Personal Development – Transcendence – The Journey into being

Return within and make sure that nothing enters in with you. Ishpriya Mataji

TRANSCENDENCE – The Journey into Being

Introduction

This is another note in the series concerning existential and trans-personal approaches to
growth and being. It attempts to pull together ideas and concepts from previous notes by
Creagh (2005 to 2010). These cover the topics of; encounter and being, the power of
pranayama – breathe control, unconditional presence and the practice of mindfulness.
This note continues the journey from the existential perspective explored in the previous
two years of personal development group (PDG) sessions and particularly the 2nd year.
This involved looking at 5 Existential Steps; one was the importance of ‘forgetting
oneself’. This note is designed to deepen the exploration of this topic through exploring
the areas of awareness and consciousness.

Robert Carkhuff (2001), in his excellent outline of a proposed new helping model,
suggests that helpers/therapists need to be both interested and involved in assisting
clients in their Physical, Intellectual and Emotional (PIE) lives. He contends that these are
inter-related and that Therapists need to focus on the PIE aspects of their own life.
Increasingly, therapy is beginning to recognise that to these three aspects we need to
add a fourth, namely spiritual. People are PIES people, they have physical, intellectual,
emotional and spiritual aspects and, for me, this is a truer explanation of what is meant by
the term holistic.

Although in its early days psychology was very interested in the spiritual, (the word
‘psyche’ comes from the Greek meaning ‘soul’) for much of the 20th Century it
neglected this aspect. Increasingly, psychology is beginning to redress the balance.
These notes, and this year’s PD Module, begin to focus more intently on spirituality and
particularly on transcendence and self-transcendence. It is designed to prepare for and
support a day of reflection on transcendence and some spiritual aspects of therapy

In terms of human existence, language is a relatively recent advance. It provides us with

a richness of communication. However, language can also be a barrier and this is
particularly true of written language. This is because it can ground us in the cognitive and
lead to a mere intellectual exchange. In addition, language is certainly a barrier between
peoples of different cultures and ethnicities.

The paradox of all the topics in this PD Module is, that in one sense too much has been
written about them (much of it cognitive and of little help) and on the other hand there is
nothing to write about. Because much of this journey into transcendence is experiential. It
involves us in lived experience and with getting in touch with our own innate and deep
inner wisdom. However, to provide some basis for experience, reflection and (perhaps)
discussion, some brief reflections will be made. Any discussion really needs to be brief
and to address deep sharing of lived experience and not mere cognitive chatter.

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 Personal Development – Transcendence – The Journey into being

Transcendence

Paradoxically ‘words’ are either unimportant and/or misleading or their root meaning can
be helpful. Transcendence comes from the root ‘to transcend’ It has elements of a
journey over or above something. Many will have heard the expression ‘transcendental
meditation’. However, transcendence subsumes this and is much more.

Carkhuff’s emphasis on our need to grow in all of the PIE dimensions is a good starting
point. It stresses and recognises the holistic aspects of being human. Transpersonal
therapy, along with many spiritual thinkers, would add to this the area of spiritual growth.
In this sense we are all on a life-long journey. This journey involves us in growing and
transcending all elements (PIES) that mark us as human. This is not a new idea. We are
probably more familiar and comfortable with the idea that we can transcend the
intellectual and emotional. But ultimately, self-transcendence involves the spiritual. Frankl
(1978) suggests that the journey of transcendence subsumes and over- arches that of
actualisation. It might help to begin to look at this in a diagrammatic form and start at the
level of actualisation.

Actualisation

Maslow, in his 1943 paper – A theory of human motivation, outlined a hierarchal set of
needs. These start from basic survival needs and rise up through a hierarchy. The final
need is humanity’s ultimate need for self-actualisation. Now Humanistic ideas, since
Heidegger, Rogers and others have long seen actualisation as a natural occurrence.
Many person-centred therapists see it as is one of the Two Primary Principles of the
Person Centred Approach, the other being the Six Necessary and Sufficient Conditions.
Humanistic, Existential and Trans- Personal approaches all view self-actualisation as the
innate journey of humans. If we were to look at this journey as a continuum it might look
something like the line below. This infers that our choices in life lead to either Success
(Actualisation) or failure.

FAILURE SUCCESS
THE SELF-ACTUALISATION CONTINUUM

Frankl, and other existential proponents, see transcendence as being more important
than and, as it was, above actualisation. However, before we leave self- actualisation,
perhaps this quote from Carkhuff succinctly summaries the choice between success and
failure.

We are born with the potential to grow – no more, no less! Those of us who learn to
actualise this potential will know lives of untold fullness and excitement. We will develop
growth responses that will enable us to go anywhere and to do anything. Those of us who
do not learn to actualise this potential will know lives of waste and tragedy. The Choice is
OURS. Robert R Carkhuff (2001)

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 Personal Development – Transcendence – The Journey into being

More on Transcendence

Heidegger states that ‘being human is being in the world’. This means that Man (male
and female) is not a ‘closed system’. Man relates to the ‘self’, to others, the environment
and the cosmos. In correspondence between Ishpriya Mataji and Creagh (1992-2009),
concerning the nature of transcendence Ishpriya reminds us of our need to ‘rise above’
the ‘self and our environment’. She states ‘our heart’ is as big as our view of the
world’. For me, this brings to mind a picture of man rising above his world in order to see
more of it and thus to, not only increase his field of view, but also to begin to develop a
universal heart of compassion. These aspects of transcendence and compassion are
ancient spiritual concepts that pre-date Hinduism, Buddhism and most of the ancient
Spiritual Traditions.

Man in Exile? As a species, we have evolved over a period of 4 million years into
Homo Sapiens around 200,000 years ago. We have evidence of a spiritual tradition for at
least the past70,00 years. During most of the past hundreds of millennia, we lived in
harmony with the planet and our environment. It is only in our recent past, perhaps the
last 7 to 8000 years, that we began our journey away from this way of living in harmony
with our environment. This also coincides with the growth, in most cultures, of a
patriarchal society, with its drive to control. This ‘drive to control’ influences all aspects of
our relationships and has been particularly marked in the last few centuries as man
entered the age of industry, mechanisation, technology and, arguably, a somewhat
arrogant belief that we could control and exploit our environment.

This has led to our increasing ‘exile’ from our environment and , arguably, exile from our
real self. Yet, at times, we sense this ‘exile’ and perhaps our ‘moments of transcendence’
are reminders of our ancient past and times of harmony? For many, this is the spiritual
aspect of what it is to be human. This concept of ‘ man in exile’ , although tangential and
separate , is an important element in our understanding of man’ ability to transcend . For
those interested in exploring these ideas further, its history, arguments and implications
can be found in O Murchu ( 1997 and 2000)

The Spiritual Aspect At the spiritual level man relates not just to himself, others, the
world and the cosmos but also to the spirit. For those who believe in a Spirit ( note the
capitalisation) this can lead to a belief in an Absolute Reality.( God) Now whether or not
one has this belief, most have some ‘feeling’ or ‘intuition’ that there is ‘something more’
and this is often referred to as ‘spirit’

But what is the spiritual aspect of Man? Many, including Frankl (2000 ), would contend
that it is the ability of man to self- transcend the self and that this ability is closely related
to Buber’s concept of the I/Thou relationship, see Creagh(2007).Thus transcendence is
not just a continuum of self-actualisation but one of self- transcendence. This continuum
is one where man, as it were, moves UP or DOWN as he/she lives this life in exile with
some glimpses of both harmony and a sense of inter-connectedness with the
environment and each other.

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 Personal Development – Transcendence – The Journey into being

The Transcendence Continuum The transcendence ‘continuum is one that takes

Man (male or female) above themselves. It really is a 3rd dimension. Normal psychology
deals mainly with man and his/her neurosis. It can be a very ego-centric approach and
thus can fail to place Man in this inter-dependent creation and cosmos. But people can
rise above themselves and their issues and become aware of the ‘bigger picture’. They
can become more aware of the inter-dependent nature of all creation. This leads to the
concept of a transcendence continuum, which is shown below.

FULFILLMENT

The Transcendence Continuum – Fulfilment V Despair

DESPAIR

Transcendence –As a Picture

Putting both together we can see that Transcendence subsumes the actualisation
continuum. It also illustrates the ability of people to ‘soar above’ things and themselves.
An analogy or picture that might help to understand this is the scene from the children’s
video “The Snowman’. This shows the young boy ‘walking in the air’ whilst flying above
the world with the snowman and thus his view of everything is altered...

Fulfilment

Failure Success

Despair

The Self- Transcendence and Actualisation Continuums

( Adapted from Frankl (1978) The Unheard Cry for Meaning.)

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Further Points about Transcendence

If ‘our ‘heart’ is as big as our view of the world’ then Self-Transcendence enables us to
rise above ourselves. This is to rise above the me (which can lead to me- ness or
Meanness) and to begin to both Be and Be- come. This ‘becoming’ leads to us to the
realisation of what we are truly capable of. Therefore as we transcend self, we rise above
ourselves, our view of the world grows as does our heart of compassion. This is the
journey into self-transcendence. It ultimately involves the journey into the spiritual where
self meets Self.

Wilber (2001) outlines a trans-personal view of consciousness. He proposes four levels

that move from the persona, through the ego and down through the sub-levels of the
trans-personal to the final level of Unity Consciousness. Self-actualisation involves the
first two and part of the 3rd of these levels. It leads us from the level of the persona,
through to the level of the ego and on towards the 3rd level where we become aware of
our holistic self and being part of the environment. However, the deeper 4th level leads
through the sub-levels of the transpersonal towards unity consciousness. Many consider
that humanity’s next stage of evolution is in consciousness. Further details of this
evolution of consciousness are covered in Creagh ( 2010) , a two-part set of reflections
on Rooted in Mystery.

This 4th level is somewhat similar to the 4th level outlined in Buddhist and Hindu
psychology. This is the level of the transcendental. It is rarely reached by people but is
written about in the spiritual literature. However, the sub-levels of the transpersonal are
better known and more often experienced. We have countless moments of
transcendence in our lives. Great athletes transcend the (normal) physical boundaries
and great musicians and artists compose music and art that lifts us all to greater heights.
Many of us experience transcendence in nature. It is a state that somehow goes beyond
the level of thinking or mere feeling. For many people, transcendental moments come
when we find meaning and love in our lives.

‘Meaning must be discovered it cannot be created ‘(Frankl)

Meaning and Love Self-Transcendence involves us in searching for meaning, meaning

within ourselves with others and our environment. Frankl asserts ‘Meaning must be
discovered it cannot be created ‘. Therefore man’s search for meaning requires forgetting
self, forgetting old habits, thoughts etc.

Now meaning and sense is not the same thing. Therefore, it is not sense that we seek,
because seeking sense can often lead us to find NON-sense. No, we seek meaning in
the context of our inner and outer lives. Perhaps one of the biggest problems of modern
man is this constant search for sense, the quick fix, and the search for intellectual (so
called) knowledge. Arguably, much of this ‘knowledge’ is merely received facts and
prejudices.

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 Personal Development – Transcendence – The Journey into being

For life to be lived in all its richness and fullness, man requires meaning. Otherwise, as
Frankl reminds us, man can descend into the triad of modern neurosis – depression,
anger and addiction. However, we also seek more than meaning. People seek love,
which is the ultimate goal and meaning of life and the spiritual journey. This, for most of
us, means seeking love in and with another or with nature or something. (These are the
4th and 5th steps of believing and belonging explored by Trainee Counselling
Psychologists in Year 2 of PD at the University of Wolverhampton ). Love goes beyond
mere encounter; it subsumes this, includes unconditional presence and seeks to break
down every barrier that separates us, not only from the other, but our environment and
our true self. As far as we know, love, in its unique, absolute and truest form, is unique to
human beings. Ultimately, for those who believe in the Spirit – human love is the
reflection of the Ultimate Reality that is Love.

Final Points

These notes contain some ‘sporadic’ reflections on transcendence. In the final analysis
transcendence is not something that can be debated. It cannot be found by logical
thought or by sheer human endeavor and determination. No, it is an innate part of what it
means to be human. It can only be found and/or recognised by experiencing it. It cannot
be forced. It is gift. It is part of our on-going evolutionary journey, that many feel will take
us into the realm of mystical consciousness.

Being open to the possibility of self-transcendence and to some practices can help.
Practices such as Awareness/ Mindfulness ( see Creagh 2010), Meditation and many
other practices, have been gifted to us by the sages of all traditions and all cultures.
They form part of the great richness of inherited universal wisdom. This is wisdom based
on millennia of experience, practice and reflection and discernment indicates that, before
we ignore this wisdom from the past, we would be wise to reflect on it.

The important thing is to begin the journey. Ultimately it is a journey into SILENCE, a
silence where we can begin to hear who and what we really are.
‘Return within to the place where there is nothing
And make sure that nothing comes in with you.
Penetrate to the depths of your self.
To the place where thoughts no longer exist
And make sure that no thought raises its head
For there where there is nothing, is fullness
There where nothing is seen, is the vision of being
There where nothing appears any longer
Is the sudden appearance of the self (the spirit?)
Dyan (meditation) it is this’
Ishpriya Mataji, Return to the Source

Peter Creagh (2010)

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 Personal Development – Transcendence – The Journey into being

Bibliography

Carkhuff, Robert, The Art of Helping - in the 21st Century , Human Resources
Development, Amherst, Mass, 2001

Creagh, Peter, Echoes of Creation :- Lenten Reflections on Celtic Spirituality, Heartsease

Training , Part 1 of 5 (2005)

Creagh, Peter, Encounter and Awareness – Reflections on Buber’s Theory of

Relationships, Heartsease Training Handout (2009)

Creagh, Peter, Awareness-Mindfulness , presence to the present, Heartsease Training

Handout (2010)

Creagh, Peter, Rooted in Mystery; - Part One – Our Present Crisis, Heartsease Training
Handout (2010)

Creagh, Peter, Rooted in Mystery; - Part Two – An Evolution into Mystical

Consciousness, Heartsease Training Handout (2010)

Frankl, Viktor, The Unheard Cry for Meaning, Touchstone Book, New York, 1978

Frankl, Viktor, man’s search for ultimate meaning, Basic Books, New York, 2000

Mataji,Ishpriya . Return to the Source. ISA Comms, CD 2002.

Mataji, Ishpriya ,‘ Spiritual Direction Letters’ , Letters to Peter Creagh , 1992-2009,

Shifnal, Shropshire,UK

O Murchu, Diarmuid, Reclaiming Spirituality Crossroad Publishing Company, New York,

1997

O Murchu, Diarmuid, Religion in Exile Crossroad Publishing Company, New York, 2000

Wellwood, J (2002); Towards a psychology of awakening Buddhism,Pyschotherapy and

the path of personal and spiritual Transformation Shambala, Boston & London

Wilber,Ken ,No Boundary – Eastern and Western Approaches to Personal Growth ;-

Shambala, Boston, 2001

Young-Eisenrath,P and Muramoto,S ( Eds ) 2002: Awakening and Insight – zen

Buddhism and Psychotherapy , Brunner-Routledge , New York

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© October 2010 - Peter Creagh, Trainer, Supervisor and BACP Registered Counsellor UKRC
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TRANSCENDENCE
Some suggestions for Reflection and Discussion

1. When you read this article, what first struck you. You may
wish to particularly respond to :

a. What may have challenged you ?

b. What interested you ?

c. What may have reminded you of your own

experience?

d. Anything else

2. How do you respond to the assertion that some branches

of modern psychology may have lost contact with their
roots in the psyche (soul) and the spiritual?

3. If the above is true what could the possible losses and

gains be?

4. In what way could developing our own awareness of and

ability to transcend help us in our life and particularly as a
professional therapist?

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