2000d, p. 13).
In addition to quadrants and levels, other
features are included in the AQAL model, namely lines,
states, and types. These components were first presented
together in Sex, Ecology, Sprituality (Wilber, 1995). AQAL
is an acronym for All Quadrants, All Levels, but it is
understood to also encompass All Lines, All States, and
All Types. The name is meant to imply that one should
attempt to recognize and incorporate all dimensions of
reality. The concept of lines recognizes that not all aspects
of an individuals development necessarily move at the
same rate; one person might have a highly developed
intellect but be emotionally immature. According to
Wilber, development in the cognitive line is a necessary
but insufficient requirement for correlative development
in other lines. Yet some individuals can be more balanced
than others in their cognitive and emotional maturity.
The quadrants can be thought of as four broad realms in
which lines develop. Wilber considers true development
along these various lines to be distinctly different from
states, or passing experiences, which might represent a
sort of preview of a higher level than ones actual level
of development. Lines were first introduced (prior to the
quadrant model) formally in Wilbers (1983, pp. 241-265)
essay, Structure, Stage, and Self which marked the
beginning of Wilbers third phase (Wilber, 1999b). Finally,
his model also includes types, which acknowledges that
there are many valid typologies, such as Jungs distinction
between persons who are feeling types and those who are
thinking types. Thus one may retain a particular typology,
Holonic Development
where one places certain emphasis on a particular aspect
of reality, as one moves through stages of development.
For Wilber, the Kosmos consists of holons, or
whole/parts, a term coined by Arthur Koestler (Wilber
2000c, p. 26). This is his first Tenet. All of Wilbers original,
approximately Twenty Tenets, which were first described
in chapter two of Sex, Ecology, Spirituality, are listed in
the appendix.2 Wilber has stated that the Tenets should
not be considered exhaustive and that some may not hold
up, which adds reason to examine them closely, especially
since these Tenets are the most formal presentation of his
model besides his four-quadrant, many-level diagram.
Returning to Tenet 1, reality is not atomistic (only parts),
nor is it holistic (only wholes). Rather, there are wholes
that are parts of larger wholes. There are also parts that are
relatively, though never completely, independent. Similar
or complementary parts may join and be taken up in a
larger whole with development over time, and individual
parts are relatively autonomous in some ways, while they
may be simultaneously members of larger collectives in
other ways. To say it another way, just as a bunch of grapes
is made of individual grapes, but is also part of a grapevine,
so every holon is in some sense whole in itself, but also
composed of smaller holons and part of larger holons.
This concept is important for Wilbers understanding of
the process of development from one evolutionary stage
to the next. Because holons are made of other holons,
development does not involve leaving behind earlier gains;
instead, a new level (a higher-level holon) transcends and
includes the previous levels of development, transforming
rather than discarding earlier learning. Evolution is thus
seen as a process of holonic development.
While the AQAL model is vast in its scope, this
paper suggests that there are ways in which it may be both
refined and extended through the addition of more holonic
drivesthat is, in addition to the ones Wilber specified in
Tenet 2 as basic dynamic capacities of any holon. Hehas
suggested that holons have four fundamental drives.
One drive is autonomy (also referred to as agency or self-
preservation) while its complement is communion (or
self-adaptation). Both autonomy and communion are
referred to as horizontal drives. The remaining pair of
drives are vertical with one being self-transcendence and
the other self-dissolution. The nature of these drives will
be discussed in the next section. While Wilber has made
no connection of the drives to the dimensions of the four
quadrants, a close examination of the drives suggests that
these may potentially be mapped onto the quadrants and
levels of the AQAL model.
International Journal of Transpersonal Studies 
 Moreover, and perhaps more importantly, once
these drives are mapped and their roles analyzed, they can
be seen to imply the existence of a significant number of
additional drives. These additional implied drives will be
articulated and their locations within the AQAL framework
proposed. With these implied drives in place, the AQAL
model may be stronger and more able to withstand some
of the criticisms that have been leveled against it, a point
that will be revisited after the drives are presented.
Adapting Holonic Drives to the AQAL Model
W ilber (2000c) stated that his many-leveled four
quadrant diagram can also be drawn, as a series
of interfolding, or nested pyramids, so that several of the
multidimensional relationships within each quadrant
could be better indicated (p. 198). This approach is
applied here in order to map all of the holonic drives into
the AQAL model (Fig. 2). In such a configuration, the
four quadrants of the AQAL graphic make up the floor
of the pyramid and its lowest level. The height of a single
pyramid can be imagined to reach up through higher
levels of the four quadrants; the peak of such a pyramid
is elevated above the point where the quadrants meet in
the center. The two axes that divide the four quadrants
are now in one horizontal plane, and will be referred to as
Figure 2. Wilbers developmental stages correlated in four quadrants as nested pyramids
UL N UR
W E
LL
 International Journal of Transpersonal Studies
East-West and North-South axes, with North to the top
of the page relative to the reader, West to the left, and so
on, as typically shown on a map.
In this three-dimensional space of nested pyramids,
the horizontal drives can then be mapped onto the
horizontal four-quadrant base of the pyramidthereby
retaining graphically their metaphorically horizontal
character. The vertical drives, as discussed later in the
paper, can be mapped along the vertical dimension up
within the pyramids from base to peak and down from
peak to base. The next section will relate the horizontal
holonic drives to the four quadrants.
Relating Wilbers Horizontal Drives to the Individual-
Collective Duality
Wilber (2000a, p. 74) has suggested that every
holon necessarily exists in all four AQAL quadrantsthat
is, consists of aspects that can be described as interior
(West, in the AQAL graphic of Figure 1), exterior (East),
individual (North) and collective (South). As noted earlier,
each quadrant represents a domain in which a particular
aspect of any holon may evolve. Furthermore, Wilber
(1995) has held (as in Tenet 12) that the evolutionary
process is incipient within the worldthat the Kosmos
contains, as it were, an urge toward evolving. In a
S LR
Bowman
sense, evolution in these broad lines, one per quadrant,
may be considered as representing the effect of various
holonic drives toward development.Dynamic growth is
characterized in his model as movement from lower levels
(smaller numbers in Figure 1), to higher levels (larger
numbers).
Though the developmental lines in all quadrants
may be understood as reaching toward an ultimate
dimension of spirit, the particular nature of development
within each quadrant is necessarily distinct, despite their
interrelated nature. Indeed, it is these distinctions that
make the four quadrants a necessary extension of Wilbers
Phase-2 concept of a single spectrum of development.
Thus, it is possible to infer that evolution in the four
developmental lines within the respective quadrants may
not only be seen as drives toward development, but also
drives toward different types of developmentevolution
with differing relative emphases, reflecting the underlying
combinations of holonic drives.
Recall that two of the four holonic drives noted
by Wilber in Tenet 2 are termed the horizontal drives. In
one direction this represents movement toward agency,
autonomy, or self-preservationessentially, a drive toward
separateness; in the other direction, it is a drive toward self-
adaptation, toward communion, toward interrelationship.
If autonomy is a drive towards separateness, then it seems
logical that one can associate it with greater emphasis of
action in or towards the individual side of the individual-
collective duality. Because communion is the opposite, a
drive towards togetherness, then it should be linked with
relatively greater movement in or towards the collective
realm. Therefore, autonomy and communion can be
established as dynamic drives associated with the (North-
South) individual-collective axis as shown in Figure 3.
Distinctions will be made in a later section between the
various labels associated with the drives.
The concept of horizontal drives is useful because
greater autonomy or greater communion, for example,

Figure 3. North-South axis used to represent horizontal holonic drives toward individuality
and collectivity in neutral, positive, and negative forms

Holonic drive of individuation:

autonomy (+) or dissociation (-)
UL N UR

W E

LL S LR
Holonic drive of collectivization:
communion (+) or indiscrimination (-)

Holonic Development International Journal of Transpersonal Studies 

does not have to be associated with transformation to
another stage of development. Wilbers use of horizontal
autonomy and communion illustrates the complementary
nature of these two drives. He proposed that balance is
needed between them in order to maintain a holon, or else
it can break apart (self-dissolution as described in Tenet
2). This concept is maintained here in a general sense,
namely that a holon must maintain a degree of balance
in order to retain its integrity; however, extensions of the
idea will be made to allow for differing relative intensities
of holonic actions with respect to horizontal or vertical
qualities. It will be shown in later sections that the
AQAL model must allow for actions that place greater
or lesser emphasis toward a particular quadrant and that
these changes in emphasis can be conducive to further
development or not. What should be examined in any
attempt to adapt these holonic drives to specifics of the
AQAL model is whether these metaphorical relationships
can be maintained to the extent that they are accurate
or helpful to the understanding of development. If so,
then elaborating on the metaphorical directionality of
the drives may be justified so long as these directions
remain capable of representing the essential relationships
between drives.
Additional horizontal drives associated with
the interior-exterior duality. If actions resulting in
greater emphasis in the individual realm can be thought
of as drives into the individual quadrants, what is different
about the drive into the UL from the drive into the UR
quadrant? Similarly, what distinguishes from each other
the drives into the two collective quadrants of the LL and
LR? Mapping the individual and collective drives onto the
North-South axis makes it not only possible but logical to
predict two additional horizontal drives associated with
the interior-exterior duality of the East-West axis (Fig.
4). Just as actions can be relatively intensive towards the
individual or collective realm, actions can also be intensive
in the interior or exterior realms.
With these four horizontal drives in place, it
becomes possible to understand horizontal movement in
or towards a particular quadrant as relatively intensive in a
combination of two horizontal drives. Here, one example
per quadrant will be provided. Action in or towards the
UL is a combination of horizontal holonic drives with

Figure 4. East-West axis used to represent horizontal holonic drives toward interiority
and exteriority in neutral, positive, and negative forms

UL N UR

W E
Holonic drive of Holonic drive of
interiorization: exteriorization:
reception (+) transmission (+)
or introversion (-) or extroversion (-)

LL S LR

 International Journal of Transpersonal Studies Bowman

emphasis toward interiority and individuality such as
learning to witness ones thoughts through meditation.
Movement in or towards the UR is a combination of the
drives with emphasis toward individuality and exteriority,
for example, learning to walk. Drives in or towards the
LR have emphasis towards exteriority and collectivity
such as passage of the fourteenth amendment to the U.S.
Constitution, which recognized former slaves as citizens;
and those in or towards the LL have emphasis towards
interiority and collectivity such as a discussion that clears
up a destructive misunderstanding.
Positive, negative, and neutral holonic
drives associated with the axes that make up the four
quadrants. Thus far, Wilbers two horizontal holonic drives
have been mapped onto the North-South axis of the AQAL
model, and two additional horizontal drives have been
proposed to correspond to the East-West axis. However,
movement in the direction of any of the horizontal holonic
drives, that is, toward individuality, collectivity, interiority,
or exteriority, needs to be distinguished qualitatively as
well as quantitatively. That is to say drives may promote
or impede further development or do neither. Let positive
drives be ones that promote further development. Negative
drives hinder development or even cause unhelpful
regression in the holon. Lastly, neutral drives neither
promote nor impede further development.
The drives associated with the individual-
collective duality will be explored here first. Individuation
is the name given to the neutral drive associated with
greater individual emphasis while collectivization is the
neutral drive reflecting greater collective emphasis. I may
choose to stay home rather than going to a party. This
action places more emphasis on the individual versus the
collective, but in this case has nothing to do with either
growth or regression.
Greater emphasis towards the individual realm
can be positive or negative. The same can be said for greater
collectiveemphasis.Autonomyreferstopositiveindividuation
while communion represents positive collectivization. A
young boy who agrees to spend significant time away from
his mother for the first time may be a drive of individuation
that is conducive for further development if the boy is
ready for such a step. This experience can be associated
therefore with autonomy with regards to the mother-son
relationship. An example in society of autonomy (positive
individuation) is the implementation of religious freedom
that honors the individuals choice to worship as one
pleases. A collective such as a university research center
can become more autonomous, for example, when it splits
Holonic Development
from the university, no longer needing its seed money. It
can use its retained earnings and resist restraints imposed
by the university. Although it is a collective, it has become
more autonomous, thus developing in the direction of the
relatively individual realm of reality.
Alternatively if a man chooses to ask his wife about
an interest of hers that he typically avoids, this might be
collectivization with the potential for further development
and as such can be called communion. Communion
(positive collectivization) also includes individuals working
to learn the jargon used by the collective so that one can
understand the shared meaning of the collective and be
able to communicate ones ideas in that shared space.
According to Wilber (2000c), being overly
autonomous or communal is detrimental to development.
He has associated alienation with pathological autonomy
and fusion with pathological communion (p. 49). In the
terminology of this paper, if certain individuation impedes
development or causes unhelpful regression, this involves
the dissociation drive, the negative individuation drive.
This drive is out of balance with needed communion and
so inhibits further development in some way. Dissociation
(negative individuation) can occur perhaps because the
individual does not work to understand the place for which
he or she fits into the collective, and instead tunes out.
The collective can also play a role in ignoring the unique
contribution the individual is capable of making.
An example of indiscrimination, the negative
collectivization drive, is when a baseball coach uses a
random process to choose positions for the players on
the collective team irrespective of their differentiated
abilities and preferences. A collective such as a firm
can indiscriminately accept funds from investors even
if the new investors will apply pressure for short-term
performance gains at the expense of needed change more
conducive to long-term sustainable growth.
More generally individuation (neutral), autonomy
(positive), and dissociation (negative) are, schematically,
the drives in or towards the individual quadrants.
Collectivization (neutral), communion (positive), and
indiscrimination (negative) are the drives in or towards the
collective quadrants (Fig. 3; Table 1). Although nouns are
used to label the drives, they represent dynamic processes,
just as Carl Jung uses the term individuation to denote
a process.3 One can therefore think of autonomy as the
positive drive toward the individual end of the individual-
collective axis. Communion is then the positive drive
toward the collective axis. The various drives associated
with the interior-exterior axis will be described next.
International Journal of Transpersonal Studies 
 If neutral, positive, and negative holonic drives
prove to be useful constructs for describing forces that
pertain to the individual-collective duality, it would be
reasonable to articulate a similar set of drives relating to
the interior-exterior duality of the East-West axis (Fig.
4; Table 1).
For the neutral drives relating to the interior-
exterior duality, interiorization will represent the drive
in or towards the interior quadrants, and exteriorization
will represent the drive in or towards the exterior
quadrants. Although he has not associated interiorization
specifically with the dynamic drives, or more generally
with the Twenty Tenets, Wilber (2000b) has referred
to Piagets concept of interiorization. Piaget speaks
of interiorization when schemes of action - meaning
rules for the manipulative mastery of objectsare
internally transposed and transformed into schemes of
comprehension and thinking (p. 285).
The term reception can be used to refer to the
positive version of interiorization, whereas negative
interiorization can be called introversion. An example
of reception (positive interiorization) is reading a book
such as Wilbers Sex, Ecology, and Spirituality that
expands ones interior awareness, or a training seminar
that improves the mutual understanding of a collective
holon. Introversion (negative interiorization) may take
the form of over identification with the interior such
as a New-Age claim that an individual can change his
entire reality in this relative world if he recognizes that
exterior form is illusory. A slave, however, cannot remove
his physical shackles and live a free life with only that
realization. He can only choose, for example, to change
his reception of it, such as his emotional and mental
response to it. The shackles and system of slavery that
support the shackles are disproportionately controlled
by other holons.
Positive exteriorization will be referred to as
transmission while negative exteriorization is extroversion.
Putting a brilliant insight into writing is an example of
transmission (positive exteriorization). Extroversion
(negative exteriorization), on the other hand, tends to
over identify with the exterior such as insisting that
our thoughts are purely by-products of chemicals in
the brain implying that we do not have much choice in
how we think and react to exterior stimuli. Thus, when
Wilber describes (as in Wilber, 2000c, p. 427) versions of
flatland in which perceptions of reality become collapsed
into only the exterior world, the collapse is an example
of what is here called extroversion. The collapse of the
Kosmos to the exterior domains is a dynamic process
associated with one-sided identification with, attention
to, and investment in, the exterior realm. When referring
to the exterior realms alone, there is no reference to a
process but instead to a static dimension of reality in
which holons and their dynamic processes arise.
Balanced Development Versus Differing Relative
Intensities of Holonic Actions
Following Wilber (2000a, p. 68 and p. 111),
the two dualities that make up the four quadrants, the
individual-collective and the interior-exterior, should be

Table 1. The horizontal dualities and their corresponding drives

Individual-Collective Individual Pole Collective Pole

(North-South Axis)
Neutral Individuation Collectivization
Positive Autonomy Communion
Negative Dissociation Indiscrimination

Interior-Exterior Interior Pole Exterior Pole

(East-West Axis)
Neutral Interiorization Exteriorization
Positive Reception Transmission
Negative Introversion Extroversion

 International Journal of Transpersonal Studies Bowman

thought of as domains that represent different aspects
of holons. That is, these dualities are relatively stable or
static aspects of reality in which, or towards which, the
dynamic drives of a holon can move. For example, an
individual can move with increased autonomy; the drive
toward autonomy can be seen as the force that moves the
individual deeper into the static domain defined by the
upper quadrants.
Yet given Wilbers contention that each holon
exists in all four quadrants, and that each moment is
a four-quadrant affair, neither these realms nor the
corresponding holonic drives are really separate. The
mapping of holonic drives within the AQAL model,
then, does not represent the charting of a set of separable
forces that operate within a holon; rather, it is a way
to represent differences in the relative intensity of the
interconnected forces within a holon. For example, while
drives toward autonomy and communion will both be
present within any holon, in some process of engagement
with the world the drive toward autonomy within that
holon may be relatively stronger than the drive toward
communion.
In his integral vision heavily influenced by
Wilber, but not in complete agreement, Mcintosh (2007)
retained the insights from Carl Graves as cited and carried
forward by Beck and Cowan (1996) that successive stages
oscillate between individual and collective emphasis.
Wilber (2000c, p. 50), following Jantch, stated that
new forms of autonomy and communion emerge
with transformation to a higher stage. There is also, at
least potentially, greater autonomy and communion.
Worldcentric morals (of stage 4 in Figure 1) provide
greater ability to commune, understand, and extend care
beyond ones immediate social group. There is also greater
autonomy from ethnocentric (stage 3) moral codes given
the necessary precondition of (stage 4) formal operational
cognition, which provides the ability to question and
analyze the traditional (stage 3) rules and codes.
But given the dialectical nature of the oscillation
between stages, it is argued here that in order to allow for
a change in emphasis of individual versus collective with
transformation, the model must also allow for dynamic
drives that can differ in their balance between autonomy
and communion as one transforms to the next stage
(because we can say that autonomy generally results in
greater individual emphasis). Wilber does not exclude
this possibility. In fact, there are notions of it in Wilbers
distinction (in agreement with some feminist thought)
of masculine and feminine personality types or value
Holonic Development
spheres where the masculine type emphasizes autonomy
while the feminine type emphasizes communion and
that a new socio-cultural stage can alter the relations
between these spheres (Wilber 2000c, p. 32 and
162). Yet Wilber (2000c) wrote the following (where
structures of consciousness is another term for stages of
consciousness):
My claim is that the structures of human
consciousness that I will be presenting in the rest of
this volume are in fact gender neutral, that there is
no fundamental gender bias in the deep structures
themselves. However, in the course of historical
development, these gender-neutral structures, for
numerous reasons we will examine, became loaded
with various factors (technological, economic,
cultural, social, and intentional) that biased some of
these structures in an often specifically subjugating
and certainly polarizing (or dissociating) fashion.
(p. 162)
Yet if (i) autonomy and communion are drives
associated with movement towards individual and
collective domains, respectively, (ii) autonomy and
communion can generally be associated with masculine
and feminine (Wilber 2000a, p. 2), respectively, and
finally, (iii), stages tend to oscillate between individual
and collective emphasis; then there seems to be a strong
case to be made that structures themselves might have
alternating gender biases. In that case, Wilbers statement
above is a strong one requiring critical review, which is
not an objective of this paper. Rather, it is used here,
for one, as a specific case that demonstrates my general
reading of Wilber in that he views transformation to
new stages as benefiting most with roughly proportional
movement through the quadrants. Also, in the least, a
dynamic extension of the model; which more closely
looks at the particular catalysts, intensions, choices,
investments, etcetera, required for transformation; needs
to formally work with holonic movement that can vary
in relative intensity of drives (in this case, autonomy and
communion). One does not merely hope to maintain
uniform balance between the dual drives if oscillation
in emphasis of drives fosters development. Even if
proportional development through the quadrants is
optimal, human history does not seem to have taken this
course. Therefore, even with this optimization hypothesis
of balanced growth, we must allow for suboptimal, but
nevertheless, relatively stable development associated
with differing relative intensities of holonic drives.
International Journal of Transpersonal Studies 
 Furthermore, what does it mean for a holon to
increase its relative autonomy or communion? Masculine
pathology, for example, tends to be overemphasis on
autonomy implying that men who are overly masculine
can benefit from getting in touch with their feminine
sides (Wilber, 2000c, p. 32). In this situation of working
for relatively greater communal development within an
individual, is that not growing with a greater emphasis
on the other as opposed to on the self? Is that not
disproportionately working on ones membership within
a collective rather than on the individual aspects of
ones being in the world? If so, then the masculine drive
emphasizes differentiation from, rather than integration
with the collective dimension.So I continue to maintain
that autonomy or individuation is the dynamic drive
related to the movement towards the individual quadrants
while communion or collectivization is the dynamic drive
related to action towards the collective quadrants.
Yet, I wish not to lose sight - I have been
emphasizing more recently the need to allow for the
horizontal drives to be associated with development that
is intensive in a particular horizontal domain. This insight
becomes more significant and perhaps more surprising
when I apply it to the vertical drives in the next section.
Re-specification of Wilbers Vertical Drives
In the first part of this paper it was seen that Wilbers
two horizontal holonic drives initially fit only awkwardly
and somewhat unsatisfactorily onto the four-quadrant
AQAL model. However, with the proposal of additional
horizontal drives and the subsequent differentiation
of neutral, positive, and negative drives, the model of
horizontal holarchical development proved to fit the four
quadrants at least somewhat congruently and added both
richness and dynamism to the otherwise static dimensions
of the AQAL model. While holonic development must
necessarily maintain a degree of balance, as Wilber has
maintained, the recognition of differing dynamic drives
within the four quadrants opens the possibility that one or
more of the drives that propel this development may show
greater intensity, indicated by increased relative movement
toward a particular horizontal domain.
Note that the process of systematically adapting
Wilbers two horizontal holonic drives to the four-
quadrant rubric helped facilitate the unfoldment of this
more complex and arguably more satisfying model of
horizontal dynamics. The principles that guided this
adaptation of the horizontal drives will now be applied to
Wilbers two vertical holonic drives: self-transcendence and
self-dissolution. It will be proposed that these two vertical
10 International Journal of Transpersonal Studies
drives do not differentiate the ascending and descending
aspects of vertical development and that by considering
these vertical drives in the context of the AQAL model,
the gaps that present themselves within such a comparison
can provide the basis for proposing additional drives that
enable a satisfactory fit. At the same time, the model of
vertical holonic dynamics can be enhanced and the
ascending bias present in Wilbers presentation of these
can be successfully eliminated.
Given that the four quadrants and the two axes
that divide them have been used up in specifying horizontal
drives, incorporation of the vertical drives must necessarily,
and appropriately, move into a third dimension. As noted
earlier, Wilber (2000c) has indicated that the concentric
circles of nested levels within the four quadrant diagram
could also be represented as nested pyramids, so that
several of the multidimensional relationships within each
quadrant could be better indicated (p. 198). Such an
approach is taken here in order to represent the vertical
holonic drives, first by asking how self-transcendence and
self-dissolution relate to vertical development in terms of
the dimensions of such pyramids.
The positive vertical drives. According to
Wilber (2000c, pp. 49-53), if there is balanced autonomy
and communion, the holon is more likely to experience
the vertical drive of self-transcendence, also known as
self-transformation, to a higher stage. Otherwise, with
imbalanced autonomy and communion, there is greater
potential for stagnation or even self-dissolution, which is
the regression of the holon. When regression occurs, the
holon breaks down into its sub-holons in the reverse order
from which it was built up. Self-transcendence is simply a
systems capacity to reach beyond the given and introduce
some measure of novelty, a capacity without which, it is
quite certain, evolution would never, and could never,
have even gotten started (pp. 51-52). Thus for Wilber
self-transcendence is a positive vertical drive because it is
associated with greater development. Additionally, because
it results in a higher, emergent capacity, it can be pictured
as movement from lower to higher levels resulting in a
taller pyramid. Self dissolution, in contrast, is necessarily
a negative drive given that it results in less development.
But can vertical transformation through stages
be characterized merely as one ascending drive? This
presentation of the vertical drives appears to conflate
ascension with the value of positivity and descension with
that of negativity.
For the moment, consider self-transformation
to be a result of holonic drives, concluding in greater
Bowman
integration and differentiation, while self-dissolution is
a result with diminished integration and differentiation.
Given the definitions used here for positive and negative
drives, it will be shown that the model is internally
consistent with this considerationmore specifically, it
is consistent if self-transcendence is considered to be an
outcome of sufficient positive drives. Self-dissolution,
on the other hand, can be thought of as an outcome of
negative drives.
Indeed, Wilber does at times ascribe aspects of
development to a descending current. His description of
compassion as a descendant-directed action, where the
higher is more capable of understanding the position of
lower-level perspectives, is an example of a downward
movement with positive connotation (Wilber, 2000c,
p. 349). More significantly, taking self-transcendence
and self-dissolution as the only vertical drives creates an
ascending bias since the only positive vertical dynamic is
the ascending drive. It will be shown that this bias has
implications in Wilbers overall view of development,
and not only for his formal specification of drives. It
seems more useful to follow the strategy employed with
the horizontal drives, namely, to seek out a positive
descending drive that complements the positive ascending
drive of self-transcendence, if self-transcendence were to
convey movement towards a higher capacity. Thereafter,
it may be possible to identify pairs of negative and neutral
vertical drives as well.
Wilber (1999a) refers to evolution as a process
that involves both transcendence and inclusion, a
search for higher and wider unity (n. 3). There are
thus two positive aspects: transcendence and inclusion.
Transcendence is clearly a movement upward, a positive
ascending drive toward higher levels and emergent
capacities, but inclusion refers back to lower levels; deeper
inclusion can thus be proposed as the corresponding
positive descending drive to the positive vertical drive of
transcendence. Therefore transcendence and inclusion will
be used as the positive vertical drives that can result in the
outcome of self-transformation.
However, naming deeper inclusion as a drive
implies that it is possible for transcendence to occur
without complete inclusion of lower levels, either in their
actual or potential forma subject that will be examined
in some detail below.
As with the horizontal drives, vertical drives
should also include neutral and negative versions. In
neutral form, they can simply be referred to as ascending
and descending drives (cf. Wilber, 2000c, p. 330). Or,
Holonic Development
to continue with the convention of using nouns that
represent processes, they should formally be known as
ascension and descension. This paper, however, will use
ascending and descending drives interchangeably with
the drives of ascension and descension. Submission is the
term proposed for the negative ascending drive, repression
for the negative descending drive. These will be discussed
in a later section of the paper.
Transcendence. Transcendence can take the
form of de-identification with the limitations of the lower-
level worldview allowing for a more expansive, higher
one. Each new level is associated with an additional,
higher ability to take perspectives. The subject of the
previous level becomes the object of the next. Moving
from the concrete operational to the formal operational
stage of cognition, for example, results in the ability to
logically question rules (a new third-person perspective
on second person realities) whereas the previous level
could merely follow rules (a second-person reality). This
transcendent leap in cognition then allows for, but does
not automatically create, correlative ascending moral
development to extend care from the second-person
group of us to the third-person concept of all people.
Deeper Inclusion. Deeper inclusion may
involve a recasting of lower-level partial truths more
consistent with higher-level existence. Suppose that
an aid worker from the World Health Organization is
trying to convince villagers in a poor country to boil their
water prior to drinking it. The aid worker will not be
convincing in explaining the germ theory of disease if
the villagers cannot transcend their beliefs that demons,
for example, cause illness. The villagers must detach and
transcend these beliefs in order to accept the scientific
explanation.
The aid worker may be more successful in the
short-term in preventing illness by converting the reason
for boiling water into their existing worldview. She may
ask the local medicine man to tell the villagers that boiling
water can protect the food from being manipulated by
demons. This is an example of inclusion. A more successful
outcome is achieved by including a healthier mythical
view more consistent with the rational view. Here demons
are merely a symbol for germs without denying that there
might by some partial truth in the notion that there are
other-worldly causes, or at least causes not fully known to
the rational view of illness.
Wilber (2000c, p. 66) has written that changes
in a holon can involve translation (changes in the
horizontal dimension), transformation (changes in the
International Journal of Transpersonal Studies 11
vertical dimension), and transcription (the relationship
between translation and transformation). The previous
germ example can be considered as translation, at least
for the mythic-level target group. Yet, the translation
requires intentional investment of the health worker to
include the lower views in a more effective treatment
program, a descending development for the collective
relationship between the health worker and the local
community. Instead, that health worker could have spent
that investment on reading a cutting-edge article on the
mechanisms by which germs infect their host organisms.
This investment may do nothing to achieve the stated
aims of improving health in the mythic-level community,
even though it might lead to higher-order cognition in the
medical learning line for the worker, a relatively ascending
development. So this example serves to illustrate how
vertical investments can have both ascending and
descending qualities.
An argument with added significance, one
regarding transformation can be made for the need
to differentiate ascending and descending currents of
development. According to Beck and Cowan (1996), and
Wilber (2000d), the stage of vision-logic (numbered 6 in
Figure 1) is the first one associated with the ability to fully
recognize and honor the role of all stages that preceded its
own stage. This is what Wilber implied when he wrote that
the highly integrative capacity of vision-logic supports
an equally integrated selfan integration of the mind
and body (2000a, p. 174) and that second-tier integral
awareness understands the nested hierarchy of growth.
(2000d, p. 26) This also implies a unique ability of
integral-stage holons (relative to First-Tier holons at stages
1 through 5) to more deeply include its lower levels than
previous stages have. It will be shown, for example, that
the integral stage 6 can more deeply include and integrate
the rational stage (4) than the relativistic stage (5) typically
has. That is, deeper inclusion appears to be a separable
aspect, to some extent, of the evolutionary process that
does not proceed automatically along with transcendence
in equal measure with each transformation.
Wilber has repeatedly summarized the
evolutionary process to a higher stage as transcend and
include, as in Tenet 5, without exploring differing degrees
of inclusion (all of the lower is in the higher, but not
all of the higher is in the lower Wilber, 2000c, p. 59).
His use of the phrase, transcend and include, refers to a
more general description such as, in any developmental
or growth sequence, as a more encompassing stage or
holon emerges, it includes the capacities and patterns and
12 International Journal of Transpersonal Studies
functions of the previous stage (i.e., of the previous holons),
and then adds its own unique (and more encompassing)
capacities (Wilber, 2000c, p. 28; italics in original).
To demonstrate the need for the drive of deeper
inclusion, this section examines the work of Daniel
OConnor (2008), who contributed to a dynamic
understanding of holarchical development with his
integration into the AQAL model organizational action
strategies, first researched by Argyris and Schon (1978).
OConnor theorized that these strategies vary by
developmental level of the organization. Examination
of these strategies will support the contention that
development through First-Tier stages displays less
inclusion of the lower levels than is present with a Second-
Tier embrace. The implication is that vertical development
can vary in its relative emphasis on positive ascending or
positive descending development, where transcendence
and deeper inclusion are the complementary and dual,
positive vertical dynamic drives.
According to OConnor (2008), the scientific
achievement or the rational stage (number 4 in Figure 1)
employs the rational action strategy. This strategy defines
goals and ways to achieve them, minimizes negative
feelings, uses reason, and tries to win. Problems associated
with rational strategies include the marginalization
of certain groups, emotional experiences, and the
environment. These problems become the life conditions
that encourage further development to the next stage.
At this next relativistic stage (Figure 1, number
5) the organization recognizes the inherent problems that
emerge with an unrestrained rational-driven holon. The
relativistic stage adopts the reverse of the rational strategy.
Although it adds the emergent capacity to take more
perspectives, the relativistic culture does not fully include
its immediate, previous stage, but rather develops a strategy
to overcome its limitations. The relativistic action strategy is
to allow the participation of everyone in defining purpose
and of expressing feelings, and it desires everyone to win
while suppressing the intellect. Suppressing the intellect
indicates the lack of full inclusion of the previous level.
This helps overcome the marginalization that occurs at
the rational stage, but the potential benefits of the rational
stage are not fully included. This postmodern strategy of
suppressing the intellect can be a sincere effort to overcome
the failures of the rational worldview.
For Wilber, a lack of inclusion of a lower
capability is seen as unhealthy or pathological, which
restricts further development such as in his discussion
of dominator hierarchies and actualization hierarchies,
Bowman
where the latter are ones that function to maximize
the organisms potentials (Wilber, 2000c, p. 31). On
the previous page he writes, if higher levels can exert
influence over the lower levels, they can also overdominate
or even repress and alienate the lower levels. For him, the
pathological versions of any given stage are in contrast to
the healthy versions of the same level that do fully include
lower capabilities.
Nevertheless, we see the typical, not necessarily
pathological, relativistic stage as less intensive in the use
of reason compared to its previous stage consistent with
Hegels dialectic of progress. If the rational or modern
strategy is the thesis, the relativistic or postmodern strategy
is the antithesis (as OConnor also sees it), then, it is argued
here, there is not typically a balanced transcendence
and inclusion from the rational to the relativistic stage.
Rather, the relativistic stage tends to include just certain
core capacities, while rational capacities are not fully
included and transformed. Only at the integral stage (at
least for the way these structures have emerged thus far
according to the studies of them) do we see agents that are
capable of integrating the pre-rational levels of being with
the rational intellect in higher mental reasoning called
vision logic. This integration can be seen in the integral
action strategy (of agents at stage 6). The integral action
strategy works for valid information, free and informed
choice, and commitment to the choice with monitoring
of its implementation to detect and correct error. Reason
is integrated without marginalizing lower levels. This
implies, for example, that the integral stage better includes
the conventional and pre-conventional stages than does
the rational stage (so the argument does not rely solely
on comparisons between stages 4 and 5). It also implies
that the integral stage includes the rational stage better
than does the pluralistic stage. Therefore, we see that the
integral age can be the synthesis to modernitys thesis and
postmodernitys antithesis.
To summarize, in order for a higher level to emerge
there must be a transcendence of the limitations of the lower
level or levels with the emergence of a new capacity. For
this to occur, there does need to be a minimum inclusion
of at least the core capacities (or certain partial truths) of
the lower. Greater vertical integration and differentiation
is only possible with inclusion as well as transcendence
according to Wilber himself, in Tenet 5. Nevertheless, we
need to differentiate transcendence from inclusion carefully
given that we have established the need for a dialectical,
dynamic process in which differing relative intensities of
drives by direction exist.
Holonic Development
Situating vertical drives in the AQAL model.
Transcendence, as the positive ascending drive, can be
represented by growth in the height of the pyramid rising
from the four-quadrant base. Horizontal development at
any given level is a wider (East-West) and horizontally
deeper (North-South) pyramid at that level. Deeper
inclusion, as the positive descending drive, can be shown
by the flattening of the slope of the pyramid to include
more of a wider and horizontally deeper lower level, such
as the base of this pyramid: a flatter slope with given
height represents greater inclusion, and a steeper slope
with given height indicates less inclusion.
Balanced development in this model of holarch
ical development can then be represented geometrically
as a three-dimensional pyramid growing in volume with
expanding geometric height, width, and (horizontal)
depth. The smaller three-dimensional pyramid in
Figure 5 exists in the three spatial dimensions of width,
(horizontal) depth and height. Width is the East-West
or interior-exterior dimension; horizontal depth is the
North-South or individual-collective dimension; and
height is the higher-lower or senior-junior dimension.
In the case of the Tier-1 holons discussed above,
where there is incomplete inclusion of earlier levels, the
dormant or fragmented aspects of a lower level, such as
the base, can be represented as not being built upon or
included by the higher levels of the pyramid and separate
from those aspects at the lower level that are included.
With this approach, two positive and interrelated,
polar vertical drives can be represented graphically within
the AQAL model. As with the horizontal drives, the
exercise of systematically mapping the vertical drives onto
the AQAL model requires several modifications. In this
case, re-specifying Wilbers vertical holonic drives entails
somewhat larger changes than that required for adapting
the horizontal drives: the positive drive of self-transcendence
becomes understood as two complementary positive drives,
one positive ascending drive (transcendence), and one
positive descending drive (deeper inclusion); the negative
drive of self-dissolution is replaced by a corresponding
pair of negative drives (submission and repression), as will
be discussed below. The terms of self-transformation and
self-dissolution are then reassigned as describing results of
drives (more and less overall development, respectively).
The resulting array of vertical drives seems more fully
developed, allowing for a reasonably coherent fit of these
drives onto the AQAL graphic.
The negative vertical drives. One way of
describing imbalances between the ascending and
International Journal of Transpersonal Studies 13
descending, according to Wilber (2000c, p. 330), is over
identification with the other world or this world. In one
way, we can think of the negative ascending drive as
attributing past change or need for change as too much
from this world or toward the other world. This
attributes too much to evolution or transcendence and
can be referred to as an ascending bias. Meanwhile, the
negative descending drive can attribute development too
much from the other world or towards this world. It
attributes too much to involution or inclusion and can be
described as a descending bias.
Consider the emergence of three-dimensional
perspective in art. This was the result of a cognitive
development in evolution that allowed for the ability to see
in three dimensions and to be able to represent it on a two-
dimension surface. A third dimension pre-existed from
involution, or perhaps less controversially, from at least
the time of the Big Bang. It would be a descending bias
to assert that at the time that these drawings appeared,
the third dimension itself came into being. No, it was not
a contemporaneous descension of the third dimensional
reality that suddenly allowed for the advance in art. This
sort of descending bias is consistent with some New-
Age descriptions of an emerging era, which they might
characterize as a higher-dimensional reality descending
into our world. But the emergence of three-dimensional
perspective in art was an evolutionary (ascending)
development of cognition that allowed for a pre-existing
dimension to be recognized. Only in that sense, that the
pre-existing potential to operate from a third-dimensional
perspective became actualized, did that third-dimensional
reality descend into living organisms. Three dimensions

Figure 5. Balanced holonic development involves horizontal and vertical drives

The holonic
drive of
transcendence UL N UR

The holonic
drive of
deeper inclusion
W E

The holo n i c
drives of
horizontal
development

LL S LR
In balanced holonic development, the smaller pyramid develops uniformly in all directions, becom-
ing a larger pyramid of the same proportions. This involves balanced horizontal development in all
quadrants (solid black arrows) and balanced vertical development (grey arrows). Positive ascending
vertical development (transcendence) raises the height of the peak of the pyramid, representing the
emergence of new capacities; positive descending vertical development (deeper inclusion) involves
growth in the planes between the peak and the expanding base, implying the associated, top-down
aspects of development between multiple levels.

14 International Journal of Transpersonal Studies Bowman

were made more understandable and more fully
experienced to the human with this development.
On the other hand, evolutionary biologists
who attribute the emergence of new species entirely to
random mutations have an ascending bias if the new
species owes any of its emergence to the potential of
a more complex, higher developed species given by
involution or the Big Bang. This view of involutionary
potential for higher-level capacities is congruent with
an evolutionary version of perennial philosophy, where
perennial philosophy, in its ancient, non-evolutionary
form, was well formulated in the third-century work of
Plotinus who theorized interconnected, ordered levels
of being reaching ultimately to an indescribable, but
experientially accessible oneness or unity consciousness,
which is also the ground of all being the source from
which all manifestations arise (Wilber 2000c, pp. 343-
345). According to Tenet 12 listed in the appendix, this
involutionary potential acts as a metaphorical magnet
that pulls evolution through higher levels of development
if progress is relatively balanced.
Submission, negative ascension, does not accept
that the holon can reach a higher level of awareness
within itself. It acts as if its impulses are the highest
attainable, that its ego, for example, cannot be taken
up within a grander version of itself. This can preclude
higher aspirations to help drive it higher. In another or
complementary version of submission, the holon submits
to a higher power without letting go of its own limitations
or undergoing the work needed to be within, feel, think,
or experience a transcendent awareness. The use of
submission here should not be confused with a positive
ascending use of term elsewhere. For instance, submission
to the understanding that there exists higher potentials
that we have not yet experienced is a powerful, positive,
ascending-oriented conception. Rather, in the negative
ascending sense, higher levels can be overwhelmed by
lower impulses such as when a relatively lower need to
be right acts arrogantly for attention and does not allow
for movement towards higher understanding that would
be fostered by a relatively higher need to get it right.
In this case, the lower drive self-submits that it is the
highest expression available to the holons this-worldly
potential, or claims that it deserves inordinate attention.
Repression, negative descension, denies the lowers
basic structure, its partial truths (whether in its existing
less deeply inclusive form or in its potential deeper
form). When a church denies that its patrons can have a
personal relationship with God without translation from
the clergy who alone are presented as potentially God-
like, those patrons are repressed. When one believes that
the lower-level, physiological sex drive must be sacrificed
forever for continued development - even though sex
may be used to express higher union, or for a connection
between opposing polar energies - that drive is repressed.
When a totalitarian regime (the relatively higher level
of the social hierarchy) attempts to stifle free speech of
the media (the lower level of the social hierarchy), the
capabilities of its citizens to question its leaders are
repressed. Table 2 summarizes the drives associated with
the vertical, senior-junior duality.
Holonic drives associated with
the internal-external duality
In the AQAL model, another important
duality is internal-external, not to be confused with the
interior-exterior. Wilber (2010, Excerpt C) specified that
internal simply means that which is an ingredient or
constitutive element in any holon (in any quadrant)
that is, something is internal to a holon if it is following
the agency of that holon (and it is external to the holon if
it is not). He further noted thatanother way of saying
this is that the internal/external axis is simply the axis of
development that is envelopment (or enfoldment). Cells
enfold, include, or envelop molecules in their makeup

Table 2. The vertical duality and its corresponding drives

Higher-Lower Higher Pole Lower Pole

(Senior-Junior Axis)
Neutral Ascension Descension
Positive Transcendence Deeper Inclusion
Negative Submission Repression

Holonic Development International Journal of Transpersonal Studies 15

(so that molecules are internal to the cell); likewise,
molecules enfold or envelop atoms in their makeup.
Atoms that are not taken up in a molecule are external
to that molecule, as in all nitrogen atoms are external to
a water molecule (which is made up of one oxygen and
two hydrogen atoms). So the internal-external duality
differs from the interior-exterior one, which contrasts
realms of inner consciousness or mutual understanding
with that of outer bodies or material artifacts.
Following Whitehead, Wilber considers the
highest level of the holon to be acting as the leader of the
holon. For individual holons, this leadership location,
from which internal subholons take their cues, is referred
to as the dominant monad (Wilber, 2006, p. 145).
Collective holons, on the other hand, have a regnant-nexus
(analogous but different from the individuals dominant
monad) that guides the behavior of the members, such
as rules, customs, and directives of the leader or leaders
(Wilber, 2010, Excerpt C). Only the intersections of
the co-members are internal to the collective holon. For
example, the laws and norms of the community guide
the intersections of the members who are internal to the
community when they follow them, not when they do
not obey them. A subholon is internal to the dominant
monad or regent nexus of a holon whenever it is following
the agency of the holon. Again, internal should not be
confused with interior. Both the interior (such as ones
intentions) and the exterior (such as ones behaviors) can
be internal to the individual holon.
There are also dynamic drives related to the
internal-external duality if actions can result in a new
internal or external aspect of a holon. Internalization

Figure 6. Holonic drives of internalization and externalization

positive negative positive negative

externalization externalization internalization internalization

UL N UR

EXTERNALIZATION INTERNALIZATION

W E

LL S LR
Externalization is the drive to the outside of the holon; positive externalization moves the external
boundary farther out, representing growth (gray arrow on left); negative externalization moves
material outside of the external boundary, representing devolution, which decreases the
pyramids volume in some way (black arrow on left). Internalization is the drive toward the
internal area of the holon; positive internalization adds to the internal space of the holon, thus
expanding its surface dimensions (gray arrow on right); negative internalization brings in aspects
that diminish the internal space of the holon, thus reducing its volume (black arrow on right).

16 International Journal of Transpersonal Studies Bowman

is introduced here as a neutral drive in or towards the
agency of the holon (becoming internal to the holon) and
externalization is the corresponding drive away from the
agency of the holon (becoming external to the holon).
Here internalization and externalization are considered
to be horizontal drives which can each have positive and
negative versions. The positive versions can simply be
called positive internalization and positive externalization
and the negative versions negative internalization and
negative externalization. When the education of worker
A makes worker B more productive and higher paid, As
acquisition and use of education is positive internalization
for B. When a firm pollutes a river, this is negative
internalization for the town downstream that must spend
more to filter its drinking water, which it gets from the
river. The cost, associated with cleaning the river borne by
other townspeople, is externalized by the firm since the
firm is not forced to filter the water.
An enforced tax on the firm for polluting will
induce the firm to consider the costs of pollution in its
decisions. It will lead to less pollution when the cost of
reducing pollution is less than the savings from fewer tax
liabilities from not polluting as much. The taxation that
leads to less pollution, but more tax revenue, is negative
internalization for the firm (in strictly monetary terms) and
positive externalization for the downstream town. There is
a net benefit to society when the costs of reducing pollution
are less than the societal benefits of cleaner water, which
comes from forcing the firm to internalize the pollution.
If so, the tax policy is, on net, a positive internalization
for society as a whole. Dynamic benefits could be larger if
the firm is better at developing technologies to reduce the
cost of eliminating pollution at the source than is the town
downstream.
One can also think of releasing limiting thoughts
or the destruction of a virus by antibodies as positive
externalization. The loss of awareness by not maintaining
insights from a peak experience, or a regression to a more
limited view, are examples of negative externalization.
Schematically, the division between internal and external is
represented by the surface of the pyramid. Internalization
can be thought of as the drive towards the pyramid.
Since larger volume in the pyramid represents greater
development, positive internalization should increase the
volume of the pyramid and negative internalization should
decrease it. The opposite is true for externalization. (It is the
drive away from the pyramid where positive externalization
inflates and negative externalization deflates the pyramid).
The internal-external duality and its corresponding drives
are illustrated in Fig. 6 and summarized in Table 3; all of
the dualities and drives are summarized in Table 4, along
with an example or two of each.
The Relation Between
Vertical and Horizontal Development
and an Application of Deeper Inclusion
to the Ecological Crisis
W ith the differentiation of the vertical drives, one
can now better see why horizontal drives are called
horizontal, rather than vertical drives that happen to be
positioned in a particular quadrant. Horizontal development
can occur with relatively greater transcendence or deeper
inclusion. The centauric culture can deeply include
traditional agents once it is influential enough to establish
new conventions such that care for the environment is a
new conventional moral code. Prior to influencing the
overall culture, a family unit with parents centered at the
integral stage will work to create a centauric culture for
the immediate family. Traditional agents (whether adults
within the broader collective or children in the family unit)
can happily follow (societys or the familys) conventions
without transformation to a higher stage beyond traditional
if it helps them satisfy their correlative-level belongingness
needs. Yet there can be greater communion at the traditional
stage not just for traditional agents with deeper inclusion

Table 3. The internal-external duality and its corresponding drives

Internal-External Internal Pole External Pole

(Boundary of Pyramid)
Neutral Internalization Externalization
Positive Positive Internalization Positive Externalization
Negative Negative Internalization Negative Externalization

Holonic Development International Journal of Transpersonal Studies 17

 Table 4. Examples of holarchical drives

Individual-Collective Duality
Individual Pole Collective Pole
POSITIVE DRIVES
Autonomy Communion
Honoring individual choice; respecting the Contributing to social value; learning the
individual perspective for its partial truth language of the collective
NEGATIVE DRIVES
Dissociation Indiscrimination
Alienation from the collective; not honoring Accepting all individual choices as equally
or understanding the individual perspective wise
Interior-Exterior Duality
Interior Pole Exterior Pole
POSITIVE DRIVES
Reception Transmission
Reading a book that expands ones Putting into writing a brilliant idea
understanding
NEGATIVE DRIVES
Introversion Extroversion
Over-identifying with the interior, such as Over-identifying with the exterior, such
believing the New Age idea that one can as maintaining that thoughts are only a
change their entire reality by recognizing product of chemicals in the brain, so one
the exterior world as illusory has little power to change them through
conscious intention
Higher-Lower Duality
Higher Pole (Senior Pole) Lower Pole (Junior Pole)
POSITIVE DRIVES
Transcendence Deeper Inclusion
Releasing attachment to the literal notion Enjoying healthier eating so that the lower
that demons cause illness in order to be more hunger drive is satisfied along with a
open to the germ theory of disease; emergence rational understanding of how food affects
of a higher capacity the human system
NEGATIVE DRIVES
Submission Repression
Denying the ability to attain higher aware- Denying greater potentials of the lower,
ness with integrative transformative prac- such as believing that one must abstain
tice (rather than thinking it is only through from sex in order to transcend its lower
death or by a miracle that one can go higher) expressions
Internal-External Duality
Internal Pole External Pole
POSITIVE DRIVES
Positive Internalization Positive Externalization
For society, taxing gasoline to make drivers Releasing limiting thoughts; the destruction
bear the cost of pollution of a virus by antibodies
NEGATIVE DRIVES
Negative Internalization Negative Externalization
The absorption of pollution by an innocent The loss of awareness from a peak experience
bystander that is not maintained

18 International Journal of Transpersonal Studies Bowman

by the centauric culture. These conventions help to satisfy
the belongingness needs potentially of all agents at or above
the traditional stage and help agents at these different levels
better commune with each other. Potentially this can open
them up for greater understanding in other areas given this
common link. An alternative is for conventional agents to
satisfy their belongingness needs within a dogmatic church
that may not help them care for the environment while
relativistic agents satisfy their belongingness needs by
joining other relativistic agents in a rally to support care for
the environment while simultaneously mocking religion.
In this case there is much less horizontal communion at
the traditional level.
The intentional promotion of new, environ
mentally-friendly moral codes serves as an example of
a relatively descendent change from the integral stage to
the traditional stage that promoted a partial, theoretical
solution to a current problem. But the proposition that
traditional agents would then be contributing to the
solution is a horizontal development at the traditional or
conventional stage. Integral agents can be much more
influential by aligning the needs of lower levels while
trying to solve pressing problems of the day. A relatively
ascendant strategy would be to work for larger numbers to
develop up to the relativistic stage in which agents tend to
care for the environment. Increasing span at that relatively
high level would begin to change societys conventions
because, eventually, the majority would be centered
there. That is a relatively ascendant change that results
in horizontal development at the traditional stage, since
societal conventions would also favor healthy treatment
of the environment, but by relative dominance not by
persuasion. Neither the ascendant nor descendent change
must imply the other.
Wilber (2000c, p. 242) has written that formal
operational is the first stage that is capable of having an
ecological awareness, an awareness that becomes greater at
the next stage. In this authors reading, the implication for
Wilber seems to be that further development of individuals
to higher stages is needed to solve the ecological crisis so
that they can make the necessary changes individually
and in society, a relatively ascendant approach as has been
previously argued. Granted, promoting investment in the
development of people to achieve higher awareness is a
proposal with great merit, but this is a partial remedy at
best. We may not have enough time for only that strategy
considering the rapid industrialization with appalling
pollution of China and India and the consensus in the
scientific community that the window of opportunity
Holonic Development
to solve the problem is disturbingly narrow.4 Solutions
to the problem exist if politically agreement could be
found to enact them. Solutions include taxes on pollution
(to encourage cleaner consumption and production),
subsidizing investment into the production of alternative
fuels (to make them cost effective in their development and
use), campaign finance reform to diminish the power of
special interests that, in part, prevent collective responses
to social problems with free rider issues (the free rider
problem is evoked in the statement, why privately pay for
environmental cleanup if we benefit very little and just as
much when some other person pays the same amount),
and so on.
Educating the public of these issues must be done
in a way that converts relativistic-level drives into practical
ones that do not bring about the defenses of rational
and traditional agents. These three stages of traditional,
rational, and relativistic make up a large majority of adults
in the developed world according to rough estimates cited
by Wilber. In order to stably operate from the integral
stage, agents must reconcile their lower selves (physical,
emotional, and rational). Analogously, investments can
be directed to build a centauric culture that reconciles
behaviors of agents centered at lower levels as well. This is a
relatively deeper inclusive form of investment rather than,
for example, writing books about esoteric aspects of the
transpersonal domain which may have limited immediate
practical application, or even trying only to appeal to agents
at the late, relativistic stage, to foster a transformation to
integral within them.
More generally, integral observers should not
merely engage in transcendent endeavors while waiting for
a rise in consciousness of First-Tier agents in hopes that
these choices will change culture. Nor should integral-
level change agents work only to promote the elevation
of consciousness in First-Tier agents to higher levels.
No matter how small the number of agents at Second-
Tier, they should also work for a culture centered at the
centaur level, one that deeply includes First-Tier agents in
their more horizontally developed form at the level they
currently reside. So integral consciousness can leverage its
power in the wider collective by resonating with its own
individual, internal, subholonic lower levels as the integral
vision and embodiment uniquely can (relative to First-Tier
consciousness) and then convert that experience into ideas
and language that individuals centered at lower levels can
understand and act upon to help save us from ecological
collapse by aligning the incentives of people at differing
levels of values and needs.
International Journal of Transpersonal Studies 19
 For example, an integral political movement
could attempt to include the traditional-level, religious
right without turning off other groups. Spiritual leaders
like Michael Dowd (2008) are able to describe todays
challenges including environmental ones in spiritual
language that resonates with the healthier agents at the
conventional stage and in ways that do not marginalize
other religious traditions. In this way the concept of
deeper inclusion encourages cultural transformation to
embrace lower stages for a more powerful application of
Wilbers important Prime Directive - to work for healthier
expressions of agents at whatever level they reside (Wilber,
2000d, p. 56).
Of course the environmental platform I suggest
would appeal to the relativistic stage as well. Appealing
to rational agents, however, requires solutions to these
problems with smart, targeted tax and subsidies, without
greater intrusion than necessary into what the private
market does well such as innovation, once incentives are
properly aligned, that confers a competitive advantage,
and bringing those with knowledge of needs and abilities
together. When relativistic agents deconstruct capitalism
and modernity without including their contributions, a
way forward is missing. We must harness the power of
firms, inventors, universities, governments, and so on,
through a wiser steering of the rational achievement drive,
not by denying that drive as the relativistic drive tends to
do. The force of these arguments is hard to deny and made
more politically plausible as long as lower-level agents
needs are being met. Again, belongingness according
to Wilber (2000b, p. 212) is the traditional-level need,
while self-esteem is the rational stage need. As long as
traditional agents and their values can be horizontally
transformed as Dowd works for, they will be made to
belong in the centauric culture. As long as agents and firms
centered at the rational level are transformed horizontally
by appropriate taxes, subsidies, norms, etcetera, their
self-esteem needs can still be satisfied while contributing
solutions to the pressing needs of today. If so, this will help
satisfy the self-actualization needs of integral agents that
helped direct the deeply inclusive centauric culture.
This section has described a relatively deeply
inclusive approach that also makes use of transmission
into the exterior-collective relative to what, at least, comes
across as Wilbers interior and transcendent approach
(of integral transformative practice to encourage further
consciousness development of individuals, for example).
Both approaches should be promoted by the integral
community. Bowman (in press) analyzed the political-
20 International Journal of Transpersonal Studies
economic decision making process of our present system
using the integral approach and provided a more detailed
proposal for what integral change agents can work for, in
general, for better political-economic policies, including
those that are environmentally responsible.
How an Expanded View of Holonic Drives in the
AQAL Model Helps to Answer Critics
W ilbers AQAL model has been validly criticized
on a number of points, four of which will be
addressed here. First, it has been noted the static domains
of the four quadrants do not appear to offer a sufficiently
dynamic model of development. Second, Wilbers analysis
of holonic development tends to reflect an ascending
bias. Third, his approach is excessively masculine and
hierarchical, giving insufficient consideration for feminine
models of growth and development. Fourth, the AQAL
model fails to hold sufficient respect for indigenous ways.
However, the addition of the holonic drives to the AQAL
model, including the adaptations required to effect this
modification, appear to offer at least partial solutions to
these deficiencies.
Adding Dynamic Processes to the AQAL Model
In Transforming Voyage, Collins (2004) has
claimed that AQAL is a static model and does not lend itself
to dynamic modeling of reality. It is true that the formal
aspects of AQAL are primarily static in their current four-
quadrant, many-level form. Edwards (2008) analyzed
meta-theorizing along with his meta-analysis of the field
of organizational transformation, and established that all
main components of Ken Wilbers AQAL model are found
across that discipline; conversely, only a small number of
features from the organizational transformation literature
are not included in AQAL. Edwards recommended the
inclusion of stakeholders and some dynamic processes.
OConnors (2008) integration of action strategies into
AQAL can be seen as a step toward these goals, one that
improves upon the dynamics of AQAL. In addition, the
integration of a field of horizontal and vertical holonic
drives into the AQAL model, as proposed by this paper,
helps to formalize the multi-directional and dialectical
nature of dynamic developmental processes relative to the
four-quadrant rubric.
Bowman (2008) has created a mathematical,
dynamic version of AQAL using techniques from economic
growth modeling. An important result of this model is
its prediction that as existing needs are met, new higher
needs tends to emerge, requiring investment to develop
ones capabilities up to the higher level that is necessary
in order to provide for the correlative needs. Bowman (in
Bowman
press) has begun to work with multiple stakeholder groups
(firms, voters, politicians, and environmental groups) by
level (pre-conventional, traditional, rational, relativistic,
and integral), and by type (conservative, liberal and
radical) in order to better analyze the actions of multiple
agents that influence economic public policymaking.
Correcting for Ascending Bias in the AQAL Model
Washburn (1998) has argued that the model is
too linear and that the importance of higher levels is over
emphasized, at least with respect to what depth psychology
refers to as dynamic potentials (a term that includes
bodily sensing, bioinstinctuality, embodied affect, and
autosymbolic process; Washburn, 2003). Washburns
implication of ascending bias in Wilbers structural-
hierarchical model is different from Wilbers use of it;
Wilber has employed it to refer to an overemphasis on the
other world, as described earlier in this paper. This analysis
agrees that Wilber overly attributes greater development
to the emergence of higher capacities (later emergents in
the developmental sequence) than he does to complete
inclusion of, or more significant use of, earlier capacities.
Compared to his less formal writing on development,
Wilbers formal vertical drives of Tenet 2 are even more
starkly biased in the favor of ascending development.
There is an ascending vertical drive of self-transcendence
and a descending, negative drive of self-dissolution. Self-
transcendence, the ascending drive, is the only vertical
drive with a positive connotation; this necessarily creates
an ascending bias. Yet even beyond his formal dynamic
specifications, it has been argued here that the general
view of Wilbers as it stands at phase-5 is one that is overly
linear and ascendant where there is no exploration of what
has been described in this paper as deeper inclusion.
Yet, by allowing for differing relative intensities
of development that correlate with various developmental
stages, Washburns point can be honored and his criticism
answered. For example, the relatively higher integral stage
of development (and a post-personal stage) needs to include
a deeper essence of lower levels than the personal stage does.
Rather than rational-stage minimization of emotions that
were once more active at previous levels, for example, the
integral stage can better integrate emotions with instinct,
reason and other aspects of being. The earlier analysis of
action strategies has shown that vertical transformations
contain both ascending and descending aspects where
those aspects can vary in their relative intensity. Although
this paper has accommodated Washburns critique, it has
done so by retaining the necessary contribution of Wilbers
structural-heirarchical view of development. This view has
Holonic Development
allowed Wilber to show that the field of transpersonal
psychology was vulnerable to a version of Wilbers (2000c,
p. 210-213) pre/trans fallacy in which too much of pre-
rational experience was elevated as post-rational spiritual
experience, what Wilber calls elevationism. Nevertheless,
the user of a model that assumes each successive
transformation is vertically balanced will over diagnose
as elevationsism arguments by others, for instance, that
the egoic level of development and the rational, modern
worldview needs to reintegrate lost aspects of previous
stages in order to enter transpersonal realms of individual
and collective development.
For another example of deeper inclusion, suppose
a rational person knows how to eat healthily, but chooses
to eat unhealthy foods to satisfy his or her bodily tastes.
Deeper inclusion would permit the lining up of the bodily
tastes to conform to the rational knowledge of a healthy
diet. That person could begin to enjoy eating more healthily
while starting to cultivate healthier tastes. Hunger is a lower
drive associated with the physical body, but there can be a
transformation in the energy that drives hunger, perhaps
with the inclusion of this energy into a higher-ordered
energy. Alternatively, the health conscious individual could
choose to transcend to a rational diet while also repressing
the hunger drive and eating solely for health, not for the
satisfaction of hunger. In this case, to eat healthy implies
turning off aspects of, not transforming, the hunger
drive, and the hunger drive may unconsciously act on the
individual. Imagine an individual who mocks his roommate
for buying sugary cereal only to be found late at night eating
half of the boxed cereal himself (this anecdote is based on
the personal experience of the authors colleague).
Similarly, but in an example that may not imply
pathology or repression, one can abstain from sex, learn
to let sexual impulses arise but quickly pass in order to
focus ones thoughts on working to actualize a higher-
order connectedness with All-That-Is. Or one can choose
an alternative path with deeper inclusion when one works
to transform the sexual energy into sexual experiences
that are consistent with meaningful, deep connections
with another soul. This latter approach is consistent with
transcendence but is also deeply inclusive.
It may be that some aspects of development do
not develop through Wilbers version of transcendence
and inclusion in the way that basic structures subject to
his vertical descriptions do, such as cognitive development.
However, Wilber does not appear to confine his claims
about holonic dynamics to basic structures. At times
this paper does use the levels in their general sense
International Journal of Transpersonal Studies 21
to represent correlative stages through which various
lines develop, as Wilber also tends to do. This does not
undercut the present effort to refine the holonic drives,
for even if cognitive development were to develop strictly
with increases in ascending and descending development
in fixed proportions, how one uses cognitive ability can
be intentionally applied in various holonic directions,
including vertical ones; an example of this principle
was seen in the previously offered hypothetical of a
health worker who can choose either to explain hygienic
procedures to indigenous groups by framing them in
terms that reach downward to include mythic images, or
further advance his or her own rational understanding
of infection processes by reading technical literature.
Furthermore, a clear distinction between transcendence
and inclusion rather than treating them as proportionally
linked pairings is essential to test a hypothesis that
capacities do transform proportionally (with an emergent
capacity that fully includes earlier capacities) essentially as
one process in basic structural lines, but not in others.
Representing the Feminine
Wright (1998) has criticized Wilbers (1995)
ascending bias for its sexist overtones. Given that a case
has been made that Wilbers writing reflects an ascending
bias, and that Wilber (2000a, p. 232) associated ascending
movement with the masculine and descending movement
with the feminine, it can also be stated that Wilbers
approach also reflects a masculine bias. However, by
differentiating the ascending and descending drives and
recognizing that positive and negative drives exist in both
directions, the ascending bias can be eliminated and
Wrights critique answered, at least in part.
Honoring the Indigenous
Kremer (1998) has noted that the negative aspects of
development receive insufficient attention in the formal
specifications of AQAL, thus devaluing tribal and
traditional cultures in a manner that reflects the perspective
of a technological society. This paper acknowledges that
there are perspectives of lower stages such as those from
tribal and traditional cultures that can be better included,
without indiscriminately accepting their limiting
awareness, in a truly integral society. The formalization
of both positive and negative drives embedded into
the quadrants and levels, along with the allowance for
relatively greater degrees of transcendence versus deeper
inclusion, act as a check against this pro-development
bias. The resulting model, with its positive descending
dynamic, may also partially respond to Puhakkas (1998)
thought provoking call to play.
22 International Journal of Transpersonal Studies
Conclusion
T his paper contributes to a better recognition of healthy
or pathological expressions within the structures of
holons. This is done with a careful mapping of the drives
emanating in, towards, or through the quadrants and
levels of holons. The four drives from Wilbers Twenty
Tenets were mapped to the dualities in the AQAL model.
This mapping allowed unmatched AQAL dualities to
predict a full set of eight neutral drives. Wilbers analysis
of progress and regress suggested that positive and
negative versions of each drive were necessary.
The analysis of the ecological crisis demonstrated
the value of reconciling the ascending and descending
currents of vertical development. Deeper inclusion
(positive descending development) that can take the form
of aligning the incentives of each level towards a solution is
needed as much as positive ascending development, such
as encouraging the further development of individuals to
higher levels, levels historically associated with more care
for the environment.
It has been shown that an incomplete specifica
tion of drives can lead to overly restrictive applications
of the model by presenting an alternative view in which
holonic actions can differ in relative intensity of direction,
even in relatively healthy developments. This is not made
possible in the AQAL model if, nearly by definition, a
higher level must transcend and include and differentiate
and integrate the lower level while the lower level must
have balanced horizontal drives. Any imbalances, instead,
tend to be interpreted as pathological.
The resulting model of holarchical development
brings to mind interesting questions. For example, is it
possible that modernity can be described as having all of the
following: relatively greater transcendence than inclusion
(such as favoring reason and minimizing feelings), greater
differentiation than integration (as in the differentiation
and dissociation of the Big Three described in Wilber,
2000c, pp. 384-418), greater autonomy than communion
(as in the early atomistic approach to empirical science,
dominant theories such as the invisible hand and survival
of the fittest, and the emphasis on individual rights over
responsibilities), and greater transmission than reception
(with the collapse of the Kosmos to the exterior domain)?
Can the emergence of the modern, rational stage 4 in
the four quadrants of Figure 1 therefore be described as
relatively masculine in drive? Recall that Wilber links
the ascending and autonomy drives with the masculine
type. Recall also that Beck and Cowan (1996) consider
the rational stage to be individualistic. Are the masculine
Bowman
and feminine energies therefore polar opposites
encompassing each of these dualities? Can the relativistic
stage then be described as oscillatory movement towards
the opposing poles of all AQAL dualities - a feminine
drive (descendant and compassionate of marginalized
groups and the environment, communal and in touch
with interior feelings with emphasis on non-judgmental
interior understanding)? Does Second-Tier functioning
require unusual degrees of integration of masculine and
feminine in each of these dualities (consistent with a view
that attachment to distinct personality typologies lessen
at transpersonal levels)? These are questions for further
research.
Although I argue that the formal specification
of Wilbers integral model is biased as are some of his
applications of it, he has done more to bring a nondual
perspective to the major, important dualities of the
Kosmos. It is because of this accomplishment, because of
the significance of his work, and because the likelihood
that the models biases can have consequential effects, that
this paper sought to refine it. These biases or limitations
have not been presented as inherent problems with the
statics of the AQAL model, unlike others to whom
Wilber (2000c, pp. 469-477) legitimately responds, such
as those that hold to a strict Eco-Romanticism while
advocating a return to a lost paradise of old. And one
cannot necessarily expect Wilber to create a completely
consistent model with as large a leap he has made given
the scope of his impressive body of work.
Nonetheless, I hope that the linking of drives
to the AQAL spaces and the fuller specification of
holarchical drives contributes to a healthier exchange
between theorists who have important autonomous
points to transmit, but where opposing biases may prevent
reception and communion.
Notes
1. This is the December 2009 version resubmitted by
request to the International Journal of Transpersonal
Studies. The concepts in this paper were first presented
at the Association of Transpersonal Psychology Conference
in Palo Alto, CA in September 2006.
I would like to acknowledge my twin brother,
Craig W. Bowman, Ph.D. in East-West Psychology,
for his essential role in this endeavor by introducing
me, a Ph.D. economist by training, to the field of
transpersonal psychology, the work of Ken Wilber, and
the authors of critiques of the Wilber approach. The
Holonic Development
benefits of my immersion in Wilbers writings and of
other work in the field have been significantly enhanced
by my discussions with Craig. I am also thankful to
the editors of this journal, Harris Friedman, and in
particular, Glenn Hartelius, for their meaningful
support, patience, and guidance through the referee
process. Glenn has made considerable contributions
to the organization, tone, and clarity of the paper.
2. There are actually nineteen tenets counting the sub-
parts of each numbered tenet.
3. The arguments I make are dependent on the way
the terms are defined and applied, not on the labels
I, or others, decide to use. It is helpful, however, to
choose labels that closely correspond to how they are
generally used
4. Even if the path we are on does not predict with very
high probability ecological disaster, it is an outcome
with an enormous downside risk.
References
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learning: A theory of action perspective. Reading, PA:
Addison-Wesley.
Beck, D. E. and Cowan, C. (1996). Spiral dynamics:
Mastering values, leadership, and change. Malden,
MA: Blackwell.
Bowman, K. (2008). Integral neoclassical economic
growth. Journal of Integral Theory and Practice, 3(4):
17-38.
Bowman, K. (in press). Integral political economy.
Journal of Integral Theory and Practice.
Collins, P. Transforming Voyage. Retrieved October, 2004
from http://www.iol.ie/~peter/trans.htm
Dowd, M. (2008). Thank God for evolution. New York,
NY: Viking.
Edwards, M. (2008, August). Of elephants and
butterflies: An integral metatheory for organizational
transformation. Paper presented at the Integral
Theory Conference, Pleasant Hill, CA.
OConnor, D. (2008, August). Integral catallactics: An
integral reconstruction of market theory and practice.
Paper presented at the Integral Theory Conference,
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Kremer, J. W. (1998). The shadow of evolutionary
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Wilber in dialogue: Conversations with leading
transpersonal thinkers (pp. 237-258). Wheaton, IL:
Quest Books.
International Journal of Transpersonal Studies 23
McIntosh, S. (2007). Integral consciousness and the future
of evolution. St. Paul, MN: Paragon House.
Puhakka, K. (1998). Contemplating everything: Wilbers
evolutionary theory in dialectical perspective. In D.
Rothberg & S. Kelly (Eds.), Ken Wilber in dialogue:
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283-304). Wheaton, IL: Quest Books.
Washburn, M. (1998). The pre/trans fallacy reconsidered.
In D. Rothberg & S. Kelly (Eds.), Ken Wilber in
dialogue: Conversations with leading transpersonal
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Washburn, M. (2003). Transpersonal dialogue. Journal of
Transpersonal Psychology, 35(1), 1-19.
Wilber, K. (1980). The atman project. Wheaton, IL: Quest
Books.
Wilber, K. (1983). Eye to eye. New York, NY: Doubleday.
Wilber, K. (1995). Sex, ecology, spirituality. Boston, MA:
Shambhala Publications, Inc.
Wilber, K. (1999a). Introduction to volume two. In K.
Wilber, The collected works of Ken Wilber, Vol. 2 (pp.
1-12). Boston, MA: Shambhala.
Wilber, K. (1999b). Introduction to volume three. In K.
Wilber, The collected works of Ken Wilber, Vol. 3 (pp.
1-20). Boston, MA: Shambhala.
Wilber, K. (2000a). A brief history of everything (Rev. ed.).
Boston, MA: Shambhala.
Wilber, K. (2000b). Integral psychology. Boston, MA:
Shambhala.
Wilber, K. (2000c). Sex, ecology, spirituality. (Rev. ed.).
Boston, MA: Shambhala.
Wilber, K. (2000d). A theory of everything. Boston, MA:
Shambhala.
Wilber, K. (2006). Integral spirituality. Boston, MA:
Integral Books.
Wilber, K. (2010). Kosmic karma and creativity. Boston,
MA: Shambhala. Retrieved July, 2004 from http://
wilber.shambhala.com was the first to include, in a mathematical model of
Wright, P. A. (1998). Gender Issues in Ken Wilbers
Transpersonal Theory. In D. Rothberg & S. Kelly
(Eds.), Ken Wilber in dialogue: Conversations with
leading transpersonal thinkers (pp. 207-236). Wheaton,
IL: Quest Books.
Appendix
The Original (Approximately) Twenty Tenets
(from Wilber, 2000c, chapter 2):
1. Reality as a whole is composed of holons.
2. Holons display four fundamental capacities or drives: a) self-
24 International Journal of Transpersonal Studies
preservation (autonomy), b) self-adaptation (communion),
c) self-transcendence, and d) self-dissolution.
3. Holons emerge.
4. Holons emerge holarchically.
5. Each emergent holon transcends and includes its
predecessor.
6. The lower sets the possibilities of the higher; the higher
sets the probabilities of the lower.
7. The number of levels in a holon comprises determines
its depth; and the number of holons on any given
level determines its span.
8. Each successive level of evolution produces greater
depth and less span.
9. Destroy any type of holon, and you will destroy all of
the holons above it and none of the holons below it.
10. Holarchies coevolve.
11. The micro is in relational exchange with the macro at
all levels of its depth (same level relational exchange)
12. Evolution has directionality: a) increasing complexity,
b) increasing differentiation/integration, c) increasing
organization/structuration, d) increasing relative
autonomy (increased capacity of the holon for
self-preservation in the midst of environmental
fluctuations, i.e., agency, e) increasing telos (the
end point, of the system tends to pull the holons
actualization, or development, in that direction).
About the Author
Kevin James Bowman, PhD, is Assistant Professor
of Economics at Augsburg College where he
teaches Economic Development, Intermediate
Macroeconomics, International Economics, and
Principles of Microeconomics. He is published in peer-
reviewed journals of three fields: economics, Integral
studies, and transpersonal psychology. His initial work
growth, Schumpeters three forces of technological
change: invention, innovation, and diffusion, which
helped explain some puzzles in the relationship between
economic growth and inequality. More recently he has
developed the first mathematical model for Integral
philosophy and the first Integral approach to economic
growth and political economy. Kevin can be contacted
at bowmank@augsburg.edu.
Bowman
 Paradigm Shift, Then and Now:
The Shakespearean Winters Tale and
Renewal Through the Feminine
Judy Schavrien
Institute of Transpersonal Psychology
Palo Alto, CA, USA

This paper explores postmodern and Shakespearean-baroque parallels in asking, Can we

make a New World? In Shakespeares case, paradigm shift was occurring willy-nillya New
World hoving into view, geographically, socio-politically, spiritually, and through a science
that shifted views of earth and heaven. This inquiry into The Winters Tale, in search of a
new coherence then and now, discovers that Shakespeare envisioned a rebalancing of hyper-
masculine internal and external life by way of the Feminine, both youthful and mature.
Portraying the tragic ruler at the center of his tale as part puer and part jealous tyrant, Shake-
speare established what is almost a case history, one that serves to type the Masculine that
lacks balance. He viewed the Feminine in vividly drawn characters, but also as archetypes; as
to the youthful and mature Feminine, he matched these respectivelyalthough not exclu-
sivelywith virtues of fertile natural renewal and compassionate advocacy of social justice.

C
ultures can run aground, find themselves then later George Villiers (made Earl of Buckingham
stranded in an unproductive winter. A culture in 1617)and through the greed of his courtiers and
can respond by evolving or careening. Here are subjects. The present inquiry instead examines the
comments on Shakespeares Jacobean age by a courtier destructive skew to the sexual and gender behaviors of
comparing the court of Elizabeth, a relatively solid, sober King Leontes in The Winters Tale (c. 1610-11). These
predecessor, with that of the newly ascended King James behaviors reflected imbalances in the Jacobean court, less
I. They are from a 1606 letter by Sir John Harington characteristic of Elizabeths court but re-introduced and
regarding a banquet for James brother-in-law: amplified by James. It is worth noting that in Jacobean
literature sexual chaos typified social chaosand it was
I have much marvalled at these strange pageantries,
a time of frequent syphilitic plagueespecially in the
and they do bring to my remembrance what passed
locale of that great social experiment, the comparatively
of this sort in our Queens days; of which I was
huge city of London. In turn, Jacobeans took social
sometime an humble presenter and assistant: but I
chaos as a sign that the cosmos was out of joint.
neer did see such lack of good order, discretion, and
Capra (1999) commented on present-day
sobriety, as I have now done. (Davies, 1959, p. 120
paradigms, one of them obsolete and the other
as cited in Hunt, 1995)
promising. In his book The Tao of Physics he linked the
Harington summarized, We are going on, heareabouts, needed shift in paradigm to gender as it plays out in
as if the devil was contriving every man should blow up both internal and external worlds:
himself, by wild riot, excess, and devastation of time
At present our attitude is too yangto use again
and temperance (p. 120).
Chinese phraseologytoo rational, male and
If this inquiry looked into a play such as
aggressive. Many[scientists] support a society
Shakespeares Timon of Athens (date uncertain, c.
which is still based on the mechanistic, fragmented
1607), it would focus on the relation between greed
world view, without seeing that science points
and disintegration. James was able, in a short decade,
beyond such a view, towards a oneness of the universe
to nearly bankrupt the royal treasury both through
which includes not only our natural environment
the combination of his spendthrift behaviormuch
but also our fellow human beingsThe survival
of it motivated by sexual passion for Robert Carr and
International
Renewal Journal
Through theofFeminine pp. 25-38 Journal of Transpersonal Studies 25
Transpersonal Studies, 28, 2009,International
 of our whole civilization may depend on whether
we can bring about such a change. It will depend,
ultimately, on our ability to adopt some of the yin
attitudes of Eastern mysticism; to experience the
wholeness of nature and the art of living with it in
harmony. (p. 307)
Capra added an afterword to his fourth edition, written a
quarter century after the first publication of the book, in
which he clarified that many worldwide crises are in fact
different facets of one single crisis, which is essentially
a crisis of perception (p. 325). He further specified that
a failing of the old paradigm is the belief that a society
in which the female is everywhere subsumed under the
male is one that is natural (p. 325).
There are resonances between the scenario at
Leontes court in The Winters Talethe plot of which will
be reviewed shortlyand that in the administration of
President Lyndon Baines Johnson (LBJ). Ellsberg (2002),
advisor to LBJ, gave the following critique of the circle
of counselors to the president, of which he himself was
a part. He acknowledged that they could have stopped
the Vietnam War in such a way as to prevent seven years
worth of death; he reproached himself for that. They
were Kennedys brain trust people inherited by Johnson;
his own degree was from Harvard. Why did he wait so
long to blow the whistle on a war everyone knew could
not be won, including, according to Ellsberg, Johnson
himself? I put personal loyalty to the president (and to
my career, my access to inside information and influence,
however I idealized my purposes) above all else (p. x).1
Ellsberg said that he and other insiders were badgered
by their wives and children, wives apparently willing to
act against narrow self-interest: Stop the war, stop the
war. They shut out this advice. At the end of a speech
on this topic, the interviewer asked Ellsberg the final
give us the low-down question (oral communication,
Commonwealth Club, San Francisco, October 28, 2002).
He obliged. What was the single most important reason
no one vociferously objected? They were afraid to be
viewed as queer. I substitute, in this paraphrase, a gentler
word, but deliver accurately the gist. In short, their fear
could not be divorced from contempt for the effeminate
and the Feminine. A bellicose society subordinates the
Feminine both externally and internally.
Comparisons of Leontes court with the
later Nixon White House or the neo-conservative
administration of George W. Bush might be equally apt.
For example, the Bush administration seemed to agree
26 International Journal of Transpersonal Studies
fully with an underlying neo-conservative premise: The
world is a jungle and brute force must persuade when
sheer superiority of worldview (as they would have it)
fails to do so. Lakoff (2004), in his book Dont Think of
an Elephant, assigned to this conservative sensibility the
strong father ethic, one in which females and what
are commonly taken to be feminine values are decisively
subordinated.
Before reviewing the plot of The Winters Tale,
one should take note of the religious and socio-cultural
context for Shakespeares late plays. These plays were
written at a time when reports were coming back from
the English colonizing of Virginia and from other
travels across the Atlantic. The Tempest (c. 1611) shows
quite directly that Shakespeare was contemplating a
New World. The Winters Tale (c. 1610-1611), which is
the focus of this inquiry, portrays even more explicitly
a shift in paradigm on every levelpsychological,
religious, socio-cultural, metaphysical, and, seemingly,
cosmic.
The context for Shakespeares late writing
matters a good deal. There were promising aspects of his
contemporary world, as there are promising aspects of
the richness of our present day global society, so diverse
and so actively interconnected:
In the opening years of the century, there occurred
a moment of convergence. Church and State, in the
Anglican settlement and Stuart monarchy; courtly
and popular; the traditional ethos of the countryside
and the critical alertness of the capital citythese
for that moment, came together to a degree far
greater than they, or their equivalents, ever achieved
in any other time. (Cruttwell, 1970, p. 249)
Shakespeare wrote at a watershed moment: an age
of discovery, when a new cosmology and empirical
method were in ascendency, when the Renaissance
had taken hold (Schavrien, 2009). There was a sense
of loss at this moment as well: Philosophically, the
medieval Great Chain of Being was collapsing and, in
actual fact, the pope no longer dominated the church
hierarchy in England. There were replacements: the new
cosmological knowledge; the king as sovereign over the
Church of England; the vernacular Bible, published in
1611 due to James efforts, opening a direct conduit to
God. But the new orders were by no means as stable or
reassuring as the old. Likewise the merchant class was
interpenetrating the aristocratic class and vice versa at a
disconcerting rate. So much was in flux.
Schavrien
 Addressing the spiritual tensions, Shakespeares
ecumenical compassion encompassed Greek and
Roman pagan sensibilities, but also medieval views
from chivalric to those of miracle/mystery/morality
plays. Into this mix Shakespeare added contemporary
folk paganismstill alive and well in this Jacobean
Age but soon to be gutted by the Puritan Revolution
(Cruttwell, 1970, p. 254)and the relatively suppressed
Catholic religion (in England at least) alongside the
relatively new (1536) Anglican one. All these cohabit
side by side in his late plays. He retraces the past, but at
the same time his Prospero in The Tempest reaches the
Bermudas by proxy, sending Ariel there to fetch some
dew (Shakespeare, 1611/1980a, 1.2.230). Shakespeare
thus did more than retrospect; he surveyed prospects
for a New World (Schavrien, 2009).
Beginnings and Endings:
Utopia, Arcadia, Paradise Lost and Found,
and the End of Times
T o track internal shifts that parallel or even catalyze
external paradigm shifts, it helps to keep watch for
archetypal energies and events. Jung called archetypes
that attach, not to a figure, but rather to a place or
happening, transformative archetypes. Beginnings
and endings often have such an archetypal dimension:
Liminal moments such as these characterize scenarios
not just in Shakespeares external cultural world but also
inside the plays themselves. Here is where examination
with a Jungian lens brings matters into focus. The lens
applies usefully not just to liminal moments but also
to gender. In the analysis to come of The Winters Tale,
one witnesses a king in a pitched battle with Anima,
the largely unconscious Feminine aspect of the male.
He exiles the Feminine, then reincorporates it into
pantheon, realm, and self; the reincorporation moves
all these toward healing and wholeness.
But archetype also illumines various other ways
we humans have of refreshing our vision and restoring
our hope. The plays mine archetypal liminal moments
and places, ones that escape the usual structure of
society and occur in the interstices, those at-the-edge
moments and places. Characters arrive at islands they
perceive as utopias (Marshall, 1991, pp. 107-117; Ryan,
2003, pp. 27-53), happen upon Arcadia (cf. the home
of Perdita, shepherdess and hijacked princess, in The
Winters Tale), find themselves in a paradise (cf. Florizel
who wants to watch eternally Perditas wave-like dance,
forever in motion, forever the same [Shakespeare, 1610-
1611/1980b, 4.4.141-143]); the paradise is, of course,
Renewal Through the Feminine
soon lost and must be found again. The plays are thus
full of archetypal beginnings and the mindstates that
revert repeatedly to such beginnings, full of hope all
the while.
The late play characters, often in their final
scenes, also arrive at an eschatological moment; they
meet with collective eschatologies implicit or explicit as
many threads are gathered in a last scene and things
are set right in a fashion that goes beyond social, that
is cosmic as well; the wished-for end of times arrives
(Marshall, 1991, p. xiii). Shakespeares baroque
sensibility, with its songs of innocence and experience,
is rife with moments that are beginnings, endings,
beginnings which threaten to be endings, and endings
which transmute into beginnings.
The following remarks on Late Style apply to
Shakespeare, who wrote in a late personal style and
a late-in-era style as well. As with postmodern styles,
these are styles of post-innocence. They have their way
of accommodating discontinuity. McMullan (2007)
surveyed and summed up prevailing views on late
work:
[The] role of late work [is] a return to something
earlier, even to something frankly primitive, along
perhaps with a tendency towards typology or, more
intrusively, mythopoeia . There isa broad and
radical perspective, that of an artistic achievement
which sweeps both back to the distant past and
forward to a perhaps equally distant futureoffering
a glimpse of a future that is always paradoxically a
past. (p. 44)
The Personal is Political and Cosmic Too
A lthough the latter half of this inquiry puts much
emphasis on political and socio-cultural landscapes,
the introductory gambit in exploring The Winters Tale
is deeply psychological. It presents a kind of case history
of a man almost inexplicably seized with a jealousy so
intense that it is wildly destructive to self, family, and
realm, seeming to put even the cosmos out of joint.
As the inquiry expands in search of healing for all
concerned, themes resurface with which a postmodern
may resonate. What is distinctly Christian baroque in
the drama is the opening emphasis on Original Sin.
But what is universal is the challenge of dealing with
fractures within the human soul and psyche, and the
relation between these and the consequent fracturing in
external worlds. Understanding the relation makes way
for a solution.
International Journal of Transpersonal Studies 27
 The Winters Tale and
Renewal Through the Feminine
I n The Winters Tale, Shakespeare portrayed a young
fresh feminine character, eloquent and intelligent.
This is Perdita, daughter to the King. In her frank
sensuality directed toward the one man she has chosen,
and excellently chosen, she suggests a partial solution
for renewing the species. The solution entails the new-
fangled, in Shakespeares time, art of grafting: Such a
grafting, between her and a truly good prince, would
benefit from the freshness of her vision and the robust
fecundity of her young body, which had known only the
life of the country rather than that of the court. About
this, more later. To the exploration of the young Feminine
can be added one of the mature Feminine, which in a
different way makes possible a renewed, perhaps even
redeemed, species and therefore a New World. The
two characters who represent the mature Feminine,
Hermione the Queen and Paulina the counselor, speak
truth to power; they also exercise exemplary receptivity
and agency in the fulfilling of providential design.
One may fairly ask Can such a creature as
we are make a New World? In what manner? In what
context? In the course of the drama that deals with
this question, the Feminine is thrown into exile at the
hands of the criminally foolish King, Leontes, and then
reintegrated in such a way that the family, court, realm,
and even pantheon are renewed.
Plot Review
Eden Before the Fall
As the play opens there is a kind of Eden in
the Sicilian Court of Leontes. All the kings subjects
have great hope in the male heir. At the same time
the King and Queen are flourishing and have enjoyed
a heartwarming nine months together with Leontes
best friend and ally from Bohemia, King Polixenes. The
sheer innocence of it all is well expressed when Polixenes
describes the childhood companionship between him
and Leontes, of which this present visit is an extension:
We were as twinned lambs that did frisk i the sun
And bleat the one at th other. What we changed
Was innocence for innocence
...Had we pursued that life,
And our weak spirits neer been higher reared
With stronger blood, we should have answered No? Well at least the whole world points and laughs at
heaven
Boldly Not guilty, the imposition cleared
Hereditary ours. (Shakespeare, 1610-1611/1980b, 1.2. 67-75)
28 International Journal of Transpersonal Studies
In the banter that follows between him and Leontes
wife, Hermione, he admits to implying that women
caused whatever trouble ensued in their lives, from
Original Sin until now. When pressed, however, he and
Leontes seem to concede that their own sexual appetite
(the dagger they were admonished as boys to keep
muzzled [1.2.156]) might have led them astray as well.
Nevertheless what the court audience, and the theater
audience, witnesses at present are only a flourishing
three-way friendship and a thriving court. The exchange
is simply warm and witty banter.
Leontes Jealousy:
How the World Turns Topsy-Turvy
In a breathtakingly short time, however,
Leontes finds himself playing the snake to his own
Eden, imagining it is his wife and friend who do the
damage. In his self-deluding mind, they are betraying
him and the child in her belly belongs to Polixenes.
Why does Leontes gratuitously poison this sweet three-
way alliance? There is an element of opacity about
the motivation; as with a baroque black shadow, the
obfuscation at times prevails and should do so. On the
one hand the jealousy starts up suddenly out of nowhere,
makes no sense, is wantonly self-and-other destructive.
Still there are occasional glints of light that play in the
shadow, varying motivations that propose themselves.
Jealousy of the relation between wife and best friend is
certainly there; it seems to be a jealousy that goes both
ways, hetero- and homoerotic. Coloring the energies,
the jealousy seems to carry along with it the days of
youth, the present pre-pubescent youth of his son, who
participates in the scene, and the youthful times with
Polixenesas if not just wife and friend but father and
mother were frustrating his desires. (The accompanying
visuals: Hermione on the stage is, as her attendants
have remarked, also appearing heavily pregnant at this
moment when jealousy seizes Leontes). Somehow, if
Leontes cannot prevail upon his best friend to further
prolong the nine-month stay, as he attempts to do
and if his wife, to his crestfallen dismay, outdoes him
in prevailinghe will solace himself with declaring
treachery all around. He seizes control: He will be the
worlds greatest cuckold and its greatest avenger (Grene,
1967, pp. 74-75). It is as if he says, Bow down to me?
me. And I will show you all.
His inference that his wife and best friend are
coupling is absurd to all who surround him and wish
him well. But he, because king, can insist on his version
Schavrien
of reality. And he is a king in imaginative and verbal
capacity as well. Is whispering nothing?/ Is leaning
cheek to cheek? Is meeting noses?/ Kissing with inside
lip? (Shakespeare, 1610-1611/1980b, 1.2.283-285).
The commanding catalogue of sexual details goes on
at considerable length. Why, then the world and all
thats in t is nothing,/ The covering sky is nothing,
Bohemia nothing,/ My wife is nothing, nor nothing
have these nothings,/ If this be nothing (1.2. 291-295).
Such nihilistic rantings he wishes upon his incredulous
good counselor, Camillo. Publicly, and to his wifes
humiliation, he forces on her as well the images by
which she may know feelingly what she has caused him
to suffer:
There may be in the cup
A spider steeped, and one may drink, depart,
And yet partake no venom, for his knowledge
Is not infected; but if one present
Th abhorred ingredient to his eye, make knowne
How he hath drunk, he cracks his gorge, his sides,
With violent hefts. I have drunk, and seen the
spider. (2.1.42-45)
These tormented and tormenting internal and
external rantings provide a prime example of a nadir
mindstate. The self-induced state, arising as if out of
nowhere, highlights jealousy as a mindstate, whereas
jealousy in Shakespeares play Othello had remained
fully enmeshed in circumstances of character and plot.
Portraying the jealousy simply as mindstateone
that might, for example, migrate to other courtiers
enhances the plays overall portrait of fragments and
fragmenting, internal and external. Even the fact that
there is a poetry here of mental spasms and seizures, so
well illustrated by the rhythms and images in the spider
quote above, reinforces this portrait. The mindstate
rises up like a boil. It poses a challenge: For a taint that
runs so deep that it seems, as Polixenes would have it,
hereditary, how does one devise an antidote?
The balance of sensibility is immediately
undone when Leontes surrenders to his jealousy.
Significantly, he argues in a manner hyper-rational and
hyper-legal as he attempts to persuade Camillo of the
lascivious slanders against his own wife and queen.
The actor Anthony Sher, in the Royal Shakespeare
Company production (1998/99), even ticked off on his
fingers various deductions and inductions he obviously
considered airtight. There is the first long catalogue of
perfidious sexual behaviors in the passage quoted above
Renewal Through the Feminine
(Is whispering nothing?/ Is leaning cheek to cheek?)
Then comes the airtight logical conclusion, Why then,
the world and all thats in t is nothing. He precedes
this catalogue, and the conclusion that he draws from
it, with remarks about proper cogitation:
Ha not you seen, Camillo,
But thats past doubt, you have, or your eye-glass
Is thicker than a cuckolds horn, or heard,
For to a vision so apparent rumour
Cannot be mute, or thought, for cogitation
Resides not in that man that does not think,
My wife is slippery? (Shakespeare, 1610-1611/
1980b, 1.2.266-272)
Unfortunately, when most in love with his own ruthless
powers of observation and argumentation, he is flirting
most energetically with upending his own mental
balance. He performs, move by move, this jiu-jitsu on
himself.
Having tried unsuccessfully to force his good
counselor to kill the best friendboth fleeLeontes
settles for visiting full punishment on his wife. He
advertises her as a slut throughout court and realm,
demanding that everyone share his disgust with her and
with the treacherous sexuality of the entire gender. In
some performances (e.g. Doran 1998/99), Leontes steps
forward to work his persuasions on the theater audience
as well:
And many a man there is, even at this present,
Now while I speak this, holds his wife by tharm,
That little thinks she has been sluicd in s absence,
And his pond fishd by his next neighbor, by
Sir Smile, his neighbor. (Shakespeare, 1610-1611/
1980b, 1.2.192-196)
The perturbation aroused in him by Hermiones very
pregnant state (Adelman, 2003) helps provoke such
graphic transports: The transports might be intensified
by a number of things or by a mixa jealous fear that
the womans unique faculty affords Hermione a special
advantage with his best friend, or else a longing to
retreat to the tender protection of the womb, or then
again a horrified conviction, as he maintains, that the
belly holds his best friends bastard.
Leontes sends for a judgment from Apollos
oracle. He is convinced that, unlike his recalcitrant
courtiers and especially one vocal and uniquely
unintimidated defender of the Queen, Paulina, the oracle
will confirm his imaginings. He has, however, already
International Journal of Transpersonal Studies 29
summoned his wife to court and worse, already put the
newborn daughter out to die by the time the oracular
scroll arrives from Delphi. It declares that Hermione is
chaste, Polixenes blamelessLeontes a jealous tyrant,
his innocent babe truly begotten, and the King shall
live without an heir if that which is lost be not found
(Shakespeare, 1610-1611/1980b, 3.2. 132-136).
This is a moment when all get another chance
to address the awful conundrum of why he should
overthrow his own sanity and infect his kingdom for
seemingly no good reason. To return to actor Anthony
Shers performance in the Royal Shakespeare production,
Sher parsed this moment quite perfectly. As the oracle
is pronounced, Leontes smiles slowly, with demonic
intensity, declaring, There is no truth at all in th oracle
(Shakespeare, 1610-1611/1980b, 3.2.140). This standoff
with the godshe seems to be discovering, in the very
instantis what he had wanted all along. His view of
reality is the only one, because he is king. He rules not as
a divine delegate but as a divinity.
In this fascinating momentone which
probably takes inflection from the claims to rule by
divine right and corresponding misbehavior of James
Iin a mystical striving so characteristic of the baroque
era, the ruler pretends to stretch for the farther reaches
of human nature, as Maslow (1971) would have it, but
in fact decks himself out in the faux divine.
To reiterate a primary thesis of this article: There
can be an orientation that is imbalanced in the masculine
direction, hyper-masculine, which skews perception. The
pursuit of a ruthless rationality can provide camouflage
for the pursuit of unbounded mastery. In the case of
Leontes, further evidence of the gender imbalance he seeks
are his persecutions which result in the seeming death of
his queen (who later returns in a resurrecting miracle)
and of his female heir. The one counselor, Paulinathe
only prominent female at courtwho attempts to rein
in his murderous tirades, he threatens to condemn as a
witch. This is a concerted effort to place the Feminine in
exile from his kingdom, as well as from his insides, his
own sensibility. It seems to have succeeded until the end
of the tragic opening gambit, at which time he realizes
his folly, and turns Paulina into his mother confessor,
very much in charge of him; by then, however, he has
managed to cause the death of her husband, so she really
will come to resemble a nun. Outside as well as inside,
gender has gone out of balance.
The health of a gender-balanced sensibility
would be this: It attunes to natural cycles and to
30 International Journal of Transpersonal Studies
cosmic intention, accepting the Mystery rather than
solely pursuing the Mastery that belongs to a creatural
condition. Shakespeare appears to have advocated the
modifying of a hard-core rationalist/rationalizing and
authoritarian viewpoint (Leontes doth protest too much
that he is no tyrant [Shakespeare, 1610-1611/1980b,
2.3.122-124]) through the virtues of the Feminine.
In this particular drama, Shakespeare portrayed
a king who confuses the divine right of kings with
his own divinity.2 One can pause to draw a parallel,
observing the damage done to the United States and the
globe by the ambitions of what one might consider an
imperial presidency: that of George W. Bush. Abraham
Lincoln, though a war president, so rightly observed that
he worried less about whether God was on his side than
about whether he was on Gods side. That is the question
in point.
To return to the drama: A split-second later, a
messenger runs in to announce that Leontes son has
diedstruck to the quick with the wrongs done his
mother and the shame of it all. Hermione, who had been
ripped from her childbed to stand public trial, then drops
in seeming death from this last straw of sorrow. Leontes
repents instantly, hoping his wife has only fainted, but
thunderstruck by the loss of his dear son. He finally does
wake up.
The tale of Leontes court has turned out to be
what the young son had been telling his mother before
the mental plague broke out: A winters tale of a man
who lived by a graveyard, a tale of sprites and goblins.
At the end of the tragic acts, Sicilia and its shaken king
launch upon their 16-year-long, ghost-ridden winter.
A Fragile Pastoral World
Almost Topsy-Turvy
Next comes a fascinating transition, a moment
of passage brimful of danger and opportunity. From
such a light and shadow moment of disassembling,
can a broader, kinder reassembling occur? Leontes
courtier, Antigonus, instructed to strand the disavowed
royal daughter of Leontes in the wild, deposits her on
the shores of Bohemia, Polixenes kingdom. Thenin
accord with perhaps the most famous and absurdly
grotesque stage direction in Shakespeare, exit pursued
by a bear (Shakespeare, 1610-1611/1980b, 3.3. 57)
Antigonus dies eaten by that bear. A good old shepherd
finds the baby. But the shepherds son enters having
seen the bloody devouring and seen too a cosmos out of
joint, as a great storm swallows up the ship from Sicilia.
Now bless thyself says the old shepherd, thou mettst
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with things dying, I with things newborn (3.3.109-
110). Light and dark, paradox. All this might one day
be reconciled into a baroque concordia discors (Horace,
12th epistle, First Book of Epistles, c. 20 B.C.E.), a
harmonizing of the different, and even of opposites.
This will come, but not yet.
Next, Time as narrator instructs the audience
to leap over 16 years, moving from dark times to bright
ones. Suddenly it is a musical comedy world. A rogue,
Autolycus, sings songs of spring and his doxies that roll
him in the hay. This is Arcadia, a place for fun. The
daughter that had been rescued as infant by the old
shepherd, thinking herself a shepherdess not a princess,
hosts the local sheepshearing festival. She is costumed as
a nature goddess, Flora, and her suitor finds that divinity
becomes her; the kings son Florizel has chosen her for
life. Songs. Celebration. By happenstance, masquers
join the festivities, and their satyr dance amplifies the
straightforward sensuality of the rural celebrants to a
mythical level of raunch.
With good luck rather than badand the
thunderstorms lower often enoughthese different
worlds will move toward a reconciliation. The concordia
discors has in fact specific kinds of clashes to reconcile
from urbane religions to rural and raunchy ones, for
the kingdom must bring together, and will benefit from
joining, the elite and the folk. Vitality and refinement
call to each other, as surely as the shepherdess-princess,
Perdita, attracts her royal suitor.
Just as the texture of his speech traces Leontes
flirtation with insanity, so the discontinuities of texture
between the various worlds that juxtapose with each
other, from tragedy to musical comedy, reflect a cosmic
disequilibrium. Yet it is out of the reconciliation of these
forces that rebirth and redemption ultimately arise for
the king, and with him, for the realm. Shakespeares
late vision takes on a supremely challenging question:
Is the life of a person, or of a culture, or of the
cosmos as humans perceive it, continuous, such that
disruptions should be viewed as most unfortunate
and unpredictable interruptions? Or is the interrupted
life, at least interrupted from a human point of view,
precisely that which one can predict and to which all
must accommodate?
Shakespeares solution in The Winters Tale
moves by way of pastiche rather than continuous story
line and by way of paradox, which, in the worlds of
his late plays, is often more catalytic of change than a
seeming logical continuity.3 The solution (keeping in
Renewal Through the Feminine
mind that there is no manifesto here, but a complex
drama) also moves by way of natural cycle renewal,
which has its own predictability, circular not linear, life
arising from death as spring does from winter. Finally it
moves by the humanly inexplicable renewal that a new
cosmic testament can bring, a different cosmic design
than appeared to be at work previously.4
One thing is certain; nothing remains the same.
Polixenes, best friend of Leontes and his victim in the
Sicilian realm, now plays the tyrant in his own, much
resembling Leontes; he has arrived at the sheepshearing
festival in disguise; he bursts out in a foul-mouthed
rage, determined to thwart his sons plans to marry the
fresh piece of excellent witchcraft who must never
open her rural latches to the boy, or hoop him either, on
pain of death (Shakespeare, 1610-1611/1980b, 4.4.439-
443).
Close Calls, Miracles,
and Mindstates to Match
In the meantime there are forces at work to
help the couple; they speed the couples escape from
Polixenes realm back to that of the penitent Leontes,
who will be glad to host the son of his long lost friend.
But when Polixenes, giving chase, arrives in Sicilia and
reveals that the young woman is a shepherd and the
marriage forbidden, Leontes now wants to marry her
himself. The same Paulina who took Leontes in hand
after he no longer wanted to burn her as a witchstops
him cold; he must not marry this young woman. This is
a characteristic close callthreatening to introduce not
nature benevolent, but nature run amuck into incest.
Following this there is a discovery scene,
narrated in retrospect, revealing that Perdita is the
Sicilian princess, his own daughter, not a shepherdess.
The young-marriage subplot is back on track and
Leontes is rescued from incest. Paulina reconvenes
everyone in her own chapel. She has a surprise for
them. She has commissioned Julio Romano, a sculptor
all the rage, to make a replica of Hermione, the lost
wife. Romanos baroque accomplishments are trompe
loeuilalong the lines of painted grapes real enough
to eat. What is dream and what is reality? It is the
post-innocence baroque theme par excellence. But will
it be possible for the playwright to pair post-innocent
with post-tragic? Sixteen years earlier, Leontes was sure
that his dream was reality, until the oracle woke him
up. My life, Hermione had protested at that time,
defending her innocence, stands in the level of your
dreams (Shakespeare, 1610-1611/1980b, 3.2.80-81).
International Journal of Transpersonal Studies 31
If I am not right, Leontes had countered, the center
will not hold a schoolboys top (2.1.103-4).
Leontes had lived in a realityor rather a
reality-schemathat could be toppled in a minute. This
was not just a personal fact, but a socio-political and
even cosmic one as well. He knew that. His would-be
antidote was to take a stance as inflexible as any extremist
religious stance would be today. His stance asserted that
women could not be trusted, that the taint in the flesh
was primarily theirs, that he could legalistically reason
his way to a certainty that allowed for no competing or
coexisting alternative views, and that the gods would
prove to be on his side. He was a sexual ideologue. For
16 subsequent years of winter, however, he pursued an
inner reform and change.
Today, Leontes stands before an utterly life-like
statue of his long lost wife. Leontes falls into sad yet
ecstatic transportshe wants to kiss the statue, despite
the fact that she, disappointingly, has wrinkles. No no,
the paint is not dry on her lips, says Paulina. Everyone
gets progressively more still and attentive, morphing
from an astonished mood to one fully receptive,
body, heart, and spirit. Music plays to enhance the
atmosphere. Perdita, the daughter, wants to kneel to the
statueher long lost motherand ask for its blessing.
She excuses herself to all, pacifying with a disclaimer
those who might imagine she is sacrilegious. This
would be no superstition (i.e., reversion to Catholic
icons and a papist preference for kissing them, despite
Sicilys [read Englands] advance beyond such things.
Yes, Leontes Sicilian court is supposedly pagan Greek,
but the story is quickly morphing here into a different
religious universe. This back-and-forth about sacrilege
is significant because Shakespeare is preparing the
audience to ecumenically embrace Catholic along
with Anglican sensibility and bypass accusations of
papist superstition). Likewise Paulina, the mistress of
ceremonies, says she has more magic to dobut not
bad magic. With her good magic, however, Paulina can
only succeed if everyone, as she instructs the onstage
and theater audience, shows a willingness to exercise
faith.
Then gradually the statue comes awake, moves,
steps down forgivingly to embrace Leontesmercy and
forgiveness all around. She turns to the daughter with
words of welcome and recognition. Spring has returned
to the Leontine winterto the marriage, family, and
realm. All is now aligned with the cosmos as well. How
should one view this crucial new alignment?
32 International Journal of Transpersonal Studies
Renewals and Resolutions
Renewal Through Natural Cycle:
Grafting and the Green World Girl
You see, sweet maid, we marry/ A gentler scion
to the wildest stock,/ And make conceive a bark of
baser kind/ By bud of nobler race (Shakespeare, 1610-
1611/1980b, 4.4. 92-95). In dialogue with Perdita, the
disguised Polixenes, Leontes persecuted best friend and
Bohemian king, advocates grafting in a way that would,
by analogy, bless the marriage of this seeming shepherdess
and his son the prince.
Paradoxically enough, he is dead set against
such a marriage; but this contradiction is typical of the
late play world. If someone like Capra (2004) looked at
these Shakespearean paradigm shifts, he might reference
chaos and complexity theory and a seeming quantum
leap rather than the onward-and-upward continuity of
a natural selection paradigm. Paradigm shift by way of
quantum leap often characterizes the dynamic in the late
plays. There are repeated discontinuities along the lines
of paradoxes and unintended consequences. There is the
central paradox of a woman brought up as a shepherdess,
who will unite with a true-hearted but seemingly feckless
prince, willing to risk his inheritance, so as to give birth
to a new and better monarch and reign. He will do this
all unawares, living only for his present-day love. Again,
an explanation of this shift would benefit from allowance
for some chaos, whether chaos as understood in common
parlance or chaos as new paradigm theorists use it,
existing in fact in the context of an ultimately determined
outcome. With luck, then, these unions of discordant
worlds will issue in a shift toward the concordia discors of a
New World.
To return to the debate between the young
shepherdess and the aging, angry king, Perdita, likewise
siding against her own best interests, rejects grafting as
unnatural. In the end, Perdita turns out to be sufficiently
royal and the grafting proceeds in any case, with Polixenes
blessing. Had she not emerged, to her own surprise and his,
as a princess, she would have countered his later tirades:
I was about to speak and tell him plainly/ The selfsame
sun that shines upon his court/ Hides not his visage from
our cottage (Shakespeare, 1610-1611/1980b, 4.4. 45-
47). But this democratic outburst need not and does not
prevail. Throughout the late plays, the matching up of a
girl from (what Northrop Frye [1971] first identified as)
the Green World, who then turns out to be noble as well,
with that rare creature, the good courtier, brings hope
for refreshment and renewal to a jaded court world and
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hope for reintegration of the common people in the new
assemblage.
Renewal Through Providential Intervention
In The Winters Tale providential design asserts
itself not just by way of oracles, or of dreams that designate
on which shore the courtier should strand the infant, but
by stranger means than these and in less solemn, quirkier
tones. The providential hand materializes in the grotesque
bear chase that ties up loose ends from the court tragedy.
It materializes as well in the rogue Autolycus helpful
aid to the lovers; Autolycus confides to the audience
that he means only to do ill and get rich but, despite his
best worst intentions, he has proven helpful. His shrug is
philosophical; it is a world of unintended consequences.
The audience, by contrast, gradually gathers that a
providential divinity with a dark sense of humor may be
turning all to the good.
Hermione too contributes to this portrait
of providence. There are details proffered by onstage
witnesses that facilitate a naturalistic interpretation of
Hermiones seeming rebirth from stone; maybe Paulina,
with her mysterious trips during these 16 years, was feeding
Hermione. Nevertheless, Shakespeares intended effect on
the audience, both internal to the play and external, is to
introduce the presence of Mystery: As the statue warms
into flesh, it is a moment of sheer redemptive miracle.
The Royal Shakespeare Company, and director
Greg Doran (1998/99), gave backing to the interpretation
that Hermione acts as a merciful, miraculous intercessor
(Vanita, 2000, p. 1), ending the 16-year purgatorial
suffering of Leontes, and therefore of his kingdom; she
is one who also officially welcomes fertile spring in the
person of her daughter back into the realm. Doran put the
star of the sea, the star of Mary, above the statues niche.
The Feminine in all its forms had been expelled from this
kingdom; she and Perdita bring it back, and, with it, bring
release and a kind of redemption.
The Return of the Mature Feminine
The Anglican replacement of Catholic
ascendancy in England had been accompanied by a severe
diminishment in the role Mary played in the religion.
Edward, son of Henry VIII, presided over removal of
Mary icons from their niches, whitewashing of Marian
scenes on church walls, and shrinking of her role in the
liturgy. She certainly lost any grandeur that distinguished
her from a merely faithful human. During Elizabeths
reign, the Queen could stand in for the Blessed Virgin.
But a few years after her death, in the Jacobean times
of the late plays, those who had prayed to her were now
Renewal Through the Feminine
feeling the absence of Mary (Vanita, 2000, p. 2). Some
from the grandparent generation or earlier, for instance,
had spirited off or bought the icons when they were tossed
during Edwards purges and were probably using them in
secret.
Shakespeare would not get jailed for re-
importing Catholic elements. James I was a reconciler of
the Churches when possible, hoping to make tolerance
prevail in his kingdom and also to prevent what would
soon become the religiously-colored Thirty Years War on
the continent. James would most likely even tolerate the
feminine religious elementas it concerned the Blessed
Mother. But what James had done, rather like Leontes, was
to expel real live women from his literal presence and the
Feminine from his social and theological comprehension
of how the cosmos cohered (Crawford, 1999, pp. 357-381);
the one exception was his personal cultivation of a great
expertise on witches. He eventually sent or released his
wife, Anne of Denmark, to another palace, while his court
grew homosocial, in great contrast to Elizabeths court,
and, as some complained, brazenly rather than discreetly
homosexual (Perry, 2000, pp. 1054-1058). James lavished
funds disastrously on his male minions, Robert Carr and
then Villiers, Duke of Buckingham, nearly bankrupting
the country within a decade of his ascension.
A playwright like Fletcher (1797/1979) flattered
James and the hyper-masculine orientation at his court in
his play Bonduca, which created a convenient revisionist
history (Crawford, 1999, pp. 357-381; Fletcher, 1979,
pp. 149-259): Fletcher implied that Bonduca/Boadicea,
(and Queen Elizabeth by implication, for she was much
identified with the Celtic heroine, legendary forestaller
of the Roman victory over Britain) was not a real
heroine but instead an uppity woman, an obstacle to
her hero of a brother. This reinterpretation would help
revert gender conception to a time before Elizabeth had
commanded great respectdespite refusing to play wife
and motherthrough sheer competence as political and
military ruler. Along similar lines, James now expressly
forbade production of Amazon masques, at least insofar
as they portrayed strong women; they had enjoyed great
popularity at Elizabeths court and had constituted one of
the favorite entertainments of his Queen Anne (Crawford,
1999, pp. 357-381).
Shakespeare is, in his own way, presenting a
restoration of gender-balanced sensibility and associating
that restoration with a life-saving paradigm shift. This
assertion bears not just on the personal case history of
Leontes. Relevant to this argument is a portrait, political,
International Journal of Transpersonal Studies 33
religious, and socio-cultural, of Jacobean times. These times
may well have sparked Shakespeares analysis; inflections
that can be discerned and tracked, from culture to drama
and back again, argue for such cross-influences.
Hermione as Mary as Brigid
Leontes wife, Hermione, then, is a Mary figure,
who not only brings redemption to couple, family, and
realm, but who reintegrates the mature Feminine into a
providential Christian pantheon. One may at least view
Hermione as a Marian intercessor and more-than-human
figure (even in Catholicism Marys status has alternated
between strictly human and more-than-human as recently
as Vatican II, which demoted her, and the subsequent Vox
Populi revolt against this demotion [Spretnak, 2004]).
As to the Royal Shakespeare Company production
(1998/99), the star of the sea, which director Doran used
over Hermiones niche, is the star not just of Mary but of
a Celtic pagan divinity, Brigid (Kate Wolf-Pizor, personal
communication, May, 2008). The star was co-opted for
Mary by Catholicism, just as local pagan divinities were
often co-opted by the Church for its roster of saints.
Whether or not Doran performed this pun wittingly,
it remains the case that, throughout his production, he
rightly captured a Shakespearean ecumenical spirituality:
Catholic, Protestant, Greek pagan, and traditional folk
pagan .
The following description by French (1981) fills
out the various contributions of the Feminine to the
Shakespearean array of forces. Chaste constancy swiftly
becomes the cornerstone, the pivot, the crucial element
in Shakespeares morality. It has this semi-divine nature
only in women because it symbolizes feminine qualities
of harmony, community, tolerance, moral flexibility
(within limits), pity, compassion, forgiveness, and loving
nutritiveness (p. 330). The qualities are then seen as
ultimate moral goods, what all humans really want, or
would if they were not blind. In Shakespeares division of
experience, however, men cannot be forced to revere these
things. The process of coming to recognize these goods is
a process of education in seeing (p. 330).
It is important to add to this portrait the political
strengths of three mature women in the late plays,
Hermione, Paulina, and Katherine. Katherine of Aragon,
not from The Winters Tale like the other two but from the
subsequent Henry VIII (c. 1612-1613), gives speeches that
are in some sense adaptations from Hermiones speech,
as if Shakespeare had a crucial idea he felt compelled to
revisit and rework. Both stand trial at the hands of their
sexually perturbed husbands without, due to their own
34 International Journal of Transpersonal Studies
foreign origins, proper protection, with almost no hope
of disproving the legal frame-upcarefully reasoned, of
coursewhich they can only counter with their candid
innocence. Both exhibit complete integrity, along with an
abiding and forgiving view of their husband and kingas
dear and honorable, in Hermiones case, or as literally a
delegate of divinity, in Katherines, though no substitute
for it; they in their turn speak truth, as Katherine says, i
the presence (Shakespeare, 1610-1611/1980b, 4.2.40).
I stick to Hermiones words because this inquiry
focuses on The Winters Tale. The reader will catch the tone
of her chaste constancy. As to the candid rebuke that
Katherine is willing to offer Henry VIII, in The Winters
Tale this is offered especially by Paulina to Leontes,
sometimes when no male courtier will make a peep,
perhaps because they have positions to protect; driven by
her cherishing of the Queen, she lambastes him. Hermione
herself speaks more gently: Adieu my lord./ I never
wished to see you sorry, now/ I trust I shall (Shakespeare,
1610-1611/1980b, 2.1.123-125). Here again is the Queens
dignified voice: You, my lord, best know,/ Who least will
seem to do so, my past life/ Hath been as continent, as
chaste, as true,/ As I am now unhappy (3.2.32-42). She
nevertheless wishes him no harm, in accord with all her
previous appeals to him. She punctuates her defeat: The
Emperor of Russia was my father./ O, that he were alive
and here beholding/ His daughters trial! That he did but
see/ The flatness of my misery, yet with eyes/ Of pity, not
revenge! (3.2.119-123).
Integration of the Anima
The redemptive rebalancing of Masculine with
Feminine happens not only externally but also internally.
There is the Jungian framework: These daughters and
sometimes these female counselors and wives, welcomed
back into the bosom of the ruler, can rebalance him
internally. In The Winters Tale, the preparation for this
may be seen in Leontes radically altered relation to
Paulina. After mercilessly ragging on Antigonus for being
henpecked by his wife Paulina, Leontes discovers that he
himself will benefit from hanging on Paulinas arm for 16
years to regain his sanity.
What should be added to this picture are two
substantiating passages. One is from The Winters Tale and
spoken by the counselor Camillo as a kind of diagnosis
of the illness. He describes Leontes as One/ Who in
rebellion with himself will have/All that are his so too
(Shakespeare, 1610-1611/1980b, 1.2.354-355). The second
passage is spoken by old Gonzalo at the conclusion of
The Tempest and, characteristically, sums up perhaps too
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neatly a path to self-actualization; nevertheless, we can
appreciate his review of the action and the implied moral
he draws from it. O rejoice, he says: In one voyage/ Did
Claribel her husband find at Tunis,/ And Ferdinand, her
brother, found a wife/ Where he himself was lost, Prospero
his dukedom/ In a poor isle and all of us ourselves/ When
no man was his own (5.1.208-215).
Although in this inquiry one can draw the dark
parallels between Jacobean times and our own, the bright
ones are also evident. Shakespeare reconciled seeming
irreconcilables in his late, Jacobean-era theater pieces; he
established an embracing context by way of his pluralistic,
ecumenical sensibility, a sensibility that is played out on
stage. What may seem like an equalizing of all versions
of truth such that each flies off in its own direction and
none prevails, may instead, when properly harmonized,
rearrange into an earth rich with diversity under an
ecumenically embracing sky.
How is this rearrangement brought about? A
primary element in the Shakespearean healing is the
revaluing of the Feminine. This includes a crucial revaluing
of a young female character, Perdita, showing that the
young Feminine brings renewal on multiple levels (Hunter,
2005)psychological, political, natural, and cosmic.
Shakespeare amplifies Perditas contribution by deploying
her in a mythopoetic manner: She is draped in images of
Proserpina, which is to say, Persephone. Healing is also
reflected in his use of the mature Feminine, an element
in this play that may be enriched and supplemented with
references to other late-play female characters.5
Both postmodern and Jacobean baroque
sensibilities seem, at first glance, to issue from socio-
cultural disarray and/or address it. However, it seems that
Shakespeare saw internal psychological disarray as a crucial
generator for social and cosmic disorder. There could be
no addressing the wider problems without first digging
deep into the problem of who humans are as individuals
and as a species. Can such a creature make a New World?
in what context? in what manner?
Fully digesting The Winters Tale may not be easy;
nevertheless it offers excellent fare, with its marvels and its
various despairs, despair over coherence or rather the lack
of it, with its wild pastiche of comic lights and tragic darks,
its flirtation with utter chaos, its doses of cosmic whimsy
that save the day. The Winters Tale in recent decades has
enjoyed productions that signal a revived assent to its
dislocating jumps; they are in stark contrast with the fixer-
upper versions it underwent during the Age of Reason.
This is perhaps because postmoderns can resonate to some
Renewal Through the Feminine
of the horrific and, on the other hand, comically absurd
almost kitschdiscontinuities in the play.
The play displays an ecumenical comfort with
many versions of the cosmos, from secular to Christian
to ancient and (Jacobean) contemporary pagan. Such an
ecumenical tolerance offered balm back then to a fractured
sensibility and society and could do so now. In sum, The
Winters Tale is not just deconstructive but reconstructive
as well. In that sense, it offers a step beyond postmodernist
skepticism, if the following description accurately captures
that skepticism: Where modernism asserts centering,
fusing, continuity once the break with tradition has
already occurredpostmodernism decanters, enframes,
discontinues, and fragments the prevalence of modern
ideals (Silverman, 1990, p. 5, as cited in Hunt, 1995).
But again, the baroque sensibility and its
art, though sitting in a wider arc of baroque theatrical
development from 1575 through 1725 (Norman,
2001), may be scanned not just for distress but for a
potential healing; this developed most emphatically for
Shakespearean works after the shift to James I in 1603.
The following section considers parallels and differences
between postmodern and baroque issues.
Worlds Juxtaposed and Superimposed:
A Tense Order
Traits in baroque theatrical art, which is
synergistic with other baroque visual and literary arts, are
these: There is a Counter-Reformation sensibility, that is,
the return of a Catholic sensibility accenting a sensuous
presentation of miracle and mystery (Norman, 2001,
pp. 2-3). There is repeated dislocation, disorientation,
discovery that what one took for reality is dream and what
one took for dream is reality. There are intersecting planes
of reality (Huddleston, 2001, pp. 15-17). For example,
the arrival and pronouncement of a damning Greek
oracle splinters the otherwise fairly secular court of King
Leontes in The Winters Tale; a masque of satyrs in the
ensuing sheepshearing festival on Arcadian shores seems
to translate a robustly sensual rural scene into a mythical
realm of raunch; in the finale of the play a statue in a niche
turns what was an art world into a miracle-mystery realm
as the Queen steps down, suddenly warm and alive, and,
like an intercessor divinity or at least a beyond-human
figure, dispenses forgiveness all around. Likewise, the
dark tragic opening world juxtaposes with the Arcadian
musical comedy world, which juxtaposes again with the
hushed chapel miracle-mystery world. In short, the cosmos
is ripped into seemingly disparate realms. The damning
oracle mentioned above, arriving from the Olympian
International Journal of Transpersonal Studies 35
Apollo, smashes apart the last semblance of coherence,
wrongheaded as it might be, in Leontes artifact of a court
world.
The plays present scenarios that are threatened
with disorder, even chaos, but the picture does then
reassemble into its prior form. Hierarchy is reconstituted
but tension remains, because one has glimpsed an abyss.
The maw of Leontes insanely misplaced jealousy yawns
to swallow everythinghimself, his family, his realm;
it seems even to throw the universe out of joint. Worlds
coincide, collide, superimpose, and rearrange. But blessed
hierarchythough viewed with less conviction in a
postlapsarian worldfinally reasserts itself. For characters
and audience there is, at the end, a smiling through the
tears.
One should add into the mix the literal political
context for a play like The Winters Tale, which centers on
a king so lacking in diplomacy that the court and realm
implode. One might regard the severe religious tensions,
which flared up into Civil War in England 26 years after
Shakespeares death in 1616, and the Thirty Years War
that began in 1618 and decimated the European continent,
as posing some parallel to the barely ordered tension that
prevails today. Shakespeare portrayed, in the reconciliatory
endings of The Tempest and The Winters Tale, a pluralistic
tolerance that accommodated differences. The remainder
of this inquiry looks not just to the Feminine but also to its
role in establishing an embracing and ecumenical tolerance
as central to the hope, then and now, for healing.
Translating Shakespeare for Our Times:
Future Research
I t is time to revisit questions posed earlier in this inquiry:
Can such a creature make a New World? If so, in what
context and in what manner?6 The New World this
creature might hope to establish cannot thrive without
a basic change of heart to motivate living together in a
peaceful polity. Paradigm shift needs to be not just external
but rooted in a basic shift in perception.
The postmodern human sensibility and context,
like Shakespeares, is widely diverse, internally and
externally, and best comprehended through a pluralistic
approach. An ecumenical embrace, a mutual appreciation
of differences, is required. Also, clearly, both Shakespeare
and we ourselves hope to see an urban world that comes
around, if belatedly, to harmonize with a rural one; we
must revive our respect for, and alignment with, the
rhythms and requirements of nature. The Shakespearean
recruitment of a Green World Girl like Perdita in The
Winters Tale to be a progenitor of a New World, with
36 International Journal of Transpersonal Studies
her fresh, instinctively refined sensibility and pure vision,
would persuade us to adopt a respect for the Feminine,
both as a gender and as an archetypal energy that spans
genders. This is an energy that aids in aligning with those
natural rhythms and powers which, when respected, bring
renewal and, when despised and defied, as in the current
denial of global warming by some groups, threaten to
bring disaster.
There is a psychological perspective on these
matters: Resistance to nature can link to a hyper-
masculine insistence on Mastery and therefore resistance
to things uncontrollable and unforeseeable. Such
resistance might profitably be transmuted into a more
androgynous appreciation of the Mystery of our human
context, with an accompanying tolerance for ambiguity,
contradiction, and paradox, for a concordia discors. It will
be important for us to tolerate unknowing long enough
to break through to something new; this should have
all the more poignant appeal as contemporary global
society faces an ecological, social, political, religious, and
economic landscape that shifts with bewildering rapidity
(Schavrien, 2009).
French (1981) examined Shakespearean male
protagonists who set themselves against the frightening
fluidity of their experience, and with this as backdrop
summarized the contrasting virtues of female characters
throughout the Shakespearean corpus. These virtues,
which the human species would do well to augment,
include harmony, community, tolerance, moral flexibility
(within limits), pity, compassion, forgiveness, and loving
nutritiveness (p. 330). She highlighted these virtues as the
necessary counterbalance to qualities, necessary and often
beneficent, that Shakespeare attributed to the masculine:
structures, permanencies, control, individualism (p.
339). She deplored the dualities and gender assignations
but considered it mandatory to spell out such divisions,
which are often enforced in too rigid a fashion, if they are
to be overcome.
Parenthetically, French (1981) noted the fact
that these supposedly feminine virtues apply to the
inlaw rather than the outlaw Feminine. Shakespearean
female characters, with the rare exception of someone
like Cleopatra, fall short of qualifying as benevolent
archetypes or as patterns of virtue if they display an
autonomous sexualityfor instance, one that fails to be
happily and submissively harnessed, in the end, to a single
man. But that theme must be left to a different study.
If Frenchs (1981) analysis seems an early one
in gender studies, perhaps this papers opening analyses
Schavrien
of present-day politics suggests the ongoing relevance of
her insights. In addition to augmenting the social virtues
which both French and Shakespeare highlighted, the
Feminine dearly needs to be reintegrated in the divine,
however one conceives of that cosmic dimension
immanent, transcendent, or both.
Relevant to the divine and the human relation to
it, is the quality that Paulina in The Winters Tale invokes:
faith (Schavrien, 2009). Even if one chooses no particular
divinity, it is possible to at least take a leap of faith, to
imagine that there exists a context more disposed to
support our best intentions than to thwart them. One
can choose to believe in a benevolent Something rather
than in Leontes Nothing.
Proceeding within these contexts and in this
manner it may be possible to make a New World. When
this end is pursued in a manner that dares to have faith,
and in the context of this good-willing cosmos, with its
riddling patterns of catastrophe and miracle, even such a
creature as we are, horrific and splendid, can do this. The
key to paradigm shift as a redemptive enterprise will be
the further investigation of and appreciation for renewal
through the Feminine.
Notes
1. Implied by this remark, or perhaps influencing it,
would be Hannah Arendts (1994) interpretation of
Eichmanns evil as a banal evil of careerism.
2. There is a portrait that Rubens made for and of James
I, ascending to heaven and greeted by angels, which
carefully details the drunkards nose on James and
his seeming befuddlement and disorientation as he
transports upward. (Rubens, Apotheosis of King
James I, 1636).
3. Recent paradigm shift theory no longer assumes
a smooth evolutionary continuity, as in a survival
of the fittest selection process. Shift theories now
accommodate a chaos and complexity dynamic
along with quantum leaps to new levelsnot just
continuity as native to a dynamic of change, but also
discontinuity (Capra, 2002, pp. 174-175).
4. In his penultimate collaborative play, Henry VIII,
Shakespeare even outdid his discontinuity texturing
in The Winters Tale. Elizabeth I arrives amidst
Henry VIIIs murderously persistent pursuit of a
male heir; she is, paradoxically, the heir he searches
for; furthermore, out of her prince of peace persona
will arise another would-be figure of peace, James; he
Renewal Through the Feminine
comes from her as the phoenix does from the ashes.
This birth lacks even the continuity of natural cycle;
it shares, with the resurrection of Queen Hermione
from stone, a miraculous texture.
5. Of course, any generalization regarding the Feminine
has been rightly called into question by many a
postmodern deconstructionist, social constructivist,
or member of a marginalized population struggling
to break free of stereotypes. In both postmodern
flux and Shakespeares baroque flux, an essentialized
Feminine either never existed at all or holds its shape
incontestably only in some world before or beyond
the one known to the senses.
6. Several of the passages that follow in this section
resemble passages in an article by Schavrien (2008),
listed in the references. Both articles were conceived
simultaneously; this one reinforces and sets in a
different context the conclusions of its sister article.
References
Adelman, J. (2003). Masculine authority and the
maternal body in The Winters Tale. In A. Thorne
(Ed.), Shakespeares romances (pp. 145-171). New
York, NY: Palgrave MacMillan
Arendt, H. (1994). Eichmann in Jerusalem: A report on
the banality of evil. New York, NY: Penguin Press.
Capra, F. (1999). The Tao of physics: An exploration of the
parallels between modern physics and eastern mysticism.
4th ed. Berkeley, CA: Shambala Publications.
Capra, F. (2002). The hidden connections: Integrating the
biological, cognitive, and social dimensions of life into
a science of sustainability. New York, NY: Doubleday
Books.
Crawford, J. (1999). Fletchers The Trials of Bonduca
and the anxieties of the masculine government of
James I [Electronic version]. Studies in English
Literature, 1500-1900, 39(2), 357-381. Available at
http://www.questia.com/read/5001267687
Cruttwell, P. (1970). The Shakespearean moment: And its
place in the poetry of the 17th century. New York, NY:
Columbia University Press.
Ellsberg, D. (2002). Secrets: A memoir of Vietnam and the
Pentagon Papers. New York, NY: Viking.
Fletcher, J. (1979). The tragedie of Bonduca. In Cyrus
Hoy (Ed.), The dramatic works in the Beaumont and
Fletcher canon (Vol. 4, pp. 149-259). Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press. (Original work
published 1797)
International Journal of Transpersonal Studies 37
French, M. (1981). Shakespeares division of experience.
New York, NY: Summit Books.
Frye, N. (1971). Anatomy of criticism: Four essays.
Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
Grene, D. (1967). Reality and the heroic pattern: Last plays
of Ibsen, Shakespeare, and Sophocles. IL: University of
Chicago Press.
Hunt, M. (1995). Elizabethan modernism, Jacobean
postmodernism: Schematizing stir in the drama
of Shakespeare and his contemporaries [Electronic
Version]. Papers on Language and Literature, 31(2),
115-144. Available at http://www.questia.com/
googleScholar.qst?docId=5001647659
Hunter, D. (2005). Miraculous daughters in Shakespeares
late romances. PsyArt: An Online Journal for the
Psychological Study of the Arts, Article 050820.
Retrieved February 2, 2008 from http://www.clas.ufl.
edu/ipsa/journal/2005_hunter03.shtml#hunter03
Lakoff, G. (2004). Dont think of an elephant: Know your
values and frame the debate--the essential guide for
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Marshall, C. (1991). Last things and last plays: Shakespearean
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Maslow, A. (1971). The farther reaches of human nature.
New York, NY: Viking.
McMullan, G. (2007). Shakespeare and the idea of
late writing: Authorship in the proximity of death.
Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
Norman, L. F. (2001). The theatrical baroque. In L. F.
Norman (Ed.), The theatrical baroque (pp. 1-13).
Chicago: The David and Alfred Smart Museum of
Art.
Perry, J. (2000). The politics of access and
representations of the sodomite king in early
modern England. Renaissance Quarterly, 53(4),
1054-1083. Available at http://www.questia.com/
PM.qst?a=o&d=5001175068#
Ryan, K. (2003). Shakespearean comedy and romance:
The utopian imagination. In A. Thorne (Ed.),
Shakespeares romances (pp. 27-53). New York, NY:
Palgrave MacMillan.
Schavrien, J. (2008). Shakespeares late style and renewal
through the Feminine: A full spectrum, all-quadrant
approach. Journal of Transpersonal Psychology, 40(2),
199-223.
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(Ed.), Shakespeare: The late romances. New York, NY:
Bantam Books. (Original work published c. 1611)
38 International Journal of Transpersonal Studies
Shakespeare, W. (1980b). The Winters Tale. In D. M.
Bevington (Ed.), Shakespeare: The late romances.
New York: Bantam Books. (Original work published
c. 1610-1611)
Shakespeare, with Director Greg Doran (1998/99). The
Winters Tale. On The Complete Edition, recorded at
the Barbicon Theatre, London. West Long Branch,
NJ: Kultur.
Sigu, V. (2001). The baroque pastorale, or the art of fragile
harmony. In L. F. Norman (Ed.), The theatrical
baroque (pp. 58-68). IL: University of Chicago.
Spretnak, C. (2004). Missing Mary: The Queen of Heaven
and her re-emergence in the modern church. New
York, NY: Palgrave MacMillan.
Updike, J. (2006, August 7). Late works: Writers and
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060807crat_atlarge
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About the Author
Judy Schavrien, PhD, MFT, is core faculty at the Institute
of Transpersonal Psychology and team-founder of the first
two degrees in the world in Womens Spirituality, MA
and PhD, at the California Institute of Integral Studies;
there she created and taught a groundbreaking course
in Feminist Transpersonal Psychology. She publishes on
late vision, which views life in the light of demise and
death, whether of an individual or an era, analyzing,
among other things, renewal through the feminine in
the late visions of Shakespeare, Sophocles, and Joyce.
Her work has appeared in the James Joyce Quarterly and
the Journal of Transpersonal Psychology, as well as in the
pages of this journal). These studies inform her book in
progress, Late Vision in Western Culture. Her previous
book, published by New Rivers Press, is entitled, What
Rhymes with Cancer? and was edited and translated from
the Dutch. Both her scholarly work and poetry appear in
anthologies. She has received 15 awards, mostly national
and international, as a scholar and in the arts (http://
judys.imagekind.com). These include most recently the
feminist Pioneer Award from the Association of Women
in Psychology. She can be contacted at: jschavrien@itp.
edu
Schavrien
 Reflections on Transpersonal Psychologys 40th Anniversary,
Ecopsychology, Transpersonal Science, and Psychedelics:
A Conversation Forum1
Mark A. Schroll
Rhine Research Center
Durham, NC, USA

Stanley Krippner Miles A. Vich

Saybrook Graduate School
San Francisco, CA, USA
James Fadiman
Institute of Transpersonal
Psychology
Palo Alto, CA, USA
Palo Alto, CA, USA
Valerie Mojeiko
Multidisciplinary Association
for Psychedelic Research
Santa Cruz, CA, USA
San Francisco, CA, USA

Recollections of humanistic and transpersonal psychologys origins morph into the

pros and cons of humanistic/transpersonal oriented schools developing APA accredited
clinical programs. This discussion dovetails with the question will ATP ever become an
APA division, raising an interesting alternative for those of us considering a career in
counseling: becoming a spiritual coach. Enter the issue of psychedelic therapy and the
Supreme Courts decision to allow ayahuasca as a sacrament by the Uniao Do Vegetal
Church, and the importance of why humanistic and transpersonal psychology need to
clearly map out the territories and sub-divisions of science and religion. Finally this
conversation raises a concern, that Maslows call for a trans-human psychology sought to
encourage creating what we now call ecopsychology.

T
his conversation forum took place on September
8, 2006, at the conference 100 Years of
Transpersonal Psychology, in Palo Alto, CA,
sponsored by the Association for Transpersonal Psychology
(ATP) and the Institute of Transpersonal Psychology (ITP).
Mark A. Schroll organized and served as the moderator
of this forum asking Miles Vich, James Fadiman, and
Stanley Krippner to reflect on transpersonal studies broad
spectrum of inquiry, with additional reflection by Valerie
Mojeiko on the current status of psychedelic studies. The
discussion begins with some reflections on early meetings
of humanistic and transpersonal psychologists in Anthony
Sutichs home in Palo Alto.
The Early History of Humanistic and Transpersonal
Psychology:
Reflections on Tony Sutichs Living Room
Miles Vich: . . . . with characteristic energy and
foresight he decided to write a documented account
Reflections
InternationalonJournal
Transpersonal Psychology
of Transpersonal
Studies, 28, 2009,International
of his involvement in humanistic and transpersonal
psychology. In June 1974 he formally began the
necessary research for this project and contracted
to write a dissertation on the subject as part of the
requirements for a doctoral program in psychology at
the Humanistic Psychology Institute in San Francisco.
I used to joke with Tony as we were working on this
project for a couple of years that he typically did things
the long way around. Instead of getting the usual
graduate degree somewhere, he waited a whole career-
lifetime, formed a couple of fields, helped get some
schools started, and then he got a degree from one of
them. He brought this project to a successful conclusion
when he completed his dissertation The Founding of
Humanistic and Transpersonal Psychology: A Personal
Account. He received his doctoral degree April 9,
1976, one day before he died; and the three of us [Jim
Fadiman, Stanley Krippner and I] were all there.
pp. 39-52 Journal of Transpersonal Studies 39
 It is difficult to adequately describe or char
acterize this remarkable man; nevertheless it is
necessary to recognize that thousands of individuals
and many institutions have been influenced directly or
indirectly by the efforts of this unusual human being.
Tony Sutichs contribution is, among other things, an
example of the value of what is humanistic, personal
and transpersonal in our lives. If you go to the Journal
of Transpersonal Psychology [ JTP], you will see four or
five articles [of his], and you will get a sense of what
he says. His personal account, abbreviated to perhaps
a dozen pages, is in JTP 8(1), 1976. I suggest you read
Tony himself and get a sense of all the adventures that
he had in this and related fields.
Stanley Krippner: Miles Vich has just given you a
wonderful cameo presentation of Tony Sutichs life. The
fourth member of his doctoral committee at Saybrook,
formerly The Humanistic Psychology Institute,
was Eleanor Criswell, who was also a leader in the
transpersonal field and a real pioneer. When we went
down to do his oral defense, he could barely speak; and
yet he was so happy this work had been completed that it
was a very joyous occasion. I went back home that night
and had a dream. In the dream who should be coming
in the door but Tony Sutich and he was walking. I said
Tony this is the first time I have ever seen you walk.
Tony said, Oh I can do anything now Im dead you
know. This of course was the night he died.
His dissertation, on the founding of
humanistic and transpersonal psychology is a classic:
beautifully written, very articulate, and it was stolen
from our files a few years later. Written in the days
before computer files we thankfully were able to piece
together a duplicate dissertation from a carbon copy.
Just today Miles tells me he has discovered a pristine
copy of Tonys dissertation. This discovery will be a
cause for great rejoicing at Saybrook because now we
can put it on microfiche and computer files, and it can
be distributed more widely. Hearing the news of this
discovery is really the highlight of my coming down to
this conference today.
I should mention one other thing. Abraham
Maslow was also a close friend of mine. He was talking
about founding a new psychology the last time I saw
him, that he was calling trans-human psychology. As we
talked about it, and in retrospect, I now realize that
he was talking about what we now call ecopsychology
(Schroll, 2008/2009, p. 16). Because it stemmed from
the deep ecology movement, the recognition (nearer to
40 International Journal of Transpersonal Studies
what Native Americans have believed for millennia)
that humans as a species are just one of many species
on planet Earth, maybe other planets too. We should
therefore extend our concern to themgo trans-human
and not make this a human-centered psychology.
Unfortunately Maslow never had this dream realized
(p. 16), but other people like Theodore Roszak (1992)
and Jeremy Narby (2001) have picked up on this idea,
an idea we will be hearing more about in the future.
What Were the Experiences that Led Tony Sutich
to the Transpersonal?
Mark A. Schroll: This brings me to several concerns.
Lets pick up on when Tony had his mystical experiences,
what triggered these? Did he take something? Was it
natural? Do any of you know what caused him to have
these mystical experiences?
Vich: Yes, we know a little bit about this. Some of this
is in Tonys dissertation. Tony was always very modest
about these discussions; its just he had a lifelong interest
in these kinds of experiences and he read a lot. But I
think too because he faced death so early, he was told
he was going to die and then it didnt happen; this made
him question everything. Likewise Tony would privately
speak about his mother being such a positive supportive
influence, yet his father was not quite as supportive. His
family helped him throughthis was the bottom of the
depression when there was nothing out there; and this
guy is on his back [Sutich was disabled by an accident
at a young age and was unable to move for most of his
life], what does he do? So every conceivable question
a person would ask was amplified in terms of being a
crisis; everything had to be dealt with.
Tony too was just naturally brilliant and
intellectually alive to all kinds of things. The other side
of it in terms of psychedelics is something that Tony did
not talk about much. All I know is from what he said;
he said in print he had some experiences that were not
particularly determining, powerful, or overwhelming.
But they were in the line of other experiences that he
had. You might call them mystical or spiritual or higher
or a deeper psychologyit was broad. It has all kinds of
cultural elements and all kinds of modes and vehicles;
it was not just one channel it was many channels for
him.
Schroll: Okay this was an important point. Another
point I want to return to is that Tony then created a
way to license himself. Could this possibly be a model
for an alternative licensing board that would be an
alternative to APA?2 Can we reflect on this?
Schroll et al.
 The Maturing of Humanistic and
Transpersonal Psychology:
Examining the Challenges of Academic
Accreditation and Clinical Practice
Vich: Historically things are never the same. My two
colleagues on the left here [Stanley Krippner and Jim
Fadiman] are much more conversant with these issues.
I have been out of the organizational, political and
professional loop for a long time. But I will say it does not
take much; it takes a particular idea, a particular action
and a seed grows, but it is the later development where it
affects lots and lots of people and the refinements occur.
Consequently I do not know if what Tony did could be
a model now. You would have to be in a kind of frontier
situation where you had friends in the legislature; and
then there are three of you in the whole damn state of
California that cannot do anything except counsel. Then
by a grandfather clause some political restrictions are
overcome, and through some careful maneuvering the
legislation comes out. But I do not think that things
happen this way anymore.
James Fadiman: The issue of accreditation is always an
interesting one. I was thinking of what you said Valeriea
little quiet throwaway line with your reference to outlaw
therapists at Burning Man. Oh (the thought occurred
to me), are there outlaw therapists? Well, there are people
that have made a commitment to help human beings and
they think that there is an unwritten law that trumps
restrictive legislation that prevents any of us (that choose
to) from helping human beings. This is true in mainstream
psychology; it is true in transpersonal psychology. But it
is not true in institutions. Institutions are highly visible;
it is very hard to be an outlaw institution. Having been
in a school where we began with the premise that we
were an outlaw institution, we found the culture indeed
accepted us as an outlaw institution and said, You are
not welcome anywhere.
Laughter from the gallery.
Fadiman: And there were very few similar kinds of
institutions. I use a different term now, not outlaw but
outlier, which means outside or near the edge. Whereas
if you are leading, then you are known as avant guard;
if you are simply at the edge and everyone moves in the
other direction then they think that you are just a crank.
Certainly as schools weve been dealing with this issue.
The problem of accreditation of any sort (be it medical,
psychological, nursing, massage, religious institutions)
is you should be close to normal or close to the middle
of whatever distribution of the family or group of ideas
Reflections on Transpersonal Psychology
and practices you are attempting to represent. This is the
task of assessment, and what accreditation represents.
Accreditation never says that you are really terrific,
interesting, exciting, and innovative. Or they say if you
are, then you are not ready for us. But if you are vanilla,
if you are interchangeable with other institutions, then
you should be accredited. Im not fond of accreditation,
because being an outlier is more interesting, but that
is the way it works. So that any institution which goes
for accreditation has to see how it can at least appear
to be vanilla before it gets accredited. Then fortunately
once you are accredited, you are allowed tochanging
metaphors hereto do a few things under the blanket
that have a different point of view. Im mentioning this
because ITPwhich, as Miles said, was not founded by
Tonyat least he did not found everything. . .
Laughter from the gallery.
Fadiman: is looking to be accredited as a clinical
institution by APA. The question is, this is good for
people trying to earn a living, because APA is gradually
controlling more and more state legislatures licensing
rules.3 But is it good for transpersonal? This is an entirely
different question. Perhaps we will look at this.
Schroll: It is good in terms of the fact that to get paid
by the insurance companies you have to be licensed. But
it may not be good for philosophical reasons.4 Tony was
trying to help peopleand as Valerie points out there are
outlaw therapists that are also trying to help people. So
how can you help someone and yet get paid?
Valerie Mojeiko: I dont really know that much about
licensing, [so my question is this]. Currently people that
are licensed as transpersonal psychologistswhether or
not they are giving out illegal drugsare not able to get
paid by insurance?
Fadiman: If you are a licensed psychologist, there is
not an adjective in front of that; its a licensed clinical
psychologist, and whatever the restrictions on a clinical
psychologist are, you have all of them. One of them
certainly is that you are not allowed to prescribe drugs
that are legal, let alone the more interesting ones.
Will Transpersonal Psychology
Ever Become an APA Division?
Wrestling with Spirituality and Organization
Schroll: This comment opens up the question of
ayahuasca.5 Earlier Stan Krippner mentioned the
Supreme Courts decision to allow ayahuasca use as
a legal sacrament.6 This reopens the opportunity for
psychedelic exploration. This also gets into the issue
International Journal of Transpersonal Studies 41
of moving psychedelic inquiry away from the medical
model because we no longer need to be worried about the
fact that we are either dispensing or ingesting a substance
that could be regulated as a licensed medicine.
Krippner: Well in one church. Remember that only one
church has the legal right to use ayahuasca as a sacrament
right now. This brings up one of the advantages of a
church organization because if you are a member of the
clergy, you can give spiritual counseling. You do not
have to call it psychotherapy; in fact you had better not
call it psychotherapy. But just to avoid problems in the
advice that I give peoplein the secular trips I used to
lead people on back in the old daysI became a minister
for the Universal Life Church, and also for the Center for
Spiritual Healing. I do wedding ceremonies; Im doing
one tomorrow, which is why I have to get back [to San
Francisco] this evening to prepare. I perform weddings
for people that want a typically unorthodox ceremony,
where they can write their own vows, cite scripture from
other traditionssuch as Eastern, Native American, and
even Wiccan traditions. If they prefer they do not even
have to mention the word God, so what I do provides
people with a meaningful ceremony, and Im very happy
to oblige.
Now the institutionalization of a movement is
always a two-edged sword. On the one hand, accreditation
does help a lot of people earn money because they get
a more solid recognized degree. Some 30-years ago at
Saybrook there was a group of faculty members that did
not want accreditation; they said this would clip our
wings, and ruin our freedom. We had state approval;
they said state approval is enough as we are giving a
legal degree. Others at Saybrook thought differently
(I among them) and we won out and got Saybrook
accredited, and we really did not have our wings clipped
or anything like that; the same thing [came up] for ITP
when it became accredited. But getting a program like a
clinical psychology program recognized, that is a little
different thing. Because if you are going to be a clinical
psychologist, the way the zeitgeist is moving and the
states are drawing laws, you have to be from an APA
approved program.
Now Ive been a member of APA for decades.
APA has been very good to me, Im a fellow of four APA
divisions, and so Im not critical of APAexcept where I
need to be like when they put too much emphasis upon
their division of military psychology as they did at the
last convention. But this is a whole other set of concerns
that we do not have to go into right now. Anyway, APA
42 International Journal of Transpersonal Studies
has gotten to the point where they will give approval to
an institution if it is solid and if it does what it purports
to do.
I think that ITP has a very good chance of
getting its [clinical] program approved by APA if they can
convince APA that theyve gotten their act together, that
the therapists that come out of ITP are knowledgeable,
that they can handle a variety of dysfunctional behaviors
and attitudes. I know of some schools that the APA would
not have approved 20 years ago that are now becoming
APA approved. So the signs are favorable on this.
Nevertheless, getting an APA division called
transpersonal psychology is an entirely different thing,
and Mark wanted us to speak to this concern. There was
a movement, 30-some-years ago, to have a Division of
Humanistic Psychology. Most of my colleagues and I
were against it. We asked, why do we need to create a
division? Why not just have humanistic psychologists and
transpersonal psychologists create their own associations,
and then bring the humanistic flavor into already
established APA divisions. The person spearheading
this proposed Division of Humanistic Psychology was
a radical psychologist named Don Gibbins, who went
around and got the signatures, not from any of us, but
from thousands of other people. Thus a Division of
Humanistic Psychology in the APA was approved. We
then got together for our first meeting and Gibbins
wasnt even there; so we named one of the members of
our group president, and the division has been going on
ever since.
Was this a good thing? Not necessarily; because
since this time Positive Psychology has come into the
picture, and has sort of distanced itself from Humanistic
Psychology.7 If humanistic psychology had diffused
itself into the already existing APA divisions, I think
there might have been an earlier influence, and even
marriage, with the positive psychology folks, and you
wouldnt have the split that there is now. Not that the
two groups are antagonistic, they are just moving in
different directions.
Now when the transpersonal psychologists got
the number of votes and decided to appear before the
APA council they solicited advice, but my advice was
not taken. I said you have to speak in the language that
the council will recognize. First of all come up with
an operational definition of transpersonal psychology.
Secondly, ground it in mainstream psychology. William
James used the word transpersonal,8 go back to William
James; everybody in psychology reveres William James.
Schroll et al.
I gave a couple of other guidelines that were not taken,
and the APA council voted it down, not once, not twice,
but three times.
But did all my work go in vain? No, because
some years later I was on the committee that came down
to check into accreditation for ITP; although I cannot
reveal what went on in the deliberation session where
we voted to give accreditation to ITP, I used the same
arguments that had been lying around for 20 years. I gave
an operational definition of transpersonal psychology,
grounding it in the mainstream of the psychological
history, et cetera, and they said thank you for educating
us about transpersonal psychology; it is not as far out as
we thought it was. This is as much as Im allowed to say,
but you see the results, ITP is a flourishing institution
and Im delighted.
Still the question remains, should transpersonal
psychology be a separate division of APA? Right now
there are plenty of transpersonal programs at APA, most
sponsored by division 32 or humanistic psychology;
some by the division for the scientific study of religious
issues, some by other divisions. I think there is enough
transpersonal work going on, and I am really against too
many divisions in APA. There are 52 right now, going on
53, and this cuts into the time that other divisions have
to present their programs at APA. I am not wild about
the idea of a division of transpersonal psychology in APA,
frankly, because I do not think that it is needed. I think
that there are vehicles for transpersonalists like me and
other people to present our ideas in other divisions and
then diffuse the work, spreading the word to get other
people in other divisions interested. So well see what
happens.
Schroll: Thank you Stan, so the message is to network
with these other groups. I had an image while you were
talking where each one of us can be an autonomous
member, and yet to see the whole we have to be able
to have these dialogues with other people and find a
common language. In other words, what you are saying
is rather than continue to work for a division of ATP in
the APA, it is better to try to find a common ground of
dialogue, and/or a conceptual model or a genealogy of
where our roots come from in terms of our ideas with
these other groups.
Krippner: Yes, thats my position; I might be wrong but
that is where Im coming from.
Vich: Could we say something about this from a slightly
different perspective? When we were formulating AHP
and ATP, their publications, and gathering people
Reflections on Transpersonal Psychology
together at conferences to create an identity as to what
we thought might be called transpersonal psychology,
there was an assumption that first we had to understand
what we were doing. What are we about? So that first
phase was the identity development phase. There was an
interesting periodI guess late 1970s early 1980swhere
a concern was raised. The concern was this. If we tried
to assimilate (or have too much connection with other
systems or fields in whatever profession), this would
risk transpersonal psychologys independence along
the lines that Jim was talking about earlier concerning
institutions.
The final point is about the future of educational
institutions and licensing and so on. This oddly enough
occurred to me very late in the game of almost 40 years
of work. In a way maybe it does not make any difference
what happens organizationally, politically, and so on.
This is because at the root human beings are always
going to have this interest, this inclination, this desire
for understanding, this awareness, this questioning of
where they fit into the big scheme of things, and other
basic questions are always going to be there.
So those of us that are working in this field, we
are working with forms, with channels, with methods,
with systems, and I was able to be personally relieved
of the concern that all this might pass away if we did
not get approved or recognized, or licensed or whatever.
Whereas the basic fundamental concerns always exist
and they are rising and growing, so this is the assumption
that Im operating under. We just happened to live at a
time when particular institutions are helpful necessarily
and useful to people.
Schroll: So the practice of transpersonal psychology/
transpersonal psychotherapy takes another form. Some
people take the paththey go the ministerial route and/or
pastoral-counseling routeand this is the other possible
option, the spiritual psychology option. This is where
people like Stan and Jim do not have to call themselves
a clinician; they can call themselves a spiritual minister
or some word that people can recognize so they can
actually get paid for what they are doing.
Krippner: Like a spiritual coach.
Schroll: Rightso we need this language. Would
people wanting to be counselors from a transpersonal
perspective be opposed to calling themselves a spiritual
coach? We may have to change or broaden our definition
of what we mean by religion; and/or focus on developing
an expanded operational definition of what it is we mean
by religion.9
International Journal of Transpersonal Studies 43
Mojeiko: I think that one problem that would arise that
has in the pastor at least as far as from the perspective
Im most knowledgeable aboutwhich is issues
concerning the psychedelic therapist. Once the study
of psychedelic therapy or psychedelic counseling is in a
medical model it is more accepted, it is more reviewed,
there are more people that are watching out and making
sure that what the person is doing is ethical. As people
go more and more underground there is more of a chance
the kind of therapy that they are offering people is not
actually helpful. It might be more harmful, and this is
something to think about when there is no real law or
rules overseeing its operation. Regarding psychedelic
therapists in particular, one thing that MAPS [or the
Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies]
is starting to develop is some kind of training program
and accreditation for people that are doing psychedelic
therapy; because there are a lot of particular issues that
come up.
There has traditionally been a lot of sexual abuse
between therapist and client; this is just something to
think about. I have heard so many reportsthere are a
lot of clinics that people can go to where they can take
ayahuasca in South America, andexcept for MAPS
there is not any larger organization reporting on which
ones are ethical or safe. We have so many people calling
our office, because it is really the only group of people
to call about such a thing, just complaining that certain
groups and/or individuals are dangerous; or are not what
they advertise themselves to be. I guess either way it
would be good to have some kind of licensing boardyet
order and rules are not typically my thing. Still I can see
some benefit in having some kind of structure, whether
it is medical or religious.
Schroll: You mentioned ethics, or more specifically an
ethic of behavior, this reminds me of all of the problems
with gurus and the tendency of the so-called spiritual
teacher to abuse their power and authority, and likewise
various problems with sexual issues or any issue. Because
having sex should certainly be consensual, not about
power and control, and this is where we need some kind
of an ethic that involves regulating behavior.
Mojeiko: But whose ethic? Where does it come from?
Schroll: From my perspective, it comes from talking,
from getting feedback from other people, and by working
it out through dialogue with othersjust like we are doing
right nowas a community.
Fadiman: If you kind of look at history now and then,
you find experiments that have been tried. In the USA up
44 International Journal of Transpersonal Studies
until about 1830 there were no licensing laws about any
kind of medical practice, psychological practice, spiritual
practice, et cetera. The rule was that any practitioner or
anyone that called themself [a practitioner of medical,
healing, spiritual arts] could charge you and if you felt
that you had been harmed, you could sue; that was it.
Eventually, however, the American Medical Association
was formed, and not with the concern of creating the
kind of high minded ethical rules that we hear from
you[Mark and Valerie], because the AMAs creation did
not in any way deal with psychedelic experience.
Instead, the founders of the AMA were aware
there was a competitive medical form called homeopathy.
And they established rules which if you did not know
what the game was, said that you [as a practitioner of
medical, healing, spiritual arts] should have a certain
amount of laboratory equipmentmicroscopes, slide trays,
etc.all things that homeopaths did not need. Then the
AMA turned around and said, now let us accredit each
other and surprise, all of the homeopathic schools were
not accredited. The question is has medicine in the USA
[established itself and become a] beacon throughout the
world of how it should be done? The answer is in certain
areas yes, absolutely, and in other areas [not at all, but]
is simply a method of keeping ways of healing out of
peoples hands, [and this] is a problem.10
The issue gets more interesting when we ask, is
there [or would there] be any motive for accreditation
other than good? The answer is that in most human
institutions there are people that sometimes have a
different point of view. I love the idea that MAPS wants
to be in the training business; but I am not sure that
MAPS wants to be in the accreditation business.
One of the things I like about the church and
state issue is you can really be a wacko religion, and there
is an enormous effort not to stop you. Let me give you an
example of where this issue comes up tough against the
culture. Now this is not a wacko religion. This happens
to be (I think it was a Vietnamese or Hmong group) that
came to the USA after what we did to their countries,
and among the things that they would do in the park in
San Francisco is catch squirrels and eat them. This was
part of their religious practice, and you could just see the
cultural discomfort of people saying, Well you cannot
just kill these little animals. But it is their religion. But
they are killing squirrels! Had they eaten rats, or pigeons,
it might have been a different issue.
Consequently when you watch people trying to
protect you from something it is well worth looking at
Schroll et al.
what are the underlying cultural assumptions. One of
the ways the use of ayahuasca passed the Supreme Court
was based on the concern about whether or not they
wanted to start legislating which religious practices are
acceptable. Also, ayahuasca has one very beneficial side
effect that helped its case, which is people that take it
almost always have nausea and vomiting. The Supreme
Court said yes. . .
Laughter from the gallery.
Fadiman: this is probably not going to become a
recreational church. This genuinely helped; again, what
is an acceptable or unacceptable practice, just as in our
personal life where do we want licensing to protect us
and where do we want freedom to make an informed
decision? There are no right answers; but watching the
way this process moves through history sometimes is
helpful.
Schroll: This might be a good place to raise the issue
whether people should just chose to empower themselves
to try to develop an alternative position or practice and
then hope that people will come to them and pay them
money for their services rather than worrying about
accreditation. Likewise rather than worrying about
getting a division of transpersonal psychology in the
APA, therapists should empower themselves by saying if
you believe in what we are doing, and it seems right for
you, and you think I am helping you, would you pay me?
Or you can just go somewhere else for whatever kind of
help you are seeking.
Fadiman: Its an alternative model, its called education.
How do we deal with education? If it is good, we pay for
it. If it is not, we do not pay for it. Are there bad schools?
Are there schools of the dark side? I think so, but they are
mainly APA approved, so I cannot say much.
The Challenge: Defining Transpersonal Education
Fadiman: Are there schools that go out of business? Are
there schools that thrive? Are there schools that break
whatever laws there are? We can say yes to all of these. Now
I being a crank, long in the tradition of crankdom, I think
that psychology made a terrible mistake when it looked
around the university when it was just a little child and it
saw who the big kids were that received lots of money. It
was not the French literature department, and it was not
even sociology; it was hard science that received funding.
So psychology said, we are a hard science; the academy
said, you are kidding. No, we use numbers. Where?
[This of course raises the issue of methodology, which
continues to be a matter of concern within humanistic
and transpersonal circles (Schroll, in press).] The helping
Reflections on Transpersonal Psychology
of another human being by talking with them became
partly because Freud (who made this discovery) was a
practicing physicianallied with the medical model, and
Im not sure this was a good decision.
It could have become allied with the educational
model. Have you ever been to a wise being, and then did
you ask what their credentials are? For example, you say
that you are a Hindu sage; how do I know that you have
the right credentials to be a Hindu sage? The wise being
replies, that is a very interesting question that you should
ask. In my seven lifetimes ago I did have a degree. Now
what is your real question? The point is, it is a different
model, and there are different models and fortunately in
a culture that allows for different models we do not have
to choose one or the other.
Now Im coming from both not being licensed
in anything I have ever done and being a ministerin
case someone dies or wants a wedding. But I cannot say
the theology is very deep in my church, since it is the
same as one of Stan Krippners churches. The point we
are raising here is what is the purpose of what we are
doing, and what is the best way to achieve it? I listened to
a presentation this morning, about a model of working
with psychedelics. The core of the model was, does this
way of working increase suffering or decrease suffering?
This was the core question around which everything else
arises quite naturally. This too is another way of framing
what we are talking about regarding accreditation and
licensing.
I would by the way not want to leave off
ecopsychology, which probably is the least appreciated
and most failed system we have. We are now all aware
that if there is anything that we had to guess is the
major problem the world is suffering from, it is that
civilization as we know it may simply melt, fry, boil,
hurricane, storm, drought, itself out. Now who should
be consulted at the highest levels of government in the
world? Ecopsychologists. Is it happening? Not yet, do
you have anything to say about this Mark?
Humanistic and Transpersonal Vistas:
Ecopsychologys Role in Shaping Our Future
Schroll: I think this is where we get into this problem
again: where does ecopsychology fit in? Is it within ATP
and ITP; because certainly we are bringing it up here
and I have brought it up at past ATP and ITP meetings,
but I do not think that ecopsychology is a field. This
is not just me talking, but the echo of a point Ralph
Metzner and Theodore Roszak came to agree on at
the 25th Anniversary Convocation of the Association
International Journal of Transpersonal Studies 45
for Transpersonal Psychology, a view that is shared by
Robert Greenway.11 I agree ecopsychology is not a field,
it is an emerging conversation that is happening, or
should be happening, in every discipline; it is also not
just a conversation we need to be having in science, but it
should also be part of the humanities central core. Indeed
everyone should be involved and engaged in trying to
keep us from cutting ourselves off from the living systems
that we are a part of.
Krippner: Id like to underline what Jim just said, that
this is a real opportunity for transpersonal psychology.
Remember I said earlier that Maslow was hoping to
move into a trans-human psychology, which in his
conversations with me I would interpret as being
ecopsychology; and nobody else is doing it in terms
of major organizations. I think that ecopsychology is
absolutely critical. Ive written some articles in which Ive
said that if we are stuck with the Diagnostic and Statistic
Manual, and if this is something that is going to chart
the course of psychopathology, we should have a category
for people that are destroying the environment. Persons
that are doing this should be diagnosed as pathological
and they need help, because they are doing something
that is increasing human suffering and the suffering of all
sentient beings.
A few years ago I received an award from APA,
so I had an opportunity to publish an article in the
American Psychologist. In my last section I put in a plug
for ecopsychologywhich is the only time that I know of
that it has been mentioned in the American Psychologist
(Krippner, 2002). I did not have very many words, but I
wanted to make sure that I was heard loud and clear on
this issue. The way our planet is being devastated, and how
the groups with the power and money are abetting and not
holding back on this devastation is clearly pathological.
If you saw the documentary The Corporation, you know
that the Corporation was diagnosed as what we call a
sociopathic personality. One aspect of this pathology
that this film failed to mention is the devastation of the
environment that most corporationsnot allare up to.
The ironic thing is that some very conservative
Christian church organizations are becoming green.
They are coming out for stewardship of nature, they are
not coming from the same place where I am coming from
in terms of my theology, but at least they are ending up in
the same place. So there are some hopeful signs and I see
this as being a transpersonal vision. But I have to say that
with the exception of indigenous people like the Native
Americans, the major religions in the world have dropped
46 International Journal of Transpersonal Studies
the ball on ecopsychologyboth Eastern and Western.
Now it is time to pick up that ball and get rolling with
it before it is too late. [Indeed] any of us that have been
reading or seeing documentaries on this topic know the
critical situation that the world is in. And I think, Jim,
that if psychologyinstead of aligning itself with the
physical sciences, had aligned itself with philosophy, we
would not be in the mess we are in now. Because from a
philosophical point of view we would have realized some
of the issues that psychology, from a hard science point of
view, has ignored until now.
Fadiman: William James who created psychology,
eventuallyand is best knownfor ending up in
philosophy, where he could deal with more problems
seriously. To the extent that we honor, venerate, and
celebrate him, we would probably do well to read him.
Both because it will embarrass us how well he writes,
and because the issues he raises are the issues that we are
raising. Some of which will be commented on by me later
in my presentation this afternoon.
Vich: I wanted to add something on the ecopsychology
issue, it is not something that I have done much
development in, but two things. One is the film An
Inconvenient Truth by Al Gore, which I gather a lot of
people have seenhow many of you have seen it? A lot of
you it seems. This is really quite a cold shower for anybody
that for the first time has encountered the concerns of
how precarious our current situation is relative to the
issue of global warming.
At the end of the film, Gore is on this elevated
ladder, plotting one of those fatal curves that goes right
though the roof. He comes down and turns back to the
audience and says some people when they see thisand
what Ive been sayingfall into despair. Gore says, I
understand this. But we do not need to. Then he goes on to
show these slivers of adjustment and it is like a fan, 10% if
we do this, 15% if we do this, and gradually bringing that
curve down. What I noticed is these slivers of adjustment
are all do-ables, probably within a generation. These are
things that we have all heard about, like car mileage, and
power plant emissions, et cetera, and the curve starts to
decline once we begin addressing these problems. These
are not huge turn-arounds that can evoke cultural and
economic disaster; instead these are adjustments that can
be made. So the message Gore is giving us is that we have
the capacity and the power to solve the problem that we
have created. But you have to think large and you have
to think responsible and you have to make all of these
connections we have been making.
Schroll et al.
 The second point goes back to the organizational
question. A couple of years before I retired as editor of JTP
at the end of 1999, I was very impressed by the British
group and the British Psychological Society taking on
the transpersonal issue. Especially two of its principle
authors, David Fontana and Ingrid Slack (1996), who
led the appeal to the British Psychological Society (our
equivalent of the APA) for a division of transpersonal
interest. And they got the votes 1,623 to 899 in favor,
so the British Psychological Society has what they call
a section of transpersonal psychology. How did they do
this? What makes their situation so different? They had
a list of rational arguments that were well delivered with
their typical British understatement, and beautifully
articulated, but the key thing I saw there that really
made me feel that this was the way to do it, was they
said, and Im paraphrasing, what we are concerned
with in transpersonal psychology is those very things
that have created, affected, and sometimes destoyed,
and sometimes improved civilizations all through time.
The arts, the literature, these have all had to deal with
transpersonal issues. It has affected our lives individually
and personally, and in groups and collectives and entire
nations and cultures. Shouldnt we know something
about it?
Fadiman: (chuckling) Thats just wonderful.
Krippner: Yes, thats just great. People in this group
certainly know the difference between religion and
spirituality; this is an important distinction, more
important as the years go on, especially on this ecology
issue. Youre probably familiar with the United Nations
quality of life scale, and when this is applied to the
nations of the world, the top 10 nations that have the best
quality of life, that includes the environmental aspects
of culture, the top 10 nations are the nations with the
highest percentage of atheists. Now we are not talking
about here of forced atheism, like North Korea. We
are talking about voluntary atheism. Sweden, Norway,
Denmark, the Netherlands, all the usual suspects, they
have the highest quality of life and the highest percentage
of atheists.
What about the countries with the minimal
numbers of atheists, and the lowest quality of life, and
the most devastating environmental conditions, who are
these? Take the top 25 countries that have the highest
quality of life. Only two countries have a minority of
atheists, Ireland and the USA; again this is the top 25, not
the top 10. In January I was the token transpersonalist
at a major conference of self-professed skeptics in Las
Reflections on Transpersonal Psychology
Vegas, Nevada, organized by the Amazing Randi. It was
called the Amazing Randis Amazing conference. It was
a three-day affair, and they did a poll, 85% of the people
in the audience raised their hand that they were atheists.
It was a fascinating conference, with Nobel Prize winners
and 800 people in attendance, the largest collection of
skeptics under one roof. The one theme that came up
time and time again was the environment. I have not
heard so much discussion of environmental issues in
a transpersonal meeting, in a spiritual meeting, in a
religious meeting; these folks are really on to something.
They really care about the environment.
It is therefore time for transpersonal psychology,
and transpersonal studies in general, to reassess and
reclaim its history regarding ecopsychology so it can
step forward and fill this void. I have to say that the
psychedelic movement caught on to this long ago. I
remember back in the 1960s, when people began doing
informal work with psychedelics. One theme that came
up time and time again was we are destroying the
environment, and that taking psychedelics increased
not only our appreciation of nature, but all forms of life.
I think too the psychedelic movement has been given
short shrift by historians in a number of other ways,
because it also helped stimulate interest in the Peace
Movement, the Civil Rights movement, et cetera.12 Of
course the psychological experimentation had its dark
sideand Jim and I are very aware of the casualties of
the dark sideit did have a bright side in terms of the
environmental movement. We can make the case that
a lot of the environmental movements roots are in the
psychedelic work that was being done informally back
in those days.
Schroll: This picks up on both of these points that
have been made. Miles mentioned Gores film, saying
that all of the adjustments Gore suggests are do-ables;
this brings me back to what Stan was just saying about
Positive Psychology being a growing movement. We
need positive motivational messages in ecopsychology
to have people want to become part of it. The messages
from mainstream environmentalism are all negative and
I have summed them up as follows.
1. The first can be referred to as the fear approach
or the rhetoric of catastrophe.
2. The second as the guilt approach or the rhetoric
of shame. And
3. The third as the self-sacrificing/voluntary
simplicity approach or the rhetoric of
redemption.
International Journal of Transpersonal Studies 47
 The rhetoric of catastrophe represents prophecys
of doom, such as global warming, ozone depletion,
deforestation, loss of species, et cetera. The rhetoric of shame
says that the industrial nations of the world are consuming
the majority of the earths fossil fuels: coal, natural gas,
and petroleum. The rhetoric of redemption tells us to drive
less, slow down when we do drive and car pool; to turn
our thermostat down, reduce human population growth,
recycle, et cetera. All of these are negative in terms of their
motivational message. We therefore need to re-examine
motivational psychology, because we need to develop a
positive motivational imagery and language to empower
people to want to become part of this movement.
Fadiman: There is a curious unattractive parallel, which
is it is very hard to train people to kill other people. We
are really hard wired not to kill other people, yet weve
managed to do a pretty amazing job of doing this. Perhaps
if we looked at what could make it easier for people to
become environmentally sensitive, which is a far more
natural state, we might create this positive motivational
imagery and language that you just mentioned, Mark.
This is really what Stan is saying. I love the idea that
environmental degradation should be listed as a DSM
classificationit is like these horror movies where you keep
getting a larger number and things are getting worse
people that trash the environment have a pathology.
Imagine if the pharmacology industry got interested. I
took EarthPill and I went around and all I could do was
plant flowers. I feel so much better. Im going to talk to
my big farm Mafia friends. What is our time?
Final Comments and Questions
Schroll: We have five minutes left. I know all of you have
dozens of questions, but we only have time for a couple.
But first I want to say this is a continuing conversation.
We do not want it to end today. We want this to continue
to grow, not only in your own work, but also in creating
future forums like this.
Audience question: Im familiar with all of the
psychedelics that were around in the 1960s and 1970s,
but Ive been out of that group for about 30-years now,
would someone please tell me what ayahuasca is like? It
must be pretty good if people are willing to risk all of the
vomiting.
Krippner: It is very strong, and I do not advise that people
take it outside of a church setting. If you are interested,
seek out one of the Brazilian churches, and there are some
operating in the USA and Western Europe. But it is very
powerful. I have learned a lot from it. I am one of the
very few people that have not thrown up. This does not
48 International Journal of Transpersonal Studies
mean that I will not vomit the next time, but maybe I am
hopeless. If you vomit this means you cleanse yourself of
all your impurities. Maybe Im too far gone to get rid of
them all. But do not let this phase you, because once you
vomit, Im told that you feel beatific for the rest of the
experience. Again, I cannot recommend it because it is
so powerful, but if this is your personal choice and if you
are invited to a church session, then you might consider
it. But be prepared as to what you want to learn from it.
Ask yourself, what do I want to get from this experience,
which will help you operate within a framework. And be
prepared to follow the rituals of the church, because they
are for your own benefit very stringent, very regimented,
and do not allow much of a chance for you to go off and
do your own thing. You have to stay within the structure
of the church.
Fadiman: This is what we used to call the three variables,
drug, set, and setting.
Krippner: Yes.
Fadiman: And in this case they are welded together, as
Stan said, so keep this in mind.
Mojeiko: I think too that while it might be helpful for
a person doing a particular therapy to keep drug taking
a secret, in general it is not a good idea. For the average
person that has taken psychedelics, it is not a really big
risk to say that you have done them. And it is not going
to become more acceptable unless people stand up and
speak out about it, so I think that maybe this is what
we still need to deal with and come to terms with as
we try to integrate psychedelic experience with the rest
of psychology. It is therefore worth the minute risk of
coming out as someone that has used a psychedelic.
Fadiman: You see we are a lot less special than people
would like to think. Remember when Stan Grof asked
people this morning, how many of you have had an
incredible experience, and almost everyone raised their
hand; and that when Grof goes and talks to regular
audiences it is also a pretty high percentage. I put out
a novel a few years ago titled The Other Side of Haight,
and everywhere I went no matter who I was talking
to, I brought up the fact that Id written this novel and
that they could buy it. I would ask the damnest people
to comment on what they thought about psychedelics;
such as Im sitting on a plane and there is this person that
looks like he is a CIA operative and I say, Ive written this
novel have you ever used psychedelics? Youd be surprised
how many people will say, Oh yeah in college once. I did
mushrooms. Then Id find out that they were a CIA agent
or someone that worked for a pharmaceutical company
Schroll et al.
that I did not like very much, and that they did not like
about themselves after we had finished talking. But what
I found out is that sharing something that works for you
is really not a bad thing to do in almost any sub-culture,
and you will be surprised at how many people respond
favorably. And yes to answer your question, set and setting
is a lot harder when the thing you are doing is illegal. As
the early Christians used to say, I hate meeting in the
slimy sewers of Rome, but this is the only place we can
rent to meet. And it is important that we keep meeting,
so we do what we can.
Schroll: On that note, this is a good place to end because
thats right Jim. What you and Valerie just mentioned is
the idea of self-disclosure and this is what Sidney Jourard
was talking about in the earliest days of this movement,
thereby linking our discussion right back to the very
beginnings of humanistic and transpersonal psychology
(Jourard, 1971, 1972).
Notes
1. The reference to transpersonal science in the title
is not specifically discussed in this paper because it
refers to a process of inquiry, and not a reified object of
investigation. Indeed this entire conversation forum
serves as one means of representing an orientation
toward knowing that embodies the meaning of
transpersonal science. Carl Rogers (1989) sought
to articulate this means of inquiry as the need for a
more human science, saying that:
It appears that if I wish to become a scientist, the
first step is to immerse myself in the phenomena
of the particular field in which I have developed
an interest. The more complete the immersion,
the longer it lasts, the more I love and prize the
whole field, the more open I am to all the subtleties
of my experiencing, [and] the more likely I am to
discover new knowledge. This means a tolerance
for ambiguity and contradiction, a resistance to
the need for closure, the valuing of unbridled
curiosity. It means soaking up experience like a
sponge, so that it is taken in in all its complexity,
with my total organism freely participating in
the experiencing of the phenomena; not simply
my conscious mind (Rogers, 1989, p. 269).
Contemplating and building on the wisdom of
Rogers, those of us seeking a new spirit of science
beyond the restrictive borders that the modern mind
Reflections on Transpersonal Psychology
is willing to explore have extended this inquiry into
the farther reaches of human nature. Deciding it is
time to move away from the worldview that has kept
the field of psychology in a polemical dither for well
over a century; a worldview that perceives any state of
consciousness, which is not within the normal range
of consciousness as abnormal. To accomplish this
task the Association for Transpersonal Psychology
(ATP has made a unique demand, that transpersonal
psychologists become practitioners of psychological,
contemplative, or energy disciplines which provide
direct experiential access to transpersonal states of
consciousness. I have continued to elaborate on this
perspective of transpersonal science as a means of
inquiry in (Schroll, in press).
2. Prior to this forum during lunch, I spoke with
Sharon G. Mijares about a group of therapists at The
Union Institute that sought to create an alternative
licensing board; she asked me if I knew anything
about this. I did not, pointing out even though I was
a Union Institute graduate, I had not chosen to be a
clinical psychologist. Following this forum a woman
introduced herself as Colette Fleur. She handed me
a piece of paper that contained detailed information
for an update on the group that came out of The
Union Institute to propose another accreditation
process and [review] body. This group is called
the Council of Humanistic and Transpersonal
Psychology. Its goal is to provide organization for
organizations: humanistic, transpersonal, existential,
phenomenological, ecopsychological, somatic, and so
forth. Contact information: http://www.chtpsy.org
3. It is not just APA controlling more and more state
legislatures licensing rules, it is also the managed
care revolution. Victoria Kuhl (1994) argued, the
circumstances that have combined to create the
managed care juggernaut may render the practice of
humanistic treatment approaches untenable (p. 63).
4. On the drive from Saybrook Graduate School in
San Francisco to the conference at Unity Church in
Palo Alto, I spoke with Daniel Deslauriers about the
process of getting the clinical psychology program
at California Institute of Integral Studies (CIIS)
accredited by the APA. Daniel said what is happening
at CIIS is that, on the one hand, APA accreditation
is developing quite successfully; yet on the other
hand, students and faculty in the clinical program
are becoming isolated from the rest of the school.
This is because the philosophical differences between
International Journal of Transpersonal Studies 49
 models of clinical practice deemed acceptable to the
APA do not reflect the humanistic and transpersonal
views of what a healthy personality is. The frontier
of clinical psychology is to continue working for
APA accreditation, while at the same time develop
a conceptual framework and language that is able to
include humanistic and transpersonal concerns.
5. For those of us unfamiliar with the term ayahuasca,
it is a vision-producing tea that has been used for
centuries by indigenous Amazonian Indians as a
sacrament. Several syncretic religious movements
in Brazil that combine aspects of Catholicism,
esoteric European traditions, and Afro-Brazilian and
Amazonian religion are currently using ayahuasca as
their sacrament (Horgan, 2003, p. 148). But it cannot
be stressed enough that ayahuasca is not a recreational
drug. It should never be ingested carelessly, or
without a full understanding of how it works in the
body warned botanist Jim DeKorne (p. 196). A
thoroughly researched examination of ayahuasca
its scientific investigation and many personal
experiential accountsis the edited book by Ralph
Metzner (1999a), Ayahuasca: Human Consciousness
and the Spirits of Nature.
6. Richard Boire has pointed out that The UDV [Uniao
Do Vegetal church] decision is important, but also
narrow. It allows hoasca (ayahuasca) [use] within the
UDV, but not necessarily beyond those confines. The
Gonzales vs O Centro Espirita Beneficente Uniao do
Vegetal (2006), 546, U.S.____; 126 S. Ct. 1211; 163
L. Ed. 2d 1017; 2006 U.S. LEXIS 1815 is part of the
current case citation; because its so current it has not
received a page number yet (private communication,
December 14, 2006).
7. In 2001 a special issue on positive psychology was
published in the Journal of Humanistic Psychology, 41
(1), spearheaded by guest editor Grant Jewell Rich. It
seems all of us that wish to make this world a better
place are indeed positive psychologists, as Rich makes
clear in his introduction:
[Two past] . . . APA Presidents Maslow and
Rogers were both humanistic psychologists
whose work focused on positive aspects of
human nature. Even a behaviorist such as B. F.
Skinner was fascinated by what could be.. . .
If the good life is to be studied and perhaps
prescribed, then who will define it? A hundred
or so academic psychologists and therapists? I
50 International Journal of Transpersonal Studies
hope the movement is much more inclusive. One
must never forget the numerous mistakes made
by small groups of well-meaning psychologists in
the past: the lobotomies that promised cures but
brought only numbed minds, the phrenologists
quick to make a criminal out of a person with a
head bump in the wrong spot, or the IQ theorists
who used their weak data and lofty positions
to enforce racist eugenics programs. Positive
psychology is an exciting movement, but it is one
that must be tempered with cautious optimism
and a healthy dose of diversity. Although Tolstoy
wrote a brilliant novel with the opening statement
that all happy families are alike, I have serious
reservations about a positive psychology that
offers a single prescription for the good life.
(Rich, 2001, pp. 11-12)
8. See Vich, 1988, p. 109.
9. See Schroll, 2005b, 2005c.
10. The observations of Jeanne Achterberg (1990, 1991),
who has traced medicines evolution from pre-history
to the present, echo those of Fadiman.
11. See Greenway, 1994, 1999; Metzner, 1993; Schroll,
2007, 2009a, 2009b, 2009/2010.
12. Metzner (1999b, pp. 169-170) echoed the view that
psychedelics act as a catalyst that assist us in breaking
free of the habits of cognition (Schroll, 2005b; see
also Metzner, 2008, p. 42; Schroll & Rothenberg,
2009).
References
Achterberg, J. (1990). Woman as healer. Boston, MA:
Shambhala.
Achterberg, J. (1993, August 27). The future of the
transpersonal healer. Keynote at the 25th Anniversary
Convocation of the Association for Transpersonal
Psychology, August 25-29, Asilomar Conference
Center, Pacific Grove, CA. On CD and DVD from
http://www.conferencerecording.com. (800) 647-
1110.
Denniston, L. (2002). Herbal tea case: A government
loss? Electronic document. http://www.scotusblog.
com/movabletype/archives/2005/11/herbal_tea_
case.html.
Fontana, D. & Slack, I. (1996). The need for transpersonal
psychology. Newsletter of the Association for
Transpersonal Psychology, Fall, 3-7.
Schroll et al.
Greenway, R. (1994, May 24). Untitled comments during
the Symposium: Deep Ecology and Ecopsychology.
Organized and moderated by R. Metzner, with
comments by D. Abrams, M. Gomes, E. McCarthy,
A. Naess, B. Taylor, W. Sarkissian, and others.
Presented at the 13th International Transpersonal
Psychology conference Toward Earth Community:
Ecology, Native Wisdom and Spirituality, Great
Southern Hotel, Killarney, Ireland. On CD from
http://www.conferencerecording.com. (800) 647-
1110.
Greenway, R. (1999). Ecopsychology: A personal history.
Gatherings, 1, Winter.
Horgan, J. (2003). Rational mysticism: Dispatches from
the border between science and spirituality. Boston,
MA: Houghton Mifflin Company.
Jourard, S. (1971). The transparent self. (rev. ed.). New
York, NY: Van Nostrand Reinhold Company.
Jourard, S. (1972). A humanistic revolution in psychology.
In J. F. Glass & J. R. Staude (Eds.), Humanistic
society: Todays challenge to sociology (pp. 15-19).
Pacific Palisades, CA: Goodyear Publishing.
Krippner, S. (2002). Conflicting perspectives on
shamans and shamanism: Points and counterpoints.
American Psychologist, 57 (11), 962-977.
Kuhl, V. (1994). The managed care revolution:
Implications for humanistic psychology. Journal of
Humanistic Psychology, 34 (2), 62-81.
Metzner, R. (1993, August 28). Ecology and transpersonal
psychology. A two-hour conversation forum with B.
Keepin, T. Roszak, I. Serlin, R. Walsh, moderated
by R. Metzner, at the 25th Anniversary Convocation
of the Association for Transpersonal Psychology
conference, August 25-29, Asilomar Conference
Center, Pacific Grove, CA. On CD from http://
www.conferencerecording.com. (800) 647-1110.
Metzner, R. (Ed.). (1999a). Ayahuasca: Human
consciousness and the spirits of nature. New York, NY:
Thunders Mouth Press.
Metzner, R. (1999b). Green psychology: Transforming
our relationship to the earth. Rochester, VT: Inner
Traditions Press.
Metzner, R. (2008). The expansion of consciousness. Vol 1.
Berkeley, CA: Regent Press.
Narby, J. & Huxley, F. (2001). Shamans through time:
500 years on the path to knowledge. New York, NY: J.
P. Tarcher/Putnam.
Rich, G. J. (2001). Positive psychology: An introduction.
Journal of Humanistic Psychology, 41 (1), 8-12.
Reflections on Transpersonal Psychology
Rogers, C. R. (1989). Some thoughts regarding the current
presuppositions of the behavioral sciences. In H.
Kirschenbaum & V. L. Henderson (Eds.), The Carl
Rogers reader (pp. 263-278). Boston, MA: Houghton
Mifflin.
Roszak, T. (1992). The voice of the earth. New York, NY:
Simon & Schuster.
Schroll, M. A. (2005a). Reflections on Albert Hofmanns
epistemology of consciousness. Retrieved fromz; http://
www.maps.org/avarchive/hofmann_birthday_essay.
pdf
Schroll, M. A. (2005b). Toward a physical theory of the
source of religion. Anthropology of Consciousness, 16 (1),
56-69.
Schroll, M. A. (2005c). We are all actors and directors in
a giant cosmic drama. In R. Metzner (Ed), Sacred
mushrooms of visions: Teonanacatl: A sourcebook on the
philocybin mushroom (pp. 272-275). Rochester, VT:
Park Street Press.
Schroll, M. A. (2007). Wrestling with Arne Naess and the
origins of ecopsychology. The Trumpeter: Journal of
Ecosophy. The Trumpeter, 23 (1), 28-57. Retrieved from
http://trumpeter.athabascau.ca/index.php/trumpet/
article/view/940/1353
Schroll, M. A. (2008/2009). Ecopsychologys roots in
humanistic and transpersonal psychology. Electronic
document. Association for Humanistic Psychology-
Perspective, Dec/Jan, 16-17. Retrieved from http://www.
ahpweb.org/pub/perspective/dec2008/perspec_dec.pdf
Schroll, M. A. (2009). New science, new culture manifesto:
Transpersonal ecosophys vision of what it means to be
human. Electronic document. Association for Humanistic
Psychology-Perspective, June/July 2009, 8-10.
Schroll, M. A. (2009/2010). Merging transpersonal ecosophy
with Division 32 (Society for humanistic psychology of
the American Psychological Association). Association for
Humanistic Psychology-Perspective, Dec/Jan. Electronic
document.
Schroll, M. A. (in press). Toward a new kind of science and
its methods of inquiry. Anthropology of Consciousness,
21(1).
Schroll, M. A. & Rothenberg, D. (2009). Psychedelics
and the deep ecology movement: A conversation with
Arne Naess. Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic
Studies Bulletin, 19(1), 41-43. Retrieved from http://
www.maps.org/news-letters/v19n1
Vich, M. (1988). Some historical sources of the term
transpersonal. Journal of Transpersonal Psychology, 20
(2), 107-110.
International Journal of Transpersonal Studies 51
 About the Authors
Mark A. Schroll, PhD, serves as Editor for The Rhine
On-Line: Institute for Consciousness Studies Newsletter,
www.rhine.org; he is on the Windbridge Institute
Scientific Advisory Board, the Editorial Board Journal of
Ecopsychology, the Advisory Board Alternative Therapies
in Health and Medicine, and he is the 2009 Co-Chair for
Bridging Nature and Human Nature, the annual Society
for the Anthropology of Consciousness conference
co-sponsored by the Association for Transpersonal
Psychology. In addition, he is Guest Managing Editor
of the special Anthropology of Consciousness issue,
Bridging Nature and Human Nature: Envisioning
Transpersonal Ecosophy, which is due out spring 2011.
Schroll is a transpersonal cultural theorist and conference
organizer with multi-disciplinary interests ranging from
philosophy of science to ecopsychology.
Stanley Krippner, PhD, is Alan Watts professor of
psychology at Saybrook Graduate School, San Francisco,
is a Fellow of four APA divisions, and past-president of two
divisions (30 and 32). Formerly director of Maimonides
Medical Center Dream Research Laboratory, Brooklyn,
NY. He is co-author of Extraordinary Dreams (SUNY,
2002), The Mythic Path, 3rd ed. (Energy Psychology
Press, 2006), and Haunted by Combat: Understanding
PTSD in War Veterans (Greenwood, 2007), and co-editor
of Healing Tales (Puente, 2007), Healing Stories (Puente,
2007), The Psychological Impact of War on Civilians: An
International Perspective (Greenwood, 2003), Varieties
of Anomalous Experience: Examining the Scientific
Evidence (APA, 2000), and many other books.
James Fadiman, PhD, received his doctoral degree
from Stanford University doing psychedelic research
(with and without government support). As a Harvard
undergraduate he worked with Ram Dass (Richard
Alpert) and Timothy Leary. He is a cofounder of The
Institute of Transpersonal Psychology, where he still
teaches, and was the director of the Institute of Noetic
Sciences. His books include Unlimit Your Life, Essential
Sufism, Personality and Personal Growth, 5th ed, and
The Other Side of Haight.
Valerie Mojeiko, BA, Program Director and Clinical
Research Associate, has worked with MAPSthe
Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies
since 2000, facilitating research of the healing potentials
of MDMA (Ecstasy), LSD, Ibogaine and other
psychedelic medicines. In her work leading MAPS
psychedelic harm-reduction project, Valerie has prepared
over 2000 volunteers to provide peer-based psychedelic
emergency services from Burning Man to Tel Aviv.
Formerly educated at New College of Florida and the
California Institute of Integral Studies (CIIS).

Miles A. Vich, MA, D.H.L., (hon). Has served in

various roles, 1962-1999, in the fields of humanistic and
transpersonal psychology, including staff positions with
The Journal of Humanistic Psychology, and editor of
JHP (1968-1970). He is founding Board member of the
Transpersonal Institute, The Journal of Transpersonal
Psychology, and the Association for Transpersonal
Psychology. He served as Executive Director of ATP for
many years and as editor of JTP from 1975-1999. Since
retiring in 2000 he has consulted on various projects,
pursued a longstanding interest in art, and archived
many transpersonal documents in the library at the
Institute of Transpersonal Psychology, Palo Alto, and
many humanistic era documents in the University of
California Santa Barbara Davidson Library.
52 International Journal of Transpersonal Studies Schroll et al.
 AyahuascaFrom Dangerous Drug to National Heritage:
An Interview with Antonio A. Arantes1
Beatriz Caiuby Labate2 Ilana Goldstein
Heidelberg University Campinas State Univesity
Heidelberg, Germany Campinas, SP, Brazil

Translated from the Portuguese by Glenn H. Shephard

Revised by Matthew Meyer

This interview with Antonio A. Arantes, Brazilian anthropology professor and recognized
specialist on the topics of intellectual property and traditional knowledge, addresses the 2008
request by Brazilian ayahuasca groups to be recognized as part of the immaterial cultural
heritage of Brazil. In the first portion of the interview, Arantes reflects on the challenges
of the new conceptions of the Brazilian national immaterial policy program. He discusses
several examples of cultural goods recognized by the Brazilian state, such as the candombl
and the samba, and analyzes the controversial issues involving authenticity and tradition in
these and other similar cases. In the second portion, Arantes reflects on the specific case of
ayahuasca, the relationship of this cultural heritage request to legal issues, the challenges to
define exactly what aspects should be recognized, and speculates on the chances that these
religious groups will come to be recognized as a national symbol of Brazil.

I
n April of 2008, one of Brazils main ayahuasca
centers submitted paperwork to Brazils Culture
Minister, Gilberto Gil, requesting that the Instituto
do Patrimnio Histrico e Artstico Nacional (National
Institute of Historic and Artistic Heritage; IPHAN)
recognize the use of ayahuasca in religious ceremonies
as an element of Brazilian national cultural heritage.
More significantly, the paperwork was filed with the full
support of the government authorities of the Brazilian
state of Acre, including Governor Arnbio Binho
Marques and Congresswoman Perptua Almeida.
This request is currently being analyzed by IPHAN.
Ayahuasca religious groups apparently hope that this
registry will reinforce their as yet uncertain social
legitimacy. If IPHAN approves the request, it would be
a major victory for these groups whose practices, which
have been historically marginalized and discriminated,
might ultimately be enshrined as part of the countrys
national heritage.
At the same time, the registry also raises
difficult questions, since preserving a cultural practice
and traditional knowledge can mean fossilizing it
as if it were a pure and timeless form, when in fact
the religious and therapeutic practices that involve
partaking of ayahuasca are dynamic, syncretic, and at
International
Interview withJournal
A. A. Arantes
of Transpersonal Studies, 28, 2009,International
times even contradictory. As anthropologists Antonio
A. Arantes and Gilberto Velho have argued, defining
which aspects of cultural heritage should be registered
always engenders tensions, negotiations and conflicts of
interest. In the words of Velho, when examining public
policy towards national heritage, we are dealing with
complex questions that involve emotions, affections,
variable interests, preferences, tastes and heterogeneous
and contradictory projects. The heterogeneity of
complex modern societyindicates the difficulties and
limitations of a public action responsible for protecting
a heritage whose selection and definition necessarily
imply an arbitrariness, and at some level the exercise
of power (Velho, 2006, pp. 244-246; see also Arantes,
1987).
Ayahuasca is a psychoactive substance used by
diverse indigenous populations of the Amazon (Labate,
Rose, & Santos, 2009; Labate & MacRae, 2006). Its
main psychoactive ingredient is dimethyltryptamine
or DMT, which is proscribed by the United Nations
Vienna Convention of 1971 of which Brazil is a
signatory. Nonetheless, the Brazilian government
sanctions the right to religious use of ayahuasca because
of its sacramental value in the religious practices of
Santo Daime (divided between Alto Santo and Cefluris
pp. 53-64 Journal of Transpersonal Studies 53
traditions), Barquinha, and Unio do Vegetal (UDV).
Whereas Barquinha and Alto Santo have remained
restricted to the region around Rio Branco in the state of
Acre, where they were founded in the 1930s and 1940s,
the Cefluris branch of Santo Daime as well as UDV have
spread throughout Brazil, and indeed throughout the
world. Cefluris is found in a good number of Brazilian
capitals and at least twenty-five other countries. Santo
Daime, which has been viewed with as much fascination
as repugnance within Brazil, gained a degree of national
visibility in the 1980s when several actors from the
important Globo television network joined the group.
UDV is likewise present in almost all of Brazils states
as well as in Spain and the United States. In the US,
UDV recently won a major Supreme Court case, thereby
protecting the religious use of this controlled substance.
Ayahuasca is also used widely by indigenous groups
in Amazonian countries besides Brazil. Ayahuasca
shamanism is represented in popular discourse as an
ancient and widespread indigenous religious practice.
More objective studies date the oldest documented
accounts of ayahuasca use to about 300 years ago in
certain regions (cf. Gow, 1996); the current widespread
use of ayahuasca among Amazonian indigenous groups
is probably a more recent phenomenon, dating back
perhaps only a century or so (cf. Shepard, 1998).
On the 24th of June, 2008, Perus National
Institute of Culture declared the traditional knowledge
and use of ayahuasca by native Amazonian communities
as part of Peruvian national heritage. This declaration
associates it with the traditional medicine of indigenous
peoples and the cultural identity of the Amazon,
noting its therapeutic virtues. This measure appears
intended to empower Peruvian traditional medicine
and its practitioners while avoiding the appropriation
of ayahuasca for decontextualized, consumerist and
commercial Western uses (Instituto Nacional de
Cultura, 2008).
In September 2006, the oldest Daime church
the Centro de Iluminao Crist Luz Universal the registry and preservation of architectural complexes
(Universal Light Center for Christian Illumination) of
the Alto Santo tradition, dating to the 1940s and located
in an environmental protection area named after the
churchs founder Raimundo Irineu Serrahad already
been declared a state historical and cultural heritage
site by Governor Jorge Viana and Rio Branco Mayor
Raimundo Angelim.This recognition emerged when
long-term militancy on behalf of Daime centers in Rio
Branco finally met a favorable political context, since a
54 International Journal of Transpersonal Studies
number of members and sympathizers were involved in
Vianas political party, the PT or Workers Party. In the
case of the Daime church, the heritage registry referred
strictly to the material heritage of the centers oldest
buildings, and was restricted to the municipal and state
levels.3In the current case, by contrast, the request is for
recognition of immaterial heritage directly at the federal
level.
The Peruvian initiative seems to have no
connection with the parallel effort set in motion
slightly earlier in Rio Branco, on the other side of the
Peru-Brazil border. Interestingly, in the Brazilian case,
it was mostly urban religious groups of recent origin,
and not traditional indigenous communities, who
managed to establish formal legitimacy as guardians of
traditional Amazonian religious and cultural traditions.
However only by assuming the role of the native or
the traditional in the Brazilian imagination were
the ayahuasca religions able to successfully achieve
government recognition in 1986 (see Labate, 2004;
MacRae, 1992). What is new in the 2008 initiative is
that it goes beyond a generic Amazonian identity to
affirm an identity particular to the state of Acre (even
though UDV, the largest ayahuasca religion in Brazil,
emerged in the adjacent state of Rondnia).
At this point it seems relevant to present a brief
history of the institutionalization and registry of cultural
heritage in Brazil. In 1937, Decree Law 25 instituted the
Servio de Patrimnio Histrico e Artstico Nacional
(National Service for Historical and Artistic Heritage;
SPHAN). According to the laws wording, patrimnio
(heritage) is defined as the set of movable and immovable
goods existing in the countrysuch as monuments,
buildings and architectural complexesand whose
conservation is in the public interest, either by virtue of
their association with memorable events in the history
of Brazil, or because of their exceptional archeological,
ethnographic, bibliographic or artistic value (Canani,
2005, p. 170). Initially, the law led predominantly to
such as colonial Ouro Preto in Minas Gerais and the
Pelourinho in Salvador, Bahia.
Through the present, IPHAN maintains within
its mission the identification, registry, and preservation of
historical, artistic, and cultural heritage in collaboration
with state and municipal governments, with the
increasing participation of civil society. However,
the Brazilian Constitution of 1988 instituted a more
sophisticated definition of cultural heritage, including
Labate & Goldstein
both tangible and intangible goods, opening the way to
the implementation of a more pluralistic understanding
of national culture and public interest.4
The National Immaterial Cultural Heritage
Registry and the National Program for the Safeguarding
of Immaterial Heritage were created in 2000, by Federal
Decree 3551, to better contemplate cultural diversity as
well as the dynamic and progressive nature of intangible
heritage. Their innovations proposed the systematic and
inclusive identification of cultural goods, opening the
way to the possibility of questioning the dichotomy
between material and immaterial culture. Regarding the
second point, Arantes (2004) has argued that cultural
processes and products are inseparable: Things made
bear witness to ways of making things and to knowing
how to make them. They also shelter sentiments,
memories and meanings that are formed through social
relations involved in production, and in this way the
work feeds back into life and human relations. The
collective heritage produced by the work of generations
of practitioners of a given art or craft is something more
general than any individual piece produced or carried
out, or any given celebration . Rather, in each work
or memory thereof, there is the testimony of that which
someone is capable of doing (p. 13).
IPHAN originally maintained four registry
books: Historical Registry; Fine Arts Registry;
Archeological Registry; Ethnographic and Scenic
Registry; and Applied Arts Registry. To include
immaterial heritage, four new registries have been
created: Registry of Ways of Knowing, for kinds of
knowledge and ways of doing that are rooted in the daily
life of communities; Registry of Celebrations, for rituals
and festivals that mark the collective experience of work,
religiosity, entertainment and other practices of social life;
Registry of Forms of Expression, which includes literary,
musical, artistic, scenic and recreational manifestations;
and Registry of Places, which can include markets, fairs,
sanctuaries, plazas and other spaces where collective
cultural practices are concentrated and reproduced.
Protected immaterial cultural heritage in Brazil
include, for example: Kusiwa, a technique of body painting
and graphic art among the Waypi Indians of Amap
State, entered in the Registry of Forms of Expression;
Crio de Nazar, a Catholic religious festival in Belm,
Par, entered in the Registry of Celebrations; Jongo, a
style of song, dance and percussion music belonging to
the Bantu cultural heritage of Africa; the samba-de-roda
of Recncavo Baiano, a music/dance form from Bahia
Interview with A. A. Arantes
entered in the Registry of Forms of Expression; and the
Iauaret Falls, sacred sites of indigenous peoples of the
Amazon, in the Registry of Places.
A relevant question, then, is whether ayahuasca
belongs somewhere in the lists preserved by these
registries. The authors conducted a conversation with
anthropologist Antonio A. Arantes, a recognized
specialist on the related topics of intellectual property
and traditional knowledge, about the possibility of
safeguarding the religious use of ayahuasca through
the registry process. Arantes is Professor of Social
Anthropology at the State University of Campinas
(UNICAMP). He completed his undergraduate
education at the University of So Paulo (USP) and
received his doctorate in Anthropology from the
University of Cambridge, England. He has been
president of IPHAN and of So Paulo State Council for
the Defense of Historical, Artistic, Archeological and
Touristic Heritage (CONDEPHAAT), as well as the
Brazilian Anthropological Association (ABA). He has
written and edited numerous books and published articles
in Brazil and internationally including Produzindo o
Passado (Producing the Past; Arantes, 1984), Paisagens
Paulistanas (So Paulo Landscapes; Arantes, 2000a)
and O Espao da Diferena (The Space of Difference;
Arantes, 2000b). Articles in English include Diversity,
Heritage and Cultural Politics (Arantes, 2007), and
Heritage as Culture (Arantes, 2009).
Before discussing the request for IPHAN to
register ayahuasca use, we asked Antonio to explain the
difference between material and immaterial heritage,
and to discuss the main dilemmas involved in the
process of protecting cultural heritage in Brazil. The
following is a transcript of this discussion:
BEATRIZ CAIUBY LABATE (BCL) and ILANA
GOLDSTEIN (IG): Could you begin by telling us
about your career trajectory and how you came to be
involved in the issue of cultural heritage.
ANTONIO A. ARANTES (AAA): I am an
anthropologist, during my entire professional career
I have worked in this discipline, and for one reason
or another, I have ended being drawn towards issues
surrounding heritageespecially since 1982, when I
was president of CONDEPHAAT in So Paulo. From
then on, it became a kind of karma; I kept encountering
heritage in various forms. In 1988, for example, I
participated in the public hearings concerning changes
in the Constitution. One of the articles that most
interested me, and that I tried to contribute tobeing
International Journal of Transpersonal Studies 55
at that time president of the Brazilian Anthropological
Associationwas Article 216, which defines Brazilian
cultural heritage. This concept has been used in Brazil
since the creation of SPHAN in 1937 (later designated
as IPHAN); however it was originally guided by a
conception of heritage that referred to aesthetic and
historical values of a single, let us say hegemonic,
culture in the country: a culture of the elite. There were
difficulties in accepting the fact that Brazilian culture
was built upon the contribution of different social groups
at different times and in different historical contexts.
In heritage matters, there was this hegemonic vision of
white, Catholic, Portuguese heritage, well-represented
by colonial architecture .
(BCL/IG): What are the major icons within this
conception of heritage?
(AAA): The city of Ouro Preto (Minas Gerais State)
is a good example. The citys architectural ensemble
and several individual buildings were some of the first
items of Brazilian cultural heritage to be protected,
and for various reasons: some of its churches exemplify
the singularity and high artistic quality of Brazilian
Baroque, permitting the demarcation of Brazils position
in relation to world high culture history. But Brazilian
society obviously is a much more diverse reality than
this notion of heritage allowed for. Thus it was only
in the 1980s, with the explosion of social movements
and their increasing pressure on the public sphere, that
different groups and segments of Brazilian society came
to have a fuller voice, expression, and role in Brazilian
legislation surrounding cultural rights.
(BCL/IG): So until this time, Brazilian legislation
spoke only of material heritage and goods produced
or recognized by elites?
(AAA): It referred to productions of material nature,
artifacts with historical, artistic, ethnological or scenic
value, always contemplated in terms of productions
whose value as heritage was attributed by academia,
which is to say, academic research was the main technical
and legal justification for protection by the state.
(BCL/IG): What was the new discussion that emerged
in the 1980s?
(AAA): In fact, three discussions were at stake. First, there
were debates concerning the fact that manifestations of
cultural practices are not restricted to artifacts of material
nature. There are important activities recognized by
the population, like festivals, religious practices or
craft techniques which express more effectively than
architectural monuments and artistic masterpieces the
56 International Journal of Transpersonal Studies
values and cultural conceptions of a large number of
social groups. Thus cultural heritage cannot be restricted
to objects and buildings. Secondly, debates surrounded
the idea of hegemony. In a democratic society it makes
no sense to restrict state protection only to those cultural
productions associated with the dominant groups. The
formation of national heritage should include social
and ethnic diversity, should address the stratification
and plurality that constitute the country as a nation.
And thirdly, which is an important consequence of
the previous issue, the values attributed to patrimonial
artifacts and practices should not be restricted to those
recognized by academic knowledge (architecture,
ethnology, history, archaeology, etc.) but include as well
artifacts and practices recognized by concrete social
groups as references to their identities, memories and
distinctive practices (i.e., as their own patrimony).
(BCL/IG): How did IPHAN and other government
agencies incorporate these discussions?
(AAA): In 1988, Brazil approved a new constitution
containing that perspective. But only in the year
2000 was this conception given the legal wherewithal
allowing for the development of policies and actions
aimed at safeguarding immaterial heritage in Brazil:
namely, Decree Law 3551, elaborated by IPHAN and
the Ministry of Culture, with the contribution of various
specialists, including myself.
(BCL/IG): In practical terms, what changes did
Decree 3551 bring about?
(AAA): Most of all, it distinguished between the
legal instruments of protection to be used for the
conservation of immaterial heritage from those used for
material heritage. In the case of material heritage, we
are talking about tombamento (herinafter translated as
listing), a legal institution that implies the maintenance
or physical conservation of artifacts, depending on the
criteria of valuehistoric, artistic, scenicattributed
to it in the moment it is transformed into an item of
heritage. Obviously, cultural productions are not
generated within their original cultural context as
heritage: they are only ascribed a distinctive value as
heritage a posteriori, usually in the context of nation
building processes. A work of art that is listed should be
conserved, to the extent possible, exactly as its creators
envisioned. Listing does not permit, except in unusual
cases, any kind of intervention that alters the protected
cultural item. A building, on the other hand, constructed
for the appropriation in daily life of a population, may
be subject to somewhat more flexible orientations,
Labate & Goldstein
allowing changes in use that occur throughout decades
or centuries. However none of this works for immaterial
culture, which is alive and dynamic. It does not make
sense for the state to identify an emblematic practice of
some segment of the population in a given moment, and
demand that it be maintained exactly the same way by
its practitioners. Intangible heritage is living culture in
permanent transformation. In relation to safeguarding
immaterial heritageand note here the use of the term
safeguard (salvaguarda), and not listing (tombamento)
one of the best definitions I ever heard was given by K.
Vatsyayan in her opening address at a meeting in New
Delhi. According to her, intangible heritage should
be nourished, not preserved. Which is to say, upon
identifying an activity as warranting special attention,
the role of the state is to contribute to its vitality and
longevity, to guarantee the conditions of its ongoing
performance or production for as long as the concerned
cultural communities find it meaningful to keep them.
(BCL/IG): Were you already working at IPHAN
when the Decree was being elaborated? How did you
become a participant in the process?
(AAA): During this time, I and a team from my office
were working as consultants, and at IPHANs request
we developed a methodology used in the inventory of
immaterial cultural heritage in Brazil that serves as
a guide in the registry process through today. This
methodology considers, above all, that the identification
of significant cultural practices should originate from
the value attributed to them by the social groups
involved. Of course the construction of heritage is an
activity that demands collaboration between the state
and civil society; but the nomination or selection of
practices relevant to the expression and re-elaboration of
a given social groups identity should be done by its own
members, based on the principles of self-identification
and self-determination. The role which various segments
of society (associations, cultural entities, etc.) play as
protagonists is absolutely fundamental in this process.
(BCL/IG): It was an innovative approach
(AAA): It was totally innovative, because until then,
the nomination was made on the basis of academic
researcharchitectural history, art history, archeology.
And, by the way, this was not a matter of our own
choosing since the new text of the Constitution stated
that the productions which constitute national cultural
heritage are those which serve as important references
to the identity of the social groups that form the nation.
Now, the almost insolvable problem the researcher faces
Interview with A. A. Arantes
is identifying which social groups form a nation, since
these are not fixed and discrete entities .
(BCL/IG): You mention self-identification and active
participation of diverse social groups in the definition
of Brazilian cultural heritage. Is there a limit to this?
I can nominate my club, my neighborhood, and you
can nominate yours, for example?
(AAA): This is an important question which demands
very complex decisions that are not just decisions of a
technical nature; they are basically political questions.
Certainly a dialog between the state and society is
implicated. The groups may nominate their practices,
but one must then verify to see whether these practices
echo throughout the larger societyif they make sense
considering the existing legislation.
(BCL/IG): You mean the definition of heritage
results from a negotiation which can be conflictive,
and depends upon obtaining recognition from the
state.
(AAA): Exactly. Even if a segment of the population
attributes a special value to a given practice, it only
becomes heritage in the strict sense of the term with
the legal implications of that new condition, when it is
formally recognized by the agency legally responsible
for this process. Upon recognizing a given cultural
practice or production as being of interest as heritage,
the state becomes co-responsible for its conservation,
maintenance or nourishment. The state becomes
yet another actor in the cultural process. One must
remember that all actions taken in this regard belong
to a broader set of actions adopted worldwide. In
2003, UNESCO approved the Convention for the
Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage, of
which Brazil is a signatory. This convention establishes
certain parameters: at the moment this recognition
is given, certain responsibilities among all the parties
involved are created. Ultimately, the social groups must
seek out and desire the partnership of the state, while
the state, representing the broader public interest, must
evaluate the legitimacy of the request presented and its
accordance with the existing legislation.
(BCL/IG): What were the first requests for registry
of immaterial cultural heritage that arrived at
IPHAN?
(AAA): Before 2003, two important requests had
already been received, and these were the first to be
acted upon: Kusiwa art, of the Waypi Indians of
Amap, and the ceramic pot production of Goiabeiras,
in the state of Esprito Santo. Kusiwa art is a language
International Journal of Transpersonal Studies 57
of body painting expressed through the combination of
a series of Waypi cosmological symbols, a combination
of symbols that is not fixed. Fortunately, there is much
high quality ethnographic literature in Brazil, so much
of the necessary work for the identification of this
and other immaterial cultural productions can take
advantage of the available ethnographic information.
At any rate, once Kusiwa art was recognized, it was
necessary to create a program to safeguard this practice,
which includes, for example, the construction of a center
for indigenous documentation in the Waypi Indigenous
Land. I was there in December of 2008 and the building
was being completed.
(BCL/IG): So in some sense, the Waypis registration
of immaterial cultural heritage resulted in the
creation of a piece of material heritage.
(AAA): You see, all immaterial heritage, to be recognized
in some form, depends on material documentation,
whether they be textual, photographic, aural or in the
actual execution of a song, dance, or ornamentation by
the stakeholders of that tradition.
(BCL/IG): And what about the ceramic makers of
Goiabeiras?
(AAA): The Goiabeiras potters make all those pans and
plates used in the traditional regional Capixabacuisine.
In this case, the technique of ceramic manufacture
was registered, and this produced a very important
side effect because the artisans were facing a serious
problem, the construction of a city dump right next to
the clay deposits where they gathered raw materials for
making their pots. Recognizing the ceramic technique
as national heritage forced the state to take measures
to prevent the degradation of the natural resources
necessary to produce these wares.
(BCL/IG): What other requests were recognized
by IPHAN, after Kusiwa art and the Goiabeiras
ceramics?
(AAA): Oh, there have been so manyI cant remember
them all right now. But it is worth mentioning samba,
an emblematic Brazilian practice, especially in the
international context. At the time, one of the problems we
faced at IPHAN was, Which samba? Because samba
includes everything from the televised parades in the
Marques de Sapuca Samba Stadium, to products of the
record industry, to the work of little-known composers
and performers, to samba-de-roda street dancing, to
the improvised drumming sessions in bars. The same
cultural practice, or rather the same language, is carried
out in different ways in the national territory. Samba is
58 International Journal of Transpersonal Studies
all this. Today, it would be difficult to imagine that any
of the different levels of this reality could exist without
reference or feedback to the others. It is all interrelated.
When the question arose of whether samba should
be considered a national heritage, and proposed to
UNESCOs program of masterpieces of humanitys oral
and immaterial heritage, a decision was made to choose
the samba-de-roda tradition of Recncavo Baiano in
Bahia. Why? Because it refers to a specific community
of practitioners, or to various communities in the same
region; it refers to a particular mode of expression, with
its own instruments, harmonies, repertory, clothing and
choreography. It could be interpreted as a contemporary
expression of the source that, in some sense, gave rise to
various other expressions of samba.
(BCL/IG): Was there much conflict in arriving
at a consensus before choosing samba-de-roda of
Recncavo?
(AAA): Not exactly conflict, but there was lots of
argument and discussion. A decision was made to work
with samba-de-roda in Bahia as a point of departure for
a work that should later include a whole set of variants of
this traditional choreographic and musical expression.
It would be the same problem in the case of the Bumba-
meu-boi performance [from Northeast Brazil, which has
now spread as far as the Amazon]. I always defended the
position that there exists no variant that is more true or
authentic than any others. Nothing is more original,
in the sense of being the same as what was done 70 or
200 years ago. Everything is in dialog with everything
else. At most, we can try to find variants practiced by
more culturally conservative communities.
(BCL/IG): You spoke of more essentialist variants.
In anthropology, the question of essentializing
culture by researchers and by the practitioners
themselveshas been thoroughly problematized. Is
this the kind of essentialism you refer to?
(AAA): Essentialism is a perspective that sees cultural
identities and practices as things kept in a kind of locked
chest. Social groups are seen as if they wereor should
bepermanently bound to the same stock of distinctive
cultural emblems. From this perspective, the golden
age of cultures and of cultural diversity is always in the
past, and change is understood as loss of authenticity.
Yet this view runs contrary to history; it rejects the
dynamism of culture and the ever-changing nature of
social identities.
(BCL/IG): Yet generally this is the native viewpoint,
which is to say, the discourse of practitioners always
Labate & Goldstein
affirms that their practice is original, it conserves
and follows a certain tradition.
(AAA): No, I dont think it is always like that. There
are many cases in which innovation is valued. Moreover,
this is a serious problem in relation to preserving
material heritage. For example, it is difficult to preserve
architectural ensembles, because the owners or dwellers
of the buildings want to change the faade, they want
to put in more modern windows, they want to install
air-conditioning. Anyway, they want to take advantage
of these historic buildings by integrating them into
todays way of life. On the other hand, it is true that
various social groups reclaim practices and values that
they consider to be traditional. There are groups that
seek, for example, to recover pieces that were removed
from their villages and taken to museums, to review
song recordings or photograph documentations of a
certain era, to reconstruct a language. The reinvention of
activities that are no longer practiced, through valorizing
old or earlier practicesand I didnt say traditionalis itself through samba-de-roda, they were recognized for
happening all over the world, not just in Brazil.
(BCL/IG): Going back to the process of recognition
cultural heritage, when the government selects
variants that are to be preserved, does this not draw
lines between that which is and is not traditional, or
considering certain practices more legitimate than
the rest?
(AAA): More and more questions are being raised, both
in theory and practice, about the forms of safeguarding
immaterial heritage that freeze cultural practices in time.
As I mentioned earlier, the function of preservation as
public policy is to nourish, to aerate and to provide
conditions for the cultural practices to continue
flourishing, despite the asphyxiating influence of the
market economy. It is consistent with this perspective
that variation and variability must be included in the
safeguarding policies because they are important aspects
of the ultimate reality aimed by heritage preservation,
namely, cultural history. However in many cases,
a choice is necessary as to what to preserve and what
not. The construction of cultural heritage is a selective
process. So, as this is a process that takes place in the
public sphere in name of public interest, the criteria
to be adopted for such choosing should be explicitly
formulated and politically validated. When we were
discussing the UNESCO program, I forgot to explain
that one of the main reasons we prioritized samba-de-
roda in Bahia was that this variant was in an especially
precarious situation, not far from extinction, for many
Interview with A. A. Arantes
reasons I wont go into here. So it needed an urgent and
effective support. But this did not mean that the urban
samba in Rio, which is behind the compositions which
are recorded by the music industry, could be left aside,
and so it too was registeredfor a different reasonas a
national heritage element.
(BCL/IG): Can the recognition of cultural heritage
generate unanticipated negative consequences for
these very practices, like folklorization?
(AAA): Our experience with safeguarding intangible
heritage does not yet have enough history to permit a
deeper evaluation. Remember that this effectively began
in Brazil in 2003. Its now 2008, thats only five years.
But I think you are right, it can cause standardization,
freezing or folklorization. For example, if samba-de-
roda turned into a performance exclusively for the stage.
When it was decided to safeguard samba-de-roda, it was
because some communities in particular practiced it in
their own midst, their sense of community expressed
this kind of music and dance, this was a practice which
nourished their social relations. If this dance were to be
taken on stage, and only for the stage, if it were to be
performed by professional dancers and presented through
contracts with show business entrepreneurs, the original
sense of preservation would have been lost, because the
ties of the practice with such communities would have
been lost. Which is to say: it is not exactly the music
and dance, but rather a given social group performing
music and dance, which requires protection.
(BCL/IG): Doesnt restricting recognition of a
cultural variant associated with a specific community
restrict the scope of heritage protection?
(AAA): The case of viola de cocho [a guitar style] raises
interesting questions in this regard. Viola de cocho was
studied and identified as cultural heritage in the state of
Mato Grosso do Sul [South Mato Grosso], however the
manufacture and use of this kind of guitar predates the
division between southern and northern Mato Grosso.
The association of this kind of guitar with South
Mato Grosso led to huge protest. They said, its from
Mato Grosso, period, neither North nor South. But
remember, it had been declared a national heritage. The
fact is that the prestige of the local guitar makers, the
luthiers, and the interest of this musical genre among
guitar players in general has grown with the recognition
of the instrument and the associated musical styles as
something of value for the nation. This is an important
point. All immaterial heritage refers initially to specific
International Journal of Transpersonal Studies 59
communities of practitioners, but the recognition of this
practice, of this knowledge, as being a part of the official
heritage gives it a broader value and meaning beyond
the local context.
(BCL/IG): Lets turn to the case of ayahuasca. In 2008,
a request was filed for the recognition of ayahuasca
as a part of Brazilian immaterial heritage. Do you
know of similar petitions from other countries?
(AAA): Ayahuasca, in my understanding, involves a
whole process of preparing the tea, of cultivating and
managing the plants, as well as being associated with
certain religious practices, world views and forms
of sociability. It is necessary to define which of these
aspects we are talking about.
(BCL/IG): Thats a good question. There doesnt
seem to be much clarity as to exactly what should be
safeguarded: the religious rituals, the religions, the
substance itself . The very groups that submitted
the petition, articulated through the Garibaldi Brasil
Foundation (the municipal cultural foundation of
Rio Branco), had to carry out a series of meetings
to try to define what should be recognized. We
heard from Marcos Vincius Neves, president of the
Garibaldi Foundation, that they are trying to change
the focus from the rituals and the religion to the idea
of a culture of ayahuasca. What do you think of
this?
(AAA): I dont remember of an example of a successful
registry of this type. Actually, there are a few cases,
which I would prefer not to specify, of proposals to
safeguard religious cultures that did not work out
very well, because the efficiency and usefulness of the
instrument of heritage safeguarding depends on the
specificity of the cultural item and its stakeholders.
Anything can be considered cultural. If there are no
limits to safeguarding actions, then we wont know
what to do. For the safeguarding of some production or
cultural practice to take place, it is not enough to just
recognize it publicly, like a kind of diploma granting.
Rather, it is necessary to develop a set of concrete
safeguarding actions, a so-called safeguarding plan.
Thus, if what is intended is to safeguard the knowledge
of preparing the tea and cultivating the plants, there will
be appropriate technical and legal instruments for this;
also to be considered are aspects and techniques which
should or should not be made public, since the registry
of cultural heritage confers tremendous publicity on the
practices and knowledge systems involved. If the rituals
were chosen for safeguarding, it would also be necessary
60 International Journal of Transpersonal Studies
to specify which aspects will be safeguarded and made
public, and guarantee that they are present in adequate
circumstances for their reproduction and vitality,
questions that can only be resolved by the practicing
community.
(BCL/IG): Talking of a community in this case
might not make sense. Wouldnt it be better to talk
about various communities in Rio Branco?
(AAA): Actually, I find the term ayahuasca community
to be vague. It would be like saying, the samba players
of Brazil. Vague and overly inclusive categories are not
appropriate for elaborating plans of heritage protection.
(BCL/IG): We dont yet know what the object of
the proposed recognition will be, but, supposing
it does happen, would protection of the knowledge
associated with ayahuasca extend to all practitioners,
or would it be restricted to the groups who filed the
petition?
(AAA): It depends on the kind of action that is
planned. There are some actions more aimed at
specific practitioners, while others reach practitioners
as a whole. Lets say there is a group of practitioners
that maintains exemplary and exceptional knowledge
about the cultivation and preparation of the substance.
Some actions could be developed with this group in
particular, with the aim of protecting and valorizing
their activity. But it is also possible to think in terms
of an action plan that would include collecting the
available documentation about transformations the
practice has undergone through the decades or years,
thus systematizing the local variants in order to create
a national center of reference about ayahuasca. This
center would be a protection measure that would be
meaningful to the whole community, and not just for
practitioners, but for researchers as well.
(BCL/IG): From what we have learned to date,
Barquinha, the church of CICLU-Alto Santo and
Unio do Vegetal were the authors of the petition
filed at IPHAN and the idea is that the knowledge
associated with the different groups be safeguarded.
However one observes a tremendous variety and
a great expansion of the use of ayahuasca: some
groups have subdivided and claim to follow a certain
lineage, others say they are the legitimate heirs of
some Master, and so on. How would government
recognition deal with this existing plurality?
(AAA): One approach to the situation would be classify
the various forms, and within each, choose exemplary
cases. This happened with the candombl terreiros [Afro-
Labate & Goldstein
Brazilianshrines] in Bahia. Anthropological research
was carried out with hundreds of existing centers,
funded by IPHAN and the state Institute of Cultural
Heritage of Bahia. What did they do? They mapped the
existing temples in Salvador, identified the various types
to which they belonged and for each type they indicated
the most significant exemplars. This anthropological
classification is a construction, a modeland this is
importantthat represents the configuration of the
practice in that particular moment, not a substantive
part of the observed realities. Evidently, if the inventory
had been done decades earlier or decades later, the result
would have been different.
(BCL/IG): Did this classification of candombl
made by anthropologists and the government
incorporate the native viewpoint, which is to say,
the traditionalist discourse that recognizes some
terreiros as more authentic and traditional than
others?
This kind of value judgment was not present, as far as
I know. We are talking about differentiation. To say
that A is different from B is not to say that it is inferior
or superior. Now, it may be that treating A and B as
equivalent, in the same system of classification, bothers
both A and B, who would prefer not to be identified as
belonging to the same sack of flour. From the point
of view of preserving the practice, what matters is the
principle behind the formation of the various temples
and religious lineages, the dynamic of fragmentation and
fusion. The anthropological study should focus on this
dynamic principle, which will help explain the types that
exist both prior to and after the typology is formalized.
If the idea is to safeguard the practice, then we need
guarantees that will maintain an adequate expression
of the diversity that constitutes candombl, for example.
It makes no sense to sanitize, to elevate those aspects
considered more pure: it would be like trying to
preserve plant life by making collections of old leaves.
(BCL/IG): Do you have any guesses as to what
might be the significance or impact of government
recognition of ayahuasca and related knowledge?
(AAA): I believe this would be a significant social
fact, which is to say, there are an enormous number
of practitioners among indigenous peoples and the
Amazonian rural population, even in national and
international urban populations. Which aspect should
be the subject of safeguarding is a question that can only
be answered by a thorough study and, in this process,
dialog with the practitioners should be fundamental. It is
Interview with A. A. Arantes
totally inappropriate for the state to take decisions about
safeguarding that do not emerge from the interests of the
practitioners; this would be like forcing them to carry
through with something they do not value, or which to
which they attribute a negative value.
(BCL/IG): Ayahuasca contains DMT, a psychoactive
substance proscribed by UN conventions and which
is criminalized in many countries. Thus, there has
been a polemic in Brazil that predates the request
for heritage registry with respect to the actual legal
status of ayahuasca or, rather, whether its use is
legal or not, if it is or is not a dangerous drug, and
so on. Today, the Brazilian government does not
exactly have a law, but an accumulation of opinions
and resolutions recognizing the right to ritual
and religious use of ayahuasca. Do you think its
recognition as cultural heritage could minimize or
even eradicate the persecution and marginalization
of this practice?
(AAA): Yes and no. A lot depends on how things are set
into play. If the state recognizes that it is in the public
interest to protect a practice that includes the use of
a proscribed substance, then it would have to create a
legal framework so that the practice can be carried out
fully and openly. So, if today there is a certain lack of
legal definition in relation to the status of ayahuasca, a
safeguarding plan that includes the use of the substance
would necessarily create a commitment on behalf of
the state to the rights of users. That is the first angle.
Now, there is another, more conservative, way of
seeing the question: the state follows certain norms,
substantiated in the existing legislation, national as well
as international in the event that the country has ratified
these conventions. From this perspective, practices
which violate these norms could not, on principle, be
recognized as items of cultural heritage. We know for
example that in certain regions of the world female
circumcision (or genital mutilation) is a common and
acceptable form of expressing, well, social identity. But a
proposal for making such a practice into an item of world
heritage, or of oral and cultural heritage of humanity,
would certainly not be accepted by an institution like
UNESCO. Returning to the case of ayahuasca, if
Brazilian legislation proscribes aspects of the ritual
practice, it could not be proclaimed by that very same
state as a piece of national heritage.
(BCL/IG): Its not quite like that. There is a 2004
opinion that explicitly affirms the ritual and religious
use of ayahuasca as a right. It even recognizes the
International Journal of Transpersonal Studies 61
right of a pregnant woman or an underage minor to
consume ayahuasca in this context. Only ayahuasca
outside the ritual context would be punishable.
(AAA): If there is a legal exception to this prohibition, it
would be up to the safeguarding agency to proceed with
a public clarification of the issue.
(BCL/IG): The first reaction of the media has been
precisely that: Oh, now were going to recognize
cocaine. Or, Why not recognize the cachaa (BCL/IG): Is there any chance that efforts by ayahuasca
[Brazilian sugar cane liquor]? The problem of the
legal status of ayahuasca is that, although there is
legal recognition for religious use, there are tenuous
boundaries and gray zones that rest in a kind of legal
vacuum. In this way, paradoxical situations emerge,
for example, in Canada, where the right to religious
use of ayahuasca was recognized after years of legal
battle led by a Santo Daime group. And so then
the Canadian government asks Brazil to provide a
document from Itamaraty [the Department of State]
officially declaring that ayahuasca can be exported,
and the Brazilian government refuses to do so. Another
example is Americans who want to come to Brazil to
participate in religious rituals with ayahuasca, and
upon declaring so, have their visas denied.
(AAA): Exactly, a safeguarding plan presupposes changes
in this context. If ayahuasca use is recognized as an
item of natural cultural heritage, it would be hoped the
Ministry of Culture, which regulates IPHAN, would act
in concert with other federal agencies to guarantee the
free use of this substance in the rituals.
(BCL/IG): We sense a concern among certain
ayahuasca groups with what they consider to be
inappropriate and vulgar use of ayahuasca, for
example, ayahuasca commercialization, ayahuasca
tourism, or the excessive diversification of the practices
to a point where they lose all connection with the
original practices. They understand safeguarding
in the sense of protecting their practices from this
vulgarization.
(AAA): Thats why I say that the first thing that must be
done is talk with the practitioners. Its not the state that
will define the limits of the safeguarding, the practices
must say, there are practices which we consider spurious.
The state is expected merely to mediate the negotiations.
(BCL/IG): In Peru, the use of ayahuasca is
safeguarded, however associated exclusively with
indigenous populations and therapeutic use. In
Brazil on the other hand, it is associated with rural
and urban Christian religions, while government
62 International Journal of Transpersonal Studies
reports condemn the therapeutic use of ayahuasca.
Can a practice be recognized as heritage in one way
here and another way in Peru?
(AAA): Well, its that the same practice has different
values in distinct contexts. UNESCO recognition does
not necessarily mean standardization. In this context,
immaterial cultural heritage refers to real populations in
specific territories.
groups to present themselves as representing a
genuinely Brazilian religion will go somewhere?
(AAA): Its this genuinely that gets in the way. I
think it could be recognized as one of the expressions of
religiosity in Brazil. It is difficult to talk about Brazilian
religiosity in general, since were talking about such
diverse populations with their respective historical and
cultural experiences.
(BCL/IG): In Acre a tendency is also emerging to
associate ayahuasca use with a certain pride in being
from Acre, or in Amazonian identity.
(AAA): Regional value is one of the values ayahuasca
takes on. Locally, in the state of Acre, it is being used
to construct an identity. It could be that in So Paulo,
it does not have this same value: values attributed to
practices are always situational.
(BCL/IG): With regard to the role of indigenous
peoples, how might you explain the fact that
ayahuasca groups mention indigenous origins in
the paperwork for requesting recognition, while
in practice they maintain a certain distance from
indigenous practices?
(AAA): I dont know, maybe the very history of ayahuasca
associates it symbolically with indigenous populations.
It is probably an appropriation of indigenous practices, a
construction of new meanings. In any event, it is up to
whoever guides the process of safeguarding to consult
with any indigenous groups who might be involved.
Because the delimitation of what to safeguard results in a
political decision. Moreover, whatever is done in relation
to ayahausca in Brazil will have impacts on its use by
diverse groups, those who were included in the registry
process and those who werent. Thats why I repeat that
the inclusion of a social group in the process of registry
is a serious political and intellectual decision.
(BCL/IG): Can a religion be recognized as immaterial
cultural heritage?
(AAA): Not a whole religion. But a divinatory practice
such as throwing cowry shells, for example, was presented
by Nigeria as traditional knowledge in a program to
Labate & Goldstein
proclaim immaterial cultural heritage of humanity, and
it was proclaimed as such.
(BCL/IG): What chance do you give this request for
going ahead and achieving recognition by IPHAN?
(AAA): I think that the institution has to adopt a
firm attitude regarding the legal restrictions and
social interdictions surrounding the consumption of
ayahuasca. As long as there is no clarity in this aspect,
I think the process will be long and tortuous. It will be
less controversial to gather and conserve the existing
documentation about this practice in the country. But is
this what the ayahuasca communities really seek?
(BCL/IG): What about the question of religious
secrets, with regard to the request of recognition of
ayahuasca use?
(AAA): This is another important question that must be
taken into account. Without a doubt, aspects could be
revealed that might not be appropriate to make public,
even with regard to the cultural intimacy of the group
involved. Thus the discussion requires much forethought:
what aspects of these practices are going to be revealed?
Some might need to remain accessible only to the
initiated, to those who have a moral commitment to the
continuity of the practice. But the cutoff line should be
decided by the practitioners.
(BCL/IG): To conclude, wed like to ask a question
about intellectual property, a topic we know you have
specialized in. Since the mid 1980s, Unio do Vegetal
(UDV), one of the main ayahuasca groups, has
registered with the Institute of Industrial Property
the names of elements and entities in its pantheon
such as Caupuri, Lupunamanta, Chacrona, Mariri,
Hoasca, Tiauco and Rei Inca. However some of these
terms are common to the whole universe of ayahuasca
shamanism in the Amazon. From a legal standpoint,
does this mean that other religious groups are
prohibited from using in their own rituals names that
were registered by UDV?
(AAA): They can use these terms in the rituals, but they
would probably be prohibited in a commercial context.
When a brand is registered, what is registered is the
denomination of a product in the market. And there
cannot be two products in the market with the same
denomination. On the other hand, I doubt that proper
names and geographical denominations can be used as
brand names in this sense. A legal consultation would
be required. The fact is, with this kind of registry, there
must be proof of priority in the public use of the name or
substance to have precedence over others.
Interview with A. A. Arantes
(BCL/IG): Is there anything youd like to add to
finish up our conversation?
(AAA): I think that the essential thing in this long
conversation is that people not forget that tangible and
intangible cultural heritage are social constructions that
result from the negotiation between society and the state,
aimed at developing actions in relationship to which
both the state and the society must take responsibility.
Thus, its not just a proclamation, in which somethings
importance is announced; its much more than that,
because, when the state shines a spotlight on a certain
practice and commits itself to its safeguarding, a new
fact is created in the cultural universe, on the horizon
of wherever that production or practice originally
belonged, and this produces consequences. You can
never call too much attention to the social responsibility
of the agencies which develop programs and activities
of heritage protection, as well as of those groups which
maintain these practices or productions.
Notes
1. An earlier Portuguese language version of this paper
was published as A preservao do intangvel in
the online journal Trpico (November 11, 2009).
Available at: http://p.php.uol.com.br/tropico/html/
textos/3140,1.shl
2. In cases where English versions of quotations from
Portuguese references are offered in this paper,
translations were done by the authors.
3. A similar request of recognition ofcultural material
heritage was sent by Alto Santo to IPHAN, together
with the requests to the municipal and state
authorities. The letter is dated July 14, 2006, but as
of the date of publication a response has not been
issued.
4. According to article 216 of the Brazilian Constitu
tion, Brazilian cultural heritage consists of those
goods of material and immaterial nature, taken
individually or in sets, which carry reference to the
identity, action and memory of the different groups
that make up Brazilian society. Eligible forms
of expression include: ways of creating, making
and living; scientific, artistic and technological
inventions; works, objects, documents, buildings
and other spaces designated for artistic and
cultural manifestations; urban complexes and
sites with historical, scenic, artistic, archeological,
paleontological, ecological or scientific value.
International Journal of Transpersonal Studies 63
 References MacRae, E. (1992). Guiado pela lua: Xamanismo e uso
ritual da ayahuasca no culto do Santo Daime. So
Arantes, A. A. (Ed.). (1984). Produzindo o passado. So Paulo, SP, Brazil: Brasiliense. Available in English
Paulo, SP, Brazil: Brasiliense. translation (Guided by the moon: Shamanism
Arantes, A. A. (1987). La preservacin de bienes culturales and the ritual use of ayahuasca in the Santo
y del folklore como prctica social en Brasil. Folklore Daime religion in Brazil) at http://www.neip.info/
Americano, 44, 63-71. downloads/edward/ebook.htm
Arantes, A. A. (2000a). Paisagens paulistanas. Campinas, Shepard, G. (1998). Psychoactive plants and ethno
SP, Brazil: Editora da Unicamp. psychiatric medicines of the Matsigenka. Journal of
Arantes, A. A. (Ed.). (2000b). O espao da diferena. Pyschoactive Drugs, 30(4), 321-332.
Campinas, SP, Brazil: Papirus. Velho, G. (2006). Patrimnio, negociao e conflito.
Arantes, A. A. (2004). O patrimnio imaterial e a Mana, 12(1), 237-248.
sustentabilidade de sua salvaguarda. Revista Da
Cultura, 4(7), 9-14. Available at http://www.funceb. About the Authors
org.br/pdf.html
Arantes, A. A. (2007). Diversity, heritage and cultural Beatriz Caiuby Labate, MA, serves as an anthropologist
politics. Theory, Culture & Society, 24(7-8), 290- on the Research Staff at the Institute of Medical
296. Psychology at Heidelberg University in Germany and is
Arantes, A. A. (2009). Heritage as culture. In T. Kono a Member of the Collaborative Research Center (SFB
(Ed.), Intangible cultural heritage and intellectual 619) Ritual DynamicsSocio-Cultural Processes from
property (pp. 51-75). Antwerp, Belgium: Intersentia. a Historical and Culturally Comparative Perspective
Canani, A. S. K. B. (2005). Herana, sacralidade e poder: (www.ritualdynamik.de). She can be contacted through
Sobre as diferentes categorias do patrimnio histrico her website: bialabate.net
e cultural no Brasil. Horizontes Antropolgicos, 11(23),
163-175. Ilana Goldstein, MA, is a doctoral candidate in
Gow, P. (1996). River people: Shamanism and history in Social Anthropology at Campinas State University
Western Amazonia. In N. Thomas & C. Humphrey (UNICAMP) in the state of So Paulo, Brazil. She is one
(Eds.), Shamanism, history, and the state (pp. 90-113). of the founders and a member of the editorial board of
Ann Arbor, MI: University of Michigan Press. ProaRevista de Arte e Antropologia (www.ifch.unicamp.
Instituto Nacional de Cultura (2008, June 24). br/proa). She can be contacted at ilagolds@yahoo.com
Declaracin Patrimnio Cultural de la nacin a los
conocimientos y usos tradicionales de la ayahuasca
praticados por comunidades nativas amaznicas.
Resolucin Directoral Nacional, no. 836. Lima,
Peru: Author. Available at: http://www.bialabate.net/
wp-content/uploads/2008/08/declarion_ayahuasca_
patrimonio_cultural_peru.pdf Available in English
translation at: http://www.bialabate.net/wp-
content/uploads/2008/08/declaration_ayahuasca_
patrimony_peru_20081.pdf
Labate, B. C. (2004). A reinveno do uso da ayahuasca
nos centros urbanos. Campinas, SP, Brazil: Mercado
de Letras.
Labate, B. C., & MacRAE, E. (Eds.). (2006) The light
from the forest: The ritual use of ayahuasca in Brazil.
Fieldwork in Religion, 2(3), 197-414.
Labate, B. C., Rose, I. S., & Santos, R. G. (2009).
Ayahuasca religions: A comprehensive bibliography and
critical essays. Santa Cruz, CA: MAPS.
64 International Journal of Transpersonal Studies Labate & Goldstein
 Perspectives in Spirituality:
Introduction to Special Topic Section
Glenn Hartelius
Institute of Transpersonal Psychology
Palo Alto, CA, USA
Harris Friedman
University of Florida
Gainesville, FL, USA

From a transpersonal perspective, science and
spiritual traditions together point toward a different
container within which to hold the processes of scholarly
inquirynot one that reduces spiritual experience to
biological epiphenomena, as modernism does; not one
that trivializes it into a wholly subjective and relativistic
construct in the spirit of postmodernism; not one that
settles for a traditionalist epistemology simply because
modernism and postmodernism give little substance
to human meaning-making processes. Rather, the
transpersonal project reaches for a philosophy, for ways
of knowing, for research methodologies that walk the
razors edge between the objectivity of science and the
inner phenomena of human experience, including
spirituality.
From the start such an undertaking is fraught
with obvious challenges, for how is it possible to grasp the
essential nature of, say, a spiritual tradition without being
immersed in it, and if one is immersed in it, how is it
possible to do scholarship that does not simply represent
a traditional and parochial view. If someone immersed
in such a path subsequently assumes an objective stance,
has that person now stepped outside of the tradition and
into another traditionthat of science?
The relevance of the underlying issue reaches
beyond the topic of spirituality, for qualitative research,
now widely used in marketing, politics, and some
branches of psychology, presents a parallel challenge:
how to understand subjective experience through the
International Journal
Introduction of Transpersonal
to Special pp. 65-67 Journal of Transpersonal Studies 65
Topic SectionStudies, 28, 2009,International
application of purportedly objective methods. In fact,
there is something quite paradoxical about qualitative
research: If I have an experience and write it down, my
report is subjective; if I have an experience and report
it to a researcher who is studying this phenomenon,
my report now becomes objective data. The mere act
of communicating my experiential report to a person
with an appropriate graduate degree appears to have a
transformative effect on its nature. At the very least, this
example points to the complexity of the issues that still
surround the study of spirituality and other phenomena
of experience.
In response to these unresolved issues, the
offerings in the special topic section on Perspectives
in Spirituality offer an appropriately wide variety of
approaches. The first piece, by David King and Teresa
DeCicco of Trent University in Canadas Ontario
province, is entitled, A Viable Model and Self-Report
Measure of Spiritual Intelligence. It begins with an
intriguing four-factor analysis of spiritual intelligence: it
proposes that this capacity is made up of critical existential
thinking, personal meaning production, transcendental
awareness, and conscious state expansion. Based on these
aspects, a self-report measure of spiritual intelligence has
been devised, refined, and validated, offering yet another
valuable research tool for transpersonal scholarship.
Next in line is Douglas MacDonalds tightly
argued paper, Identity and Spirituality: Conventional and
Transpersonal Perspectives. He begins with a literature
review of scientific interest in the relationship between
spirituality and identity, including a review of his own
five-factor model of spirituality. This model defines
spirituality as comprised of spiritual beliefs, spiritual
experiences, a resilient sense of meaning and purpose,
belief in the possibility of parapsychological phenomena,
and beliefs/behaviors consistent with trust in the existence
of a higher power. These five factors offer a model that is
broader than, but compatible with, King and DeCiccos
four factors of spiritual intelligence. Specifically, their
factors of transcendental awareness and conscious state
expansion relate closely to MacDonalds factor of spiritual
experience, and their factors related to critical existential
thinking and personal meaning production can be linked
to his resilient sense of meaning and purpose. Note that
the three remaining factors of MacDonalds definition of
spirituality pertain primarily to belief, rather than to any
engaged cognitive process; in this way, MacDonalds piece
subtly bolsters the likelihood that King and DeCicco
have captured the primary intelligence-related aspects of
spirituality.
While the topic of spirituality has historically
been minimized by modernist science, Harris Friedman,
departing Co-editor of this journal, offers a critical view
of the countervailing risk of viewing exotic religious and
spiritual traditions in an overly-romantic light. His paper,
entitled, Xenophilia as a Cultural Trap: Bridging the Gap
between Transpersonal Psychology and Religious/Spiritual
Traditions, specifically critiques a recent article that
extolled the unique psychological insights of Buddhism.
In response to this, Friedman shares from his own journey
that began with a romantic view of Buddhism and ended
with a more sober assessment of it as a tradition that,
like every other, deserves to be examined in a critical
manner.
A contrasting point is offered by Papalii Failautusi
Avegalio, in a piece entitled, Reconciling Modern
Knowledge with Ancient Wisdom. Avegalio is a Samoan
Islander who holds the traditional title of Papalii as well
as a Western higher-education degree. As such, he has an
unusually deep cross-cultural experience. He shares how
he lived for many years in a dilemma, caught between his
own cultural values and his scientific education, and how
the writings of one Samoan man, Tui Atua, opened him to
a renewed understanding of traditional Samoan culture.
Through him, Avegalio found a way to understand that
the indigenous people of Samoa had their own form of
science, a way of learning complex skills such as open-
ocean navigation without a compass or astrolabe, from
66 International Journal of Transpersonal Studies
and with the natural world in a relationship of reciprocity,
respect, love, service, and courtesy. Thus, though
traditions cannot be accepted uncritically, as Friedman
points out, a thorough understanding of them requires
that critique is ever balanced with respect.
The next paper exemplifies this balance between
critical yet respectful scholarship; Christopher Cott and
Adam Rocks paper, entitled, Towards a Transpersonal
Psychology of Daoism: Definitions, Past Research,
and Future Directions, contributes to a foundation for
examining the Daoist tradition through a transpersonal
lens. The first part of the paper offers an introduction
to both living Daoist traditions and extant collections of
Daoist literature. The subsequent review of the treatment
of Daoist materials within analytic and humanistic
psychology and through empirical research is necessarily
brief, for this vast and rich tradition has barely been
explored within the context of any branch of Western
psychology. On this basis, Cott and Rock lay out
principles and proposals for the future study of Daoism
within transpersonal psychology, a venture that promises
to be highly fruitful.
If spirituality is to be engaged critically
by transpersonal studies, it must also be engaged
experientially. Chad Johnsons report, Reflections on
a Silent Meditation Retreat: A Beginners Perspective,
provides a crisp and refreshingly transparent account of
his experiences on a seven-day vipassana retreat. These
few pages course with his pain, his exhilaration, his
conceit at his new-found skill and its transformation into
generosity, communicated in honest yet graceful words.
The section concludes with Jorge N. Ferrers
inspiring paper, The Plurality of Religions and the Spirit
of Pluralism: A Participatory Vision of the Future of
Religion. He asks, How can the value of one religious
tradition be upheld without diminishing the value of other
traditions? Ferrer discusses ecumenical, soteriological,
postmodern, and metaphysical approaches to this issue,
then proposes that a participatory pluralism based on
participatory philosophy may be able to hold religious
diversity in a non-reductionistic spirit. He then offers
four different possible scenarios for the future of religion:
a shared global religion, the mutual transformation of
traditions as they interact, the emergence of a limited
set of spiritual values or principles shared by all religious
traditions, and the development of spirituality without
religion. Ferrer calls for a thousand (spiritual) flowers to
bloom, yet at the same time acknowledges the need for
a critical pluralism. This fact being acknowledged, the
Hartelius & Friedman
paper offers no more than cautious preliminaries on ways
to construct an appropriately participatory standpoint
from which to exercise critical analysis within a pluralistic
system.
With this, the introduction ends back where it
started: How can the transpersonal approach construct
approaches to inquiry that are deeply informed by
experience yet carefully examined through critical
analysis. For that matter, any critical approach necessarily
has a particular philosophical location, and its lens will
reflect the values and limitations of that situatedness.
How can such an analysis be applied broadly across
various traditions without simply being one more
relativistic perspective with its own covert prejudices?
The transpersonal field will be grappling with these issues
for years to come. Yet such deep-seated questions do not
prevent on-going exploration in many forms, a process
that the contributors to this special section exemplify and
embody.

Glenn Hartelius, Editor

Institute of Transpersonal Psychology

Harris Friedman, Editor

University of Florida

Introduction to Special Topic Section International Journal of Transpersonal Studies 67

 A Viable Model and Self-Report Measure
of Spiritual Intelligence
David B. King Teresa L. DeCicco
Trent University
Peterborough, ON, Canada

A four-factor model of spiritual intelligence is first proposed. Supportive evidence is reviewed for the
capacities of critical existential thinking, personal meaning production, transcendental awareness,
and conscious state expansion. Based on this model, a 24-item self-report measure was developed
and modified across two consecutive studies (N = 619 and N = 304, respectively). The final version
of the scale, the Spiritual Intelligence Self-Report Inventory (SISRI-24), displayed excellent internal
reliability and good fit to the proposed model. Correlational analyses with additional measures of
meaning, metapersonal self-construal, mysticism, religiosity, and social desirability offer support
for construct and criterion-related validity. According to both intelligence criteria and current
psychometric standards, findings validate the proposed model and measure of spiritual intelligence.
Future directions are discussed.

T
he nature of human intelligence and its
psychological study have been areas of continuous
scientific debate (for a review, see Cianciolo &
Sternberg, 2004). Many have argued that the sum of
human intelligence is best described as a single construct,
such as the intelligence quotient (IQ), while others have
suggested multiple intelligences (Cianciolo & Sternberg,
2004; Gardner, 1983; Sternberg, 1988). Howard
Gardner, a leading advocate of the latter standpoint,
has proposed eight intelligences, including linguistic,
logical-mathematical, spatial, musical, naturalist, and
bodily-kinesthetic (Gardner, 1983, 1993, 1999). Recent
decades have also witnessed extensive literature on social
and emotional intelligences, which describe cognitive
abilities of emotional perception and management on
intra- and inter-personal levels (e.g., Gardner, 1983;
Goleman, 1995; Mayer, Caruso, & Salovey, 2000;
Salovey & Mayer, 1990).
In order to evaluate potential additional
intelligences (e.g., moral intelligence; Gardner, 1993),
leading theorists have suggested rigid criteria that
must first be satisfied. It is generally established that
an intelligence should (1) include a set of moderately
interrelated mental abilities (i.e., core capacities for which
cognition is primary; those which are distinct from
preferred behaviors or traits), (2) facilitate adaptation,
problem-solving, and reasoning in all environmental
contexts, and (3) develop with age and experience
(Gardner, 1983; Mayer et al., 2000; Sternberg, 1997).
Gardner (1983) also recommended neurological/
biological evidence, evolutionary plausibility, and support
from psychometrics and experimental psychology.
Spiritual Intelligence
O f the additional intelligences proposed, the concept
of spiritual intelligence has remained a forerunner
in the past decade (Amram, 2007; Emmons, 2000a;
Nasel, 2004; Noble, 2000; Vaughan, 2002; Wolman,
2001; Zohar & Marshall, 2000). Emmons (2000a)
provided support for spiritual intelligence according to
Gardners (1983) criteria, proposing five core abilities:
1) the capacity for transcendent awareness (of a divine
being or oneself); 2) the ability to enter spiritual states
of consciousness; 3) the ability to sanctify everyday
experiences; 4) the ability to utilize spirituality to solve
problems; and 5) the capacity to engage in virtuous
behaviors (e.g., forgiveness). The last of these capacities
has since been removed (Emmons, 2000b) due to its
more accurate interpretation as preferred behavior
(Mayer, 2000).
Noble (2000) concurred with Emmons (2000a)
conception of spiritual intelligence and added two
additional core abilities: (1) the conscious recognition

68 Studies, 28, 2009, pp. 68-85

International Journal of Transpersonal Studies King & DeCicco
that physical reality is embedded within a larger,
multidimensional reality (p. 46); and (2) the conscious
pursuit of psychological health, not only for ourselves but
forthe global community (p. 46). The first of these
abilities can be readily amalgamated with Emmons
(2000a) capacity for transcendent awareness, while the
second more closely resembles preferred behavior.
The capacity for transcendent awareness has been
equally emphasized by Wolman (2001) and Vaughan
(2002). Others have added the capacity for existential
thinking and questioning (e.g., Nasel, 2004; Vaughan,
2002; Wolman, 2001; Zohar & Marshall, 2000) as a
core aspect of spiritual intelligence. Zohar and Marshall
(2000) further contended that spiritual intelligence
represents the brains unitive processes which serve to
reconceptualize experience and produce meaning. Nasel
(2004) described the construct as the application of
spiritual abilities and resources to practical contexts
(p. 4), identifying two main components of existential
questioning and the awareness of divine presence. His 17-
item Spiritual Intelligence Scale incorporates traditional
Christian values and New Age spirituality, yet fails to
offer a universal measure of spiritual abilities as opposed
to experiences and behaviors.
More recently, Amram (2007) identified
seven major themes of spiritual intelligence, including
meaning, consciousness, grace, transcendence, truth,
peaceful surrender to Self, and inner-directed freedom.
His Integrated Spiritual Intelligence Scale consists of
22 subscales organized into five theoretical domains of
consciousness, grace, meaning, transcendence, and truth
(Amram & Dryer, 2007). Like Nasel (2004), however,
Amram (2007) failed to distinguish carefully among
spiritual ability, behavior, and experience, resulting in
a model which is best described as a lived spirituality.
Previous models have made similar errors. For example,
Wolman (2001) contended that phenomenological
experience is a critical component of spiritual intelligence,
while others have involved theological interpretations
(e.g., Emmons, 2000a; Nasel, 2004), resulting in limited
theories which cannot be universally applied.
Gardner (1993, 2000) has remained hesitant
to accept a spiritual intelligence in his own model of
multiple intelligences, arguing that the concept is too
confounded with phenomenological experience and
religious belief. He has, however, expressed preference for
an existential intelligence, which Halama and Strizenec
(2004) described as a related and overlapping construct
to spiritual intelligence. The current paper will offer
Spiritual Intelligence
evidence to support the notion that spiritual intelligence
not only involves existential capacities, but that it exists as
a set of mental abilities that are distinct from behavioral
traits and experiences, satisfying established intelligence
criteria (Gardner, 1983; Mayer et al., 2000; Sternberg,
1997).
The subsequent model also assumes a
contemporary interpretation of spirituality that
distinguishes it from the construct of religiosity (King,
Speck, & Thomas, 2001; Koenig, McCullough, & Larson,
2000; Love, 2002; Sinnott, 2002; Wink & Dillon, 2002;
Wulff, 1991). Religion is viewed as an organized system
of beliefs, practices, rituals, and symbols (Koenig et al.,
2000, p. 18), while spirituality is regarded as the personal
quest for understanding answers to ultimate questions
about life, about meaning, and about relationship to the
sacred or transcendent (p. 18). As many authors (e.g.,
Helminiak, 2001; Worthington & Sandage, 2001) have
noted, however, religion and spirituality remain intimately
connected, with religion being the social vehicle that, at
its best, proclaims and supports spirituality (Helminiak,
2001, p. 165). While religion and spiritual intelligence
are also likely related, this is a topic of discussion which
cannot be adequately addressed within the confines of
the current paper. Nevertheless, it is maintained that
spiritual intelligence and religiosity are distinct but
related psychological constructs. As such, the current
model may or may not be consistent with established
religious approaches or systems of belief. This is not a
setback of the current model; rather, it is the result of
a commitment to the identification of cognitive abilities
as opposed to beliefs and attitudes, which is necessary
in the establishment of a universal human intelligence
(Gardner, 1983; Mayer et al., 2000; Sternberg, 1997).
A Viable Model of Spiritual Intelligence
I n the current model, spiritual intelligence is defined
as a set of mental capacities which contribute to the
awareness, integration, and adaptive application of the
nonmaterial and transcendent aspects of ones existence,
leading to such outcomes as deep existential reflection,
enhancement of meaning, recognition of a transcendent
self, and mastery of spiritual states (King, 2008). An
extensive review of the literature supports four core
components: (1) critical existential thinking, (2) personal
meaning production, (3) transcendental awareness, and
(4) conscious state expansion. Following a discussion of
each of these capacities, additional support for adaptive
applications and development over the lifespan will be
reviewed.
International Journal of Transpersonal Studies 69
Critical Existential Thinking (CET)
The first component of spiritual intelligence
involves the capacity to critically contemplate meaning,
purpose, and other existential or metaphysical issues
(e.g., reality, the universe, space, time, death). In
addition to the mounting support for Gardners (1993)
suggestion of an existential intelligence (e.g., Halama
& Strizenec, 2004; Shearer, 2006; Simmons, 2006),
existential thinking is commonplace in definitions of
both spirituality (e.g., Koenig, McCullough, & Larson,
2000; Matheis, Tulsky, & Matheis, 2006; Wink &
Dillon, 2002) and spiritual intelligence (Nasel, 2004;
Vaughan, 2002; Wolman, 2001; Zohar & Marshall,
2000). It is currently argued that critical existential
thinking can be applied to any life issue, as any object
or event can be viewed in relation to ones existence.
While some discuss a quest for understanding answers
(Koenig et al., 2000, p. 18) to these seemingly ultimate
questions (e.g., Noble, 2000), this can more practically
be considered as a related pattern of behavior.
To a large extent, aspects of cognition are
inherent in the discussion of existential tendencies, with
frequent references to existential thinking (e.g., Garo,
2006), existential contemplation (e.g., Lavoie & de Vries,
2004), and existential reasoning (e.g., Evans & Wellman,
2006), leading to the more plausible inference of mental
capacity. Furthermore, self-estimates of intelligence
have revealed that perceived existential intelligence is
a significant predictor of perceived overall intelligence
(Furnham, Wytykowska, & Petrides, 2002).
It is further contended that simply questioning
existence does not demonstrate complete mastery of this
ability. One must be able to contemplate such existential
issues using critical thinking, and in some cases come to
original conclusions or personal philosophies regarding
existence, integrating scientific knowledge and personal
experience. Critical thinking, defined as actively
and skilfully conceptualizing, applying, analyzing,
synthesizing, and/or evaluating information gathered
from, or generated by, observation, experience, reflection,
reasoning, or communication (Scriven & Paul, 1992),
more accurately reflects intelligence.
Personal Meaning Production (PMP)
The second core component is defined as the
ability to construct personal meaning and purpose in all
physical and mental experiences, including the capacity
to create and master a life purpose. Like existential
thinking, personal meaning is frequently described as a
component of spirituality (e.g., King, Speck, & Thomas,
70 International Journal of Transpersonal Studies
2001; Koenig et al., 2000; Sinnott, 2002; Wink & Dillon,
2002; Worthington & Sandage, 2001), requiring its
consideration in a model of spiritual intelligence. Nasel
(2004) concurred, suggesting that spiritual intelligence
involves contemplation of the symbolic meaning of
personal events and circumstances, in order to find
purpose and meaning in all life experiences (p. 52). In
essence, Emmons (2000a) capacity for sanctification is
one particular method of personal meaning production.
Personal meaning has been defined as having
a purpose in life, having a sense of direction, a sense of
order and a reason for existence (Reker, 1997, p. 710).
Meddin (1998) identified a cognitive component of
personal meaning, defined as an integrative organizing
principle (or set of principles) which enables one to
make sense (cognition) of ones inner life and outer
environment (p. 164), which closely resembles Zohar
and Marshalls (2000) description of the brains tertiary
processes. A cognitive component was also suggested
by Wong (1989), who defined personal meaning as an
individually constructed cognitive system, that is
capable of endowing life with personal significance and
satisfaction (p. 517).
Rekers (1997) definition highlights the
fundamental relationship between meaning and
purpose. In addition to deriving purpose from daily
events and experiences (i.e., situational meaning), one
is also capable of defining a purpose for his/her life (i.e.,
global meaning), utilizing more coherent and creative
forms of meaning production. The mastery of a life
purpose refers to ones ability to infer his/her purpose in
all events and experiences. A seemingly infinite number
of sources of meaning and purpose have been described
in the literature, including leisure activities (Reker &
Wong, 1988), work (Thompson, 1992), reminiscence
(Wong, 1989), and dreams (Taylor, 2001), to name a
few. The ability to create meaning and purpose in all
mental and physical experiences occupies the highest
level of this particular ability.
Transcendental Awareness (TA)
The third component involves the capacity
to perceive transcendent dimensions of the self (e.g., a
transcendent self), of others, and of the physical world
(e.g., nonmaterialism, interconnectedness) during the
normal, waking state of consciousness. The transcendent
is commonplace in definitions of spirituality (e.g., King et
al., 2001; Koenig et al., 2000; Martsolf & Mickley, 1998;
Sinnott, 2002), with one aspect of particular interest
to the current model: awareness (Martsolf & Mickley,
King & DeCicco
1988). Pascual (1990) proposed that transcendental
awareness, particularly the awareness of a transcendental
self, is a key factor of spiritual intelligence. Wolman
(2001) explained this more broadly as the ability to
sense a spiritual dimension of life, reflecting what
James (1902/2002) had previously described as a sense
of present reality more diffused and general than that
which our special senses yield (p. 72). Other authors
have concurred (e.g., Emmons, 2000a; Nasel, 2004;
Noble; 2001).
Building on the work of Abraham Maslow,
Hamel, Leclerc, and Lefranois (2003) have described an
additional process of transcendent-actualization, which
they define as a self-realization founded on an awareness
and experience of a Spiritual Center, also called the Inner
Being or the Self (p. 4). Csikszentmihalyi (1993) also
referred to the transcendent self, describing successful
individuals as transcenders who move beyond the
boundaries of their personal limitations by integrating
individual goals with larger ones, such as the welfare
of the family, the community, humanity, the planet, or
the cosmos (p. 219). Similarly, Le and Levenson (2005)
described self-transcendence as the ability to move
beyond self-centered consciousness, and to see things
with a considerable measure of freedom from biological
and social conditioning (p. 444). The recognition
and ongoing awareness of a transcendent self is a key
component of this capacity.
Hamel et al. (2003) recently identified two
components of Maslows (1971) metacognition (i.e., an
expanded unitive consciousness). The first component is
in-depth perception, described as the ability to discern
and explore the different aspects of ones life and life
in general, going beyond appearances (Hamel et al.,
2003, p. 11) and developing a perception of realities
that ordinary consciousness cannot perceive but that
are common in contemplation (p. 12). The second
component is holistic perception, defined as the ability
to perceive ones life and life in general from a viewpoint
independent of numerous attachments (p. 11). It is
further described as an apprehension of reality with all its
contradictions and incompatibilities, a global integrative
vision of the essential core of beings and events (p.
12). These components describe cognitive abilities of
perception and awareness, the targets of which are often
said to exist outside of ordinary consciousness (to the
extent that they are not perceived by the physical senses),
including nonmaterialism, holism, interconnectedness,
and transcendent aspects of the self and others.
Spiritual Intelligence
Collectively, these various abstractions represent what is
currently described as transcendent.
Conscious state expansion (CSE)
The final component of the current model is
the ability to enter spiritual states of consciousness (e.g.,
pure consciousness, cosmic consciousness, oneness) at
ones own discretion. From a psychological perspective,
the distinction between transcendental awareness and
conscious state expansion is well supported (Tart, 1975).
The former must occur during the normal waking state,
while the latter involves the ability to transcend this
state and enter higher or spiritual states. A growing body
of research has demonstrated significant differences
in brain functioning between all levels and states of
consciousness, including those associated with spiritual
experiences and meditation (for a review, see Cahn &
Polich, 2006; Vaitl et al., 2005). States commonly referred
to as spiritual include cosmic consciousness (Bucke, as
cited in James, 1902/2002), pure consciousness (e.g.,
Gackenbach, 1992), and unitive consciousness (Maslow,
1964).
Expanded or altered states of consciousness are
deeply rooted aspects of religion and spirituality (James,
1902/2002; Maslow, 1964). As such, it is necessary to
consider a potential mental ability that might underlie
the experience of these states, as Emmons (2000a)
correctly did in his own model of spiritual intelligence.
Due to their phenomenological quality and potential
spontaneous occurrence (James, 1902/2002; Maslow,
1964; Vaitl et al., 2005), however, the mere experience
of such states does not constitute mental ability.
What is far less debatable is the capacity for
entering these states at ones own discretion. Vaitl et al.
(2005) identified a set of altered states of consciousness
which are triggered by ones own mental exercises, as
in meditation and relaxation. Over a century earlier,
James (1902/2002) made a similar observation,
noting that the oncoming of mystical states may be
facilitated by preliminary voluntary operations (p.
415). He also described a methodical cultivation (p.
436) of such altered states in various religions, some of
which involve an intellectual concentration (p. 436).
Maslow (1964) agreed, stating that peak experiences are
to some extent under our own control (p. 32). More
recent psychological literature has reported individuals
who are highly skilled at entering spiritual or mystical
states of consciousness (e.g., Holmes, Solomon, Cappo,
& Greenberg, 1983; Lehmann et al., 2001). Although
Gardner (2000) contended that the ability to enter such
International Journal of Transpersonal Studies 71
states is reflective of his bodily-kinesthetic intelligence, a
cognitive component is no less evident and fundamental
to this capacity (James, 1902/2002; Vaitl et al., 2005).
Adaptive applications
Myriad studies have demonstrated an adaptive
role of spirituality in individuals suffering from a variety
of health conditions, including cancer (e.g., Holland
et al., 1999), spinal cord injuries (e.g., Matheis et al.,
2006), and substance abuse disorders (e.g., Piedmont,
2004), among others. Positive relationships have also
been observed between spirituality and adaptability
to parental loss (Greeff & Human, 2004) and career
transitions (Duffy & Blustein, 2005). It is from these
studies that the adaptive role of spiritual intelligence can
be generally inferred.
There are particular situations in which spiritual
intelligence would prove highly adaptive: the existential
neurosis and the existential crisis. An existential
neurosis is characterized by the belief that ones life
is meaningless (Maddi, 1967, p. 313). Similarly, an
existential vacuum can result from a loss of meaning in life
or the frustration of the will to meaning (Frankl, 1969,
p. 45). Such existential crises can result from isolation,
the inevitability of death (Yalom, 1980), trauma (e.g.,
Goddard, 2004), rapid cultural change (e.g., Madison,
2006), and job loss (Hilpert, 1987). Highly developed
levels of critical existential thinking and personal
meaning production would prove particularly valuable,
facilitating both contemplation of the crisis and creation
of meaning within its framework, potentially preventing
many crises from ever fully developing. Maddi (1967)
suggested that one possible source of an existential
neurosis is a premorbid identity, in which the person
[considers] himself to be nothing more thanan
embodiment of biological needs (p. 315), a conviction
which would be inhibited (if not entirely prevented) by
the perception of a transcendent self.
Additional research has suggested that the
ability to construct meaning is adaptive in a variety of
circumstances, including depression, neuroticism, and
suicidal ideation (e.g., Mascaro & Rosen, 2005). When
faced with a stressor, personal meaning production
acts as a coping method by allowing an individual to
construct meaning and purpose within the stressful
situation, thereby transforming it and reducing its
negative impact. It has also been demonstrated that
perceptions of interconnectedness and a transcendent
self are highly adaptive in substance abuse recovery
(Piedmont, 2004), depression (Ellermann & Reed,
72 International Journal of Transpersonal Studies
2001), and coping with HIV/AIDS (e.g., Mellors,
1999). Although research is limited, transcendental
awareness likely invokes a sense of security, acting as
a source of coping when material resources are lacking
or insufficient. In regards to conscious state expansion,
a variety of adaptive applications can be inferred from
research on meditation, which has revealed correlations
with reduced physiological indicators of stress (e.g.,
Alexander et al., 1989). One can further postulate that
this capacity would serve as a valuable coping method
when faced with a crisis (existential or otherwise) due to
its anxiety-inhibiting effects (Vaitl et al., 2005).
Lifespan development
Accumulating evidence suggests that spiritual
capacities can emerge in childhood. Piechowski
(2001) noted many common themes in the spiritual
experiences of children, including states of oneness
and a sense of self beyond physical reality. Hay and
Nye (1998) identified children aged six to ten years
who could describe their own techniques for entering
higher states of consciousness, including silent gazing,
prayer, and contemplating ones origins and the origins
of the world. Gackenbach (1992) maintained that
the whole range of higher states of consciousness can
be experienced by children, in some cases at an adult
level, indicating the existence of consciousness savants.
Evans and Wellman (2006) also discussed a childhood
potential for existential reasoning which is contingent
on the development of theory of mind.
Adolescence and young adulthood appear to
be marked by an expansion of all spiritual capacities,
resulting in part from identity formation and the
emergence of abstract reasoning (Ellsworth, 1999;
Fitzgerald, 2005; Helminiak, 1987). According to
Parks (1986, 2000), individuals between the ages of
17 and 30 develop in their meaning-making abilities
and become more aware of their conception of reality.
Cook and Oltjenbruns (1982) also observed evidence
of significant development in existential skills during
high school. This development continues throughout
adulthood, as abilities deepen and contribute to the
awareness of a transcendent self (Hamel et al., 2003;
Helminiak, 1987). In later adulthood, abilities peak in
many individuals as death approaches. According to
Tornstam (2005), later stages of life are characterized
by a redefinition of the perception of time, space, life,
and death; the transcendence of the ego, of the physical
body, and of material interests; and an increase in time
spent meditating on life.
King & DeCicco
 This is not to say, however, that abilities cannot
peak in earlier stages of development. As suggested by
Noble (2000) and Vaughan (2002), spiritual experiences
contribute to the individual development of spiritual
intelligence. Evidence, although limited, also supports
the existence of individuals who are highly skilled and/
or gifted in their spiritual abilities (e.g., Emmons, 2000a;
Gackenbach, 1992; Holmes et al., 1993; Lehmann et
al., 2001; Lovecky, 1998; Piechowski, 1998), suggesting
that spiritual intelligence increases with both age and
experience.
Thus far, spiritual intelligence has satisfied the
three primary criteria for intelligence: a set of characteristic
mental abilities that are distinct from preferred behaviors,
the facilitation of adaptation and problem-solving, and
development over the lifespan (Gardner, 1983; Mayer et
al., 2000; Sternberg, 1997). Empirical evidence further
suggests that spiritual experiences and their related
sensations display physiological correlates in the brain,
primarily in (but not limited to) the temporal lobes and
limbic system (for reviews and more detailed summaries
of related findings, see dAquili & Newberg, 1999;
Persinger, 1983, 2001; Ramachandran, 1998). It has also
been discovered that altered brain activity occurs during
heightened states of consciousness (e.g., Cahn & Polich,
2006; Persinger, 1983; Tart, 1975; for a review, see Vaitl
et al., 2005). Although further research is required
on spiritual capacities in particular, these findings
provide preliminary support for potential biological
foundations of spiritual intelligence. As Emmons
(2000a) noted, there is also a fair amount of evidence
for the evolutionary plausibility of spiritual intelligence,
with religious doctrine and dogma developing out of a
need to conceptualize, articulate, and interpret related
spiritual experiences (Love, 2002).
The current model is not simply a reformulation
or redefinition of spirituality. Rather, its primary
purpose is the identification of those mental capacities
and abilities related to human spirituality. To date,
two self-report measures of spiritual intelligence have
been proposed (Amram & Dryer, 2007; Nasel, 2004),
yet neither has fully complied with leading criteria
for intelligence (Gardner, 1983; Mayer et al., 2000;
Sternberg, 1997). While it has been suggested that
measures of spirituality also tap aspects of spiritual
intelligence (Halama & Strizenec, 2004), Gardners
(1983) criterion of psychometric evidence appears to be
lacking. The subsequent studies were carried out in order
to address these issues.
Spiritual Intelligence
Study 1: Scale Development
A s suggested by Clark and Watson (1995), the
development of a sound theoretical model on
which test items are based is a crucial first step in scale
development. The vast majority of researchers rely on a
thorough literature review of the subject in order to infer
from previous research a model of the construct. This
has been the current approach. The purpose of Study 1
was to develop and test a preliminary self-report measure
of spiritual intelligence.
Method
Item generation. An original pool of 84 items was
developed based on the current theoretical conception of
spiritual intelligence. Many items were modelled based on
previously established measures of spirituality, meaning,
and transcendence, while others were generated in order
to complete the full ranges of the four capacities. The
initial item pool was over-inclusive so as to avoid the
exclusion of potential indicators of the construct (Clark
& Watson, 1995). A multiple-choice, Likert-type scale
was utilized, with responses ranging on a scale of 0 to
4, representing the extent to which each statement was
true for the respondent. In total, 12 reverse-coded items
were included as indicators of internal reliability. The
initial item pool was reviewed by 34 adults (including
professors of psychology, students, and members of the
community) for logic and readability. Items were edited
based on feedback, resulting in a preliminary draft of the
Spiritual Intelligence Self-Report Inventory (SISRI).
Participants. Respondents were 488 females
and 131 males (N = 619) enrolled in undergraduate
psychology courses at Trent University in Peterborough,
Ontario, Canada. The mean age was 22.51 years (SD =
5.51; range = 17 to 59).
Measures. Participants were asked to provide
demographic information (including sex and age) before
completing the preliminary 84-item Spiritual Intelligence
Self-Report Inventory (with 21 items measuring each of
the four components of spiritual intelligence).
Procedure. Participation took place in classroom
settings and lasted approximately 25 minutes. Each
participant was asked to read and sign a consent form
prior to participation ensuring confidentiality and the
right to withdraw at any time without penalty.
Results
Properties of the original 84-item SISRI.
Descriptive statistics and response distributions were
first examined for all 84 items. Although none reached
significance, slight skewness was observed for 15 of
International Journal of Transpersonal Studies 73
the items, which were deemed good candidates for
removal. Cronbachs alpha was .97, suggesting very high
internal consistency and reliability (a minimum of .80
is recommended; Clark & Watson, 1995; Worthington
& Whittaker, 2006). The average inter-item correlation
was .30, which falls in the suggested range of .15 to .50
(Clark & Watson, 1995).
Exploratory factor analysis. All responses
for the 84-item pool were subjected to a principal
components analysis (EFA) with Varimax normalized
rotation. Six factors were initially extracted and factor
loadings of .35 or higher were deemed significant (Clark
& Watson, 1995). All eigenvalues met the suggested
minimum value of 1.0 in order for their corresponding
factors to be considered for retention (Clark & Watson,
1995; Worthington & Whittaker, 2006). The third
factor extracted was composed of all 12 reverse-coded
items, suggesting that these items were unstable. One
of these items displayed a cross-loading on Factor 4 and
was considered for retention. The three items loading on
the sixth factor had no theoretical connection, leading
to this factors removal. Items loading on factors 1, 2,
4, and 5 corresponded primarily to critical existential
thinking, conscious state expansion, personal meaning
production, and transcendental awareness, respectively.
Item Retention. The primary criterion for item
retention was theoretical necessity (as suggested by
Clark & Watson, 1995). As such, items were removed
only if such removal did not result in inadequate model
representation. All items with converging cross-loadings
(with differences of less than .15; Clark & Watson,
1995) were considered for removal, as were those which
loaded on theoretically unrelated factors or displayed
no significant loadings whatsoever. Finally, a number of
items were removed in order to reduce redundancy and
to obtain a desirable scale length. In total, 42 items were
retained, including 12 items measuring critical existential
thinking, 11 items measuring conscious state expansion,
9 items measuring personal meaning production, and 10
items measuring transcendental awareness.
Properties of the Reduced 42-Item SISRI.
Alpha for the 42-item pool was .96, which was slightly
lower than in the original 84-item pool but considered
an improvement to the data (Clark & Watson, 1995).
The average inter-item correlation was .36. When
subjected to a second principal components EFA, all four
factors displayed eigenvalues above 1.0 and no residual
correlations exceeded .14, adding confidence to the
factors and items retained (Clark & Watson, 1995).
74 International Journal of Transpersonal Studies
Study 2: Scale Validity
T he primary purpose of Study 2 was to investigate
the factor structure of the Spiritual Intelligence
Self-Report Inventory (SISRI) in a subsequent sample.
Construct validity was examined by including additional
measures of theoretically related and unrelated constructs
(DeVellis, 1991). As is standard in scale development,
social desirability was also examined.
Hypothesis 1. Based on the theoretical
conception of spiritual intelligence and the factor
structure observed in Study 1, it was hypothesized that
a four-factor model of spiritual intelligence would reveal
adequate fit to the data. Hypothesis 2. Based on the
current definition of personal meaning production, it
was hypothesized that a significant positive relationship
would be observed between this subscale of the SISRI
and a measure of personal meaning. Hypothesis 3. Given
that metapersonal self-construal has been described
as a more spiritual form of self-reference (DeCicco &
Stroink, 2007), it was hypothesized that a significant
positive relationship would be observed between the
SISRI and the metapersonal self. Hypothesis 4. Based
on the current definition of conscious state expansion, it
was hypothesized that a significant positive relationship
would be observed between mystical experiences and
this subscale of the SISRI. Hypothesis 5. The SISRI was
expected to display a non-significant to low correlation
with extrinsic religiosity and a positive yet low to
moderate correlation with intrinsic religiosity. These
predictions were based on definitions of religiosity which
tend to relate the intrinsic orientation more closely to
spirituality (e.g., Pargament, 1997).
Method
Participants. Respondents were 231 females
and 74 males (N = 305) enrolled in undergraduate
psychology courses at Trent University in Peterborough,
Ontario, Canada. The mean age was 25.56 years (SD =
10.93; range = 18 to 63).
Demographics. A one-page survey of basic
demographic information accounted for sex, age,
ethnicity, relationship status, and level of education.
Measures. A total of six measures were utilized
to evaluate participants.
The Spiritual Intelligence Self-Report Inventory
(SISRI). The 42-item draft of the SISRI, as developed in
Study 1, was utilized in Study 2.
The Meaning in Life Questionnaire (MLQ;
Steger, Frazier, Oishi, & Kaler, 2006). The MLQ
is a 10-item self-report measure of personal meaning
King & DeCicco
composed of two subscales: presence of meaning (a
= .88) and search for meaning (a = .90). Validity and
reliability have been supported by Steger et al. (2006).
The Metapersonal Self Scale (MPS; DeCicco
& Stroink, 2007). The MPS is a 10-item (a = .89) self-
report measure of metapersonal self-construal, which
is the interpretation of ones self as connected to all
life. This scale was found to be high in convergent and
discriminant validity by DeCicco and Stroink (2007).
The Mysticism Scale Research Form D (MSD;
Hood, 1975). The MSD is a 32-item (a = .94) self-
report measure of mystical and spiritual experiences,
particularly those involving oneness, peace, timelessness,
and wonder. While Hood (1975) suggested two factors
of intense experience of unity and affectively charged
religious revelation, Hood, Morris, and Watson (1993)
later proposed three factors of extrovertive mysticism,
religious interpretation, and introvertive mysticism.
Scale validity and reliability have been well-supported by
Hood (1975) and Hood et al. (1993).
The Age Universal Intrinsic-Extrinsic Religiosity
Scale (AUIE; Gorsuch & Venable, 1983). The AUIE is
a 19-item, two-factor self-report measure of intrinsic
(a = .89) and extrinsic (a = .77) religious orientations.
Validity and reliability were supported by Gorsuch and
Venable (1983).
The Balanced Inventory of Desirable Responding
(BIDR; Paulhus, 1984). The BIDR is a 40-item self-
report measure composed of two factors related to
socially desirable responding: self-deception (a = .72)
and impression management (a = .72). Internal and
external validity of the BIDR have been supported by
Paulhus (1984) and Lanyon and Carle (2007).
Procedure. Participation took place in
classroom settings and lasted approximately 45 minutes.
Each participant was asked to read and sign a consent
form prior to participation ensuring confidentiality and
the right to withdraw at any time without penalty. The
ordering of questionnaires varied across participants so
as to reduce potential effects on response patterns (e.g.,
priming).
Results
Properties of the 42-Item SISRI. Descriptive
statistics and response distributions were first examined
for the 42-item pool. No items displayed significant
skewness or kurtosis. Alpha for the SISRI-42 was .96,
which reflects observations in Study 1. The average inter-
item correlation was .36.
Confirmatory factor analysis. The structural
equation modelling (SEM) module of Statistica 7.0
(Statsoft, 2006) was utilized for the confirmatory
factor analysis (CFA). The four-factor model observed
in Study 1 was investigated for its fit to the data in
Study 2. Parameter estimates (maximum likelihood)
for all 42 manifest variables were significant. The
discrepancy function for the four-factor model was 6.96.
In addition to the chi-square goodness-of-fit (X), the
following fit indices were examined (see Table 1): the
root mean square error of approximation (RMSEA),
the goodness-of-fit index (GFI), the adjusted goodness-
of-fit index (AGFI), the standardized root mean square
residual (SRMSR), and the comparative fit index (CFI).
These fit indices are commonly employed measures of
CFA model fit (Schermelleh-Engel & Moosbrugger,
2003; Tabachnick & Fidell, 2007). The following cut-
off values were employed to determine adequacy: a
maximum X/df ratio of 2.0; a maximum SRMSR of
.08; a minimum CFI of .95; a maximum RMSEA of
.10; an RMSEA lower confidence limit of close to .05;
a minimum AGFI of .85; and a minimum GFI of .90
(Schermelleh-Engel & Moosbrugger, 2003; Tabachnick
& Fidell, 2007).

Table 1
Fit Indices for Confirmatory Factor Analysis of the 42-Item SISRI
______________________________________________________________________________
X RMSEA LCL UCL SRMSR GFI AGFI CFI df
______________________________________________________________________________
Value 2108.72* .080 .077 .084 .067 .726 .695 .832 813
______________________________________________________________________________
Note. LCL = RMSEA Lower Confidence Limit; UCL = RMSEA Upper Confidence Limit.
* p < .0001

Spiritual Intelligence International Journal of Transpersonal Studies 75

 Tabachnick and Fidell (2007) noted that with
large sample sizes (over 200), the chi-square value is
almost always significant, and is therefore a poor indicator
of model fit. The chi-square/df ratio was calculated in
order to gain a more meaningful summary of these
statistics. The four-factor model displayed a ratio of 2.59,
which exceeded the recommended maximum value of
2.0 for good fit (Tabachnick & Fidell, 2007). While the
SRMSR and RMSEA met cut-offs for adequate fit, the
GFI, AGFI, and CFI did not, suggesting poor model fit
(see Table 1).
Scale modification. Based on high residual
correlations, high item correlations, and redundancy,
five items were removed from the CET subscale; four
items were removed from the PMP subscale; three items
were removed from the TA subscale; and six items were
removed from the CSE subscale. This left a total of
24 items for the final draft of the SISRI (subsequently
dubbed the SISRI-24; see Appendix).
Properties of the SISRI-24. The final 24-item
pool displayed an alpha of .92, which represents a more
appropriate level of internal reliability (Clark & Watson,
1995). Individual subscales of CET, PMP, TA, and CSE
also displayed adequate alpha coefficients of .78, .78, .87,
and .91, respectively. The average inter-item correlation
was .34, with split-half reliability at the .91 level. These
analyses suggest excellent psychometric properties of the
SISRI-24.
A confirmatory factor analysis of the SISRI-
24 revealed significant parameter estimates for all 24
variables (see Figure 1) with a discrepancy function
of 1.53, indicating better model fit for the SISRI-24
compared to the 42-item version (Tabachnick & Fidell,
2007). The X/df ratio was 1.89, which fell under the subscales. Of the subscales, the highest correlation
recommended maximum value of 2.0 for good model
fit (Tabachnick & Fidell, 2007). The SRMSR, RMSEA,
and AGFI also met their recommended cut-off values
(see Table 2), further supporting good model fit. Given
that the GFI and CFI closely approached their cut-off
values, it can be concluded that the four-factor model
displayed adequate fit to the data.
In order to ensure adequate item loadings, the
final 24-item pool was also subjected to a principal
components analysis. Four factors were extracted with
eigenvalues supporting retention of all four factors. All
factor loadings were significant above the .50 level (see
Table 3). Although six items cross-loaded, they differed
from their highest loadings by at least .13, with all of
these loadings in the .35 to .40 range. These findings
add further confidence to the factor structure and item
retention of the SISRI-24. All subsequent analyses were
therefore based on participant responses for the 24-item
pool.
Scale validity. All bivariate correlations are
presented in Table 4. In relation to the MLQ search for
meaning subscale, low to moderate correlations with the
total spiritual intelligence score (SI) and subscale scores
on the SISRI-24 were observed. In particular, CET
was the most significantly related subscale, r = .39 (p <
.001). Correlations with the MLQ presence of meaning
subscale were far more significant overall. SI correlated at
r = .44 (p < .001), followed closely by TA and CSE. CET
did not correlate significantly with presence of meaning.
In complete contrast, PMP correlated positively and
significantly with presence of meaning, r = .65 (p < .01),
yet displayed no significant correlation with search for
meaning.
Metapersonal self-construal displayed mod
erate to high positive correlations with SI and all
occurred with TA, r = .63 (p < .01). Total mystical
experiences, including all potential MSD subscales,

Table 2
Fit Indices for Confirmatory Factor Analysis of the SISRI-24
______________________________________________________________________________
X RMSEA LCL UCL SRMSR GFI AGFI CFI df
______________________________________________________________________________
Value 464.68* .055 .047 .062 .056 .886 .861 .934 246
______________________________________________________________________________
Note. LCL = RMSEA Lower Confidence Limit; UCL = RMSEA Upper Confidence Limit.
* p < .0001

76 International Journal of Transpersonal Studies King & DeCicco

 Item R.E. Table 3
.50* 1 .75 Factor Loadings (Principal Components,
.55*
3 .70 Varimax Normalized) for the SISRI-24
.53* _______________________________________
Critical 5 .72
Existential .59*
9 .65 Item Factor 1 Factor 2 Factor 3 Factor 4
Thinking .69* _______________________________________
13 .52
.68* 1 .65* .14 -.11 .14
17 .54 2 .38 .14 .28 .59*
.50*
21 .75 3 .73* .01 .07 .07
4 .18 .77* .21 .30
5 .52* .14 .39 .05
.60*
6 .07 .24 .04 .66*
7 .16 .22 .63* .36
Item R.E.
.76* 8 .11 .85* .22 .21
7 .42 9 .53* .22 .18 .20
.59*
Personal 11 .66 10 .31 .16 .37 .59*
.54*
.77* Meaning 15 .71 11 .06 .21 .78* -.03
Making .71*
19 .50 12 .11 .83* .22 .15
.62* 13 .58* .15 .33 .25
23 .62
14 .19 .30 .15 .66*
15 -.07 .05 .53* .40
16 .13 .81* .12 .17
.74* 17 .54* .29 .12 .31
.53* Item R.E. 18 .24 .08 .29 .63*
.74*
2 .46 19 .21 .32 .68* .14
.57* 20 .29 .26 -.01 .70*
6 .68
.75* 21 .65* -.02 -.03 .18
Transcen- 10 .44 22 .21 .22 .20 .69*
.72*
.62* dental 14 .48 23 .04 .12 .57* .39
Awareness .68*
18 .54 24 .11 .75* .13 .25
.72*
20 .49 Eigen-
.73* values 8.86 2.12 1.63 1.33
22 .47 _______________________________________
* All marked loadings > .50
.61*

also correlated positively and significantly with SI

Item R.E.
.85* and all SISRI-24 subscales. Total mysticism was most
4 .27 significantly related to the subscales of TA and CSE, as
.91*
Conscious 8 .17 were all five subscales of the MSD. In terms of the AUIE,
.86*
State 12 .26 correlations between the SISRI-24 and intrinsic religiosity
Expansion .78*
16 .39 exceeded correlations with extrinsic religiosity. The self-
.72* deception and impression management subscales of the
Figure 1. 24 .38
BIDR displayed very mild positive correlations with SI,
CFA four-factor model for the SISRI-24 r = .16 (p < .05) and r = .15 (p < .05), respectively. Of
R.E. = Residual Error the factors, PMP displayed the highest correlations with
*Parameter estimates significant at p<.001 social desirability.
Spiritual Intelligence International Journal of Transpersonal Studies 77
 Test-retest reliability. A small number of
participants (n = 25) completed the SISRI on two
occasions, separated by a period of four months. Based
on the 24-item pool, SI at Time 1 correlated significantly
with SI at Time 2, r = .89 (p < .001). Correlations for
the subscales of CET, PMP, TA, and CSE at Time 1
and Time 2 were .84 (p < .001), .69 (p < .001), .84 (p <
.001), and .78 (p < .001), respectively. These correlations
support test-retest reliability (DeVellis, 1991).
Inter-subscale correlations. According to
leading intelligence theorists, an intelligence should
consist of moderately interrelated abilities (Gardner,
1983; Mayer et al., 2000; Sternberg, 1997). In order to
investigate the current model and measures adherence to
this criterion, inter-subscale correlations were calculated
for the SISRI-24 (see Table 5). All inter-subscale
correlations were significant and moderate in strength,
ranging from .42 to .61.

Table 4

Bivariate Correlations among Measures of Validity and SISRI-24 Total and Subscale Scores
___________________________________________________________________________________
Measure: Variable SI CET PMP TA CSE
___________________________________________________________________________________
MLQ: Search for Meaning (n = 271) .21** .39*** .05 .15* .03
MLQ: Presence of Meaning (n = 271) .44*** .10 .65** .38*** .38***
MPS: Metapersonal Self-Construal (n = 270) .67** .44*** .60** .63** .48***
MSD: Total Mysticism (n = 270) .63** .40*** .44*** .59** .57**
MSD: Extrovertive Mysticism (n = 270) .55** .36*** .34*** .52** .53**
MSD: Introvertive Mysticism (n = 270) .58** .39*** .39*** .52** .53**
MSD: Religious Interpretation (n = 270) .58** .33*** .48*** .56** .49***
MSD: Intense Experiences of Unity (n = 270) .59** .39*** .38*** .54** .56**
MSD: Affectively Charged Revelation (n = 270) .60** .34*** .49*** .58** .51**
AUIE: Intrinsic Religiosity (n = 265) .48*** .30*** .43*** .45*** .37***
AUIE: Extrinsic Religiosity (n = 265) .21** .19** .14* .20** .13*
BIDR: Self-Deception (n = 236) .16* -.04 .27*** .20** .15*
BIDR: Impression Management (n = 236) .15* .01 .23*** .22** .06
___________________________________________________________________________________
Note. SI = Total Spiritual Intelligence; CET = Critical Existential Thinking; PMP = Personal
Meaning Production; TA = Transcendental Awareness; CSE = Conscious State Expansion.
* p < .05; ** p < .01; *** p < .001

Table 5
Inter-Subscale Bivariate Correlations of the SISRI-24 (N = 304)
__________________________________________________________________________________________
CET PMP TA CSE
__________________________________________________________________________________________
PMP .42*** --- .59** .52**
TA .61** .59** --- .56**
_CSE .43*** .52** .56** ---
_________________________________________________________________________________________
Note. SI = Total Spiritual Intelligence; CET = Critical Existential Thinking; PMP = Personal Meaning Production;
TA = Transcendental Awareness; CSE = Conscious State Expansion.
** p < .01; *** p < .001

78 International Journal of Transpersonal Studies King & DeCicco

 Demographic analyses. Demographic char
acteristics were further investigated for their relationship
to the SISRI-24. Of mention was the finding that age
displayed positive and significant correlations with SI, r =
.28 (p < .001), as well as CET, PMP, TA, and CSE, r = .11
(p < .05), r = .25 (p < .001), r = .28 (p < .001), and r = .26
(p < .001), respectively. No significant differences were
observed between males and females for SI, CET, PMP,
TA, or CSE scores (t-tests did not reach significance).
Discussion
B eginning with an over-inclusive pool of 84 items,
analyses of item distributions and factor structure
resulted in a final 24-item version of the SISRI,
supporting the proposed model of spiritual intelligence
and Hypothesis 1. As the SISRI was reduced in size,
alpha was also reduced to a more desirable level of .92
(Clark & Watson, 1995), suggesting that the 24 items
of the SISRI interrelate and combine to measure a single
construct. Split-half and test-retest reliability were also
well supported.
The finding that spiritual intelligence was more
significantly related to presence of meaning than search
for meaning supports the validity of the SISRI, as presence
of meaning is more indicative of an ability to construct
meaning and purpose. Based on correlations with the
personal meaning production subscale, the validity
of this particular capacity and Hypothesis 2 were also
supported. Since presence of meaning might be described
as an outcome of this capacity, it can be inferred that
concurrent validity has been supported as well (DeVellis,
1991). Strong positive correlations were observed
between the metapersonal self and spiritual intelligence,
further supporting the scales convergent validity and
Hypothesis 3. Of the subscales, the MPS correlated
most significantly with transcendental awareness. This
supports the validity of this particular capacity, which
involves the perception of both a transcendental self and
interconnectedness, two qualities related to metapersonal
self-construal (DeCicco & Stroink, 2007).
Hypothesis 4 was also confirmed. Highly
significant and positive correlations were observed
between conscious state expansion and mystical
experiences, including all subscales of the MSD,
supporting convergent validity. These findings may
lend further support to the criterion-related validity of
conscious state expansion, as theory dictates that mystical
experiences are the products of this capacity. The finding
that spiritual intelligence was more significantly related
to intrinsic religiosity than extrinsic religiosity verifies
Spiritual Intelligence
Hypothesis 5 and supports construct validity. The
relationship is also indicative of spiritual intelligence as
an internalized set of components related to spirituality.
In spite of the significance, it should be noted that
neither intrinsic nor extrinsic orientations displayed
high correlations with spiritual intelligence. This further
validates the construct, which is theoretically distinct
from religiosity.
Indicators of social desirability revealed low
correlations with scores on the SISRI-24. While social
desirability may have played a slight role in responses,
these correlations do not merit great concern due to their
size. Nevertheless, findings warrant further investigation
of social desirability in subsequent studies of the SISRI-
24.
Correlations with established psychometric
scales have supported convergent, divergent, and
criterion-related validity. As Clark and Watson (1995)
noted, however, the validation of a scale should be an
ongoing interest in the establishment of a new measure.
Additional indicators of theoretically related constructs,
such as altruism (Vaughan, 2002), openness to experience
(Noble, 2000), death acceptance (Reker, Peacock,
& Wong, 1987), and self-expansiveness (Friedman,
1983) should be investigated. Due to the theoretical
position that various intelligences should be distinct
but moderately related (Gardner, 1983; Mayer et al.,
2000), the SISRI-24 should be investigated in relation
to measures of emotional intelligence, IQ, and other
previously proposed multiple intelligences, a critical step
in the validation of this construct.
The four components of spiritual intelligence
were observed to moderately interrelate, a criterion
suggested by Gardner (1983) and Mayer et al. (2000) in
the establishment of new intelligences. This also supports
the inclusion of critical existential thinking within the
framework of a spiritual ability set, which contrasts
Halama and Strizenecs (2004) position that spiritual
intelligence is either a distinct ability set or a component
of a broader existential intelligence. A significant positive
correlation was also observed between spiritual intelligence
and age, lending potential support to the development
of spiritual intelligence over the lifespan. Although low,
this correlation may be indicative of the continuing
development of spiritual intelligence in early adulthood,
which reflects models of spiritual development proposed
by Helminiak (1987) and Alexander et al. (1990). Future
research should investigate this relationship by means of
longitudinal studies.
International Journal of Transpersonal Studies 79
 One major limitation of this research was its
exclusive sampling of Canadian university students.
Although Clark and Watson (1995) claimed that
student populations serve as appropriate participant
pools for scale development, the scales factor structure
and validity should be investigated in a community
sample, so as to confirm its appropriateness for such
populations. Furthermore, cross-cultural research is
needed in order to confirm the scales universal utility.
Examining the SISRI-24 in populations expected to be
high in spiritual intelligence (e.g., meditation groups)
would further aid in the scales validation. Although the
scale has been developed free of religious terminology,
information regarding its validity across religious groups
would be highly informative. Language and culture may
ultimately represent the greatest barriers to the scales
universal application (e.g., the word consciousness may
prove a challenge in cross-cultural research).
The focus of the current model has been on
cognitive ability as opposed to preferred ways of behaving
(i.e., traits; Mayer & Salovey, 1993), reflecting criteria
for intelligence as noted by Mayer et al. (2000) in their
proposed model of emotional intelligence. This criterion
serves to delineate intelligence from aspects of the human
mind which might be better placed under the umbrella of
personality or non-intellectual attainments (Mayer et
al., 2000, p. 269). A cognitive focus also brings one closer
to identifying innate, universal features of the human
mind which are free of culture-specific attitudes, beliefs,
and experiences. Such a focus, however, may result in
the interpretation that key aspects of spirituality (e.g.,
forgiveness, altruism, compassion) have been mistakenly
omitted. This is not the case. Rather, these variables
represent important outcomes and correlates of spiritual
intelligence, further aiding in the organization of
spirituality within the field of psychology. Unfortunately,
problems arise with measurement, in so much that self-
report measures are limited in their ability to directly
capture cognitive skills. Although currently premature,
future research should strive to establish performance-
based measures of spiritual capacities so as to reduce
self-report biases (e.g., overestimation of ones abilities).
This may further aid in the development of methods for
fostering spiritual capacities in applied settings.
Much like early notions of social and emotional
intelligence (e.g., Goleman, 1995; Salovey & Mayer,
1990), leading intelligence theorists remain hesitant
to accept a spiritual ability set (e.g., Gardner, 2000;
Mayer, 2000). As Selman et al. (2005) note, however,
80 International Journal of Transpersonal Studies
neither IQ nor [emotional intelligence], separately or in
combination, is enough to explain the full complexity of
human intelligence, nor the vast richness of the human
soul and imagination (p. 23). The recent influx of
publications on spiritual intelligence (e.g., Amram, 2007;
Emmons, 2000a; Nasel, 2004; Noble, 2000; Vaughan,
2002; Wolman, 2001; Zohar & Marshall, 2000) has
further emphasized the need for the constructs accurate
identification. The current model and measure have
provided new insight and support, contributing to the
viability of a construct which merges spirituality and
intelligence, two aspects of human psychology that have
often been at considerable odds.
Acknowledgements
The authors would like to thank Drs. Gary Reker,
Carlyle Smith, Kevin Peters, and Geoffrey Navara for
their support and knowledgeable counsel. The first author
was also supported by a graduate scholarship award from
the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council
(SSHRC) of Canada.
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Worthington, E. L., & Sandage, S. J. (2001). Religion (CSE) 12. I am able to move freely between levels of
and spirituality. Psychotherapy, 38, 473-478. consciousness or awareness.
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Yalom, I. (1980). Existential psychotherapy. NewYork,
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spiritual intelligence. New York, NY: Bloomsbury. between human beings and the rest of the
universe.
Appendix (TA) 18. I am highly aware of the nonmaterial
aspects of life.
The Spiritual Intelligence (PMP) 19. I am able to make decisions according to
Self-Report Inventory (SISRI-24) my purpose in life.
Read each statement carefully and choose which one of (TA) 20. I recognize qualities in people which
the five possible responses best reflects you. Please answer are more meaningful than their body,
honestly and make responses based on how you actually personality, or emotions.
are rather than how you would like to be. (CET) 21. I have deeply contemplated whether or not
there is some greater power or force (e.g.,
0 Not at all true of me god, goddess, divine being, higher energy,
1 Not very true of me etc.).
2 Somewhat true of me (TA) 22. Recognizing the nonmaterial aspects of life
3 Very true of me helps me feel centered.
4 Completely true of me (PMP) 23. I am able to find meaning and purpose in
my everyday experiences.
(CET) 1. I have often questioned or pondered the (CSE) 24. I have developed my own techniques for
nature of reality. entering higher states of consciousness or
(TA) 2. I recognize aspects of myself that are deeper awareness.
than my physical body.
(CET) 3. I have spent time contemplating the purpose Note. Left-hand column indicates corresponding
or reason for my existence. subscales and should not be included in formal use.
(CSE) 4. I am able to enter higher states of CET = Critical Existential Thinking; PMP =
consciousness or awareness. Personal Meaning Production; TA = Transcendental
(CET) 5. I am able to deeply contemplate what Awareness; CET = Conscious State Expansion.
happens after death.
A total Spiritual Intelligence score is calculated
(TA) 6. It is difficult for me to sense anything other
by summing all subscale scores. Blank lines
than the physical and material.*
(PMP) 7. My ability to find meaning and purpose in should be provided for participant responding.
life helps me adapt to stressful situations. * Item is reverse-scored.
(CSE) 8. I can control when I enter higher states of
consciousness or awareness. About the Authors
(CET) 9. I have developed my own theories about such
things as life, death, reality, and existence.
David King completed his Masters degree at Trent
(TA) 10. I am aware of a deeper connection between
University and is currently a PhD student at the
myself and other people.
(PMP) 11. I am able to define a purpose or reason for University of British Columbia in Vancouver, Canada.
my life. His general areas of interest include health, stress and
coping, spirituality, and dreams.

84 International Journal of Transpersonal Studies King & DeCicco

Teresa L. DeCicco, PhD, is an Associate Professor
of Psychology at Trent University in Peterborough,
Canada. Her areas of research include self psychology,
health psychology, dreams as therapy, and the scientific
investigation of dream imagery and their meaning to
waking day life. Her applied practice involves conducting
illness recovery and dream workshops in Canada, the
U.S., India, and Europe.

Correspondence should be addressed to D. King,

Department of Psychology, 2136 West Mall, University
of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia,
V6T 1Z4, Canada. Email: dbking11@psych.ubc.ca,
Telephone: 604 822-4729, Fax: 604 822-6923.

Spiritual Intelligence International Journal of Transpersonal Studies 85

 Identity and Spirituality:
Conventional and Transpersonal Perspectives
Douglas A. MacDonald
University of Detroit Mercy
Detroit, MI, USA

Though the relation of spirituality to self has long been recognized in established spiritual
and religious systems, serious scientific interest in spirituality and its relation to identity has
only started to grow in the past 20 years. This paper overviews the literature on spirituality
and identity. Particular attention is given to describing and critiquing conventional and
transpersonal perspectives with emphasis given to empirically testable theories. Using
MacDonalds (1997, 2000) five dimensional model of spirituality, a structural model of
spirituality is proposed as is a model of spiritual identity formation.

We are not human beings having a spiritual experience

We are spiritual beings having a human experience
Pierre Teilhard de Chardin

I
nterest in spirituality within the scientific community
has grown sharply over the past three decades,
especially as it pertains to health, well-being, and
living the good life. As a part of this swelling interest,
attention to the relation of spirituality to identity and
identify formation has also seen somewhat of a rise (e.g.,
Chae, Kelly, Brown, & Bolden, 2004; Cooney, 2006;
Goldstein, 2006; Juang & Syed, 2008; Kiesling, Sorell,
Montegomery, & Colwell, 2006; Lerner, Roeser, &
Phelps, 2008; Poll & Smith, 2003; Poll, 2003; Templeton
& Eccles, 2006; Tummala-Narra, 2009; Zinder, 2007).
To what extent does spirituality play a role in a
persons sense of self? Do we develop a spiritual identity organize subsequent discussion concerning its relation
and, if so, what may its significance be for understanding
human functioning? The primary aim of this paper is to
provide answers to these questions that will help promote
future inquiry and theoretical development.
Before we can enter into a discussion of spiritual
identity per se, however, there is a need to first grapple
with questions of definition. What exactly is spirituality?
In order for meaningful science to proceed in this area,
there is a need to have a clear understanding of this
construct up front.
What is Spirituality?
spirituality is defined in the literature. More particularly
and most pervasively, there have been and continue
to be four overlapping points of confusion regarding
spirituality, namely (a) its relation to religion and
religiousness, (b) its ontological status (i.e., is spirituality
real or merely a product of biopsychosocial processes?),
(c) its dimensionality (e.g., is it a single construct or is
it multidimensional?), and (d) its relation to and place
within personality psychology (i.e., is it best understood
to be a part of personality or is it something different?).
Following is a brief overview of each in turn, which
will lead to a definition of spirituality around which to
to, and relevance for, identity.
Spirituality and Religion
While a growing number of researchers proffer
that religion and spirituality are related but different (e.g.,
George, Larson, Koenig, & McCullough, 2000; Hill et
al., 2000; MacDonald, 2000; MacDonald & Friedman,
2001), examination of the extant research indicates that
the two terms are often treated as synonyms and are used
interchangeably and/or are presented as a conceptual
fusionreligion/spirituality (e.g., Fleck & Fleck, 2006;
Juang & Syad, 2008).

A s noted by myself and others over the past several

years (e.g., Hoge, 1996; MacDonald, 2000;
MacDonald & Friedman, 2002; Zinnbauer et al.,
Notwithstanding the traditional confounding
and confluence of these two constructs1, a common
distinction now made between spirituality and religion
1997) there is a considerable degree of variability in how concerns the extent to which they are personal and
86 Studies, 28, 2009, pp. 86-106
International Journal of Transpersonal Studies MacDonald
experiential versus learned and social, respectively.
Religion is generally seen as relating to beliefs, doctrines,
and practices associated with membership in a religious
institution (MacDonald & Friedman, 2001, p. 20; see
also Shafranske & Malony, 1990). Spirituality, in contrast,
is considered to entail an experientially grounded sense
of connection with, or participatory consciousness of, the
sacred, transcendent, numinous or some form of of spirituality.
higher power or intelligence (Elkins, 1990; Grof & Grof,
1990). Within this distinction, while religion may be seen
as facilitating the emergence of spirituality, and could
even be thought of as a significant agent of socialization
in things spiritual (e.g., it gives people the language,
concepts, and practices that can help them understand
and develop their spirituality), religion alone is not seen
as necessary for such emergence to occur (Grof & Grof,
1990).
The Reality of Spirituality
Nested within this somewhat clear-cut delin
eation resides another more subtle but very significant
issue: Is the stuff of spirituality (i.e., the sacred or
transcendent) real? That is, does it exist independent
of an experient or is it a quality of human experience
that can be explained in similar terms to other areas of
human functioning and experience (e.g., it is a product of
biology, learning, socialization, and psychical dynamics)?
This issue is really a question of metaphysics (i.e., it
concerns whether or not the so-called transcendent is
supernatural and, as such, knowable)2 and, as has been
argued by Slife, Hope, and Nebeker (1999) as well as
myself (MacDonald & Friedman, 2001), this issue
has not been adequately addressed in current scientific
approaches to spirituality. In fact it has been essentially
ignored, with some prominent researchers (e.g.,
Pargament, 1997) advocating for the functional study of
religious and spiritual phenomena in lieu of substantive
approaches aimed at testing the verdicality of claims of
the reality of the transcendent and the existence of a
higher power or intelligence.
Despite this fundamental problem, and, in fact,
probably in response to it, many supposed non-religious
conceptualizations of spirituality can be bifurcated into
two groupstheistic and existentialwith the former
typically being grounded in the Judeo-Christian
theological tradition (e.g., they assume in the existence
of a soul and a single deity which serves as the primal
causal principle of reality) and the latter in humanistic/
existential theory and philosophy (e.g., the transcendent
is a function of the human mind that is concerned
Identity and Spirituality
with meaning-making). Examples of the former can
be found in Richards and Bergin (1997) and Poll and
Smith (2003) while existential approaches are illustrated
by Elkins et al. (1988) and Wink and Dillon (2002).3
Consequently, notwithstanding efforts to differentiate
the two constructs, the appearance of a confound with
religion (theology) continues to exist in many definitions
The Dimensionality of Spirituality
Given the manner in which spirituality
is differentiated from religion, it may appear that
spirituality may be understood as a relatively
straightforward construct (i.e., it is the extent to which
a person experiences and acknowledges the reality of the
numinous or transcendent either or both as something
that exists separately from the person and/or aids the
person in ascribing meaning to existence). However,
a perusal of the available theory and research quickly
leads one to question such a simple conceptualization.
Examination of available measurement instrumentation
makes this issue quite salient; while there are many
measures of spirituality and related constructs currently
available (MacDonald, LeClair, Holland, Alter, &
Friedman, 1995; MacDonald, Kuentzel, & Friedman,
1999; MacDonald, Friedman, & Kuentzel, 1999), there
is an almost breathtaking variety of descriptive and
conceptual models, some of which treat spirituality
as a unidimensional construct (e.g., Kass et al., 1991;
Whitfield, 1984; Corrington, 1989) and others as a
multidimensional one (e.g., Elkins et al., 1988; Howden,
1992). Within the latter models, which, incidentally,
have become more prominent in spirituality research
since the 1990s, the number of dimensions included can
range from two (e.g., Ellison, 1983) to nine (e.g., Elkins
et al., 1988) with only some obvious correspondence in
their content. To help the reader appreciate the range of
models, Table 1 presents the dimensions of four different
tests.
Though it may be contended that the availability
of a variety of models and associated measures is to the
benefit of science since it permits for cross-examination
and verification of findings across different models,
when researchers have reviewed the literature from the
point of view of multidimensional models, it has been
observed that the relation of spirituality to such things
as health and well-being varies across dimensions. For
instance, using a five dimensional model of spirituality
developed by MacDonald (1997, 2000), MacDonald
and Friedman (2002) examined the published research
International Journal of Transpersonal Studies 87
 Table 1. Examples of Multidimensional Models of Spirituality
___________________________________________________________________________________
Spiritual Psychomatrix Spirituality Spiritual
Orientation Spirituality Assessment Assessment
Inventory Inventory Scale Inventory
___________________________________________________________________________________
Primary Elkins et al. (1988) Wolman (1997) Howden (1992) Hall & Edwards
Citation (1996)
___________________________________________________________________________________
Dimensions (a) Transcendent (a) Awareness of (a) Unifying (a) Instability
Dimension a higher power interconnectedness (b) Defensiveness/
(b) Meaning and (b) Spiritual (b) Purpose and disappointment
Purpose in Life Activities Meaning in life (c) Awareness
(c) Mission in Life (c) Use of healing (c) Innerness (d) Realistic
(d) Sacredness in practices (d) Transcendence acceptance
Life (d) Experience of (e) Grandiosity
(e) Material Values trauma
(f ) Altruism (e) Body Awareness
(g) Idealism (f ) Religious history
(h) Awareness of (g) Current religious
the tragic practices
(i) Fruits of
spirituality

concerning spirituality and health and found different
patterns of association depending on the dimension of
spirituality used.4 Ostensibly, this raises questions about
the meaning of the available research and the claims that
spirituality is ubiquitously linked to health.
Spirituality and Personality
The final area of ambiguity concerns the
relation of spirituality to personality. For the sake
of this discussion, I am using the term personality to
refer to a broad construct domain that concerns those
aspects of human functioning (e.g., biology, learning)
responsible for the consistency of behavior across time
and situations. In this context, identity or self-concept
may be understood as being subsumed by personality
(and seen as at least partially a function of it) but not the
other way around (i.e., a persons conscious sense of self
does not account for all causal influences on behavior
that might be attributed to personality).
Within the area of personality psychology,
with its general emphasis on causes of behavior that are
either endogeneous to the individual or, at best, are an
interaction of these internal factors with interpersonal
and social processes, spirituality has come to be viewed
as a component of personality that helps to account for
behavioral consistencies (e.g., Cloninger, Svrakic, &
88 International Journal of Transpersonal Studies
Pryzbeck, 1993; Piedmont, 1999; Piedmont & Leach,
2002; Saucier & Skrzypinska, 2006). Though this unto
itself is not surprisingpsychology after all concerns
itself mostly with the scientific study of the mind,
consciousness, and behavior of individualswhat has
been more controversial is whether or not spirituality is
best understood as a function of common personality
traits (e.g., is it an aspect of Openness to Experience
in the well-known Five Factor Model of personality?
[Costa & McCrae, 1992]), and/or neuroanatomical
structures and processes that are associated with known
personality traits, or if it represents an entirely new
domain of individual functioning (MacDonald, 2000;
Piedmont, 1999). As I have argued elsewhere, in order
for spirituality to hold any import for science, it needs
to uniquely and incrementally account for differences
in human behavior and experience above and beyond
conventional aspects of functioning.
Even more controversial, however, is the
matter of whether or not personality (both in terms of
its psychological and biological causes) is best viewed
as the cause of spirituality. For example, though they
relate spirituality to personality and brain functioning,
Grof (1985) and Levin (2001) suggested that
spirituality may involve nonphysical and nonmaterial
MacDonald
processes (e.g., psychic energy) which themselves may
not be wholly understood in terms of the brain and
individual personality. Even within more conventional
neurobiological approaches to spirituality there are
arguments offered that brain structures implicated in
spirituality may not be the cause but rather may only
be correlative expressions of it, expressions which, of
themselves, do not reduce spirituality to neurobiology
but instead suggest that spirituality can be meaningfully
studied in a manner consistent with the assumptions of
naturalistic science (Joseph, 2000; Newberg, DAquili,
& Rause, 2001).
Spirituality Defined
As the reader can no doubt appreciate, defining
spirituality in a manner that is scientifically sound is not
an easy task. In fact, if one were to evaluate the success
of available efforts at defining the construct that also
give sufficient attention to the issues and controversies
mentioned above, one might be quick to conclude that
little systematic progress has been made over the past
several years. One might in the end be tempted to agree
with Hoge (1996) who stated that the term spiritual
has such vague and unbounded meanings that it is
barely useful, and fits poorlyif at allwith prevailing
psychological theories (p. 21).
Fortunately, if one is discerning in reviewing
the literature, one will discover that there has been some
positive movement toward a better understanding of
what spirituality is, at least as it concerns some of the
various issues outlined above. For instance, there is some
empirical evidence supporting the distinction between
religiousness and spirituality, and between spirituality
and the five factor trait model of phenotypic personality
(MacDonald, 2000; Piedmont, 1999; Saucier &
Skrzypinska, 2006; Zinnbauer et al., 1997). Further, and
perhaps most importantly, research strongly indicates
that spirituality is a complex multidimensional domain
of human functioning (Elkins et al., 1988; Howden,
1992; MacDonald, 2000; Wolman, 1997).
What precisely are the dimensions comprising
the content domain of spirituality? While many of the
existing multidimensional models are laudable attempts
to identify the main components (e.g., both Elkins et al.,
1988 and Howden, 1992 completed exhaustive literature
reviews in an effort to identify all the main facets), most
are ultimately of marginal value because they do not
bring order to the myriad of models already found in
the literature. Instead, they simply add to the confusion
about what is and is not spirituality. What is needed is
Identity and Spirituality
research that examines the available models empirically
so as to uncover salient latent constructs that cut across
them and can be used as a framework for organizing and
defining the content domain of spirituality.
Recognizing the value that multivariate
techniques have had in bringing order in the areas of
personality (e.g., five factor model) and intelligence (e.g.,
hierarchical factor models), MacDonald (1997, 2000),
completed a large scale factor analytic study aimed at
identifying common latent traits underlying existing
spirituality measures. In particular, he completed a
series of factor analyses of about 20 available measures
of spirituality and associated constructs using data
obtained from a total of 1400 participants and found
evidence of the existence of five robust factors. These
dimensions were labeled Cognitive Orientation toward
Spirituality (i.e., spiritual beliefs about the existence of
the transcendent and its relevance to self and day-to-
day life), Experiential/ Phenomenological Dimension
(i.e., spiritual experience), Existential Well-Being (i.e.,
sense of meaning and purpose and of being able to
cope with the existential uncertainties of life, such as
the meaning of death), Paranormal Beliefs (i.e., beliefs
in the possibility that parapsychological phenomena
are real), and Religiousness (i.e., beliefs in the existence
of a higher power/intelligence and behavioral practices
consistent with religious traditions such as prayer
and meditation, similar to the well-known notion of
intrinsic religious orientationsee Allport & Ross, 1967).
MacDonald (2000) contended that these dimensions,
while not necessarily exhaustive of what may be
considered spirituality, reflect the expressive modalities
of spirituality that form core descriptive components of
the construct (p. 185-186).
There are several aspects of MacDonalds
(1997, 2000) work and model that make it particularly
appealing and potentially useful for the purposes of
understanding spiritual identity. First, he took care in
acknowledging many of the controversies surrounding
the measurement of spirituality and attempted to address
them by generating a set of working assumptions that
guided his subsequent empirical work. For example,
in light of the fact that it has been characterized as
fundamentally ineffable (MacDonald et al, 1995) he
recognized the limitations of language in adequately
and accurately capturing spirituality as it is directly
experienced; he also conceded up front that spirituality
per se cannot be measured but that its expressions, as
manifest in thought, feelings, and behavior can be
International Journal of Transpersonal Studies 89
in a manner consistent with conventional scientific
methods. As another example, MacDonald (1997, 2000)
maintained that spirituality is related to, but ultimately
not the same as, general religiousness. Nonetheless, he
argued that intrinsic religiosity (aka intrinsic religious
orientation, ultimate religion, esoteric religion) that
involves personal investment and involvement in religion
in order to facilitate genuine spiritual development
through the lived realization of the transcendent or the
sacred, should be treated as a component of spirituality.
Second, MacDonald (1997, 2000) took care
to ensure that the widest possible number of spiritual
constructs were considered and incorporated into his
factor analytic study, especially those represented within
the more rigorously developed multidimensional models
available at the time (e.g., Elkins et al., 1988; Howden,
1992). When explicit measures of an important aspect
of spirituality could not be found, MacDonald devised
items to operationalize them (e.g., he could not find any
instruments that directly measured spiritual identity
so he wrote several items for use in an experimental
measure to cover it). Thus, he made concerted efforts to
best guarantee that no significant area of spirituality was
excluded in model development.
Third, arising from his factor analytic work,
MacDonald constructed a paper-and-pencil scale, called
the Expressions of Spirituality Inventory (ESI) to be used
in spirituality research. In examining its psychometric
properties, he has found evidence indicating the ESI
has satisfactory reliability, and excellent factorial,
convergent, discriminant, and criterion validity (e.g.,
all five dimensions correlate in expected directions with
theoretically similar and dissimilar measures; dimensions
can differentiate between people who are actively
religious versus non-religious and who report having
had a spiritual experience versus not having had such an
experience; minimal confound with age, sex, and social
desirability). Using this instrument, he has been able to
demonstrate that the dimensions differentially relate to
several aspects of human functioning including complex-
partial epileptic-like signs (MacDonald & Holland,
2002a), boredom proneness (MacDonald & Holland,
2002b), and psychopathology (MacDonald, 1997;
MacDonald & Holland, 2003). As well, he has found
that the ESI dimensions are related to, but conceptually
unique from, the domains of the Five Factor Model of
personality (MacDonald, 2000) and six of the seven
components of the seven factor model of temperament
and character (MacDonald & Holland, 2002c).5
90 International Journal of Transpersonal Studies
Based upon these considerations, MacDonalds
five dimensional model will be used as the framework
for discussing the relationship of identity to spirituality.
Identity and Spirituality
W hile this paper started with a statement that
interest in spiritual identity has been on the
increase in recent times, the fact of the matter is that
spirituality and identity or ones sense of self have
been intimately linked in the spiritual, religious, and
psychological literature for many years. For instance,
within both Buddhism and Hinduism, two venerable
traditions, there is extensive discussion given to the self
and how to attain an understanding of its true spiritual
nature (e.g., see Byrom, 1990; Cleary, 1989; Suzuki,
1957; Suzuki, Fromm, & DeMartino, 1960). Within
psychology, one can trace ideas regarding the relation
of identity to spirituality back to William James (1890,
1902) as well as to other prominent figures including
Erik Erikson (e.g., Erikson, 1958, 1969, 1996; Erikson,
Erikson, & Kivnick, 1986), Gordon Allport (e.g., Allport
1955), Carl Jung (e.g., Coward 1985; Jung 1967, 1969)
Abraham Maslow (e.g., Maslow 1970, 1971) and Carl
Rogers (e.g., Rogers, 1961, 1963, 1980; Cartwright &
Mori, 1988), to name just a few. More recently, scholars
and practitioners in the subdiscipline of transpersonal
psychology6 have advanced sophisticated theoretical
models integrating spirituality and self, often within a
developmental framework (e.g., Grof, 1985, 1988; Grof
& Grof, 1990; Washburn, 1988; Wilber, 1980, 2000;
Wilber, Engler, & Brown, 1986).
When examining the variety of perspectives
available concerning the relation and interplay of
spirituality and identity, it becomes readily apparent
that there is a distinction to be made based upon how
identity itself is conceptualized. In most conventional
psychological theory, which for better or worse is heavily
influenced of psychodynamic thought, identity is
typically defined in egoic terms. That is, a persons sense
of self is generally seen as circumscribed (i.e., has defined
boundaries), is highly individualized, and is, for the
most part, subjective. This applies not only to explicitly
psychodynamic theory (such as the ego psychology of
Erikson) but also to many humanistic and existential
views of the individual (e.g., see Schneider, 1987, 1989).
Within such conceptualizations, spiritual identity most
often is defined as how the individual ego relates to and
incorporates spirituality into its personal sense of self.
Stated differently, insofar as spirituality relates to the
transcendent, then spiritual identity involves how one
MacDonald
experiences and integrates their sense of relationship to
the transcendent into their egoic self-sense. Given this,
it might be said that spiritual identity involves the egoic
identification with aspects of experience considered
spiritual (i.e., it is the identification with specific contents
of experience that are defined as spiritual). As illustrative
of this perspective, Wink and Dillon (2002, p. 79) defined
spirituality, and by association spiritual identity, as the
selfs existential search for ultimate meaning through an
individualized understanding of the sacred. In a similar
vein, Kiesling and coauthors (2006) considered spiritual
identity to be a role-related aspect of an individuals
overall sense of ego identity which manifests as a
persistent sense of self that addresses ultimate questions
about the nature, purpose, and meaning of life (p.
1270).
In contrast, there is another view, best represented
in the mystical, philosophical, and spiritual literature
but now formalized most ostensibly in transpersonal
theory, that argues identity may not be delimited to ego
and egoic functions but rather is fundamentally spiritual
in nature. From this perspective, the boundaries that
demarcate the ego (i.e., self from not-self), are not
absolute and immutable but rather are constructed,
malleable, and even arbitrary, capable of being modified
(e.g., expanded or contracted) or dissolved altogether.
Nowhere in the modern psychological literature is this
view better articulated than by Maslow (1968) who, after
his studies of exceptional human functioning inclusive
of religious and spiritual considerations said,
I should say also that I consider Humanistic,
Third Force Psychology to be transitional, a
preparation for a still higher Fourth Psychology,
transpersonal, transhuman, centered in the cosmos
rather than in human needs and interests, going
beyond humanness, identity, self-actualization, and
the like. (pp. iii-iv)
From this point of view, spiritual identity not only relates
to the extent to which the content of egoic identity may
be construed as spiritual, it also involves both an analysis
of the fundamental nature of the structure (i.e., self-not
self boundary) and the processes (e.g., identification and
disidentification) through which identity is developed
and expressed. In the end, identity and spirituality
are seen as being ultimately the sameboth reflect the
inherent true nature of reality as expressed in absolute
unitary consciousness where distinctions between self
and not-self cease to operate (Wilber, 2000).7
Identity and Spirituality
The discussion will now turn to overviewing
some of the more substantive available theory and
research as they relate to these two broad approaches to
identity and spirituality.
Ego and Psychosocial Approaches
As noted by Kiesling et al. (2006), Erik
Eriksons lifespan psychosocial model has served as a
catalyst for research and theoretical development on
identity development and, from what can be found in
the literature, provides much of the context in which
current studies of spiritual identity are done. According
to this model (Erikson, 1980), identity may generally be
understood as being the product of the interaction of
the individual (in terms of experiences and personality)
with socio-historical influences which results in a sense
of continuity of ones sense of self both subjectively and
interpersonally. More specifically, however, Kiesling
and colleagues (2006) cited Marcia (1966) as being
among the first to systematically explore how spirituality
(actually religion) relates to identity formation and
credited him for stimulating subsequent work (e.g.,
Hunsberger, Pratt & Pancer, 2001; Marcia, 1993,
Markstrom, 1999; Tisdell, 2002). They also criticized
earlier research on the basis that it tended to focus on
spirituality/religion in adolescent identity formation.
Since spirituality is often seen as something that is more
commonly expressed in later life, they asserted that
there is a need to study spiritual identity in adults.
In their own study, Kiesling et al. (2006)
used an adaptation of Marcias (1966, 1993) identity
status model to study role salience (i.e., importance
of spirituality to sense of selfseen as analogous to
Marcias notion of exploration) and role flexibility
(i.e., extent to which consideration has been giving
to changing ones sense of spiritual identityseen as
an extension of Marcias concept of commitment) in
a sample of 28 adults identified as being spiritually
devout. Using a highly detailed interview schedule, they
obtained extensive information about the motivational,
emotional, ego-evaluative, and behavioral aspects of
a variety of social roles related to different aspects of
identity, including spiritual identity. They also included
questions asking about the extent to which they have
considered changing each role.
Content analysis of the interview data led
Kiesling et al. (2006) to identify three main themes
which they labeled salience and meaning, influence and
investment, and reflectiveness/continuity and change,
respectively. Participants were then categorized into
International Journal of Transpersonal Studies 91
identity status categories of foreclosed, moratorium, and
achieved identities. Eleven participants were assigned to
the foreclosed group while four were placed in moratorium
and 13 in achieved. Table 2 presents a summary of some
of their more salient qualitative findings, organized
in terms of the three themes identified in the content
analysis. Based on their results, Kiesling et al. concluded
that role-related spiritual identity is an important part
of ego identity in adults. Further, they indicated that
(a) spirituality appears to foster a sense of connection
with either a higher power, a spiritual community, or
with highly valued aspects of self, (b) interactions with
significant others strongly influences how spirituality
is used for meaning-making, (c) adults efforts to
realize their positive traits and avoid or deny negative
ones contributed to the creation of spiritual identity, (d)
spiritual identity appears to require conscious effort to
develop and maintain, and (e) spiritual identity seems to
embody patterns of continuity and change in a manner
similar to other aspects of identity seen in adulthood.

Table 2. Summary of some key findings of Kiesling et als (2006) study of spiritual identity (SI)
__________________________________________________________________________________________________
Foreclosed Moratorium Achieved
___________________________________________________________________________________________________
Salience/ Saw SI as inherited Motivated by Saw SI as a
Meaning and a part of childhood. Psychological choice
benefit or by
Reliance on authority intellectual and Highest ratings
and family ethical considerations of motivation
intensity; reseachers
Saw spirituality as No reliance on authority had difficulty classifying
important role in to define truth motivation quality.
life; could not Many reported
not foresee implications Mostly positive psychological benefit
of abandoning SI affect about SI of SI
with negative
Motivated to have intimate identity fragments Highest level of
and secure relationship that prompted change affect intensity and
with higher power impact of SI on self-
perception and worth

Could foresee consequences

of loss of SI

SI used to ascribe meaning

to tragedy/trauma

Influence/ SI had notable impact SI had variable impact SI seen as governing

Investment on self-perception and and import on self- behavior for most
self-worth perception and self-worth participants
Less ease in relating
Family, ethnicity, and to higher power
religious tradition
strong determinants of Variable investment
self-evaluation and impact on daily
behavior
Role related SI organized
daily behavior

Continuity/ Little to no questioning Serious doubts and High ratings for

Change of SI extensive reflectiveness reflectiveness and
behavioral change

92 International Journal of Transpersonal Studies MacDonald

 In contrast to Kiesling et al. (2006) who
contextualized their study entirely in terms of identity
status theory and utilized a somewhat simplistic existential
definition of spiritual identity, Poll and Smith (2003)
attempted to construct a new theory of spiritual identity
development though the integration of current theories
of identity (i.e., psychodynamic, cognitive, narrative,
and systems) as they relate to spirituality. Borrowing
the theistic assumptions of Richards and Bergin (1997),
which include belief in the existence of God and a soul,
they defined spiritual identity as an individuals belief
that she or he is an eternal being and connected to
God (p. 129), and proposed a four stage model of how
spiritual identity develops across the lifespan. Though
they maintained that spiritual development can and does
occur in childhood, they also suggested, based ostensibly
upon Christian doctrine (they even cite Biblical scripture),
that spiritual identity can emerge in adulthood as a result
of a second birth or rebirth. Consequently, they stated
that the development of spiritual identity may not occur
in a linear manner. As well, Poll and Smith contended
that the mechanism by which spiritual identity develops
is through the interaction of spiritual experiences and
the efforts of the individual to integrate such experiences
into a constructed sense of self. Finally, they indicated
that the extent to which spiritual identity positively
impacts overall functioning and well-being is a product
of the extent to which there is a match between a persons
experiences and behavior, and their God image.
The four stage model of Poll and Smith begins
with the stage of Pre-awareness during which individuals
do not have any conscious awareness of themselves
as eternal beings in relationship to God. In this stage,
people do not think of themselves in spiritual terms,
despite the possibility that they may have had spiritual
experiences. The second stage, Awakening, is said by Poll
and Smith to be activated by a period of crisis, conflict,
and/or learning which prompts the individual to begin
thinking of themselves as a spiritual being. The quality
of this awareness, however, is described as inconsistent,
fragmented, and typically situationally specific (e.g., a
person only thinks of God when involved in a crisis).
Stage three, Recognition, involves the recollection of
earlier spiritual experiences which are then compared
to the experiences arising in stage two. The individual
begins to generalize across situations and starts to develop
a more stable sense of spiritual identity. The salience and
importance of this sense of self, however, is still not
fully expressed (i.e., other more social aspects of identity
Identity and Spirituality
will typically be given more weight and attention). The
fourth and final stage, Integration, involves the fusing
of spiritual experiences with ones self-concept and an
emergence of a sense of ones eternal spiritual identity.
For people in this stage, spirituality comes to occupy a
core place in their sense of identity.
Outside of these studies, a number of
publications have appeared examining the role of
spirituality in ones overall ethnic identity (e.g., Fukayama
& Sevig, 2002; Paranjpe, 1998), and in the identity of
women and adolescents, respectively. In the case of the
former, research indicates that different ethnic groups,
most notably African Americans, appear to consider
spirituality a more central part of their self-concepts and
ethnic identities than White Americans (Chae, Kelly,
Brown, & Bolden, 2004; Markstrom, 1999; Zinder,
2007). With regard to adolescents, evidence suggests
that spirituality, religion, and ethnicity hold a fair degree
of import to their sense of identity, and that this in turn
appears to be related to a variety of positive outcomes
(Juang & Syed, 2008).
Comment on the Ego and Psychosocial Approaches
Though the available theory and research
provide an interesting starting point for exploration of
the spirituality-identity relationship from an ego and
psychosocial theoretical framework, the existing work
leaves much to be desired with regard to its conceptual and
methodological rigor. This is especially so with regards
to the manner in which spirituality and spiritual identity
are defined. In the case of the Kiesling et al. (2006) study,
spirituality is essentially treated as a unidimensional
construct and spiritual identity reduced to a mere social
role with existential overtones. As importantly, and as the
researchers admit, the use of a small non-representative
sample of adults which did not reflect the entire range of
identity statuses (i.e., diffused spiritual identity was not
included) constrains generalizability of findings as does
the use of a narrative based qualitative methodology
requiring subjective interpretation of the data by the
researchers. Such methods are prone to confirmatory
biases.
While adopting a seemingly simplistic definition
of spiritual identity, Poll and Smith (2003), appeared
to explicitly acknowledge and incorporate a variety of
components of spirituality, most notably beliefs and
experiences as well as existential considerations, into their
model. They even attempted to address the metaphysical
problems related to the verdicality of the transcendent
(i.e., the existence of God and a soul). Unfortunately,
International Journal of Transpersonal Studies 93
their solution to the problem seems inadequate since it
amounts to the religionizing of spirituality. That is, by
adopting a clearly Judeo-Christian set of assumptions
about the existence and nature of God and the soul,
Poll and Smith end up marginalizing their theory
and limiting it, at best, to socio-cultural contexts and
populations for which the Judeo-Christian worldview is
the predominant way of understanding spirituality. Given
this, it is difficult to see how their model would apply to
people of differing religious and spiritual traditions.
Transpersonal Approaches to Spiritual Identity
While transpersonal theories acknowledge
the existence of ego and of the various influences
on the formation and maintenance of egoic identity
(e.g., socialization, relationships, social roles), unlike
conventional psychological theory, they also assert that
the content and structure of ones sense of self can differ
from typical ego-based identity. This assertion is largely
derived from Eastern spiritual and philosophical traditions
(Buddhist and Hindu philosophy most specifically)
which maintain that the ego or ones separate self-sense
is illusory and that the fundamental nature of self is
synonymous with the insights garnered through the states
of enlightenment. In the case of Hindu-based philosophy,
this is understood in terms of the inherent sameness
between ones self (Atman) and the causal principle of
the manifest universe (Brahman). In Buddhist thought,
this is articulated in terms of the realized non-reality of
any sense of self (e.g., as can be seen in the notion of
nirvana or extinguishing of the self). In either case, one
sees a significant departure from traditional Western
psychological views of self and identity.
While there are a variety of theories available
that attempt to articulate a transpersonal perspective on
identity, two such will be overviewed here.8 The first is the
model of self-expansiveness proposed by Friedman (1983)
which is a wholly transpersonal theory, and the second is
the concept of self-transcendence proposed by Cloninger
as part of his seven factor model of temperament and
character (Cloninger, Svrakic, & Pryzbeck, 1993).
Realizing the need for scientific investigation to
test the validity of transpersonal psychological theory,
Friedman (1983) attempted to develop a model of
identity that reconciles conventional views of self-concept
with those of the great spiritual traditions. In his model,
he considered the Self (i.e., the term used to denote
the fundamental nature of identity, consciousness, and
reality as per some of those spiritual traditions) to be
inherently embedded in the universe and maintained that
94 International Journal of Transpersonal Studies
the relation of self to not-self is arbitrary and potentially
unlimitedanything that is part of the universe may
serve as an object with which one might identify and
consider part of ones personal identity. Consequently,
the Self can be conceived of as the ground upon which
ones self-concept is derived. While he asserted that the
Self is invariant and unmeasurable (Friedman, 1983, p.
38), the self-concept, defined as that which is experienced
as forming an individuals personal sense of identity, is
measurable. As an extension of this, Friedman adopted
the position of a psychological cartographer and advanced
a two-dimensional model of self-concept expansiveness
which permits the understanding of the self-concept in
terms of its boundaries in demarcating aspects of the Self
that are, and are not, experienced by the individuals as
components of their personal identities. The dimensions
themselves are a combination of Sampsons (1978) notion
of identity spatiality (i.e., locus of identity in space) and
Shostroms (1963) concept of temporality of self-concept
(i.e., the degree of present-centeredness versus past or
future orientedness of identity). In essence, Friedman
created a two dimensional framework that can be used to
map the self-concept onto the Self. In this model, greater
expansiveness of self-concept is viewed as representing
the degree of self-realization, orspiritual development
(Friedman, 1983, p. 39).
Using this cartographical model, Friedman
then identified three general levels of self-expansiveness
which he called the Personal (wherein the self-concept
is experienced in terms of the here-and-now; seen by
Friedman as similar to typical conceptualizations of self-
concept), the Transpersonal (where the self-concept is
extended to include aspects of the universe that go beyond
the here-and-now into other times and places), and the
Middle (the area between the personal and transpersonal;
self-concept goes beyond the here-and-now but not to
the point where there it would be considered as involving
a dissolution of a separate self-sense; identification
with social roles, relationships, and groups might be
viewed as falling at this level). In addition, using only
the personal and transpersonal levels, Friedman (1984;
Friedman & MacDonald, 1997) developed a matrix
wherein health is predicted based upon low versus high
identification with both levels. Low identification with
both the personal and transpersonal levels is viewed as
being reflective of neurotic disorders. Low identification
with the Personal combined with high identification
with the Transpersonal is viewed as consistent with the
presence of psychotic processes. High identification with
MacDonald
the Personal level in conjunction with low identification
with the Transpersonal is seen by Friedman as indicative
of conventional egoic health. Finally, high identification
with both the Personal and Transpersonal levels is seen
as a sign of transpersonal health (i.e., expanded self-sense
and conventional ego functions are integrated).
Based on his theoretical model, Friedman (1983)
constructed an 18-item paper-and-pencil test called
the Self-Expansiveness Level Form (SELF) which has
been found to have satisfactory reliability (both inter-
item and test-retest) and fairly good validity (factorial,
criterion, discriminant) with American, Canadian, and
Indian samples. As well, the scale operationalizing the
transpersonal level of self-expansiveness has been found
to be uncorrelated to measures of normal personality
including the NEO Personality Inventory (a measure of
the five factor model of personality) and the Myers-Briggs
Type Indicator (a measure of Jungian psychological types),
suggesting that it may represent a unique dimension of
identity not adequately captured in predominant trait
and type models of personality (MacDonald, Tsagarakis,
& Holland, 1994; MacDonald, Gagnier, & Friedman,
2000; Friedman, MacDonald, & Kumar, 2004; Pappas
& Friedman, 2007).
Turning to the work of Cloninger and
colleagues (see Cloninger, Svrakic, & Przybeck, 1993),
self-transcendence is a dimension of character that
is included as a one of the seven factors in Cloningers
psychobiological model of personality. In this model, a
distinction is made between components of personality
that are biologically based (temperament) versus learned
(character).9 Character in this model may be understood
as those aspects of personality that relate explicitly to self-
concept. In the researchers words, self-concepts vary
according to the extent to which a person identifies the
self as (1) an autonomous individual, (2) an integral part
of humanity, and (3) an integral part of the universe as
a whole (Cloninger et al., 1993, p. 975). The character
dimensions are viewed as maturing in adulthood and [as]
influenc[ing] personal and social effectiveness by insight
learning about self-concepts (p. 975). More specifically,
the character dimensions are portrayed as reflecting the
development of increasingly inclusive concepts of the
self leading up to identification of self as an integral
part of the universe (self-transcendence) (p. 986).
Self-transcendence is defined as identification
with everything conceived as essential and consequential
parts of a unified whole (Cloninger et al., 1993, p. 981)
and was included in the model in order to accommodate
Identity and Spirituality
the findings and insights from the humanistic and
transpersonal literature. In its original incarnation, the
character trait was made up of three subcomponents
which, in turn, were viewed as reflecting a three stage
developmental process. These subcomponents were
labeled self-forgetful versus self-conscious experience,
transpersonal identification versus self-differentiation, and
spiritual acceptance versus rational materialism. However,
the number of subcomponents was subsequently revised
and expanded to five (Cloninger, 1996). The newer five
are called self-forgetfulness and fresh experience versus
self-conscious experience, transpersonal identification
versus self-isolation, spiritual acceptance versus rational
materialism, enlightened versus objective, and idealistic
versus practical.
To assess his seven factor model, Cloninger
developed the Temperament and Character Inventory
(TCI), a paper-and-pencil personality questionnaire that
now exists in a variety of forms ranging in length from
125-items to 293-items. In a 1996 version of the full test
(i.e., Cloninger, 1996), self-transcendence was made up
of five subscales corresponding to the subcomponents
mentioned above. However, another revision of the test
was made in 1999 (TCI-Revised; Cloninger, 1999) and
the number of subscales was essentially returned to the
original three.
In general, empirical support for TCI and
TCI-R Self-Transcendence has been mixed; while
there is evidence indicative of good reliability for the
dimension as a whole, interitem reliability coefficients
for the subscales have been less satisfactory. Moreover,
factor analytic work has not consistently supported the
subscale structure of Self-Transcendence nor has it shown
that Self-Transcendence is independent of the other
dimensions (Farmer & Goldberg, 2008ab; MacDonald
et al., 1995; MacDonald, Friedman, & Kuentzel, 1999;
MacDonald & Holland, 2002c). While Cloninger et al.
(1993) reported that Self-Transcendence demonstrates
independence from the Five Factor Model of personality,
other investigations have found a moderately strong
association between it and Openness to Experience
(De Fruyt, Van De Wiele, & Van Herringen, 2000;
MacDonald & Holland, 2002d). Nevertheless, the TCI
has found itself used in an impressive amount of research
and Self-Transcendence has been found to demonstrate
some empirical relations with a variety of variables
related to health and pathology (see Cloninger, 2008;
MacDonald, Friedman, & Kuentzel, 1999; Farmer &
Goldberg, 2008a, 2008b).
International Journal of Transpersonal Studies 95
Comment on transpersonal approaches
In general, both of the transpersonal approaches
described here tend to place greatest emphasis on
identification with aspects of reality beyond both the
ego and the social realm as the defining feature of
spiritual identity. The centrality afforded to the process
of identification in identity formation in these theories
seems to fall in line with that seen in more traditional
ego and psychosocial approaches. Further, both theories
and their associated measurement tools are among
only a small number that exclude explicit religious
concepts and terminology, making them appropriate for
application to a wider variety of respondent populations
than most measures.10 With that stated, there are
some problems worth noting. For instance, while TCI
Self-Transcendence has been found to be appreciably
correlated to four of the five ESI dimensions (all but
Existential Well-Being, which was found to be most
strongly associated with the traits of Harm Avoidance
and Self-Directedness), its subscales have been found to
lack factorial stability (MacDonald & Holland, 2002c).
Further, there are questions as to whether or not it
should be see as a character trait (Farmer & Goldberg,
2008a, 2008b). The SELF, alternatively, has been found
to produce surprisingly small correlations to measures of
spirituality (MacDonald, 2000; MacDonald, Gagnier,
& Friedman, 2000), raising questions as to whether or
not it should be viewed as a measure of spiritual self-
concept at all.11
In sum, though available approaches found in
conventional and transpersonal psychological literature
are certainly intriguing, they all appear to suffer from
problems with conceptualization and/or measurement,
especially with regards to how spirituality and spiritual
identity are defined. What appears to be needed is an
empirically testable model that takes what is known about
the multidimensionality of spirituality and incorporates
it with what is known about key psychosocial and
developmental influences on the formation of identity
from both conventional and transpersonal perspectives.
Using MacDonalds (1997, 2000) five dimensional model
of spirituality as the basis, a proposal for such a model
will be put forward here.
A Proposal for a Structural Model
of Spirituality and Spiritual Identity
M acDonalds multidimensional model appears to
provide a good map of the content domain of
spirituality; each of the dimensions seems to embody a
substantive and unique aspect of spirituality as represented
96 International Journal of Transpersonal Studies
in existing standardized tests. However, given that it was
developed using exploratory factor analytic procedures,
it is not a theory-driven model but a data-driven one.
That is, it is an atheoretical descriptive model. In order
for this model to meet the needs of the current task,
something needs to be applied to the model so as to
organize the dimensions so their influence on identity
can be more clearly delineated. Fortunately, the available
theory and research appears to provide guidance in this
regard. Specifically, it appears that the dimensions lend
themselves to be organized along biopsychosocial lines.
Spiritual experiences, referred to as the
Experiential/Phenomenological Dimension in MacDon
alds model, have been found in people drawn from
both clinical and non-clinical populations to have
highly reliable neuroanatomical correlates in the frontal,
temporal, and parietal lobes, as measured through EEG
and various brain imaging techniques (Beauregard &
OLeary, 2007; Newberg et al., 2001; Persinger, 1984).
The robustness of finding has led some investigators
to conclude that our nervous systems are hardwired to
create spiritual experiences and that such experiences
are essentially naturally occurring phenomena that
are amenable to scientific study (e.g., Beauregard &
OLeary, 2007; Newberg et al., 2001). Extending from
this, and insofar as one may subscribe to the naturalistic
assumptions of conventional science that maintain that
mind and consciousness are the product of biology, it
could be argued that spiritual experiences are part of
innate human developmental potential and a potent
causal factor in the expression of spirituality in all its
forms.
The dimension of Religiousness, in contrast, is
ostensibly much more linked to social organizational and
socialization processes concerning spirituality. That is,
religion in general appears to be best viewed the socially-
mediated vehicle through which individuals learn
the language and practices that not only facilitate an
understanding of things spiritual, but also contribute to
the further unfolding of spirituality experientially (e.g.,
by learning meditation, a practitioner can volitionally
induce spiritual experiences). Thus, both religiousness
and spiritual experiences seem to interplay and interact
to facilitate spirituality as a whole.12
Turning next to MacDonalds dimensions
called Cognitive Orientation toward Spirituality and
Paranormal Beliefs, respectively, one finds a shift from
experiential and socialization influences to expressions
of spirituality involving core beliefs and attitudes about
MacDonald
ones self and how spirituality can manifest through
human cognition and behavior. These beliefs and attitudes
appear to be best viewed as internalized foundational
cognitive schema that serve to shape the perceptions a
person has regarding the validity of spirituality and its
relevance to day-to-day functioning. Included here, as
part of the former dimension, are beliefs about ones self
as a spiritual beingthat is, spiritual identity.13 Taken
together, it might be argued that these dimensions serve
a structural function. That is, these types of beliefs serve
to help define the limits/parameters of egoic functions
and identity.
The last of MacDonalds dimensions, Existential
Well-Being, is similar to the dimensions of Cognitive
Orientation toward Spirituality and Paranormal Beliefs
in that it seems to deal with perceptions of self. However,
it differs in one important way. While Cognitive
Orientation involves generalized beliefs about the place of
spirituality within a persons overall perceptual schema,
Existential Well-Being seems to more specifically relate to
the evaluation of ones functioning. It appears to involve
the extent to which individuals perceive themselves as
coping and adapting adequately to stressors and life
events. This can be inferred from the content of items
from the Expressions of Spirituality Inventory (ESI), the
measure of MacDonalds factor model; within Cognitive
Orientation toward Spirituality there are items such
as Spirituality is an important part of who I am as a
person, while Existential Well-Being includes such
items as I seldom feel tense about things, and I tend
to make poor decisions.
Taken together, it seems that MacDonalds five
factors can be organized into three levels of spirituality
with spiritual experience and religiousness comprising
primary spirituality (i.e., core causal factors that extend
beyond the psychological sense of self but influence its
formation and functioning), spiritual and paranormal
beliefs making up ego structural spirituality (i.e., core
cognitive schema that define the limits of ego structure
and functions), and existential well-being contributing
to ego-evaluative spirituality (i.e., the evaluation of
self in terms of perceived effectiveness in coping with

Figure 1. Graphic depiction of the full structural model based upon MacDonalds (1997, 2000) dimensions of spirituality.

Religiousness

Potential
Cognitive Moderators:
Orientation Ethnicity
(Spiritual Identity) Age

Potential Existential
Mediators: Well-Being
Locus of Control
Paranormal Ego Permeability
Beliefs Extraversion
Optimism
Social Support
Spiritual
Experience

Ego Structural Ego-evaluative

Primary
Spirituality: Spirituallity:
Spirituallity:
Beliefs, attitudes, Perceptions of self
Biosocial factors
schema associ- in terms of ego
associated with its
ated with impact of readiness to deal
emergence
primary factors on with existential
ego functions adversity

Identity and Spirituality International Journal of Transpersonal Studies 97

stressors). Figure 1 presents a visual depiction of this
structural model.
Potential Mediating and Moderating Variables
Upon examining Figure 1, the reader will note
that ego-structural and ego-evaluative spirituality are
not directly linked in the model. Rather, ego-structural
spirituality is presented as influencing ego-evaluative
spirituality through a number of potential mediating and
moderating variables. The inclusion of such mediating
and moderating variables is based upon the finding
that Existential Well-Being, while showing itself to be
robustly related to measures of well-being, has been found
to be minimally correlated with the other dimensions of
spirituality when using the ESI (MacDonald, 1997, 2000;
Migdal, 2007). The actual variables mentioned in Figure
1 are included based upon both theoretical and empirical
considerations. For instance, with regards to moderators,
research suggests that spirituality may manifest itself
differently as a function of age and ethnicity (Chae,
Kelly, Brown, & Bolden, 2004; Heintz & Baruss, 2001;
Zinder, 2007). In terms of mediators, locus of control
is mentioned because the extent to which a person feels
that they are in control of their behavior and their sense
of self may be seen as being a central component in their
evaluation of self-efficacy. Social support and optimism
are included due to the fact that research links it to both
actual and perceived adjustment to psychological distress
and to spiritual variables (Friedman, 2007; Haber,
Jacob, & Spangler, 2007; Salsman, Brown, Brechting, &
Carlson, 2005; Weber & Cummings, 2003; Yakushko,
2005). Emotional stability (aka Neuroticism), and
Extraversion are included in response to the finding
that ESI Existential Well-Being has been found to be
associated to measures of such constructs (MacDonald,
2000; MacDonald & Holland, 2003).
Finally, ego permeability is included as a mediator
to address the manner in which ego boundaries (i.e., the
psychological boundary demarcating ones sense of self
from those aspects of experience that are considered not-
self) operate and influence how individuals experience
themselves. While both conventional and transpersonal
approaches to spiritual identity acknowledge the
existence of ego boundaries, with the latter being a bit
more explicit in addressing the nature of such boundaries
in terms of their expandability (e.g., Friedman, 1983),
neither approach gives sufficient attention to the manner
in which the boundaries themselves operate. There are a
variety of psychological constructs that have appeared in
the literature that directly concern themselves with ego
98 International Journal of Transpersonal Studies
and psychological boundary properties and functions.
Though most widely known as Openness due to its
representation as a major trait of personality as per
the Five Factor Model of personality, this trait, along
with the notions of ego permissiveness (Taft, 1969,
1970), boundary thickness (Hartmann, 1991), and
transliminality (Thalbourne & Delin, 1994) all relate
to the extent to which the ego boundaries are able, on
structural grounds, to permit information from different
parts of the total psyche or personality to cross into
conscious awareness (MacDonald, Holland, & Holland,
2005). To further illustrate this point, specific to the
idea of openness, McCrae and Costa (1997) stated that
openness is seen in the breadth, depth, and permeability
of consciousness, and in the recurrent need to enlarge and
examine experience (p. 825). Research has shown that
malleable/permeable ego boundaries are associated with
a number of variables including higher levels of reported
spiritual and non-ordinary states of consciousness as
well as to both growth enhancing and pathological states
(Hartmann, 1991; Houran, Thalbourne, & Lange, 2003;
Hunt, Dougan, Grant, & House, 2002; MacDonald et
al., 2005; Thalbourne & Delin, 1994).
Mechanisms/Processes
Contributing to Spiritual Identity
In order to make more salient how the proposed model
relates to the creation and maintenance of spiritual
identity, Figure 2 shows the proposed mechanisms
that may be deemed most influential. As can be seen
in the figure, primary spiritual factors continue to find
representation and are seen as having a direct influence
on the formation of spiritual identity. As described
earlier, religiousness and spiritual experience both
interact to provide meaning and psychological context to
an emergent sense of spiritual identity. In addition, there
are three mediating variables includedcommunity and
family, lifestyle, and ego permeability. As recognized by
current psychosocial theories of identity development,
the extent to which ones personal experience, values/
beliefs, and behaviors are validated and seen as
consistent with those of members of social groups to
which a person belongs, serves to reinforce ones sense
of self and, by association, ones role and place within
the group. Though family is included because of its
obvious influence on a persons identity development,
community is also included to highlight the impact that
religious congregations have on their members. Lifestyle
is included as a separate variable in order to amplify
the influence of religious socialization on behavioral
MacDonald
choices. For instance, a person who is deeply committed
to their religious faith appears more likely to engage in
private religious practices such as prayer or meditation on
a regular basis. These practices, in turn, may be seen as
facilitating the occurrence of spiritual experiences which
go on to influence ones sense of identity as a spiritual
being. Lastly, ego permeability can be seen as a personality
influence on the extent to which spiritual experiences enter
into consciousness and influence a persons immediate
and ongoing awareness of themselves. Stated differently,
the extent to which a person experiences and thinks of
him/herself as a spiritual being seems likely to be at least
partially mediated by ego boundary functions in their
effect on moment-to-moment awareness and subsequent
beliefs about the nature and parameters of self identity.14
Conclusions
W hile spiritual identity is garnering more attention
within conventional psychological science, the
available theory and research does not provide a coherent
or compelling picture of what this is as it relates to the
broader literature on spirituality. The proposed structural
model of spirituality and spiritual identity represents
Figure 2. Proposed causal model of spiritual identity.
Community
and Family
Religiousness
Spiritual
Experience
Identity and Spirituality
an effort at utilizing a state-of-the-art descriptive
model of spirituality (MacDonald, 1997, 2000) to
organize an understanding of how the various aspects
of spirituality work together both directly and indirectly
to form spiritual identity and, by extension, affect self-
perceived sense of well-being. One definite strength
of the proposed model is that it readily lends itself to
empirical investigationall concepts included can be
measured by existing paper-and-pencil tests. Given this,
it is hoped that the proposed model encourages rigorous
and systematic research.
Notes
1. As noted by the likes of Zinnbauer and colleagues
(1997), historically, religion was the term used to
denote spirituality and it has only been in relatively
recent times that a distinction is being made between
the two by scientist and layperson alike.
2. Arising from the metaphysical challenges of spiritu
ality are other problems with which one must
contend. Most notable among these is the claim that
Lifestyle
Spiritual
Identity
Ego
Permeability
International Journal of Transpersonal Studies 99
 language is not adequate in effectively representing
and communicating spirituality as it is experienced
(MacDonald & Friedman, 2001).
3. There have been some efforts to integrate the theistic
and existential perspectives into a single model of
spirituality. The best example comes from Paloutzian
and Ellison (1982) and Ellison (1983) who define
spiritual well-being as being composed of a horizontal
dimension (existential) and a vertical dimension
(theistic or religious).
4. As an interesting point of information, while
researchers in America have tended to claim a
positive association between spirituality and health
(e.g., Plante & Sherman, 2001), investigators and
health care professionals in other parts of the world
(e.g., United Kingdom) have noted that such a
relationship has not been consistently observed (e.g.,
see Gilbert, 2007).
5. In a number of studies currently in progress,
MacDonald has evidence suggesting that the ESI
dimensions are fairly reliable and stable across cultures
and languages (e.g., the factors have been generally
replicated in samples obtained from India, Uganda,
Japan, Korea, Poland, and the United States). He
also has data indicating that the ESI dimensions
are differentially related to measures of self-esteem,
subjective well-being, psychological well-being,
happiness, and a variety of existential constructs.
Findings from both of these studies are currently in
process of being prepared for publication.
6. Transpersonal psychology was founded in the late
1960s by Maslow and others and may be generally
understood as the area of psychology concerned with
the study of human consciousness, especially non-
ordinary states and modes of consciousness, and their
implications for facilitating health and exceptional
human functioning. While controversial because
of its subscription to the idea that the true nature
of self and reality is essentially spiritual in nature
(e.g., our highest developmental potential exceeds
that generally seen as possible by conventional
psychology), transpersonal psychology has been
a furtile area of inquiry and theory development
for those interested in incorporating spirituality
into their thinking about human functioning and
potential.
7. From this point of view, which is probably the most
clearly articulated in Buddhist philosophy, the ego
is seen as illusory and as having no substance. The
100 International Journal of Transpersonal Studies
interested reader is referred to the Diamond Sutra
(Price & Mou-lam, 1990), to learn more about this
perspective.
8. Friedmans (1983) and Cloningers models are
presented here because of their accessibility to
empirical research- both models have associated
paper-and-pencil measures. However, there are some
very impressive theories within the transpersonal
literature which have substantial significance to
identity theory and research. Of particular note is the
work of Ken Wilber (Wilber, 1980, 2000; Wilber,
Engler, & Brown, 1986) who has proposed a complex
stage model of consciousness and development
which sees the self and self-system as undergoing
qualitative change in its content, structure, and
functions as it progresses through developmental
levels leading up to the highest expressions of self in
non-dual consciousness.
9. Cloninger originally started with a three factor
model of temperament comprised of dimensions
called Novelty Seeking, Harm Avoidance, and
Reward Dependence (Cloninger, 1987; Cloninger,
Svrakic, & Przybeck, 1991). Subsequent empirical
work led him and his colleagues to expand the model
to include an additional temperament dimension-
Persistence- and three character dimensions called
Cooperativeness, Self-Directedness, and Self-
Transcendence (Cloninger et al., 1993). The model
was developed originally for use in the clinical
diagnosis of personality disorders. In fact, Cloninger
et al. (1993) have hypothesized that subtypes of
personality disorders can be defined in terms of
temperament variables whereas the presence or
absence of personality disorder may be defined in
terms of the character dimensions (p. 979).
10. Though not of the Judeo-Christian variety, it may be
argued that the very assumptions of transpersonal
psychology itself draws from religious systems, mostly
those of Eastern origin and, as such, are not any less
religious than other approaches to spirituality.
11. More broadly, the models of Friedman and Cloninger
(and, in fact of virtually all psychological theories of
spiritual identity) do not accommodate the place of
disidentification in the development of spirituality.
As noted by Vaughan (1977), Eastern spiritual
systems, especially Buddhism, put a lot of emphasis
on the importance of disidentification with the ego
or separate self-sense to facilitate the emergence of
true spiritual awakeningthe transpersonal [i.e.,
MacDonald
 spiritual] self is paradoxically experienced only as
a result of disidentification with the ego or the self
defined by ones roles, possessions, activities, or
relationships (Vaughan, 1977, p. 76-77). In fact,
according to Vaughan and transpersonal psychology
as a whole, it is only through disidentification with
the ego that transcendence of ones sense of self can
occur.
12. The interaction of religion and spiritual experiences
appears to be supported not only by the brain imaging
research, but also by genetic research. Waller et al.
(1990) completed a twin study examining the genetic
and environmental factors contributing to religious
values, attitudes, and interests and found that about
50% of the variance of five religious measures was
genetically influenced.
13. MacDonald (1997, 2000) deliberately constructed
items to explicitly tap spiritual identity when
developing his factor model and the Expressions of
Spirituality Inventory. He found that all identity
items loaded appreciably and reliably on Cognitive
Orientation toward Spirituality (COS). This finding
makes sense since it can be readily argued that
identity, spiritual or otherwise, is based on deeply
held beliefs about who and what we are as human
beings.
14. Transpersonal and integral developmental models
such as that of Ken Wilber (2000) suggest that
cognitive structures undergo change as a person
moves upward developmentally, much along the
lines suggested by Piagetian cognitive developmental
theory, except to levels and structures not addressed
or even acknowledged by Piagetian theory.
Consequently, it would be reasonable to contend that
ego-structural spirituality undergoes transformation
as a function of such development. This, in turn,
would result in fundamental changes in how one
perceives spiritual experiences, spiritual and religious
concepts and practices, and, ultimately, ones self as
a spiritual being.
Acknowledgements
The author would like to thank Harris Friedman,
Catherine Tsagarakis, and Nore Gjolaj for their helpful
comments on an earlier version of this paper.
Identity and Spirituality
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About the Author

Douglas A. MacDonald, PhD, is an Associate Professor

of Psychology at the University of Detroit Mercy and a
licensed psychologist in Ontario, Canada. He has been
involved in transpersonal psychological research for the
past 20 years with a primary emphasis given to empirical
approaches to the study of spirituality. He is Editor
Emeritus of IJTS, Associate Editor of the Journal of
Transpersonal Psychology, and Research Edtior for the
Journal of Humanistic Psychology. He can be reached by
email at macdonda@udmercy.edu or by regular mail at
University of Detroit Mercy, Department of Psychology,
4001 W. McNichols, Detroit, Michigan 48221-3038.

106 International Journal of Transpersonal Studies MacDonald

 Xenophilia as a Cultural Trap:
Bridging the Gap Between Transpersonal Psychology
and Religious/Spiritual Traditions
Harris Friedman1
Walden University
Minneapolis, MN, USA

Xenophilia, seen as a type of romanticism, is proposed as an explanation for the tendency

within transpersonal psychology to privilege so-called exotic religious and spiritual tradi-
tions, as opposed to the xenophobic tendency within mainstream Western psychology of
religion and spirituality to privilege the Judeo-Christian tradition. Claims made in a recent
article published in a major psychology journal that Buddhism does not rest on supernatural
faith and is the most psychological spiritual tradition are challenged as examples of this type
of romanticism. Demographic trends showing conversion rates to Buddhism in the US
are contrasted with conversion rates to Christianity in South Korea, also evidencing this
tendency to embrace religious and spiritual traditions in accord with xenophilia.

I
n previous writings, I have been critical of both
the prevailing romanticism within transpersonal
psychology and the complementary scientism
within mainstream psychology (Friedman, 2002, 2005).
Perhaps scientism finds its worst expression in some of the
Western psychology of religion and spirituality, especially
when implicitly based on Judeo-Christian premises
that are presented as universal, rather than particular
to just one cultural context, and couched in scientific
language that obfuscates its theocentric underpinnings
and grants apparent scientific legitimacy to its project.
However, elevating such a parochial worldview through
misconstruing it as part of a universalistic science may
in actuality diminish its perspective in subtle ways
(e.g., by reducing genuinely important supernatural
beliefs to only a natural framework), as well as
comparatively disenfranchise alternative worldviews.
This is congruent with the charge of ethnocentrism,
perhaps even xenophobia, although fortunately there has
been somewhat of a recent renaissance of multicultural
perspectives within the psychological study of religion
and spirituality (e.g., Fukuyama & Sevig, 1999).
In stark contrast, transpersonal psychology has
been much more multicultural than the psychology of
religion and spirituality (e.g., Friedman, MacDonald, &
Kumar, 2004; Hastings, Balasubrahmanyam, Beaird,
Ferguson, Kango, and Raley, 2001). However, often the
opposite bias has prevailed, namely a xenophilia extolling
non-Western traditions, such as explicitly privileging
Asian and indigenous religious and spiritual insights as
superior. As one poignant example, I recall attending a
presentation at the Sixteenth International Transpersonal
Conference in which a keynote speaker decried, and even
laughed at, the Judeo-Christian parochialism within
the mainstream psychology of religion and spirituality,
while his presentation ironically ended with a chant to
the Hindu deity, Shiva, whose statue was prominently
placed next to his podium, sadly evidencing an opposite
form of parochialism. I consider this xenophilia to be an
important subcategory of romanticism and one that acts
as a cultural trap (see Bohannan, 1995).
In order to explore xenophilia as a cultural trap
within transpersonal studies, this paper focuses on a
noteworthy recent example of unfairly privileging one
religious and spiritual tradition over others. Wallace and
Shapiro (2006) offered a thought-provoking way to bring
Buddhist insights under the purview of psychological
science, including surveying important empirical
findings and pointing to potential future research
avenues. This paper, which has a decidedly transpersonal
perspective and was published in the flagship journal of
the American Psychological Association (the worlds
largest psychological organization with over 150,000
memberssee http://www.apa.org/about/), represents
a major advance in the acceptability of transpersonal
thought into mainstream Western psychology. However,
Wallace and Shapiro made two very troubling assertions,
namely that Buddhism is widely considered the most

InternationalasJournal
Xenophilia of Transpersonal
a Cultural Trap pp. 107-111 Journal of Transpersonal Studies 107
Studies, 28, 2009,International
psychological of all spiritual traditions (p. 690) and
it does not begin with arousing faith in a supernatural
being (p. 690). Without disparaging the otherwise
excellence of this paper, these two assertions require
challenge.
First, I openly acknowledge that Buddhism
is rich in psychological insights, but is there reliable
evidence that it is the most psychological of all traditions?
Wallace and Shapiro (2006) supported this claim in
their paper by providing only a single reference to an
introductory book on world religions. As evidence to the
contrary, I note there are voluminous literatures relating
psychology to many other Eastern (e.g., Hinduism; see
Paranjpe, 1998) and Western (e.g., Christianity; see
Jeeves, 1997) religious and spiritual traditions, as well
as to various other traditions (e.g., folk psychologies; see
Wringe, 2002). Asserting that Buddhism is uniquely the
most psychological of all of these traditions appears to
be an unwarranted opinion that privileges Buddhism
and is indefensible on any empirical or logical grounds.
In contrast, Rue (2005) discussed how every successful
religion, including but not limited to Buddhism, has
much to offer scientific psychology.
Wallace and Shapiros (2006) second troubling
assertion, namely their claim that Buddhism is not
faith-based, also needs to be more deeply examined, but
it first needs to be acknowledged that the complexity
of all major religious and spiritual traditions, including
Buddhism, makes any generalizations across their varying
geographical and temporal expressions difficult. With
that stated, Buddhism is sometimes portrayed as devoid
of any faith-based assumptions (such as in claiming
that one only has to practice Buddhist meditation
to experience its validity), but clearly the Buddhas
foundational teachings are embedded within complex
networks of faith-based or supernatural assumptions
(e.g., the karma principle assuming casual chains
resulting in painful reincarnations avoided only through
attaining a presumed mystical state of enlightenment)
and Buddhist practice typically starts with an initial
implicit, if not explicit, faith, both in the Buddhas
supposed enlightenment, and in a context which makes
such a claim of spiritual attainment meaningful. This
alleged achievement promotes emulating the Buddhas
path through viewing him as spiritual model (Oman
& Thoreson, 2003) and perhaps even a divine figure
(Norezayan & Hansen, 2006) because, without initial
faith in his alleged extraordinary achievement, few would
embark on the path the Buddha taught. In addition,
108 International Journal of Transpersonal Studies
portraying Buddhism as being a purely secular belief is
quite misleading in terms of how this rich religious and
spiritual tradition is widely varied in its practice within
its own more immediate cultural contexts. For example,
in many avowedly Buddhist cultures, there is frequent
worship of the Buddha as a supposed divinity, which is
intertwined with various magical rituals.
I hold great respect for Buddhism and believe
that it offers many insights into human psychology.
However, my early, and admittedly romanticized,
notions of Buddhism were changed considerably during
a visit I made to Thailand. I was surprised to find that
it was common for many Thai people to pray and make
material offerings to statues of the Buddha, clearly
approaching the Buddha as a deity and even kissing the
toes of his icons with great reverence. In addition, many
of the temple walls were full of depictions of various
deities and other supernatural figures (e.g., demons) from
the Hindu tradition from which Buddhism derived. I
was also surprised to learn how some Buddhist beliefs
were implemented in such a way as to seemingly bypass
their presumed intent, such as how the prohibition
against killing animals led to the rise of an occupational
class of butchers composed predominantly of Muslims
exempt from this prohibition, and how it was common
for Thai Buddhists, including monks, to eat meat, as
long as they were not personally involved in the killing
of the animals, which was left to the non-Buddhist
butchers. Perhaps the part of my trip to Thailand that
most helped me put my idealized notions of Buddhism
into perspective involved a legal dispute that was in the
newspaper headlines for many days during my visit:
this involved the so-called King of the Monks, the
top hierarchical leader in that countrys Buddhist power
structure, who was zealously using the power of law to
prosecute an errant monk for teaching an unorthodox
form of meditation, which was deemed heretical by the
Buddhist establishment. Admittedly, these shortcomings
can be found in most any religious tradition. However,
for Wallace and Shapiro (2006) to claim that Buddhism
is somehow unique, that it is not faith-based, or to
imply that it is otherwise exempt from the questionable
trappings of other religions, is unwarranted.
So why is it problematic to misrepresent
Buddhism in these two ways? To understand this,
consider that many Westerners reject their own religious
roots in favor of foreign traditions, exemplified by the
dramatic growth in conversions to Buddhism as well as
to numerous other traditions, such as Native American
Friedman
and various forms of so-called New Age spirituality, in
the U.S. (Pew Forum, 2008). According to this source, in
the U.S. between 1974 and 2004, the overall percentage
of the population consisting of Christians decreased
markedly, particularly due to a loss in the number of
Protestants by nearly 14% (the number of Catholics
remained steady, primarily due to Latin immigrants),
while there was a dramatic growth in the number of
both the religiously unaffiliated (from 6.8% to 14.2%)
and those affiliated with non-Judeo-Christian traditions
(from 0.5% to 8.1%); included in these numbers is a
remarkable near 200% growth in Buddhism within
the U.S., where it transformed into the 4th most widely
practiced U.S. religion. Nearly three-fourths of U.S.
Buddhists converted from other religions, demonstrating
its great appeal in this one Western culture.
However, this trend is paralleled by an equally
remarkable growing acceptance of Christianity,
along with rejection of traditional Eastern religious
and spiritual traditions, in some Asian countries. For
example, in South Korea between 1982 and 2001, the
percentage of the population consisting of Buddhists
decreased by 7.1%, while the percentage of Christians
increased by 15.8%, so that over a quarter of South
Koreans are now Christian (Pew Forum, 2008). In
terms of power related to the social class of its followers,
some even see Christianity as now the most important
religious tradition within contemporary South Korea
(Bushwell & Lee, 2005).
One way to understand these demographic
trends involves considering the possible effects of a
tendency to romanticize certain religious and spiritual
traditions over others through the process of xenophilia,
especially those traditions that are perceived as exotic
and therefore can be more easily idealized because they
are not well understood outside of their own cultural
context (see Friedman, 2002, 2005). For example, I
have informally noted a great deal of enthusiasm toward
Buddhism among many Westerners who have left their
Judeo-Christian roots for Buddhism, but I also have
found a quite similar enthusiasm toward Christianity
from many South Koreans who have left their Buddhist
roots for Christianity. In fact, many South Koreans
who have converted from Buddhism have lamented
about their felt sense of meaninglessness in following
Buddhist practices they saw as empty rituals, as well
as their disdain for the perceived corruptions in the
Buddhist power structure, feelings quite parallel to the
complaints I have heard from many in the West who
Xenophilia as a Cultural Trap
have left their Judeo-Christian tradition for Buddhism
or other forms of religious or spiritual expression. I
conclude that, as many Westerners from the Judeo-
Christian tradition are inspired by the deep insights
within the Buddhas teachings, so too are many South
Koreans from the Buddhist tradition inspired by the
deep meanings in Christs teachings. I propose that
attractions to exotic cultures, xenophilia, can explain
both why some Westerners elevate Eastern, while
disregarding the richness equally available in their own
Western, religious and spiritual traditions, and vice
versa for some Easterners.
Such xenophilia is especially problematic
when it is touted in a scientific way, such as portraying
any particular tradition as more aligned to the field
of transpersonal psychology. Although one can draw
important parallels between various religious and
spiritual teachings with transpersonal psychology, their
fundamental orientations are quite dissimilar. Trying to
fit the richness of a lived faith-based tradition into the
narrow confines of psychology, which is consensually
seen as scientific (Friedman, 2002, 2005), may well
promote colonizing the latter tradition in ways contrary
to its purpose. In regard to Buddhism in specific, its
soteriology may superficially resemble some of the
directions encouraged by psychology, but its ultimate
goal is radically different. Misunderstanding it this
way poses the danger of oppressing a vibrant religious
and spiritual tradition by misappropriating it outside
of its cultural context (see Davis, 2003). Those who
misinterpret Buddhism as being merely a variant of
scientific psychology congruent with its more modest
psychological goals reduce Buddhism to an inaccurate
caricature. Of course, the soteriological goals of the
predominant Western Judeo-Christian tradition are
equally incommensurate with scientific psychology,
despite its expression as supposedly universal in much of
the mainstream psychology of religion and spirituality,
since it too is supernaturally underpinned. Religious
and spiritual traditions, both Eastern and Western, are
clearly distinct from psychology as a science in terms
not only of their goals, but also of their underlying
ontologies and epistemologies. Attempts to characterize
any religious and spiritual tradition as being a science
also dilutes the scientific process by bringing in extra
baggage connected with the richness of these lived
traditions (e.g., the quest for enlightenment in Buddhism
is based on a supernatural belief valuing the avoidance
of karmic suffering that is incommensurate with the
International Journal of Transpersonal Studies 109
naturalistic ideals of seeking health and ameliorating
pathology through scientific psychological practices).
While it is laudable to examine these traditions
in terms of what they might offer Western psychology,
any bridge building should be approached with great
circumspection to avoid extolling any one tradition as
ultimately, or even relatively, better than others in terms
of its importance or relevance to psychology. Scientific
approaches, such as fostered through an empirically-
based transpersonal psychology, can go beyond merely
studying extant traditions through creating new
approaches that further knowledge from a vantage devoid
of supernatural premises, something that cannot be
defensibly claimed for Buddhism, which is unavoidably
steeped in supernaturalism. Furthermore, proclaiming
any singular religious and spiritual tradition as offering
more, or less, to psychology compromises the neutrality
(i.e., agnosticism) about the supernatural required in
scientific approachesalthough this does not imply that
psychological science is better or worse in any absolute
way from Buddhism or any other religious and spiritual
tradition but, rather, simply that there are profound
differences between the underlying assumptions and
purposes of science in contrast to these.
Wallace and Shapiros (2006) article has
contributed much of value through relating important
themes within Buddhism to scientific psychology,
but they have unfortunately also romanticized this
in a way detrimental to Buddhism, to other religious
and spiritual traditions, and to psychology and more
broadly to science itself. Extreme caution has to be
taken in relating religious and spiritual traditions to
psychology, as it indeed is treacherous terrain, and this
applies especially to transpersonal psychology, which is
easily subverted if researchers and scholars confound
their own religious and spiritual values with their
psychological work, similar to the cultural trap inherent
to cultural anthropologists doing field work in which
often they lose their anthropological perspectives and go
native. Most major faith traditions profess tolerance
as an important value, but portraying any one religion
as best, either in terms of what it offers to psychology
or in terms of its underlying assumptions being based
on anything other than faith, is undoubtedly a type
of intolerance or spiritual arrogance (see Levin, 2008)
that could lead to serious abuses and sorely needs to be
resisted by transpersonal researchers and scholars. It is
crucial to recognize the significance of differences among
cultures within transpersonal psychology, as well as any
110 International Journal of Transpersonal Studies
approach to the psychology of religion and spirituality,
but I have stated previously that romanticizing any
culture or aspect of a culture as being overall better or
worse, including in its religious or spiritual traditions,
is to be avoided, as follows:
The point is that science, including its applications
in professional practice, should not be tied to any
particular religious or spiritual tradition although it
can clearly be used appropriately within the context
of such a tradition. In addition, traditions might
be sources of fruitful hypotheses for beginning
to scientifically explore within transpersonal
psychology, but a skeptical scientific attitude
should prevail unless support is evidenced. Finally,
I intend no disrespect for those in any religious
or spiritual tradition as long as they do not try to
characterize their tradition as science and do not
try to stop scientific inquiry. (Friedman, 2002, p.
178)
In conclusion, avoidance of the cultural trap of
xenophilia is essential if transpersonal psychology is to
develop as a science.
Notes
1. The author is now at University of Florida, Gainesville.
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About the Author
Harris Friedman, PhD, is a research professor of
psychology at University of Florida and a practicing
clinical and organizational psychologist. He co-edits
the International Journal of Transpersonal Studies,
associate edits The Humanistic Psychologist, and has
published extensively within psychology and related
fields. Some of his more recent scholarship focuses on
the possible relationships of spiritual experiences with
Xenophilia as a Cultural Trap
psychopathology, personality with somatic variables, and
organizational culture with environmental adaptation.
His most recent book (co-edited with Stanley Krippner)
is Mysterious Minds: The Neurobiology of Psychics,
Mediums, and Other Extraordinary People (2009,
Santa Barbara, CA: Praeger). He has taught and held
leadership roles at a number of colleges and universities,
including chairing a doctoral clinical psychology
program and serving as academic dean of a graduate
school. He is currently President of the International
Transpersonal Association. His avocational passions
include advocating for environmental sustainability and
social justice, as well as teaching the nonviolent martial
art of aikido.
About the Author
Harris Friedman, PhD, is a research professor of
psychology at University of Florida and a practicing
clinical and organizational psychologist. He co-edits
the International Journal of Transpersonal Studies,
associate edits The Humanistic Psychologist, and has
published extensively within psychology and related
fields. Some of his more recent scholarship focuses on
the possible relationships of spiritual experiences with
psychopathology, personality with somatic variables, and
organizational culture with environmental adaptation.
His most recent book (co-edited with Stanley Krippner)
is Mysterious Minds: The Neurobiology of Psychics,
Mediums, and Other Extraordinary People (2009,
Santa Barbara, CA: Praeger). He has taught and held
leadership roles at a number of colleges and universities,
including chairing a doctoral clinical psychology
program and serving as academic dean of a graduate
school. He is currently President of the International
Transpersonal Association. His avocational passions
include advocating for environmental sustainability and
social justice, as well as teaching the nonviolent martial
art of aikido.
International Journal of Transpersonal Studies 111
 Reconciling Modern Knowledge with Ancient Wisdom
Papalii Failautusi Avegalio
University of Hawaii
Honolulu, HI, USA

This paper is about an academic as well as cultural journey of (re)affirmation. Imbued with
Western knowledge, I was nearly swayed to alter my beliefs and core assumptions towards a
modern world view. I was referred to an article by Tui Atua Tupua Tamasese (hereafter Tui
Atua) which significantly assuaged the tensions of seemingly opposing values rooted in two
different world views. I realized now that in many ways, Tui Atuas publications on Samoan
wisdom, culture and philosophy had the effect of a gentle wind tapping my shoulder. The
articles reaffirmed my sense of heritage and strengthened my resolve to sustain, perpetuate
and be guided by my Samoan values of alofa (love, compassion) and faaaloalo (respect). I am
committed to apply them in all that I do. This is my story.

Introduction of research and literature attesting to that perspective,

F
rom my first year as a faculty member at the
University of Hawaii, College of Business
Administration, a lingering dilemma, engendered
during my post-graduate studies, continued unabated
until years later when I became an Associate Professor with
the Management Department. The cause of that dilemma
was the friction between culturally based values and the
learned perspectives of classical scientific management
and organizational development. The question was
whether there was any compatibility and relevance in the
application of US business material values and rational
theoretical models with the social values, sharing systems
and intuitive dimensions of Pacific island cultures.
I had learned about Newtonian physics, which
had developed during the Age of Enlightenment
(17th & 18th Century Europe) and of its influence in
the development of the mechanistic worldview (the
predominant philosophical paradigm for the next four
to five centuries). The Newtonian influence on business
management and theory was unquestioned, according
to Alvin Toffler (1984) in his classic work, The Third
Wave.
The mechanistic rational blueprint of Newtonian
physics defined understandings of how the universe
operated. The intellectual contrast between the notion of
a mechanistic universe motivated by a rational process,
and an organic universe genealogically connected,
became an unrelenting point of intellectual and
emotional discomfort for me. The prevailing assumption
in modern science was that modernity favored rationality
and the mechanistic design. However, the preponderance
112 International Journal of Transpersonal Studies
Studies, 28, 2009, pp. 112-118 Avegalio
though compelling, was not entirely convincing to me.
To embrace that viewpoint creates a context whereby
non-mechanistic worldviews that privilege intuition,
dialogue with ancestors and kinship ties among all living
things is relegated to a status I found unacceptable.
These two seemingly opposing perspectives were
recurrent and not reconciled until I read a paper authored
by Tui Atua in 2005. The first sentence attracted my
attention and riveted me into reading the entire paper.
The subsequent papers I sought and read were to impact
and resonate within me and have affected all that I have
done and become since.
Peace in the Samoan religious tradition equates
with harmony. A search for peace is a search for
harmony. There are four key harmonies that
hold the balance of peace for Samoans. These are:
harmony with the cosmos; harmony with the
environment; harmony with ones fellow men; and
harmony with ones self. When all four harmonies
come together there is peace (Tui Atua, 2005, p. 2).
Through Tui Atuas papers, I was introduced, in
a remarkably fresh and understandable way, to Samoan
perspectives that have helped me mitigate and eventually
reconcile the tensions engendered from my education
and training in Western knowledge. He has helped me
to understand what I have known intuitively; what
I have deeply felt but poorly understood, rationally-
speaking. Equally important was the internal peace
within myself and the restoration of that inexplicable
sense of balance and harmony one experiences when
things are in alignment. Tui Atuas lucid discussions in
his papers included a thorough overview of core cultural
assumptions underlying Samoan thinking and behavior;
an understanding I intuitively recognized, but until I read
his explanations, did not fully comprehend.
Tui Atua shared Samoan legends and stories that
explain Samoan culture, psychology, and spirituality. His
use of metaphor is not only meaningful but also gentle
and benevolent. Tui Atuas papers were like a gentle wind
that swept away the shroud of false and often negative
assumptions attached to Samoan beliefs specifically,
and indigenous beliefs generally. My earlier frustrations
were transformed into a quest for deeper understanding,
seeking connections in a place no other than my back
yard.
Tui Atuas (2005) concept of peace is rooted in
four key harmonies: harmony with the cosmos, harmony
with the environment, harmony with ones fellow man
and harmony with ones self. From my own vantage
point, as a student of management and business, these
provide me with a context for the following comments
on emerging dimensions of philosophy in quantum
mechanics, on indigenous science, capital, wealth,
and the fading mechanistic paradigm. As I endeavor
to engage this rather ambitious topic, in as succinct a
manner as possible, I cannot help but be overwhelmed
with the parallels and congruencies of ancient wisdom
and modern scientific knowledge.
Harmony of the Cosmos and Quantum Physics
I can not help but feel a deep sense of familiarity to
the new science that is rapidly replacing the previous
scientific theories and assumptions of Isaac Newton and
Newtonian physics, which have defined the universe in
mechanistic terms for over half a millennium (Capra,
2004). Leading this shift are the works of David Bohm
(1989, 2007), Fritjof Capra (2004) and Margaret Wheatley
(2006). These emerging new paradigms have a scientific
basis in quantum physics, chaos theory, and in the science
of living systems. Each has made several breakthroughs,
among which is included the observation that energy,
and not matter, is the most fundamental material in the
universe. These insights are changing from the inside-out
our perceptions of the fabric of human existence. What
captivated my attention was the assertion that in this new
quantum worldview, the analytical substance of value is
more energy-based relationships than individual matter
(Wheatley, 2006).
The fact that there are no independent
entities anywhere at the quantum level and that it is
Modern Knowledge and Ancient Wisdom
all relationships is perhaps astonishing to cultures that
emphasize individualism and reductionism, but not
surprising to people from collective societies where
people see relationships in all things. The sense of
connectivity that Tui Atua pointed out in his articles,
between the heavens and the environment, has long
been respected by Samoans, like other seafaring peoples,
whose livelihood depended on their cosmically based
navigational knowledge. Harmony with the cosmos
involves an acknowledgement by man of the sacred
relationships between mankind and the heavens. All
important activities of life, like fishing, planting and
sailing, were determined by a cycle of life and heralded
by the position of the constellations. Calculations and
measurements of time and space for the appearances of
the moon, the location of the sun on the horizon, and the
changes in the position of key stars determined actions,
behaviors, and rituals. The dynamic relationship cycles
that underscore cosmic harmony is what balances life on
the planet; to tamper with this balance is to tamper with
the forces that control life itself.
The assertions of this new science that there are
no independent entities anywhere at the quantum level,
and that everything is connected (Wheatley, 2006),
echo indigenous beliefs and associations of balance and
harmony between man and the earth, man and the
heavens, man and nature, and man with man (Sahtouris,
1989). This connects with Samoan stories and beliefs of
genealogical links between man and his external universe.
Tui Atua pointed out that the term eleele, meaning earth,
and palapala meaning mud, are also the words for blood.
Fatu, meaning rock, is also the word for heart. And fanua,
meaning placenta, is also the word for land. It seems
that the metaphor of eleele and fanua draw the obvious
biological link between the womb and birthing, thereby
naming the relationship between Papa and Mother
Earth. The relationship between man, papa, and eleele,
earth, as pointed out by Tui Atua, is further referenced
by the ritual burial of the pute (umbilical cord) and fanua
(placenta) into the land or earth. The ritual of burying the
pute into the fanua is a reminder of symbolic birthing; the
birth connections between newborn, human mother and
earth mother. It is reaffirmation of mans origin in his two
mothers the biological birthmother and earth mother.
Tui Atua pointed out that what this birthing metaphor
invites is recognition that the environment, the earth, has
life, it lives, shares pain, grows, and dies in a manner and
form similar to humankind. Indigenous Samoan religion
recognizes the suffering caused by the cutting of trees in
International Journal of Transpersonal Studies 113
the ritual prayer chants, thus, seeking permission and
forgiveness when about to cause pain. Once the tree has
been cut down, a ritual prayer of thanksgiving is offered
recognizing and respecting the gift of life provided by the
trees to his kin. Man shares a kin relationship with the
earth and this underscores mans seamless obligation and
responsibility for the health of the planet.
Ancient Samoan protocols, developed to assure
natural resource conservation, underscored the wisdom
of balance, harmony, and mutual sustenance, where
one gives back in full measure what one takes. Balance,
harmony, and mutual sustenance are, incidentally,
the core principles of the modern use of the word,
sustainability (Lovelock & Sahtouris, 2000). These
underscore the spiritual dimension of capital wealth a
dimension increasingly voiced as valid and paramount in
contemporary global economics and planetary health.
Modern societies have for the past fifty years
defined progress in terms of growth in the economic
market that is, the accumulation of capital wealth.
Since 1970, economic output has tripled. This has
made a great deal of money for a few people (Korten,
2006). There is, however, another measure of progress
and wealth. The Living Planet Index is a measure of the
health of the worlds fresh water, ocean, and land based
eco-systems. The condition of the life support system of
the planet is arguably the only real measure of wealth. If
there is no life support system there is no life and if there
is no life, the very concept of wealth loses its meaning.
This index of planetary health has declined by 30% since
1970, which means that in spite of what GDP growth
is telling us, we are, as a species, growing poorer (Leape,
2006).
Within the context of Tui Atuas explanation
of the relationship between the cosmos and man, the
concepts of quantum balance, harmony, wealth, profit,
and capital take on new meaning. Tui Atuas stories
of kinship ties between man and all things, animate
and inanimate, offer a Samoan account of quantum
connectedness. These stories are part of Samoas scientific
heritage. They underscore the importance of balance,
harmony and mutual sustenance to progress and/or
wealth accumulation and are a central part of Samoas
indigenous science.
Indigenous Science
T he idea of a Samoan science has often been rejected by
conventional Western science and scientists because
of the lack of quantifiable or measureable outcomes
associated with its largely intuitive wisdom. Non-Western
114 International Journal of Transpersonal Studies
indigenous knowledge and inventions are said to spring
more from hunches or intuitions, rather than rigorous
and systematic study. The scientific worldview of the
conquering industrializing cultures (the West) held that
the universe is fundamentally lifeless, with life happening
by coincidence. According to indigenous Samoan insights
the universe, the cosmos, and nature, are in fact alive
and evident through what Tui Atua (2007) suggested
is something that he called genealogical evolution. The
origins of regeneration, according to Samoan indigenous
thinking, are sacred. This sacredness is represented by the
circular symbol of the tanoa (the ava bowl) representing
the circle of life and its divine origins.
The American Heritage Unabridged Dictionary of
the English Language defined science as the observation
identification, description, experimental investigation and
theoretical explanation of phenomena. While indigenous
scientists do not do science in laboratories, they can and
do systematically acquire scientific knowledge through
observation, experiment, and theoretical explanation. The
indigenous man leaves what he studies in nature in place
or replaces what he takes. He seeks knowledge that will
permit him to live harmoniously with nature. Western
science has a propensity to remove phenomena from
their natural context without replacing or allowing for
appropriate regrowth. Moreover, studies are conducted
in laboratories in order to gain better control over the
learning process (Lovelock & Sahtouris, 2000). In the
laboratory the pursuit of knowledge is systematized,
privileging abstraction and rationality.
The emphasis of Samoan indigenous thinking,
as reaffirmed by Tui Atua, lies in maintaining spiritual
balance. In the indigenous Samoan pursuit of knowledge
there is respect and dialogue between humans and nature.
Respecting and dialoguing (with nature or anything
else) is taught in the language of alofa, in calmness and
gentle persuasion; it is not something learned within the
walls of a classroom, but as a lifelong enterprise through
the dynamics of relationships especially relationships
with stewards and specialists, elders of aiga (or family),
through observations and interactions with alii (high
chief ) and tulafale (orator chiefs). Most who share the
breath of ancestral wisdom breathed upon them during
their appointment into chiefdom seek an affinity with
nature, society, and the sacred contexts of culture.
Industrial era science has consciously and
carefully divorced itself from religion by reason of
historical conflict with the church. Efforts to resolve
this conflict are being made by scientific theologians
Avegalio
such as Thomas Berry (1914-2009) and Matthew Fox
(b. 1940), who have integrated the modern scientific
story of cosmology, planetary evolution, and ecology,
with religion. Berry was concerned with eco-theology
and Fox integrated creation spirituality and science. For
myself, Tui Atua opened a door into what one might call
the scientific richness of Samoan stories, legends, and
beliefs. He offered a place where spirituality and scientific
wisdom and knowledge can connect; where despite being
separated on the surface like islands within sight of each
other, he showed how they are actually connected, but in
the deep.
The Art of Prediction
T he machine metaphor of rationalist science is rooted
in the process of quantification. Measurability is
essential to predictability, control, management, and
the validation of reality by those subject to its paradigm.
If it cannot be measured, it doesnt exist, is a common
quip associated with societies holding rationalistic
values. Statistical processes are promoted assiduously in
education, and their value often unquestioned. Yet as
much as statistics may reveal, they can also blind. Tui
Atuas stories and insights into Samoan philosophy and
wisdom open a dimension into lifes relationships that
does not lend itself well to quantification nor statistical
analysis. It is the realm of the spiritual; one that engages
the intangible, dreams, intuitions, whispering winds, and
the gentle undulations of senses.
Undoubtedly many indigenous scientific
discoveries were initially based on intuition, dreams,
and hunches, as are many modern Western discoveries
today. Intuition is arguably a critical part of science. If
knowledge based on hunches, intuitions, and lightning
bolts of inspiration is to be thrown out, where does that
leave organic chemistry? Freidrich August Kekule von
Stradonitzs (1829-1896) dream of a snake biting its own
tail enabled him to visualize the structure of the benzene
molecule, a discovery that gave birth to the field of
organic chemistry. We can forget about neurochemistry
too. A dream showed Nobel Laureate in Medicine, Otto
Lowei (1873-1961), that the chemical messengers we
now call neurotransmitters are responsible for the flow
of information in the human brain. And, while we are
at it, we can also dismiss the importance of the discovery
of pasteurisation, penicillin, and hundreds of other
inventions. Inventor Alexander Graham Bell (1847-
1922) reportedly spoke of intuition as a conquering force
within, a force he used to invent the telephone. All this
seems to confirm that, as Henri Poincar (1854-1912)
Modern Knowledge and Ancient Wisdom
the mathematician, who created the science of topology,
reportedly said: It is through science that we prove, but
through intuition that we discover.
Special abilities such as iite, meaning a
prescience common among Polynesian wise men,
navigators, and tufuga (house-builders) suggest that
intuition, dreams, and sensing, like the undulations
in the atmosphere, are more common than one might
think. Scientific quantification is relative and within
the context of modern statistical analysis the art of
prediction is not much different to that practiced by
the traditional taulasea (specialist artisan or priest), who
base some of their predictions on an examination of the
entrails of a seabird. Reading for the predictive qualities
of mists, visions, dream images, sounds, sensations, and
attunements was a skill that formed a very real part of the
scientific worlds of ancient Samoans.
The New Zealand economist Gareth Morgan,
when writing about the limitations of the cultural
metaphor in describing organizations, cited an essay on
the use of statistics published in 1954:
British economist Ely Devons drew parallels between
decision making processes in formal organizations
(sic) and magic and divination in tribal societies.
He noted that while organizational decision makers
would not normally think of examining the entrails of
a chicken or of consulting an oracle about the fortunes
of their organization or the state of the economy,
many of the uses of statistics have much in common
with the use of primitive magic. In primitive society,
magic decides whether hunting should proceed in
one direction or another, whether the tribe should
go to war, or who should marry whom, giving clear-
cut decisions in situations that might otherwise be
open to endless wrangling. In formal organizations
techniques of quantitative analysis seem to perform
a similar role. They are used to forecast the future
and analyze the consequences of different courses
of action in a way that lends decision making a
semblance of rationality and substance. The use of
such techniques does not, of course, reduce risks.
The uncertainties surrounding a situation still exist,
hidden in the assumptions underlying the technical
analysis.
Devonss critique points to the exaggerated faith
we often tend to place in such techniques, and hence
the lack of reflection and critical awareness that
accompanies their use. Like the primitive magicians,
International Journal of Transpersonal Studies 115
 all kinds of experts are encouraged to engage in their (1542-1595), declared that Polynesian voyaging into
mysterious calculations, and are allowed to preserve the east, against predominant winds, was impossible.
their credibility even when events prove them wrong. In his arrogance he could not imagine how Polynesian
(Morgan, 1986, p. 134) navigators could navigate without his instruments of
navigation and vessels of burthen, two things of which
Major global and human events continue to
these people are destitute (cited in Brower, 1993, p.
occur with complete surprise in spite of the incredible
24). What de Quiros did not know was that that part
statistical data accumulated through analytically refined
of the Pacific, Marquesas, was a major staging area for
methodologies and expertise driven by unprecedented
the greatest voyages of exploration the world had ever
computer technology. Financial experts the world over
known up until Ferdinand Magellans (14801521)
were literally caught by surprise by the market crash of
circumnavigation of the world, or possibly the Chinese
1987 (and the more unexpected recovery), the massive
voyaging exploits. De Quiros had met the Oceanic
economic decline of 2008, the spread of the Internet,
compass and astrolabe without recognizing it. In Oceania
and of course the terrorist attacks of 9/11. We predict 30
the instrument of navigation was the navigator himself
year projections of social security deficits and oil prices
(Thompson, 1993). The indigenous Polynesian navigator
without realizing that we cannot even predict these for
and his felt knowledge was, and could still be, his wealth
the next summer (Taleb, 2007). Yet the imperfections of
and capital.
predictability may be more an issue of world view and
Capital and Wealth
related values rather than data collection and processing.
Howard Gardner (1983) in his classic study of
brain functions and intelligence successfully dismantled
W ealth and capital, in Samoan indigenous contexts,
unlike the narrow economic definitions of Western
business schools, do not necessarily have any relationship
the myth of a single IQ and established the accepted new
to money or anything material. Tui Atua pointed out that
reality of multiple intelligences (Gardner, 1983). Among
the indigenous Samoan concept of wealth and capital is
these intelligences is social intelligence, that is, natural
far broader and encompasses the prioritization of need
talents towards socializing, networking, and befriending
rather than profit. In this context the taking of natural
others. These are critical skills for ambassadors,
resources was/is never to go beyond what nature herself
diplomats, and leaders. Athletic intelligence is another,
could/can not sustain in terms of natural re-growth.
which is extraordinarily demonstrated by Michael
Tasks associated with fishing, planting, harvesting, and
Jordan and Tiger Woods. And, third, is attunement
building were/are, therefore, coordinated in accordance
intelligence. Physicists are able to detect energy rhythms
with predetermined cosmic and environmental timings.
using attunement devices that measure energy outputs
Wealth and capital here are considered the core elements
from all material things. What was considered an absurd
of eco-business.
story of old navigators talking to trees to determine their
British Enlightenment philosophers were
suitability for a voyaging canoe is not now so nonsensical.
inspired by Newtonian physics. For thinkers like Adam
Trees, like all organic things, emanate their conditions,
Smith ( 1723-1790) and John Stuart Mill (1806-1873),
much like an empty home or building has a certain feel.
men who admired Newtons work and in their turn
As you enter, one can sense warmth or a chill associated
contributed to Frederick Winslow Taylors (1856-1915)
with the facility. The old navigators seeking suitable trees
paradigmatic Scientific Management theory, the idea of
by sensing their emanations were doing the same. Young,
capital referred solely to material capital, capital measured
old, or sick trees emanate energy that can be detected by
by money (Marshall & Zohar, 2004, p. 25). In the Oxford
the navigators attunement intelligence, an intelligence
English Dictionary, capital is defined as, That which
whose capacity is heightened through years of use and
confers wealth, profit, advantage or power. Capital is not
refinement/attunement.
explicitly money per se. My assertion is that alofa (love) is
Open ocean navigation by Polynesian ancestors
capital. Faaaloalo (respect) is capital.
without instrumentation continues to be heralded as
The crystallization of capital to mean money
one of the greatest achievements of mankind. Pedro
and wealth, to mean material profit, sets into motion an
Fernndez de Quirs (1563-1615), the Portugese
impetus for goods accumulation that is ultimately self-
navigator, who served as Pilot on the ill-fated 1595-
destructive. But this is only one interpretation of capital
1596 expedition headed by lvaro de Mendaa de Neira
and wealth. Another perceives wealth and capital as
116 International Journal of Transpersonal Studies Avegalio
faataualofa the business of love. The first interpretation
portrays a materialistic, amoral culture of short term self
interest and profit maximization, emphasizing profit-
margins and encouraging isolationist thinking. Long-
term consequences are overlooked for short-term gain.
The second is that of spiritual capital.
Spiritual capital portrays a values based business
culture in which wealth is accumulated to raise the
common good and nurture the spirit of humanity. Spiritual
capital nourishes and sustains business by nourishing and
sustaining the human spirit (Marshall & Zohar, 2004).
Tui Atua (2000) stated in his paper, Faasamoa speaks
to my heart and my soul (p. 2), that the principles of
faataualofa are reciprocity, love, respect, service, and
courtesy (p. 2). Faataualofa embodies spiritual capital
and wealth.
Conclusion
I will always remember my mothers gentle advice as a
young adolescent: Ia e alofa i tagata, e te manuia ai,
meaning, be good to people and you will be blessed. She
would implore: May you always treat others with love
for you will always be wealthy for it. It would seem that
my dear mother had a better understanding of spiritual
capital and wealth than her university graduate son.
I conclude with her memory and a word of
gratitude to Tui Atua for articulating so wonderfully to
me what Mom and all mothers pass on to their children:
their spiritual wealth and capital that nourish and sustain
our hearts and guides our journeys as children. Tui
Atua through his writings has reaffirmed what I knew
in my heart. He has opened my mind to emerging and
new possibilities and warmed my soul by affirming the
strengths of the old. Tui Atuas cultural explanations
provided for me a vital link to the wealth and capital of
my Samoan values. My thoughts, which were guided as
much by spirit as by research and study will continue to
embrace the spiritual dimensions of my Samoan heritage
a heritage that remains my source of harmony and
peacefor faasamoa speaks to my heart and soul.
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Micronesia, Melanesian and Polynesia, traditional
village councils, community organizations, womens
organizations, governments, regional and national
colleges and universities in the Pacific, financial
institutions, multinational corporations and various local
businesses. He advocates and promotes the synergy of
traditional wisdom and modern knowledge in addressing
contemporary and global issues. He is currently working
on a book focused on traditional leadership and modern
governance, entitled, The Spirit of Traditional Wisdom
and The Efficiency of Modern Knowledge. He has co-
authored several articles for the Harvard Asia Pacific
Review and the organizational theory and development
journal Adaptive Options. He is a contributing author
to various publications on indigenous references and
traditional wisdom with a focus on Pacific cultural
values and introduced governance models. Dr. Tusi has
a doctorate in educational administration from Brigham
Young University in Provo, Utah. He is a Polynesian alii
and holds the traditional title of Papalii from Savaii,
Samoa.

About the Author

Failautusi Avegalio, Jr., Ph.D., is Director of the University

of Hawaii Pacific Business Center Program. Previously
adjunct professor of management and industrial relations
in the College of Business Administration (CBA) at the
University of Hawaii, he has over 25 years experience in
teaching, managing and consulting in Hawaii and the
Pacific Islands. Dr. Tusi is also Executive Director of
the University of Hawaii-Honolulu Minority Enterprise
Business Development Center. In August of 2008 he
was selected as the U.S. Western Region Minority
Business Development Director of the year by the U.S.
Department of Commerce-Economic Development
Administration. He has been a visiting research scholar
for the East West Center Pacific Islands Development
Program, and served on the faculties of the Japanese
American Institute for Management Science, the
Japanese Executive MBA program, and the Pacific Asia
Management Institute. Dr. Tusi has worked extensively
throughout the pacific region for paramount chiefs of
118 International Journal of Transpersonal Studies Avegalio
 Towards a Transpersonal Psychology of Daoism:
Definitions, Past Research, and Future Directions
Christopher Cott Adam Rock
Deakin University
Burwood, VIC, Australia

This paper is aimed at facilitating the study of Daoism, a collection of Chinese philosophical
beliefs and psychospiritual practices with a history of thousands of years and a living
community that stretches throughout East Asia, from a transpersonal psychology perspective.
Transpersonal psychologists who wish to embark upon a study of Daoist phenomena
must first be cognizant of the often nebulous parameters of the Daoist field of inquiry.
Therefore, an overview is offered of the two primary Daoist informational sources: the living
Daoist tradition as represented predominantly by the Quanzhen and Tianshi traditions,
and textual sources in collections such as the Daozang and the Zangwai Daoshu. Some
critical issues are highlighted, such as the fact that transpersonal psychologists need to be
mindful of various inherent difficulties associated with the study of Daoism (e.g., problems
interpreting allegorical and even deliberately encoded texts in the absence of the necessary
oral transmissions). Finally, a number of avenues for future research are put forward in the
interest of facilitating the transpersonal study of Daoism.

Introduction be Daoist, at least in part, and Daoism is in many ways a

I
n recent years, there has been a growing interest
in the West in psychological theory and practice
developed outside of the domain of Western
psychology. Buddhism, for example, has received a great
deal of attention in this regard, with a plethora of papers
published in psychological journals (see De Silva, 2001).
However, one area that has been neglected by Western
psychology, despite its apparent potential, is Daoism
(also, Taoism). Daoists, like the Buddhists, have produced
sophisticated methods of psychospiritual cultivation
aimed at developing the practitioner to an ostensibly
elevated mental and spiritual state of being (see e.g., Kohn,
1989, 2008a, 2008b). Furthermore, Daoism also includes
coinciding methods designed to enhance physical health
and wellbeing (see e.g., Engelhardt, 2000). Scientific
study of the benefits of these physiological practices is in
its infancy, but the field is expanding and results to date
are quite promising (Chen, 2004; Sancier, 1996). Daoism
also has an alternative theoretical basis to Buddhism and
other non-Western psychologies such as Advaita Vedanta
that have been studied by Western psychologists to
date, and may therefore offer valuable new perspectives
regarding non-Western modes of thinking concerning the
philosophy of mind and spirituality. In addition, millions
of Chinese, Koreans, and others consider themselves to
A Transpersonal
International Psychology
Journal of Daoism
of Transpersonal pp. 119-133 Journal of Transpersonal Studies 119
Studies, 28, 2009,International
fundamental background to the Chinese way of thought
(Nisbett, 2003). The psychological study of Daoism may
therefore contribute to a greater understanding of the
Chinese cultural milieu in particular and cross-cultural
psychology in general. These points provide adequate
rationale to grant Daoism a more prominent place in
the field of psychological science than it has enjoyed to
date.
Given that Daoist practices are often associated
with ostensibly trans-egoic experiences, one might
expect transpersonal psychologists to be at the forefront
of Western sciences exploration of Daoism. In his
transpersonal psychology textbook, Daniels (2005)
proposed two methods aimed at defining transpersonal
psychology. The first, or lengthy way, is to list a variety
of transpersonal phenomena, allowing the lay-individual
to gradually develop their own understanding of what
exactly constitutes the transpersonal. The second, or
short way, is to use what Daniels calls the s word (i.e.,
spiritual). In reference to Daniels lengthy way, one finds
that numerous transpersonal phenomena are also found
in Daoism. For example, reports of unitive absorption
are common in Daoist texts such as the Zuowanglun (a
classic on meditation by the famous Shangqing patriarch
Sima Chengzhen; DZ 1036 ; Kohn, 1987). Alternatively,
regarding Daniels short way, it is perhaps self-evident
that much of Daoism may be considered to be spiritual.
Daoist phenomena may also be situated within
Grofs (1975, 1988) transpersonal map. Grof developed
his cartography to assist in categorizing the variety of
experiences he witnessed during his research with the
hallucinogen LSD and later with holotropic breathwork
(a technique Grof developed after LSD was made illegal,
which purportedly mimics the effects of LSD; Grof,
1993). Grofs map includes three broad categories of
phenomena: (a) phenomena that take place within
consensual space-time reality but transcend its normal
boundaries; (b) phenomena that take place beyond
consensual space-time reality; and (c) phenomena of
a psychoid nature, whereby the distinction between
mind and matter is transcended (Grof, 1975, 1988,
1993). Reports of examples from each of these categories
may be found in Daoist textual sources. For example,
in the closing passages of the Xing Ming Fa Jue Ming
Zhi (Lu, 1973) one finds that the adept lets the all-
embracing positive spirit leave his bodily form to appear
in the world and to perform its work of salvation such
as alleviating human sufferings, curing the sick, etc. (p.
174). The preceding experience might be interpreted as a
phenomenon that occurs within consensual space-time
reality but transcends its normal boundaries. Examples
from the second category include reports of travels to
heavenly realms and interactions with gods and spirits.
These are common in Shangqing (see below) texts such
as the Shangqing taishang dijun jiuzhen zhongjing (DZ
1376) and the Shangqing jinque dijun wudou sanyi
tujue (DZ 765; Wong, 1997). Finally, an example of
reference to psychoid phenomena can be found in Zhang
Sanfengs (the legendary creator of Taijiquan or Tai Chi)
commentary on Lu Dongbins Baizi Bei, where he stated
regarding completion of the final stages of practice, You
see for myriad miles and have the subtle psychic faculties
available to complete human beings (Cleary, 1991b, p.
191).
It may also be observed that various Daoist
phenomena appear consistent with the key definitional
elements of the term, transpersonal psychology. For
example, Hartelius, Caplan, and Rardin (2007)
conducted a thematic analysis of 160 definitions of
transpersonal psychology from 1968 through 2002,
collected from the published literature and from
colleagues within the field. Three themes emerged from
their analysis, which broadly capture the fundamental
constituents of definitions of transpersonal psychology.
120 International Journal of Transpersonal Studies
Transpersonal psychology is: (a) beyond-ego, (b)
integrative/holistic, and (c) transformative. Examples
of how Daoism relates to the first theme can be found
in the Wudao Lu by the famous Quanzhen (see below)
patriarch Liu Yiming, where he stated When inward
and outward are illumined, and all is clear, you are one
with the light of the sun and moonthe subtle body of
a unified spirit, pervading the whole universe (Cleary,
1988, p. 4). Perhaps the obvious textual example of how
Daoism is integrative/holistic is the Yi Jing (also, I Ching;
Book of Changes). In Daoism, the Yi Jing is as much
a guide to the internal world of individual cultivation
as it is a guide to the workings of the external world of
society and the cosmos. Indeed, a holistic worldview is
not limited to texts such as the Yi Jing and its Daoist
commentaries, but pervades the entirety of Daoism as a
fundamental, underlying principle. In other words, the
underlying principles of Daoism relate to all aspects of
human psychology and beyond. Similarly, the majority
of Daoist praxis is transformative, aiming to progress
the adept from an ordinary state of being to an elevated
spiritual and mental existence. Textual examples of
methods of transformation typical of Daoism can be
found in the Wu Zhen Pian (a classic on meditation by
the Quanzhen patriarch Zhang Boduan), in Xiu Zhen Shi
Shu (DZ 263; Cleary, 1987) and Wei Boyangs Cantong
Qi (e.g., DZ 1002; Bertschinger, 1994).
Thus, by utilizing the various aforementioned
definitions or conceptualisations of transpersonal
psychology, it can clearly be seen that Daoism contains
a great deal of what might be considered transpersonal
phenomena. Despite these obvious points of intersection
between Daoism and transpersonal psychology (e.g., a
mutual interest in phenomena typically referred to as
altered states of consciousness), to date transpersonal
psychologists have neglected to investigate Daoism
to any significant degree. The majority of published
research concerning the relationships between
Daoism and Western psychology has been undertaken
from within the Jungian analytical and humanistic
psychological movements (e.g., Cambray, 2005; Lee,
2003). The humanistic movement in particular, through
the work of Rogers and Maslow, has been significantly
influenced by Daoist philosophical theory (e.g., Cleary
& Shapiro, 1996; Hermsen, 1996). Furthermore, Jenni
(1999), a scholar with a sophisticated understanding
of both contemporary and historical Chinese society,
has pointed to the influence a social background in
Daoism and Confucianism has had on the development
Cott & Rock
of modern psychological theory and practice in China.
Similarly, Fujio Tomoda, one of the forefathers of modern
psychology in Japan, drew heavily on Daoist philosophy
and terminology in his interpretation of client-centred
therapy (Hayashi et al., 1998). However, a great deal
more work is needed if modern psychology is to gain
the full benefits Daoism has to offer, while avoiding the
misunderstandings and misinterpretations (see note 8)
that have been characteristic of much of the literature
to date.
The present paper will begin by providing a
summary of what might be considered appropriate
source material for the psychological study of Daoism,
thereby attempting to define the field of inquiry. This
will be followed by a review of past psychological
research concerning Daoism, beginning with Jung and
analytical psychology, then moving on to humanistic
psychology, and finally to more recent empirical studies.
Following this review of the literature, various proposals
for future research aimed at facilitating the transpersonal
psychological study of Daoist phenomena are set forth.
Defining the Field of Inquiry
A ny psychologist, transpersonal or otherwise, who
wishes to study Daoism must be aware of the source
material from which to draw their data. There are two
primary sources of Daoist material potentially amenable
to study by the psychological community: (1) the living
Daoist tradition; and (2) textual sources such as those
included in the Daozang (Daoist canon). The purpose of
this section is to elucidate these two sources in order to
provide a background for those wishing to study Daoism
from a psychological perspective.
Despite its 2000 year history, leading up to the
present day, and widespread influence on one of the most
populous nations on the planet (i.e., China), Daoism is
one of the least understood religious and philosophical
traditions. However, scholarship in the last 20 years has
gone a long way toward addressing this issue, thanks to
the contributions of Kirkland (2004), Kohn (2000a),
Pregadio (2008a), Robinet (1997), and a multitude of
others. Without delving too much into the political,
cultural, and academic reasons for the misinformation
about Daoism that permeated much of 19th and 20th
century scholarship, what is presented here is a brief
overview of what might be considered Daoist for the
purposes of psychological study.
Daoism is a complex syncretic tradition (i.e.,
it has absorbed outside elements and ideas, which then
became identified with Daoism), that has evolved over
A Transpersonal Psychology of Daoism
thousands of years within a complex cultural, social,
and political climate. The term, Daoism (Daojia), was
first used in the second century B.C.E. by historians and
bibliographers to bring together a collection of writings
that they concluded belonged together (Kirkland, 2004).
These included the famous Dao De Jing (otherwise known
as the Laozi after its alleged author; e.g., DZ 664) and
Zhuangzi (e.g., DZ 670), but it is important to note that
these texts were grouped together retrospectively and that
there was no coherent Daoist tradition before this time.
This is not to say that the Dao De Jing, the Zhuangzi, and
other early Daoist texts are not related through common
themes. Indeed, eminent scholars of Daoism such as
Kirkland (2004) and Robinet (1997) have suggested
that there may have existed a tradition of mystical and
psychospiritual cultivation, which included meditation
and other yangsheng (nourishing life) techniques found
in much later Daoist movements. They have further
suggested, giving examples, that references to the
techniques common to this tradition can be found in
the Zhuangzi (e.g., zuowangsitting and forgetting), the
Dao De Jing (e.g., baoyiembracing unity), the Neiye and
Xinshu sections of the Guanzi (e.g., xiuxincultivating
the mind [heart]), and several other texts of around
the same period (circa fifth to third century B.C.E.),
including works related to the fangshi (court magicians)
and wu (shamans) such as the Chuci (Songs of Chu).
Thus, while Daoism as a distinct tradition did not exist
prior to the Han dynasty (206 B.C.E. to 220 C.E.), texts
like the Dao De Jing may represent a movement loosely
based around a set of beliefs and practices that became
the basis for, and indeed permeated much of, what later
became known as Daoism.
Over the next 2000 years Daoism continued to
develop, producing four relatively distinct movements;
Tianshi, Shangqing, Lingbao, and Quanzhen Daoism. Two
of these (Tianshi and Quanzhen) continue to exist today.
Furthermore, the Lingbao school was later subsumed
under the Shangqing school (Yamada, 2000), which was
subsequently subsumed under the Tianshi movement
(Robinet, 2000); thus the beliefs and practices of all four
movements survive today in some form or another.
To give a very cursory overview, Tianshi (also,
Wudoumi, also, Zhengyi) was the first institutionalized
form of Daoism, emerging during the second century
C.E. It places great emphasis on the Dao De Jing and the
Tianshi commentary on it, the Xianger (approximately
half of which survives today thanks to textual fragments
uncovered at the Dunhuang archaeological site and
International Journal of Transpersonal Studies 121
reconstructions from quotations in other sources;
Kleeman, 2008). Tianshi has strong moral and liturgical
elements, and individual practice is limited when
compared with other Daoist movements (e.g., Chen,
2008; Nickerson, 2000; Robinet, 1997). The second
tradition to emerge was Shangqing, which began with a
series of teachings and texts purportedly revealed toward
the end of the fourth century C.E. Shangqing practices
are largely individual and involve, among other elements,
a great deal of visualization and so-called ecstatic
journeying, reminiscent of much earlier traditions such
as those expressed in the Chuci (e.g., Robinet, 2000,
2008).
The Lingbao tradition is somewhat more difficult
to trace. Lingbao texts began to appear around the late
fourth century and early fifth century C.E. (possibly
as a reaction to Shangqing, just as Shangqing may have
been a reaction to the import of Tianshi into southern
China). However, some of these were redactions of
earlier texts and there existed texts prior to this time
with Lingbao in their title, such as the Lingbao Wufu Jing
cited in Ge Hongs (283-343 C.E.) Baopuzi (DZ 1185;
Bokenkamp, 2008a). Lingbao texts borrowed heavily
from a wide variety of sources, so much so that they were
sometimes accused of plagiarism by Buddhists and even
other Daoists, such as the famous Shangqing patriarch
Tao Hongjing (Bokenkamp, 2008b). Influences on
Lingbao thought and practice include fangshi practices,
Han dynasty apocrypha, the tradition of psychospiritual
practices and immortality techniques represented by Ge
Hong, Tianshi and Shangqing Daoism, and Buddhism
(see e.g., Bokenkamp, 2008a; Robinet, 1997; Yamada,
2000). Finally, Quanzhen was originated around 1170 by
Wang Zhe. Quanzhen has a strong tradition of individual
practice, in particular neidan or internal alchemy (a form
of energetic meditation utilizing the terminology of
alchemy to describe internal processes), and it was not
uncommon for Daoists of other schools to spend time
in Quanzhen communities in order to gain access to this
tradition (e.g., Goossaert, 2008; Yao, 2000).
To facilitate study and understanding of these
four main lines of Daoism and their companion texts,
Kohn (2000b) suggested a categorical simplification
into four main subject areas: philosophy, history and
literature, ritual, and practices and techniques. The
philosophical element is already largely addressed by
scholars such as Graham (1989) and Hansen (1992), and
will no doubt continue to be addressed by many more.
Similarly, the historical and literary elements of Daoism
122 International Journal of Transpersonal Studies
are receiving a great deal of attention from scholars such
as Kohn (2000a), Kirkland (2004), Robinet (1997)
and others. Daoist ritual may be of some interest to
psychologists, especially from a social or cross-cultural
psychology perspective. However, the area that is likely
to be of most interest to transpersonal psychologists is
the practices and techniques of Daoism. These practices
(and the beliefs upon which they are based), as they are
represented in the living tradition of Daoism (i.e., in
Tianshi, Quanzhen, and in some of the smaller yet no less
important lines of Daoism that still exist), are perhaps
the most valuable source for transpersonal psychologists
wishing to engage in a serious study of Daoism.10
Aside from this living tradition, one further
source of Daoist material is textual data, in particular as
represented in the Daozang, the Daoist canon.11 While
several Daoist canons have been compiled over the history
of Daoism the only one that survives has an extremely
convoluted organizational structure, making it difficult
to study even for scholars devoted entirely to the task.
Fortunately, through the efforts of the Tao-tsang Project,
including scholars such as Despeux, Goossaert, Pregadio,
Robinet, and Schipper, and culminating in a three
volume work edited by Schipper and Verellen (2004), the
canon has become somewhat more accessible. Schipper
and Verellen re-organized the canon into chronological
divisions, which are, in turn, organized into typological
classifications, making it much easier to find and relate
texts from a certain era, within a certain tradition,
regarding a certain topic (e.g., Litanites, of the Lingbao
tradition, from the Sui, Tang, and Five Dynasties eras).
Furthermore, for each text in the received Daozang, there
is a title in both pinyin and Chinese characters, a work
number indicating their original order in the Daozang,
an approximate date, where applicable an author, and an
article discussing historical information relating to the
text and summarizing its contents.
Needless to say, the majority of the texts present
in the Daozang have not been translated in full, but
Schipper and Verellen (2004) have gone a long way
toward opening up the Daozang for study. Furthermore,
many of the important Daoist texts have been translated
and these present a preliminary source of data pending
further translations. However, caution must be taken
when interpreting textual data relating to Daoism. There
is a strong tradition of oral transmission in Daoism, and
an equally strong tradition of secrecy. Thus, many Daoist
texts are either incomplete or deliberately scrambled
in such a way that they cannot be interpreted without
Cott & Rock
the corresponding oral transmission. This further
emphasizes the importance of textual studies being
conducted in conjunction with studies of the living
tradition of Daoism, as outlined above. The potential
difficulty in using textual sources in the study of Daoism
from a transpersonal psychology perspective does not
negate their usefulness, however they must certainly be
approached with appropriate care and caution.
In summary, given the preceding outline of
Daoist source material, transpersonal psychologists
wishing to study Daoism have two primary sources at
their disposal. The first is the living Daoist tradition
as represented primarily by the Quanzhen and Tianshi
lineages that exist today. The second is the textual tradition
as preserved in the Daozang and other smaller collections
such as the Zangwai Daoshu. The next section will review
previous psychological research that has investigated the
living Daoist tradition and/or the textual tradition.
Prior Research
Analytical Psychology
and the Contribution of Jung
Perhaps the first Western psychologist to attempt
a serious study of Daoism was Jung, in his commentary
on the Taiyi Jinhua Zongzhi12 (translated as The Secret
of the Golden Flower; Wilhelm & Jung, 1931/1962), a
classical Daoist text translated by Richard Wilhelm.
Jung essentially interpreted this text as a commentary
on the nature and function of what he deemed to be
psychological constructs, namely hun and po (also, po).
Wilhelm and Jung disagreed to some extent regarding
whether hun should be translated as animus or logos. Jung
rendered hun as animus in females and logos (i.e., the
masculine clarity of consciousness and reason; p. 117)
in males, and po as anima, the feminine, emotive aspect
of man, unthinking and independent of the conscious
mind (Jung & Storr, 1983). It would seem Jung decided
to render hun differently for males and females because,
he suggested, the Chinese neglected to address the
female mind (Wilhelm & Jung, 1931/1962, p. 117) in
any great detail and consequently overlooked the need
for such a distinction. Despite considerable evidence to
the contrary,13 if one accepts Jungs position that Daoists
tended to only consider the male mind, then the Taiyi
Jinhua Zongzhi is likely to only be discussing male
psychology and so hun may be rendered as logos and po
as anima.
Jungs (and Wilhelms) decision to render hun
and po as logos and anima, respectively, was in the
current authors opinions an error, as from this point
A Transpersonal Psychology of Daoism
on the terms of Jungs textual analysis were vis--vis
set a priori. In other words, if Jung were conducting a
qualitative analysis of the text, his approach imposed
certain limited criteria on the text, rather than
allowing the meaning of terms such as hun and po
to be drawn from the text itself. Furthermore, a new
translation of the text (Cleary, 1991a) has demonstrated
Wilhelms translation of the Taiyi Jinhua Zongzhi not
only to be incomplete but, in many places, textually
inaccurate. Thus, the use of an inaccurate translation
and a constrained qualitative methodological approach,
coupled with lacunae in Daoist scholarship prior to
the past 20 years or so (see above), led to an inevitably
limited interpretation of the text.
Based on the new translation by Cleary
(1991a), and facilitated by personal communications
with Daoist teachers (e.g., Verdesi, 2008, 2009), the
present authors would tentatively interpret the text
of the Taiyi Jinhua Zongzhi as follows: Rather than
purely psychological constructs, hun and po are two
of the five souls of some Daoist worldviews, to which
Daoists attribute a metaphysical reality (e.g., Pregadio,
2008b). Hun facilitates seeing by day and dreaming by
night, and thus appears to be related to the conscious
experience of something, particularly in relation to visual
phenomena. Po is the source of emotions and desires and
is what binds the self to the physical body and ordinary
worldly experience. Interestingly, if one interprets logos as
essentially relating to consciousness and anima as relating
to the individual unconscious, then Jung has effectively
attributed consciousness to hun and unconsciousness to
po. However, as the text clearly stated, The lower soul
(po) functions in association with consciousness, and
consciousness develops based on the lower soul (Cleary,
1991a, p. 14). Of course Jung did not have access to
this particular translation, but this passage would seem
to suggest that the majority of human psychological
experience, under ordinary circumstances, is the domain
of the po. Indeed, under ordinary circumstances the po
is allowed to subjugate the hun, resulting in the ordinary
mind, the conscious spirit, the light of consciousness. What
the text compels the reader to do is to invert the position
of hun and po, refine the hun and control the po. This
configuration will, in turn, bring about, rather than
the ordinary mind, the celestial mind, rather than the
conscious spirit, the original spirit. This celestial mind is
the final goal, and the text associates it with a multitude of
lofty spiritual attainments. While this is a rather cursory
summary, it would appear that there is certainly room to
International Journal of Transpersonal Studies 123
correct and expand on Jungs initial interpretation of the
Taiyi Jinhua Zongzhi.
Following up on Jungs initial work, several authors
(e.g., Cambray, 2005; Zabriskie, 2005) have commented
on the significance of Daoism to Jung in particular and
analytical psychology in general. The primary focus of
these authors has been Jungs work with another classical
Chinese text, the Yi Jing, and its influence on his concept
of synchronicity. Jung argued that the Yi Jing, a manual
for understanding the laws of nature and forecasting the
changes they bring about, relied not on causality, but on
a principle of acausal correspondence between the internal
world of the individual and the external world of the
cosmos (Jung, 1930). It was this principle, asserted Jung,
that led to momentary acausal correlations between the
internal and external, an event for which he coined the
term synchronicity. Jung contended that this principle
was essential to understanding the relationship between
the collective unconscious and the external world, in
that, through some sort of harmonic resonance it formed
an implicit link between the two domains (Coward,
1996). Consequently, it was through understanding this
principle of synchronicity that a balance could be found
between tendencies toward introversion (or excessive
focus on the internal world and, at its extreme, the
collective unconscious) and extroversion (or excessive
focus on the external world; Coward, 1996). Indeed,
Coward has argued that the movement from ego to
Self in Jungs psychotherapy could only occur once this
balance was achieved.
Undoubtedly, the initial work of Jung paved
the way for Western psychologists to learn from the
philosophies and religions of the East, and this trend
continues today. Shifting focus from analytical psychology
to what has been called the third force in psychology,
one can see that the humanistic psychologies of Rogers,
Maslow, and others seem to be even more closely related
to traditional Eastern trends and, in particular, Daoism.
Humanistic Psychology
A prime example of comparisons between
humanistic theories and philosophical Daoism can
be found in Lee (2003). Lee contrasted humanistic
psychology with seven principles of classical Daoist
philosophy: wu wei14 or non-interference, allowing
nature to take its course and answers to appear of
themselves; openness and tolerance; a water personality,
water flowing downward to assume the lowest position
and yet benefiting all, while its softness is able to
overcome even the hardest things (such as stone); high
124 International Journal of Transpersonal Studies
regard for females and the female principles of softness
and receptivity; moderation in all things; concern for
the welfare of others and the world; and opposition
to war and conflict. Lee contended that sensitivity to
these principles will serve to advance modern, Western
humanistic psychology and bring it closer to a global,
acultural psychology. The contribution of Lee and others
like him is certainly a service to Western psychology and
may assist in furthering our understanding of the human
condition. However, as stated above, the present authors
would caution against placing too great an emphasis on
a few, early philosophers (e.g., Laozi in the case of Lee,
2003) at the risk of overlooking the rest of Daoisms rich
2500 year history. The principles expounded in texts such
as the Dao De Jing are without a doubt fundamental to
Daoism, but to focus solely on these would result in the
oversight of a great deal of valuable philosophical and
psychological material.
While Lee (2003) at least provided an adequate
treatment of the one Daoist text he focused on (the Dao
De Jing), others have been less thorough. Rosen and
Crouse (2000), for example, contrasted the fundamental
theoretical positions of Jung, Erikson, and Maslow with
what they understood to be the essential viewpoint
of Daoism. While there may initially appear to be
considerable similarities between these four perspectives
(e.g., movement toward a more integrated self concept),
when examined more thoroughly it becomes evident that
the similarities between Jung, Erikson, and Maslows
standpoints on the one hand, and Daoism on the other
hand, are only present on a superficial level. Indeed,
each point of view emphasizes the importance of one
becoming a whole and balanced individual. However,
the nature of this goal, and the process leading to it, is
viewed rather differently within Daoism as compared to
the Western approaches, especially when a broader range
of Daoist material than the early texts of philosophical
Daoism (e.g., Dao De Jing, Zhuangzi) are taken into
consideration.
As an example, an examination of the Jindan
Sibaizi Jie15 (Cleary, 1986a) reveals a fundamental
distinction between Erikson and Maslows views of
human development and one exemplary Daoist view.
In brief, the Daoist conception of human development
presented in the Jindan Sibaizi Jie consists of seven
stages. The first stage is prior to birth, where there is no
differentiation of individual aspects of the person, called
primordial, true, unified generative energy (p. 60). The
second stage is that of the infant, where the duality of
Cott & Rock
primordial (that which is pure) and temporal (that which
is conditioned and therefore sullied) first appears, but
they are still fundamentally one (the primordial is related
to hun and the temporal to po in the Taiyi Jinhua Zongzhi;
see above). The third stage is that of the child, in which
discrimination and cognition first arise, however the child
is still spontaneous and primarily led by the primordial.
The fourth stage is the first where discrimination truly
begins to take effect, the artificial and acquired enter into
the original and true and distinctions between good and
bad arise. The fifth stage is where all that confuses the
mind takes over, discriminatory awareness arises, the
temporal takes control and the primordial is subdued.
The sixth stage is the conquest of the primordial by the
temporal, the pure by the conditioned, emotions and
desires confuse the mind and acquired conditioning rules
affairs. In the final stage the mundane gradually increases
and original purity gradually decreases, until eventually
it is completely exhausted, at which point death ensues.
While this is the ordinary condition for humans, the
author, Liu Yiming, appears to believe that by practicing
their methods people can reverse the process, travel back
through the seven stages and reach original, primordial
purity (Cleary, 1986). This is distinct from humanistic
theories not only in the appearance of the stages
described, but in the concept of reversal. Maslow and
Erikson put forward progressive, hierarchical models,
such as progression from birth, to satisfaction of basic
survival needs, social and interpersonal needs, and finally
to satisfaction of personal growth and spiritual needs
(Maslow, 1968). On the other hand, this particular Daoist
model considers movement away from a unified center
toward entanglement in the world degenerative, whereas
the opposite movement, a return toward unification, is
considered positive (Cleary, 1986a). Indeed, the idea of
reversal has permeated Daoism from the beginning, as
exemplified by the Dao De Jing advocating a return to
the state of the infant.
Taking a somewhat different approach from
Rosen and Crouse (2000), Chang and Page (1991)
simply compared Rogers and Maslows self-actualized
person with the sage of Laozis Daoism. Unfortunately,
as Piechowski (1991) pointed out, Chang and Page (1991)
committed the error of assuming that Rogers fully
functioning person and Maslows self-actualizing person
are the same. Furthermore, while Rogers and Maslow
may have included Daoist sages as self-actualizers/fully
functioning people, Laozi may not have recognized all
self-actualizers as sages, so self-actualization cannot
A Transpersonal Psychology of Daoism
necessarily be equated with sagehood. Furthermore,
there is a great deal of difference between most of
Daoist praxis as outlined in texts such as the Taiyi
Jinhua Zongzhi (Cleary, 1991a), the Zuowanglun (Kohn,
1987), or the Wu Zhen Pian (Cleary, 1987; e.g., the
emphasis on individual practice, and indeed the nature
of such practices) and the methods used by Rogers
and Maslow (such as the facilitation of others through
counselling). Similarly, there are subtle distinctions that
may set Daoists apart from other self-actualizers, such
as withdrawal from society (not necessary but common
in Daoism, as evidenced by the preponderance of Daoist
hermits; e.g., Blofeld, 1978). It would therefore seem
that, on a more thorough examination, self-actualizers/
fully functioning individuals are not synonymous with
Daoist sages.
Empirical Studies
To date, the experimental study of the psychology
of Daoism has been rather limited, and has primarily
been in the form of qigong studies. The term qigong
is used to refer to certain sets of exercises designed to
develop and manipulate either the breath, and/or the qi,
a form of subtle energy (Zhang, 2004). While not solely,
or even strictly, Daoist,16 studies of qigong phenomena
may inform psychological researchers regarding
concepts common to Daoism (e.g., qi). One of the major
contributors to the study of qigong practices is Myeong
Soo Lee and his colleagues (Lee et al., 2001; Lee, Kang,
Lim, & Lee, 2004; Lee, Rim, & Kang, 2004). While
primarily involved in the study of the physiological effects
of various qi practices, Lee has conducted several studies
that included psychological variables. For example, Lee
et al. (2001) examined the effects of a Korean qi therapy
(ChunSoo Energy Healing) on anxiety, mood, and several
physiological variables such as blood cortisol levels. A
qi master either conducted qi therapy (experimental
condition) or mimicked the movements of qi therapy
without any intent to heal (sham placebo control) on
20 participants. Despite the small sample size, Lee et
al. found significant group-by-time interactions (across
Pre-intervention, Post 1 [15min], and Post 2 [70min]) for
decreases in state anxiety (p < .05) and total (negative)
mood score (p < .01). Utilizing a similar design and
the same qi therapy, but this time with a repeated-
measures design (i.e., participants served as their own
controls), Lee, Rim, et al. (2004) found higher levels of
satisfaction (vs. dissatisfaction; p < .05), relaxation (vs.
boredom; p < .001), and calmness (vs. excitation; p <
.001) in experimental vs. sham conditions. One caveat
International Journal of Transpersonal Studies 125
with between groups designs such as Lee et al. (2001) is
that care must be taken to avoid what may be referred to
as selection-testing threat. Selection-testing threat occurs
when there is a differential effect between conditions in
post-test scores due to the effects of the pre-test in and of
itself. That is, it is plausible that the pre-test primed the
participants in each condition differently. Consequently,
it is arguable that observed post-test differences cannot
necessarily be attributed to the treatment; the differences
could be the result of selection-testing (Trochim, 2006).
One way to avoid selection-testing threat would be to
include a treatment condition that is administered the
pre- and post-test and a treatment condition that is only
administered the post-test. If there are no significant
differences between the two treatment conditions with
regards to the post-test scores, then one may conclude
that the results are not attributable to selection-testing
(Trochim, 2006).
Lee, Kang, et al. (2004) chose to take a somewhat
different approach to that described above. Instead
of participants receiving treatment from a qi master,
they learned a set of practices (from the same school
as ChunSoo Energy Healing) aimed at self-treatment.
A placebo condition was also included, whereby
participants learned the same set of exercises taught in
the experimental condition, but without any conscious
effort to gather or move qi. A significant group-by-time
interaction was found, whereby anxiety was reduced in
the experimental group pre- to post-intervention, but
not in the placebo group (p < .005). In other words,
the practice of Korean ChunDoSunBup qi training (but
not a similar placebo version) reduced anxiety in those
practicing it. As with the study mentioned above, Lee
and colleagues design does not control for selection-
testing threat.
Johansson et al. (2008) also examined the effects
of self-treatment. However, this study investigated a
different practice referred to as Jichu Gong. Johansson,
Hassmn, and Jouper (2008) found significant group-
by-time reductions in anxiety (p < .01), depression (p
< .005), anger (p < .0005), and fatigue (p < .0005).
However, this study was considerably less sophisticated
than that by Lee, Kang, et al. (2004), lacking, for
example, a placebo condition. That is to say, instead of
undertaking an alternative form of physical exercise,
the control condition merely sat and watched a lecture,
while the treatment condition practiced the Jichu Gong
exercises. Furthermore, the participants in the study were
self-selected, so one must be careful in interpreting these
126 International Journal of Transpersonal Studies
results due to the possibility of extraneous influences on
the data (e.g., bias due to vested interest in supporting
the efficacy of the school to which participants belong).
In another study (Jouper, Hassmn, &
Johansson, 2006), a self-report questionnaire was
administered to ascertain whether qigong practice was
associated with improved health. Positive correlations
were found between the current level of perceived
health and the number of qigong courses completed (p <
.05), level of concentration (p < .01), the length of each
qigong session (p < .01), and years of practice (p < .05).
However, as participants were self-selected and every
variable was self-rated on a send-home questionnaire
(including current health level, concentration, etc.), there
is a possibility of bias acting on participants responses.
For example, participants who have invested more time,
money, and energy into their qigong practice may be
more inclined, albeit unconsciously, to respond in the
positive, regardless of actual outcomes.
Another study that warrants mentioning, as its
author describes their study with references to Daoism,
is a phenomenological analysis of authentic experiences
by Rahilly (1993). However, while Rahilly proposed
that authentic experiences may be fostered by the theory
and praxis of Daoism, among other things, there is no
theoretical or empirical basis for supposing that the
authentic experiences of her participants/co-researchers
(members of a psychotherapist training group) are in
any way related to the authentic experiences of Daoist
practitioners and those described in the extant Daoist
literature. As such, Rahillys analysis unfortunately
cannot contribute a great deal to an understanding of
Daoism and the results of its practices.
It should be clear from the preceding review that
there is a paucity of psychological research into Daoism.
The following section will provide suggestions for
transpersonal psychologists who wish to study Daoism.
Various first principles will be outlined and, subsequently,
recommendations for future transpersonally-orientated
studies will be provided.
Future Directions
First Principles
To begin a thorough examination of the
psychology and praxis of Daoism, several first
principles must be established. Primary among these
is the determination of what exactly is meant by the
term Daoism. As indicated above, until very recently
the majority of Western scholars, psychologist and
otherwise, have focused primarily on a few early texts
Cott & Rock
(e.g., Dao De Jing, Zhuangzi) and dismissed the rest of
Daoism as superstition and fortune telling (Kirkland,
2004). While this may be true for some aspects of
Daoism, it is certainly not the case for all of the past
2000 years of Daoist history. Despite this unfortunate
treatment, in recent years several scholars have begun to
reverse this trend (e.g., Kohn, 2000a; Robinet, 1997).
The Defining the Field of Inquiry section above might
be considered a preliminary step towards facilitating an
understanding of what constitutes appropriate material
for the psychological study of Daoism.
Another area that requires attention is linguistic
concerns and the clarification of terms. Obviously, the
majority of material relating to Daoism originated from
Chinese language sources. Therefore, caution is required
when discussing Chinese terms; as much detail should
be provided as is practical, and wherever possible, the
original Chinese and a romanization (that is, the writing
of Chinese words in roman characters that can be read
and pronounced by Western readers) should also be
included to allow for cross-referencing. This should
hopefully help to avoid the confusion that sometimes
arises as a result of multiple English translations being
used for the same Chinese word. Researchers new
to Chinese studies should also be aware that there is
more than one method of the romanization of Chinese
words. For example, L Dongbin and Lu Tung-Pin are
different renderings of the same name, using the two
most common forms of romanization; pinyin (mainland
China) and Wade-Giles (Taiwan), respectively. It is easy
to see how a scholar reading two different texts in which
these names appeared may mistakenly believe they were
discussing two distinct people, and this is by no means a
unique example. Thus, care must be taken in this regard
as well.
After considering the preceding limitations,
transpersonal psychologists wishing to study Daoist
phenomena must formulate appropriate methodologies.
The following section offers several suggestions for research
designs that might be used in future transpersonally-
orientated empirical studies.
Suggestions for Empirical Research
There are numerous avenues for future research
concerning Daoism that may interest psychological
researchers in general and transpersonal psychologists
in particular. For example, the study of Daoist notions
of selfhood and identity may have a good deal to
offer to transpersonal psychology. Ho (1995) made a
comparison of Eastern and Western theories of selfhood
A Transpersonal Psychology of Daoism
and identity, including philosophical Daoist theories
as expressed in the Dao De Jing and Zhuangzi. An
empirical extension of this work would be welcomed by
transpersonal psychologists. Indeed, notions of selfhood
in Daoism typically display a distinct transpersonal
orientation, given that the self is intrinsically relational
in nature. That is, self is largely defined by other, and
the epitome of self-realization in Daoism could be said
to be a dissolution of self into the cosmos as a whole, or
Dao. One quantitative instrument that may be of use
in this regard is Friedmans (1983) Self- Expansiveness
Level Form (SELF). The SELF purports to measure the
integration of the individuals self-concept in regards to
both a spatial (here) and a temporal (now) dimension.
Thus, it appears to measure how much an individuals
experience of self is expanded across space and time.
The SELF can purportedly measure this experience
quantitatively and, thus, distinguish between a localized
experience of self (i.e., existing solely in the here and
now), and an experience that transcends the individuals
temporal and/or spatial location (Pappas & Friedman,
2007). Thus, this instrument may provide useful
information regarding the experience of transcending
the ordinary temporal and spatial locale of the self
during certain Daoist meditative practices relative to a
control condition.
Another area that may be of interest to
transpersonal psychologists is the phenomenological
effects of Daoist practices. One Daoist cognitive state
that may be of particular interest is jing. Jing refers to
a state of profound stillness and tranquility, wherein
various psychological transformations are said to take
place. Jing appears in the Dao De Jing in passages such
as, Take emptiness to the limit; Maintain tranquility
(jing) in the center (Henricks, 1989, p. 68). Another
very early text also attributes special importance to jing.
The Neiye was written around the same time as the Dao
De Jing and is one of the first texts to mention elements
that would become pivotal to later Daoist psychospiritual
cultivation (e.g., the three treasures: jing [a different jing
than the jing of tranquility], qi, and shen; also, body,
heart, and thought; Roth, 1999). The importance of jing
in the Neiye can be seen in passages such as, Cultivate
your mind, make your thoughts tranquil (jing), and the
Way can thereby be attained (Roth, 1999, p. 54), and
For the heavens, the ruling principle is to be aligned.
For the earth, the ruling principle is to be level. For
human beings, the ruling principle is to be tranquil
(jing) (p. 58).
International Journal of Transpersonal Studies 127
 Just as jing appears in some of the earliest texts
related to Daoism, it also appears in some of the most
recent. The Xing Ming Fa Jue Ming Zhi was written
in 1933 by Daoist master Zhao Bi Chen (Baldrian-
Hussein, 2008). In it is the following: The union of the
three elements (jing [again, a different jing than that of
tranquiliy/serenity], qi, and shen) into one whole produces
the elixir of immortalityWhen thought is reduced to the
state of serenity (jing), the three factors mingle into one
(Lu, 1973, p. 30). So, the spiritual goal (as it is expressed
in a Jin Dan or Yang Shen tradition) is achieved through
the union of the three, and this in turn is brought about
by a state of jing. Hence, jing is a pivotal goal in multiple
schools of Daoist thought.
The problem then becomes, what is jing, how is
it achieved, and how does one study it? It would appear
from the above passages that jing is a relatively lofty goal,
especially if its full realization is, in fact, the realization of
the ultimate goal of some Daoist schools. This being the
case it is unlikely to be fully manifested in all but a few
of the most highly realized Daoist masters. However, a
viable alternative may exist. In the Daoist school to which
the first author belongs, jing is reached through a gradual
deepening of an earlier stage, namely song (Verdesi, 2008,
2009). Song is a state or a process of relaxation, beginning
with muscles and tendons and gradually deepening the
effect until organs and, ostensibly, eventually even the cells
begin to relax. Leading on from this physical relaxation,
the mind also begins to relax (indeed in Daoism the body
and mind are not as separate as they are in most Western
conceptions, so this is a logical progression), resulting in a
reduction in spontaneous thought. Eventually, this stilling
of the mind results, in turn, in the state of jing. Thus, the
study of song may be a viable alternative to the study of
jing, at least in the preliminary stages of the transpersonal
psychological study of Daoism.
In studying processes such as song, researchers
might utilize techniques such as phenomenological
analysis (e.g., Colaizzi, 1978; Elite, 1998; Giorgi, 1975).
While variations in these types of techniques exist,
the essential aspects of this type of methodology are
qualitative. The researcher analyses a subjective report
(usually elicited through a face-to-face interview) of
a particular experience in order to extract from it the
essential aspects of the experience without compromising
the fundamental essence of the subjective report (e.g.,
Matsu-Pissot, 1998). These extracted themes may then be
compared across multiple subjective reports and collated
to produce comprehensive constituent themes, which
128 International Journal of Transpersonal Studies
briefly and clearly summarise the essential aspects relating
to a particular experience (e.g., song; Elite, 1998).
Alternatively, quantitative methodology could
be employed. For example, an experimental methodology
could be designed whereby a 53-item retrospective
quantitative phenomenological assessment instrument
called the Phenomenology of Consciousness Inventory (PCI),
could be administered to operationally define, map, and
diagram (Pekala, 1985, p. 207) the phenomenological
effects of a particular Daoist practice versus a control
condition (e.g., sitting quietly with ones eyes open). This
data could be used in a variety of ways, such as allowing
one to quantitatively assess whether Daoist practices
induce phenomena typically referred to as altered states
of consciousness. Furthermore, the PCI could be used to
quantitatively assess various practices commonly grouped
under a single label, such as qigong, to ascertain whether
these practices do indeed induce similar or quite distinct
phenomenological effects.
Complementary mixed-method approaches
may also prove advantageous, whereby qualitative data
informs the interpretation of quantitative data, and
vice-versa (i.e., the two forms of data are triangulated
in order to reach a more accurate description of events).
For example, a qualitative phenomenological analysis of a
Daoist meditation practice could be paired with the PCI
(Pekala, 1991) or the Abnormer Psychischer Zustand
(APZ; altered states of consciousness) questionnaire
(Dittrich, 1998). The essential aspects of a particular
Daoist meditation experience that the PCI or APZ fails
to tap may be captured by semi-structured interviews,
and vice-versa. By triangulating these methods, one may
be able to generate a more comprehensive understanding
of Daoist meditative experiences.
Utilizing this methodology, various Daoist
practices could be compared with other psychological
and mindfulness practices (e.g. mindfulness meditation)
regarding variables such as positive and negative mood
states. The mediating influence of various personality
traits (e.g., openness to experience, thinness vs. thickness
of mental boundaries, transliminality) on the effects of
different Daoist practices could also be examined. Such
research might be crucial in identifying which personality
types are most likely to gain therapeutic benefit from
Daoist practices and are, thus, ideal candidates for Daoist
training.
It may also be edifying to examine the
development of the individual utilizing Daoist practices.
Longitudinal examinations of different stages of, for
Cott & Rock
example, Daoist meditation practices may prove useful
in this regard. Alternatively, cross-sectional designs,
whereby individuals at different levels of the practice are
compared, could be utilized. Again, qualitative analyses
such as phenomenological analysis could be employed, as
could quantitative tools such as the PCI, the APZ, and
measures for anxiety, subjective well-being, and so on.
Conclusion
I t should be clear from this review that Daoism
contains a great deal of material that may be
considered transpersonal. The present authors argued that
transpersonal psychologists wishing to undertake a study
of Daoism must first be cognizant of the two primary
Daoist informational souces: the living Daoist tradition
as represented predominantly by the Quanzhen and
Tianshi traditions, and textual sources in collections such
as the Daozang and the Zangwai Daoshu. Transpersonal
psychologists must also be aware of the potential areas of
difficulty inherent in the study of Daoism (e.g., linguistic
issues such as the need for translations and difficulties
in interpreting allegorical and even deliberately encoded
texts in the absence of the necessary oral transmissions).
Finally, transpersonal psychologists seeking to study
Daoism will need to formulate appropriate research
methodologies. These might include the use of qualitative
methods, such as phenomenological analysis, quantitative
instruments such as the PCI, APZ, or SELF, and
mixed-methods approaches in both cross-sectional and
longitudinal designs.
Notes
1. Words of Chinese origin, except personal names, are
italicized and written using the pinyin romanization
system.
2. Where possible the working number of classic texts
that appear in the Daozang (Daoist canon) have
been given in accordance with Schipper and Verellen
(2004).
3. This text can be found in the Zangwai Daoshu
(872).
4. Zhang Sanfengs commentary can be found under the
title Xuan Ji Zhi Jiang, in Zhang Sanfeng Xiansheng
Quanji, Zangwai Daoshu (125).
5. This text can also be found in the Zangwai Daoshu
(268).
6. Text with commentary by Liu Yiming can be found
under the title Zhou Yi Chan Zhen in the Zangwai
Daoshu (245). A translation can be found in Cleary
A Transpersonal Psychology of Daoism
(1986b).
7. Following Rock and Krippner (2007a, 2007b), the
authors suggest that altered states of consciousness
may be more accurately described as altered patterns
of phenomenal properties.
8. Perhaps primary among these misunderstandings
has been the dismissal of the majority of Daoism
as mere religious superstition. Until recently a
great many scholars made a distinction between
philosophical Daoism as represented by the Dao
De Jing and the Zhuangzi, and religious Daoism,
meaning the rest of Daoism as it developed over the
past 2000 years. Modern scholars (see in particular,
Kirkland, 2004; Kohn, 2000a; Pregadio, 2008a;
Robinet, 1997) have exposed this as a largely false
dichotomy and have begun to show the value of
studying Daoism in its entirety, from the earliest
texts to modern movements.
9. For a more detailed discussion of the continuities
between ancient texts such as the Dao De Jing, the
Zhuangzi, and the Neiye that suggests a common
movement of psychospiritual practices see Robinet
(1997). A translation of the Neiye can be found in
Roth (1999).
10. One classificatory system relating to this practical
element of Daoism that the first author has
found useful is the six great paths. In personal
communications with the first author, one Daoist
teacher (Verdesi, 2008, 2009) often referred to the
Liu Da Dao (the six great paths); Lei Shan Dao, Jin
Dan Dao, Tong Ling Dao, Yang Shen Dao, Miao
Tong Dao, and Sha Men Dao. The Lei Shan Dao
works predominantly with the manipulation and
combination of various forms of yin and yang qi. The
Jin Dan Dao refers to the alchemical path, which
is split into waidan (external alchemy) and neidan
(internal alchemy). Waidan is what is generally
understood by the term alchemy, namely, literally
attempting to mix different minerals in an attempt
to develop dan (medicines/elixirs) for a variety of
spiritual and physiological goals. Neidan uses the
terminology of waidan (e.g., alchemical ingredients,
firing process) to describe internal processes, such as
refining and transmuting jing, qi, and shen (the three
treasures of the body-mind). Tong Ling Dao works
primarily with spirits and Ling (spiritual essence,
something like the Holy Spirit of Christianity)
through prayer and incantation. Yang Shen Dao
focuses on developing the shen (one of the three
International Journal of Transpersonal Studies 129
 treasures, a sort of spirit or soul) to higher and higher
degrees and manifesting its latent abilities. Miao Tong
Dao, also sometimes referred to as Wu Dao (literally
translated as, no path), appears to be closely related,
if not identical, to the path elucidated in early texts
such as the Dao De Jing. It does not work with jing,
qi, shen, but simply attempts to lead the practitioner
directly to break through to enlightenment. The Sha
Men Dao is the shamanistic path, ostensibly evolved
from, and closely resembling, the practices of the
wu and fangshi of pre-Daoist China. Generally a
combination of several of these six paths will exist in
any one school, although one will be more dominant
than the rest.
11. Of course the received version of the Daozang is not
exhaustive in regards to ancient texts that may be
considered Daoist. For example, any text included
in earlier editions of the Daozang but absent from
the current one, or some texts excavated from
archaeological sites that had previously been thought
to be lost, such as some of the Dunhuang manuscripts,
may also arguably be considered Daoist. Similarly,
smaller Daoist collections, such as the Zangwai
Daoshu, should also be consulted.
12. This text can be found in the Zangwai Daoshu
(131).
13. From the outset, the importance of the feminine
in Daoism was made clear. Female and maternal
characteristics are held up as desirable and necessary
in the Dao De Jing. Consequently females have had
at least an equal standing in Daoist institutions
throughout the history of the tradition. For a
discussion of the roles of women in Daoism see
Despeux (2000). For a selection of writings attributed
to prominent female Daoists see Cleary (1989).
14. There has been a great deal of debate over the
meaning of the term wu wei in the philosophical and
anthropological literature, but non-interference is
used here as this is the primary meaning Lee (2003)
attributed to wu wei. Interested readers should
refer to Graham and Charles (1989) for a useful
introduction to the topic.
15. This commentary on Zhang Boduans Jindan Sibaizi
can be found in the Zangwai Daoshu (266).
16. Indeed, there is evidence to suggest that the idea
of qigong is a modern invention, with the same or
similar sets of exercises being referred to historically
by different names, such as daoyin (Palmer, 2007;
Zhang, 2004).
130 International Journal of Transpersonal Studies
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Cott & Rock
 About the Authors

Christopher Cott is a PhD candidate at Deakin University

in Melbourne, Australia. His main area of research is
the study of Daoism from a transpersonal psychology
perspective. He also practices Daoist arts under the
guidance of a lineage holder of both the Longmen school
of the Quanzhen lineage (made famous by Wang Liping),
and the Damo school of the Lei Shan Dao.

Adam Rock, PhD, is a Senior Lecturer in Psychology

and Co-Director of the Anomalistic and Transpersonal
Research Laboratory at Deakin University. He is
also a Founding International Board Member of
the International Transpersonal Association. He has
published dozens of articles in prestigious academic
journals such as the Journal of Scientific Exploration, the
Journal of Parapsychology, and Transpersonal Psychology
Review.

A Transpersonal Psychology of Daoism International Journal of Transpersonal Studies 133

 Reflections on a Silent Meditation Retreat:
A Beginners Perspective
Chad V. Johnson
University of Oklahoma
Tulsa, OK, USA

This paper explores the experience of a silent meditation retreat from the perspective of
a novice practitioner. The 7-day Scientist Meditation Retreat was held at the Spirit Rock
Meditation Center in Woodacre, California. It was intended to provide meditation researchers
an intensive silent retreat experience. The author shares his reflections throughout the retreat
and concludes with some of the personal insights he gained.

Background retreat experience. The retreat provided an opportunity

T
ranspersonal psychologists have been deeply
interested in meditation since the fields inception.
They have viewed meditation as a method for
deeply examining consciousness, self, and experiencing
nonordinary states (Walsh, 1996). My own interest in
meditation and Buddhist Psychology, in particular, has
existed since graduate school. Like many with these
interests, I have been what is humorously called a bedside
Buddhist. That is, my Buddhist knowledge and practice
were mostly confined to keeping a stack of Buddhist texts
next to my bed to read as a soporific. This has changed the
past two years as my intellectual interest has moved into
a desire to practice meditation on a regular basis. Now I
practice sitting meditation (zazen) for about 30-minutes a
day. My frequency has waxed and waned, but remained
fairly consistent over this time. I consider myself a novice,
but more than a dilettante. The reason for my increased
interest is personal and professional. I desire spiritual
experience, inner peace and calm, and the ability to
consistently operate within the present moment. Moreover,
as a researcher I study the effects of mindfulness practice in
psychotherapy and as an intervention for vicarious trauma
and compassion fatigue among trauma workers.
What follows is an account of my recent
experience on a 7-day silent Scientist Meditation Retreat
at Spirit Rock Meditation Center (SRMC) in Woodacre,
California. There are numerous styles of meditation from
virtually every major religious tradition (Johnson, 1982).
Christianity, Islam, and Judaism, for exampletheir
orthodox and more mystical formsproscribe meditation
and contemplative practices similar to those practiced in
the Far East. This particular retreat intended to introduce
researchers to mindfulness meditation and the silent
134 International Journal of Transpersonal Studies
Studies, 28, 2009, pp. 134-138 Johnson
to network with meditation researchers from a variety of
disciplines (e.g., neuroscientists, psychologists, physicians)
and learn of their work (after the silence was broken, of
course). The renowned Richard Davidson from University
of Wisconsin was slated to be the headline presenter but
had to withdraw for personal reasonsthough his lab was
well represented at the retreat. His research is well-known
for studying the effects of meditation by conducting
fMRIs, with the Dalai Lamas cooperation and support,
on Tibetan monks. A colleague and friend of Davidsons
from UC-Davis replaced him as the featured speaker.
For those who are unfamiliar with SRMC, it is
a retreat and Buddhist training center founded by Jack
Kornfield and his colleagues from the Insight Meditation
Society. Its teachings fall within the Theravada Buddhist
tradition, but from its inception the founders valued
diversity in practice, teaching, and study. SRMCs mission
statement from its website reads:
The purpose of Spirit Rock is to help each individual
find within himself or herself peace, compassion, and
wisdom, through the practice of mindfulness and insight
meditation (vipassana), and to support the individual in
taking those qualities into the world. We see Spirit Rock
as a living mandala (a circle) whose central inspiration
is the dharma, the deepest truth of life, beyond words
and concepts. The outer expressions of the mandala
are both reflections of the dharma and paths leading
back to the dharma. The outer expressions, which are
interdependent and support one another, include our
programs and trainings in retreats, wise relationship,
study, hermitage, service, and spiritual practices, in the
world. (Spirit Rock, 2009)
 Context
S RMC requests that retreatants take a vow of noble
silence beginning on the afternoon of the first day
through the afternoon of the 6th day, at which time the
various researchers and health practitioners were able
to introduce themselves to one another. Noble silence
entails refraining from both verbal and nonverbal
communication with oneself or others. This includes
refraining from journaling or note writing, singing,
gestures, or reading. The SRMC website outlines the
goals of the retreat and practice of silence:
A retreat provides an opportunity and a caring
container for undertaking intensive meditation,
like an immersion course in a language. The central
practice on retreats is mindfulness, which enables
us to see the ways we create difficulties in our lives
and to discover a freedom of heart in the midst of
all things. The mindfulness practice on retreats is
often accompanied and complemented by training
in lovingkindness meditationMost of the retreat
is held in silenceretreatants do not speak to one
another. Writing and reading are also discouraged,
so that retreatants can better stay with their own
present experience as it unfolds, moment to moment.
In this silent and mindful environment, awareness
sharpens, the body quiets, the mind clears, and space
opens for insight and understanding to develop.
(Spirit Rock, 2009)
In sum, the goal of the retreat was to practice the skill
of mindfulness, aided by silence and the beautiful
surroundings, moment-by-moment throughout the
day. Retreatants were also assigned a work meditation,
which was to be conducted once a day for approximately
one hour. This might involve cooking, cleaning, food
service, or maintenance of the grounds. I was assigned
to cleaning showers in my residence hall. Silence was to
be maintained, as was the practice of mindfulness while
working.
The daily schedule involved alternating periods
of sitting and walking meditation beginning at 6:15
am and ending around 9:30 pmwith breakfast,
lunch, and an evening tea (or light supper) served. Two
optional periods for yoga were also offered, as well as a
dharma talk before evening tea, and an evening lecture.
Finally, I must mention the glorious surroundings and
facilities. Coastal hills and forest filled with wild deer
and turkey surround the meditation and residence halls.
The meditation hall itself is unlike any I have ever seen.
Silent Meditation Retreat
Wooden floors and ceiling and large windows enclose
the meditation center. Two ornate Buddha statues adorn
the front of the hall and a smaller, but exquisite, dancing
Buddha is displayed in back.
Reflections
B efore the retreat, I was both nervous and excited.
I had never meditated longer than one day and I
was not sure how the length and experience of silence
would affect me. Friends commented that they would
lose their minds or become extremely talkative after
such an experience. I had no strong expectations, but
curiosity gripped me. I was not sure what to expect. I
know that I desired an experiencethat is, I wanted
something tangible that would indicate some type of
learning or transformation. I was mostly fearful about
the physical toll it would take on my body. Even with my
relatively brief 30-minute daily practice, I almost always
experienced intense pain in my legs including having
one or both legs fall asleep. I was conscious of fearing
this pain as well as self-conscious about appearing as less
capable than the other meditators.
Days 1 and 2
Pain, pain, and more pain. Our instructors
warned us that the first full day of meditation could be
physically and psychologically demanding. It was. My
legs and body ached, my mediation was full of awareness
that I was feeling pain and thoughts such as move, get
uphow much longerplease, bell, ring soon! From
the beginning, I found myself preoccupied with what
type of meditation posture would be most comfortable,
and honestly, would make me appear as an experienced
practitioner rather than a beginner. Full lotus is not an
option as Im as flexible as dry bread; so I tried half-
lotus, Burmese-style (i.e., legs uncrossed lying in front),
Japanese-style (i.e., kneeling position), and used a
number of different cushions or seats (e.g., zafu, zabuton,
gomden, seiza bench). My first insight: after any lengthy
period of time meditating, everything is uncomfortable.
I did find that the Japanese-style (i.e., seiza, kneeling
while sitting on a short bench) allowed me to sit with the
least amount of discomfort. Our teachers instructed us
to notice our sensations, such as pain, and our thoughts,
such as aversion, and simply observe them with kind
acceptance (easier said than done, I might add).
Overall, thoughts, sensations, and preoccupations
bombarded my consciousness. I remember thinking that
if the rest of the week continued this way, it might be a
sign to find a new spiritual practice. I slept fitfully and
had active, vivid dreams about being at a silent retreat.
International Journal of Transpersonal Studies 135
Day 3
Some meditation practices are known for their
austeritystrict regimens of sitting perfectly still for long
hours, eating very little, and perpetually focusing attention
on a single object. The teachers at Spirit Rock promoted a
kinder, gentler approach. They encouraged retreatants to
follow the instruction and schedule as much as they were
able, but to also follow their hearts and practice loving-
kindness toward themselves. They stressed that retreatants
would likely change in some way, even if they followed none
of the instructions other than noble silence for the entire
week. I expect that this is true. Lives in America tend to
be lived at a rapid, noise-filled pace. Everyone would likely
benefit from wrapping oneself in silence and Californias
pleasant weather and resplendent surroundings.
Thus, I spent time after breakfast mindfully
hiking in the hills and woods of the retreat center. I
found that a strenuous 45-minute hike through the hills
led to majestic views. I could see the San Francisco Bay
and Golden Gate bridge from the top of the hills. On the
morning of the second day, I simultaneously watched the
sun rise in the East and the full moon set in the West.
After just two days of meditating, I noticed my awareness
and concentration sharpening. The day seemed brighter,
the air crisper, and the food tastier. I was not sure if this
was the result of the meditation or simply the vacation
effect that many experience upon leaving their ordinary
routines behind. Once again, I fell asleep exhausted. I
had the following dreams:
In the first dream, I am walking on a dock with one
of the meditation teachers at the retreat (one who is ill
and had to leave the retreat). The dock is old and has
many holes and weak spots. Twice I catch her from
falling into the water. She is grateful.
In the second dream, I am a new member of an
elite assault force. I am handed weapons and engage
in battle. I shoot and kill several people. I think to
myself that my target practice has paid off. After the
battle, my fellow soldiers participate in recreation
and merriment accompanied by women I believe
to be prostitutes. I walk around the scene, not fully
participating, looking for something
Day 4
By this point, I noticed my meditation and my
mind becoming more still and quiet though a parade of
thoughts and sensations march on. I notice the absence
of bliss or euphoria as well. I experienced mostly a calm,
at ease, neutral state. I have learned from my study that
136 International Journal of Transpersonal Studies
bliss, while pleasurable, should not be the ultimate
goal of meditation. It is something to be experienced,
savored, but let go like all passing phenomena. Thus, I
was not disappointed, but felt a curious expectancy as
to what types of pleasurable nonordinary states I might
experience, if any.
On the other hand, I felt challenged by my work
meditation. The work frustrated me, as I could not get
the showers as clean as I would like. Furthermore, it took
me longer than the designated hour and I missed sitting
meditation time. I felt rushed and not mindful or calm
at all. I worried what the staff would think. Will they
think I am slacking off or incompetent? I recognized
that working meditation would be a good practice for
me. I found the sitting and walking meditations to be
centering and calming. The pain from the first day had
greatly decreased. Other than noticing passing thoughts
and senses, I found the meditation times a refuge. I
eagerly awaited them. The work meditation, in contrast,
permitted me to experience more of what practicing
mindfulness in everyday life is like. I encountered
expectations, self-consciousness, frustration, and tasks
that require patience and diligence. Remaining mindful
and practicing lovingkindness during these times
stretched my skills and my patience.
Day 5
Today I experienced bliss. I mentioned earlier
that my experience to this point had been calming,
centering, and deepening. I had not noticed any grand
transformations, but rather subtle changes in my mind
and being. Indeed, I had not realized how the retreat
was affecting me until I attempted to speak with my
meditation teacher during our allotted time together. Up
to this point, I had not spoken to anyone. When I tried
to speak, it felt as if all manner of voice had left me. I
could not find the words. It took great effort to bring
myself to speak. I had no pressing concerns or questions.
My practice seemed to be going along nicely. So I said,
No questions, but I havent experienced any bliss yet?
My teacher smiled and responded, Would you like to
experience bliss? I nodded. He proceeded to give me the
following instructions:
Release your concentration of breath and let your
awareness fill this room. Now gradually allow your
awareness to move outside of this room. Notice the
wind, notice that bird chirping. Let go of your attention
to your breath and your body and let your awareness
expand outside to the surroundings and on.
Johnson
I followed his directions and felt my sense of self
expand. I was amazed. I experienced a floating
sensation. It felt like my body was dissolving and
floating off into the air. I felt intense joy and freedom.
I also became aware of the impulse to climb the hills
and take in the view under this trance-like state. It felt
like a drug-induced trip, but with no side effects. As I
started to climb I became more and more aware of my
body. It was a steep climb and I was beginning to feel
fatigued. The blissful state began to wax and wane. I
felt no sorrow about this; instead, I felt grateful for
the experience. I enjoyed it, but felt no attachment to
it; I had no desire for more. Happily, I returned to
my regular practice of sitting, walking, and mindfully
meditating. I remember thinking that if bliss comes,
then wonderful, Ill let it arise and pass. If it does not
come, then so be it.
I carried remnants of this bliss into the evening
lecture and meditation, which focused on death. I
left the meditation hall that night feeling sober and
reflective. During this death meditation, I experienced
a release of the concerns regarding personal and
professional accomplishments. Instead, I felt a deep
desire to love and share love with others; I had the
sense that this was all that mattered. I thought of my
loved ones and I reflected on my death. I saw myself in
death lying upon a table. I thought of never holding,
touching, or laughing again. Love and laughterthese
were the highest ideals, I thought to myself. All other
things paled in comparison.
Day 6
Each day, for the most part, I experienced
my meditation deepeningthat is, I found it easier to
relax into breathing and mindfulness. I became aware
that the retreat was almost complete. I sensed sadness
about this. I had thoroughly enjoyed the experience.
At this point, everything seemed alive and amplified.
Walks in the woods seemed surreal. Visual and hearing
acuity seemed enhanced. At times during the week,
my jocularity overcame me. I played practical jokes on
my roommate such as moving his shoes from where he
left them outside the residence and meditation halls
and writing comical notes for the meditation teachers.
These mirthful moments brightened already sunny
California days.
I never realized how much work intense
meditation could be. I felt quite fatigued at the end
of each day. While experiencing deep peace, I also
found that something about the practice of intense
Silent Meditation Retreat
concentration and mindfulness requires great effort.
Moreover, I strained my upper back in the night and
now had more physical pain to contend with. I resolved
to make it a part of my meditationnoting the pain,
returning to the breathand for the most part I was
successful at it.
The peace and calm of previous days began
to elude me. Thoughts and feelings of conceit, self-
consciousness, and judgment surfaced frequently.
The evening lecture seemed to trigger these critical
thoughts. Something about the presentation on the
current neuroscience of meditation irritated menot
sure if it was the delivery or the message. I struggled
to apply nonjudgment and lovingkindness towards
myself. I escaped the meditation hall and company of
others. I conducted the evening meditation in solitude
on a deck underneath the moon and the stars caressed
by the cool evening breeze. I sat with my anger,
irritation, and frustration waiting for insight that never
came. On reflection, I believe I felt intimidated by this
area of research. That is, I felt somehow minimized as
an applied and clinical researcher. I also believe that
something about quantifying and reducing meditation
into its biochemical processes felt threatening to my
romantic ideas about this spiritual practice.
Day 7
We broke silence in the afternoon to introduce
ourselves to the other retreatants and begin debriefing
the experience. We continued silence during meals
and meditation sessions. I was overcome by emotion
as I tried to speak during a small group debriefing. My
eyes welled up with tears, I felt emotionally raw. I was
amazed by the power of words and silence. I vacillated
between feeling grounded and shockedbetween a
meditative, trance-like state and a vulnerable, fragile
one. It was clear that I was coming off of an intense
experience, that I had been deeply affected. I fluctuated
between desiring solitude and contact with other
retreatants. In one case, I was sitting with a group of
meditators in the dining hall discussing the science of
meditation. The words and language began to reach
an unbearable volume and I retreated to find quiet
and solitude. I felt viscerally bombarded by noise and
overstimulation.
The retreat had come to an end. I felt
camaraderie with the other meditators. Though we
had not spoken to each other for an entire week, I
felt strongly connected to many of them. Their faces
brought me comfort or stimulated inner reflection and
International Journal of Transpersonal Studies 137
insight during the week. We shared a common goal
experiencing inner calm, peace, and insight into the
workings of our minds and the creation of suffering.
I will miss my meditation cushion and spot in the
meditation hall. I will miss the grandeur and loveliness
of the hills, trees, wildlife, and fellow meditators.
Conclusions
References
Johnson, W. (1982). Riding the ox home: History of
meditation from shamanism to science. London, UK:
Rider & Co.
Spirit Rock Meditation Center. (2009). Available at
http://www.spiritrock.org

T he silent vipassana retreat at SRMC was truly

unlike anything I have experienced before.
Overall, I found the experience healing, self-expanding,
Walsh, R. (1996). Meditation research: The state of the
art. In B. Scotton, A. Chinen, & J. Battista (Eds.)
Textbook of Transpersonal Psychiatry and Psychology
calming, rejuvenating, and deeply transpersonal. I (pp. 167-175). New York, NY: Basic Books.
experienced stillness, quiet, and self-observation at
levels never before encountered. One of the translations About the Author
of vipassana is insight. Throughout my meditation,
I had meaningful insights about myself and the Chad V. Johnson, PhD, is an Assistant Professor of
processes of my consciousness at varying degrees of Human Relations at the University of Oklahoma and
depth and significance. Upon reading these, they a licensed psychologist. He is also a Clinical Assistant
may not seem profound. They may even seem trite Professor in the Department of Psychiatry at OU and
and clich. However, words do not do justice to the a Project Director in the Center of Applied Research in
experiential level of understanding I gainedhow I Nonprofit Organizations. His primary research interests
encountered these insights on a felt-sense level, rather include the interface of psychology/psychotherapy and
than purely at an intellectual one. spirituality (including mindfulness), psychotherapy
First, I left the retreat with a strong desire to process/outcome, and community health/social justice.
simplify my lifethat is, reduce material possessions, Dr. Johnson received his Ph.D. from Pennsylvania State
television and computer time, and other distractions. University in counseling psychology. He received his
On retreat I found happiness in the simplicity of the masters in school psychology from Trinity University and
practice and surroundings. I had none of the comforts bachelors in psychology from Texas A&M University.
of modern life, but found great joy in this simplicity. He currently maintains a small private practice in Tulsa,
Second, I believe myself to have a healthy sexual life OK.
and sexual drive. Yet on retreat, I experienced very few
sexual thoughts or fantasies even when I intentionally
tried to create them. Meditators find sexuality to be a
common hindrance or distraction and I expect it will
be for me at some point in my practice. Yet, I was
surprised to find how my sexual energy seemed to be
satisfied by the fullness of the meditation and retreat
experience. Finally, I discovered how to celebrate my
own gifts and talents without conceitsomething I
have struggled with for some time. The answer I found
during meditation: to genuinely recognize and exalt
the gifts and talents of others and to generously give
praise and acknowledgement where it is due.
In conclusion, I greatly valued the experience
and plan to attend 7 to 10-day retreats each year. This
experience has solidified my interest in meditation and
Buddhist psychology, provided valuable meditation
instruction, and expanded my understanding of the
depth and intensity of meditative experience as a
transpersonal practice.
138 International Journal of Transpersonal Studies Johnson
 The Plurality of Religions and the Spirit of Pluralism:
A Participatory Vision of the Future of Religion
Jorge N. Ferrer1
California Institute of Integral Studies
San Francisco, CA, USA

This paper first uncovers the subtle spiritual narcissism that has characterized historical approaches
to religious diversity and discusses the shortcomings of the main forms of religious pluralism that
have been proposed as its antidote: ecumenical, soteriological, postmodern, and metaphysical. It
then argues that a participatory pluralism paves the way for an appreciation of religious diversity that
eschews the dogmatism and competitiveness involved in privileging any particular tradition over the
rest without falling into cultural-linguistic or naturalistic reductionisms. Discussion includes the
question of the validity of spiritual truths and the development of a participatory critical theory of
religion. The essay concludes with an exploration of different scenarios for the future of religion
global religion, mutual transformation, interspiritual wisdom, and spirituality without religionand
proposes that such a future may be shaped by spiritually individuated persons engaged in processes
of cosmological hybridization in the context of a common spiritual family. A participatory approach
to spirituality turns the problem of religious plurality into a celebration of the critical spirit of
pluralism.

W
hen David B. Barret, the main editor of the
massive World Christian Encyclopedia (Barret
et al., 2001), was asked what he had learned
about religious change in the world after several decades
of research, he responded with the following: We have
identified nine thousand and nine hundred distinct
and separate religions in the world, increasing by two
or three religions every day (cited in Lester, 2002, p.
28). Although there may be something to celebrate in
this spiritual diversity and ongoing innovation, it is also
clear that the existence of many conflicting religious
visions of reality and human nature is a major cause of
the prevailing skepticism toward religious and spiritual
truth claims. Against the background of modernist
assumptions about a singular objective reality, it is under
standable that the presence of a plurality of mutually
exclusive accounts leads to the confident dismissal of
religious explanations. It is as if contemporary culture
has succumbed to the Cartesian anxiety behind what W.
E. Hocking called the scandal of plurality, the worry
that if there are so many divergent claims to ultimate
truth, then perhaps none is right (cited in Clarke, 1997,
p. 134). This competitive predicament among religious
beliefs is not only a philosophical or existential problem;
it has also has profoundly affected how people from
different credos engage one another and, even today,
A Participatory
International Visionofof
Journal pp. 139-151 Journal of Transpersonal Studies 139
Religion Studies, 28, 2009,International
Transpersonal
plays an important role in many interreligious conflicts,
quarrels, and even holy wars.2 As the theologian Hans
Kng (1988) famously said, there can be no world
peace without peace among religions (p. 194) to which
one may add that there might not be complete peace
among religions without ending the competition among
religions.
Typical responses to the scandal of religious
plurality tend to fall along a continuum between
two drastically opposite positions. At one end of the
spectrum, materialistic, scientifically-minded, and
nonreligionist scholars retort to the plurality of
religious world views to downplay or dismiss altogether
the cognitive value of religious knowledge claims,
regarding religions as cultural fabrications which, like
art pieces or culinary dishes, can be extremely diverse
and even personally edifying but never the bearers of
any objective truth whatsoever (e.g., Rorty, 1998).
At the other end, spiritual practitioners, theologians,
and religionist scholars vigorously defend the
cognitive value of religion, addressing the problem of
religious pluralism by either endorsing the exclusive (or
ultimately superior) truth of their preferred tradition
or developing universalist understandings that seek to
reconcile the conflicting spiritual truths within one or
another encompassing system. Despite their professed
integrative stance, most universalist visions of human
spirituality tend to distort the essential message of the
various religious traditions, hierarchically favoring
certain spiritual truths over others and raising serious
obstacles for interreligious harmony and open-ended
spiritual inquiry (see Ferrer, 2000, 2002).
My intention is this essay is to first uncover
the spiritual narcissism characteristic of our shared
historical approach to religious diversity, as well as
briefly discuss the shortcomings of the main forms
of religious pluralism that have been proposed as its
antidote. Second, I introduce the participatory turn
in the study of spirituality and religion, showing how
it can help to cultivate a fresh appreciation of religious
diversity that avoids the dogmatism and competitiveness
involved in privileging any particular tradition over the
rest without falling into cultural-linguistic or naturalistic
reductionisms. Then I offer some practical orientations
to assess the validity of spiritual truths and outline the
contours of a participatory critical theory of religion.
To conclude, I explore different scenarios for the future
or religion and suggest that a participatory approach
to religion not only fosters our spiritual individuation
in the context of a common human spiritual family,
but also turns the problem of religious plurality into a
celebration of the critical spirit of pluralism.
Uncovering Our Spiritual Narcissism
A few marginal voices notwithstanding (e.g., see Lings
& Minnaar, 2007; Oldmeadow, 2004; Stoddart,
2008), the search for a common core, universal essence,
or single metaphysical world behind the multiplicity of
religious experiences and cosmologies can be regarded
as over. Whether guided by the exclusivist intuitionism
of traditionalism or the fideism of theological agendas,
the outcomeand too often the intended goalof such
universalist projects was unambiguous: the privileging
of one particular spiritual or religious system over all
others. In addition to universalism, the other attempts
to explain religious divergences have typically taken one
of the three following routes: exclusivism (my religion
is the only true one, the rest are false), inclusivism (my
religion is the most accurate or complete, the rest are
lower or partial), and ecumenical pluralism (there
may be real differences between our religions, but all
lead ultimately to the same end).
The many problems of religious exclusivism
are well known. It easily fosters religious intolerance,
fundamentalist tendencies, and prevents a reciprocal and
symmetrical encounter with the other where divergent
140 International Journal of Transpersonal Studies
spiritual viewpoints may be regarded as enriching options
or genuine alternatives. In the wake of the scope of
contemporary theodiversity, the defense of the absolute
cognitive superiority of one single tradition over all others
is more dubious than ever. Inclusivist and ecumenically
pluralist approaches suffer from similar difficulties in
that they tend to conceal claims for the supremacy of
one or another religious tradition, ultimately collapsing
into the dogmatism of exclusivist stances (e.g., see
Ferrer, 2002; Halbfass, 1998). Consider, for example,
the Dalai Lamas defense of the need of a plurality of
religions. While celebrating the existence of different
religions to accommodate the diversity of human karmic
dispositions, he contends that final spiritual liberation
can only be achieved through the emptiness practices
of his own school of Tibetan Buddhism, implicitly
situating all other spiritual choices as lowera view that
he believes all other Buddhists and religious people will
eventually accept (DCosta, 2000). Other examples of
inclusivist approaches include such diverse proposals as
Kukais ranking of Confucian, Taoist, and Buddhist
systems as progressive stages towards his own Shingon
Buddhism (Hakeda, 1972); Swami Vivekanandas
proclamation of (neo-)Vedanta as the universal eternal
religion (sanatana dharma) that uniquely encompasses
all others (Halbfass, 1988); the Bahai belief in its being
the last and highest, though not final, revelation of a
succession of religions (Coward, 2000); and Wilbers
(1995) arrangement of all religious goals as hierarchical
stages of spiritual development culminating in his own
articulation of a nondual realization.3 In a way, the
various approaches to religious diversityexclusivism,
inclusivism, and ecumenical pluralism (more about the
latter in a moment)can be situated along a continuum
ranging from more gross to more subtle forms of
spiritual narcissism, which ultimately elevate ones
favored tradition or spiritual choice as superior.4
The bottom line is that, explicitly or implicitly,
religious traditions have persistently looked down upon
one another, each believing that their truth is more
complete or final, and that their path is the only or most
effective one to achieve full salvation or enlightenment.
The following section considers several types of religious
pluralism have been proposed in response to this
disconcerting situation.
The Varieties of Religious Pluralism
R eligious pluralism comes in many guises and
fashions. Before suggesting a participatory remedy
to our spiritual narcissism in dealing with religious
Ferrer
difference, I critically review here four major types
of religious pluralism: ecumenical, soteriological,
postmodern, and metaphysical.
As noted, ecumenical pluralism admits genuine
differences among religious beliefs and practices, but
maintains that they all ultimately lead to the same
end (see, e.g., Hick & Knitter, 1987; Hick, 1989). The
problem with this apparently tolerant stance is that,
whenever its proponents describe such religious goal, they
invariably do it in terms that favor one or another specific
tradition (e.g., God, the transcendently Real, emptiness,
and so forth). This is why ecumenical pluralism not only
degenerates into exclusivist or inclusivist stances, but also
trivializes the encounter with the other after all, what are nothing but discursive entities (Braun, 2000).
is really the point of engaging in interfaith exchange if
we already know that we are all heading toward the same
goal? A classical example of this stance is the theologian
Karl Rahners (2001) famous proposal that practitioners
of other religions could attain salvation by walking
different paths because, though unknown to them,
they are anonymous Christians who can be delivered
through Gods grace. The contradictions of pluralistic
approaches that postulate an equivalent end-point for all
traditions have been pointed out by students of religion
for decades (e.g., Cobb, 1975, 1999; DCosta, 1990;
Panikkar, 1987, 1995). A genuine religious pluralism,
it is today widely accepted, needs to acknowledge the
existence of alternative religious aims, and putting all
religions on a single scale will not do it.
In response to these concerns, a number of
scholars have proposed a soteriological pluralism that
envisions a multiplicity of irreducible salvations
associated with the various religious traditions (e.g., Heim,
1995). Due to their diverse ultimate visions of reality and
personhood, religious traditions stress the cultivation of
particular human potentials or competences (e.g., access
to visionary worlds, mind/body integration, expansion of
consciousness, transcendence of the body, and so forth),
which naturally leads to distinct human transformations
and states of freedom. A variant of this approach is the
postulation of a limited number of independent but
equiprimordial religious goals and conceptually possible
ultimate realities, for example, theism (in its various
forms), monistic nondualism ( la Advaita Vedanta),
and process nondualism (such as that of Yogacara
Buddhism) (Kaplan, 2002). The soteriological approach
to religious difference, however, remains agnostic
about the ontological status of spiritual realities, being
therefore pluralistic only at a phenomenological level
A Participatory Vision of Religion
(i.e., admitting different human spiritual fulfillments),
but not at an ontological or metaphysical one (i.e., at the
level of spiritual realities).
The combination of pluralism and metaphysical
agnosticism is also a chief feature of the postmodern
solution to the problem of conflicting truth claims in
religion. The translation of religious realities into cultural-
linguistic fabrications allows postmodern scholars to
explain interreligious differences as the predictable
upshot of the worlds various religious beliefs, practices,
vocabularies, or language games (Cuppit, 1998; Flood,
1999). In other words, the various gods and goddesses,
spirits and ancestors, archetypes and visionary worlds,
Postmodern pluralism denies or brackets the ontological
status of the referents of religious language, which are
usually seen as meaningless, obscure, or parasitic upon the
despotic dogmatism of traditional religious metaphysics.
Further, even if such spiritual realities were to exist, the
human cognitive apparatus would only allow knowledge
of culturally and linguistically mediated experience of
them (e.g., Katz, 1998). Postmodern pluralism recognizes
a genuine plurality of religious goals, but at the cost of
either stripping religious claims of any extra-linguistic
veridicality or denying that one can know such truths
even if they exist.
A notable exception to this trend is the
metaphysical or deep pluralism advocated by a number of
process theologians (Cobb, 1999; Griffin, 2005). Relying
on Whiteheads distinction between Gods unchanging
Being and Gods changing Becoming, this proposal
defends the existence of two ontological or metaphysical
religious ultimates to which the various traditions are
geared: God, which corresponds to the Biblical Yaveh,
the Buddhist Sambhogakaya, and Advaita Vedantas
Saguna Brahman; and Creativity, which corresponds
to Meister Eckharts Godhead, the Buddhist emptiness
and Dharmakaya, and Advaita Vedantas Nirguna
Brahman. A third possible ultimate, the cosmos
itself, is at times added in connection to Taoism and
indigenous spiritualities that venerate the sacredness
of the natural world. In addition to operating within a
theistic framework adverse to many traditions, however,
deep pluralism not only establishes highly dubious
equivalencies among religious goals (e.g., Buddhist
emptiness and Advaitas Nirguna Brahman), but also
forces the rich diversity of religious ultimates into the
arguably Procrustean molds of Gods unchanging
Being and changing Becoming.
International Journal of Transpersonal Studies 141
 The Participatory Turn
C an the plurality of religions be taken seriously today
without reducing them to either cultural-linguistic
by-products or incomplete facets of a single spiritual
truth or universe? I believe this is possible and in the
anthology I recently co-edited with Jacob H. Sherman,
we are calling this third way possible the participatory
turn in the study of religion and spirituality (Ferrer &
Sherman, 2008).
Briefly, the participatory turn argues for an
understanding of the sacred that approaches religious
phenomena, experiences, and insights as cocreated
events. Such events can engage the entire range of
human faculties (e.g., rational, imaginal, somatic,
aesthetic, contemplative, and so forth) with the creative
unfolding of reality or the mystery in the enactmentor
bringing forthof ontologically rich religious worlds.
Put somewhat differently, we suggest that religious and
spiritual phenomena are participatory in the sense
that they can emerge from the interaction of all human
attributes and a creative spiritual power or dynamism of
life. More specifically, we propose that religious worlds
and phenomena, such as the Kabbalistic four realms, the
various Buddhist cosmologies, or Teresas seven mansions,
come into existence out of a process of participatory
cocreation between human multidimensional cognition
and the generative force of life and/or the spirit.5
But, how far can one go in affirming the
cocreative role of the human in spiritual matters? To be
sure, most scholars may be today ready to allow that
particular spiritual states (e.g., the Buddhist jhanas,
Teresas mansions, or the various yogi samadhis), spiritual
visions (e.g., Ezekiels Divine Chariot, Hildegards
visionary experience of the Trinity, or Black Elks Great
Vision), and spiritual landscapes or cosmologies (e.g.,
the Buddha lands, the Heavenly Halls of Merkavah
mysticism, or the diverse astral domains posited
by Western esoteric schools) are largely or entirely
constructed. Nevertheless, I suspect that many religious
scholars and practitioners may feel more reticent in the
case of spiritual entities (such as the Tibetan daikinis,
the Christian angels, or the various Gods and Goddesses
of the Hindu pantheon) and, in particular, in the case
of ultimate principles and personae (such as the Biblical
Yaveh, the Buddhist sunyata, or the Hindu Brahman).
Would not accepting their cocreated nature undermine
not only the claims of most traditions, but also the
very ontological autonomy and integrity of the mystery
itself?
142 International Journal of Transpersonal Studies
Given the rich variety of incompatible
spiritual ultimates and the contradictions involved in
any conciliatory strategy, I submit that it is only by
promoting the cocreative role of human cognition to the
very heart and summit of each spiritual universe that it is
possible to preserve the ultimate unity of the mystery
otherwise one faces the arguably equally unsatisfactory
alternative of having to either reduce spiritual universes
to fabrications of the human imagination or posit
an indefinite number of isolated spiritual universes.
By conceiving spiritual universes and ultimates as
the outcome of a process of participatory cocreation
between human multidimensional cognition and an
undetermined spiritual power, however, the ultimate
unity of the mystery is rescued while simultaneously
affirming its ontological richness and overcoming the
reductionisms of cultural-linguistic, psychological, and
biologically naturalistic explanations of religion.
What I am proposing here, then, is that different
spiritual ultimates can be cocreated through intentional or
spontaneous participation in a dynamic and undetermined
mystery, spiritual power, and/or generative force of life or
reality. This participatory perspective does not contend
that there are two, three, or any limited quantity of
pregiven spiritual ultimates, but rather that the radical
openness, interrelatedness, and creativity of the mystery
and/or the cosmos allows for the participatory cocreation
of an indefinite number of self-disclosures of reality and
corresponding religious worlds. These worlds are not
statically closed but fundamentally dynamic and open to
the continued transformation resulting (at least in part)
from the creative impact of human visionary imagination
and religious endeavors.
In the context of the dilemmas posed
by religious pluralism, one of the advantages of a
participatory account of religious knowing is that it
frees religious thinking from the presupposition of a
single, predetermined ultimate reality that binds it to
reductionistic, exclusivist, or dogmatic formulations
(for an extended discussion, see Ferrer, 2008a). Once
one does away with this assumption, on the one hand,
and recognizes the ontologically creative role of spiritual
cognition, on the other, the multiplicity of religious truth
claims stops being a source of metaphysical agnosticism
and becomes entirely natural, perhaps even essential. If
one chooses to see the various spiritual ultimates not as
competing to match a pregiven spiritual referent but as
creative transformations of an undetermined mystery,
then the conflict over claims of alternative religious
Ferrer
truths vanishes like a mirage. Rather than being a
source of conflict or a cause for considerate tolerance,
the diversity of spiritual truths and cosmologies becomes
a reason for wonder and celebrationwonder inspired
by the inexhaustible creative power of the mystery and
celebration in the wake of our participatory role in such
creativity, as well as of the emerging possibilities for
mutual enrichment that arise out of the encounter of
traditions. In short, a participatory approach to religion
seeks to enact with body, mind, heart, and consciousness
a creative spirituality that lets a thousand spiritual flowers
bloom.
Although this may at first sound like a rather
anything goes approach to religious claims, I hold to
the contrary that recognizing a diversity of cocreated
religious worlds in fact asks one to be more perspicuous
in discerning their differences and merits. Because such
worlds are not simply given but involve humans as agents
and cocreators, no one is off the ethical hook where
religion is concerned; instead, cosmo-political and moral
choices are inevitable in all religious actions. The next
two sections elaborate on this crucial point.
The Validity of Spiritual Truths
I t cannot be stressed strongly enough that rejecting a
pregiven spiritual ultimate referent does not prevent
humans from making qualitative distinctions in
spiritual matters. To be sure, like beautiful porcelains
made out of amorphous clay, traditions cannot be
qualitatively ranked according to their accuracy in
representing some imagined (accessible or inaccessible)
original template. However, this does not mean that one
cannot discriminate between more evocative, skillful, or
sophisticated artifacts.
Whereas the participatory turn renders
meaningless the postulation of qualitative distinctions
among traditions according to a priori doctrines or
a prearranged hierarchy of spiritual insights, these
comparative grounds can be sought in a variety of
practical fruits (existential, cognitive, emotional,
interpersonal), perhaps anchored around two basic
orientations: the egocentrism test (i.e., to what extent
does a spiritual tradition, path, or practice free its
practitioners from gross and subtle forms of narcissism
and self-centeredness?) and the dissociation test (i.e., to
what extent does a spiritual tradition, path, or practice
foster the integrated blossoming of all dimensions
of the person?).6 As I see it, this approach invites a
more nuanced, contextual, and complex evaluation of
religious claims based on the recognition that traditions,
A Participatory Vision of Religion
like human beings, are likely to be both higher and
lower in relation to one another, but in different regards
(e.g., fostering contemplative competences, ecological
awareness, mind/body integration, and so forth).
It is important then not to understand the ideal of a
reciprocal and symmetrical encounter among traditions
in terms of a trivializing or relativistic egalitarianism.
By contrast, a truly symmetrical encounter can only
take place when traditions open themselves to teach
and be taught, fertilize and be fertilized, transform and
be transformed.
Two important qualifications need to be made
about these suggested guidelines. The first relates to the
fact that some spiritual paths and liberations may be
more adequate for different psychological and cultural
dispositions (as well as for the same individual at distinct
developmental junctures), but this does not make them
universally superior or inferior. The well-known four
yogas of Hinduism (reflection, devotion, action, and
experimentation) come quickly to mind in this regard,
as do other spiritual typologies that can be found in
other traditions. The second qualification refers to the
complex difficulties inherent in any proposal of cross-
cultural criteria for religious truth. It should be obvious,
for example, that my emphasis on the overcoming of
narcissism and self-centeredness, although arguably
central to most spiritual traditions, may not be shared by
all. Even more poignantly, it is likely that most religious
traditions would not rank too highly in terms of the
dissociation test; for example, gross or subtle forms of
repression, control, or strict regulation of the human
body and its vital/sexual energies (versus the promotion
of their autonomous maturation, integration, and
participation in spiritual knowing) are rather the norm
in most past and present contemplative endeavors (see
Ferrer, 2008b).
Toward A Participatory
Critical Theory of Religion
T he embodied and integrative impetus of the
participatory turn is foundational for the
development of a participatory critical theory of religion.
From a participatory standpoint, the history of religions
can be read, in part, as a story of the joys and sorrows of
human dissociation. From ascetically enacted mystical
ecstasies to world-denying monistic realizations,
and from heart-expanding sexual sublimation to the
moral struggles (and failures) of ancient and modern
mystics and spiritual teachers, human spirituality has
been characterized by an overriding impulse toward a
International Journal of Transpersonal Studies 143
liberation of consciousness that has too often taken place
at the cost of the underdevelopment, subordination, or
control of essential human attributes such as the body
or sexuality. Even contemporary religious leaders and
teachers across traditions tend to display an uneven
development that arguably reflects this generalized
spiritual bias; for example, high level cognitive
and spiritual functioning combined with ethically
conventional or even dysfunctional interpersonal,
emotional, or sexual behavior (see, e.g., Feuerstein,
2006; Forsthoefel & Humes, 2005; Storr, 1996)
Furthermore, it is likely that many past
and present spiritual visions are to some extent the
product of dissociated ways of knowingways that
emerge predominantly from accessing certain forms of
transcendent consciousness but in disconnection from
more immanent spiritual sources. For example, spiritual
visions that hold that body and world are ultimately
illusory (or lower, or impure, or a hindrance to spiritual
liberation) arguably derive from states of being in which
the sense of self mainly or exclusively identifies with subtle
energies of consciousness, getting uprooted from the
body and immanent spiritual life. From this existential
stance, it is understandable, and perhaps inevitable, that
both body and world are seen as illusory or defective. In
contrast, when our somatic and vital worlds are invited
to participate in our spiritual lives, making our sense of
identity permeable to not only transcendent awareness
but also immanent spiritual energies, then body and
world become spiritually significant realities that are
recognized as crucial for human and cosmic spiritual
fruition.
This account does not seek to excoriate past
spiritualities, which may have been at timesthough
by no means alwaysperfectly legitimate and perhaps
even necessary in their particular times and contexts,
but merely to highlight the historical rarity of a fully
embodied or integrative spirituality (Ferrer, 2008b). At
any rate, a participatory approach to spirituality and
religion needs to be critical of oppressive, repressive, and
dissociative religious beliefs, attitudes, practices, and
institutional dynamics.
The Future of Religion: Four Scenarios
I n light of our previous discussion, it is possible to
consider at least four scenarios for the future of world
religion and spirituality. As we go through them, I invite
you, the reader, to not only consider their plausibility but
also inquire into what particular scenario you feel is the
most desirable: What would you like to see happening?
144 International Journal of Transpersonal Studies
A Global Religion
The first scenario portrays the emergence of
a single world religion for humankind.7 This global
religion may stem from either the triumph of one spiritual
tradition over the rest (e.g., Catholic Christianity or the
Dalai Lamas school of Tibetan Buddhism) or some
kind of synthesis of many or most traditions (e.g., the
Bahai faith or Wilbers neo-perennialism). The former
possibility would entail that religious practitioners
except those from the winning traditionrecognize the
erroneous or partial nature of their beliefs and embrace the
superior truth of an already existent tradition. The latter
means that most or all traditions would ultimately come
together or be integratedwhether in an evolutionary,
hierarchical, systemic, or perspectival fashioninto one
spiritual megasystem embraced by all religious people.
A contemporary defense of a converging world faith
emerging from interreligious interactions is offered by
Braybrooke (1998).
Mutual Transformation of Religions
In this scenario, the various religious traditions
conserve their identity, but are enriched and transformed
through a variety of interreligious exchanges and
interactions (Cobb, 1996; Streng, 1993). This approach
paves the way for not only the adoption of practices from
other traditions (e.g., Gross & Muck, 2003), but also the
emergence of deeper understandings and even revisions of
ones beliefs in light of others religious perspectives (e.g.,
Ingram & Streng, 1986)a phenomenon aptly described
by Sharma (2005) in terms of reciprocal illumination.
A historical precursor of this possibility can be found
in religious syncretism (i.e., the mixture or two or
more traditions), such as the Haitian Vodous blending
of Christianity and African traditions or the Brazilian
Santo Daime Churchs incorporation of the indigenous
use of ayahuasca into a Christian container. Today this
religious cross-fertilization is visibly taking place in the
interfaith dialogue, the New Age movement, and a legion
of eclectic and integrative spiritual groups. Interestingly,
the Jesuit thinker Teilhard de Chardin believed that this
cross-fertilization would lead to a global consciousness
characterized by religious creative unions in which
diversity is not erased but intensified (Cousins, 1992, p.
8).
Within this scenario I would also locate the
growing phenomenon of multiple religious participation
(Berthrong, 1999), in which an individual partakes in the
practices and belief systems of more than one tradition,
leading to a multiple or hyphenated religious identity,
Ferrer
such as Jewish-Buddhist, Hindu-Christian, Buddhist-
Taoist, and so forth. Also related to this picture is the
ongoing renewal of many religious traditions through
cross-cultural encounters, a trend that can be discerned
in contemporary American Buddhism, Neo-Hindu
applied spiritualities, and the novel social understandings
of salvation in Asia (Clarke, 2006). What is more, some
sociologists claim that this phenomenon may also be
impacting secular culture. This is the gist of Campbells
(1999) Easternization thesis, according to which the
West is changing its ethos via the importation of Eastern
religions and adopting Eastern ideas and practices such as
interconnectedness, reincarnation, or meditation (see also
Bruce, 2002; Hamilton, 2002). A contemporary way to
speak of all these richly transformative religious and cul
tural interactions is in terms of processes of cosmological
hybridization (Lahood, 2008), which can be not only
conceptual (of spiritual beliefs and understandings),
but also praxis-oriented (of spiritual practices) and even
visionary (of spiritual ontologies and cosmologies).
Interspiritual Wisdom
Another scenario is the affirmation or emergence
of a number of spiritual principles, teachings, or values
endorsed by all religious traditions. Kngs (1991)
proposal for a global ethics heralded this possibility, but it
was the late Christian author Teasdale (1999) who offered
its most compelling articulation in terms of a universal
mysticism grounded in the practice of interspirituality
or the sharing of ultimate experiences across traditions
(p. 26). Though seeking to avoid the homogenization
of traditions into one single global religion, Teasdale
used the traditional metaphor of the blind men and the
elephant to convey his perspectival account of a given
ultimate reality of which all religions have partial
perceptions that nonetheless constitute paths leading
to the same summit. Developing a similar intuition but
eschewing Teasdales objectivist assumptions is Lanzettas
(2007) recent proposal for an intercontemplative
global spirituality that affirms the interdependence of
spiritual principles and can give birth to new traditions
and spiritual paths in the crucible of dialogue (p. 118);
as well as Formans (2004) articulation of a trans-
traditional spirituality that feeds on the insights of all
religious traditions, moving beyond the confines of any
particular credo.
Spirituality without Religion
This scenario is composed by the impressive
number of contemporary developmentsfrom secular
to postmodern to Jungian and from naturalistic to New
A Participatory Vision of Religion
Age spiritualitiesthat advocate for the cultivation of a
spiritual life free from traditional religious beliefs and/or
transcendent or supernatural postulates (e.g., Caputo,
2001; Cupitt, 1997; Elkins, 1998; Heelas & Woodhead,
2005; Van Ness, 1996). Two prominent trends within
this category are postmodern secular (and non-secular)
spiritualities and the New Age movement. Though the
former rejects or remains agnostic about supernatural or
transcendent sources and the latter tends to uncritically
accept them, both join hands in their affirmation of the
primacy of individual choice and experience, as well as
in their criticism of religious dogmas and authoritarian
institutions. Calls for a democratization of spirit
(Tacey, 2004), a direct path to the divine (Harvey,
2009), or the reclaiming of ones inner spiritual
authority (Heron, 2006) are intimately linked with
these developments. One could also locate here scholarly
spiritualities that combine experiential participation and
critical reason (e.g., Ferrer & Sherman, 2008; Kripal,
2001; Neville, 2002), most forms of religious naturalism
(e.g., Kauffman, 2008), modern religious quests (Roof,
1999), secular surrogates for religion (Ziolkowski,
2007), postsecular spiritualities (e.g., King, 2009),
and proposals for a humanizing spirituality (Lesser,
1999). Expressions such as spiritual but not religious
(Fuller, 2001), religion without religion (Caputo,
1997), religion of no religion (Kripal, 2007), and
believing without belonging (Taylor, 2007) capture
well the essential character of this orientation.
A Participatory Vision
of the Future of Religion
A s should be obvious, with the possible exception of
a homogenizing global religion, the above scenarios
are not mutually exclusive, and it is likely that they will
all become key players in shaping the future of world
religion in the next millennium. And yet, there is
something intuitively appealing in the search for spiritual
unity, and here I would like to outline how a participatory
perspective can not only respond to this concern, but
also house most of the above scenarios while avoiding
the hidden spiritual narcissism and other ideological
pitfalls of traditional and modern universalisms.
To begin with, to embrace the human
participatory role in spiritual knowing may lead to a
shift from searching for a global religion organized
around a single ultimate vision to recognizing an already
existent spiritual human family that branches out from
the same creative root. In other words, traditions may be
able to find their longed-for unity not so much in an all-
International Journal of Transpersonal Studies 145
encompassing megasystem or superreligion, but in their
common rootsthat is, in that deep bond constituted by
the undetermined dimension of the mystery or generative
power of life in which all traditions participate in the
cocreation of their spiritual insights and cosmologies.
Like members of a healthy family, religious people may
then stop attempting to impose their particular beliefs
on others and might instead become a supportive and
enriching force for the spiritual individuation of other
practitioners, both within and outside their traditions.
This mutual empowerment of spiritual creativity
may lead to the emergence of not only a rich variety of
coherent spiritual perspectives that can potentially be
equally aligned to the mystery,8 but also of a human
community formed by fully differentiated spiritual
individuals. In this context, individual and collective
spiritual perspectives can mutually illuminate and
transform one another through countless conceptual,
practical, and visionary processes of cosmological
hybridization. And this access to an increased number of
spiritual insights, practices, and visionary worlds may in
turn foster our spiritual individuation, as it will expand the
range of choices available for individuals in the cocreation
of their spiritual path (cf. Heron, 2006). As Tacey
(2004) stated, contemporary spiritual culture is already
moving in this direction: Spirituality has become plural,
diverse, manifold, and seems to have countless forms of
expression, many of which are highly individualistic and
personal (p. 38). It is important to sharply distinguish
between the modern hyper-individualistic mental ego
and the participatory selfhood forged in the sacred fire
of spiritual individuation. Whereas the disembodied
modern self is plagued by alienation, dissociation, and
narcissism, a spiritually individuated person has an
embodied, integrated, connected, and permeable identity
whose high degree of differentiation, far from being
isolating, actually allows him or her to enter into a deeply
conscious communion with others, nature, and the
multidimensional cosmos.
In this scenario, it will no longer be a contested
issue whether practitioners endorse a theistic, nondual,
or naturalistic account of the mystery, or whether
their chosen path of spiritual cultivation is meditation,
social engagement, conscious parenting, entheogenic
shamanism, or communion with nature.9 The new
spiritual bottom line, in contrast, will be the degree into
which each spiritual path fosters both an overcoming of
self-centeredness and a fully embodied integration that make
us not only more sensitive to the needs of others, nature, and
146 International Journal of Transpersonal Studies
the world, but also more effective cultural and planetary
transformative agents in whatever contexts and measure life
or spirit calls us to be.
The affirmation of our shared spiritual family
may be accompanied by the search for a common
nonabsolutist and contextually sensitiveglobal ethics
(Kng, 1991; Kng & Kuschel, 1993). It is fundamental
to stress, however, that this global ethics cannot arise out
of our highly ambiguous moral religious past, but needs to
be crafted in the tapestry of contemporary interreligious
dialogue and cooperative spiritual inquiry. In other
words, it is likely that any possible future global ethics
will not be grounded in our past spiritual history but in
our critical reflection on such history in the context of
our present-day moral intuitions (for example, about the
pitfalls of religious dogmatism, fanaticism, narcissism,
and dissociation). As Smart (2003) points out, however,
it may be more sensible to search for a global pattern of
civility that does not lay down who is right and who is
wrong but rather determines how peacefully the differing
groups and beliefs can live together (pp. 130-31).10 In
any case, besides its obvious relevance for regulating
cross-cultural and interreligious conflicts, the adoption
of global guidelinesincluding guidelines about how
to deal with disagreementis crucial to address some of
the most challenging issues of our global village, such as
the exploitation of women and children, the increasing
polarization of rich and poor, the environmental crisis,
coping with cultural and ethnic diversity, and fairness in
international business.
Let me draw this section to a close with the
following: Situated at the creative nexus of immanent and
transcendent spiritual energies, spiritually individuated per
sons might become unique embodiments of the mystery,
capable of cocreating novel spiritual understandings,
practices, and even expanded states of freedom. If one
accepts this approach, it is plausible to conjecture that the
religious future of humanity may bear witness to a greater-
than-ever plurality of creative visionary and existential
spiritual developments grounded in a deeply felt sense of
spiritual unity. This account would be consistent with a
view of the mystery, the cosmos, and/or spirit as moving
from a primordial state of undifferentiated unity towards
one of infinite differentiation-in-communion. If I may
wear my visionary hat just a bit longer, I would say that the
future of religion will be shaped by spiritually individuated
persons engaged in processes of cosmological hybridization
in the context of a common spiritual family that honors a
global order of respect and civility. Or, to return to my
Ferrer
earlier invitation to the reader, this is the scenario I would
personally like to see emerging in the world and that I am
thus committed to actualize.
Conclusion
T o conclude, I propose that the question of religious
pluralism can be satisfactorily answered by affirming
the generative power of life or the mystery, as well as of
our participatory role in its creative unfolding. The time
has come, I believe, to let go of spiritually narcissistic
tendencies and hold all spiritual convictions in a more
humble, discriminating, and perhaps spiritually seasoned
mannerone that recognizes the plausibility of a
multiplicity of spiritual truths and religious worlds while
offering grounds for the critical appraisal of dissociative,
repressive, and/or oppressive religious expressions, beliefs,
and practices. To envision religious manifestations as
the outcome of our cocreative communion with an
undetermined spiritual power or dynamism of life allows
one to affirm a plurality of ontologically rich religious
worlds without falling into any of todays fashionable
reductionisms. The many challenges raised by the
plurality of religions can only be met by embracing fully
the critical spirit of pluralism.
In addition, a participatory approach allows
the discernment of the long-searched-for spiritual unity
of humankind, not in any global spiritual megasystem
or integrative conceptual framework, but in our lived
communion with the generative dimension of the mystery.
In other words, the spiritual unity of humankind is not
to be found in the Heavens (i.e., in mental, visionary,
or even mystical visions) but deep down into the Earth
(i.e., in our vital, embodied, and cocreative connection
with our shared roots). The recognition of our common
roots may allow us to firmly grow by branching out in
countless creative directions without losing a sense of deep
communion across differences. Such recognition may
also engender naturally a sense of belonging to a common
spiritual family committed to fostering the spiritual
individuation of its members and the transformation of
the world.
Notes
1. Parts of this article have been adapted from J. N.
Ferrer and J. H. Sherman (Eds.), The participatory
turn: Spirituality, mysticism, religious studies (Albany:
State University of New York Press, 2008). The
author would like to thank Jacob H. Sherman for
his helpful feedback and editorial advice.
A Participatory Vision of Religion
2. Although it would be nave to claim that these con
flicts are mostly driven by competitive religious
sentiments (social, economic, political, and ethnic
issues are often primary), the rhetoric of religious
exclusivism or superiority is widely used to fuel
fundamentalist attitudes and justify interreligious
violence across the globe.
3. For an extended discussion of the shortcomings of
Wilbers neoperennialism, see Ferrer (2002). Wilbers
ranking of nondual mysticism over theism and
other contemplative paths has been also critiqued
by Helminiak (1998), Adams (2002), and, perhaps
most effectively, by Schlamm (2001), who uses
Rawlinsons (1997) nuanced taxonomy of mystical
traditions to show the arbitrariness and doctrinal
nature of such rankings.
4. That the Dalai Lama himself, arguably a paragon of
spiritual humility, altruism, and open-mindedness,
holds this view strongly suggests, I believe, that
spiritual narcissism is not necessarily associated
with a narcissistic personality but rather a deeply-
seated tendency buried in the collective realms
of the human unconscious. Ethnocentricitythe
culturally inculcated or indoctrinated belief in
cultural/religious superiorityvery likely contributes
to the structuring of this pervasive tendency
5. Note that virtually all the same participatory
implications for both the study of religion and
individual spiritual cultivation can be practically
drawn if one were to conceive, or translate the term,
spirit in a naturalistic fashion as an emergent creative
potential of life, nature, or reality. Methodologically,
the challenge to be met is to account for a process
or dynamism underlying the creative elements of
religious visionary imagination that cannot be
entirely explicated by appealing to biological or
cultural-linguistic factors. Whether such creative
source is a transcendent spirit or immanent life
will likely be always a contested issue, but one, I
believe, that does not damage the general claims
of the participatory turn. My personal position
is that (1) human spirituality can be understood
as a process of participatory cocreation with both
transcendent and immanent spiritual sources; (2)
attention to the body and its vital energies gives the
most direct access to immanent spiritual life; (3)
immanent life stores the most generative potentials
of spirit; and, therefore, (4) the active participation
of embodied dimensions in unconstrained
International Journal of Transpersonal Studies 147
 spiritual inquiry may lead to an increased plurality
of creative existential and visionary developments.
Though admittedly speculative, this proposal is in
accord with many mystical teachings, such as those
regarding the creative role of the primordial shakti
or kundalini in Hindu tantra, the (re-)generative
power attributed to the chi energy in Taoism, or
even the motivation behind certain celibate unions
(virginae subintroductae) in the early church. On
the relationship between embodiment and spiritual
creativity, see Ferrer (2008b).
6. It is probably sensible to supplement these orienta
tions with not only a sharp cultural and contextual
sensitivity, but also what one might call the
retrospective test, which alludes to the likely needat
least in certain casesof allowing the pass of time
before assessing the actual fruits of specific spiritual
paths and insights. This seems crucial, especially
in light of certain dynamics of psychospiritual
development, for example, in cases in whichdue
to either biographical factors or intrinsic features of
particular processes of spiritual openingstates or
stages of self-inflation or even extreme dissociation
may be a necessary step in the path towards a
genuinely integrated selflessness. I am indebted to
Michael Washburn (personal communication) for
this important qualification.
7. On the very different phenomenon of religious
globalization (i.e., diasporas, transnational
religions, and religions of plural societies), see
Juergensmeyer (2003).
8. I am stressing here the qualifier potentially to
suggest that every spiritual tradition, even those
traditionally promulgating arguably dissociative
(or unilaterally transcendentalist, or disembodied,
or world-denying) doctrines and practices can be
creatively (and legitimately, I would argue) re-
envisioned from the perspective of more holistic
understandings. Whichers (1999) integrative,
embodied reinterpretation of Patanjalis dualistic
system of classical yogawhose aim was the self-
identification with a pure consciousness (purusa)
in isolation (kaivalyam) from all possible physical
or mental contents (prakrti)offers an excellent
example of such hermeneutic and spiritual
possibilities.
9. This account does not exclude, of course, the
possibility to complement, either in a concurrent or
sequential fashion, ones favored spiritual path with
148 International Journal of Transpersonal Studies
practices or engagements that cultivate different
human potentials and attributes. For participatory
perspectives on integral transformative practice and
education, see Ferrer (2003) and Ferrer, Romero,
and Albareda (2005).
10. Smart (2003) is understandably suspicious of
the possible ideological problems inherent to the
imposition of a single ethics for the entire world.
For discussions of the promises and pitfalls of a
global ethics, see Twiss and Grelle (1998).
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Ferrer
 About the Author

Jorge N. Ferrer, PhD, is chair of the Department of East-

West Psychology at the California Institute of Integral
Studies, San Francisco. He is the author of Revisioning
Transpersonal Theory: A Participatory Vision of Human
Spirituality (Albany: State University of New York
Press, 2002) and co-editor of The Participatory Turn:
Spirituality, Mysticism, Religious Studies (Albany: State
University of New York Press, 2008). A leading scholar on
Transformative Practices and Integral Epistemology
at the Esalen Center for Theory and Research, California,
he received the Fetzer Institutes 2000 Presidential Award
for his seminal work on consciousness studies. In 2009,
he became an advisor to the organization Religions
for Peace at the United Nations on a research project
aimed at solving interreligious conflict in the world.
Prof. Ferrer offers talks and workshops on participatory
spirituality and integral education both nationally and
internationally.

Correspondence regarding this article should be directed

to the author at jferrer@ciis.edu

A Participatory Vision of Religion International Journal of Transpersonal Studies 151