Transpersonal Studies

The Second Annual Transpersonal Research Colloquium (TRC) was held in Northampton, UK on September 15-16, 2016. This document is the final program with presenters abstracts, bios, and contact information. For further information, see www.transpersonalresearchnetwork.com.

This Powerpoint presentation, delivered at the 2016 Dabrowski World Congress in Alberta, Canada presented, for the first time, new data indicating that highly sensitive people rank high on several categories of Overexcitabilities, as defined and elucidated by Kazimierz Dabrowski's Theory of Positive Disintegration).  Through data gleaned from a large survey (conducted in 2014) it was found that highly sensitive people are especially high in emotional overexcitability and imaginational overexcitability.

In order to better cope with the pressures and stresses of the current day, modern psychology is anxiously seeking to find new therapies to address the increasing disorders within the human psyche. In the process new fields of research, such as humanistic and transpersonal psychology, curiously appear to borrow more and more from the wisdom of the ages. This volume, containing eighteen articles by noteworthy expositors of the perennial philosophy such as Huston Smith, Seyyed Hossein Nasr, and Frithjof Schuon, presents the spiritual psychology of the wisdom traditions as a much-needed antidote to the current impasse in modern psychology.

Some Endorsements for Psychology and the Perennial Philosophy:

“[Psychology and the Perennial Philosophy] is more than an anthology. It is a wisely crafted collection of classic and contemporary scholarship noting that what many are seeking is what has always been, a perennial philosophy, that remains foundational. As one of the authors, Tage Lindbom, properly notes, ‘Secularization is a fish in troubled waters.’ This book claims the waters and is essential reading for all those who may have forgotten or are simply ignorant of the rich foundation provided by the perennial philosophy.”
—Ralph W. Hood, Professor of Psychology at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, past president of the Psychology of Religion division of the American Psychological Association, co-founder of The International Journal for the Psychology of Religion and co-author of The Psychology of Religion

“A necessary and bracing critique of the assumptions and limitations of contemporary Western psychology, this generous volume is also a passionate call and learned guide towards a truer perspective that embraces man's spiritual nature.”
—Gabor Maté, M.D., and author of In the Realm of Hungry Ghosts: Close Encounters with Addiction

“Knowing the nature of the mind is perhaps the most difficult undertaking, especially in today’s world. To comprehend the nature of mind one needs to turn to the domain of religion and spirituality. Yet the truth of the mind and its complexity cannot explicitly be defined in words. Inner or transcendent wisdom sees the mind’s own nature without the duality of the seer. Suchness (tathatā) of mind is only experiential and not expressible. The words used to describe thought are themselves a product of thought, which is conditioned and limited. Thus, differences and contradictions are unavoidable. Therefore, a comparative study of different viewpoints and commentaries is immensely important to awaken the inner intelligence to see the mind as it is. Psychology and the Perennial Philosophy: Studies in Comparative Religion edited by Samuel Bendeck Sotillos is an outstanding effort in this direction.”
—Samdhong Rinpoche, former Prime Minister (Kalon Tripa) of the Tibetan Government-in-exile, author of Uncompromising Truth for a Compromised World: Tibetan Buddhism and Today’s World

“The rise of psychology has impacted the study and practice of spirituality, the experiences and attitudes relevant to ultimate human values that transcend ordinary behavior. Each chapter of this remarkable book demonstrates this interaction in a unique and provocative way. But rather than using psychology to reduce and ‘psychologize’ spiritual topics, its authors demonstrate how directives from the spiritual traditions can enhance and even illuminate the enduring importance of psychology in the 21st century.”
—Stanley Krippner, Saybrook University, co-author of Spiritual Dimensions of Healing

“The work at hand is a thinking and debating man’s delight. If you have any interest at all in attempting to include an educated and enlightened view of man’s higher functions in your purview of the world, you will learn from and enjoy this collection of essays. If you already have some knowledge in this area, brace yourself: you may see some of your favorites sharply criticized. A thought-provoking work.”
—Bruce W. Scotton, University of California, San Francisco, co-editor of Textbook of Transpersonal Psychiatry and Psychology

“This book, superbly edited by Samuel Bendeck Sotillos, is a masterful critique of the field of psychology and its loss of the sacred ground in which it once was rooted. It offers depth psychologists an opportunity to contemplate timeless truths echoed through the centuries by perennial philosophers who have always claimed psyche is subordinate to Spirit. Although ignored in depth psychology’s early years due to prejudice and lack of understanding, this is a message today’s psychotherapists must take seriously. Human beings need a deeper and wider transpersonal vision of who and what we are, which the saints and sages of the world’s spiritual traditions have always pointed to. In psychotherapy with a therapist committed to such a vision, patients penetrate into their unconscious depths and not infrequently awaken to the Ground of all Being. Their suffering itself occurred because they had turned away from Spirit. Above all, this volume passionately calls upon depth psychology to remember its origin in the perennial wisdom at the core of the great religions. There is something of a polemic in these pages. It deserves to be considered by depth psychologists of all persuasions.”
—Bryan Wittine, Transpersonal psychologist and Jungian psychoanalyst

“This anthology from Samuel Bendeck Sotillos is a must reference for anyone who is interested in psychology and its relationship to spirituality, and in developing an inclusive dialogue between disciplines that favor an integral outlook on the person and his or her potential. Selections in this anthology will inspire us to reexamine the metaphysical underpinnings of psychology, and remind us how important it is to rise above science’s attempt to reduce the human being to an epistemic object.”
—Sangeetha Menon, National Institute of Advanced Studies (Bangalore, India), Board Member of the International Transpersonal Association (ITA), author of The Beyond Experience: Consciousness in Bhagavad Gita

“This anthology has some of the most discerning essays and reviews on spirituality and psychology, which provide much-needed care and caution to all those engaged in bringing them together or who wish to do so in future. Therefore, it is a must-read for all those who teach, research, consult, or study in such frontier areas as transpersonal psychology, states of consciousness, mind-body relation, holistic health, Indian psychology, and so on. It will be an invaluable textbook for courses in these and other related areas. I congratulate the editor of the book.”
—Kiran Kumar K. Salagame, University of Mysore (India), Board Member of the International Transpersonal Association (ITA), author of The Psychology of Meditation: A Contextual Approach

“One of the finest collections of essays on the Perennial Philosophy—a must-read for all psychologists who are engaged with spirituality and transpersonal psychology. The essays which critique modern psychology (including transpersonal psychology, and the framework of Carl Jung), in the light of the Perennial Philosophy are a revelation and make compelling reading. The book serves as a corrective to the excesses of modern psychology, and to this end Sotillos has done a commendable job. I for one will include the book in some of the graduate courses that I teach.”
—Suneet Varma, University of Delhi, co-editor of Foundations of Indian Psychology

“To its credit modern science by-and-large is becoming more cognizant of the essential connection between spirituality and psychological health and well-being and most of all its positive implications within the field of psychology. While there is ample data to document this in a plethora of academic journals and books, this new book Psychology and the Perennial Philosophy adds a novel contribution to the dialogue between psychology and spirituality, which captures many nuances that for the most part go unnoticed within these discussions, and last but not least, it provides a keen eye of discernment to understand this intricate relationship on a deeper level that is crucially needed. This work will be a valuable asset to students and long term mental health practitioners and professors alike who seek to better understand the relationship between psychology and spirituality.”
—Harold G. Koenig, Duke University, Director of the Center for Spirituality, Theology and Health, co-author of The Handbook of Religion and Health

From ecodelic triplit, the peyoteros’ sense of place, interspecies communication and animistic healing to ecocentric entheogenic rituals, psychedelic bioregionalism, biogenetic structuralist ecopsychology and transpersonal ecosophy – this special issue of the EJE explores the verdant intersection between neurobiology and botany, shamanism and animism, and psychology and ecology, fusing mind with Nature in a boiling cauldron full of entheogenic insight.

This paper investigates the relationship between psychoactive substances and so-called paranormal phenomena falling within the study of parapsychology. It is primarily concerned with extrasensory perception (ESP)—telepathy, precognition, and clairvoyance—as well as out-of-body experiences (OBEs) and near-death experiences (NDEs). Psychokinesis (PK), aura vision, encounter experiences, and sleep paralysis only make a very limited contribution to this review as they are seldom related to psychoactive drugs within the parapsychological literature. The paper borrows widely, but by no means exhaustively, from parapsychology as well as transpersonal studies, anthropology, ethnobotany, phytochemistry, psychiatry, psychotherapy, psychopharmacology, and neurobiology, particularly neurochemistry. It is organized into neurochemical models of paranormal experience (section 1), field reports of intentional and spontaneous phenomena incorporating anthropological, historical and clinical cases, and personal accounts (section 2), surveys of paranormal belief and experience (section 3), experimental research (section 4), and a methodological critique of the experimental research with recommendations for further work (section 5).

The highly psychoactive molecule N,N -dimethyltryptamine (or simply DMT), is found naturally occurring in the brains of humans, mammals, and some other animals, as well as in a broad range of species of the plant kingdom. Although speculative, neurochemical research suggests that DMT may be made in the pineal gland, and it is hypothesised that, as much as melatonin helps activate sleep cycles, DMT activates dreaming, and may also be implicated in other natural visionary states such as mystical experience, near-death experience (NDE), spontaneous psi and psychosis. Amazonian shamans have made use of this chemical for its visionary properties for thousands of years, most likely, and take it as part of a decoction frequently called ayahuasca, which translates from Quechua as “vine of the spirits” or “vine of the dead”. The psychedelic brew is taken because it gives rise to extraordinary mental phenomena that have shamanic and supposed healing qualities, such as synaesthesia, ostensible extra-dimensional percepts, out-of-body experiences, psi experiences and perhaps most commonly, encounters with discarnate entities. When described by independent and seemingly naïve DMT participants the entities encountered tend to vary in detail but often belong to one of a very few similar types, with similar behavioural characteristics. For instance, mischievous shapeshifting elves, preying mantis alien brain surgeons and jewel-encrusted reptilian beings, who all seem to appear with baffling predictability. This opens up a wealth of questions as to the reality (i.e., the ontology) of these entities. The discussion of the phenomenology and ontology of these entities mixes research from parapsychology, ethnobotany and psychopharmacology – the fruits of science – with the foamy custard of folklore, anthropology, mythology, cultural studies and related disciplines. Hopefully however, given the varied readership of this journal, it won’t prove to be a trifle too interdisciplinary.

In this talk the question " What is coming home? " will be addressed. In our modern, multifaceted and complex world, it is easy to feel a sense of estrangement and alienation from anything we might call a home within. But where is there such an inner home? What have we lost, and what are we searching to find? Where do we actually arrive, when we " arrive " ? By contrast, a sense of " arriving home " and a concomitant sense of belonging are generally associated with a feeling of ease. These questions can appear in many different forms, but whatever shape they may take: the search for a homecoming is more than a naïve desire. When exemplars of stories about home from the world cultures were reviewed and intertwined with insights and understandings gained from guiding individual quests and listening to collective stories, a core theme emerged: Coming home as an experience of diving into the innermost intimacy deep within the multiple layers of exploring consciousness-or, to put it in a more spiritual context, as a quest for God, the Divine Feminine, the Cosmos and a tapping into the Sacred. When we consider that since the dawn of languages we have been asking ourselves about this particular place its importance to all of us becomes apparent. Drawing on the concept of interconnectedness, it is intended to show how the intimacy of in-depth consciousness exploration mirrors the inner and outer ecologies, individually and collectively, in the quest for the Sacred. Arriving home can then be seen as a place of embodied understanding where being and knowing merge with each other, and become co-creatively one. Concluding remarks will refer to a homecoming that takes place right here in the midst of life, and how it links our everyday existence with the Sacred, making simple things the true teachers of our heart. It is a call for a coming home on many different levels, leading to a sense of being present in the moment and taking radical responsibility for transformation and social change—in support of the evolutionary process towards the wholeness of the earth in harmony with humanity.

A typology of experiences of sudden spiritual awakening is suggested, proposing that they may occur in two major forms, or modes. In a study of 19 cases of self-reported sudden spiritual awakening (within a larger sample that included cases of wholly gradual spiritual awakening), it was found that 13 cases could be interpreted in terms of either (a) a sudden collapse of the ego or self-system (ego- dissolution) or (b) a kundalini-like explosive release of energy. Both these types of spiritual awakening appeared to be most frequently induced by intense forms of psychological turmoil, such as bereavement, depression, addiction, and intense stress. An attempt is made to explain both modes of sudden awakening in terms of the release of energy that is normally monopolized by two different functions. Ego-dissolution awakenings are related to energy associated with the ego, while explosive energetic awakenings are related to energy normally associated with sexuality. The former type of awakening can be characterized as essentially structural in nature while the latter can be characterized as essentially energetic.

Otherness has been a subject of the utmost relevance for continental philosophy since the beginning of the 20th century, constituting what might be characterized as an otherness turn. Otherness is here understood as the awareness that one has that other beings or things have their own separate beingness that is not subsumed within oneself. Its essential role in human relations permits the creation of a critical perspective of analysis, a “lens of otherness.” Applying this lens to perennialism up through its latest iterations reveals some problematic aspects of this approach. By contrast, participatory thought may be a more “otherness compliant” alternative to perennialism. Whereas perennialism can be seen as being geared toward theoretical unification, participatory approaches are arguably guided by an ethos of otherness. Otherness is thus advanced as a relevant aspect in the debate on perennialism, and participatory thought is proposed as a more viable philosophical frame for transpersonal studies.

[AMAZON LINK BELOW TO BOOK ITSELF -- TOC and book intro in downloadable .pdf] 

"It is a common experience that a problem difficult at night is resolved in the morning after the committee of sleep has worked on it." --John Steinbeck Scientific research confirms what people have always known: answers, ideas, and inspiration do come to us in dreams. Harvard psychologist and world-renowned dream specialist Deirdre Barrett, Ph.D., offers this rich collection of examples of how the world's most creative practitioners in art, music, film, science, literature and other fields have used the revelations of their dream life to inform their work. Dr. Barrett offers insights showing us how to encourage lucid, meaningful dreaming, and how to apply the meanings of our dreams to solving problems--from the everyday to the extraordinary. This is the stuff dreams are made of. In the visual arts, Jasper Johns couldn't find his unique artistic vision until he dreamed it in the form of a large American flag. Salvador Dali and his colleagues built the startling new genre of surrealism out of dreams. Kubla Kahn dreamed the design for his stately pleasure dome; thousands of years later, Lucy Davis, chief architect at a major firm, continues the tradition of dreaming designs into life in her extraordinary buildings. Film is a fertile avenue for dreams: "Twice I have transferred dreams to film exactly as I had dreamed them," confides director Ingmar Bergman, as have Federico Fellini, Orson Welles, Akira Kurosawa, Robert Altman, and John Sayles. From Mary Shelley's terrible nightmare, which became Frankenstein, to Stephen King's haunting dream as a little boy, which led to his first bestseller, countless writers have consulted the Committee. Musicians from Beethoven to Billy Joel and Paul McCartney have whistled the Committee's tunes. In science, physiologist Otto Loewi dreamed the medical experiment that earned him the Nobel Prize. In sports, Marion Jones dreamed she'd broken a world record, then brought the dream to life. Gandhi translated his dream of resistance into a movement that changed the world. Since Freud, we take it for granted that our dreams reflect our past. In The Committee of Sleep, Barrett reveals how dreams can also tell us about our future potential--and how to reach it.

The purpose of this phenomenological study was to describe the connection between guided meditation and life purpose for those who use meditative practices.  In this study, guided meditation will generally be defined as the practice of using spoken words, music or visual imagery to access information from the subconscious psyche, or universal intelligence of the collective consciousness.  Life purpose will generally be defined as your soul’s unique mission to serve self, and others, from a state of unconditional love.

Entheogenic Plant Sentience – A private symposium. Tyringham Hall, September 2015. (Curator and compère)

Video trailer for the event: https://vimeo.com/156248371

Anton Bilton, Dr David Luke & Rory Spowers
Introduction from the hosts and curators

Dr Graham St John
The Pineal Enigma: The Dazzling Life and Times of the ‘Spirit Gland’

Dr Dennis J. McKenna
Is DMT a Chemical Messenger from an Extraterrestrial Civilization?

Dr Jeremy Narby
Amazonian Perspectives on Invisible Entities

Peter Meyer
Concerning the Nature of the DMT Entities and their Relation to Us

Dr Erik Davis
How to Think about Weird Beings

Dr Ede Frecska
The Second Foundation of Knowledge, True Visions, and Plant Sentience

Dr Andrew Gallimore
The Neurobiology of Conscious Interaction with Alternate Realities and Their Inhabitants

Dr Rupert Sheldrake
Morphic Resonance, Psychedelic Experiences and Collective Memory

Dr Rick Strassman
The Nature of the DMT Beings: Perspectives and Prospects

Graham Hancock
Psychedelics, Entities, 'Dark Matter' and Parallel Dimensions

Dr Rick Strassman
The Nature of the DMT Beings: Perspectives and Prospects

Dr David Luke
Entheogenic plant sentience and DMT entities: A summary of what we think we know

"The Ark of Consciousness" introduces a model for transformative spatial design using the example of the development of a transformative community and university with outreach, agency and enactment capacities. This model for spatial metadesign is multidimensional in scope. The metadesign of this proposed transformative community space encompasses its structures, landscape, maintenance & services, subtle energy fields and organizational paradigm. The forces of community, personal growth, spiritual development, education, service, commerce, and ecology are interwoven throughout the community's function and form. The metadesign also attempts to bring together the symbols and archetypes of the worlds' spiritual traditions while aligning integral, transpersonal, complexity and ecological theories with action. The metadesign of this community exists on the gross, subtle and causal level. The gross level includes physical forms and the general functions of these forms. The subtle level is the realm of subtle energy fields, eco-design, sacred geometry, directional forces and numerological design elements. The causal level includes the goals, purpose, mission, vision and values of the community. These forces combined are designed to create a multidimensional environment to support, nurture and induce individual and collective transformations of consciousness. While this example is for a physical community space, the theories and approaches used can be equally applied to the creation of virtual and immersive spatial realities as well.

A Master's Integration Paper submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements
for the degree of Master of Arts in Transpersonal Psychology at the Institute of Transpersonal Psychology, Palo Alto, California, Spring 1994

This paper explores both transpersonal psychology and ecopsychology individually and in conjunction, followed by an inspection of their relationship with mystical experiences and the impact of these within a transpersonal ecopsychological context. Specifically, nature as a trigger for such experiences is examined, alongside an analysis of the effect of these nature mystical experiences on an individuals' ego-boundaries and their psychological well-being. A special case is made for the re-emerging study of psychedelics - as positive agents of mental health, wellbeing, spiritual and creative growth, and social change - as inherently belonging to a transpersonal ecopsychology. The final thoughts will be based upon a more critical evaluation of these key concepts and their implications in modern psychology.

Talk given at the Exploring the Extraordinary conference, York, UK, September 2010. In this presentation I introduce the work of the non-professional English medium, Lady Cynthia Sandys, who published several books and pamphlets in collaboration with the novelist Rosamond Lehmann. I also discuss the framework in which channelled mediumistic material can be studied ethnographically, using the afterlife correspondents as informants.

Cymbeline reflected Shakespeare’s late-in-life aspirations for a world redeemed. Those in
baroque England, past the first burgeoning of Renaissance vision, were nevertheless making
a literal New World abroad. Likewise, Shakespeare arrived at a vision both post-innocent
and post-tragic. As they compared to tragic heroes, he down-sized the late play characters;
still, he granted them a gentler end. Late characters and worlds suffered centrifugal
pressures; yet, ultimately, centripetal forces, internal and external, brought selves and worlds
together. Relevant to today’s disassembled world, the study tracks Shakespeare’s approach to
unification: He rebalanced gender, internal and external; he placed an emphasis on feminine
and pastoral virtues, crucial for navigating a seemingly chaotic but beneficent cosmos. In
addition, his vision in Cymbeline was mystical, relying on acute and shifting contextual
awareness, and the power of a vivid particular to transport beyond the rational.

The Old Russian concept of sacred water, that is water possessing magical properties, is analysed in this chapter. The most important manifestation of the cult of sacred water in Old Russia was its ritual use in conjunction with a variety of plant substances (“potion”), whereby the water acquired some new, special properties. Magical water, according to medieval notions, condensed on leaves as morning dew. Collected from plants at a certain time, it was used to enhance one’s growth, strength, health, and beauty. A magical herb potion was also brewed using morning dew. Tumbling and rolling in the dew early in the morning before “Ivan Kupala” (St John the Baptist’s day), and some other holidays, as well as collection and subsequent use of the dew, was considered to be a universal magical method that cured almost all diseases. Tumbling in the dew had its counterpart in the sacraments of Baptism and Confirmation. According to East Slavic sources, participants in the morning dew ceremony could reach a transpersonal state of consciousness similar to a deep mystical experience. The earliest written evidence of Old Russian ritual use of water dates from the eleventh and twelfth centuries, but refers back to even earlier, pre-Christian times (e.g. references to steam baths in the opening part of “The Tale of Bygone Years”, as well as in the chronicle entries for the years 907 and 945). In the Russian medieval tradition, the steam bath was considered a sort of domestic sanctuary. The opposition of the steam bath and the church corresponds to the opposition between the pagan and the Christian. Steam bath rites in Old Russia were opposed to their respective religious rites and sacraments, such as Baptism, Confirmation, Wedding, Priesthood, Anointing of the Sick, Funeral, and Remembrance. Duplications of Christian and pagan rituals are clearly observed in “rites of passage”. Such contradictory beliefs as Christian baptism and the magical “first bathing” of a newborn; church wedding and the washing of the bride and groom in the bathhouse together with the sorcerer; the remembrance of the dead with Synodicon and the “bath for the dead”, successfully coexisted in the minds of medieval Russian people. Various substances of vegetable origin, different potions, and special brooms with flowers and herbs were used for the ritual steam bath. In Old Russia this pagan rite was called “mov’”, and it was widespread in the Russian North. “Mov’” led to the attainment of transpersonal experiences, the ecstatic “state of the dead and spirits”. The Old Russian pagan “mov’” is a typical ceremony characterized by evaporation of water thrown onto hot stones and inhalation of steam and smoke of burning plants. This ritual is known from a variety of archaic traditions; Old Russia was no exception.
It is important to note that both the tumbling in the morning dew and the rituals in the steam bath are closely linked to the borderline of liquid and gaseous aggregate states of water, namely the non-equilibrium processes of condensation and evaporation. For participants of the ceremonies, this symbolized the border between the world of the living and the world of the dead, between real and metaphysical space.

Gary Lachman (27th March, 2012) - Cosmic consciousness and the quest for Hermes Trismegistus. The Ecology, Cosmos and Consciousness Salon, The Institute of Ecotechnics, October Gallery, Bloomsbury, London. (Host and compère)

In antiquity, through the Renaissance, and up until the beginning of modern times, the name Hermes Trismegistus was one to conjure with, literally. Thought to be the source of all ancient wisdom and knowledge, founder of civilization, master of magic, the arts, and sciences, Hermes Trismegistus was believed to be a contemporary of Moses, the teacher of Plato, and for some his prestige equalled that of Jesus Christ. Yet in the early seventeenth century, this legendary figure lost all credibility, and the hermetic philosophy associated with his name became a laughing stock. Who was this remarkable individual, why did his mystic teachings lose their standing at the start of the modern age, and is there anything we, at the end of it, can learn from him? My talk will look at the remarkable history of this extraordinary character, at the early Hermeticists pursuit of gnosis and its links to "cosmic consciousness," and will explore the possibilities the teaching of Hermes Trismegistus may hold for us today.

BOOK REVIEW
The Earth Has a Soul: C. G. Jung on Nature, Technology and Modern Life, by Meredith Sabini (Ed.), Berkeley, CA: North Atlantic Books, 2016, 252 pp., $18.95
Reviewed by Regina U. Hess
International Institute for Consciousness Exploration and Psychotherapy, Freiburg, Germany
Drawing on relevant parts of Jung’s collected work, Meredith Sabini’s The Earth Has a Soul: C. G. Jung on Nature, Technology and Modern Life provides a map of how our wounded and dissociated relationship with nature could potentially be healed. She has also contributed to the fields of ecopsychology and evolutionary psychology and has founded “The Dream Institute.” Sabini aims to promote an understanding of nature1 in its full spectrum, encom- passing both spirit and matter, and the acknowledgment of nature’s divinity. Including her experience of Jung as a healer for her wounded relationship with nature, Sabini wishes that the book impact her readers in ways that heal their relationship with nature. Therefore, in an imaginative interview with Jung, she asks: how did our loss of connection with nature come about—and was it ever any different? What are the consequences of this loss? Have we really “conquered Nature”? How might this rupture be healed? In the nine chapters of this book, Sabini gives Jung’s voice the primary place, presenting condensed answers from Jung’s original writings interwoven with her reflections and interpretations. Sabini outlines Jung’s understanding of how our dissociation from nature came about. Viewing culture as a living entity, Jung imagined contemporary culture and our dissociation from nature as a cultural neurosis. Jung’s main diagnosis of modern life was that most of our difficulties come from losing contact with our instincts, with the age-old wisdom stored up in us. Sabini advocates Jung’s cultural diagnosis as more relevant today than ever.

The experiential language and the experiential view of Contemporary Phenomenology is amazingly similar to the language and view of the ancient Tibetan Meditative Tradition of Dzogchen. Both Dzogchen and Contemporary Phenomenology understand that the unfolding of the lived experience of self-liberation happens through our direct lived experience of Innate Awareness. Moreover, our lived experience of Innate Awareness is our Direct Lived Experience of Primordial Being.
Both Contemporary Phenomenology and Dzogchen are phenomenological ontological philosophical traditions. A metaphysical tradition is the thinking of Being mentally and conceptually. A phenomenological ontological tradition is the direct lived experiencing of phenomenological Being and the artful experiential articulation of the lived experience of phenomenological Being personally and symbolically.
Both Phenomenology and Dzogchen dramatically understand that in becoming aware of our own awareness we directly experience the field of Luminous Being. Both traditions in their historical unfolding understanding the we have two ways of knowing. The knowing of our mind  knows phenomena and the knowing of our awareness knows Being.

AQAL [pronunciation: ah-qwal] is a term coined by Ken Wilber and it stands for "all quadrants, all levels, all lines, all states, all types." It is a basis of Wilber's current version of Integral Metatheory and Practice. Wilber's work has attracted a lot of interest internationally; and practitioners and investigators of this AQAL-based Integral approach can be found in all the major countries of the world.

Mara’akame Paritema (Don Santos) (17th July, 2013) - Huichol cosmology: A mara'akame shares Wirraritari cosmovision and mythology. The Ecology, Cosmos and Consciousness Salon, The Institute of Ecotechnics, October Gallery, Bloomsbury, London. (Host and compère)

The origins of the Wirraritari or Huichol people are uncertain: are they an Aztec tribe or were they independent of the pre-Hispanic Aztec empire? In any case it is know that they resisted the Spanish throughout the conquest of Mexico and still remain independent. The Wirraritari cosmovision is full of myths, gods, and legends, and this cosmovision is embodied and experienced directly during the practice of their many ceremonies, which take place throughout the year. In Wirraritari society the Mara’akames are medicine-men and leaders. There are different types of Mara’akame; those who simply sing and communicate with the spirits, those who do treatments with energy, extracting disease and materialising it as it is sucked out by the mouth, and those who sing and heal as Mara’akame Santos does. Mara’akame Santos is going to share some of the Wirraritari myths of Creation, the origins of the people and their cosmovision. He will also share a sacred ceremonial song.

Jacob Needleman, distinguished religious scholar and philosopher, will be known to most perennialists because of his anthology published in the Penguin Metaphysical Library series (of which he was the general editor) titled "The Sword of Gnosis", and to the general public through his extensive publications and Bill Moyers' feature of him on "The World of Ideas". This interview of Professor Needleman focuses on his views on psychology and modernity in relation to Tradition.

This research adds a third model and measure of self-construal to the current psychological literature: the metapersonal self-construal. This model extends previous theory and research, which has established two self-construal orientations to date: the independent and interdependent self-construal. The research presents a series of studies investigating the theoretical and psychometric properties of the third model and measure. Study 1 produced a valid and reliable 10-item self-report scale of the metapersonal self. Study 2 determined the scale to be low in social desirability bias. Studies 3 and 4 examined the convergent and discriminant validity of the three self-construal scales. Investigations among several variables showed that three unique but related self-construal constructs exist and evidence supports the theoretical underpinnings of each construct.