During the rapid development of humanistic psychology in the 1960s, it became increasingly obvious that a new force had begun to emerge within its inner circles for which the humanistic position emphasizing growth and self-actualization was too narrow and limited. The new emphasis was on recognition of spirituality and transcendental needs as intrinsic aspects of human nature and on the right of every individual to choose or change his or her “path.” Many leading humanistic psychologists exhibited a growing interest in a variety of previously neglected areas and topics of psychology, such as mystical experiences, transcendence, ecstasy, cosmic consciousness, theory and practice of meditation, or interindividual and interspecies synergy (Sutich 1976).
The crystalization and consolidation of the originally isolated tendencies into a new movement, or Fourth Force, in psychology was primarily the work of two men—Anthony Sutich and Abraham Maslow—both of whom had earlier played an important role in the history of humanistic psychology. Although transpersonal psychology was not established as a distinct discipline until the late 1960s, transpersonal trends in psychology had preceded it by several decades. The most important representatives of this orientation have been Carl Gustav Jung, Roberto Assagioli, and Abraham Maslow. Also the most interesting and controversial systems of dianetics and scientology developed by Ron Hubbard (1950) outside of the professional circles should be mentioned in this context. A powerful impetus for the new movement was clinical research with psychedelics, particularly LSD psychotherapy, and the new insights into the human psyche that it made possible.
Carl Gustav Jung can be considered the first modern psychologist; the differences between Freudian psychoanalysis and Jung’s theories are representative of the differences between classical and modern psychotherapy. Although Freud and some of his followers suggested rather radical revisions of Western psychology, only Jung challenged its very core and its philosophical foundations—the Cartesian-Newtonian world view. As June Singer so clearly pointed out, he stressed “the importance of the unconscious rather than consciousness, the mysterious rather than the known, the mystical rather than the scientific, the creative rather than the productive, and the religious rather than the profane” (1972).
Jung put great emphasis on the unconscious and its dynamics, but his concept of it was radically different from Freud’s. He saw the psyche as a complementary interplay between its conscious and unconscious elements, with a constant energy exchange and flow between the two. The unconscious for him was not a psychobiological junkyard of rejected instinctual tendencies, repressed memories, and subconsciously assimilated prohibitions. He saw it as a creative and intelligent principle binding the individual to all humanity, nature, and the entire cosmos. According to him, it is not governed by historical determinism alone, but has also a projective, teleological function.
Studying the specific dynamics of the unconscious, Jung (1973a) discovered functional units for which he coined the term complexes. Complexes are constellations of psychic elements—ideas, opinions, attitudes, and convictions—that are clustered around a nuclear theme and associated with distinct feelings. Jung was able to trace complexes from biographically determined areas of the individual unconscious to myth-creating primordial patterns that he called archetypes. He discovered that, in the nuclei of the complexes, archetypal elements are intimately interwoven with various aspects of the physical environment. At first he saw it as an indication that an emerging archetype creates a disposition for a certain type of frame. Later on, studying instances of extraordinary coincidences or synchronicities accompanying this process, he concluded that the archetypes must in some way influence the very fabric of the phenomenal world. Because they seemed to represent a link between matter and psyche or consciousness, he referred to them as psychoids (1960a).
Jung’s image of the human being is not that of a biological machine. He recognized that in the individuation process humans can transcend the narrow boundaries of the ego and of the personal unconscious and connect with the Self that is commensurate with all humanity and the entire cosmos. Jung, thus, can be considered the first representative of the transpersonal orientation in psychology.
By careful analysis of his own dream life, the dreams of his patients, and the fantasies and delusions of the psychotic, Jung discovered that dreams commonly contain images and motifs that can be found not only in widely separated places all over the earth, but also in different periods throughout the history of mankind. He came to the conclusion that there is—in addition to the individual unconscious—a collective or racial unconscious, which is shared by all humanity and is a manifestation of the creative cosmic force. Comparative religion and world mythology can be seen as unique sources of information about the collective aspects of the unconscious. According to Freud, myths can be interpreted in terms of the characteristic problems and conflicts of childhood, and their universality reflects the commonality of human experience. Jung found this explanation unacceptable; he observed repeatedly that the universal mythological motifs—or mythologems—occurred among individuals for whom all knowledge of this kind was absolutely out of the question. This suggested to him that there were myth-forming structural elements in the unconscious psyche that gave rise both to the fantasy lives and dreams of individuals and to the mythology of peoples. Dreams can thus be seen as individual myths, and myths as collective dreams.
Freud showed all through his life a very deep interest in religion and spirituality. He believed that it was in general possible to get a rational grasp of the irrational processes and tended to interpret religion in terms of unresolved conflicts from the infantile stage of psychosexual development. In contrast to Freud, Jung was willing to accept the irrational, paradoxical, and even mysterious. He had many religious experiences during his lifetime that convinced him of the reality of the spiritual dimension in the universal scheme of things. Jung’s basic assumption was that the spiritual element is an organic and integral part of the psyche. Genuine spirituality is an aspect of the collective unconscious and is independent of childhood programming and the individual’s cultural or educational background. Thus, if self-exploration and analysis reach sufficient depth, spiritual elements emerge spontaneously into consciousness.
Jung (1956) differed from Freud also in the understanding of the central concept of psychoanalysis, that of the libido. He did not see it as a strictly biological force aiming at mechanical discharge, but as a creative force of nature—a cosmic principle comparable to élan vital. Jung’s genuine appreciation of spirituality and his understanding of libido as a cosmic force found their expression also in a unique concept of the function of symbols. For Freud, symbol was an analagous expression of, or allusion to, something already known. In psychoanalysis, one image is used instead of another one, usually of a forbidden sexual nature. Jung disagreed with this use of the term symbol and would refer to Freudian symbols as signs. For him, a true symbol points beyond itself into a higher level of consciousness. It is the best possible formulation of something that is unknown, an archetype that cannot be represented more clearly or specifically.
What makes Jung truly the first modern psychologist is his scientific method. Freud’s approach was strictly historical and deterministic; he was interested in finding rational explanations for all psychic phenomena and in tracing them back to biological roots, following the chains of linear causality. Jung was aware that linear causality is not the only mandatory connecting principle in nature. He originated the concept of synchronicity (1960b), an acausal connecting principle that refers to meaningful coincidences of events separated in time and/or space. He was keenly interested in the developments of modern physics and maintained contact with its prominent representatives.8 Jung’s willingness to enter the realm of the paradoxical, mysterious, and ineffable included also an open-minded attitude toward the great Eastern spiritual philosophies, psychic phenomena, the I Ching, and astrology.
The observations from LSD psychotherapy have repeatedly confirmed most of Jung’s brilliant insights. Although even analytical psychology does not cover adequately the entire spectrum of psychedelic phenomena, it requires the least revisions or modifications of all the systems of depth psychotherapy. On the biographical level, Jung’s description of psychological complexes (1973a) is quite similar to that of COEX systems, although the two concepts are not identical. He and his followers were aware of the significance of the death-rebirth process, and they discussed and analyzed cross-cultural examples of this phenomenon, ranging from ancient Greek mysteries to the rites of passage of many aboriginal cultures. However, Jung’s most fundamental contribution to psychotherapy is his recognition of the spiritual dimensions of the psyche and his discoveries in the transpersonal realms.
The material from psychedelic research and deep experiential work brings strong support for the existence of the collective unconscious and for the dynamics of archetypal structures, Jung’s understanding of the nature of libido, his distinction between the ego and the Self, recognition of the creative and prospective function of the unconscious, and the concept of the individuation process. All these elements can be independently confirmed even in psychedelic work with unsophisticated subjects who are unfamiliar with Jung’s theories. Material of this kind also emerges frequently in LSD sessions guided by therapists who are not Jungians and have no Jungian training. In a more specific way, the literature of analytical psychology is very useful in understanding various archetypal images and themes that surface spontaneously in experiential sessions, reflecting the transpersonal level of the unconscious. Deep experiential work has also independently confirmed Jung’s observations on the significance of synchronicity.
The differences between the concepts presented in this book and Jung’s theories are relatively minor as compared to the far-reaching correspondences. It has already been mentioned that the concept of the COEX system is similar to, but not identical with, Jung’s description of a psychological complex. Jungian psychology has a good general understanding of the death-rebirth process as an archetypal theme, but seems not to recognize and acknowledge its special position and certain significant specific characteristics that distinguish it from all others. The perinatal phenomena with their emphasis on birth and death represent a critical interface between the individual and the transpersonal realms. Experiences of death and rebirth are instrumental in the individual’s philosophical dissociation from an exclusive identification with the ego-body unit and with the biological organisation. Deep experiential confrontation of this level of the psyche is typically associated with a sense of serious threat for survival and with a life-death struggle. Death-rebirth experiences have an important biological dimension; they are usually accompanied by a broad spectrum of dramatic physiological manifestations, such as powerful motor discharges, feelings of suffocation, cardiovascular distress and disturbances, loss of control of the bladder, nausea and vomiting, hypersalivation, and profuse sweating.
In Jungian analysis, which uses more subtle techniques than psychedelic therapy or some of the new powerful experiential approaches, the emphasis is on the psychological, philosophical, and spiritual dimensions of the death-rebirth process, while the psychosomatic components are seldom, if ever, effectively dealt with. Similarly, Jungian analysis seems to pay little attention to the actual biographical aspects of perinatal phenomena. In experiential psychotherapy, one always encounters an amalgam of actual detailed birth memories and concomitant archetypal themes. In the theory and practice of analytical psychology, memories of concrete events during delivery seem to play a negligible role.
In the transpersonal realm, Jungian psychology seems to have explored certain categories of experiences in considerable detail, while entirely neglecting others. The areas that have been discovered and thoroughly studied by Jung and his followers include the dynamics of the archetypes and of the collective unconscious, mythopoic properties of the psyche, certain types of psychic phenomena, and synchronistic links between psychological processes and phenomenal reality. There seems to be no genuine recognition of transpersonal experiences that mediate connection with various aspects of the material world. Here belong, for example, authentic identification with other people, animals, plants, or inorganic processes, and experiences of historical, phylogenetic, geophysical, or astronomical events that can mediate access to new information about various aspects of “objective reality.” In view of Jung’s deep interest and scholarship in the Eastern spiritual philosophies, it is astonishing that he has almost entirely overlooked and neglected the realm of past incarnation phenomena, which are of critical importance in any deep experiential psychotherapy.
The last major distinction between Jungian analysis and the approaches discussed in this book, psychedelic therapy and holonomic integration, is the emphasis on deep, direct experience that has both psychological and actual physical dimensions. Although the biological component appears in the most dramatic form in connection with the perinatal phenomena, various experiences of a biographical and transpersonal nature can have significant somatic manifestations. Authentic infantile grimacing, voice, and behavior, or presence of the sucking reflex during age regression; specific postures, movements, and sounds accompanying animal identification; and frantic movements, “mask of evil,” or even projectile vomiting related to an emerging demonic archetype are important examples. Despite all the above differences, Jungians seem to be, in general, best conceptually equipped to deal with the material described in this book, provided they can get used to the dramatic form of the phenomena occurring in psychedelic therapy, during the sessions of holonomic integration, or in the course of other deep experiential approaches.
Another interesting and important transpersonal system of psychotherapy is psychosynthesis, developed by the late Italian psychiatrist, Roberto Assagioli (1976), who originally belonged to the Freudian school and was one of the pioneers of psychoanalysis in Italy. However, in his doctoral thesis, written in 1910, he presented his serious objections to Freud’s approach and discussed the shortcomings and limitations of psychoanalysis. In the following years, Assagioli outlined an expanded model of the psyche and developed psychosynthesis as a new technique of therapy and self-exploration. His conceptual system is based on the assumption that an individual is in a constant process of growth, actualizing his or her hidden potential. It focuses on the positive, creative, and joyous elements of human nature and emphasizes the importance of the function of will.
Assagioli’s cartography of the human personality bears some similarity to the Jungian model, since it includes the spiritual realms and collective elements of the psyche. The system is complex and consists of seven dynamic constituents. The lower unconscious directs the basic psychological activities, such as primitive instinctual urges and emotional complexes. The middle unconscious, where experiences are assimilated before reaching consciousness, seems to correspond roughly to the Freudian preconscious. The super-conscious realm is the seat of higher feelings and capacities, such as intuitions and inspirations. The field of consciousness comprises analyzable feelings, thoughts, and impulses. The point of pure awareness is referred to as the conscious self, while the higher self is that aspect of the individual that exists apart from the consciousness of mind and body. All these components are then enclosed in the collective unconscious. An important concept of Assagioli’s psychosynthesis is that of subpersonalities, dynamic substructures of the human personality that have a relatively separate existence. The most common of these are related to the roles we play in life, such as that of the son, father, lover, doctor, teacher, and officer.
The therapeutic process of psychosynthesis involves four consecutive stages. At first the client learns about various elements of his or her personality. The next step is disidentification from those elements and subsequent ability to control them. After the client has gradually discovered his or her unifying psychological center, it is possible to achieve psychosynthesis, characterized by a culmination of the self-realization process and integration of the selves around the new center.
The approach described in this book shares with psychosynthesis the spiritual and transpersonal emphasis, the concepts of the superconscious and of the collective unconscious, and the notion that certain states labeled currently as psychotic can be more appropriately seen as spiritual crises that have a potential for personality growth and transformation (Assagioli 1977). Another major similarity is the concept of gaining control over various aspects of the psyche by full experience of, and identification with, them.
The major difference between the two approaches lies in dealing with the dark and painful aspects of the personality. While I share Assagioli’s emphasis on the creative, superconscious, and radiant potential of the psyche, it has been my experience that direct confrontation of its dark side whenever it manifests itself in the process of self-exploration is beneficial and conducive to healing, spiritual opening, and consciousness evolution. Conversely, a one-sided emphasis on the light, problem-free, and joyful side of life is not without dangers. It can be used in the service of repression and denial of the shadow, which can then become manifest in less obvious forms and color or distort the spiritual process. The end result can be various spiritual aberrations ranging from an unconvincing, exaggerated caricature of a spiritual person to tyranny and control of others in the name of transpersonal values. It seems preferable to approach inner exploration in the spirit of “transcendental realism,” willing to confront all aspects of one’s psyche and of the universe in their dialectic and complementary interplay of opposites.
Like Jungian analysis, psychosynthesis seems to focus on the emotional, perceptual, and cognitive aspects of the process and lacks adequate recognition of its biological components. In its focus on the symbolic language of the psyche, it also seems to neglect those transpersonal experiences that represent a direct reflection of specific elements of the phenomenal world. Some of the sub-personalities that, in a fantasy exercise, might appear as more or less abstract intrapsychic structures would, in the process of self-exploration using psychedelics or controlled breathing and music, be deciphered as reflections of genuine ancestral, phylogenetic, racial, and past incarnation matrices, or as authentic experiences of consciousness of other people, animals, or other aspects of the phenomenal world. Thus, beside playful use of human, animal, and natural symbolic forms, the individual psyche also seems to be able to draw on holographically stored information about the entire phenomenal world—present, past, and future.
The major practical difference between Assagioli’s psychosynthesis and the strategies presented in this book would be the degree of formal structure and guidance by the therapist. While psycho-synthesis offers a comprehensive system of highly structured exercises, the approach advocated here emphasizes unspecific activation of the unconscious and reliance on spontaneous emergence of the material reflecting the autonomous dynamics of the client’s psyche.
The credit for the first explicit formulation of the principles of transpersonal psychology belongs to Abraham Maslow,. whose role in the development of the movements of humanistic and transpersonal psychology has already been described. At this point it is appropriate to discuss those aspects of his work that have direct relevance for transpersonal theory, comparing them with the observations from psychedelic therapy and deep nondrug experiential work.
One of Maslow’s lasting contributions is his study of individuals who had spontaneous mystical or “peak” experiences, as he called them (1964). In traditional psychiatry, mystical experiences of any kind are usually treated in the context of serious psychopathology; they are seen as indications of a psychotic process. In his comprehensive and careful study, Maslow was able to demonstrate that persons who had spontaneous “peak” experiences frequently benefited from them and showed a distinct trend toward “self-realization” or “self-actualization.” He suggested that such experiences might be supernormal, rather than subnormal or abnormal, and laid the foundations of a new psychology reflecting this fact.
Another important aspect of Maslow’s work was his analysis of human needs and his revision of the instinct theory. He suggested that higher needs represent an important and authentic aspect of the human personality structure and cannot be reduced to, or seen as, derivatives of the base instincts. According to him, higher needs have an important role in mental health and disease. Higher values (metavalues) and the impulses to pursue them (metamotivations) are intrinsic to human nature; the recognition of this fact is absolutely necessary for any meaningful theory of human personality (Maslow 1969).
Observations from deep experiential therapy provide powerful support for Maslow’s theories. Ecstatic unitive experiences occurring in this context—if properly integrated—have beneficial consequences that match in minute detail the descriptions from Maslow’s study of spontaneous “peak” experiences. Their healing potential is incomparably greater than that of anything the armementarium of modern psychiatry has to offer, and there is absolutely no reason to treat them as pathological phenomena.
Furthermore, Maslow’s basic model of human personality gets strong support from experiential therapy. Only the early stages of the process, when subjects deal with biographical and perinatal traumas, seem to endorse Freud’s gloomy picture of human beings driven by powerful instinctual forces operating from the inferno of the individual unconscious. As the process moves beyond the experience of ego death and into transpersonal realms, intrinsic sources of spirituality and cosmic feelings are discovered beyond this screen of negativity. Individuals gain access to a new system of values and motivations that are independent of base instincts and meet the criteria of Maslow’s metavalues and metamotivations (1969).
There are far-reaching parallels between the concepts presented in this book and L. Ron Hubbard’s controversial dianetics and scientology (1950). The comparison of the two systems—since there are many differences as well as similarities—would require a special study. Unfortunately, Hubbard’s remarkable insights have been discredited by their practical application within a dubious organizational structure lacking professional credibility and compromising itself by its pursuit of power. However, that fact should not diminish their value for an open-minded researcher who will find scientology to be a gold mine of brilliant ideas. A comparison of Hubbard’s findings with the observations from psychedelic research is presented in a special essay by Klaus Gormsen and Jørgen Lumbye (1979). It is sufficient here to summarize some of their most important points.
Scientology is the only other system that emphasizes the psychological significance of physical traumas, as revealed by LSD work and holotropic therapy. Hubbard distinguishes between “en-grams”—mental records of times of physical pain and unconsciousness —and “secondaries”—mental images containing such emotions as grief or anger. The secondaries derive their power from the engrams, which are more fundamental, representing the deepest source of psychological problems. Some additional parallels include recognition of the paramount significance of the birth trauma and prenatal influences (including the experience of conception), ancestral and evolutionary memories (or “experiences on the genetic line,” as Hubbard calls them), and the emphasis on past incarnation phenomena.
During the last decade, transpersonal psychology has shown consistent growth and expansion. Its prominent representatives, include Angeles Arrien, Arthur Deikman, James Fadiman, Daniel Goleman, Elmer and Alyce Green, Michael Harner, Arthur Hastings, Jean Houston, Dora Kalff, Jack Kornfield, Stanley Krippner, Lawrence Leshan, Ralph Metzner, Claudio Naranjo, Thomas Roberts, June Singer, Charles Tart, Frances Vaughan, Roger Walsh, and Ken Wilber. They have made significant theoretical contributions to the field and established it firmly as a respectable scientific endeavor. While in the early years the transpersonal movement was quite isolated, it has now established meaningful connections with revolutionary developments in other disciplines that have already been described. These connections found expression in the International Transpersonal Association (ITA), which has an explicitly interdisciplinary and international emphasis.
In conclusion, it seems appropriate to define the relationship between the practice of transpersonal psychology and more traditional psychotherapeutic approaches. As Frances Vaughan (1980) has so clearly pointed out, what characterizes a transpersonal therapist is not content, but context; the content is determined by the client. A transpersonal therapist deals with all the issues that emerge during the therapeutic process, including mundane affairs, biographical data, and existential problems. What truly defines the transpersonal orientation is a model of the human psyche that recognizes the importance of the spiritual or cosmic dimensions and the potential for consciousness evolution. No matter what level of consciousness the therapeutic process is focusing on, a transpersonal therapist maintains the awareness of the entire spectrum and is willing at all times to follow the client into new experiential realms when the opportunity occurs.