Transpersonal psychologies

“What happens in religious ecstasy? Is it, as some clinicians claim, only a semi- hysterical fluttering of the pulse, a sudden injection of adrenal fluid into the system? Or is it as the mystic maintains, an inexplicable, ineffable gift? Or...? In TRANSPERSONAL PSYCHOLOGIES, Charles T. Tart and nine other contributors begin the quest by translating mystical traditions - spanning the gamut from Zen Buddhism to Sufism to Western magic - into the language of science. Each contributor has practiced the area discussed as a personal discipline and presents it for its psychological rather than its religious significance. The reader is shown what assumptions and insights into the nature of humanity underpin each tradition, and is given an indication of what experiences transcend the intellect. It is only by temporarily setting aside Western preconceptions of the nature of reality that any of these psychologies can be studied at all. As such, TRANSPERSONAL PSYCHOLOGIES marks an important stepping-off point in the correction of contemporary psychology’s bias in favor of a mythical, objective, “outsider’s” analysis to a more central, interior, ‘inside’ inquiry. In his three opening chapters, Tart sets the stage and lays down ground rules for this revolutionary psychology. The first separates the useful tool of scientific method from the philosophy of physicalism with which it is often confused. He then moves on to explain some of the assumptions of Western, orthodox psychology, and why these are inadequate to deal with radically different world views. Finally, Tart expands the discussion from the physical universe to the spiritual universe and the paranormal. Discussions of the various spiritual traditions follow: Zen and traditional Buddhism, Yoga, Gurdjieff, Arica, Sufism, Christian mysticism, and Western magic. Throughout psychology is not used to shackle these to a dead view of life-drenched experiences, but as the vehicle for a new understanding of what they essentially are. Of who we are.” BOOK JACKET