Margret Rueffler, PhD, a German-American, holds a doctorate in Transpersonal Psychology, is a psychotherapist and acupuncturist. She is the founder of Lagu Damai Foundation and Jiwa Damai Agro-Permaculture center in Bali, Indonesia. Dr. Rueffler’s international teachings and projects focus on translating the inner values of Consciousness of joy, empowerment, choice and self reliance into active engagement through the prevention of collective violence and concrete application working with the earth through permaculture. For the past 30 years she has researched and developed a Psychology of Nations.The basis of all her teachings is the unfolding the HeartSelf-Intelligence, an approach which has emerged through many years of working with groups.She has published several books which have been translated into different languages. For more information take a look at
https://jiwadamaibali.wordpress.com/ and http://www.pppi.net/. [email protected] |
The “Self" and its Expression through the HeartSelf-Intelligence
The heart is the path to the “Self” through the loving acceptance of personal characteristics. This transpersonal approach embraces one's unwanted parts which can occur by allowing certain values to become alive. This in turn frees one’s innate potential to unfold and freely express itself in daily actions and interactions by deepening connections with nature, the earth and others.
The heart is the path to the “Self” through the loving acceptance of personal characteristics. This transpersonal approach embraces one's unwanted parts which can occur by allowing certain values to become alive. This in turn frees one’s innate potential to unfold and freely express itself in daily actions and interactions by deepening connections with nature, the earth and others.
Harris Friedman, PhD, is a transpersonal researcher, scholar, and teacher. His major research contribution focuses on self-expansiveness, a transpersonal construct he created and for which he developed a measure. Overall, he has over 200 publications across a wide-range of topics. Although most of his research is published within humanistic and transpersonal journals, he also publishes widely in mainstream psychology and other science journals. Within the last year, he published 5 articles in the American Psychologist, the flagship journal of American Psychological Association (APA) and has an in-press article in Psychological Science, the flagship journal of Association for Psychological Science, and published articles in PNAS and PLOS One, two prestigious general science journals. He recently retired as a Professor Emeritus at Saybrook University and Research Professor at University of Florida, and now teaches part-time at Goddard College. His most recent books are Wiley-Blackwell Handbook of Transpersonal Psychology (2013), Praeger Handbook of Social Justice and Psychology, Volumes 1-3 (2014), and APA Book’s Transcultural Competence (2015). He is Fellow of APA, Senior Editor, International Journal of Transpersonal Studies, and Associate Editor, The Humanistic Psychologist. He recently received APA’s Maslow Award for exploring the farther reaches of human spirit, and was previously President of the International Transpersonal Association.
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Transpersonal Psychology: The Spiritual/Scientific Mediator
There are a wide variety of effective ways to practice and research from a transpersonal perspective, and all have relative advantages and disadvantages. However, I focus on the importance of science to both scholarship and practice in transpersonal psychology. Then I explore the cultural traps of "romanticism" and “scientism,” focusing on ways to reconcile both through doing good transpersonal science. I discuss the need to avoid other cultural traps, such as xenophobia and xeonophilia, as well as various biases. I dispute that there is any uniquely transpersonal approach to science but, rather, call for good science that can be applied effectively to a variety of transpersonal concerns. I focus on developing and testing transpersonal theory empirically, and applying transpersonal theory effectively in practice. I share mixed-methods that combine quantitative, qualitative, and other approaches (e.g., graphical) that I have used in over four decades of doing transpersonal research, as well as various assessment and intervention approaches I have used over the same duration as a clinical psychologist and as an organizational consultant in providing various applications. I conclude with emphasizing the importance of an inclusive transpersonal perspective that can reconcile differences harmoniously in the face of cultural diversity and competing religious/spiritual beliefs and values.
There are a wide variety of effective ways to practice and research from a transpersonal perspective, and all have relative advantages and disadvantages. However, I focus on the importance of science to both scholarship and practice in transpersonal psychology. Then I explore the cultural traps of "romanticism" and “scientism,” focusing on ways to reconcile both through doing good transpersonal science. I discuss the need to avoid other cultural traps, such as xenophobia and xeonophilia, as well as various biases. I dispute that there is any uniquely transpersonal approach to science but, rather, call for good science that can be applied effectively to a variety of transpersonal concerns. I focus on developing and testing transpersonal theory empirically, and applying transpersonal theory effectively in practice. I share mixed-methods that combine quantitative, qualitative, and other approaches (e.g., graphical) that I have used in over four decades of doing transpersonal research, as well as various assessment and intervention approaches I have used over the same duration as a clinical psychologist and as an organizational consultant in providing various applications. I conclude with emphasizing the importance of an inclusive transpersonal perspective that can reconcile differences harmoniously in the face of cultural diversity and competing religious/spiritual beliefs and values.
Jorge N. Ferrer, Ph.D., is core faculty of the department of East-West Psychology at the California Institute of Integral Studies (CIIS), San Francisco. He is the award-winning author ofRevisioning Transpersonal Theory: A Participatory Vision of Human Spirituality (State University of New York Press, 2002) and Participation and Spirit: Transpersonal Essays in Psychology, Education, and Religion (State University of New York Press Press, forthcoming), as well as the coeditor of The Participatory Turn: Spirituality, Mysticism, Religious Studies (State University of New York Press, 2008). Featured in The Journal of Transformative Education, Religion & Education, and Journal of Holistic Education, his participatory integral pedagogy is the focus of Nakagawa and Matsuda’sTransformative Inquiry: An Integral Approach (Kyoto, Japan: Institute of Human Sciences, 2010), an anthology of writings based on Ferrer’s teaching of Embodied Spiritual Inquiry at Ritsumekian University, Kyoto. Embodied Spiritual Inquiry will be presented in two upcoming SUNY Press volumes on contemplative education. A leading scholar on Transformative Practices and Integral Epistemology at the Esalen Center for Theory and Research, California, in 2009 he became an advisor to the organization Religions for Peace at the United Nations on a research project aimed at solving global interreligious conflict. He was born in Barcelona, Spain.
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Embodied Spiritual Inquiry:
The Four Seasons of Integral Transformative Education
A genuinely integral transformative education involves the participation of all human dimensions—somatic, vital, emotional, mental, and spiritual—in the learning and inquiry processes. A transformed embodied mind results from this multidimensional epistemic process—one that can more easily recognize the transpersonal dimensions of inquiry and knowing. The metaphor of “the four season” is used to illustrate this approach, as well as to suggest concrete ways in which it can be applied to modern education and academic inquiry. Transformative education is further exemplified through the method of Embodied Spiritual Inquiry. While most contemplative approaches to education tend to use individual presence/awareness exercises, Embodied Spiritual Inquiry engages contemplative inquiry through mindful physical contact among practitioners. Embodied Spiritual Inquiry integrates essential elements of the cooperative inquiry paradigm, contemporary integral transformative practices, and participatory spiritual approaches that stress the embodied, relational, and creative dimensions of spiritual knowing.
The Four Seasons of Integral Transformative Education
A genuinely integral transformative education involves the participation of all human dimensions—somatic, vital, emotional, mental, and spiritual—in the learning and inquiry processes. A transformed embodied mind results from this multidimensional epistemic process—one that can more easily recognize the transpersonal dimensions of inquiry and knowing. The metaphor of “the four season” is used to illustrate this approach, as well as to suggest concrete ways in which it can be applied to modern education and academic inquiry. Transformative education is further exemplified through the method of Embodied Spiritual Inquiry. While most contemplative approaches to education tend to use individual presence/awareness exercises, Embodied Spiritual Inquiry engages contemplative inquiry through mindful physical contact among practitioners. Embodied Spiritual Inquiry integrates essential elements of the cooperative inquiry paradigm, contemporary integral transformative practices, and participatory spiritual approaches that stress the embodied, relational, and creative dimensions of spiritual knowing.
Louis Downs, PhD. received his doctorate in Counseling
from Oregon State University after having spent more than 17 years as a
counselor and clinical administrator. He is presently a Professor at
California State University Sacramento in the Department of Counselor
Education. His clinical specialties include survivors of trauma, disaster
mental health relief, and crisis work, dissociative disorders, personality
disordered states, anxiety disorders and co-occurring disorders. He has
is a specialist in school counseling, having coauthored two books on the
subject, and is a specialist in school counseling students with
neuropsychological disorder as well as with gifted students. He has consulted
and trained counselors in Brunei Darussalam, developed a school-based PTSD
program for the Phang Nga region of Thailand, collaborated with the Bureau of
Innovative Programs of the Ministry of Eduction of Thailand to develop a new
school guidance system for the country, and been a Fellow of the PERMATApintar
Gifted Student Program at Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia. Further, he has
taught post traumatic stress disorder and critical incident process debriefing
counseling to the Singapore Armed Forces Counselling Centre, trained the
primary disaster mental health relief teams of the State of Penang, Malaysia
and of Sichuan Province, Peoples’ Republic of China after the earthquake of
2008. He has fulfilled two Fulbright Fellowships. Having finished a
3 year term as curriculum advisor to the New Era College Department of Guidance
and Counseling Psychology in Kajang, Malaysia, and as clinical consultant to
the Qing-jian Counseling Center in Shanghai, China, he is presently on the
advisory board of Turning Point Integrated Wellness Center, Puchong,
Malaysia. He is also a member of the American Bar Association Round Table
expert witness pool and a lifetime member of PERKAMA, the counseling
association of Malaysia.
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A Transpersonal View of Healing the Wounds of Posttraumatic Stress:
The Transformative Influence of Disaster on Spiritual and Cultural Assimilation
There is a clear incongruence between the way cultures and religions conceptualize and thus meet disaster and the best practices of counseling and psychotherapy. Even within countries and cultures there is incongruence between the practices of the therapeutic community and the overall society. This disjointed perception of the psychological and emotional healing process after individuals sustain emotional injury hampers development of effective therapeutic practice and, more importantly, development of systems of care for survivors. Bringing harmony between these worldviews is critical to adequate and sustainable mental health practices during times of crisis. This presentation will consider the worldviews encountered by the presenter, while training and supervising crisis mental health personnel, across Peoples Republic of China, Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia and Brunei.
The Transformative Influence of Disaster on Spiritual and Cultural Assimilation
There is a clear incongruence between the way cultures and religions conceptualize and thus meet disaster and the best practices of counseling and psychotherapy. Even within countries and cultures there is incongruence between the practices of the therapeutic community and the overall society. This disjointed perception of the psychological and emotional healing process after individuals sustain emotional injury hampers development of effective therapeutic practice and, more importantly, development of systems of care for survivors. Bringing harmony between these worldviews is critical to adequate and sustainable mental health practices during times of crisis. This presentation will consider the worldviews encountered by the presenter, while training and supervising crisis mental health personnel, across Peoples Republic of China, Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia and Brunei.
Zana Marovic, Phd, is a clinical psychologist, transpersonal therapist, hypnotherapist, supervisor, yoga teacher and author. She has over twenty years of experience as a psychotherapist and clinical supervisor. She is in a private practice in Johannesburg, South Africa.
Zana holds PhD in Medical Psychology from the University of South Africa. She has published in international academic journals, presented workshops and papers at congresses around the world and published a book on clinical supervision. She is an executive member of The International Transpersonal Association and accredited trainer for transpersonal workshops in South Africa. She runs holistic retreats in mountains near Johannesburg. Zana has developed close collaboration with African Traditional Healers’ Association. In her practice and training she integrates Eastern philosophy and yoga with Western traditional knowledge and African indigenous wisdom. Websites: www.drzana.co.za & www.transpersonalpsychology.co.za |
EXCHANGE TO CHANGE:
CROSS-CULTURAL DIALOGUE BETWEEN HEALERS
Developing a global psychology and promoting training that applies to all humans but retains cultural uniqueness is an important future objective. In that respect indigenous psychology and training facilitates understanding of people in their cultural context and opens the door to development of wide compassion toward other cultures as well as instigates a path toward universal psychology.
This workshop introduces South African experience of indigenous psychology, cross-cultural training and collaboration between psychotherapists and African traditional shamans. The workshop explores African cosmology and transpersonal aspects of African indigenous healing and value of such unique perspective being incorporated into training. The workshop suggests that future courses should include in depth exploration of indigenous knowledge, encourage cross-cultural dialogue between healers and acknowledge indigenous wisdom. The workshop concludes that in order for Western psychology, medicine and science to become a universal practice, integration of African and other World indigenous cosmologies are critical. Such integration is a wise way to assist people in diverse cultures, improve their lives and potentially bring transformation of consciousness that would extend from local cultures to the global community.
CROSS-CULTURAL DIALOGUE BETWEEN HEALERS
Developing a global psychology and promoting training that applies to all humans but retains cultural uniqueness is an important future objective. In that respect indigenous psychology and training facilitates understanding of people in their cultural context and opens the door to development of wide compassion toward other cultures as well as instigates a path toward universal psychology.
This workshop introduces South African experience of indigenous psychology, cross-cultural training and collaboration between psychotherapists and African traditional shamans. The workshop explores African cosmology and transpersonal aspects of African indigenous healing and value of such unique perspective being incorporated into training. The workshop suggests that future courses should include in depth exploration of indigenous knowledge, encourage cross-cultural dialogue between healers and acknowledge indigenous wisdom. The workshop concludes that in order for Western psychology, medicine and science to become a universal practice, integration of African and other World indigenous cosmologies are critical. Such integration is a wise way to assist people in diverse cultures, improve their lives and potentially bring transformation of consciousness that would extend from local cultures to the global community.
Kerry Howells Ph.D. is a teacher educator in the University of Tasmania (UTAS)
Faculty of Education, teaching in the areas of professional studies,
practitioner research, and teacher leadership. Over the past two decades Kerry
has been researching the role of gratitude in enhancing teaching and learning processes
at all levels of education. She
has published several academic papers that report on the findings of her
research on the role of gratitude in the areas of school leadership,
pre-service teacher education, and school education. Her book, Howells, K.
(2012) Gratitude in Education: A Radical
View is the first full text to be written on this topic, and has been
hailed by reviewers around the world as “ground-breaking”. Kerry draws on a
range of case studies in different levels of education – from primary to
university - to outline a phenomenology of gratitude when it is placed in
different contexts, and furthers our understanding of both the complexities and
possibilities of gratitude for both education and other fields. Many in the
field of Positive Psychology have been using this text in their practice and
teaching courses. In her most recent work, Kerry has been exploring the
implications for education of cultural differences in expressions of gratitude.
She has conducted her investigation in the areas of Australian Aboriginal and
Maori cultures, and following on from her time as a visiting scholar at the
University of South Africa in 2014, in indigenous African culture. In June 2015
Kerry was invited by an NGO to speak at the United Nations on the relationship
between gratitude and human dignity.
Website http://www.utas.edu.au/education/quick-links/faculty-staff/Kerry-Howells Link to TED talk https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gzfhPB_NtVc |
Exploring
the transcendental power of gratitude through its application in transforming
education
Over the past decade a wave of research in the area of Positive Psychology has drawn attention to the role that gratitude can play in enhancing our social and emotional wellbeing. However, if we are to access the transformational and transcendental potential of gratitude – as heralded by many religions and spiritual paths – there is a need to consider a more expansive notion than that used in many of the recent clinical studies. Drawing on qualitative research from many different educational contexts, this presentation will highlight the complexities of applying gratitude as reported by teachers and school leaders. It will then present a framework for developing a notion of gratitude that accounts for these complexities and cross-cultural dimensions. Outcomes of research participants who have adopted gratitude as a practice rather than as an emotion provide inspiration for its potential to transcend adversity and transform education.
Over the past decade a wave of research in the area of Positive Psychology has drawn attention to the role that gratitude can play in enhancing our social and emotional wellbeing. However, if we are to access the transformational and transcendental potential of gratitude – as heralded by many religions and spiritual paths – there is a need to consider a more expansive notion than that used in many of the recent clinical studies. Drawing on qualitative research from many different educational contexts, this presentation will highlight the complexities of applying gratitude as reported by teachers and school leaders. It will then present a framework for developing a notion of gratitude that accounts for these complexities and cross-cultural dimensions. Outcomes of research participants who have adopted gratitude as a practice rather than as an emotion provide inspiration for its potential to transcend adversity and transform education.
Andris Tebecis, PhD, a Latvian-born Australian, obtained his PhD from Monash University in Melbourne for studies on neurotransmitters in the mammalian brain. In 1968 he moved to the Neurological Clinic of Basel University in Switzerland, and in 1971, to The John Curtin School of Medical Research at the Australian National University in Canberra for further microelectrode research on the brain. At the A.N.U. he also collaborated with researchers in the Psychology Department on studies of the electrophysiological concomitants of transcendental meditation and hypnosis. In 1975, invited to Japan as a Visiting Professor in the Department of Psychosomatic Medicine at Kyushu University Medical School, Fukuoka City, he extended his research on altered states of consciousness, including autogenic training. He has published more than 70 papers on brain research, as well as a book, Transmitters and Identified Neurons in the Mammalian Central Nervous System.
At a conference in Tokyo, he came across Sukyo Mahikari and has been involved with this ever since. Since 1977, he has held various positions in the Sukyo Mahikari organization, including Regional Director of Australia-Oceania and Regional Director of Asia. His present positions are Adviser to Sukyo Mahikari Australia-Oceania Regional HQ, Canberra, and Deputy Director of the Yoko Civilization Research Institute, Tokyo. He has published two books on Mahikari - Mahikari. Thank God for the Answers at Last (also translated into Japanese) and Is the Future in Our Hands?My Experiences with Sukyo Mahikari. |
Spirits (discarnate human entities) significantly
influence the mental and physical condition of people
The practice of radiating divine energy from the hand, called the “art of True Light” (or the “practice of spiritual purification”) in the Sukyo Mahikari organization, can sometimes reveal the existence of spirits, discarnate human entities, attached to people. This confirms the view that there really is life after death. Attached spirits may be the cause of various mental or physical changes in the people to whom they are attached. Evidence is presented of a case of schizophrenia in a young lady probably due to a possessive male spirit, a previous husband. Another case shows that cancer in a man was probably due to a resentful warrior spirit from a distant age. A broad range of phenomena can occur in people’s lives due to attached spirits, and this seems to be widespread. As regards education, for example, a case is presented in which a spirit prevented learning in a young boy by willfully interfering with his listening in class. True Light can help not only the person but also the spirits attached. Theories of human consciousness, personality and behaviour would be more comprehensive by taking into consideration the influence of attached spirits.
The practice of radiating divine energy from the hand, called the “art of True Light” (or the “practice of spiritual purification”) in the Sukyo Mahikari organization, can sometimes reveal the existence of spirits, discarnate human entities, attached to people. This confirms the view that there really is life after death. Attached spirits may be the cause of various mental or physical changes in the people to whom they are attached. Evidence is presented of a case of schizophrenia in a young lady probably due to a possessive male spirit, a previous husband. Another case shows that cancer in a man was probably due to a resentful warrior spirit from a distant age. A broad range of phenomena can occur in people’s lives due to attached spirits, and this seems to be widespread. As regards education, for example, a case is presented in which a spirit prevented learning in a young boy by willfully interfering with his listening in class. True Light can help not only the person but also the spirits attached. Theories of human consciousness, personality and behaviour would be more comprehensive by taking into consideration the influence of attached spirits.
Anand Krishna, M.A. An Indonesian national
of Indian descent, both critics and supporters acclaim Anand Krishna as a
“phenomenon”. His critics wonder, “What makes him popular? There is nothing
extraordinary about him.” His supporters appreciate his passion for promoting
peace among different sections of society, and acclaim: “He comes from The
Source of All Wisdom.” In the last 22 years, Anand has spoken to millions through television shows, radio talks, in-house trainings, books, newspaper interviews and articles, as well as daily meetings and workshops held at Anand Ashram Center for Holistic Health and Meditation (affiliated with United Nations), One Earth Retreat Center, and Anand Krishna Centers for Wellbeing - the five centers established by him in the Indonesian Capital of Jakarta, the suburban city of Bogor, the palatial ancient city of Yogyakarta, and two at Kuta and Ubud on the beautiful isle of Bali.
For more on him, please visit:
[email protected] |
Karma Yoga: The Transpersonal Principles in
World Religions and Their Relevance Today
The spirit of working with sincerity has been known and celebrated by the ancient sages, mystics, and philosophers of many different spiritual and religious traditions. The Bhagavad Gītā refers to it as Karma Yoga or Nishkaama Karma, i.e. performing an action without any expectation of rewards or results. This motive is in essence a transpersonal motive. The relevance of this motive for today’s world society has been pointed out by the United Nations Secretary-General Ban ki-Moon in his message for the International Volunteer Day 2008, “What we need today is the spirit of volunteerism and altruism. We need people who can work without any personal motive and interest. We need people who can serve the society without thinking of their personal gain”. This paper not only explores the transpersonal motive using several world religions as the backdrop, but also offers a roadmap to realize it which is based upon the writer’s personal experience.
World Religions and Their Relevance Today
The spirit of working with sincerity has been known and celebrated by the ancient sages, mystics, and philosophers of many different spiritual and religious traditions. The Bhagavad Gītā refers to it as Karma Yoga or Nishkaama Karma, i.e. performing an action without any expectation of rewards or results. This motive is in essence a transpersonal motive. The relevance of this motive for today’s world society has been pointed out by the United Nations Secretary-General Ban ki-Moon in his message for the International Volunteer Day 2008, “What we need today is the spirit of volunteerism and altruism. We need people who can work without any personal motive and interest. We need people who can serve the society without thinking of their personal gain”. This paper not only explores the transpersonal motive using several world religions as the backdrop, but also offers a roadmap to realize it which is based upon the writer’s personal experience.