The Advancement of Transpersonal Psychological Science: A Neurophenomenological Trajectory

In 1968 Abraham Maslow asserted 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" (as quoted in Visser, 2003, p. 43). Almost four decades later, Hartelius, Caplan, and Rardin (2007) thematically analyzed 160 definitions of the term transpersonal psychology derived from publications and interviews with transpersonal colleagues from 1968 through 2002. Three comprehensive constituent themes were identified: (1) beyond-ego, (2) integrative/holistic, and (3) transformative. With respect to (1), ego refers to one's individual sense of self, which inhabits a clearly delineated space-time location, as distinguished from Freud's conception of the ego as the mediator between the superego and id. That is, (1) implies that transpersonal psychology focuses on experiences of spatial and temporal transcendence (see Friedman, 1983). Regarding (2), integrative/holistic suggests that transpersonal psychologists avoid reductionistic (e.g., biological) formulations and investigate persons in the context of their social-cultural-political milieu. In terms of (3), transformative suggests that transpersonal psychologists investigate injunctions or state-change technologies (e.g., meditation) that facilitate the attainment of states of phenomenology (e.g., samadhi) associated with greater positive affect (e.g., joy, love) and meaningfulness compared to ordinary waking states. Thus, following Hartelius et al. (2007) the conjunction of (1), (2), and (3) above may be conceptualized as a sufficient condition for a research content area to be deemed transpersonal psychology.