12 Oct Foreshadowing Transpersonal Psychology
When we talk about foreshadowing the transpersonal: William James, the Transcendentalists and Depth Psychology, it seems to be a bit of a misnomer. William James, in fact, rather than foreshadowing, created transpersonal psychology in his book, The Varieties of Religious Experience. When I read this book about ten years ago, I was astounded at how he had laid out the framework for what our field would become, his refutation of materialism, his acceptance of the spiritual and collective dimension of the psyche (Ryan, 2008). James was considering the tension between science and religion throughout his life and career.
Although he rejected the spiritual, Freud contributed the view we share today of an inner self that contains secrets helpful to bring to consciousness. The technique he developed, psychoanalysis, has similarities to Zen (Bobrow, 2000) in that both paths are concerned with the skillful attention to the ordinary (mindfulness) and the potentially transformative power of that. Leone (1995) also writes that both Zen and psychoanalysis have the same goal: the realization of one’s true nature.
Jung, of course, left Freud over his refusal to accept the spiritual and continued his research for the rest of his life. Davis (2010) writes an interesting speculation about the similarities between the systems developed by Jung and tantra: both are committed to the healing of human suffering as well as spiritual awakening, and both emphasize the transformative power of mythic imagery.
The transcendentalist have been long held as “spiritual” writers and thinkers, and Emerson and Thoreau promoted as American heroes. Perhaps they were, however, Kingston (2016) makes a strong case that these men were designated as the originators of ideas that Catharine Maria Sedgwick had published at least ten years earlier. Of course, the sexism of the time did not acknowledge her contributions. It tarnishes history, in my view, when we pretend that white men are the owners of meaning and value.
Bobrow, J. (2000). Reverie in Zen and psychoanalysis: Harvesting the ordinary. Journal of Transpersonal Psychology, 32(2), 165-175.
Davis, J. (2010). Jung at the foot of Mt. Kailash: A transpersonal synthesis of depth psychology, Tibetan tantra, and the sacred mythic imagery of East and West. International Journal of Transpersonal Studies, 30(1-2), 148-164.
Kingston, S. (2016). Catharine Maria Sedgwick’s contributions to transcendentalism, The Journal of Traditions & Beliefs, 3(7)
Leone, G. (1995). Zen meditation: A psychoanalytic conceptualization. Journal of Transpersonal Psychology, 27(1), 87-94.
Ryan, M. B. (2008). The transpersonal William James. Journal of Transpersonal Psychology, 40(1), 20-40.
© 2022. Catherine Auman
Sorry, the comment form is closed at this time.