The Transpersonal: Spirituality in Psychotherapy and Counselling
2nd edition
John Rowan

In this new edition of The Transpersonal, John Rowan takes account of the growing interest in spirituality, assessing the many new developments in the field and providing an essential overview of the multitude of guides now available on the subject.

By providing a clear and highly readable introduction to the realm of the transpersonal, this book eliminates many of the misunderstandings that plague this area. It relates the transpersonal to everyday life as well as to professional concerns and the various schools of therapy. Divided into three parts, Being, Doing and Knowing, it encourages the reader to explore the levels of consciousness, the techniques involved in transpersonal work and the underlying theory. The unique relationship between the therapist and client is examined in detail, as are the imagined and imaginal world, personal mythology and transcultural work. An entirely new section is included on the ways in which the transpersonal therapist can use the concept of subpersonalities.

This fully updated and revised version of John Rowan’s original pioneering text provides a highly practical guide which will be useful to anyone working with the growing number of people with spiritual concerns.

John Rowan is one of the pioneers of transpersonal psychology in the UK. He is a consultant in private practice in London and is author of Ordinary Ecstasy: The Dialectics of Humanistic Psychology, 3rd ed., The Reality Game: A Guide to Humanistic Counselling and Psychotherapy, 2nd ed. and The Future of Training in Counselling and Psychotherapy: Instrumental, Relational and Transpersonal Perspectives.

CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION
PSYCHOTHERAPY AS BRIDGE
ONE-TWO-THREE-INFINITY
WHAT THE TRANSPERSONAL IS NOT
EXTRAPERSONAL
RIGHT BRAIN
NEW AGE
RELIGION
SPIRITUALITY
THE TRANSPERSONAL IN EVERYDAY LIFE
INNER VOICES
INTUITION
CREATIVITY
PEAK EXPERIENCES

CHAPTER 1: SOME PIONEERS
WILLIAM JAMES
DANE RUDHYAR
CARL GUSTAV JUNG
ARCHETYPES
ROBERTO ASSAGIOLI
STANISLAV GROF
TRANSPERSONAL EXPERIENCES
ABRAHAM MASLOW
ARNOLD MINDELL
FURTHER DEVELOPMENTS

SECTION ONE: BEING

CHAPTER 2: THE BASIC MAP
LEVELS OF CONSCIOUSNESS
KEN WILBER'S MAP
TRANSITIONS AND BREAKTHROUGHS
THE MAP CONTINUED
SOME CONSIDERATIONS ABOUT HIERARCHY
PSYCHOTHERAPY
SCOPE AND LIMITS OF THERAPIES

CHAPTER 3: WILBER AND THERAPIES
THE NINE FULCRUMS
DREAMS AND LEVELS

CHAPTER 4: BEING IN TRANSPERSONAL PSYCHOTHERAPY
STATES AND STAGES OF CONSCIOUSNESS
GENDER IN THE SUBTLE
THE PRE/TRANS FALLACY
THE AUTHENTIC SELF VERSUS THE SOUL OR SUBTLE SELF

SECTION TWO: DOING

CHAPTER 5: IMAGINATION AND THE IMAGINAL WORLD
ACTIVE IMAGINATION
THE IMAGINAL WORLD
THE SHADOW
IMAGERY
VISUALIZATION
GUIDED FANTASY
FORMS AND TYPES
DREAMS
BIG DREAMS
ENCOUNTER GROUPS
SYMBOL SYSTEMS

CHAPTER 6: LINKING AND ALCHEMY
LINKING
THE EXISTENTIAL
THE JUNGIANS
PSYCHOANALYSIS
IDENTIFICATION
DISCUSSION
GENERAL PRACTICE
THERAPY AS AN ALCHEMICAL PROCESS
THE ALCHEMICAL PATH

CHAPTER 7: PERSONAL MYTHOLOGY AND SPIRITUAL EMERGENCIES
PERSONAL MYTHOLOGY
SHAMANIC JOURNEYING
SPIRITUAL EMERGENCIES
PEAK EXPERIENCES
KUNDALINI ENERGY AWAKENING
NEAR-DEATH EXPERIENCES
PAST-LIFE MEMORIES
OPENING TO LIFE MYTH
SHAMANIC CRISIS
PSYCHIC OPENING
CHANNELING
UFO ENCOUNTERS
POSSESSION

CHAPTER 8: OTHER CULTURES
RESPECT FOR RELIGIOUS EXPERIENCE
NEGATIVE EXPRESSIONS OF SPIRITUALITY
SURVIVORS OF TORTURE
SPIRIT RELEASEMENT

CHAPTER 9: MEDITATION AND THE CAUSAL
MEDITATION
FOUR QUADRANTS
SELF DECEPTION
OPEN FOCUS
THE CONDUCT OF THERAPY
THE CAUSAL
THE PRACTICE
SUBTLE SELF VERSUS CAUSAL SELF
WORDS ASSOCIATED WITH CAUSAL SELF
THE NONDUAL
CAUSAL VERSUS NONDUAL
LEVELS OF RESPONSE TO A KOAN

CHAPTER 10: SUBPERSONALITIES AND THE TRANSPERSONAL
LET'S PRETEND
WHAT COMES OUT
USING THESE IDEAS IN EVERYDAY THERAPY

SECTION THREE: KNOWING

CHAPTER 11: ISSUES IN TRANSPERSONAL THEORY
WOMEN'S SPIRITUALITY
THE MALE POLARITY
THE HORNED GOD
THREE LEVELS
THE BODY
CREATIVE VISIONS
RHYTHM AND DIALECTICS
POLYTHEISM AND MONOTHEISM
PSYCHOSIS
CRITIQUES OF THE TRANSPERSONAL
BEHAVIOURISM AND MATERIALISM
COGNITIVE SCIENCE AND COMPUTER ANALOGIES
NEUROPHYSIOLOGY AND THE BRAIN
FREUD AND THE AVOIDANCE OF THE OEDIPUS COMPLEX
JANOV AND THE AVOIDANCE OF PAIN
WASDELL AND THE AVOIDANCE OF THE BIRTH TRAUMA
NEHER AND SELF DECEPTION
THE CHRISTIAN CRITIQUE
DANGERS OF THE SPIRITUAL PATH
CONCLUSION

CHAPTER 12: THE FUTURE OF THE TRANSPERSONAL
THE SPREADING OF THE TRANSPERSONAL
RELATIONSHIP WITH HUMANISTIC PSYCHOLOGY
THE QUESTION OF EVIL
RELATIONSHIP WITH RELIGIONS
CONCLUSION

Bibliography
Index

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