A discussion resource on the differences between Transpersonal Psychology -- and The Psychology of the Transpersonal Experience when personality separations collapse into consciousness
transpersonal psychology .. or the psychology of the transpersonal experience
There are (from my perspective and position) two different schools - one is Transpersonal Psychology and the other is the Psychology of the Transpersonal Experience.
transpersonal psychology
In Transpersonal Psychology, one looks from a theoretical perspective - the cognitive process of moving beyond the personality into the Transpersonal selfas a sort of mystical spirituality. This provides hope for those struggling in the pre-personal, personal or material life experience for a sense ofSelf Love or Spirituality.
The sideways shift from this is the Psychology (or mind understanding) of that state of consciousness known as Transpersonal.
I draw the distinction here because the cognitive perspective tends to view and discuss "levels" or dimensions of consciousnessand set them as targets .. often theoretically understandable through the comparison of one with the other.
the Psychology of the Transpersonal Experience
But, what happens when this learned explanation and, the whole level structure of concept of separation drops away and one collapsesinto or falls into a space where there are no levels of distinction; Psychology has no foundation and Spirituality has no roots.
Psychosis .. or ..
The Transpersonal Self CANNOT be sought with the mind - and once one "falls into it",the mind senses "madness" because it loses control.
In this space, the mind tries to grasp or understand what is going on for it, and the loss of identity, divisions, levels, boundaries canbe a real scary place to be - especially as, during the collapse, everything that has been learned gets thrown up in your face - often quite literally -and there is nothing in the books that define how you deal with the situation where what was blocking your bowel seems to be coming out of your mouth.
For those who have had the experience, it can be very easy to tell someone to let it go, to flush it down the toilet, to accept that that isthe way it is and get on with Life. This only works when the person you are talking to has either a total block against the cognitive process andcan just let it go - or when the energy is so fast and furious that there is nothing left that can be identified.
For most of us, however, we have been conditioned into the straight line that joins two points. The process can be a little likegetting grass to grow underneath a concrete roadway ..
But, somewhere, there is a memory that once, where now this road exists, there was once an open field. There can be again
Psychology of the Transpersonal Abyss
Its what we do with our experience that counts. If we judge, define, label, categorize, box, then we have moved our experienceout of the Transpersonal into a space where we once again become the victim of what we have worked so hard to try and escape.
There are a couple of "terms" that can be used to describe the experience (for those who like to play with words) --"Synesthesia" .. "transliminality" .. and I could add - including "alexithymic" - without words for feelings ...
All of these are descriptions for the up close and personal experience of "Transpersonal Consciousness" - that space of consciousnesswhere there are no words for "the experience in the moment" .. and you've got to try and describe the experience that just hadyou to yourself or to someone else - without seeming psychotic
Some people have these experiences all of the time and they don't need words or explanation. Others seek these experiences and when theyhave them, it is a real scary place to be - and so, to allay their programmed fears words and explanation are sought ..
and the absolute worst thing that anyone can do is to try and go over the experience and try to put some fancy spiritual terms on it ..