CAROLIN S.

KEUTZER

Transpersonal Psychotherapy:
Reflections on the Genre

An attempt is made to provide a broad overview of the emerging enterprise of transpersonal

("Fourth Force") psychotherapy, and contrasts are drawn between transpersonal and other
major schools oftherapy. Within the transpersonal realm of psychotherapy, issues of
process, content, and context are discussed, and some conceptual distinctions are made. The
difference between "enlightenment" and change is elucidated, and techniques associated with
change are described. After the optimal attributes of a transpersonal therapist are outlined,
the limitations—most especially the problem of proof of transcendent phenomena—are
examined.

Although there abounds a plethora of descriptions of various disciplines, traditions,

and "schools" that are generally subsumed under the rubric of transpersonal psy-
chology, there have been few (but notable) attempts (e.g., Vaughan, 1980) to present
a general discussion of the issues, parameters, and processes associated with trans-
personal ("Fourth Force") psychotherapy. This article represents an initial and
unrefined attempt to provide an integrative overview.
Abraham Maslow, the well-known contemporary American psychologist, is also
closely aligned with the transpersonal movement. According to Maslow's motivational
model, each person must progress up a four-step pyramid of needs to be met—physi-
ological, safety, love, belonging and esteem—to approach "self-actualization." In
his preface to the second edition of Toward a Psychology of Being, Maslow (1968)
considered adding a higher rung to this ladder of human evolution: transcendence.

I should say also that I consider Humanistic, Third Force Psychology to be transitional, a
preparation for a still "higher" Fourth Psychology, transpersonal, transhuman, centered in
the cosmos rather than in human needs and interest, going beyond humanness, identity, self-
actualization and the like. (pp. iii-iv)

Drawing on both Western science and Eastern wisdom, transpersonal psychology aims
at expanding the field of psychological inquiry to include areas of human experience
associated with extreme health and well-being while incorporating states of con-
sciousness beyond the usual ego boundaries and beyond the space-time limitations.
This expansion of interests is, of course, reflected in the psychotherapeutic enter-
prise.

Distinctions From Other Therapies

Wilber's (1981) "spectrum of consciousness" is helpful in distinguishing the purview

of transpersonal therapy from that of other therapies. In discussing differences in
perceived identities among individuals, Wilber notes that some people operate at the
"persona" level of consciousness; that is, they identify with only certain acceptable
aspects of the "ego" and project, deny, or repress other aspects. Hence a "boundary"
is drawn between the "persona" (acceptable aspects) and the "shadow" (unacceptable
aspects), which results in a greatly narrowed self-image. At the next level of the

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1984, Vol. 15, No. 6,868-883
Copyright 1984 by the American Psychological Association, Inc.
 spectrum—the "ego" level—are those individuals who identify with a larger facet of
the total organism (known variously as the mind, the ego, the personality, or the psyche)
but exclude the body. That is, the "boundary" is here drawn between the mind and
body. "I am my mind but I have a body." Self-identity does not directly encompass
the organism-as-a-whole but only an aspect of the organism. The third level of con-
sciousness, and the last in which a boundary line is drawn, is the one Wilber calls the
"total organism" level. Individuals at this level of consciousness identify with their
whole organism but draw a line between their organism and the environment. This
"skin-boundary" is one of the most fundamental of the self/not-self distinctions, and
it is only at the "unity consciousness" level that all such boundaries are transcended,
and a person feels "at one with the universe." Wilber points out that the different
levels of the spectrum represent differences not only in self-identity; they also distinguish
the various schools of psychotherapy and religion that represent not so much contra-
dictory approaches to individuals and their problems as complementary approaches
to different levels of the individual.
With this in mind, we can make some sharp contrasts among some large groups of
psychotherapeutic approaches. For example, the aim of psychoanalysis and many
conventional forms of psychodynamic therapies could be viewed as reclaiming much
of the unconscious psyche so that the "persona" and "shadow" are reunited to create
a strong and healthy ego. At the next level, many therapies within the human potential
movement are designed to heal the split between the ego itself and the body, to reunite
the psyche and the sorna and, in so doing, liberate the vast potentials of the total or-
ganism.
Finally, we can view the aims of such disciplines as Zen Buddhism or Vedanta
Hinduism as healing the split between the total organism and the environment to reveal
a supreme identify with the entire universe at the level of unity consciousness. But
between the level of unity consciousness and the level of the total organism there are
what Wilber calls the "transpersonal bands" of the spectrum. It is here then, it seems,
that we have found the place on the spectrum for the various transpersonal thera-
pies—psychosynthesis, Jungian analysis, various preliminary yoga practices, certain
forms of meditation, for example—that focus on the vision of the transcendent citi-
zenship of the human spirit, the experience of the interconnectedness of all things, a
sense of the sublime, and the quest for ultimate meaning.
Although the differences between transpersonal therapy and behavioral therapy
(First Force) and psychoanalysis (Second Force) are abundant and obvious, the dis-
tinctions between humanistic-existential (Third Force) approaches and transpersonal
therapy are more subtle. As Walsh and Vaughan (in Boorstein, 1980) point out, both
humanistic and transpersonal therapies are growth-oriented, holistic models more
concerned with health than with pathology. However, "health" for the humanistic
approaches is often synonymous with "self-actualization" and a balanced integration

GAROLIN S. KEUTZER, PhD, is Associate Professor at the University of Oregon where she both
teaches in the psychology department and practices psychotherapy at the University Counseling
Center. Her recent interests include the exploration of alternative paradigms of scientific research
and the implications of.quantum mechanics for an understanding of consciousness.
REQUESTS FOR REPRINTS should be sent to Carolin S. Keutzer, Psychology Department,
University of Oregon, Eugene, Oregon 97403.

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TRANSPERSONAL PSYCHOTHERAPY

of physical, emotional, and mental aspects of health, whereas the spiritual dimension,
so vital to the transpersonalists, may be neglected, ignored, or even invalidated by the
humanistic approach. Similarly, the existential approach shares with the transpersonal
a concern for the search for meaning and purpose, the necessity for choice and re-
sponsibility; however, as Walsh and Vaugh explain, the existentialists "remain locked
in their separate, ego-defined identity and do not make the leap beyond dualistic
knowledge into the direct, intuitive knowing and experience of consciousness that
characterize transpersonal experience" (p. 26).
To summarize the goals of each of these groups (and taking the risk, inherent in any
attempt at gross generalization, of doing violence to accuracy of statement), we could
say that the goal of behaviorism is the good adjustment of the patient, the goal of psy-
choanalysis is the rendering conscious the unconscious, that of humanistic therapy is
the achieving of self-actualization; existentialism, however, strives for "authenticity."
In contradistinction to these schools, then, the goal for transpersonal therapy could
be said to be transcendence—the recognition, acceptance, and realization of ultimate
states, or "enlightenment."

Distinctions Within Transpersonal Therapy

Before proceeding with a discussion of the general assumptions and specific content,
process, and techniques within the psychotherapeutic context, it might be well to stop
and clarify some basic concepts in order to preclude possible semantic confusions later.
First, we must recognize a basic distinction between the "self and the "personality."
Myriad subtle differences in definitions of terms abound in the literature; each writer
seems to idiosyncratically define such terms as ego, psyche, personality, self, and
consciousness. Rather than assume the definitions of any particular tradition or school,
we define here how the terms are used in this article. The term self is used to represent
the perfect, uncluttered, unhindered essence of the person—the coming forth of the
pure being as a result of "self-actualization." Personality, by contrast, is herein used
to connote one aspect of the total self—those features that combine to give a person a
sense of uniqueness, a personal identity, a sense of "I-ness." Thus one's personality
could be viewed loosely as the combinative result of conditioning, personal history,
ego, beliefs, thoughts, and identifications. As such, one's personality is invariably a
constricted version of one's self. As Fadiman (1980) explains,

A basic assumption of transpersonal psychology is that there is more to you than your personality.
Your personality is your sense of a separate, different, unique identity. Your personality is
but one facet, however, of the self—the total identity—and perhaps not even a central facet. The
very word "transpersonal" means through or beyond the personality. To be totally identified
with one's personality may be evidence of psychopathology. One therapeutic goal is to align
the personality within the total self so that it functions appropriately. These ideas fly in the
face of the commonly accepted idea that the be-all and end-all of life is to improve your per-
sonality.
A goal, within the context of transpersonal therapy, is to encourage and develop those
tendencies which allow an individual to disidentify from the restrictions of the personality and
to apprehend their identity with the total self. (p. 177)

Walsh and Vaughan (1980) made a corollary and more general statement in the
introduction to Beyond Ego as they discuss the transpersonal perspective:

The term transpersonal was adopted after considerable deliberation to reflect the reports of

870 PROFESSIONAL PSYCHOLOGY: RESEARCH AND PRACTICE

people practicing various consciousness disciplines who spoke of experiences of an extension
of identity beyond both individuality and personality. Thus transpersonal psychology cannot
strictly be called a model of personality because personality is considered only one aspect of our
psychological nature; rather it is an inquiry into the essential nature of being, (p. 16)

A second major distinction must be made within transpersonal psychology; that is,
the one between a "transcendent experience" and "transcendence" itself. The tran-
scendent experience may take many forms and has been given many names since an-
tiquity (such as satori in Zen Buddism, samadhi in Yoga, or Maslow's "peak experi-
ence"); it is a qualitatively different state of consciousness from our ordinary, quotidian,
waking state of awareness. Though the terms may vary and are not precisely syn-
onymous with one another, there is general agreement in describing the transcendent
experience as "(1) the highest state of consciousness; (2) a self-transforming perception
of one's total union with the infinite; and (3) an experience beyond time and space—an
experience of the timelessness which is eternity, or unlimited unity, with all creation"
(Keutzer, 1982, p. 76). Walsh, Elgin, Vaughan, and Wilber (1980), when they in-
troduced a practical definition of the term, confined the term transcendental experience
to an experience of an altered state of consciousness characterized by the following five
attributes:

1. Ineffability: the experience is of such power and so different from ordinary experience
as to give the sense of defying description.
2. Noetic: a heightened sense of clarity and understanding.
3. Altered perception of space and time.
4. Appreciation of the wholistic, unitive integrated nature of the universe and one's unity
with it.
5. Intensive positive affect including a sense of the perfection of the universe, (p. 47)

The evidence seems to indicate that transcendent experiences are most likely to occur
among those who are psychologically most healthy, such as those who are at advanced
stages of psychotherapy or those who have been identified as "self-actualized" persons
(Walsh et al., 1980). However, the goal of therapy is not to achieve the experience
per se, although its occurrence does seem to facilitate the therapeutic process. Vaughan
(1980) explained,

Such experiences, though not valued as ends in themselves, are accepted as healthy and potentially
valuable for human development. Such experiences are notably useful in facilitating disiden-
tification from superficial roles and distorted self-image. When transpersonal experiences are
affirmed, validated, and integrated as meaningful aspects of the totality of oneself rather than
being repressed or avoided, they tend to bring up fundamental questions concerning the nature
of reality and one's true identity, (p. 185)

In contrast to these transient higher states of consciousness, which we are calling

transcendent experiences, is transcendence itself: the goal of the spiritual quest or
of transpersonal therapy wherein one achieves "enlightenment." As Fadiman (1980)
stated, "The end state of psychotherapy is the daily experience of a state known in
different traditions as certainty, liberation, enlightenment, or gnosis" (p. 180).
Before proceeding to more specific details of the therapy, it seems prudent to discuss
a frequent source of confusion surrounding the transpersonal experience; namely, the
failure to discriminate between theprepersonal and the /rani-personal. Wilber (1982a)
described two forms of the error (which he terms the pre/trans fallacy): (a) the ele-

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vation of prepersonal events to transpersonal status, and (b) the reduction of trans-
personal events to prepersonal status.
Wilber convincingly argued, for example, that Freud was consistently guilty of the
latter form of this error. Although Freud correctly recognized the prepersonal id and
the personal ego, he reduced all spiritual and transpersonal experiences to the pre-
personal level so that he interpreted all transtemporal insights as pretemporal id-
impulses and all experiences of transpersonal union as just prepersonal fusion.
Less persuasively, perhaps, Wilber asserted that Jung was guilty of the other form
of this error. He wrote that Jung correctly and explicitly recognized the transpersonal
dimension but frequently fused it with prepersonal structures:

As Assagioli himself pointed out, Jung thus tends to obscure the vast and profound differences
between the lower collective unconscious and the higher collective unconscious (that is, the
prepersonal unconscious and the transpersonal collective realms). Thus, not only does Jung
occasionally end up glorifying certain infantile mythic forms of thought; he also frequently gives
a regressive treatment to Spirit (Wilber, 1982a, p. 13).

Maybe more dramatic examples of this form of the pre/trans confusion can be found
in various writings of R. D. Laing, who has been accused by his colleagues of "the
romanticization of schizophrenia." Urging regression therapy in a communal living
situation ("Kingsley Hall," described in Barnes & Berke, 1972) where a patient could
"go down, be reborn, and come up again," Laing seemed to imply that a return to the
pre-egoic, prerational, or prepersonal level is the expedient path to enlightenment.
Similarly, in the Politics of Experience (1967), Laing wrote that "Madness need not
be all breakdown . . . it may also be breakthrough. It is potentially liberation and
renewal as well as enslavement and existential death" (p. 93). Laing asserted that
schizophrenia is not an illness to be treated, but a "voyage" to be undertaken. Socially,
madness may be a form in which "often through quite ordinary people, the light begins
to break through the cracks in our ail-too closed mind" (p. 90). Such a conceptuali-
zation would seem to overlook the commonly held assumption in transpersonal psy-
chology that one must progress, in order, from the prepersonal to the personal before
one can transcend the ego to reach the transpersonal realm. The course of development
is defined at every stage by increasing differentiation, integration, and transcendence;
each stage of growth integrates and includes the prior level in the manner of Hegel's
dictum; "To supercede is at once to negate and to preserve."

Dimensions of the Therapeutic Process

Several aspects of the therapy itself can be discussed individually. The following topics
are examined separately: the context or background against which the therapy de-
velops; the specific content of therapy sessions; the hypothetical stages through which
the therapy evolves; the goals of transpersonal therapy; and, finally, the distinctions
between "enlightenment" and change together with the implications for techniques
used and a discussion of some of the techniques and practices that are frequently as-
sociated with transpersonal therapy.

THE CONTEXT

Paramount importance seems to be accorded the beliefs, values, and intentions of the
therapist in setting the parameters of the process and the possibilities for a salubrious

872 PROFESSIONAL PSYCHOLOGY: RESEARCH AND PRACTICE

outcome. According to Vaughan (1980), "What can take place in therapy is inevitably
limited by the personal fears and beliefs of the therapist, just as it is limited by the
readiness of the client to explore these realms" (p. 183). Thus the most effective
therapist would probably be the one who had an expanded sense of the self, who trusted
the inner wisdom of the client (the true self or "inner guru"), and who viewed therapy
as a natural process of awakening while not having attachments to specific techniques
or methods. In this regard, transpersonal psychology seems to have much in common
with Rogers's (1951) "client-centered" therapy, which rests on the assumptions that
the individual has the capacity for self-healing and that the therapist is there to facilitate
the emergence of the true self through accurate empathy, unconditional positive regard,
and the demonstration of personal congruence. In other words, the therapist provides
the optimal climate for the emergence of the total self.

THE CONTENT

Obviously, the content of therapy would not be limited to transpersonal issues because
it must reflect the full spectrum of the client's life experience. Depending on cir-
cumstances and the state of therapy, different levels of Wilber's (1981) "spectrum of
consciousness" would be addressed. Yet there are some thoughts, ideas, and experi-
ences considered primarily transpersonal in content. According to Vaughan (1980),
these are "any experiences in which an individual transcends the limitations of iden-
tifying exclusively with the ego or personality" (p. 185). She adds that "transpersonal
content also includes the mythical, archetypal, and symbolic realms of inner experience
that can come into awareness through imagery and dreams."

STAGES

Again it is Vaughan (1980) who has most clearly elucidated the hypothetical stages
through which therapy can be conceptualized as progressing. First, at the ego level,
there is the stage of identification wherein an individual is working on such projects
as gaining self-esteem and centeredness. "As one begins to identify and own feelings,
thoughts and previously rejected or projected parts of the self, one can assume re-
sponsibility for who one is and for the consequences of the choices one has made" (p.
186). The second stage is termed disidentijication; the task here is to confront basic
existential questions and in so doing, begin to disidentify from roles, possessions,
personality, activities, and relationships. "When one begins to disidentify from the
ego and identify instead with the transpersonal self or the detached observer of one's
psychological processes, the process of inner liberations is set in motion" (p. 186).
(However, this could be a somewhat tricky issue because just as one begins to rejoice
in one's disidentification, one is, of course, attached again to success.) Finally comes
the stage of self-transcendence wherein one no longer experiences oneself as isolated
but rather as part of something much larger. This is a change of vision that includes
the experiencing of self as part of the interweaving context and pattern of all the cos-
mos—a view supported by the "new physics" (e.g., Gapra, 1975), which describes the
universe as a dynamic, intricate web of relationships in continuous change.

GOALS

The goals of therapy have already been alluded to with reference to a number of other

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TRANSPERSONAL PSYCHOTHERAPY

issues. But to be more explicit, the words of Walsh and Vaughan (1980, p. 165) are
cited here:

The goals of transpersonal therapy include both traditional ones such as symptom relief and
behavior change, and where appropriate, optimal work at the transpersonal level. This may
include the provision of an adequate conceptual framework for handling transpersonal expe-
riences, information on psychological potential, and the importance of assuming responsibility,
not only for one's behavior, but also for one's experience. In addition to working through
psychodynamic processes, the therapist aims to assist the client in disidentifying from and
transcending psychodynamic issues. Thus the therapist may instruct the client in the possibility
of using all life experience as a part of learning (karma yoga), the potentials of altered states,
and the limitations and dangers of attachment to fixed models and expectations.

Other writers in the transpersonal realm (Assagioli, 1971;Jung, 1954; Wilber, 1977,
for example) seem, essentially, to be in agreement. Fadiman (1980) adds a nice closing
touch to this description when he writes that "The goals of the self, unbound from the
burdens and the deficiencies of the personality, seems to be to enjoy the world but not
to be attached to it, to be of service, but not to make a pest of oneself (p. 180).

CHANGE VERSUS ENLIGHTENMENT

In our Western society, we are accustomed to "fixing things." Our therapists embrace
this desire to move from Point A (the problem or symptom) to Point B (the solution
or cure). Yet in many Eastern traditions, the "problem" turns out to be just one of
perception or evaluation, or results from a limited perspective, and "enlightenment"
becomes the recognition that things are already perfect. This second kind of perfection
(which I call omega perfection) can be illustrated by a Zen parable:

When Banzan was walking through a market he overheard a conversation between a butcher
and a customer.
"Give me the best piece of meat you have," said the customer.
"Everything in my shop is the best," replied the butcher. You cannot find here any piece
of meat that is not the best."
At these words, Banzan became enlightened,
(original source unknown)

Similarly, in our own experience, we can recognize the immediate perfection of

nature. At a shimmering stream, for example, we may peer down and glimpse many
stones. Some have intricate designs; some are hard and good for cutting things; some
have a nice shape for throwing; some are poetic in their ordinary grayness. The point
is that there are not "good" stones and "bad" stones. Every stone is absolutely perfect.
The analogue of the perfection of nature is the perfection of each individual. In one
sense, then, you are an absolutely perfect you for no one can be as perfect a you as
you.
The enlightenment model requires a particular stance toward life: an acceptance
of what is, with the realization that every choice made seemed like the best choice at
the time.

In this view, whatever is happening in a person's life is somehow right for him, given fully who
he is. If he does not experience this Tightness, it is because he has taken some narrow and in-
complete view of his life, based on some internalized outside evaluation. If clients can only

874 PROFESSIONAL PSYCHOLOGY: RESEARCH AND PRACTICE

experience the perfection of what is, including all of what was previously seen as pathology,
their lives will immediately and spontaneously begin to normalize, and life will get as good as
it can, as fast as it can, in ways that would have been impossible to see from the pathology point
of view. (Enright, 1980, p. 231)

Potential dangers inherent in this way of thinking become immediately apparent.

It could easily encourage, for example, the "predestination" type of rationalization;
that is, the belief that each individual is the pawn of fate and that all events are pre-
ordained (as in Euripides's classic statement in 420 BC, "What must be, no one will
ever make it so that it is not"). Such a passive and fatalistic approach to life obviously
runs counter to the responsible and active engagement of life found, say, in the
Maslovian or Jungian model of the "healthy" person.
In contrast to the enlightenment model, which sees goodness or health in what
currently is, there is also the change model in transpersonal therapy. Within this model
there is an acknowledgment that there is a difference between what is (Point A) and
what might be (Point B), and efforts or strategies are employed to facilitate movement
from one point to another. Although almost no therapeutic techniques are unique
to transpersonal therapy, there are a number commonly associated with Fourth Force
psychology primarily because of their philosophical and theoretical compatibility. Five
such techniques are briefly explicated: (a) analysis of the personal drama, (b) Sufi
tales, (c) the use of metaphor, (d) synchronicity awareness, and (e) meditation.
Analysis of the personal drama. Fadiman (1980) defined personal dramas as
"predictable, repetitive, and complex patterns of behavior performed either with or
without the presence or participation of others," and he believes that they are "an
unnecessary luxury and interfere with full functioning" (p. 177), The personal drama,
then, is just another way of describing the personality as we have been using the term
in this article. As such, the thrust of therapy is to help the client to disidentify from
the restrictions of the personal drama. This begins with the therapist letting the patient
know that the personal drama is being observed but that the "actor" is not being con-
fused with the person. Fadiman (1980) described how this technique might be used
with a child:

When a tantrum begins, you draw your chair closer; you say to the child that you are impressed
with their tempers, their violence, but you would like to see the tantrum again with more kicking
or perhaps with breath holding, like last week. This deflates the child's purpose in performing
the tantrum. Initially, when you confront a person with the possibility that a behavior is only
a personal drama, you may find the response to be fury and excitement. This quickly passes.
If you are genuine in your appreciation of the person, the drama will often end with laughter
and the relief that comes from being unmasked, (p. 178)

Though Enright expresses great enthusiasm for the technique, it would appear to
be most efficacious with children or unsophisticated adults. Unless the therapist were
extremely adroit, the adult client could easily feel mocked or demeaned. Further, on
the face of it at least, it violates the tenets of "relationship theory" (emphasizing accurate
empathy, congruence, and unconditional regard; see, e.g., Rogers, 1951) so highly
prized by many transpersonal therapists. Although this technique seems to have much
in common with Frankl's (1965) "paradoxical intention" or Haley's (1963) "pre-
scribing the symptom," there is an important difference. In transpersonal psycho-
therapy the goal is rarely simply symptom reduction; more commonly, the technique

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is used to facilitate detachment from ego and disidentification from roles and activities.
In short, this technique, as with many other practices in transpersonal psychotherapy,
can be viewed as uniquely "transpersonal" only in the context of its goals.
Sufi tales. It is often assumed that greater awareness and a broader perspective are
frequently gained when the intellect and the rational processes are bypassed. Idries
Shah has collected thousands of teaching parables from the Middle Eastern Sufis, the
esoteric tradition of the Islamic faith. Although each of these tales has a punch line,
it also contains a teaching moral and can be examined on many levels for illumination
of human behavior. Many of these stories concern Mulla (Master) Nasrudin, a kind
of Middle Eastern Everyman who is sometimes court jester, sometimes cracker-barrel
philosopher, sometimes village sage, and sometimes buffoon. An example is a short
tale entitled "Instinct":

"There are some things," said Nasrudin, "that you positively know inwardly, must be un-
true."
"Can I have an example?" asked someone who was always looking for evidence of the su-
pernormal.
"Certainly. For instance, the other day when I was walking along, I overheard a rumor that
I was dead." (Shah, 1971, p. 198)

Combining shrewdness and a logical analysis, Nasrudin provides interesting and

sometimes very incisive "twists" to ordinary perceptions of reality. The stories, in
addition to being entertaining, can sometimes provide sudden insight to a client. An
explanation of their efficacy is provided by Deikman (1980, p. 212):

The stories provide templates to which we can match our own behavior. We accept them because
they are so deceptively impersonal; the situations are presented as the history of someone else.
The story slides past our vigilant defenses and is stored in our minds until the moment comes
when our thinking or situation matches the template. Then it suddenly arises in awareness
and we "see" as in a mirror, the shape and meaning of what we are actually doing. The ana-
logical form can evade the categorizing of our rational thought and reach other sectors of the
mind.

According to Shah (1971), in order to become "awakened" and to operate at a higher

level of awareness, we must first become aware of automatic pattern-thinking, the
conditioned associations and indoctrinated values that limit human perception and
receptivity. The Sufi tale can, for a short time anyway, take us outside our egocentric
thinking. The skill of the therapist would be shown in providing the appropriate story
at the propitious time for each client. As understanding increases, the tools can be
used for finer and deeper work. Shah (1971) wrote with great enthusiasm about this
technique: "Sufism is itself a far more advanced psychological system than any which
is yet developed in the West. Neither is this psychology eastern in essence, but human"
(p. 59). Similarly, Robert Ornstein (1972) in The Psychology of Consciousness sums
this up with the following: "A new synthesis is in process within modern psychology.
This synthesis combines the concern of the esoteric traditions with the research methods
and technology of modern science" (p. 244).
Metaphors. The same explanations for the effectiveness of Sufi tales might apply
to the metaphors used in our own culture. Therapists seem to be finding that the
metaphor is frequently a more potent agent for change than is ordinary descriptive
or didactic language. Appel (1980) called the metaphor the "language of discovery,"

876 PROFESSIONAL PSYCHOLOGY: RESEARCH AND PRACTICE

the "language of immediacy," and the "language of 'knowing'." He thinks that me-
taphor is such a powerful tool because it "pushes frontiers of thought unchallenged
by the language of rational discourse" (p. 47). He elaborated further;
As humans struggle toward knowing and away from the anxiety of not knowing, metaphors
of mind, self, and reality emerge. These convince and give life to new experiences. Metaphors
of the Bible, Sophocles, and Plato endure to this day. Psychoanalysis in the development of
its own material-mechanistic metaphor has borrowed and adapted some Greek metaphors to
illuminate its own construction of reality and mind (for example, Oedipus, Electra, and
Thanatos).
While the language of fact may be used to reduce and transmit discoveries, psychotherapists
and teachers are most successful with the language of discovery. Metaphor is the keystone to
this language. The language of fact brings forth an "uh-huh" response, whereas a compelling
metaphor is an "aha" experience. (Appel, f 980, p. 47)

Appel describes the process of developing an ever-clarifying metaphor as treatment

evolves. As both client and therapist exchange metaphors, they are in effect sharing
their separate versions of reality. Finally, a new metaphor, what Appel calls a
"transdyadic metaphor," emerges and becomes the common language of the therapy.
Appel continues,
It is the quality of freshness and the recognition of its appropriateness that make a compelling
metaphor most appealing in treatment. The experience of knowing and discovery lends energy
to further discovery. The metaphor is, therefore, a satisfying experience that reduces ambiguity
for both participants, and thus reduces the anxiety of not knowing, (pp. 47-48)

Synchronicity awareness. Jung's (1960) famous treatise, "Synchronicity: An

Acausal Connecting Principle," written in collaboration with the noted physicist,
Wolfgang Pauli, hinges on his concept of Synchronicity, which he defines as "the si-
multaneous occurrence of two meaningfully but not causally connected events" (p.
44) or, alternatively, as "a coincidence in time of two or more causally unrelated events
which have the same or similar meaning" (p. 511) "equal in rank to causality as a
principle of explanation" (p. 435).
Since antiquity, there have been many who spoke in terms of "influences," "sym-
pathies," and "correspondences" to explain events that seemed to be unaffected by the
laws of causality. Things could hang together, if not by mechanical causes, then by
hidden affinities in an invisible order. The doctrine of the "sympathy of all things"
can be traced back to Hippocrates: "There is one common flow, one common
breathing, all things are in sympathy." Thus the Jungian concept of Synchronicity
is a modern derivation of the archetypical belief in the fundamental unity of all things
transcending mechanical causality.
Although many eminent scientists have been intrigued by Jung's concept of syn-
chronicity, it was not until quite recent times that science could consider such an un-
conventional phenomenon—an event outside of a space-time cause-and-effect sequence.
Now it seems quantum mechanics has demonstrated some synchronicities of its own,
most notably the apparent underlying connectedness shown by the "distant correlation"
experiments based on Bell's theorem (Keutzer, 1984). These events are no more
plausible to our commonsense view of reality than are the synchronicities of the psyche
described by Jung. Yet each of these events is a clue intimating the possibility that
we, and everything in the universe, might be invisibly linked rather than unrelated
and separate.

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TRANSPERSONAL PSYCHOTHERAPY

To use Jungian terminology for a moment, when the "archetypal" level of the
"collective unconscious" is touched in a situation, there is emotional intensity as well
as a tendency for symbolic expression. (Most of us can understand the nature of a
synchronistic event by recalling a personal experience of an uncanny coincidence ac-
companied by a spontaneous emotional response of awe, wonder, or warmth and the
certitude that something meaningful or significant had just occurred.) According to
Jung, when the emotionally charged archetypal level is active, dream images of great
intensity and symbolic meaning may arise, and synchronistic events are more likely
to occur. Both "big" (archetypal) dreams and synchronistic events are expressed
symbolically, revealing their common connection in the collective unconscious.
According to Bolen (1979), synchronistic events can be analyzed in a manner
comparable to dream analysis. Specifically, the twin Jungian techniques of "am-
plification" and "active imagination" are often used (see Keutzer, in press, for greater
details). Bolen sees a clear connection between increased mental health and a growing
awareness of meaningful coincidence. The idea of synchronicity strongly suggests
that our lives are inherently meaningful and that we are therefore responsible for
discovering and living that meaning:

If we personally realize that synchronicity is at work in our lives, we feel connected, rather than
isolated and estranged from others; we feel ourselves part of a divine, dynamic interrelated
universe. Synchronistic events offer us perceptions that may be useful in our psychological and
spiritual growth and may reveal to us, through intuitive knowledge, that our lives have meaning,
(p. 7)

In addition to providing further meaning to life, expanding awareness, providing

a feeling of connectedness with all things, and helping to get one's bearings, synchro-
nicity can provide yet another tool to help bring about individual change. If the person
can recognize that a problem (perhaps an unconscious conflict) can be reflected in the
external environment (accepting the possibility that the world experienced is a type
of mirror of the psyche) then the person can take responsibility for changing. As
Richard Bach (1977) expressed it,
Every person,
all the events of your life
are there because you have
drawn them there.
What you choose
to do with them is
up to you. (p. 110)
Actually, whether or not an event is truly governed by the laws of synchronicity as
explicated by Jung might be irrelevant in terms of the therapeutic efficacy of the event.
As long as the occurrence is experienced as personally meaningful and as it inserts
something novel into the client's consciousness that forces a new perspective, an inviting
opportunity, or the felt necessity for change, the progression of therapy could easily
be enhanced.
However, the analysis of synchronistic events, as with virtually every other technique
in psychotherapy, is not without its caveats, hazards, and limitations. In certain cases,
the development of a larger conscious awareness and perspective does not come about;
instead, the ego identifies directly with impersonal psychic material. In such instances
"ego-inflation" occurs. The possibility of psychosis or paranoia arises when a primitive

878 PROFESSIONAL PSYCHOLOGY: RESEARCH AND PRACTICE

ego structure copes with its fear of annihilation by identifying directly with archetypal
material in a grandiose way.
Another risk of emphasizing synchronistic awareness in therapy is that the client
might become fascinated with the transpersonal aspects of his or her life to the exclusion
of everyday reality. It can be exhilarating to have archetypal experiences that are
validated by one's therapist; and the temptation is sometimes strong for the client to
become preoccupied with observing, analyzing, and responding to cues that seem to
be coming from the collective unconscious. Such a preoccupation can frequently be
seen as a defensive maneuver of the ego—a strategy to avoid becoming aware of an
unwillingness to assume responsibility for daily living. It must be kept in rnind that
a central concept in Jungian psychotherapy is balance. A competent therapist will
therefore be vigilant for the possibility of an imbalance in the client's life—an imbalance
between the inner world and the outer world, between regression and progression,
and between psychic energy invested in the conscious and in the unconscious.
Meditation. So much has been written about the varieties and effects of "meditation"
that it would be impossible to summarize here the findings. Instead, I present a very
limited "sample" of the large body of clinical and research evidence supporting the
beneficial effects of meditation. Carrington (1980) reported changes in her clients
(and in those of her colleagues) who regularly used a standardized form of concentration
meditation as an adjunct to psychotherapy. The changes include, among others, stress
reduction, energy increase, mood stabilization, a heightened ability to express emotions,
and a decrease in addictive behaviors (except for the meditation itself, of course). Many
writers have remarked of the felicitous complementarity of conventional psychotherapy
and meditation: the former contributing to the solution of specific inner conflicts and
emotional problems and the latter contributing to the global, nonspecific solution.
Remarking on some similarities between systematic desensitization, Carrington
(1980) points out some critical differences:

In systematic desensitization, a therapist and patient, working together, identify specific areas
of anxiety and then proceed to deal with a series of single, isolated problems in a step-by-step
organized fashion. In meditation, however, the areas of anxiety to be "desensitized" are selected
automatically by the responding organism, the meditating person, (p. 252)

She concludes that meditation has a much wider scope than the systematic desensi-
tization, although it lacks the precision of the behavioral technique. Carrington then
speculates on another explanation for meditation's effects:

Meditation may conceivably enable the meditating person to benefit from an exchange of energy
with an as yet unidentified source of energy similar to the pervading energy fields which are
referred to as prana in India. It is conceivable that, in the quiet of meditation, a person is more
able to "tune in" to some cosmic source of energy capable of replenishing and renewing the
meditator. Although such a concept may seem at this point to be more mystical in nature than
scientific, the concepts of modern quantum physics suggest the presence of large, underlying
force-fields, more fundamental than the "matter" that we perceive with our senses, and the
relationship of the organism to larger energy flows is only beginning to be studied in such dis-
ciplines as biometeorology. (p. 252)

One of the foremost writers on meditation, Daniel Goleman (see The Varieties of
the Meditative Experience, \ 977, for example) believes that because meditation was
not brought forth as a treatment for a particular symptom or syndrome as were many

PROFESSIONAL PSYCHOLOGY: RESEARCH AND PRACTICE 879

TRANSPERSONAL PSYCHOTHERAPY

contemporary psychotherapies, its clinical utility is most likely to be found in providing

the psychological pattern of positive mental states rather than in provoking particular
personality changes.

Attributes of the Therapist

The relationship between client and therapist is considered to be the crucible in which
transformations in both parties take place, much as in the Jungian metaphor of the
alchemical transmutation. Jung, for example, saw psychotherapy as "a unique and
unreproducible dialectic between two psyches, in which the action or intervention of
the therapist at any moment arise out of the unique history of the two parties to that
moment" (Brookes, 1980, p. 59). Thus technique arises out of and is secondary to
the relationship in psychotherapy. For this reason, it is appropriate to ask the question,
"What are the requirements for functioning as a transpersonal psychotherapist?"
Anthony Sutich (1980), acknowledging that he considered the crucial issue in trans-
personal therapeutic work to be the perspective, attitude, and orientation of the ther-
apist, proposed the following list:

The therapist or counselor

is on his (her) own spiritual or transpersonal path.
accepts the right of any person with whom he is working to pursue his own path and to change
to another if that seems desirable.
has a commitment to the principle that all human beings have continuous impulses toward
emotional growth and ultimate states, and accepts that the chief responsibility of a transpersonal
therapist is to function in the best way he knows how, to help in the realization of emotional
growth as well as ultimate states.
has reasonable knowledge, among other psychological principles, of the role of self-deceptive
mechanisms throughout the life cycle, including their function in himself.
accepts all individuals as having impulses toward ultimate states whether or not they are on a
personal path. More specifically, this means working with individuals as much as possible
through techniques and forms of relating that are directly relevant to their current state, (pp.
10-11)

Walsh and Vaughan (1980) elaborated on the importance of using the therapeutic
relationship to optimize the growth of the therapist through consciously serving the
client. Eschewing hierarchical status, the therapist must be willing to use the thera-
peutic process to maximize his or her own growth and make a personal commitment
to service:

Indeed, working with one's own consciousness becomes a primary responsibility, for the growth
of one participant is seen as facilitating that of the other. By holding the relationship in the
context of service and karma yoga, the therapist is thought to provide an optimal environment
for growth of the client. (Walsh & Vaughan, 1980, p. 20)

In sum, it would appear that the optimal requirements for the transpersonal therapist
are quite stringent. Not only must one have the skill and training in traditional psy-
chodynamics, one must also be fairly close to achieving the goals of transpersonal
therapy itself—as outlined at the beginning of this article.

Limitations of Transpersonal Psychotherapy

As with any school or tradition of therapy, there have been those who enthusiastically

880 PROFESSIONAL PSYCHOLOGY: RESEARCH AND PRACTICE

and uncritically proclaimed the superiority of transpersonal psychotherapy. However,
it must be openly admitted that by current standards of scientific rigor, the case for
its supremacy has not been made. Walsh and Vaughan (1980) speak directly to this
point:

First, the transpersonal clearly lacks an adequate empirical foundation. Many of the concerns
of the transpersonal therapist lie outside the range of interest, competence, and investigative
arenas of most researchers. Therefore, many assumptions, though experientially satisfying,
remain experimentally untested. There has been an understandable but regrettable and un-
sustainable tendency to think that if experimenters are not interested in this area, that is their
problem. If the transpersonal is truly to be what it claims to strive for—namely an effective
synthesis of Eastern wisdom and Western science—its practitioners need to do all they can to
ensure that their work is subjected to careful scientific scrutiny, (p. 26)

The above predicament raises the question of the applicability of traditional,

mechanistic, Newtonian paradigms to the investigation of transpersonal phenomena.
A corollary issue is the role of experiential versus intellectual comprehension of
transpersonal processes. Wilber (1982b) grappled directly with the problem of proof;
that is, how, if at all, does one provide proof of transcendental experience—especially
proof that will be acceptable to a scientific community that often proclaims that what
cannot be determined by sensory or physical data does not exist. In exploring this issue,
Wilber argued that there are three distinct modes of knowing—sensory, symbolic, and
spiritual—and that each of these modes has its own unique data and facts. To confuse
these realms, such as by assuming that all spiritual knowledge must be accessible and
reducible to intellectual (symbolic) understanding, is to commit a "category error."

Trying to handle these mental-phenomenological data with empiric-analytic methods . . . is

about as effective as trying to discover the meaning of War and Peace by analyzing the objective
paper and ink by which it is expressed. (Wilber, 1982b, p. 87)

Adding an optimistic note for transpersonal psychology, however, Wilber strongly

and persuasively asserts that each of these domains possesses unique and appropriate
means of assessing the validity of knowledge in its realm. With an elaborate discussion,
Wilber establishes that "empiric-analytic inquiry accepts as its essential data sensibilia;
mental-phenomenology accepts as its essential data intelligibilia" (p. 87). Turning
then to the transcendental realm, he asserts that it has an explicit and conscientious
adherence to the same three strands (abstract principles) of data accumulation and
verification as do the first two modes of knowing:

1. Instrumental injunction—which is always of the form, "If you want to know this, do
this."
2. Intuitive apprehension—a cognitive grasp, prehension, or immediate experience of the
object domain (or aspect of the object domain) addressed by the injunction; i.e., the immediate
data-apprehension.
3. Communal confirmation —a checking of results (apprehensions or data) with others who
have adequately completed the injunctive and apprehensive strands, (pp. 82-83)

He concluded that, primarily by intersubjective testing by masters of this realm,

there can be a sound and valid transcendental methodology. Potentially then, there
seems to be a means (recognition of distinct domains and methods of proof) for stilling
the rancorous feelings and muting the claims for exclusive truth that have long char-
acterized discussions between the scientist and the mystic. But this task, like the ac-

PROFESSIONAL PSYCHOLOGY: RESEARCH AND PRACTICE 881

TRANSPERSONAL PSYCHOTHERAPY

ceptance of transpersonal psychotherapy in Western society, is still at the fledgling

stage.

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Received August 1,1983

Revision received January 24,1984

Editor for Psychological Bulletin Named; Search for New Editor Continues

David Zeaman, editor of Psychological Bulletin, died on July 19, 1984. Betty J. House,
Zeaman's colleague at the University of Connecticut, and one of the journal's associate editors,
will complete David Zeaman's term and serve as editor through 1986. Effective immediately,
authors should submit manuscripts to:
Betty J. House, Editor
Psychological Bulletin
Department of Psychology U-20, Rm # 107
25 Cross Campus Road
Storrs, Connecticut 06268
APA's Publications and Communications Board is continuing its recently opened search
for a new editor. Candidates for the journal editorship must be members of APA and should
be available to start receiving manuscripts in early 1986 to prepare for issues published in
1987. The term of editorship is from 1987 through 1992. To nominate candidates, prepare
a statement of one page or less in support of each nomination. Submit nominations no later
than February 1, 1985 to the chair of the search committee:
Barbara Strudler Wallston
Box 512 Peabody
Vanderbilt University
Nashville, Tennessee 37203
The other members of the search committee are Elizabeth Loftus, Wilbert McKeachie, Paul
Mussen, Lyman Porter, and Lee Sechrest.

PROFESSIONAL PSYCHOLOGY: RESEARCH AND PRACTICE 883