plik

NOTICE TO

SUBSCRIBERS

NOTICE TO
AUTHORS

BOOKS FOR REVIEW

The Journal of Transpersonal Psychology is published

semi-annually beginning with Volume l,No. 1, 1969.

Current year subscriptions—Volume 27, 1995.

To individuals: S24.00 per year; $12.00 either issue.
To libraries and all institutions: $32 per year or $16 either issue.
Overseas airmail, add $11 per volume, $5.50 per issue.

Back volumes:

Volumes 24-26 (2 issues per volume) $24 each, $12 per issue.
Volumes 15-23 (2 issues per volume) $20 each, $10 per issue.
Volumes 1-14 (2 issues per volume) $14 each, $7 per issue.
All

Journal issues are available. See back pages of this issue for

previous contents.

Order from and make remittances payable to:

The Journal of Transpersonal Psychology, P.O. Box 4437,

Stanford, California 94309.

The Journal of Transpersonal Psychology is indexed in

Psychological Abstracts and listed in
Chicorel Health Science Indexes,

International Bibliography of Periodical Literature,
International Bibliography of Book Reviews,
Mental Health Abstracts,
Psychological Reader's Guide, and beginning in 1982

Current Contents/Social & Behavioral Sciences

Social Sciences Citation Index

Contenta Religionum

Manuscript deadlines: Manuscripts may be submitted by any

author at any time. Regular deadline dates are February 1 and
July 1 for Summer and Winter issues, respectively.

All manuscripts, and an abstract of not more than 150 words,
should be submitted in

triplicate, double-spaced to the Editor,

345 California Avenue, Suite No. 1, Palo Alto, California 94306

(with a

postage-paid return envelope enclosed).

Send to Editor, 345 California Avenue,

Suite No. 1, Palo Alto, California 94306.

The Journal of Transpersonal Psychology

and the Association for Transpersonal

Psychology are divisions of the Transpersonal Institute, a non-profit, tax-exempt
organization. The views and opinions presented by authors and reviewers in the

Journal

do not necessarily represent those of the editors or the Transpersonal

Institute.

Scan & OCR by Shiva2012

VOLUME

27,

NUMBER

1, 1995

THE JOURNAL OF TRANSPERSONAL PSYCHOLOGY

Editor’s note

The plateau experience and the post-mortem life:
Abraham H. Maslow’s unfinished theory

S. C

leary

& S

I. S

hapiro

Phenomenological mapping: A method for describing

and comparing states of consciousness

oger

alsh

Toward the objective exploration of

non-ordinary reality

harles

T. T

art

Rediscovering native rituals: “

‘

Coming home’

to my self”

andra

iaz

& D. D

awatzky

Zen meditation: A psychoanalytic conceptualization

eorge

eone

Book review

Books our editors are reading

Books noted

About the authors

Abstracts

TABLE

OF CONTENTS

Back issues

101

It’s quite clear that we are always suffering from this cloud that hangs
over us, the fear of death. If you can transcend the fear of death, which
is possible—if I could now assure you of a dignified death instead of an
undignified one, of a gracious, reconciled, philosophical death . .. your
life today, at this moment would change. And the rest of your life
would change. Every moment would change. I think we can teach this
transcending of the ego (p. 53).

Maslow  shared  publicly  what  he  had  learned  in  becoming  recon
ciled  with  his  own  death.  He  felt  strongly  that  he  had  been  given  a
reprieve.  If  he  experienced  any  feelings  of  fear,  Maslow  apparently
“preferred to keep them to himself and not upset others” (Hoffman,

1988, p. 327). Maslow often expressed his gratitude for still being

alive,  and  declared  more  than  once  that  the  time  left  to  him  was  “a
bonus”  (Harris,  1970;  Krippner,  1972).  During  an  interview  a  few
months  after  his  heart  attack  in  1968,  Maslow  described  the  atti
tude that he had adopted:

gratitude

for

still

being

alive

My attitude toward life changed. The word I use for it now is the post
mortem life. I could just as easily have died, so that my living consti
tutes a kind of an extra, a bonus.... I might just as well live as if I had
already died.... Every single moment of every single day is trans
formed because the pervasive undercurrent—the fear of death—is
removed (Harris, 1970, p. 16).

Maslow spoke on this theme of gratitude for the present moment

several times before he died. He also expressed the belief that other

people might have this experience of gratitude for life if they could
be near death and then suddenly have a reprieve (Hoffman, 1988;

Krippner, 1972; International Study Project, 1972). At one confer

ence  (Krippner,  1972),  Maslow  stated  that  a  good  description  of
this  experience  of  a  reprieve  from  death  and  its  influence  on  one’s
attitude  toward  life  could  be  found  in  Arthur  Koestler’s  autobio
graphical  account  of  the  period  he  spent  in  Spain.  Koestler  had  a
confrontation  with  death  in  Spain  during  the  Civil  War.  After  being
apprehended  on  suspicion  of  being  a  communist,  and  awaiting
execution  before  a  firing  squad  the  next  morning,  Koestler  man
aged  to  fall  asleep  while  in  his  prison  cell.  Koestler  “woke  up  in  an
ecstasy,  partly  because  of  the  fact  he  was  to  be  executed.  He  saw
for the first time how blue the sky was” (Krippner, 1972, p. 119).

Maslow speculated that a reprieve from death might be responsible

for a dramatic shift in an individual’s patterns of daily life. In his

own case, for example, he felt that he had worked too hard prior to

his heart attack.

Since [my] heart attack, so many people—and I myself—[have been]

thinking  of  how  hard  I  worked  and  why  I  didn’t  take  it  easier....  No
question  of  my  sense  of  responsibility  for  years,  of  duty,  a  kind  of
messianic  quality,  as  if

only I were available to bring the message

(reported in Hoffman, 1988, p. 309).

The Journal of Transpersonal Psychology. 1995, Vol. 2

No. 1

After the heart attack, Maslow canceled all speaking engagements,

including his forthcoming Presidential address to the American
Psychological Association.

Fatigued much of the time, he wrote

little except in his journals, which had become increasingly impor

tant  to  him.  Although  the  workload  reduction  was  necessary  at  first
because  of  his  medical  condition,  later  Maslow  reported  that  the
experience  of  being  near  to  death  had  brought  about  a  shift  in  his
values  that  contributed  to  his  choosing  to  continue  working  less:
“The dominance hierarchy, the competition, the competitiveness
and glory, certainly become foolish_____ ” (Krippner, 1972, p. 119).
He  also  discovered  a  shift  in  awareness—one  that  became  a  dis

tinctive experience of transcendence. It was this transcendent state

of consciousness that Maslow came to call the “plateau experi

ence” (Maslow, 1970).

Maslow  did  not  provide  a  succinct  characterization  of  the  plateau
experience,  but  the  following  characterization  appeared  in  the
glossary  of  Hoffman’s  (1988)  biography  and  can  serve  as  a  pre
liminary guide:

[It is] a serene and calm, rather than intensely emotional, response to

what we experience as miraculous or awesome. The high plateau
always has a noetic and cognitive element, unlike the peak experience,
which can be merely emotional; it is also far more volitional than the
peak experience; for example, a mother who sits quietly gazing at her
baby playing on the floor beside her (p. 340).

In  the  two  conferences  he  addressed  in  the  final  months  before  his
death,  Maslow  devoted  attention  to  the  plateau  experience  and
related  themes.  Given  this  interest,  it  is  evident  that  he  would  have
continued  studying  this  phenomenon  had  he  not  succumbed  to  a
fatal  heart  attack.  Unfortunately,  following  his  death,  the  concept
of the plateau experience fell into relative obscurity.

Nevertheless,  the  heightened  state  of  awareness  that  Maslow  chose
to  call the plateau experience holds interest not only as a topic in its
own  right,  but  also  because  it  may  contribute  to  a  greater  under
standing  of  a  psychology  of  transpersonal  consciousness,  develop
ment, and insight.

Maslow’s investigation of the plateau experience was part of his

larger, ongoing interest in exploring “the farther reaches of human

nature” (Maslow, 1971), which, towards the end of his life, in
creasingly focused on a transpersonal dimension.

a
characterization
of
the

plateau

experience

THE PLATEAU EXPERIENCE

The concept of the plateau experience is related not only to
Maslow’s personal development, but also to his evolving research

The Plateau Experience and the Post-Mortem Life

interests and the emergence of the transpersonal psychology move
ment (Maslow, 1971, 1979).

Despite the broad scope of humanistic psychology in the late

1960s, and Maslow’s leading role in its development, he eventually

came  to  question  its  theoretical  comprehensiveness.  During  his
studies  of  the  peak  experience—the  most  ecstatic,  joyous,  happi
est,  blissful  moment  in  one’s  life  (Maslow,  1971,  pp.  174,  175)—
he  also  had  come  across  reports  of  transcendent  experiences  and
expanded  states  of  consciousness  beyond  conventional  ego  bound
aries  (Maslow,  1970).  This  led  him  to  the  study  of  mysticism  and
transcendence  (Roberts,  1978).  He  observed  that  individuals  who
had  experienced  transcendent  forms  of  the  peak  experience  valued
them  as  the  most  important  part  of  their  lives  (Maslow,  1970).

Many of these peak experiences he categorized as transcendent
states of consciousness.

recognizing

the

significance

transcendent

experiences

Partly  because  of  Maslow’s  increased  skepticism  that  humanistic
psychological  theory  could  adequately  explain  transcendent
states—increasingly  common  experiences  in  society  at  large  be
cause  of  the  rise  of  consciousness  altering  techniques  in  the

1960s—he became convinced that humanistic psychology was

only a transitional psychology. In the Preface to the second edition

of his book, Toward a Psychology of Being (1968), Maslow stated,

“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” (p. iii). Perhaps Maslow’s interests also changed because

his  increasing  age  and  maturity  lent  greater  urgency  to  his  percep
tion  of  a  need  for  a  psychology  more  attuned  to  spiritual  develop
ment  (Shapiro,  1994).  Whether  it  was  the  result  of his new  perspec
tive  on  the  peak  experience,  or  growing  reservations  about  the
scope  of  humanistic  psychology,  or  insights  related  to  his  personal
development  and  age,  Maslow’s  views  about  optimal  human
potential  had  clearly  expanded  in  the  late  1960s  to  recognize
the  significance  of  transcendent  experiences  and  the  need  for  a

broader, transpersonal psychology.

Anthony  Sutich,  editor  of  the  Journal  of  Humanistic  Psychology—
a  key  founder  of  the  humanistic  psychology  movement  along  with
Maslow—also  had  begun  to  feel  dissatisfied  with  the  apparently
limited  scope  of  humanistic  psychology  in  the  late  1960s.  He  came

to believe that the prevailing theory of self-actualization in human

istic  psychology  no  longer  appeared  comprehensive  enough.  This
came  as  something  of  a  surprise  to  him  for  he  had  originally
thought  that  self-actualization  “was  a  very  large  conceptual  ‘um
brella’  and  that  it  would  be  several  generations  before  a  larger  one
would be necessary” (Sutich, 1976b, p. 7).

The Journal of Transpersonal Psychology, 1995, Vol. 27, No. 1

At this time, public and professional interest in the psychology of

consciousness and transpersonal experience was also growing. A
variety of consciousness-altering techniques, such as biofeedback,

psychedelics,  and  meditation,  were  being  experienced  by  an  in
creasing  number  of  lay  people  and  mental  health  professionals.
This  led  to  an  interest  among  some  researchers  to  expand  the  field

of psychological inquiry to include the study of optimal psycho
logical health and well-being (Maslow, 1971; Walsh & Vaughan,

1980), including transpersonal states of consciousness.

Maslow, Sutich, and others also saw at this time a need to recog
nize and integrate classical Asian psychology traditions such as

Zen Buddhism, Taoist philosophy, and Yoga, into psychological
theory and practice (Walsh & Vaughan, 1980). As Walsh and

Vaughan (1980) noted, the experiences and states of mind de

scribed  by  the  Asian  psychology  traditions  appeared  to  represent
an  essential  part  of  human  nature  that  needed  to  be  taken  into
account  in  any  psychological  theory  attempting  to  delineate  a
model of the whole person.

From the Peak to the Plateau Experience

Prior to his work on transpersonal experience, Maslow began to

perceive various limitations in the concept of the peak experience.

He  came  to  recognize  that  satisfaction  can  be  found  not  only  in  the
more  emotionally  charged  forms  of  the  peak  experience  (e.g.,
music,  sex,  or  dancing),  but  also  in  the  toil  of  everyday  living
(Maslow,  1962).  He  felt  that  there  is  something  inappropriate
about  removing  oneself  from  everyday  life  to  seek  peak  experi
ences,  such  as  by  joining  group  workshops  and  encounter  groups—
then  very  much  in  vogue  within  the  humanistic  psychology  move

ment (Maslow, 1979). He did not oppose experiential encounters in
principle, but he viewed them only as techniques for personal

development,  rather  than  as  a  way  of  life,  which  some  advocates
apparently  took  them  to  be  (Maslow,  1979).  Moreover,  he  noted
that  experiential  techniques  did  not  necessarily  contribute  to  the

progress of those who seek transcendent states of consciousness

(Maslow,  1979).  Another  characteristic  limitation  he  pointed  to
was  that,  “Peaks  come  unexpectedly,  suddenly  they  happen  to'  us.
You  can’t  count  on  them.  And,  hunting  them  is  a  little  like  hunting
happiness. It’s best not done directly” (Maslow, 1962, p. 4).

Although Maslow continued to regard the peak experience as a

transient glimpse of mystical states, he came to believe that the

cultivation  of  peak  experiences  can  obstruct  the  manifestation  of  a
more  enduring  faculty  of  mystical  awareness  (Maslow,  1970).
Because  the  peak  experience  only  provides  a  transient  glimpse  of
transcendence,  rather  than  a  sustained  experience,  and  because

recognizing

Asian

psychology

traditions

The Plateau Experience and the Post-Mortem Life

serenity

as a

distinctive

component

peak  experiences  are  frequently  fortuitous,  Maslow  argued  that  to
continuously  seek  after  the  excitement  of  peak  experiences  can
result  in  neglecting  paths  that  lead  to  more  sustained  transcendent
experience—paths  which  demand  “time,  work,  discipline,  study,

[and] commitment” to attain (Maslow, 1970, p. xvi).

In  his  study  of  the  nature  of  transcendent  states  of  consciousness,
Maslow  also  found  it  desirable  to  introduce  the  notion  of  a  state  of
serenity—or  relaxation  and  awareness  of  the  present  moment—as
a  key  element  in  the  process  of  spiritual  self-development  (Kripp
ner,  1972;  Maslow,  1970,  1979).  In  his  last  two  years,  Maslow
began  to  modify  his  view  of  optimal  states  of  consciousness  to
reflect  that  this  new  element  of  serenity  is  essential  for  a  more
lasting  experience  of  transcendence  to  occur.  Thus,  in  sharp  con
trast  to  the  element  of  excitability  so  characteristic  of  the  peak
experience,  serenity  became  a  distinctive  component  of  what  he
came to call the plateau experience.

Maslow intended to make a more comprehensive study of the

plateau experience as well as other, related experiences of tran

scendence at a future date, stating that “there is much more to say
about these states” (Maslow, 1970, p. xvii). In The Farther

Reaches of Human Nature,

he wrote: “This is a very brief anticipa

tion of a more detailed study of ‘plateau experiences’ ... which I
hope to write soon” (Maslow, 1971, p. 348). Unfortunately,

Maslow succumbed before such a follow-up study could be real
ized. A reconstruction of Maslow’s comments concerning the
plateau experience, in various sources, follows.

Maslow  believed  that  if  an  investigation  is  to  be  valuable  it  must
touch  on  some  “enduring  human  problem”  (International  Study
Project,  1972,  p.  20).  He  claimed  that  individuals  capable  of  hav
ing  transcendent  experiences  lived  potentially  fuller  and  healthier

lives than the majority of humanity because the former were able to

transcend  everyday  frustrations  and  conflicts  and  were  less  driven
by  neurotic  tendencies  (Maslow,  1971).  He  also  insisted  that  the
plateau  experience  was  a  transcendent  state  of  consciousness  at
tainable  by  others,  and  offered  encouragement  to  those  who  would
undertake  to  develop  it:  “If  you’ve  gone  through  this  experience,
you  can  be  more  in  the  here  and  now  than  with  all  the  spiritual
exercises  there  are.  It’s  just  a  kind  of  spontaneous  exercise  in
hanging  on  to  the  moment,  because  the  moment  is  precious”
(Krippner, 1972, p. 119).

Maslow  was  sixty-two  years  old  when  he  attended  the  Council
Grove  conference  in  Council  Grove,  Kansas,  April  13-17,  1970
(Krippner,  1972).  Maslow  died  in  June  of  1970,  only  two  months
after  the  conference  took  place.  Perhaps  he  had  intimations  of  his

The Journal of Transpersonal Psychology, 1995, Vol.

27,

No. 1

own death at the time of the conference, for Maslow had known
since the December, 1968 heart attack that he was at high risk for
another, possibly fatal, one (Hoffman, 1988).

Peak versus Plateau Experiences

At  the  Council  Grove  conference,  Maslow  reported  that  one  effect
of  growing  older  was  that  peak  experiences  became  less  intense
and  less  frequent  for  him  (Krippner,  1972,  p.  113).  From  discus
sions  with  other  people  his  age,  Maslow  felt  that  they,  too,  experi
enced  a  diminution  of  peak  experiences,  which  led  him  to  attribute
an  important  role  to  the  aging  process  in  the  production  of  peak

experiences. Because he believed that peak experiences can pro

duce turmoil in the autonomic nervous system, Maslow wondered
if his body could tolerate them further, and speculated that a

decrease in the frequency of peak experiences may be “nature’s

way of protecting the body” (Krippner, 1972, p. 113). Maslow had

personal  reason  for  concern:  at  this  point  in  his  life,  the  medical
condition  stemming  from  his  heart  attack  required  him  to  adopt  a
curtailed  lifestyle  and  activity  level.  Another  reason  Maslow  sug
gested  why  fewer  and  less  intense  peak  experiences  occur  with  age
was  that  a  sense  of  novelty  and  newness  decreases  with  experience
and aging (Krippner, 1972, p. 113).

Although  the  frequency  of  peak  experiences  may  diminish  with  the
aging  process,  the  plateau  experience  may  be  fostered.  It  has
certain  characteristics  of  the  peak  experience,  such  as  awe  and
aesthetic  perception.  Although  these  elements  are  present  in  both
experiences,  the  plateau  phenomenon  allows  a  lengthier,  though
less  intense  experience  of  them.  Maslow  compared  the  peak  expe

rience to a sexual orgasm, in which there is a progression of phases

from increasing energy and arousal to a peak and climax, to

decreasing energy and depletion. The peak experience’s ascent to a

lofty height, and subsequent descent, is not characteristic of the
plateau experience. Although less climactic, the plateau experience

has the capability of enduring longer.

Maslow also found that a plateau experience can be induced more
voluntarily than a peak experience, e.g., it might be induced by

going to an art museum or a meadow. Another difference was that,

unlike the peak experience which is often triggered fortuitously or

accidentally, access to the plateau experience could be taught.

Indeed, Maslow claimed it would be possible to “hold classes in

miraculousness” (Krippner, 1972, p. 114).

The Plateau Experience and the Post-Mortem Life

fewer

and

less-
intense

peak

experiences

Witnessing

accepting

the

miraculous

ordinary

As  his  peak  experiences  became  less  frequent  with  age,  and  his
general  level  of  emotional  turbulence  diminished,  Maslow  re
ported  that  something  else  happened,  which  he  described  as  a
“precipitation”  (Krippner,  1972,  p.  113)  of  insights  gathered  from
his  life  experiences.  He  described  this  quality  as  a  compression  of
many  experiences,  such  as  reading,  listening  to  music,  participat

ing  in  conversation,  and  he  defined  it  as  “essentially  cognitive”
(Krippner,  1972,  p.  115).  This  cognitive  quality  also  distinguishes
the  plateau  experience  from  the  peak  experience.  For  example,
unlike  a  peak  experience,  which  can  be  felt  to  originate  within  the
individual,  and  is  emotionally  gripping,  the  plateau  experience  can
represent  a  witnessing  of  aspects  of  the  environment'  which  are
external  to  oneself  and  a  perception  of  previously  unnoticed  at
tributes  of  the  environment.  Maslow  believed  that  this  cognitive
dimension  of  the  plateau  experience  enables  one  to  perceive  the
world  as  miraculous  because  it  liberates  the  perceiver  from  reduc
ing  the  world  to  the  "concrete,  ...  to  the  behavioral,  not  limited
only to the here and now. You know, if you get stuck in the here and
now,  that’s  a  reduction"  (Krippner,  1972,  p.  115).  To  Maslow,
accepting  the  miraculous  as  ordinary  meant  that  one  perceives  “the
poignancy and the preciousness and the beauty of things, but not to
make  a  big  deal  out  of  it  because  it’s  happening  every  hour,  you

know, all the time” (Krippner, 1972, p. 114).

Mortality

Reflecting  on  his  confrontation  with  death,  Maslow  referred  twice
in  his  presentation  to  his  life  after  surviving  the  heart  attack  as  “the
post-mortem  life.”  Discussing  his  own  heart  attack  experience,  he
said:  “My  heart  attack  brought  about  a  real  confrontation  with
death.  Ever  since  then.  I’ve  been  living  what  I’ve  been  calling  to
myself  ‘the  post-mortem  life.’  I’ve  already  gone  through  the  pro
cess  of  dying”  (Krippner,  1972,  p.  119).  Maslow  felt  a  sense  of
gratitude  for  surviving  his  illness  and  thought  that  this  feeling
continued to enhance the quality of his day-to-day experiences.

Later  on  in  the  Council  Grove  presentation,  Maslow  suggested  that
his  confrontation  with  death  also  had  other  effects.  For  example,  he
reported  that  the  experience  of  having  a  reprieve  from  death  made
life  afterwards  appear  much  more  vivid  and  precious.  Maslow
explained this impression by using the ocean surf as a metaphor. He
contrasted  the  surfs  eternal  quality  with  the  briefness  of  the  human

lifespan, and suggested that this metaphor illustrates the witnessing

quality of the plateau experience which allows the simultaneous
perception of the eternal and the temporal. In his talk (described by

The Journal of Transpersonal Psychology, 1995, Vol. 27, No. 1

Hoffman  [1988]  as  moving  to  the  audience)  Maslow  stated  that  his
reaction  to  the  surf  was  of  sadness  in  one  sense,  but  appreciation  in
another:  “It  seems  to  me  that  the  surf  is  more  beautiful  to  me  now
than  it  used  to  be,  and  more  touching....  In  thinking  of  the  surf,  I
realize  that  I  am  mortal,  and  the  surf  is  not”  (Krippner,  1972,

p. 117). Thus, Maslow observed that although witnessing eternity

is a compelling and moving experience, it is also accompanied by a
fear of the witnessing because it reminds one of mortality. The

beauty of witnessing eternity has an inevitable mixture of both
happiness and sadness.

A member of the audience asked if, in order for a plateau experi
ence to occur, one has to be unconcerned about whether or not one

is going to live or die in the next minute. He related an incident

about  a  visit  to  a  nursing  home  whose  residents  were  struggling
with  the  problem  of  facing  death.  This  visit  led  him  to  conclude
that  two  directions  could  be  taken  in  response  to  the  problem  of
managing  one’s  feelings  about  mortality:  widening  the  scope  of
one’s  consciousness  or  narrowing  it.  Maslow  responded  only  indi
rectly,  but  the  context  of  his  remarks  suggests  that  widening  the
scope of one’s consciousness was the more desirable choice.

Maslow  had  stated  that  the  plateau  experience  enables  one  to
accomplish  this  state  of  being  “in  the  here  and  now”  without
spiritual  exercises,  and  that  this  state  becomes  easier  to  understand
when  working  with  the  dying.  He  mentioned  his  own  heart  attack
as  an  example  of  a  confrontation  with  death,  which  was  followed
not  only  by  physical  recovery,  but  by  greater  self-understanding
and  a  sense  of  expanded  consciousness.  Although  the  plateau
experience  is  partly  inspired  by  the  knowledge  of  one’s  own

mortality—and this can be frightening—it also makes the experi

ence poignant:

The plateau experience is paradoxical because of the mixture of perma

nence and mortality, you see. You feel sorry for yourself and sad over
the passingness of things, while at the very same moment you’re more
poignantly enjoying the things that other people ignore (Maslow, in

Krippner, 1972, p. 119).

Maslow speculated that if it were possible to give people an

experience  of  death,  followed  by  a  reprieve,  they  might  enjoy  life
more.  Hoffman  (1988)  relates  that  Maslow  was  developing  exer
cises  to  facilitate  experiencing  the  plateau  state  of  consciousness.

One of these exercises, which Maslow mentioned in the presenta

tion, was to look at a person one sees all the time, such as a spouse
or other family member or a friend, and “make believe that... he
or she is going to die soon” (Hoffman, 1988, p. 331).

paradoxical

experience

The Plateau Experience and the Post-Mortem Life

Mysticism

There  are  many  terms  for  mystical  experience,  such  as  cosmic
consciousness,  kensho,  oceanic  feeling,  nirvana,  samadhi,  satori,
and  unitive  consciousness,  but  these  experiences  have  in  common
the  idea  that  truth  can  be  reached  through  contemplative  practices
or  other  means  than  conventional  sense  information.  Also,  mysti
cal  experiences  typically  imply  an  identification  with  nature  or  the
universe  as  a  whole  (Goldenson,  1984).  Maslow  explicitly  com
pared  the  plateau  experience  to  mystical  experiencing  because  of
the  quality  of  witnessing.  One  of  the  terms  he  used  to  describe  the
plateau  experience  was  “unitive  consciousness”  (Krippner,  1972,
p. 113), a term also used to describe mystical experience.

Maslow considered the plateau experience to be “the way in which
the world looks if the mystic experience really takes” (Krippner,

1972, p. 115), and he characterized true mystical experiences as

having  the  quality  of  permitting  one  to  go  about  one’s  business  as
usual,  such  as  paying  the  bills  or  running  a  store  or  a  monastery.
Thus  Maslow  did  not  consider  the  practical  and  the  mystical  quali
ties  of  the  plateau  experience  to  be  inconsistent  with  each  other;
indeed,  he  drew  attention  to  the  mystics  who  went  about  their
business after having mystical revelations.

Maslow also stated that a shifting of values about “what’s basic and
what’s  not  basic”  (Krippner,  1972,  p.  119)  tends  to  follow  a  pla
teau  experience.  He  noted  that  these  claims  have  been  described  in
many  literatures  of  the  world,  and  should  not  be  considered  eso
teric or mysterious (Krippner, 1972, p. 115).

Serenity

Although  Maslow  described  certain  qualities  of  the  plateau  experi
ence  as  miraculous,  he  considered  the  experience  to  retain  a  sense
of  the  ordinary.  Despite  a  witnessing  of  attributes  of  the  environ
ment  that  had  previously  been  unnoticed,  the  renewed  vision  can

be accepted casually. In this respect, Maslow compared the plateau

experience  to  the  Zen  experience:  “There  is  nothing  excepted—
and  nothing  special,  but  one  lives  in  a  world  of  miracles  all  the
time.  There  is  a  paradox  because  it  is  miraculous  and  yet  it  doesn’t

produce an autonomic burst” (Krippner, 1972, p. 113). Maslow’s

explicit comparison of plateau experiencing with Zen experiencing
implies he considered that serene feelings accompany perceptions
of miraculousness.

During his conference presentation at Council Grove, Maslow
emphasized the need to bring calmness into one’s psychological

The Journal of Transpersonal Psychology, 1995, Vol. 27, No. 1

the

practical

and

the

mystical

state—that  we  need  the  serene  as  well  as  the  poignantly  emotional,
and  he  called  attention  to  the  plateau  experience  as  an  example  of
serenity.  He  speculated  that  one  day  the  plateau  experience  would
be  observable,  and  hence  measurable.  He  mentioned  using  psycho-
physiological  instruments  to  measure  it  and  thought  that  eventually
instrumentation  would  prove  useful  as  a  means  to  promote  the
development  of  serenity.  He  was  interested  also  in  the  possibility
of  teaching  the  specific  qualities  of  the  plateau  experience,  such  as
serenity, peacefulness, and calm.

Social Applications

By 1970, Maslow was having concerns about how some of his
theory and ideas were being understood. In the Preface to Reli

gions, Values, and Peak Experiences

(1970), he expressed his

concern  that  his  thesis  might  lead  to  “over-extreme,  dangerous,  and
one-sided  uses”  of  his  ideas  (p.  xi).  He  warned  that  experiential
methods  not  tempered  by  intellect  and  by  rationality  can  be  harm
ful.  Maslow  thought  that  his  own  research  on  the  peak  experience
had  indirectly  contributed  to  such  a  problem,  and  he  explicitly
warned  that  progress  should  not  be  confused  with  any  single
experience:  “I  wish  to  .  .  .  correct  the  tendency  of  some  to  identify

experiences of transcendence as only dramatic, orgasmic, tran

sient, ‘peaky,’ like a moment on the top of Mount Everest” (p. xvi).

Although he was emphatic about the possibility of progress

through the practice of spiritual disciplines, he felt that too many

aspirants  were  trying  to  bypass  the  maturation  and  hard  work
necessary  for  authentic  progress  in  self-understanding  and  self-
realization.  He  suggested  that  peak  experience  states  are  relevant  to
the  transpersonal  dimension,  but  that  achieving  a  “life  of  transcen
dence”  tends  to  be  a  lifelong  effort  (Maslow,  1970,  p.  xvi).
Maslow  cited  the  plateau  experience  as  an  example  of  a  transcen
dent  life,  and  described  it  as  a  “high  plateau,  where  one  can  stay

‘turned on’” (Maslow, 1970, p. xvi).

Comparing  the  plateau  experience  to  the  peak  experience,  Maslow
suggested  that  there  is  more  of  an  element  of  surprise  and  of
disbelief  in  the  peak  experience,  and  more  of  the  sense  of  having
such  an  experience  for  the  first  time.  By  contrast,  the  plateau
experience  allows  a  lengthier  experience  of  the  qualities  of  surprise
and  disbelief,  although  a  less  intense  one.  The  less  intense  plateau
experience,  Maslow  suggested,  is  more  often  experienced  as  pure
enjoyment and happiness:

... as in a mother sitting quietly looking, by the hour, at her baby

playing, and marveling, wondering, philosophizing, not quite believ

The Plateau Experience and the Post-Mortem Life

maturation

and

hard

work

ing. She can experience this as a very pleasant, continuing, contempla
tive experience rather than as something akin to a climactic explosion
which then ends (Maslow, 1970, p. xv).

Maslow  also  stated  that  one  can  learn  to  see  in  this  way  almost  at
will;  therefore,  it  is  more  voluntary  than  the  peak  experience.  He
added  that  maturing  and  aging,  which  he  believed  foster  plateau

experiencing, also entails some loss of first-timeness, novelty,
surprise, or sheer unpreparedness.

As  in  the  Council  Grove  presentation,  Maslow  claimed  in  the
Preface  to  Religions,  Values  and  Peak  Experiences  (1970)  that  the
plateau  experience  almost  always  has  a  noetic  or  cognitive  element,
and  that  it  “becomes  a  witnessing,  an  appreciating  ...  which  can,
however,  have  a  quality  of  casualness  and  of  lounging  about”
(p.  xiv).  The  plateau  experience  differs  from  the  peak  experience  in
this  regard  because  it  (the  peak  experience)  does  not  always  have  a
cognitive component and can be exclusively emotional.

The Preface (1970) also suggested the metaphor of the surf as an

example of plateau experience witnessing because it allows a
simultaneous perception of the eternal and the temporal. Older

people, making their peace with death, are more apt to be pro

foundly touched with sadness and tears at the contrast between

their own mortality and the eternal quality of what sets off the

experience:  Maslow  described  the  contrast  as  a  “sweet  sadness”
(Maslow,  1970,  p.  xv).  This  contrast  can  make  what  is  being
witnessed  far  more  poignant  and  precious:  “The  surf  will  be  here
forever and you will soon be gone. So hang on to it, appreciate it, be
fully  conscious  of  it.  Be  grateful  for  it.  You  are  lucky”  (Maslow,

1970, p. xv).

The Effects of the “Post-mortem" Life

In  his  publications  about  the  plateau  experience,  Maslow  fre
quently  stated  that  wisdom  and  understanding  separates  the  per
ception  of  the  adult  from  that  of  the  child  (Krippner,  1972;
Maslow,  1970).  In  an  address  given  in  March  1970  at  the  Univer
sity  of  California,  Los  Angeles,  he  developed  this  theme  further,
stating  that  the  sophistication  that  lends  richness  to  perception  may
become  more  apparent  as  one  grows  older  (International  Study
Project, 1972). In his address, he stated:

What happens, then, as you grow older is (I have a name for everything)
called the plateau experience.... The illuminative aspects—the knowl
edge aspects, the sacralizing of the world—now become very easy and
can be turned on and turned off just as I please. And this is a payoff of
a kind. If life goes well for you and if you use yourself well, you may

The Journal of Transpersonal Psychology, 1995, Vol. 27, No. 1

the

metaphor

the

surf

confidently expect to have a better and better subjective life the older
you get (p. 54).

Thus the rich cognitions engendered by the aging process may, for
some, add to the appreciation of one’s environment.

After  returning  from  the  hospital  following  his  heart  attack  in
December  of  1968,  Maslow  relied  more  on  journal  writings  be
cause  his  medical  condition  left  him  little  energy  for  other  activi
ties  (Hoffman,  1988).  In  a  letter  written  to  Anthony  Sutich  while  he
was recuperating he said,

I’m coming along nicely, although so so slowly. I don’t have a hell of a

lot of energy yet, but enough for living the kind of life that I would want

to live even if I had a great deal of energy. I certainly have done a lot of
reading and writing—anyway in my journals (Sutich, 1976a, p. 176).

Maslow’s reference to living the kind of life he would want to live,

even if he had more energy, was interpreted by Sutich (1976a) as a
beginning indication of Maslow’s views about the plateau experi

ence (Krippner, 1972). Statements by Sutich (1976a) suggest that

there may have been a link between Maslow’s “post-mortem”

attitude and his selection of writing projects and writing style.

Hoffman  (1988)  states  that  prior  to  his  heart  attack  Maslow  had
frequently  felt  tom  between  writing  in  a  rigorous,  predominantly
scholarly  and  scientific  fashion,  and  composing  in  a  more  informal
style  of  expression,  as  he  had  often  done  for  some  time.  Given  his
poor  health,  Maslow  might  have  felt  justified  in  continuing  with  an
informal  composition  style  for  that  reason  alone,  but  apparently  he
felt  justified  on  other  grounds  as  well,  i.e.,  his  productivity  and  the
new  perspective  given  him  by  his  brush  with  mortality  that  engen
dered the plateau experience.

In an interview with George Harris, the editor of Psychology

Today,

Maslow described the effect of his “post-mortem” life on

his attitudes about working for the sake of future goals: “1 am living
an end-life where everything ought to be an end in itself, where I

shouldn’t waste any time preparing for the future, or occupying
myself with means to later ends” (Harris, 1970, p. 16). It appears

that he savored the days that followed his nearly fatal heart attack.

On  a  typical  day  at  the  Saga  corporation  office  where  he  worked,
Maslow  frequently  visited  colleagues  for  long  conversations,  dic
tated  notes  for  various  works  in  progress,  and  departed  for  home
after lunch (Hoffman, 1988).

link
between
attitude
and
writing

The Plateau Experience and the Post-Mortem Life

maslow

’

methodological

approach

Maslow's

research

methodologies

Maslow’s  plateau  experience  research  differed  from  his  previous
research  on  the  peak  experience—and  perhaps  from  most  of  his
other  research—in  one  conspicuous  way:  the  plateau  experience
syndrome  Maslow  described  was  apparently  drawn  almost  entirely
from  personal  familiarity  with  the  subject.  This  was  a  sharp  con
trast  to  his  previous  research  on  the  peak  experience  in  which  he
had surveyed hundreds of people and produced a composite picture
of  the  peak  experience.  No  one  subject  in  the  peak  experience
studies  necessarily  reported  the  full  constellation  of  peak  experi
ence  characteristics,  as  Maslow  (1968,  1971)  pointed  out.  He
conceived  of  the  research  methodology  on  the  peak  experience  as  a
selecting,  sharpening,  and  ordering  of  data  into  a  composite  pic

ture. It consisted

... not so much in the usual gathering of specific and discrete facts as
in the slow development of a global or holistic impression of the sort

that we form of our friends and acquaintances. It was rarely possible to

set up a situation, to ask pointed questions, or to do any testing with my

older subjects ... Contacts were fortuitous and of the ordinary social
sort. Friends and relatives were questioned where this was possible
(Maslow, 1954, p. 203).

By the time Maslow wrote about the plateau experience, however,

he  had  ceased  to  conduct  research  even  of  this  inductive  variety,
although  he  was  apparently  interested  in  having  more  traditional
empirical  data  for  the  plateau  experience  collected  by  others
(Krippner. 1972).

Maslow's Post-mortem Life and Need Hierarchy Theory

Does death-awareness produce the transcendent, transpersonal, trans
human? [3/28/1970] (Maslow, 1979, p. 1260).

Last night discussed it with Harry and tied it in with his father’s death,

my hospital “death” and what I’ve been calling my “post-mortem life.”

... Again, I thought of the possibility that whole SA [self-actualiza

tion] syndrome

might be simply a reconciliation with death [7/16/1969]

(Maslow, 1979, p. 923).

I still wonder that maybe what I’ve called SA has reconciliation with

mortality as a sine qua non [3/28/1970] (Maslow, 1979, p. 1260).

The  inner  core  of  human  nature,  Maslow  (1970)  argued,  consists  of
urges  and  instinct-like  propensities  that  create  basic  needs  within
each  person.  If  these  basic  needs  are  not  fulfilled,  frustration  and
sickness  result.  The  first  and  most  basic  needs  are  physiological
and  are  related  to  survival.  If  the  physiological  needs  are  not

The Journal of Transpersonal Psychology, 1995, Vol. 27, No. 1

satisfied, all other needs are temporarily pushed aside. Once basic
physiological needs are fulfilled, higher needs can emerge.

The quality of awareness changes with fulfillment of lower needs.

When lower needs are not met and a deficit threatens, an “emer

gency apparatus goes into action” ordinarily [3/28/1970] (Maslow,

1979, p. 1261). If the deficits are not fulfilled, they exert a negative

influence so that higher needs cease to be felt.

The  fulfillment  of  lower  needs,  on  the  other  hand,  allows  one  to
turn  attention  away  from  unfulfilled  lower  needs  toward  a  peaceful
and  detached  consideration  of  one’s  environment,  which  Maslow
considered  a  necessary  attribute  of  self-actualization  (Maslow,

1968).

Because self-actualizing people ordinarily do not have to abstract need-
gratifying qualities nor sec the person as a tool, it is much more possible

for them to take a non-valuing, non-judging, non-interfering, non

condemning attitude toward others, a desirelessness, a “choiceless
awareness.” This permits much clearer and insightful perception and
understanding of what is there (p. 41).

Fulfillment of needs and accompanying changes in the quality of

awareness were primary assumptions of Maslow’s theory.

As Maslow (1979) noted, however, his experience of a post
mortem life was difficult to reconcile with these assumptions. The

first level of Maslow’s need hierarchy scale posited survival as the

most  prepotent  human  need,  yet  a  threat  to  Maslow’s  own  survival
had  apparently  engendered  a  higher  awareness  in  the  form  of  his
post-mortem  life.  Survival  of  a  near  fatal  coronary  attack  had
generated  experiences  of  gratitude  for  the  present  moment,  and
even  imbued  each  moment  with  a  sense  of  miraculousness.  Mas

low characterized this quality of miraculousness as essential to

plateau  experience  awareness  (Krippner,  1972).  In  short,  Maslow
considered  that  an  enhanced  capacity  for  awareness  was  available
to  him  rather  than  a  diminished  one—despite  a  threat  to  his  sur
vival and a sharply curtailed life expectancy.

needs
and
quality

of
awareness

Maslow  speculated  about  this  apparent  theoretical  paradox,  com
menting  that  he  found  the  capacity  to  enjoy  his  post-mortem  life
“puzzling”  [3/28/1970]  (Maslow,  1979,  p.  1261).  The  specific
assumption  that  Maslow  had  come  to  question  was  that  transcen
dent  states  can  occur  only  after  lower  hierarchy  needs  are  satisfied.
More  recently,  critics  such  as  Daniels  (1988)  and  Rowan  (1987)

have also questioned this assumption.

Maslow had modified his need hierarchy theory to make a place for
transcendent states of awareness at the top of the need hierarchy

The Plateau Experience and the Post-Mortem Life

roughly  two  years  before  the  occurrence  of  his  heart  attack,  al
though  his  interest  in  transcendent  states  of  consciousness  had  been
evident  much  earlier  (Hoffman,  1988).  During  this  reformulation
of  his  need  hierarchy  theory  two  years  before  his  coronary  attack,

Maslow changed the theory to include at its topmost rank the need
for transcendence. Before discussing Maslow’s reexamination of

his theory subsequent to his post-mortem life experience, it will be

useful to describe the place for transcendent experience he made in
his need hierarchy theory two years earlier.

In Maslow’s need hierarchy theory, after the most primary need of

physiological survival is fulfilled, additional needs of security,

affiliation, and self-esteem arise. At the top of the hierarchy,
Maslow placed the need for self-actualization, or actualization of
one’s full potential.

In  ascending  this  hierarchy,  motivations  shift  from  strong  to  subtle
and  from  expressions  of  deficiency  to  expressions  of  sufficiency.
At  the  top  of  the  hierarchy,  a  desire  for  self-actualization  arises
with  the  emergence  of  a  need  to  know,  to  satisfy  one’s  curiosity,  to
understand  the  perplexities  of  life  and  a  need  for  meaningful  work,
for  responsibility,  for  creativity,  and  for  appreciation  of  beauty
(Maslow, 1987).

Roughly  two  years  before  his  heart  attack,  Maslow  indicated  that
another  need  beyond  these  needs  exists,  one  centered  on  experi
ence  of  what  he  designated  as  transcendent  states  of  consciousness
(Maslow,  1971).  The  desire  to  transcend  one’s  nature  was  as  much
an  aspect  of  human  nature  as  lower  needs,  and  the  denial  of  this

ultimate need might be as harmful as the denial of one’s lower
needs (Maslow, 1971).

Psychic Economy of Scarcity

Maslow  considered  that  for  most  individuals  a  threat  of  depriva
tion  is  keenly  felt.  “For  most  people,  happiness  is  a  state  of
striving  for  and  hoping  for  something  that  is  now  lacking  =  the
psychic  economy  of  scarcity”  [3/28/1970]  (Maslow,  1979,  p.

1261). The term “psychic economy of scarcity” was used by

Maslow to describe the motivation to fulfill needs of survival,
security, affiliation, and self-esteem, i.e., needs below the level of
self-actualization.

Psychic Economy of Plenty

As a life condition posing a threat of ultimate deprivation, Mas

low’s post-mortem life apparently fit the category of a psychic

The Journal of Transpersonal Psychology, 1995, Vol. 27, No. 1

transcendence

one's

nature

as a

need

economy  of  scarcity.  As  described  previously,  Maslow’s  acknowl
edgment  of  his  post-mortem  life,  however,  had  caused  him  to
doubt  whether  a  “psychic  economy  of  scarcity”  accounted  for  the
frame  of  mind  occasioned  by  his  post-mortem  life,  since  a  sense  of
the  preciousness  of  every  experience  had  emerged  for  him  rather
than  a  sense  of  striving.  He  therefore  reasoned  that  enhanced
consciousness  can  also  result  from  scarcity  or  deprivation  if  certain

psychological conditions are present (Maslow, 1979). He coined a

new phrase, “psychic economy of plenty” [3/28/1970] (Maslow,

1979, p. 1261), to describe how a state of enhanced consciousness

could occur despite a threat to survival.

[The] phrase for SA [self-actualization]... is the psychic economy of

plenty.  That’s  weird—that  I  should  be  enabled  to  perceive,  accept,  &
enjoy  the  eternity  &  preciousness  of  the  non-me  world  just  because  I
became  aware  of  my  own  mortality  [3/28/1970]  (Maslow,  1979,
p. 1261).

Maslow speculated that this concept of a psychic economy of
plenty could be a modification of his theory of self-actualization:

Maybe self-actualization ... is an economy of surplus and of plenty in

contrast with the scarcity-economy of the psyche of most people....

How to relate it [post-mortem life] to the psychic economies of surplus

wealth on the one hand and scarcity on the other? [3/28/1970] (Maslow,

1979, p. 1261).

Transcendence and Self-Actualization

Maslow labeled needs at the level of self-actualization, as higher

needs (Maslow, 1971). Self-actualizers are generally motivated
more by these higher needs, e.g., for creativity, appreciation of

beauty, transcendence (Maslow, 1971). In these higher needs,
Maslow saw a drive for modes of experiencing and being that

differed in character as well as rank from lower need motivations

(Maslow, 1971, 1979). In extreme cases, he speculated, a higher

need might become the prime motivation for a self-actualized

individual,  superseding  the  more  common  egocentric  desires  for
self-esteem,  possessions,  etc.  (Maslow,  1971).  In  making  a  place
for  transcendence  within  this  topmost  rank  of  his  need  hierarchy

theory (Maslow, 1971), Maslow posited that a specific type of self

actualized individual with strong motivation could pursue tran
scendent experience.

The second issue of the Journal of Transpersonal Psychology

included an article by Maslow entitled “Theory Z” (1969), in which

he delineated twenty-four differences between self-actualized indi

viduals who are capable of transcendent experience and self-actual
ized individuals who are not capable of transcendent experience.

enhanced

consciousness

and a

threat

survival

The Plateau Experience and the Post-Mortem Life

In  the  character  of  self-actualized  individuals  striving  for  transcen
dence,  Maslow  believed  that  he  observed  a  drive  for  modes  of
experiencing  that  was  no  longer  subtle  and  easily  repressed,  as  had
been  the  case  when  lower  needs  were  dominant,  and  before  a  need
for  transcendent  experience  had  found  fall  expression.  For  these
individuals  a  need  for  transcendent  states  might  supersede  lower
need motivations (Maslow, 1971).

two

pre-conditions

for

transcendence

He  also  speculated  that  if  these  individuals  had  had  their  lower
needs  met  at  some  point  in  the  past,  their  higher  needs  might  be
more  likely  to  function  independently  of  their  lower  needs.  He
reasoned  that  these  individuals  would  differ  from  those  who  had

never had their lower needs met, and that they would view the

threat  of  a  deficit,  even  a  deficit  associated  with  survival,  with
more  equanimity  (Maslow,  1971,1979).  Despite  threats  to  security
they  would  still  behave  as  though  transcendence  was  their  most
important  motivation.  In  Maslow’s  psychic  economy  terms,  these

individuals benefitted from a psychic economy of plenty rather

than  a  psychic  economy  of  scarcity,  even  though  their  environ
ments  might  pose  a  threat  of  scarcity.  In  short,  Maslow  speculated
that  perhaps  two  conditions  must  be  satisfied  for  transcendence  to
occur:  first,  having  a  primary  motivation  toward  transcendent
experience,  and  second,  having  had  lower  needs  met,  at  least  prior
to the onset of a low need emergency.

In answer to the question he raised in his journals: “Does death-

awareness produce the transcendent, transpersonal, transhuman?”

[3/28/1970] (Maslow, 1979, p. 1261) Maslow’s answer was there
fore apparently affirmative—but only for those already self-actual-
ized and strongly motivated toward transcendent experiencing.

It also appears that Maslow may have considered himself among

the latter:

I wonder what would happen to my whole psychology and philosophy
if I were in a concentration camp or were doomed to die soon. I don’t

think my report of the world would change much.... As a matter of

fact, I

am doomed to die—maybe soon—what with the possibility of

heart  surgery.  Or  without  collateral  circulation,  a  heart  attack  would
very  likely  kill  me.  So  what  does  this  have  to  do  with  my  report  on
human nature? Might not one person, even with very bad luck, recog
nize  the  beauty  of  life  for  others  than  himself?  Yes,  I  think  so  [2/25/

1970] (Maslow, 1979, p. 1238).

Since his treatment of the issue was speculative, and appeared only
in his journal entries, it is difficult to know if Maslow intended to

add  the  psychic  economy  vocabulary  to  tenets  of  his  need  hierarchy
theory  more  formally.  Whatever  his  exact  intentions,  the  journal
speculations  describe  some  preconditions  Maslow  considered  nec
essary for a sustained experience of transcendence.

The Journal of Transpersonal Psychology, 1995, Vol. 27, No. 1

Maslow’s label for his post-coronary life—post-mortem life—was
intended to convey the feeling of temporariness that was so charac

teristic during this period of his life (Krippner, 1972). To Maslow,
any life after his heart attack was valuable (Harris, 1970, p. 16).

He addressed this mixture of temporariness and appreciativeness

explicitly  at  the  Council  Grove  conference  when  he  said:  “You  feel
sorry  for  yourself  and  sad  over  the  passingness  of  things,  while  at
the  very  same  moment  you’re  more  poignantly  enjoying  the  things
that other people ignore” (Krippner, 1972, p. 119).

The  mixture  of  appreciativeness  and  sadness  also  figured  in  the
description  of  his  attitude  toward  living  with  a  sense  of  temporari
ness  that  he  gave  in  one  of  his  last  public  interviews,  in  February  of

1970:

Miraculousness and the Post-Mortem Life

One very important aspect of the post-mortem life is that everything

gets doubly precious, gets piercingly important. You get stabbed by
things, by flowers and by babies and by beautiful things—just the very
act of living, of walking and breathing and eating and having friends
and chatting. Everything seems to look more beautiful rather than less,
and one gets the much-intensified sense of miracles (Harris, 1970,
p. 16).

sense

of
temporariness

Maslow apparently maintained his sense of miraculousness and

special appreciation until his death.

CONCLUSION

Distressed by the societal problems emerging from the turmoil of

the  late  1960s  and  by  what  he  perceived  as  a  widening  pattern  of
human  aggression  in  world  affairs,  Maslow  believed  that  humanis
tically  oriented  social  sciences  were  vital  to  a  coherent  and  effec
tive  approach  to  ameliorating  societal  problems  (Maslow,  1969a).
His  journals  reflect  that  he  had  felt  an  urgency  about  this  task
before his heart attack:

I was saying to someone who chided me . .. for having worked so hard

[before the heart attack], and I asked him in turn “Supposing

you had

discovered a cure for cancer? Would you fuss about your body or about

personal danger, or about your heart?” [6/22/1969] (Maslow, 1979, p.

921).

Hoffman  (1988)  notes  that  some  of  Maslow’s  closest  friends  felt
that  perhaps  his  one  personal  flaw  was  a  sense  of  grandiosity,
which  sometimes  took  expression  as  a  sense  of  great  personal

mission to change the human condition. Hoffman (1988) quoted

The Plateau Experience and the Post-Mortem Life

Maslow’s  friend,  Frank  Manuel,  in  this  regard,  who  recalled  that
Maslow  “had  a  messiah  complex,  but  he  never  sought  to  impose  it
on  others”  (in  Hoffman,  1988,  p.  211).  The  following  private
reflection  by  Maslow  was  written  after  his  near  fatal  coronary
attack:

apparent

change

view

The work seems to go on right through periods of unhappiness. Maybe
even

more of it, because then I cut out movies, visits, auto driving,

picnics, etc. The only recourse then, in my sadness, is to plunge

into

work even more. Have more or less given up novels, science fiction,
working with students, non-professional reading of

any kind; have

given up newspaper subscription [for] ... a couple of months, TV,
political reading to the extent that I can force myself to. Less schmooz

ing with local friends and acquaintances. Practically no music, no

plays, less and less museums. My walks are very business like and

efficient, although 1 may yet do Audubon walks again in the fall (not
sure). I turn more and more into my thinking and writing, using reading
almost entirely as stimulus to thinking and writing (including files and

journals), more away from the world, especially when home life makes

me unhappy, more and more a thinking and writing machine [8/13/

1969] (Maslow, 1979, p. 924).

Maslow’s reflection on his work habits was written relatively early
in his “post-mortem” life period. His views apparently changed

afterward; in his public statements during the latter part of his
“post-mortem” period (i.e., the last few months of his life), he

stated publicly on several occasions that he no longer felt the
enormous sense of responsibility he had felt previously.

Commenting  on  Maslow’s  post-mortem  life  period  Anthony
Sutich—Maslow’s  close  friend  and  collaborator  in  establishing  the
fields  of  both  humanistic  psychology  and  transpersonal  psychol

ogy—noted that Maslow had frequently mentioned that he felt

little further need for communicating the message of psychology’s

relevance to societal issues (Sutich, 1976a). And in one of his last

public interviews Maslow also indicated a lack of desire for pro

moting this message (Harris, 1970). Speaking about the effects of
his acute awareness of his mortality on his decision to de-empha-
size the professional aspects of his life, Maslow stated:

I had really spent myself. This was the best I could do, and here was not

only a good time to die but I was even willing to die.... It was what

David M. Levy called the “completion of the act.” It was like a good

ending, a good close. I think actors and dramatists have that sense of the
right moment for a good ending, with a phenomenological sense of
good completion—that there was nothing more you could add....

Partly this was entirely personal and internal and just a matter of
feeling good about myself (Harris, 1970, p. 16).

Maslow gave talks to audiences in the last few months of his life,
but here, too, he was apparently less driven by a sense of personal

The Journal of Transpersonal Psychology, 1995, Vol. 27, No. 1

responsibility  for  solving  difficult  and  perplexing  issues  than  had
been  the  case  before  his  near  fatal  coronary  attack.  Maslow  spoke
candidly  in  his  journals  of  deliberately  putting  down  the  burden  of

being an authority:

I realized after all these lectures [lectures given in Antioch, Columbus,
Palo Alto, and Council Grove]—some to large crowds—that I could be
casual and easy about them and didn’t get tensed up as I did over the
precoronary lectures in San Francisco. My analysis is that I felt the
great weight of responsibility and authority on my shoulders, of being
pontifical, of responding with tension to the almost-adoration, poems

written for me, to the submissiveness and dependence. I had to weigh

my words so goddamn carefully—and felt the responsibility of being
the authority so heavily that it threw me into tension and exhaustion.

Like the old business of being

expected confidently to hit a home run

every time at bat, to produce revelations, peak experiences, conver

sions, to be a Messiah—and then of course the whole thing introjected
so that I got to feel the necessity of hitting a home run each time I
opened my mouth, of every single time having the biggest ejaculation
in the world—in a word, of performing up to

their expectations, of

living up to

their image. This was made worse when the adoration was

greater,. .. the fee higher, the crowd larger, the expectations greater.

But apparently now that I've become "post-mortem” and also can take
more casually being the authority and not let it get me, I seem able to be
as relaxed before a crowd as before some friends. I don’t have to

try to

be perfect, Messianic, or weighty. I can be casual and improvise. It
works well [4/29/1970] (Maslow, 1979, p. 1305-06).

It is likely that one reason for this shift could have been his growing
concern about his health. His physician was not alone in offering
him advice: a number of journal entries indicate that Maslow’s

friends and acquaintances had offered similar suggestions.

Another reason that Maslow’s sense of personal responsibility for

societal problems might have changed was that he hoped others
would take up the burden by continuing his work. He wrote in his

journals that if he lived long enough he would structure his work

more  systematically  for  those  who  would  take  it  up,  but  he  appar
ently  felt  secure that  his work would survive  even if he  did  not  live
much  longer.  Maslow  even  felt  pleased  with  his  level  of  productiv
ity  and  thought  that  his  informal  style  had  been  good  enough  to
accomplish  the  limited  goal  of  leaving  a  record  for  others  to  work

with:

If I live long enough. I’ll structure them [notes on various topics] into a
system of human nature and society. But if I don’t, others will for sure,
even though I don’t know when. I don’t know of any young man myself
who is that good and capable,

that perceptive and committed. But he or

they now exist, I’m sure. Perhaps they’re 18 years old, or 10, or 25. But
they’re there someplace. And they’ll get the point.... So I’ll consider

The Plateau Experience and the Post-Mortem Life

others
to
take

up
the

burden

key

spiritual

self-development

my major duty done and be content to be a preparer, a forerunner, and

relax and loaf as soon as I get strong enough to travel [6/22/1969]

(Maslow, 1979, p. 922).

It is apparent from journal entries and public statements made
during the latter part of his post-mortem life that his changing

views  about  the  value  of  serenity  influenced  his  conclusions  about
the  plateau  experience  and  prompted  him  to  offer  it  as  an  alternate
experience  to  the  peak  experience.  His  writings  during  this  period

of his life show that Maslow regarded a state of serenity, of

relaxation, and awareness of the present moment as a key to

spiritual self-development (Krippner, 1972; Maslow. 1970a, 1979).

Whatever  changes  prompted  his  increased  valuing  of  serenity
during  the  post-mortem  life,  this  change  also  corresponded  appar
ently  with  a  sharpened  perception  of  transcendent  aspects  of  exist
ence  (Krippner,  1972;  Maslow,  1979).

Our impression is that in

the journal entries of this period Maslow tugged at the ideas of his
previous work and tried to get them to emerge more clearly in the

light of his knowledge about transcendent experience. His journal

entries seem to reflect an internal dialog about the dynamics of

transcendent experience. Unfortunately, he did not have the neces

sary time to accomplish his next goal of providing a systematic

restructuring of his work in the realm of transpersonal psychology.
At his death, however, this new field of inquiry had been launched

and others were already carrying forward its exploration and devel

opment.

NOTES

Unless otherwise noted, biographical details of this period in Maslow's life have

been drawn from Edward Hoffman's biography of Maslow.

The Right to Be Human

(1988). Hoffman’s biography is the most comprehensive available.

Just a few months prior to his heart attack, Maslow had been elected President of the

American Psychological Association, a singular honor in his profession.

The first mention of the plateau experience is contained in a personal journal entry

dated April 16th, 1969 (Maslow', 1979). The first published mention of the plateau
experience was a very brief reference to it in an article published by Maslow (1969a)
in the

Journal of Transpersonal Psychology.

Maslow gave a public presentation on

the topic at the University of California, Los Angeles, in March of 1970 (Interna

tional Study Project, 1972). The first thorough exposition of the idea was not
realized until April, 1970, when Maslow addressed a conference on the plateau
experience (Krippner, 1972).

Maslow’s medical condition manifested physical symptoms, e.g., frequent chest

pains, that occurred over a prolonged period of time and served as reminders to him
of his mortality, as he himself reported (Maslow, 1979). The possibility that a
medical condition such as Maslow’s might influence a spiritual transformation has
received little attention in the transpersonal psychology literature.

The Journal of Transpersonal Psychology, 1995, Vol. 27, No. 1

REFERENCES

aniels

. M. (1988). The myth of self-actualization. Journal of Humanistic

Psychology,

25(1), 7-38.

oldenson

, R.M. (Ed.) (1984). Longman’s dictionary of psychology and

psychiatry.

New York: Longman’s.

arris

, T.G. (Ed.) (1970, August). Editorial: Abe Maslow—(1908-1970).

Psychology Today,

p. 16.

offman

, E. (1988). The right to be human: A biography of Abraham

Maslow.

Los Angeles: Tarcher.

offman

, E. (1992). Visions of innocence: Spiritual and inspirational

experiences of childhood.

Boston: Shambhala.

nternational

tudy

roject

. (1972). Abraham II. Maslow: A memorial

volume

(B.G. Maslow, Comp.). Monterey, CA: Brooks/Cole.

rippner

, S. (1972). The plateau experience: A.H. Maslow and others.

Journal of Transpersonal Psychology, 4,

107-20.

aslow

, A.H. (1962). Lessons from the peak experiences. Journal of

Humanistic Psychology,

2(1), 9-18.

aslow

, A.H. (1968). Toward a psychology ofbeing (2nd ed.). New York:

Van Nostrand/Reinhold.

aslow

, A.H. (1969). Theory Z. Journal of Transpersonal Psychology,

7(2), 31-47.

aslow

, A.H. (1970). Religions, values, and peak experiences. New

York: Viking Press. (Paperback reissue of 1964 edition; preface added

in 1970).

aslow

, A.H. (1971). The farther reaches of human nature. New York:

Viking Press.

Maslow, A.H. (1979). The journals of Abraham Maslow (2 Vols.. R.J.

Lowry, Ed.). Monterey, CA: Brooks/Cole.

aslow

, A.H. (1987). Motivation and personality (3rd ed.) (R. Frager, J.

Fadiman, C. McReynolds & R. Cox. Eds.). New York: Harper & Row.

hapiro

, S.I. (1994). Religion, spirituality, and transpersonal psychology.

International Journal of Transpersonal Studies,

13(1), 33-41.

oberts

, T. (1978). Beyond self-actualization. ReVision, /(l), 42-46.

owan

, J. (1987). Nine humanistic heresies. Journal of Humanistic Psy

chology.

27(2), 141-57.

utich

, A.J. (1976a). The founding of humanistic and transpersonal psy

chology: A personal account.

Unpublished doctoral dissertation, Hu

manistic Psychology Institute, San Francisco, CA.

utich

, A.J. (1976b). The emergence of the transpersonal orientation: A

personal account. Journal of Transpersonal Psychology, S{ 1), 7.

alsh

, R. & V

aughan

, F. (Eds.) (1980). The emergence of the transper

sonal perspective. In R. Walsh & F. Vaughan (Eds.), Beyond ego:

Transpersonal dimensions in psychology

(pp. 15-24). Los Angeles:

Tarcher.

Requests for reprints to: Tom S. Cleary, 23831 Berdon Street, Woodland Hills, CA
91367.

The Plateau Experience and the Post-Mortem Life

and yogas necessarily resulted in equivalent states of conscious
ness. This largely reflected our ignorance of the broad range of
possible ASCs that can be deliberately cultivated (Goleman, 1988).

For example, consider the varieties of ASC that have been identi

fied in Indian meditative and yogic practices alone. These include

highly concentrated states such as the yogic samadhis or Buddhist

jhanas;

witness-consciousness states in which equanimity is so

strong that stimuli have little or no effect on the observer; and states
where extremely refined inner stimuli become the objects of atten

tion such as the faint inner sounds of shahd yoga or the subtle
pseudonirvanic bliss of Buddhist vipassana meditation (Goldstein,

1983; Goleman, 1988). Then too there are unitive states in which

the sense of separation between self and world dissolves; there are

others  in  which  all  objects  of  phenomena  disappear  such  as  in
Buddhist  nirvana  or  Vedantic  nirvikalpa  samadhi;  and  states  in
which  all  phenomena  are  perceived  as  expressions  or  modifica
tions  of  consciousness,  e.g.  sahaj  samadhi  (Wilber,  1980,  1995;
Free  John,  1985).  Of  course  this  is  not  to  deny  that  certain  states
may  display  significant  functional  and  experiential  commonalities.

distinct

states

sui

generis

The obvious similarities between schizophrenic regressions and the

practices of yoga and Zen merely indicate that the general trend in

oriental cultures is to withdraw into the self from an overbearingly
difficult physical and social reality (Alexander & Selesnich, 1966, p.

457).

The reasons for this long history of the conflation and patholo-
gizing of religious states are probably several. Most notably,

Western psychology, philosophy, and culture are predominantly

monophasic, meaning that their world view is drawn almost exclu

sively from only one state of consciousness, namely the usual

waking state. This contrasts with many other cultures and disci

plines, e.g., Vedantic philosophy, Buddhist Abhidharma psychol

ogy,  and  Jewish  Kabbalah  which  are  polyphasic,  i.e.,  drawing  their
worldview  from  multiple  states  including  contemplative  and
dream  states  (Laughlin  et  al.,  1992,  1993).  A  major  goal  of  trans
personal  psychology  has  been  to  move  our  culture  and  psychology

from monophasic to polyphasic.

Asian  meditative  and  yogic  states  are  now  recognized  as  distinct
states  sui  generis  that  may  exhibit  a  variety  of  unique  phenomeno
logical,  perceptual,  electrophysiological,  and  hormonal  changes
(Shapiro,  1980;  Shapiro  &  Walsh,  1984;  Wilber,  Engler  &  Brown,

1986; Goleman, 1988). Until relatively recently, however, these

Asian meditative and yogic states were often regarded as patho
logical and their practitioners were regarded as neurotic at best or

psychotic at worst (Group for the Advancement of Psychiatry,

1976). Thus one textbook of psychiatry concluded that

The Journal of Transpersonal Psychology. 1995, Vol. 2

No. 1

One cause and effect of the prevailing Western monophasia has
been a general bias against accepting the very existence of certain

altered states; witness the nineteenth-century surgeons who ob

served apparently painless amputations performed under hypnosis

and concluded that the subjects had been bribed to pretend they felt
no pain (Tart, 1986). Related to this is the limited range of Western
categories for states other than waking, sleeping, and pathological
ones.

This limitation  doubtless  plays  a  role  in  the  widely  observed  bias  in
clinical  psychiatry  and  psychology  to  pathologize  unusual  experi
ences  (Jung,  1957;  Maslow,  1968;  Noll,  1983).  This  bias  can  be
particularly  important  in  cross-cultural  studies  because  “anthro

pologists sometimes fail to distinguish clinic and culture” (Opler,

1961). Related to this is what Michael Hamer (1990) calls “cogni-

centrism,” the tendency to assume that one’s own usual state is
optimal.

A final reason for the conflation and pathologizing of religious
ASCs is that most researchers have had little direct experience of

the states they investigate. Yet classical descriptions, psychologi

cal and philosophical arguments (Tart, 1983; Walsh, 1989d), and

personal reports by Western trained researchers who have experi
enced altered states (e.g. Globus, 1993; Hamer, 1990; Tart. 1986,

Ram Dass, 1990) suggest that it may be difficult to fully compre

hend and differentiate alternate states without direct experience of

them.

However a number of phenomenological, clinical, psychometric,

physiological,  chemical,  and  theoretical  comparisons  have  indi
cated  significant  differences  between  meditative-yogic  states  on
the  one  hand  and  those  of  psychological  disturbances,  including
schizophrenia,  on  the  other  (Kornfleld,  1979;  Shapiro,  1980;

Walsh,  1980;  Wilber,  1983;  Wilber,  Engler  &  Brown,  1986).
Indeed,  several  hundred  studies  now  attest  to  potential  therapeutic
benefits  of  these  practices  (Shapiro,  1980;  Shapiro  &  Walsh,  1984;
Murphy  &  Donovan,  1989)  and,  as  Ken  Wilber  (1980,  p.  78)

concluded, meditative-yogic states and pathological states “can be
seriously equated only by those whose intellectual inquiry goes no

further than superficial impressions.”

So Western academic evaluations of the alternate states of con
sciousness induced by Asian meditative and yogic disciplines have

undergone a marked shift. Many initial evaluations assumed that

they were pathological and regressive whereas more recent assess

ments have acknowledged their uniqueness and potential benefits.

The  purpose  of  this  paper  is  1)  to  examine  whether  a  similar
reevaluation  may  be  appropriate  for  another  tradition  for  which
altered  states  appear  to  be  central,  namely  shamanism,  2)  to  em

"cognicentrism ”

Phenomenological Mapping

broad

and

narrow

definitions

ploy  a  new  phenomenological  approach  that  allows  more  precise,
multidimensional  description,  mapping,  and  comparison  of  states
of  consciousness,  3)  to  map  shamanic  states,  4)  to  then  compare
shamanistic  states  with  other  states  which  some  authors  have
claimed  are  identical,  5)  to  point  out  the  possibilities  of  this  new
phenomenological  method  for  comparing  states  a)  across  disci

plines, b) within a given discipline, and c) during maturation of a

particular practice.

Defining Shamanism

Shamanism is now going through a period of surprising popularity

in  the  West,  and  shamanic  workshops  and  books  are  multiplying
rapidly.  At  the  same  time  there  is  a  growing  appreciation  of  the
centrality  of  alternate  states  of  consciousness  in  shamanism.  In
deed  the  definition  of  shamanism  seems  to  be  changing  to  reflect
this appreciation.

Early definitions of shamanism focussed on the shaman’s ability to

contact  and  control  “spirits.”  Thus  Shirokogoroff  (1935,  p.  269)
claimed  that  the  term  “shaman”  refers  to  “persons  of  both  sexes
who  have  mastered  spirits,  who  at  their  will  can  introduce  these
spirits  into  themselves  and  use  their  power  over  the  spirits  in  their
own  interests,  particularly  helping  other  people,  who  suffer  from
the spirits.”

However,  contemporary  anthropologists  seem  less  impressed  by
the importance of spirits than by the altered states in which they are
experienced  and  definitions  seem  to  have  shifted  accordingly  to
focus  on  these  states  (Walsh,  1990;  Nipinsky-Naxon,  1993).
Within  this  definitional  class  there  are  broad  and  narrow  defini
tions.  Broad  definitions  such  as  those  of  Peters  and  Price-Williams

(1980, p. 408) stipulate that the “only defining attribute is that the

specialist  enter  into  a  controlled  ASC  on  behalf  of  his  community.”
Narrow  definitions  on  the  other  hand  stipulate  a  specific  category
of  ASCs,  most  often  states  in  which  shamanic  journeying  or  soul

flight occurs (Eliade, 1964; Noll, 1983; Walsh, 1989a, 1990), and
Michael Hamer (1990) has attempted to describe and define sha

manism in terms of a single specific state.

The definition used here is a narrow one. Shamanism is defined as

a family of traditions whose practitioners focus on voluntarily
entering altered states of consciousness in which they experience

themselves, or their “spirit(s),” traveling to other realms at will,

and interacting with other entities in order to serve their communities.

While no single definition will satisfy all researchers, this one has
several advantages. First, it describes a group of practitioners that

The Journal of Transpersonal Psychology, 1995, Vol. 27, No. 1

almost  all  researchers  would  view  as  shamans.  Second,  because  of
its  specificity  and  narrowness,  the  definition  is  able  to  differentiate
this  tradition  from  other  traditions  and  practices,  e.g.,  mediums,
priests,  and  medicine  men,  as  well  as  from  various  psychopath
ologies, with which shamanism has been confused (Walsh, 1990).

SHAMANIC EXPERIENCES

Interpretations

While there is now greater interest in shamanic ASCs and a begin

ning  appreciation  that  they  may  be  specific,  it  is  still  commonly
assumed  in  both  anthropology  and  psychology  that  shamanic  states
and  those  who  experience  them  arc  pathological  (Kakar,  1982;
Noll,  1983).  Indeed,  the  “experience  of  the  shaman  has  been
likened  to  almost  every  psychopathology”  (Peters  &  Price-Will-
iams,  1980,  p.  394).  The  shaman  has  been  called,  among  other
things,  mentally  deranged,  an  outright  psychotic,  a  veritable  idiot,
a  charlatan,  epileptic,  and,  perhaps  most  often,  an  hysteric  or
schizophrenic (e.g. Devereux, 1961; Wissler, 1931; Radim, 1972).

On the other hand an opposite but equally extreme view seems to

be emerging in the popular literature. Here shamanic states are

being identified with those of Buddhism, yoga or Christian mysti

cism.  Thus,  for  example  Holger  Kalweit  (1988,  p.  236)  claims  that
the  shaman  “experiences  existential  unity—the  samadhi  of  the
Hindus  or  what  Western  spiritualists  and  mystics  call  enlighten
ment,  illumination,  unio  mystica"  Likewise  Gary  Doore  (1988,  p.
223)  claims  that  “shamans,  yogis  and  Buddhists  alike  are  accessing
the same state of consciousness.”

Unfortunately  there  seem  to  be  serious  deficiencies  with  these
comparisons.  Almost  universally  they  appear  to  be  based  on  gross
similarities  rather  than  on  careful  phenomenological  mapping  and
comparison (Walsh, 1990).

One significant and important exception is the work of Richard

Noll (1983). Noll did a careful phenomenological comparison

between shamanic journey states as described in the traditional

literature and the states of schizophrenics as documented in the

American Psychiatric Association’s (1980) Diagnostic and Statis
tical Manual of Mental Disorders.

Noll was able to demonstrate,

contrary to decades of assumptions, that there are clear phenom
enological differences between schizophrenic and shamanic expe
riences and that the two could not be regarded as identical.

For example, Noll demonstrated major differences on the dimen
sion of control. He pointed out that shamans are generally able to

pathological

and

popular

comparisons

Phenomenological Mapping

induce  and  terminate  their  ASCs  at  will  and  modulate  their  experi
ences  to  some  extent,  while  schizophrenics  are  almost  entirely
helpless  victims  of  their  states  and  experiences.  As  will  be  shown
later,  comparisons  on  several  other  phenomenological  dimensions
also demonstrate significant differences.

Of  course  it  must  be  noted  that  Noll  focussed  on  shamanic  journey
states  and  not  on  the  earlier  life  period  of  the  shamanic  initial  call
which  may  sometimes  constitute  a  major  life  crisis  with  consider
able  bizarre  behavior  (Eliade,  1964;  Grof  &  Grof,  1989).  Conse
quently  Noll’s  data  does  not  fully  rule  out  the  possibility  that
shamans  may  once  have  been  disturbed  or  even  schizophrenic  but
subsequently recovered.

However  to  Noll’s  comparisons  can  be  added  several  other  obser
vations.  The  first  is  that  the  clinical  picture  of  the  initial  crisis
suggests  significant  differences  from  schizophrenia  (Grof  &  Grof,

1986, 1989; Walsh, 1990). The second is that the shaman is said to

often  function  as  one  of  the  most  effective  members  of  the  tribe,
displaying  superior  energy,  concentration,  memory,  knowledge,
and  leadership  (Eliade,  1964;  Hamer,  1990;  Reichel-Dolmatoff,

1987; Rogers, 1982), qualities that are hardly consistent with the

chronic deterioration common in schizophrenia. Taken together,
these facts constitute a strong argument against the facile equation
of shamanism and schizophrenia.

Noll’s  work  points  to  new  possibilities  and  standards  for  diagnostic
and  comparative  assessment  of  shamanic  states.  Henceforth  it  will
no  longer  be  adequate  simply  to  conclude  on  the  basis  of  superfi
cial  similarities  that  shamanic  states  of  consciousness  are  equiva

lent to other states such as those found in cither various forms of

pathology  or  in  other  traditions  such  as  Buddhism  or  yoga.  Rather
what  will  be  necessary  is  a  careful  multidimensional  mapping  of
shamanic  states  of  consciousness  and  then  an  equally  careful  mul
tidimensional  comparison  of  these  states  with  those  of  other  popu
lations.  After  all,  as  Huston  Smith  (1987,  p.  558)  pointed  out,

“Claims for similarities or differences spin their wheels until they

get down to ways and degrees in which things differ or are alike.”

This article aims to expand Noll’s work by providing a more
detailed (yet still preliminary) multidimensional, phenomenologi

cal  map  of  shamanic  states  of  consciousness  and  comparing  this
with  the  pathological  states  of  schizophrenia  on  one  hand  and  with
the  meditative states  of Buddhism and  yoga on the other. What will
becomc  apparent  is  that  all  these  states  show  significant  differ
ences  and  that  equating  them  can  no  longer  be  justified.  Henceforth
each  type  must  be  regarded  as  a  distinct  class  of  states  which  differ
on multiple significant dimensions.

The Journal of Transpersonal Psychology, 1995, Vol. 27, No. I

new

possibilities

and

standards

In  making  these  comparisons  it  is  important  to  acknowledge  that
there  is  not  one  single  state  of  consciousness  that  is  invariably
sought  and  used  in  shamanism  but  many.  Shamans  may  induce
altered  states  by  a  variety  of  means  including  fasting,  solitude,
dancing,  drumming,  and  drugs  (Hamer,  1973,  1982;  Dobkin  de
Rios  &  Winkleman,  1989;  Walsh,  1989b).  Major  classes  of
shamanic  altered  states  include  possession,  drug  and  journey
states.  Shamanic  possession  states  refer  to  states  in  which  the
shaman’s  consciousness  is  experienced  as  being  taken  over  to

varying degrees by an ego-alien entity, usually believed to be a

spirit. For discussions of shamanic possession states, see Peters
and Price-Williams (1980) and Walsh (1990).

Drug states encompass a remarkably wide variety of states. For
discussion of the varieties of drugs used, see Ott (1993); for the

families of drug states and their classification, see Grof (1980,

1988); for their relationship to shamanism, see Hamer (1973); for

the relationship of drug states to non-drug induced religious states,

see  Smith  (1964);  and  for  a  theoretical  explanation  of  this  relation
ship,  see  Walsh  (1990).  This  is  not  to  deny  that  there  may  be
significant  overlap  or  functional  equivalence  between  some  of
these  states  (Peters,  1989),  but  rather  to  say  that  there  seems  no
reason to assume a single shamanic state.

This  paper  will  focus  on  mapping  the  states  occurring  during  the
shamanic  journey.  The  journey  has  been  chosen  for  several  rea
sons.  First,  it  is  one  of  the  key, some would  say one  of the defining,
characteristics  of  shamanism  (Eliade,  1964;  Hamer,  1982;  Noll,

1983). In addition we have many descriptions of it, and the intense

imagery which occurs in it has often been confused with schizo

phrenic hallucinations (Noll, 1983, 1985).

Even  to  say  that  there  is  only  a  single  state  of  consciousness
possible  in  the  shaman’s  journey  may  be  an  oversimplification.  As
anyone  who  has  done  multiple  shamanic  journeys  knows,  the  state
may  vary  perceptibly  from  journey  to  journey,  and  there  are  prob
ably  significant  individual  differences  between  practitioners.  Of
course  this  is  not  to  deny  that  there  are  commonalities  among  these
states  and  experiences.  However  it  is  to  point  out  that  considerable

variation  may  occur  and  that  even  the  concept  of  a  “state  of
consciousness”  is  a  somewhat  arbitrary  and  static  crystallization  of
what  is,  in  living  experience,  a  multidimensional  dynamic  flow  of
experience.  For  the  sake  of  simplicity,  in  this  paper  I  will  some
times  use  the  term  “shamanic  state  of  consciousness”  to  refer  to
shamanic  journey  state(s),  but  the  above  caveats  should  be  kept  in

mind.

The Varieties of Shamanic States of Consciousness

mapping

states

occurring
during

the

shamanic

journey

Phenomenological Mapping

NATURE OF THE SHAMANIC JOURNEY STATE OF

CONSCIOUSNESS

the

definition

and

differentiation

trance

states

Trance States

The  shamanic  state  of  consciousness  during  journeys  is  often
spoken  of  as  a  trance  state.  The  term  “trance”  seems  to  be  widely
used  but  imprecisely  defined.  Indeed  it  is  usually  so  imprecisely
defined  that  some  researchers  try  to  avoid  it  “partly  because  it
carries  negative  connotations,  partly  because  it  has  never  been
clearly  enough  defined”  (Tart,  1986,  p.  70).  It  seems  to  have  been
used  broadly  to  cover  all  waking  ASCs  and  more  narrowly  to

indicate an ASC marked by focussed attention (Peters & Price-
Williams, 1983; Winkleman, 1986). In this paper the term will be
used only in this latter sense.

Definitions  of  focussed  attention  trances  tend  to  include  the  criteria
of  engagement  in  an  inner  world  accompanied  by  reduced  aware
ness  of,  and  responsiveness  to,  the  environment  (Pattison,  Kahan  &
Hurd,  1986).  This  is  probably  useful  as  a  first  step,  but  it  may  be

that the definition and differentiation of trance states can be taken

considerably further. The following is an initial attempt to begin

this process.

I would suggest that the key defining characteristic of a trance state
is a focussing of attention with reduced awareness of the experien

tial context (objects, stimuli, or environment outside this focus).
The focus of the constricted attention may be either internal or

external. When it is internal, then there is the possibility of rich,
intense images and fantasy including journeys of the shamanic

type. Of course shamans would argue for the objective reality of

their realms and experiences and deny that they are merely images
(Hamer, 1984. 1990).

Given the fact that the shamanic state of consciousness is a form of

trance,  can  we  go  further  and  ask,  “what  type  of  trance?”  In  other
words,  to  what  extent  can  we  differentiate  and  map  trance  states?
Various  maps  of  states  of  consciousness  have  been  proposed  for
millennia.  Ancient  Asian  systems  include  the  Buddhist  Abhi-
dharma

(Nyanaponika, 1976) and yogic chakra systems (Tart,

1983). Recent Western suggestions include maps based on systems

theory  (Tart,  1983),  the  level  of  arousal  (Fischer,  1986),  inducing
variables  (Ludwig,  1968),  developmental  stages  (Wilber,  1980),
and  phenomenological  dimensions  (Clark,  1983).  However  this
area  of  study  is  in  its  infancy,  and  none  of  these  maps  appear  fully
appropriate  to  the  purposes  of  this  paper.  Consequently  the  phe
nomenological  dimensions  examined  here  are  based  on  the  fre
quency  with  which  these  dimensions  are  described,  and  the  im
portance  they  are  accorded  in  descriptions  of  the  states  to  be

The Journal of Transpersonal Psychology. 1995. Vol. 27, No. I

more

sensitive

phenomeno

logical

comparisons

b. With form, differentiated, having specific objccts, e.g.,

visual images. If the content is differentiated, then it and the
state of consciousness can be divided along several sub
divisions. Critical subdivisions include:

1) Degree of organization,

2) Modality of the predominant objects, e.g., auditory,

visual, somatic,

3) Intensity of the objects,

4) Psychological “level” of the objects, e.g., personal or

archetypal imagery.

12. The developmental level of the state. In some disciplines

different ASCs emerge in a fixed sequence of stages, e.g., the

formless samadhi states of yoga emerge after earlier stages in

which attention is focussed on specific images (Wilber, 1980;

Wilber et al., 1986). There docs not seem to be clear evidence
in the literature of a distinct developmental progression of

states in shamanism and so this dimension is not discussed

further in this paper.

These parameters are obviously broad and preliminary and com

pared to the exquisite subtleties of the Buddhist Ahhidharma are

relatively  insensitive.  Doubtless  they  will  be  refined  by  further
research.  Yet  even  at  this  stage  they  allow  significantly  more
sensitive  phenomenological  comparisons  than  have  been  the  norm

previously. In addition, the very breadth of these etic categories

may confer significant advantages inasmuch as they should easily

encompass the relevant emic descriptions from diverse popula
tions.

MAPPING SHAMANIC JOURNEY STATES

With this preliminary delineation of important experiential dimen

sions  of  ASCs  we  can  now  turn  attention  specifically  to  the
shamanic  journey  state  and  its  attendant  experiences.  The  follow
ing description  of the state  is based on three sources of information.
The  first  is  the  description  of  journeys  in  the  literature  (e.g.
Shirokogoroff,  1935;  Eliade,  1964;  Hamer,  1982;  Noll,  1983;
Peters  &  Price-Williams,  1980).  The  second  is  interviews  with

native  Balinese  and  Basque  practitioners  and  with  Westerners  who
had  undergone  intensive  long-term  (minimum  one  year)  shamanic
apprenticeship  and  training  in  native  South  American,  Huichol,
and Nepalese traditions.

Understanding these descriptions was facilitated by a third source

of  information,  namely,  several  years  personal  experience  with
shamanic  journeys.  Training  for  these  was  obtained  primarily
under  the  tutelage  of  Michael  Hamer,  formerly  professor  of  anthro

The Journal of Transpersonal Psychology, 1995, Vol. 27, No. 1

pology at the New School for Social Research, who has synthe
sized his life-long study of, and study with, shamanic practitioners

from diverse cultures into courses on what he calls “core shaman
ism,” which focus significantly on shamanic journeying. I mention

the  personal  experience  because  there  is  growing  evidence  that,
due  to  state  specific  learning,  understanding  of  alternate  states  may
be  significantly  enhanced  by  direct  experience  of  them  (Tart,  1983,

1992). Space limitations obviously preclude giving detailed ac

counts of the many individual journeys obtained from these several
sources, some of which are already available in the literature, but
the general profiles are as follows.

The  shamanic  journey  is  always  undertaken  for  a  specific  purpose,
such  as  to  obtain  information  or  power  with  which  to  solve  a
problem  afflicting  someone  in  the  tribe.  The  shaman  first  enters  an
altered  state  with  the  assistance  of  practices  such  as  preparatory

fasting,  sleep  deprivation,  and  ritual,  followed  by  aids  such  as
drumming,  dancing,  and  singing.  Once  established  in  the  ASC,  the
shaman  experiences  separating  from  the  body,  largely  losing
awareness of the body and environment, and traveling as a free soul
or  free  spirit,  to  one  of  the  three  worlds  of  the  shamanic  cosmol
ogy—the  upper,  middle,  or  lower  worlds.  The  shaman’s  attention
is  fixed  on  the  appropriate  world,  which  is  experienced  vividly  in
multiple  sensory  modalities,  i.e.,  visual,  auditory,  tactile,  etc.  In
this  world  the  shaman  may  first  call  his  or  her  personal  spirits
(spirit  helpers,  power  animals)  for  assistance.  The  shaman  then
roams  at  will  in  search  of  a  source  of  relevant  information  or
power,  experiencing  a  wide  range  of  emotions  depending  on  the
specific  experiences  that  occur,  and  having  found  the  source,
attempts  to  bring  the  information  or  power  back.  Reentering  the
body  the  shaman  terminates  the  ASC  and  communicates  the  infor
mation  or  transmits  the  power  to  the  person(s)  in  need,  perhaps
prescribing  a  particular  medication,  ritual,  or  course  of  action
intended  to  alleviate the problem  for which the journey  was under
taken.  With  this  general  outline  of  the  journey  we  can  now map  the
shamanic journey state on our experiential dimensions as follows.

general

profiles

shamanic

journeys

The  shamanic  journey  state  is  usually  one  of  reduced  awareness  of
the  environment.  That  this  reduction  may  be  incomplete  is  sug
gested  by  the  fact  that  some  shamans  communicate  with  spectators

during their journeys (Peters & Price-Williams, 1980; Hamer,

1982).

Concentration is said to be increased. This concentration is mo
mentary rather than fixed, since the shaman’s attention moves
freely from object to object.

Shamans usually maintain good control of the state. They are

usually able to enter and leave the ASC at will and also able to

Phenomenological Mapping

partly  determine  the  type  of  imagery  and  experiences.  This  partial
control  of  experience  is  similar  to  that  described  in  lucid  dreaming
states  (dreaming  in  which  one  recognizes  that  one  is  dreaming)  (La
Berge,  1985,  1993)  and  to  a  number  of  psychotherapeutic  visual
ization  techniques.  These  techniques  include  guided  imagery,
guided  meditation,  “waking  dreams,”  Jungian  active  imagina
tion,  and  a  variety  of  other  visualization  strategies  (Noll,  1983;
Vaughan, 1995a, b; Walsh, 1989c, 1990).

Shamans may be aroused and agitated during their journeys. This is

hardly  surprising  since  they  may  experience  themselves  traversing
strange  worlds,  placating  angry  gods,  and  battling  fearsome  spirits.
Calm  is  not  a  word  that  would  usually  be  applied  to  shamans’

journeys. Their affect is variable, depending on the types of experi

ences they undergo.

Shamans usually continue to experience themselves during jour

neys  as  separate  individuals  but  now  as  “souls”  or  “spirits,”  freed
from  the  body.  As  such  they  feel  able  to  travel  through  or  between
worlds,  to  see  and  interact  with  other  spirits,  and  to  intercede  with
these  spirits  on  behalf  of  their  people.  The  shamanic  journey
therefore  bears  similarities  to  the  out-of-body  experiences  de
scribed  throughout  the  world  in  spontaneous,  learned,  lucid  dream,
or  near-death  experiences  (Monroe,  1971;  Moody,  1975,  1988;
Ring,  1980,  1984,  1986,  1993;  Irwin,  1985).  It  may  be  that  sponta
neous  out-of-body  experiences  such  as  these  provided  the  inspira
tion  for  their  voluntary  mastery  and  incorporation  into  a  set  of

practices and rituals that became the basis for the tradition of

shamanism (Walsh, 1989c, 1990).

Similar journey experience may also occur in other traditions
including Judaism, Taoism, Islam, yoga, and Tibetan Buddhism

although the journey is not as central a practice as in shamanism

(Evans-Wentz, 1958; Siegel & Hirschman, 1984; Baldrian, 1987).
For example, one of the earliest Jewish spiritual disciplines com

prised  the  Merkabah  or  chariot  practices  in  which  practitioners
tried  to  recreate  Ezekiel’s  vision  of  the  divine  chariot.  After  rigor
ous  prayer  and  discipline,  practitioners  would  experience  them
selves  ascending  through  the  seven  heavens  and  confronting  fear
ful  guardians  until  they  were  finally  granted  a  vision  of  the  throne
of  God.  Chariot  practices  flourished  during  the  first  millennium  of
the  common  era  but,  as  in  many  other  parts  of  the  world,  these
shamanic  practices  were  eventually  replaced  by  other  disciplines
(Idel, 1988; Kaplan, 1982; Scholem, 1961).

Of  course  all  this  is  not  to  imply  that  these  experiences  necessarily
involve  a  separation  of  consciousness  from  the  body.  Though  this
is  indeed  the  interpretation  of  shamans,  most  Western  researchers,

The Journal of Transpersonal Psychology, 1995, Vol. 27, No. 1

shamans

"souls ” or

"spirits ”

freed

from

the

body

but not all, would regard them as imaginal rather than as truly
exosomatic.

The  experiential  content  of  the  shamanic  journey  is  complex  and
coherent.  The  images  or  phenomena  encountered  are  remarkably
rich,  multimodal  (e.g.,  visual  and  auditory),  highly  structured,
meaningful,  consistent  with  the  shaman’s  learned  cosmology  and
the  purpose  of  the  specific  session,  and  under  partial  voluntary
control.

COMPARATIVE MAPPING

Until now comparisons between different states of consciousness,

such as between those of shamanism and schizophrenia, have been

rather superficial. All too often people have simply concluded, on
the basis of very imprecise comparisons, that these states were

identical or that they were different. Multidimensional phenom

enological  mapping  allows  us  to  move  beyond  such  simple  claims,
to  compare  several  dimensions  of  experience,  and  to  say  on  which
dimensions states are similar and on which they differ. In short, this
approach  allows  us  to  move  from  unidimensional  to  multidimen
sional  comparisons  and  to  more  sensitively  compare  and  distin
guish between states using a multidimensional grid analysis.

We can now use this approach to compare shamanic states with

those that occur in other conditions. Since it has been claimed that

shamanic states are the same as those of schizophrenia, Buddhism,
and yoga, let us map these states on the dimensions of experience

that we have used to map shamanic states and then compare them.

Schizophrenic States

Many people who claim that shamans are schizophrenic and that
shamanic and schizophrenic states are equivalent seem to assume

that  there  is  only  one  shamanic  altered  state  and  one  schizophrenic
state.  Yet  we  have  already  seen  that  there  are  probably  multiple
shamanic  states  and  the  same  is  certainly  true  of  schizophrenia

(American Psychiatric Association, 1994). To simplify things we
will focus here on the state that occurs in an acute schizophrenic

episode since it is this that has probably been confused most often
with shamanic experiences.

An acute schizophrenic episode can be one of the most devastating

experiences  any  human  being  can  undergo.  Psychological  disorga
nization  is  extreme  and  disrupts  affect,  cognition,  perception,  and
identity.  Though  there  are  significant  variations  within  and  be

Phenomenological Mapping

comparing
several
dimensions

of
experience

comparing

shamanic

journey

and

schizophrenic

slates

tween individuals, we can map the acute schizophrenic episode in
terms of our experiential dimensions and compare it to the shaman

ic state as follows:

Control  may  be  almost  entirely  lost.  The  victim  of  an  acute  schizo
phrenic  episode  has  little  ability  to  halt  the  process  or  modify
experiences.  Awareness  of  the  environment  may  be  reduced  when

the  person  is  preoccupied  with  hallucinations,  and  cognition  may
be  so  disorganized  that  the  person  may  be  unable  to  communicate.
Concentration  is  drastically  reduced,  and  the  patient  is  usually
highly  aroused  and  agitated.  The  experience  is  usually  extremely
unpleasant, and emotional responses are often distorted.

The  schizophrenic’s  experience  is  usually  highly  disorganized  and
incoherent.  This  disorganization  extends  even  to  the  sense  of
identity,  and  schizophrenics  may  consequently  feel  that  they  are
disintegrating,  dying,  and  losing  the  ability  to  discriminate  what  is
self  and  what  is  not.  This  may  occasionally  result  in  a  sense  of
being  outside  the  body,  which  in  these  circumstances  is  called
autoscopy,  but  the  experience  is  brief  and  uncontrolled  (American
Psychiatric Association, 1994; Kaplan & Sadock, 1995).

Comparisons of Shamanic and Schizophrenic States

Once  both  the  shamanic  journey  and  acute  schizophrenic  states
have  been  mapped  on  these  dimensions,  then  it  is  relatively  easy  to
compare  them.  Table  I  reveals  that  they  differ  significantly  on
several  important  dimensions  including  concentration,  control,
self-sense,  affect,  and  content.  This  comparison  makes  dear  that
there  are  major  differences  between  the  states  of  consciousness
found in shamanic journeys and in acute schizophrenia.

The other shamanic episode that has sometimes been confused

with a schizophrenic one is the shamanic initiation crisis. At the
time of their initial calling a few shamans-to-be appear to undergo

a major life crisis and exhibit a variety of bizarre behaviors

(Shirokogoroff, 1935; Eliade, 1964; Walsh, 1990). These are cer

tainly suggestive of psychopathology and have been given several

diagnoses, including schizophrenia.

However, this phase is temporary and usually followed by success
ful resolution and even exceptional subsequent functioning. It has

therefore  been  suggested  that  it  might  be  interpreted  as  an  example
of  a  developmental  crisis  that  has  been  variously  called  a  “creative
illness”  (Ellenberger,  1970),  “regenerative  process”  (Pelletier
&  Garfield,  1976),  “renewal  process”  (Perry,  1986),  “metanoic
voyage,”  “visionary  state,”  “mystical  experience  with  psychotic
features”  (Lukoff,  1985),  “resilience”  (Flach,  1988),  “spiritual

The Journal of Transpersonal Psychology, 1995, Vol. 27, No.

emergency,”  “spiritual  emergence,”  and  “transpersonal  crisis”
(Bragdon,  1988;  Grof  &  Grof,  1986,  1989,  1990).  For  a  fuller
discussion  of  the  unusual  behavior  following  the  initial  call  and  its
various  diagnostic  interpretations,  see  Walsh  (1990).  Suffice  it  to
say  here  that  it  seems  most  unlikely  that  the  initiation  crisis  can  be
diagnosed  as  a  schizophrenic  episode  and  that  it  occurs  in  only  a
minority  of  shamans.  Consequently  it  is  clearly  inappropriate  to
use  the  initiation  crisis  as  a  reason  to  diagnose  or  dismiss  all
shamans as schizophrenic.

Another  factor  that  must  be  considered  in  comparing  shamans  and
schizophrenics  is  social  functioning.  It  will  be  recalled  that  sha
mans  are  often  outstanding  members  of  the  community,  may  dis
play  considerable  intellectual,  artistic,  and  leadership  skills,  and

make significant contributions to their community. Such skills and
contributions are rare among schizophrenics.

Henceforth  shamanism  and  schizophrenia  are  best  identified  as
distinct  phenomena.  Although  it  is  understandable  that  early  re
searchers  sometimes  labelled  shamans  as  schizophrenic,  it  is  also
clear that this practice is no longer appropriate. Of course this is not
to  deny  the  possibility  that  some  shamans  may  be  psychologically
disturbed, but it is certainly to deny that they are all necessarily so.

Comparisons with Other Traditions

Within  recent  years  there  has  been  a  growing  tendency  to  equate
shamans  with  masters  of  various  contemplative  traditions,  espe
cially  Buddhism  and  yoga,  and  to  assume  that  the  states  of  con
sciousness  that  the  shaman  enters  are  identical  to  those  of  these
practitioners and traditions.

Yet  as  we  will  see,  multidimensional  mapping  and  comparisons
reveal  some  significant  similarities  but  also  significant  differences
between  these  states.  Furthermore,  in  addition  to  the  evidence  of
careful  phenomenological  comparisons,  there  are  also  significant
theoretical  arguments  against  equivalence.  These  arguments  can
be outlined briefly as follows:

1. As was mentioned, there are probably multiple shamanic states

of consciousness, e.g., journey, possession, and drug states. There
fore, careful comparison between traditions involves more than

finding one shamanic state and claiming it to be identical with a

state attained in other traditions. Rather multiple comparisons are
necessary.

2. Other traditions such as Buddhism and yoga have many distinct
practices and paths. Buddhism, for example, has literally dozens of

shamanism

and

schizophrenia

distinct

phenomena

Phenomenological Mapping

multidimensional

comparisons

find

major

differences

meditation practices (Conze, 1956; Goleman, 1988), and there is
no evidence to suggest that they induce identical states. In fact

phenomenological reports suggest major differences between

them.  For  example  the  Buddhist  concentrative  states,  the  jhanas,
differ  dramatically  from  the  states  of  the  central  Buddhist  Vipas-
sana  (insight)  meditation  (Buddhaghosa,  1975).  Indeed,  the  jhanic
concentrative  states  are  closer  in  many  ways  to  yogic  samadhis
(Goleman,  1988),  but  this  is  hardly  surprising  given  that  they  were
originally  derived  from  yogic  concentration  practices  (Narada,

1980).

3.  Yogic  and  Buddhist  practices  evolve  through  apparently  invari
ant  series  of  markedly  distinct  states  and  stages,  e.g.,  the  ten  Zen
oxherding  pictures  and  the  eight  jhanas  of  Buddism  and  the  vari
ous  stages  of  yogic  samadhi  (Feuerstein,  1989).  Therefore,  mul

tiple states may exist even within a single practice.

In  summary,  claims  that  shamans  and  masters  of  other  traditions
are  equivalent  and  access  identical  states  will  need  to  make  mul
tiple  comparisons  between  multiple  states  on  multiple  dimensions;
something  that  simply  has  not  been  done.  These  theoretical  argu

ments point to several reasons why it is difficult to make sweeping

claims  for  identity  between  shamanic  states  and  those  of  other
traditions.  Of  course  this  is  not  to  deny  that  there  may  be  some
experiential  and  functional  overlap  between  different  states  inas

much as they may involve similar processes and aims, such as

attentional training and compassionate service (Peters, 1989).

These theoretical reservations are supported by data. For when we
actually make direct multidimensional comparisons, we find not

identity but rather major differences. Thus, for example, let us

make a summary comparison in the accompanying table between
the prototypic shamanic journey state and prototypic states that are

likely to occur in advanced Buddhist Vipassana meditation and

advanced  yogic  practice.  This  comparison  will  be  aided  by  a
summary  presentation  of  the  principles  and  experiences  of  classi
cal  yogic  and  Buddhist  insight  meditations.  These  descriptions  are
based  on  classic  two-thousand-year-old  texts  (e.g.  Prabhavananda
&  Ishcrwood,  1953;  Buddhaghosa,  1975),  recent  descriptions  (e.g.,
Goldstein,  1983),  interviews  with  advanced  Asian  and  Western
practitioners,  psychological  testing  (Shapiro  &  Walsh,  1983;
Brown,  Forte  &  Dysard,  1984a,  b;  Brown  &  Engler,  1986),  and  two
decades of personal meditative experience (Walsh, 1977, 1978).

Classical yoga is a concentration practice in which the mind is
stilled until it can be fixed with unwavering attention on inner

experience  such  as  the  breath,  an  image,  or  a  mantra  (Eliade,  1969;
Zimmer,  1969;  Feuerstein,  1989,  1990).  To  do  this,  the  yogi  with
draws  attention  from  the  body  and  outer  world,  a  technique  called

The Journal of Transpersonal Psychology, 1995, Vol. 27, No. 1

pratyahara,

to focus inwards “like a tortoise withdrawing his limbs

into his shell.” As a result, awareness of the body and outer world is
largely lost, and the yogi can now focus undistractedly on ever

more  subtle  internal  objects.  Finally  all  objects  drop  away,  and  the
yogi  experiences  samadhi  which  is  an  example  of  the  classical
ecstatic  mystical  union  or  unio  mystica  (Underhill,  1974;  Stace,

1987; Forman, 1990).

As previously discussed, Western researchers initially tended to
dismiss yoga and other contemplative practices as culture specific

pathologies. Such interpretations still occur occasionally, e.g.,

Castillo’s  (1991,  1995)  conclusion  that  yogic  enlightenment  with
its  witness  consciousncss  of  the  Atman  is  a  form  of  dissociation  or
depersonalization.  However,  several  factors  seem  to  argue  against

this conclusion. First, these states are very different from cases of

clinical  dissociation.  Second,  studies  of  deep  meditative  experi
ences  suggest  that  experience  of  self-transcendcnce  is  an  indepen
dent  dimension,  largely  uncorrclated  with  personality  dimensions
or  disorders  (Gifford-May  &  Thompson,  1994).  Finally  the  phe

nomenological  analyses  presented  here  suggest  enhanced  mental
ability  rather  than  pathology.  Indeed,  pathologizing  interpretations
such  as  dissociation  seem  more  and  more  like  pathomorphism:  the
tendency  to  misinterpret  or  mislabel  psychological  phenomena  in
terms of pathological categories.

Whereas classical yoga is a concentration practice, Buddhist in

sight  meditation  is  a  so-called  awareness  practice.  Whereas  yoga
emphasizes  the  development  of  unwavering  attention  on  inner
objects,  insight  meditation  emphasizes  fluid  attention  to  all  ob

jects, both inner and outer. Here all stimuli arc observed and

examined  as  precisely  and  minutely  as  awareness  will  allow.  The
aim  is  to  examine  and  understand  the  workings  of  senses,  body,
and  mind  as  fully  as  possible  and  thereby  to  cut  through  the
distortions  and  misunderstandings  that  usually  cloud  awareness.
“To  see  things  as  they  are”  is  the  motto  of  this  practice  (Buddha-
ghosa, 1975; Goldstein, 1983; Goleman, 1988).

Table  1  shows  that  the  shamanic  journey,  yogic,  and  Buddhist
states  differ  on  a  number  of  significant  dimensions.  Perceptual
sensitivity  to  environmental  stimuli  (Awareness  of  Environment)

shows dramatic differences between states. In Buddhist Vipassana

meditation states, both ancient and modem phenomenological re
ports (Buddhaghosa, 1975; Nyanaponika, 1976; Walsh, 1977,

1978; Goldstein, 1983) as well as recent tachistoscopic testing

(Brown, Forte & Dysard, 1984a, b) suggest that perceptual sensi

tivity to environmental stimulation can be significantly enhanced.

However awareness of the environment is usually somewhat re
duced in the shamanic journey and is drastically reduced, even to

the point of nonawareness, in advanced yogic states (Zimmer,

factors

arguing
against
culture

specific

pathologies

Phenomenological Mapping

TABLE 1

omparisons

the

tates

onsciousness

ccurring

hamanic

ourneys

, A

dvanced

ogic

and

uddhist

editation

and

chizophrenia

BUDDHIST (VIPASSANA)

DIMENSION

SHAMANISM

INSIGHT MEDITATION

PATANJALl’S YOGA

SCHIZOPHRENIA

Control

ability to enter

Yes

Dramatic

and leave ASC
at will

reduction of control

ability to control

Partial

Extreme

the content of

experience

control in some

samadhis

Awareness of

Reduced sensory

Often decreased

Environment

and body awareness

and distorted

Ability to

Sometimes

Usually

None

Communication is

Communicate

usually distorted

Concentration

Fluid

Fixed

Arousal

Usually

Agitation

may be extreme

Calm

Usually

Extreme peace

Affect

+ (Positive feelings)
or - (negative

feelings)

+ or-
+ Tends to increase
as practice deepens

++ Ineffable bliss

Usually very negative
though rarely

positive, often

distorted and
inappropriate

Self-sense

Separate self-sense,

may be a non
physical "soul"

Self-sense is

deconstructed into
a changing flux:

“no self'

Unchanging
transcendent Self
or purusha

Disintegrated, loss
of ego boundaries.

Unable to distinguish

self and others

OOBE

Yes, controlled

ecstasy (“ecstasis”)

No. Loss of body

awareness ("enstasis")

Rarely,

uncontrolled

Content

Organized coherent
imagery

determined

by shamanic
cosmology and
purpose of

journey

Deconstruction of
complex experi-
iences into their

constituent

stimuli. Stimuli are
further decon
structed into a

continuous flux

Single object

( "samadhi with

support”) or pure

consciousness
("samadhi

without

support”)

Often disorganized
and fragmented

1969; Feuerstein, 1989). Indeed Eliade (1969, p. 78) defined

samadhi as “an invulnerable state completely closed to stimuli.”

These differences in environmental awareness are reflected in
differences in communication. Buddhist insight meditators can

usually  communicate,  and  shamans  can  sometimes  do  so  (Peters  &
Price-Williams,  1980).  However,  in  advanced  yogic  concentration,
communication  is  usually  sufficient  to  break  concentration  and
remove the practitioner from the state (Goleman, 1988).

The types and degree of concentration also vary from tradition to

tradition. In contradistinction to schizophrenia, in which concen-

The Journal of Transpersonal Psychology. 1995. Vol. 27, No. 1

tration  is  drastically  impaired,  all  three  traditions  train  for  in
creased  concentration.  Indeed,  training  attention  appears  to  be  a
common  denominator  among  consciousness  altering  practices
(Novak,  1987).  In  shamanism  and  vipassana  meditation,  concen

tration is momentary since attention moves fluidly from one object

to another (Eliade, 1964; Goldstein, 1983). This is in marked

contrast to advanced yogic practice where attention is fixed and

immovable (Eliade, 1969; Feuerstein, 1989).

Closely  related  to  concentration  is  control.  Two  different  dimen
sions  of  control  should  be  distinguished.  The  first  is  the  ability  to
enter  and  leave  the  ASC  at  will,  and  the  second  is  the  ability  to
determine  the  experiential  content  of  the  ASC.  Contrary  to  schizo

phrenia where control is drastically reduced, all three disciplines

enhance  both  types  of  control.  Practitioners  arc  able  to  enter  and
leave  their  respective  states  at  will,  although  the  shaman  may
require  external  assistance  such  as  psychoactive  drugs  or  entrain
ing  stimuli  such  as  drumming.  Both  shamans  and  vipassana  medi

tators  are  able  to  exert  partial  control  over  their  experiences  in  the
ASC,  while  yogis  in  samadhi  have  almost  complete  control.  In
deed,  the  second  line  of  Patanjali’s  classic  yogic  text  states  that
“yoga  is  the  control  of  thought-waves  in  the  mind”  (Prabhavanada
& Isherwood, 1953, p. 15).

two

different
dimensions

of
control

There  are  also  significant  differences  in  arousal.  Shamans  are
usually  aroused  during  their  joumcy  and  may  even  dance  or  be
come  highly  agitated.  Vipassana  meditators,  on  the  other  hand,
report  initial  emotional  and  arousal  lability  which  gradually  yields
to  greater  calm  (Walsh,  1977,  1978;  Goldstein,  1983).  Calm  may
become  profound  in  yogic  samadhi  when  much  of  the  normal
cognitive  processing  ceases  (Brown,  1986;  Eliade,  1969;  Shapiro
&  Walsh,  1984).  Although  I  cannot  fully  agree  with  Roland
Fischer’s  (1986)  “cartography  of  nonordinary  states”  based  on
levels  of  arousal,  it  is  interesting  to  note  that  he  places  samadhi  at

the extreme end of hypoarousal and schizophrenic states near the

extreme end of hyperarousal.

The self-sense differs drastically among the three practices. The

shaman usually retains a sense of being a separate individual,

though now perhaps identified as a soul rather than as a body.

However, the Buddhist meditator’s microscopic awareness decon

structs the self-sense into a flux of evanescent component stimuli.
This is the experience of anatta in which it is recognized that the

sense  of  a  permanent,  separate  egoic  self  is  an  illusory  product  of
imprecise  awareness.  This  apparently  continuous  self-sense  arises
in  much  the  same  way  as  an  apparently  dynamic  continuous  movie

arises from a series of still frames (Goldstein, 1983; Goleman,

1988), a phenomenon known as flicker fusion. The yogi, on the

Phenomenological Mapping

other hand, may come to realize an unchanging transcendent Self,
or purusha (Eliade, 1969; Zimmer, 1969).

The shaman’s experience may be either joyous or painful as may
the Buddhist Vipassana meditator’s. However, in advanced stages
the yogi’s experiences are said to be increasingly blissful.

The  content  of  the  practitioners’  experiences  also  differs  dramati
cally  between  traditions.  The  shaman  experiences  organized  co
herent  imagery  consistent  with  the  shamanic  worldview  and  the
purpose  of  the  journey.  However,  both  ancient  phenomenological
reports  and  recent  perceptual  testing  (Brown  &  Engler,  1986)
suggest  that  Buddhist  meditators  eventually  deconstruct  all  experi
ences  into  their  constituent  stimuli.  What  remains  is  the  perception
of  an  evanescent  flux  of  simple  stimuli  which  arise  and  pass  away
with  extreme  rapidity.  By  contrast,  the  advanced  yogi  is  said  to
attain  "samadhi  without  support,”  an  experience  of  unchanging
pure consciousness devoid of images or objects of any kind.

Practitioners  from  the  three  traditions  show  significant  differences
with  regard  to  their  experience  of  the  body.  Whereas  the  shaman
typically  has  a  controlled  out-of-body  experience  (OOBE)  or
“ecstasis,”  the  Buddhist  vipassana  meditator  does  not.  Yogis,  on
the  other  hand,  may  lose  awareness  of  the  body  due  to  pratyahara
(elimination  of  sensory  input)  and  experience  “enstasis.”  On  this
point  Eliade,  whose  theoretical  knowledge  of  both  shamanism  and
yoga  was  probably  as  extensive  as  anyone’s,  was  very  clear  on  the
difference between the two.

Yoga cannot possibly be confused with shamanism or classed among

the techniques of ecstasy. The goal of classic yoga remains perfect
autonomy, enstasis, while shamanism is characterized by its desperate
effort to attain the “condition of a spirit,” to accomplish ecstatic flight

(Eliade, 1969, p. 339).

COMMON EXPERIENCES AND CAPACITIES

There  is  a  popular  saying  that  all  things  are  both  similar  and
different.  Having  demonstrated  significant  differences  between
shamanic,  Buddhist,  and  yogic  states,  the  question  naturally  arises,
“in  what  ways  are  they  similar?”  Certainly  we  would  expect  some
similarities  since  all  three  groups  of  practitioners  have  undergone
long-term  intensive  mental  training  designed  to  cultivate  religious
sensitivity,  experiences,  and  understandings.  I  will  therefore
briefly  summarize  the  similarities  that  can  be  identified  on  the
experiential dimensions we have been using.

The Journal of Transpersonal Psychology, 1995, Vol. 27, No. 1

differences

experience

the

body-

difficulties

distinguishing

between

states

with

subtle

differences

COMPARISON WITHIN DISCIPLINES AND ACROSS
DEVELOPMENTAL STAGES

It  seems  obvious  that  phenomenological  mapping  using  the  dimen
sions  described  above  can  differentiate  among  at  least  some  of  the
states  induced  by  the  practices  of  different  traditions.  The  next
logical  questions  are  to  what  extent  it  can  differentiate:  1)  the  states
induced  by  different  practices  within  a  tradition,  and  2)  the  states
induced at different stages of a single practice.

That  it  may  sometimes  be  able  to  differentiate  among  different
practices  within  a  tradition  can  be  shown  by  the  example  of  Bud
dhism.  Classical  Buddhism  employs  two  central  meditative  prac
tices:  concentration  (samatha)  and  insight  (vipassana).  The  former

uses fixed attention, for example on the breath, to develop concen

tration, ultimately resulting in a series of eight increasingly refined

jhanas:

states of unwavering attention marked by intense bliss.

Using the phenomenological dimensions employed above, these
states are largely indistinguishable from the yogic ones, but this is

hardly surprising since they were apparently historically derived

from yoga; however, they are clearly distinguishable from vipas

sana.

Table 2 makes clear the major differences in the states

induced by the advanced concentration and insight practices of
Buddhism and the marked similarities of the jhanic states to the

yogic ones.

However, these phenomenological dimensions have a more diffi

cult  time  differentiating  among  the  different  jhanic  states  because
the  differences  between  these  states  are  so  subtle  (Table  3).  All  of
them  are  characterized  by  extremely  high  degrees  of  control,  calm,
and  concentration,  and  almost  total  lack  of  awareness  of  the  envi

ronment and ability to communicate. They do differ slightly in the

specific type of positive affect, e.g., a combination of rapture and

happiness  in  the  first  two  jhanas,  happiness  without  rapture  in  the
third,  and  equanimity  in  the  remaining  five.  Likewise,  the  content
may  also  differ,  with,  for  example,  the  meditator  being  aware  of
infinite  space  in  the  fifth  and  infinite  consciousness  in  the  sixth.

Thus  it  seems  that  phenomenological  mapping  may  be  used  to
differentiate  and  compare  contemplative  stages  of  development,
but  that  in  some  cases  the  distinctions  may  be  very  subtle  and

identifying them may require an intimate knowledge of the prac

tice.

Is There a Common Mystical Experience?

One  of  the  major  questions  that  has  dominated  philosophical  dis
cussion  of  mysticism  since  William  James  is  whether  or  not  there  is
any  core  mystical  experience  that  is  common  across  cultures  and

The Journal of Transpersonal Psychology, 1995, Vol. 27, No. 1

TABLE 2

omparisons

ogic

, B

uddhist

econd

hanic

and

uddhist

ipassana

tates

DIMENSION

PATANJALl’S YOGA

BUDDHIST (VIPASSANA)

INSIGHT MEDITATION

jhana

Control

ability to enter and
leave ASC at will
at will

Yes

ability to control the

Extreme control

Partial

Extreme control

content of experience

in some samadhis

Awareness of

Reduced sensory

Environment

and body awareness

Ability to
Communicate

None

Usually

None

Concentration

Fixed

Fluid

Fixed

Arousal

Usually

Calm

Extreme peace

Usually

Extreme peace

Affect

++ Ineffable bliss

+ or-

+ Tends to increase
as practice deepens

intense happiness and

rapture

Self-sense

Unchanging transcendent
self or purusha

Self-sense is deconstructed

into a changing flux:
“no self”

Merged with the object
of concentration

OOBE

No, loss of body
awareness (“enstasis”)

No, loss of body
awareness (“enstasis"!

Content

Single object (“samadhi

with support”) or pure
consciousness
(“samadhi without
support")

Deconstruction of complex
experiences into their
constituent stimuli.
Stimuli are further
deconstructed into a
continuous flux

Formless mental
qualities and affects
such as intense
happiness

traditions. Walter Stace and some advocates of the perennial phi

losophy argue yes; no, say “constructivists,” such as Steven Katz

(1978, 1983), who argue that all experience, including mystical

experience,  is  constructed  and  hence  mediated  and  modified  by  a
variety  of  conditioned,  inescapable,  personal,  and  cultural  experi
ences  and  filters.  Others  argue  that  the  question  remains  open
(Smith,  1987;  Rothberg,  1989,1990).  For  an  excellent  examination

of the epistemological assumptions underlying Katz’s position, see
Rothberg (1989, 1990). Since the comparisons made above clearly

indicate significant differences between shamanic, yogic, and Bud

dhist experiences, they would seem to favor the constructivists and
argue against the view that there exists a common mystical experi

ence.

Yet  this  may  be  only  part  of  the  story.  Although  the  yogic  and
Buddhist  meditative  experiences  described  here  are  indeed  ad
vanced,  they  are  not  necessarily  the  most  profound.  At  the  highest
reaches  of  meditation,  transcendent  experiences  of  a  wholly  differ
ent  kind,  radically  discontinuous  from  all  that  have  gone  before,

Phenomenological Mapping

TABLE 3

omparisons

within

the

uddhist

radition

the

econd

, T

hird

, F

ourth

and

ixth

hanas

DIMENSION

jhana

Control

ability to enter and
leave ASC at will

Yes

ability to control the
content of experience

Extreme control

Extreme Control

Extreme control

Awareness of
Environment

Minimal

Ability to

Communicate

None

Concentration

Fixed

Arousal

Calm

Extreme peace

Extreme peace
and equanimity

Affect

Intense happiness

No affect since
affect is nullified
by equanimity

No affect

Self-sense

Merged with the
object of
concentration

Merged with the
object of

concentration

Merged with the
object of
concentration

OOBE

No. Loss of body

awareness

(“enstasis”)

No. Loss of body
awareness
(“enstasis”)

Content

Formless mental
qualities and affects

such as intense

happiness and
rapture

Formless mental

qualities and affects
such as intense
happiness

Formless mental

qualities

Unbounded
consciousness

are said to occur. These are the full samadhi of yoga and the
nirvana

of Buddhism.

Here  description  and  reason  are  said  to  fail.  “Not  by  reasoning  is
this  apprehension  attainable”  (Katha  Upanishad  1,  2,  4),  “words
return  along  with  the  mind  not  attaining  it”  (Taittiriya  Upanishad
2,

9, 1). For these experiences, and the realms they putatively

reveal,  are  said  to  be  beyond  space,  time,  qualities,  concepts,  and
limits  of  any  kind.  Hence,  these  experiences  are  said  to  be  inef
fable,  indescribable,  and  inconceivable  because  they  are  trans-

empirical, transverbal, and transrational. In the words of the Third
Zen Patriarch Sengstan (1975):

To this ultimate finality
no-law or description applies....

The more you talk about it
The further astray you wander from the truth.

Here phenomenological description, mapping, and comparison
fail. For even to attempt to qualify, let alone map and measure,

The Journal of Transpersonal Psychology, 1995, Vol. 21, No. 1

these experiences and domains is said to invariably result in para
dox, inasmuch as this is Nicholas de Cusa’s “coincidence of oppo
sites,” Zen’s “not-one, not-two,” and Vedanta’s “advaita.”

The paradox of attempting to describe the coincidence of opposites

is, as Kant was to discover, that the opposite of any apparently
valid statement is also valid. Almost fifteen hundred years before

Kant,  Nagarjuna—founder  of  Madhyamika  Buddhism—reached
virtually  the  same  conclusion,  “a  conclusion  echoed  and  amplified
in  succeeding  generations  by  every  major  school  of  Eastern  phi
losophy  and  psychology:  Reason  cannot  grasp  the  essence  of
absolute  reality,  and  when  it  tries,  it  generates  only  dualistic  in
compatibilities”  (Wilber,  1983).  The  primary  and  liberating  task,
say  both  Buddhist  and  yogic  traditions,  is  not  to  describe  these
states  and  experiences  but  rather  to  know  them  for  oneself  through
direct,  transrational  intuition  and  its  resultant  wisdom,  prajna  or

jnana.

Are  the  yogic  samadhi  and  Buddhist  nirvana  identical,  or  more
precisely,  are  they  indistinguishable?  It  seems  that  one  cannot  say
that  they  are  different,  but  then  one  also  cannot  say  they  are  the
same,  since  both  similarities  and  differences  depend  on  being  able
to attribute and compare qualities. The answer, at least for yoga and
Buddhism,  to  the  question  of  whether  there  exists  a  common  core
mystical  experience  may  be  neither  yes  nor  no  but  rather,  from  a

Western philosophical perspective, “what can be said at all can be

said clearly, what we cannot talk about we must pass over in
silence” (Wittgenstein, 1961, p. 3).

The  ineffability  of  the  yogic  samadhi  and  Buddhist  nirvana  does
not  answer  the  questions  of  whether  there  exists  a  mystical  experi
ence  common  to  diverse  traditions  or  whether  all  mystical  experi
ences  are  constructed.  However,  it  does  suggest  that  although
many  yogic,  Buddhist,  and  shamanic  states  can  be  differentiated  by
phenomenological  mapping,  there  may  be  some  states,  perhaps  the
most profound, that cannot be mapped or distinguished.

Are Shamans Also Mystics?

And what of shamanism? Do its practitioners also access mystical
states? I have found no references to the unio mystica in the

literature, and one authority categorically states that in shamanism

“we never find the mystical union with the divinity so typical for
the ecstatic experience in the ‘higher forms of religious mysti
cism’” (Hultkrantz, 1973).

However, there are three lines of evidence that suggest that this
conclusion could be incorrect. These are the facts that shamanism

direct

transrational
intuition

and
its
resultant
wisdom

Phenomenological Mapping

claims

based

imprecise

comparisons

is an oral tradition, that powerful psychedelics may be used, and

that some Western practitioners report unitive experiences.

Since shamanism is an oral tradition, it is possible that such

experiences may have occurred, at least occasionally, but have

been  lost  to  subsequent  generations  and,  of  course,  therefore,  to
Western  researchers.  Without  writing,  there  may  be  no  way  to
adequately  preserve  a  record  of  the  highest  and  rarest  flowerings  of
a tradition.

Although not an essential part of shamanism, the use of psyche

delics is common in some areas (Harner, 1973). Peyote and
ayahuasca, for example, are powerful psychedelics capable of

inducing experiences that some researchers regard as genuine
mystical ones (Grof, 1988; Smith, 1964; Walsh & Vaughan, 1993).

Finally, Westerners being trained in shamanic practices may report

unitive experiences, and I have personally heard two such ac

counts. These seemed to be examples of nature mysticism, al

though,  of  course,  there  is  the  possibility  that  other  types  of  mysti
cal  experience  may  also  occur.  All  of  this  suggests  that  although
the  unio  mystica  is  not  the  goal  of  shamanic  practices,  it  may

sometimes occur.

SUMMARY AND NEXT STEPS

Claims  that  shamanic  states  are  identical  to  those  of  schizophrenia,
Buddhism,  or  yoga  appear  to  have  been  based  on  imprecise  com
parisons,  and  both  theory  and  data  argue  against  their  equivalence.
In  part,  this  confusion  reflects  a  history  of  imprecise  mapping  of
altered  states.  More  precise,  though  still  preliminary,  multidimen
sional  phenomenological  mapping  and  comparisons  of  altered
states  are  now  possible.  The  maps  and  comparisons  presented  here

are obviously only initial steps. However even at this preliminary

stage of development they suggest that, while shamanic, Buddhist,

and yogic states show some functional and experiential overlap,
they are usually quite distinct and show major differences from
schizophrenic states.

An  obvious  next  step  would be  to  use  one  of  the  psychometric tests
now  being  developed,  such  as  The  Phenomenology  of  Conscious
ness  Inventory

(Pekala & Kumar, 1986), to obtain quantitative

assessments  and  comparisons  of  the  phenomenology  of  these
states.  Another  would  be  to  employ  some  of  the  new  technologies
for  measuring  brain  activity,  e.g.,  PET  (positron  emission  tomo

graphy) and multichannel EEG (electroencephalography) to both
compare states and begin to understand their physiological corre

The Journal of Transpersonal Psychology, 1995, Vol. 27, No. 1

lates, though without falling into the trap of interpreting altered

states as only altered physiology (Wilber, 1993, 1995).

Careful  interviews  of  practitioners  may  also  be  helpful.  However,
one  limitation  here  may  be  that  interviewers  who  have  themselves
not  undertaken  consciousness  disciplines  and  experienced  alter
nate  states  may  be  limited  in  their  ability  to  comprehend  the
nuances  involved.  Charles  Tart’s  (1992)  argument  for  using  “yogi-
scientists” as research-practitioners may be appropriate here.

Whatever  future  methods  may  evolve,  it  is  clear  that  we  have  only
begun  to  appreciate  the  variety,  value,  differences,  and  develop
ment  of  altered  states  and  that  understanding  them  better  is  a

project of enormous importance and one of the transpersonal

movement’s greatest challenges and opportunities.

project

of
enormous
importance

REFERENCES

lexander

, F.G. & S

elesnich

, S.T. (1966). The history of psychiatry. New

York: New American Library.

merican

sychiatric

ssociation

. (1980). Diagnostic and statistical

manual of mental disorders

(3rd ed.). Washington, D.C.: American

Psychiatric Association.

merican

sychiatric

ssociation

. (1994). Diagnostic and statistical

manual of mental disorders

(4th ed.). Washington, D.C.: American

Psychiatric Association.

aldrian

, F. (1987). Taoism: An overview. In M. Eliade (Ed.), The

encyclopedia of religion. Vol. 14

(pp. 288-306). New York: MacMillan.

ourguignon

, E. (Ed.) (1973). Religion, altered states of consciousness,

and social change.

Columbus, OH: Ohio State University Press.

ragdon

, E. (1988). Sourcebook for helping people in spiritual emer

gency.

Los Altos: Lightening Up Press.

rown

, D. (1986). The states of meditation in cross cultural perspective. In

K. Wilber, J. Engler & D. Brown (Eds.), Transformations of conscious

ness: Conventional and contemplative perspectives on development

(pp. 219-84). Boston, MA: New Science Library/Shambhala.

rown

, D. & E

ngler

, J. (1986). The stages of mindfulness meditation: A

validation study. Part II. Discussion. In K. Wilber, J. Engler & D.

Brown (Eds.), Transformations of consciousness: Conventional and

contemplative perspectives on development

(pp. 191-218). Boston,

MA: New Science Library/Shambhala.

rown

, D., F

orte

, M. & D

ysard

, M. (1984a). Differences in visual

sensitivity among mindfulness meditators and non-meditators. Percep
tual and Motor Skills. 58,

727-33.

rown

, D., F

orte

, M. & D

ysard

, M. (1984b). Visual sensitivity and

mindfulness meditation. Perceptual and Motor Skills, 58, 775-84.

uddhaghosa

(P.M. Tin, Transl.) (1975). The path of purity. London: Pali

Text Society.

astillo

, R. (1991). Divided consciousness and enlightenment in Hindu

yogis. Anthropology of Consciousness, 2, 1-6.

Phenomenological Mapping

astillo

, R. (1995). Culture, trance and the mind-brain. Anthropology of

Consciousness, 6,

17-34.

lark

, J. (1983). A map of mental states. London: Routledge & Kegan

Paul.

onze

, E. (1956). Buddhist meditation. New York: Harper & Row.

evereux

, G. (1961). Mohave ethnopsychiatry and suicide (p. 285).

Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office.

obkin

Rios, M. & W

inkleman

, M. (Eds.) (1989). Shamanism and

altered states of consciousness. Journal of Psychoactive Drugs, 2/(1).

Doore, G. (Ed.) (1988). Shaman's path. Boston: Shambhala.

liade

, M. (1964). Shamanism: Archaic techniques of ecstasy. Princeton:

Princeton University Press.

liade

, M. (1969). Yoga: Immortality and freedom. (Rev. ed.). Princeton:

Princeton University Press.

Elkin, A. (1977). Aboriginal men of high degree (2nd ed.). New York: St.

Martin’s Press.

llenberger

, H. (1970). The discovery of the unconscious. New York:

Basic Books.

vans

-W

entz

, W. (1958). Tibetan yoga and secret doctrines. Oxford:

Oxford University Press.

euerstein

, G. (1989). Yoga: The technology of ecstasy. Los Angeles: J.P.

Tarcher.

euerstein

, G. (Transl.) (1990). The Yoga-Sutra of Patanjali: A new

translation and commentary.

Rochester, VT: Inner Traditions Interna

tional.

ischer

, R. (1986). Toward a neuroscience of self-experience and states of

self-awareness and interpreting interpretations. In B. Wolman & M.
Ullman (Eds.), Handbook of states of consciousness (pp. 3-30). New
York: Van Nostrand Reinhold.

lach

, F. (1988). Resiliance. New York: Ballantine.

Forman, R. (Ed.) (1990). The problem of pure consciousness. New York:

Oxford University Press.

ree

ohn

(1985). The dawn horse testament. San Rafael, CA: The Dawn

Horse Press.

ifford

-M

, D. & T

hompson

, N. (1994). “Deep states” of meditation:

Phenomenological reports of experience. Journal of Transpersonal

Psychology, 26(2),

117-38.

lobus

, G. (1993). Different views from different states. In R. Walsh & F.

Vaughan (Eds.), Paths beyond ego: The transpersonal vision, (pp. 182-
83). Los Angeles: J.P. Tarcher.

oldstein

, J. (1983). The experience of insight. Boston: Shambhala.

oleman

, D. (1988). The meditative mind. Los Angeles: J.P. Tarcher.

rof

, C. & G

rof

, S. (1986). Spiritual emergencies: The understanding and

treatment of transpersonal crises. Revision, 8(2), 7-20.

rof

, C. & G

rof

, S. (1990). The stormy search for self. Los Angeles: J. P.

Tarcher.

Grof, S. (1980). LSD psychotherapy. Pomona, CA: Hunter House.
Grof, S. (1988). The adventure of self discovery. Albany: SUNY Press.
G

rof

, S. & G

rof

, C. (Eds.) (1989). Spiritual emergency: When personal

transformation becomes a crisis.

Los Angeles: J. P. Tarcher.

roup

for

the

dvancement

sychiatry

. (1976). Mysticism: Spiritual

quest or psychic disorder?

New York: Group for the Advancement of

Psychiatry.

The Journal of Transpersonal Psychology, 1995, Vol. 27, No. 1

arner

, M. (Ed.) (1973). Hallucinogens and shamanism. New York:

Oxford University.

arner

, M. (1984). The Jivaro. Berkeley: University of California Press.

arner

, M. (1990). The way of the shaman. (10th anniv. ed.). New York:

Harper & Row.

ultkrantz

, A. (1973). A definition of shamanism. Temenos, 9, 25-37.

del

, M. (1988). Kabbalah: New perspectives. New Haven, CT: Yale.

rwin

, H. (1985). Flight of mind: A psychological study of the out-of-body

experience.

New York: Scarecrow Press.

ung

, C. (1957). Psychological commentary. In W. Evans-Wentz (Ed.),

The Tibetan book of the dead

(3rd ed., pp. xxxv-lii). London: Oxford

University Press.

akar

, S. (1982). Shamans, mystics and doctors: A psychological inquiry

into India and its healing traditions.

New York: Knopf.

alweit

, H. (1988). Dreamtime and inner space. Boston: Shambhala.

aplan

, A. (1982). Meditation and Kabbalah. York Beach: ME: Samuel

Weiser.

aplan

, J. & S

adock

., B. (Ed.) (1995). Comprehensive textbook of psy

chiatry

(6th ed.). Baltimore: Williams & Wilkins.

atz

, S. (Ed.) (1978). Mysticism and philosophical analysis. New' York:

Oxford University Press.

atz

, S. (Ed.) (1983). Mysticism and religious traditions. New York:

Oxford University Press.

ornfield

, J. (1979). Intensive insight meditation: A phenomenological

study. Journal of Transpersonal Psychology, 11(1) 41-58.

erge

, S. (1985). Lucid dreaming. Los Angeles: J.P. Tarcher.

erge

, S. (1993). From lucidity to enlightenment: Tibetan dream yoga.

In R. Walsh & F. Vaughan (Eds.), Paths beyond ego: The transper

sonal vision

(pp. 84-86). Los Angeles: J.P. Tarcher.

aughlin

, C., M

anus

, J. &

’A

qluj

, E. (1992). Brain, symbol and

experience.

New York: Columbia University Press.

aughlin

, C., M

anus

, J. & S

hearer

, J. (1993). Transpersonal anthro

pology. In R. Walsh & F. Vaughan (Eds.), Paths beyond ego: The

transpersonal vision

(pp. 190-95). Los Angeles: J.P. Tarcher.

udwig

, A. (1968). Altered states of consciousness. In R. Prince (Ed.),

Trance and possession states.

Montreal: R.M. Bucke Society.

ukoff

, D. (1985). The diagnosis of mystical experiences with psychotic

features. Journal of Transpersonal Psychology, 17(2), 155-82.

aslow

, A. (1968). Toward a psychology of being. Princeton: Van

Nostrand.

onroe

, R. (1971). Journeys out of the body. New York: Doubleday.

oody

, R. (1975). Life after life. Atlanta: Mockingbird Books.

oody

, R. (1988). The light beyond. New York: Bantam.

urphy

, M. & D

onovan

, S. (1989). The physical and psychological effects

of meditation.

San Rafael, CA: Esalen Institute.

arada

. (1980). The Buddha and his teachings. Kandy, Sri Lanka: Bud

dhist Publishing Society.

ipinsky

-N

axon

, M. (1993). The nature of shamanism. Albany, NY:

SUNY Press.

oll

, R. (1983). Shamanism and schizophrenia: A state specific approach

to the “schizophrenia metaphor” of shamanic states. American Eth
nologist, 10,

443-59.

Phenomenological Mapping

oll

, R. (1985) Mental imagery cultivation as a cultural phenomenon:

The role of visions in shamanism. Current Anthropology, 26, 443-51.

ovak

, P. (1987). Attention. In M. Eliade (Ed.), The encyclopedia of

religion, Vol. I.

(pp. 501-09). New York: Macmillan.

yanaponika

, Thera. (1976). Ahhidharma studies. Kandy, Sri Lanka:

Buddhist Publication Society.

Oplkr, M. (1961). On Devereux’s discussion ofUte shamanism. American

Anthropologist, 63,

1091-93.

Ott, J. (1993). Pharmacotheon: Entheogenic drugs, their plant sources

and history.

Kennewick, WA: Natural Products Co.

attison

, E.M., K

aiian

, J. & H

urd

, G. (1986). Trance and possession

states. In B. Wolman & M. Ullman (Eds.), Handbook of states of

consciousness

(pp. 286-310). New York: Van Nostrand Reinhold.

ekala

, R. & V. K

umar

. (1986). The differential organization of the

structures of consciousness during hypnosis and a baseline condition.

The Journal of Mind and Behavior,

7, 515-40.

elletier

, K. & G

arfield

, C. (1976). Consciousness: East and West. New

York: Harper & Row.

erry

, J. (1986). Spiritual emergence and renewal. ReVision, 8(2), 33-40.

eters

, L. (1989). Shamanism: Phenomenology of a spiritual discipline.

The Journal of Transpersonal Psychology, 21(2),

115-37.

eters

, L. & P

rice

-W

illiams

, D. (1980). Towards an experiential analysis

of shamanism. American Ethnologist, I, 397-418.

eters

, L. & P

rice

-W

illiams

, D. (1983). A phenomenological view of

trance. Transcultural Psychiatric Research Review, 20, 5-39.

rabhavananda

, S. & I

sherwood

, C. (1953). How to know God: The yoga

aphorisms of Patanjali.

Hollywood, CA: Vedanta.

Dass. (1990). Journey of awakening: A meditator’s guidebook (2nd

ed.). New York: Bantam.

adin

. P. (1972). The trickster. New York: Schocken Books.

eichel

-D

olmatoff

, G. (1987). Shumanism and art of the Eastern

Tukanoan Indians.

Netherlands: E.J. Brill, Leiden.

ing

, K. (1980). Life at death. New York: Coward, McCann & Geoghe-

gan.

ing

, K. (1984). Heading toward omega: In search of the meaning of the

near-death experiences.

New York: William Morrow.

ing

, K. (1986). Near-death experiences: Implications for human evolu

tion and planetary transformation. ReVision, 8(2), 75-86.

ing

, K. (1993). The near death experience. In R. Walsh & F. Vaughan

(Eds.), Paths beyond ego: The transpersonal vision (pp. 195-202). Los
Angeles: J.P. Tarcher.

ogers

, S. (1982). The shaman. Springfield: C.C. Thomas.

othberg

, D. (1989). Understanding mysticism: Transpersonal theory and

the limits of contemporary epistemological frameworks. ReVision,

12(2),

5-21.

othberg

, D. (1990). Contemporary epistemology and the study of mysti

cism. In R. Forman (Ed.), The problem of pure consciousness: Mysti
cism and philosophy

(pp. 163-210). New York: Oxford University

Press.

cholem

, G. 1961. Major trends in Jewish mysticism. New York: Schocken.

engstan

(Third Zen Patriarch) (R. Clark, Transl.) (1975). Verses on the

faith mind.

Sharon Springs: Zen Center.

The Journal of Transpersonal Psychology, 1995, Vol. 27, No. 1

hapiro

, D. (1980). Meditation: Self regulation strategy and altered state

of consciousness.

New York: Aldine.

hapiro

, D. & W

alsh

, R. (Eds.) (1984). Meditation: Classic and contem

porary perspectives.

New York: Aldine.

hirokogorofk

, S. (1935). Psychomental complex of the Tungus. London:

Kegan Paul, Trench, Trubnor.

iegel

, R. & H

irschman

, A. (1984). Hashish near-death experiences.

Anabiosis, 10,

69-86.

mith

, H. (1964). Do drugs have religious import? The Journal of Philoso

phy LX1,

517-30.

mith

, 11. (1987). Is there a perennial philosophy? Journal of the American

Academy of Religion, 55,

553-66.

tace

, W. (1987). Mysticism and philosophy. Los Angeles: J.P. Tarcher.

art

, C. (1983). States of consciousness. El Cerrito, CA: Psychological

Processes.

art

, C. (1986). Waking up: Overcoming the obstacles to human poten

tial.

Boston: New Science Library/Shambhala.

art

, C. (Ed.) (1992). Transpersonal psychologies (3rd ed.). New York:

Harper Collins.

nderhill

, E. (1974). Mysticism. New York: New American Library.

aughan

, F. (1995a). The inward arc: Healing in psychotherapy and

spirituality.

2nd ed. Nevada City, CA: Blue Dolphin.

aughan

, F. (1995b). Shadows of the sacred: Seeing through spiritual

illusions.

Wheaton, IL: Quest.

alsh

, R. (1977). Initial meditative experiences: Part I. Journal of Trans

personal Psychology, 9(2),

151-92.

Walsh, R. (1978). Initial meditative experiences: Part II. Journal of Trans

personal Psychology,

70(1), 1-28.

alsh

, R. (1980). The consciousness disciplines and the behavioral sci

ences: Questions of comparison and assessment. American Journal of
Psychiatry, 137,

665-75.

alsh

, R. (1988). Two Asian psychologies and their implications for

Western psychotherapists. American Journal of Psychotherapy, Vol.

XLII,

543-60.

alsh

, R. (1989a). What is a shaman? Definition, origin and distribution.

The Journal of Transpersonal Psychology, 21(1),

1-11.

alsh

, R. (1989b). Shamanism and early human technology: The technol

ogy of transcendence. Revision, 12(1), 34-40.

alsh

, R. (1989c). The shamanic journey: Experiences, origins, and

analogues. ReVision, 12(2), 25-32.

alsh

, R. (1989d). Can Western philosophers understand Asian philoso

phies? Crosscurrents XXXIX, 281-99.

alsh

, R. (1990). The spirit of shamanism. Los Angeles: J.P. Tarcher.

alsh

, R. (1991). Shamanic cosmology. ReVision, 13(2), 86-100.

alsh

, R. & V

aughan

, F. (Eds.) (1993). Paths beyond ego: The transper

sonal vision.

Los Angeles: J.P. Tarcher.

ilber

, K. (1980). The Atman project. Wheaton, IL: Quest.

ilber

, K. (1983). Eye to eye. Garden City: Anchor/Doubleday.

ilber

, K.., E

ngler

, J. & B

rown

, D. (Eds.) (1986). Transformations of

consciousness: Conventional and contemplative perspectives on devel
opment.

Boston: New Science Library/Shambhala.

Phenomenological Mapping

to  his  doctor.  His  doctor,  after  a  thorough  examination,  said  there
was  nothing  wrong  with  him.  A  psychologist  friend  he  talked  to
said  something  like,  “Well,  why  don’t  you  relax  and  just  experi
ence  whatever  it  is.”  As  he  was  not  a  religious  person  and  had  no

interest in or knowledge of metaphysics, occultism, or the like, this

was  not  an  easy  suggestion  to  follow.  Since  there  didn’t  seem  to  be
anything  physically  wrong,  he  finally  relaxed  and  every  once  in  a
while,  usually  when  he  was  lying  down,  his  body  would  start

vibrating, not externally, but feeling as though there were some

electrical vibrations and sensations inside.

MONROE’S OUT-OF-THE-BODY EXPERIENCE

In the spring of 1958 he had his first out-of-the-body experience,

his  first  OOBE.  OOBE  is  the  acronym  I  coined  to  describe  out-of-
the-body  experiences,  not  knowing  I  was  creating  some  terrible
semantic  karma,  because  after  that  people  began  to  tell  me  about
their  “Oobies.”  I  never  thought  it  would  be  pronounced!  I  discov
ered  last  week  that  the  computer  industry  is  now  using  OOBE  to
refer  to  the  “out-of-thc-box  experience,”  that  primary  experience
you have when you bring your system home (and it might or might
not  function).  Symbolically  this  might  be  relevant  because  the
human  experience  is  sort  of  like  getting  out  of  the  “box”  of  the
body.

Anyway, in the spring of 1958 he described his first OOBE

. He

wrote:

If I thought I faced incongruities at this point, it was because I did not

know what was yet to come. Some four weeks later, when the vibra
tions came again, I was duly cautious about attempting to move an arm
or leg. It was late at night, and I was lying in bed before sleep. My wife
had fallen asleep beside me. There was a surge that seemed to be in my
head, and quickly the condition spread through my body. It all seemed
the  same.  As  I  lay  there  trying  to  decide  how  to  analyze  the  thing  in
another  way, I  just happened to  think  how nice it would be to take a
glider up and fly the next afternoon (my hobby at that time). Without
considering  any  consequences—not  knowing  there  would  be  any—I
thought of the pleasure it would bring.

After a moment, I became aware of something pressing against my
shoulder. Half-curious, I reached back and up to feel what it was. My
hand encountered a smooth wall. I moved my hand along the wall the
length of my arm, and it continued smooth and unbroken.

My senses fully alert, I tried to see in the dim light. It was a wall, and 1
was lying against it with my shoulder. I immediately reasoned that I

had gone to sleep and fallen out of bed. (I had never done so before, but

all sorts of strange things were happening, and falling out of bed was
quite possible.)

The Journal of Transpersonal Psychology, 1995, Vol. 27, No. 1

Monroe s

first

OOBE

Then I looked again. Something was wrong. This wall had no windows,

no furniture against it, no doors. It was not a wall in my bedroom. Yet

somehow it was familiar. Identification came instantly. It wasn’t a wall;
it was the ceiling. I was floating against the ceiling, bouncing gently
with any movement I made. I rolled in the air, startled, and looked

down. There, in the dim light below me, was the bed. There were two

figures lying in the bed. To the right was my wife. Beside her was
someone else. Both seemed asleep.

This was a strange dream, I thought. I was curious. Whom would I

dream to be in bed with my wife? I looked more closely, and the shock

was intense.

I was the someone on the bed!

My reaction was almost instantaneous. Here I was; there was my body.
I was dying; this was death, and I wasn’t ready to die. Somehow, the
vibrations were killing me. Desperately, like a diver, I swooped down
to my body and dove in. I then felt the bed and the covers, and when I
opened my eyes, I was looking at the room from the perspective of my
bed.

What had  happened?  Had  I truly almost died?  My heart was beating
rapidly, but not unusually so. I moved my arms and legs. Everything
seemed  normal.  The  vibrations  had  faded  way.  I  got  up  and  walked
around  the  room,  looked  out  the  window,  and  smoked  a  cigarette
(Monroe, 1971, pp. 27-28).

Again he showed a perfectly appropriate, normal reaction; he went

to see a physician. Once again, after thorough physical examina
tion, nothing was found to be wrong with him.

NINE HYPOTHESES

What do we make of the OOBE? I’ll draw on thousands of such

experiences that I have read and examined over the years, and I’ll
draw primarily on the “classical” OOBE as a case of being out of

your body experientially but with consciousness staying normal,

i.e.,  ordinary,  thus  ruling  out  most  near-death  experiences  because
they  have  an  altered  state  of  consciousness  aspect  as  well  as  the
OOBE  aspect.  To  stimulate  our  thinking,  I’ll  look  at  some  nine
hypotheses as to how we might explain or think about an OOBE.

First Hypothesis

The first, of course, is that it is some kind of craziness or mental

illness. There is simply no evidence at all, however, that someone

having had an OOBE is necessarily psychopathological. We have

millions of ordinary people who have had OOBEs. Some mentally
ill people have them also, but that doesn't make the OOBE inher
ently pathological.

a
normal
reaction

Toward the Objective Exploration of Non-Ordinary Reality

Second Hypothesis

distinction

between

dreams

and

OOBEs

The second hypothesis we can usually use is that the OOBE is just

a  dream.  The  problem  with  this  hypothesis  is  that,  phenomeno-
logically,  people  who  had  both  dreams  and  OOBEs  say  there  is  no
confusing  them.  They  are  quite  distinct  kinds  of  experiences.  The

primary difference is that the pattern of consciousness in an

OOBE is pretty much like ordinary consciousness. If you experi
enced your mind functioning in a normal waking pattern, but

happened to experience yourself as floating near the ceiling, that’s

what an OOBE would feel like generally. Further, there is an
experiential, sensory reality to the OOBE that generally feels

much  more  intense  than  a  dream,  and,  further,  a  person  has  full
reasoning  ability  during  an  OOBE.  They  can,  for  example,  float
there  near  the  ceiling  and  go  through  all  sorts  of  philosophical  and

scientific arguments about why what they’re experiencing can't

be happening, and yet it keeps right on happening and can be
subjected to scrutiny.

Experientially,  Monroe  distinguished  sharply  between  his  dreams
and  OOBEs.  There’s  a  little  bit  of  published  work  on  brain  wave
patterns  to  emphasize  this  distinction  also.  1  was  able  to  work  with
Monroe  (Tart,  1967)  and  another  talented  OOBE  person  (Tart,

1968a) in the laboratory and found that the pattern the brain waves

showed  is  like  ordinary  dreaming  in  some  ways  but  distinctly
different  in  other  ways.  There  hasn’t  been  a  lot  of  work  published
on  this,  so  I’m  not  going  to  over-generalize  this  psychophysiologi-
cal find.

Third Hypothesis

The  third  hypothesis,  then,  is  that  an  OOBE  is  some  kind  of  special
dream  state,  such  as  a  lucid  dream.  A  lucid  dream  is  an  ordinary
dream  in  which  there  is  a  sudden  shift  in  consciousness  so  that  you

feel  as  if  you  have  your  ordinary  pattern  of  consciousness  avail
able.  You know  your true condition, namely  that  you’re in a dream,
that your making all this up somehow, so there’s concurrent knowl
edge  that  it’s  a  dream,  coupled  with  all  your  ordinary  mental
abilities.

Monroe had had some lucid dreams. Fie distinguished them sharply
from  his  OOBEs.  His  primary  criterion  was  that  in  lucid  dreams  he
could  easily  change  the  actions  and  events  of  the  dream  world
simply  by  willing  it,  whereas  in  his  OOBEs,  he  seemed  to  be  in
places  that  had  rules  of  their  own;  they  weren’t  subject  to  arbitrary
will  on  his  part.  I  should  note as a  side theme, given  the  experience
of  awakening  fully  at  night  yet  being  elsewhere  than  in  your  real

physical body, how you interpret the experience probably depends

The Journal of Transpersonal Psychology, 1995, Vol. 27, No. 1

strongly on your a priori beliefs. Thus some OOBEs may be

mislabeled lucid dreams and vice versa.

Fourth Hypothesis

A fourth hypothesis, then, is that the OOBE is a special state but is
completely subjective. This is certainly true sometimes, for some

OOBEs. When I was doing hypnosis research years ago, for ex

ample,  I  had  a  well-trained  group  of  hypnotic  subjects  to  whom  I
gave  suggestions  that  they  have  OOBEs.  They  had  extremely  vivid
experiences  of  being  out  of  their  bodies.  As  part  of  the  experience,
however,  I  told  them  to  float  across  the  hall  into  the  next  room  and
tell  me  what  was  in  there.  Even  though  they  vividly  experienced
being in that room, their descriptions of w'hat was in that room bore
no  particular  relationship  to  what  was  actually  there.  So  an  OOBE
can  certainly  be  experientially  real,  at  least  in  some  cases,  without

it implying it is objectively real in any sense.

For a long time Monroe wanted to believe that his OOBEs were

just some kind of special subjective kind of state. That was the only

acceptable  explanation  for  a  normal,  American  businessman  who
valued  his  sanity—except  that  his  OOBEs  seemed  so  damn  real!
He  kept  coming  back  to  that.  Many  people  who  have  OOBEs  work
very hard afterwards to explain away the fact that they seem so real,
reasoning  that  since  it  can't  be  real,  the  feeling  of  its  immediate
reality  must  be  some  kind  of  illusion.  As  a  psychologist,  I’ve
always  been  fascinated  by  the  way  we  try  to  talk  ourselves  out  of
the reality of unusual experiences.

Fifth Hypothesis

So  let’s  look  as  a  fifth  hypothesis,  then,  that  in  an  OOBE,  the  mind
is  somehow  literally  out  of  the  body  and  is  located  somewhere  else
in  the  physical  world  from  where  the  physical  body  is.  This  is  a

traditional  explanation  in  terms  of  human  history,  in  that  people
who  have  had  OOBEs  usually  say,  “Yes,  my  mind  went  out  of  my
body.  It  was  someplace  else.”  This  was  the  “common  sense”  expla
nation  before  we  developed  belief  systems  that  ruled  out  that

obvious interpretation of experience. This kind of experience is
also the basis of a belief in a soul. People have a direct experience of
mind being, existing outside the body.

Could the OOBE possibly be objectively real? Let me mention
another experience of Monroe’s:

Sept. 10, 1958 Afternoon. Again, I floated upward, with the intent of

visiting Dr. Bradshaw and his wife. Realizing that Dr. Bradshaw was ill

Monroe s

initial

belief
about

OOBEs

Toward the Objective Exploration of Non-Ordinary Reality

way

for

Monroe

check

validity

in bed with a cold, I thought I would visit him in the bedroom which
was a room I had not seen in his house, and if I could describe it later,
could thus document my visit.... Then I came upon Dr. and Mrs.

Bradshaw. They were outside the house, and for a moment I was

‘ confused, as I had reached them before I got to the house. I didn’t

understand this because Dr. Bradshaw was supposed to be in bed. Dr.
Bradshaw was dressed in light overcoat and hat, his wife in a dark coat

and all dark clothes. They were coming toward me, so I stopped. They

seemed in good spirits and walked past me unseeing, in the direction of
a smaller building, like a garage, Brad trailing behind as they walked.

I floated around in front of them, waving, trying to get their attention
without  result.  Then, without turning  his  head, I thought  I heard  Dr.
Bradshaw  say  to  me,  “Well,  I  see  you  don’t  need  help  any  more.”
Thinking  I  had  made  contact,  1  dove  back  into  the  ground  (?),  and
returned  to  the  office,  rotated  into  the  body,  and  opened  my  eyes.
Everything was just as I had left it. The vibration was still present, but
I felt I had enough for one day.

We phoned Dr. and Mrs. Bradshaw that evening. I made no statement
other than to ask where they were between four and five that afternoon.

.. . Mrs. Bradshaw .. . stated that roughly at four twenty-five they

were walking out of the house toward the garage. She was going to the
post office, and Dr. Bradshaw had decided that perhaps some fresh air

might help him and had dressed and gone along. ... I had come back
from my trip to them at approximately four twenty-seven. I asked what

they were wearing. Mrs. Bradshaw stated she was wearing black slacks

and a red sweater which was covered with a black car coat. Dr.
Bradshaw was wearing a light hat and a light-colored topcoat. However

neither "saw” me in any way, or were aware of my presence. Dr.

Bradshaw had no memory of saying anything to me. The great point is

that I had expected to find him in bed, and I didn’t (Monroe, 1971, pp.

46-47).

Monroe  had  a  lot  of  experiences  like  this  over  the  years,  although
they  were  greatly  outnumbered  by  the  experiences  where  he
seemed  to  be in  the  physical  world  while  out  of  the  body,  but  there
was  simply  no  way  of  checking  its  validity.  An  example  is  finding
yourself  on an  unknown street comer  in the middle  of the  night, for
a  minute,  and  then  it’s  over—an  event  very  difficult  to  validate.  In
any  case,  Monroe  came  to  believe  that,  sometimes  at  least,  he  was
literally  out  of  his  body  and  mentally/perceptually  located  at  some
other  location  in  the  physical  world.  He  could  verify  his  percep
tions against a later physical check of that location.

Yet Monroe also frequently had incorrect elements as part of his

perception. During the above OOBE, for example, he distinctly

heard his friend, Dr. Bradshaw, tell him that he realized that he was

perceived as present in an out-of-the-body fashion. But Dr. Brad

shaw  had  no  memory  of  this  whatsoever.  So,  even  in  cases  where
sometimes  there’s  striking  correspondence  with  the  physical
world,  you  can  also  have  things  that  don’t  match.

The Journal of Transpersonal Psychology, 1995, Vol. 27. No. 1

I once did a long-distance study with Monroe (Tart, 1967), telling

him  that  at  some  random  time  in  the  next  eight  hours  I  would
mentally  try  to  help  him  visit  my  home  across  the  country,  in  an
OOBE,  and  that  he  should  write  an  account  of  any  experience  he
had.  His  account  of  the  experience  was  totally  wrong  in  terms  of
the  description  of  my  home,  which  he  had  never  seen.  His  timing
was  within  the  minute  of  the  random  time  that  came  up  for  feeling
his  visit  there.  I  hardly  know what  to  make of that.  Similarly, in  the

laboratory studies I was able to do with him, he couldn’t quite do

the definitive sorts of things involving cognizing some target in the

physical world that he couldn’t see through normal channels, and

yet he correctly reported unexpected elements. These results were
hard to dismiss and yet too limited to prove anything conclusively.

Sixth Hypothesis

A sixth hypothesis is that OOBEs are just subjective; it’s just
chance correspondences with the physical world that create a false

impression  that  the  mind  was  actually  “out.”  That  may  certainly  be
the  case  sometimes.  You  can  have  purely  subjective  OOBEs,  as  I
illustrated  in  describing  my  hypnotic  OOBEs  above.  As  1  have
said,  though,  Monroe  had  many  evidential  OOBEs  over  the  years

that convinccd him that sometimes he actually was at the out-of-

body location. There are many cases of spontaneous OOBEs with
other people that are like that.

To  give  you  an  example  that  made  a  great  impression  on  me,  some
years  ago  (Tart,  1968)  I  met  a  young  woman  who  had  had  OOBEs
spontaneously  all  of  her  life  since  childhood.  She  had  thought  they
were  a  normal  part  of  sleep,  that  you  go  to  sleep,  you  dream,  you
float  near  the  ceiling,  look  at  your  boring  body  lying  asleep  in  bed
for a minute, dream, get up, and go to school. I was able to have her

spend some time in the laboratory where I measured her brain wave

and other physiological activity. Also, after she was in bed, I would
put a five-digit random number on a shelf up near the ceiling and

tell her that if she happened to float out, “Please memorize the

number, wake up, and tell me about it.”

Miss  Z,  as  1  called  her,  had  several  OOBEs  over  her  four  nights  in
the  laboratory  but  usually  reported  that  she  had  not  been  able  to
control  her  position  and  so  had  not  been  able  to  see  the  target
number.  On  the  one  occasion  she  said  she had  been  able  to  float  up
and  see  the  number,  she  correctly  told  me  that  the  number  was
25132.  To  guess  a  five-digit  number  correctly  on  the  first  try  has

one  hundred  thousand  to  one  odds  against  chance.  There  aren’t  a
lot  of  parapsychological  studies  with  this  kind  of  level  of  results,
but,  on  the  other  hand,  studying  OOBEs  is  not  exactly  a  national
priority.

Monroe

in
the
laboratory

studies

Toward the Objective Exploration of Non-Ordinary Reality

Seventh Hypothesis

A  seventh  hypothesis is that the  “out of  the body” is just subjective,
the  experiencer’s  mind  is  still  “in”  her  brain  conjuring  up  an
illusion  of  being  “out,”  but  occasionally  there’s  some  unwitting

ESP involved in the OOBE, and the hallucinatory details happen to

correspond  to  the  physical  world.  This  criticism  has  been  made  of
my  study  with  Miss  Z.  People  would  ask,  “Did  you  know  the
number?”  and  when  I  would  reply  “Yes,”  they  say,  “Oh,  it  was  just
telepathy.”  The  experimental  methodology  is  not  advanced  enough
to rule out mere telepathy at this point!

questions

coming

out of

computer

generated

virtual

reality

So it is possible to conceptualize OOBEs as “it is still all in your

head,” as it were, but that sometimes there are extrasensory ele
ments that make that otherwise illusory construction of being “out”

work  well.  This  raises  interesting  psychological  and  philosophical
questions  about  how  you  ever  decide  “where”  you  are  located,
questions  which  will  become  especially  interesting  with  the  rapid

advances  of  computer-generated  virtual  reality.  In  virtual  reality,
you  can  have  the  very  real  experience  of  being  someplace  else  from
where  your  physical  body  is,  a  fascinating  phenomenon  I  have

discussed elsewhere (Tart, 1991).

Eighth Hypothesis

Two  more  hypotheses  may  be  considered.  Number  eight  is  that  in
some  OOBEs,  the  person  is  really  “out”  but  selectively  tuned  to
perceive  both  physical  and  perhaps  “nonphysical  reality.”  This
experience  is  associated  with  a  curious  phenomena  such  as  Monroe
(and  others)  have  experienced,  namely  visiting  someone  while  out
of  the  body  and  correctly  describing  the  physical  location  that  was
unknown  to  the  visitor,  while  having  his  experience  of  the  person
visited  communicating  back  to  him.  Later,  however,  in  ordinary
consciousness,  the  person  says,  “Why,  you  must  be  crazy!  Yes,  I
was  at  that  location  during  that  time,  but  no,  I  had  no  awareness  of
you  being  there.”  This  kind  of  experience  was  very  frustrating  to
Monroe  and  raised  the  questions,  “Was  he  crazy?  Were  they  crazy?
What was going on?”

Finally,  just  to  make  things  a  little  more  complicated:  some  of
Monroe’s  OOBEs  seemed  to  take  him  to  a  nonphysical  reality  that
seemed  to  have  an  independent  existence.  So,  for  instance  in  late

1958, he writes:

11/5/58 Afternoon. The vibrations came quickly and easily. ... I tried

to lift out the physical with no result. Whatever thought or combination
I tried, I remained confined right where I was. I then remembered the
rotating trick, which operates just as if you are turning over in bed. I

The Journal of Transpersonal Psychology, 1995, Vol. 27, No. I

started to turn and recognized that my physical was not “turning” with

me. I moved slowly; after a moment I was “face down,” or in direct

opposition to the placement of my physical body. The moment I

reached this  180°  position  ...  there  was  a  hole.  That’s  the  only  way to
describe it.  To my  senses, it  seemed  to be  a hole in  a wall which was
about two feet thick  and stretched  endlessly in  all directions. . . . The
periphery of the hole was just precisely the shape of my physical body.

... I moved cautiously through the hole, holding on to its side...
(Monroe, 1971, 86-87).

During the next couple of years, over a dozen times, Monroe went

through that hole. To him it was a repeatable experiment. He waited

for the vibrations, did the action that created the feeling of rotating

180°, a hole would appear, and he would go through it. The place he

went to had recognizably similar and stable characteristics each
time. He called it, “Locale III.” He could wander around there,

invisible to the inhabitants of that world. Remember, to Monroe,
the reality of Locale III would be like what any of us could

experience  by  stepping  out  of  a  hotel  for  a  few  minutes,  wandering
around,  looking  at  some  things,  and  coming  back.  If  we  went  out
again,  and  looked  at  the  same  area,  it  would  be  pretty  much  the

same place. That’s what it was like for Monroe.

He reported that Locale III had a lot of stable characteristics that

were similar to those of our own, ordinary world. It was a physical
matter world. There were trees, houses, people, artifacts, all the

appurtenances  of  a  reasonably  civilized  society.  There  were  homes,
families,  businesses;  people  worked  for  a  living;  there  were  roads;
vehicles  traveled  on  the  roads,  and  so  forth.  And  yet  it  also  had
quite  stable  characteristics  which  were  not  similar  to  our  world.  For
instance,  he  saw  nothing  that  would  suggest  any  kind  of  electrical
devices.  No  telephones,  no  electric  lights,  no  TV.  He  saw  no
internal  combustion  devices,  nothing  that  looked  like  it  ran  on
gasoline  or  oil  or  anything  like  that.  But  there  was  mechanical
power in use. For example, he reported:

... Careful examination of one of the locomotives that pulled a string of

old-fashioned looking passenger cars showed it to be driven by a steam
engine. The cars appeared to be made of wood, the locomotive of metal,
but of a different shape than our now obsolete types. The track gauge
was much smaller than our standard track spacing, smaller than our
narrow-gauge mountain railways.

I observed the servicing of one of the locomotives in detail. Neither

wood nor coal was used as a thermal source to produce steam. Instead,

large, vatlike containers were carefully slid from under the boiler,
detached, and rolled by small cart into a building with massive thick

walls. The containers had pipelike protuberances extending from the
top. Men, working behind shields, performed the removal, casually

cautious, and did not relax their automatic vigilance until the contain
ers were safely in the building and the door closed. The containers were

Monroe's

Locale III

Toward the Objective Exploration of Non-Ordinary Reality

“hot,” either through heat or radiation. The actions of the technicians all
seemed to indicate the latter.

experiences

felt

real,

clear,

rational

sensory

experience

The streets and roads are different, again principally in size. The "lane”

on which vehicles travel is nearly twice as wide as ours. Their version

of our automobile is much larger. Even the smallest has a single bench

seat that will hold five or six people abreast. ... Wheels are used, but

without inflated tires.... Motive power is contained somewhere in the
rear. Their movement is not very fast, at something like 15 to 20 miles
per hour. Traffic is not heavy ...” (Monroe, 1971, 94-95).

Ninth Hypothesis

What does this mean? Do we need a ninth hypothesis that there is at

least  one  world  that  is  objectively  real  in  its  own  right,  that  appears
physical  in  some  ways  but  is  accessible  only  by  OOBE?  Or  are
there  worlds  that  are  “nonphysical,”  whatever  that  means,  but  that
objectively exist and arc accessible by OOBE?

Now, it would be easy at this point to say, “April Fool!” but I’m

quite  serious  about  this  material.  I  stress  again  that  I  have  no  doubt
about  Monroe’s  veracity,  cautiousness,  and  carefulness  in  trying  to
describe  his  experiences  as  exactly  as  they  happened.  Perhaps  he
was  “crazy”  in  some  sense,  but  if  so,  most  of  us  might  be  much
more  "sane”  if  we  were more like him.  These OOBEs  did  not feel  at
all  dreamlike  to  him.  They  did  not  feel  like  imagination  or  feel
unreal  in  any  sense.  These  were  experiences  which  were  as  real  to
him (and to thousands of other people who have experienced this at
least  occasionally)  as  our  sensory  experience  feels  now'.  Remember

that, in general, his consciousness felt as clear and as rational, as

able to reason, to observe, and the like, as our consciousness feels
right now.

The  conventional  response  to  OOBE  reports  is  that  they  can’t  be
real.  “Let’s  dismiss  them.  This  is  merely  one  person’s  subjectivity,
and  the  author  must  be  some  kind  of  nut  to  present  this  stuff

seriously.” But I think it is more interesting to have a response that

a  physicist  friend  of  mine  did  when  he  heard  Monroe  speak  on  this
many  years  ago.  He  said  to  himself  and  to  me,  “This  is  crazy,  but  if
even  a  small  part  of  this  is  true,  this  is  really  interesting.  ”  Physi
cists  have  known  for  years  that  creative  advances  have  come  from
ignoring  the  “impossibility”  of  some  idea  and  simply  working  with
it because the “impossible” solutions are intellectually interesting.

I  invite  you  to  take  the  attitude  that  his  OOBE  material  is  interest
ing.  Given  this,  what  sort  of  things  could  we  think  about?  Are
things like OOBEs and the concept of other worlds within the realm
of  scientific  and  philosophical  investigation?  Is  this  some  kind  of
subjective  but  archetypal  domain  built  into  the  human  brain?  Docs

The Journal of Transpersonal Psychology, 1995, Vol. 27, No. 1

the  manufacturer  of  the  bio-computer  pre-load  this  stuff  in  Read
Only  Memory,  to  use  a  modem  analogy  for  it?  Could  there  be
nonphysical  worlds  that  exist  somewhere  else  in  some  kind  of
objective sense?

I have done a lot of thinking about it over the years, but I am not

going to say much about it because I am more interested in arousing
curiosity.  I’ll  just  briefly  mention  two  lines  of  thought.  First,  how
can  we  train  talented  people  to  independently  try  to  explore  the
world  of  nonphysical  reality?  Clearly,  subjective  biases  and  the
ability  of  consciousness  to  fabricate  in  order  to  reinforce  biases  and
beliefs  can  produce  similar  subjective  experiences.  But  we  know  a

little bit about trying to reduce the kind of bias that can occur.
Second, what is the nature of human consciousness that can have

OOBEs?  So,  I  invite  you  to  take  the  interesting  route,  as  the
physicists  say.  How  do  we  study  such  experiences?  What  can  we
make  of  them?  How  can  we  distinguish  between  the  strengths  of
the  various  kinds  of  hypotheses  I  have  suggested,  for  describing
OOBEs and similar experiences?

NOTE

OOBE is now generally shortened to OBE in the parapsychological literature, on

the theory that the “of” in Out-of-the-Body Experience would generally not be
capitalized.

REFERENCES

Monroe, R.A. (1971). Journeys out of the body. Garden City: Anchor

Books.

Monroe, R.A. (1985). Far journeys. New York: Doubleday.
M

onroe

, R.A. (1994). Ultimate journey. New York: Doubleday.

Tart, C. (1967). A second psychophysiological study of out-of-the-body

experiences in a gifted subject. International Journal of Parapsychol
ogy, 9,

251-58.

art

, C. (1968). A psychophysiological study of out-of-the-body experi

ences in a selected subject. Journal of the American Society for
Psychical Research, 62,

3-27.

art

, C. (1991). Multiple personality, altered states and virtual reality:

The world simulation process approach. Dissociation. 3. 222-33.

Requests for reprints to: Charles T. Tart, ITP, 744 San Antonio Rd., Palo Alto, CA
94303.

invitation

Toward the Objective Exploration of Non-Ordinary Reality

return

rituals

and

their

underlying

myths

peoples were prohibited from renewing their relationship with the

cosmos and each other through their rituals (and the intended

meaning of the symbols embedded within the rituals are being lost
because the people are prohibited from speaking their language)

(Laughlin  &  d’Aquili,  1979).  They  arc  no  longer  within  the  safety
of  the  context  of  the  rituals  in  which  connectedness  with  the
community  is  facilitated  (Imber-Black,  1986).  This  marks  the
beginning  of  a  breakdown  of  an  ideology  that  had  sustained  them
(Laughlin  &  d’Aquili,  1979).  With  no  one  there  to  ensure  their

safety and success in going through the ritual, to celebrate with

them once they succeed in making the transition, or to support and
comfort them when they do not, a loss of traditional social identity

is more likely, and assimilation then becomes possible (Laughlin &

d’Aquili, 1979). Hence, it makes sense that to reverse this process,
a return to rituals and their underlying myths could encourage and

facilitate a reconnection of indigenous peoples, their culture, and

the universe (Epes Brown, 1989). The purpose of this research is to

examine  the  role  of  rituals  in  the  lives  of  one  Native  woman  and
five  native  men  from  Edmonton,  Alberta,  Canada.  The  research
question  being  asked  is,  “What  is  the  experience  of  Native  Indians
who have made a decision to learn about their Native rituals?”

APPROACH TO THE INQUIRY

Procedure

The Native style of communication is to tell stories; to present the
data in any other way would be an injustice. In each case, stories

told may be described as self stories in which the storytellers talk

about  critical  life  experiences  (Denzin,  1989).  The  methodological
framework  of  this  study  was  an  adaptation  of  procedures  as
sociated  with  grounded  theory  (Glaser,  1978,  1992).  Emphasis

throughout  the  study  was  on  “emergence”  versus  “forcing”  of
theory  (Glaser,  1992),  and  we  chose  to  not  only  identify  a  core
process  in  the  interviews,  but  also  to  retain  the  integrity  of  the

individual stories.

Participants

The interviewees gave me permission to give them a pseudonym

when quoting their personal stories. These names are Robear (a
Huron Indian from Quebec who also has French and Irish blood),

Andrew (Dene Indian from the Northwest Territories), Tuuk (an

Ojibway Indian from Ontario), Dancing Cloud (a mixed-blooded
Indian who calls himself a “Walker among the three worlds”: the

Native, the Non-Native, and the Mixed blood), Ted (a mixed-

blooded Cree Indian), and Rose (a Cree Indian). All were contacted

The Journal of Transpersonal Psychology, 1995, Vol. 27, No. I

with the help of friends and were chosen on the basis of their past

participation in Native rituals and ceremonies. Issues of informed

consent, confidentiality, voluntary participation, and the right of

the individual to withdraw from the research at any point without
prejudice were dealt with.

Nature of the Interview

The  interview  was  conducted  so  that  the  Native  way  of  communi
cating  would  be  respected.  Specifically,  I*  began  the  interview  by
establishing  a  context  that  would  encourage  this  individual  to
reflect  on  Native  rituals.  Since  my  interest  in  particular  was  on  the

process experienced by the individual in rediscovering his/her
Native rituals, I used the metaphor of the “journey” to encourage

him/her  to  focus  on  that  process.  Realizing  that  the  Native  style  of
communication  tended  to  be  non-confrontational  and  indirect,  and
that  silence  was  also  important,  I  used  the  narrative  form  of  inter
viewing  in  which  I  asked  them  to  tell  me  their  story,  using  the
following  as  a  guide:  1)  What  are  the  circumstances  that  encour

aged  you  to  learn  more  about  your  Native  rituals?;  2)  What  are  the
circumstances  that  encouraged  you  to  participate  in  Native  ritu
als?;  3)  Tell  me  about  the  impact  that  this  re-discovery  has  made  in
your  life.  How  has  it  affected  your  life?;  4)  Tell  me  about  the
experiences  you  have  had  (both  positive  and  negative);  5)  Would
you encourage other Native people to rediscover their rituals?

the

Native
style

communication

FINDINGS

The following stories

are about the human struggle to become

whole with the help of culture and tradition—to “come home.”
Although Rose is the only female in the sample, her story was not
substantially different from the others.

The Core Category: ‘“Coming Home’ to my Self”

The process involved in rediscovering one’s Native rituals is con

ceptualized as ‘“coming home’ to my self,” a phrase used by
several interviewees to describe their personal journeys. The com

ponents of “‘coming home’ to my self” are 1) exposure to Native

ways of knowing and healing; 2) dealing with the fear with the
unknown; 3) healing through the rituals; and 4) evaluating changes
within oneself.

* The principal author, Sandra Diaz, conducted the interviews. Both authors per
formed the analysis.

Rediscovering Native Rituals

1) Exposure to Native Ways of Knowing and Healing

Learning about Native ways of knowing and healing was not a

conscious decision for all the interviewees. Tuuk, Dancing Cloud,

and Rose did not consciously plan to be at events that had to do

with Native traditions. More often than not, their attendance at

these  events  was  serendipitous.  Movement  towards  Native  cultural
ways  started  with  their  exposure  to  the  Native  world  in  some  form
without  any  real  commitment  to  identifying  with  it.  Tuuk  talked
about  going  to  college  and  being  exposed  to  people  involved  in
their  Native  culture,  after  being  away  from  it  since  leaving  the
reserve to go to high school. He said, “1 was just around people that
were  involved  in  their  culture.  I  really  didn’t  pay  too  much  atten
tion.”  Dancing  Cloud  talked  about  connecting  with  his  Native  roots
when  he  took  courses  in  Native  American  studies.  He  remembered
watching  a  video  on  Hollywood’s  image  of  the  Indians  and  re
called,  “  In  that  course  as  well  as  in  the  literature  course,  I  remem
ber feeling a lot of anger over how Natives were portrayed, and still
really  it  wasn’t  how  I  was  being  portrayed  because  I  still  didn’t  see
myself  as  part  of  that.”  Rose  talked  about  how  she  ended  up
training  in  a  Native  drug  and  alcohol  treatment  center  through  a

friend who worked there. Although she was exposed to the Native

traditions and Native people, she, too, did not see herself as part of

it  in  the  beginning.  She  recalled,  “...  I’d  seen  all  these  Indians  and
here  I  am  Indian  myself,  and  I  walked  in  there  and  I  thought,  ‘Oh,
my  God!  Look  at  ’em....  I  wouldn’t  be  caught  dead  with  none  of

these.’ And I had a real struggle with that.”

Robear, Andrew, and Ted, on the other hand, consciously planned

to be exposed to Native traditional ways of knowing and healing.

Robear recalled searching for an Elder to help him reconnect with

his roots and said, “My first experience was with a Cree person. He
was an Elder, and I went up to him and talked to him and told him

about  my  situation,  about  wanting  to  find  my  roots  again  and
saying,  well.  I’m  Huron.”  Andrew  recalled  searching  for  Elders
who  could  help  him  understand  his  pain  and  said,  “...  the  loss  of
family  and  relationship  in  a  family,  that  created  a  lot  of  those

anxieties and stuff. So then after that I realized there’s more to it, to

look into it, and so that just led on to get more into trying to find
Elders and people that understood those things.” Ted talked about

going to his first healing circle to reconnect with his roots despite

feeling afraid. He said, “I had an opportunity to spend a weekend

workshop. Big snow storm, so I said, ‘No, forget it’ ... and I was

like,  ‘I  don’t  wanna  do  this.’  But  I  guess  to  a  degree  there  was  an
underlying  thought,  ‘What’s  gonna  happen  there?  1  don’t  know  if  I
wanna  go  there  at  all.’”  Unlike  Robear  and  Andrew,  Ted  did  not
strongly  identify  with  being  Native.  Although  he  had  expressed

wanting to learn more about his roots to get a better sense of who he

was, and had even journeyed out to attend a workshop that would

The Journal of Transpersonal Psychology. 1995, Vol. 2

No. I

searching

for

Elder

bring him closer to his roots, he talked about resisting becoming
emotional during his experience in the healing circle. He recalled,

.. listening to their stories, it’s like ‘Wow,’ so it really got to me

here (points to his heart) . .. [the facilitators] were trying to ...
encourage it but in a gentle manner. ... I just sort of resisted and
shut down. ...”

Meeting Key People

Robear, Andrew, Tuuk, Dancing Cloud, Ted, and Rose did not go
deeper into the Native world all alone. They met key people who

helped  them  become  more  involved  with  the  Native  cultural  cer
emonies  and  rituals.  How  they  met  key  people  varied:  at  work
shops,  at  ceremonies,  at  learning  institutions,  at  work,  through
friends  or  professors,  or  through  a  combination  of  the  above.
Robear,  Andrew,  Tuuk,  and  Dancing  Cloud  connected  with  these
key  people  in  a  special  way,  leading  to  the  feeling  of  an  emotional
connection  to  Native  cultural  ways.  This  emotional  connection
became  an  important  turning  point,  resulting  in  a  deeper  involve
ment in Native traditions. Rose’s turning point came during partici

pation in the ceremonies. Ted talked about the experience of
participating in the ceremony as being “powerful” but not reaching

a turning point that resulted in a deeper involvement in Native

traditions.

Turning Point: Feeling an Emotional Connection with the Native

Cultural Ways Through Exposure to Key People.

Tuuk talked

about how he ended up in a workshop on Native traditions given by
a friend of his from the same reserve. He recalled watching his

friend talk about Native values, beliefs, rituals, and ceremonies,

and  drawing  circles  on  the  flip  chart.  He  remembered  how  much
more comfortable he was with what was being taught as opposed to
what  he  was  taught  about  Roman  Catholic  values  and  beliefs  and
telling  himself,  “I'vefinally  ‘Come  Home’."  He  recalled  it  being
an  emotional  experience  as  he  said,  “I  remember  shedding  tears.
All  this  time  I’ve  been  around,  I  was  never  really  awake.  I  didn’t
feel  comfortable.”  He  remembered  the  feeling  of  belonging  as  he
said,  “...  1  think  that  this  is  where  I  belong.  I  feel  much  more

grounded here

than 1 ever was at the Roman Catholic Church or at

any  of  the  other  institutions.”  Unlike  Tuuk,  Andrew  searched  for
people  who  knew  about  Native  cultural  ways  to  help  him  with  his
feelings  of  “confusion”  and  “  uneasiness”  which  he  believed  had
to  do  with  his  experience  of  going  to  boarding  school.  Listening  to
an  Elder  speak  for  the  first  time  was  an  emotional  experience  for
him:

... I can remember the first time that in my 30s when I heard an Elder

really speak ... up until that time, I had never expressed my emotions,

an
emotional
connection
to

Native
cultural

ways

Rediscovering Native Rituals

and

something in the Elder, the way the Elder had transferred informa

tion, just, it made me feel something, a very powerful feeling.... I was

feeling very emotional, and normally, I would have found a way to hold

back and not express that feeling, but I knew in my mind that wasn’t

something that I should be ashamed of or be afraid of.... I did speak to

him without holding back how I felt.

I cried for the fact that it took me

thirty years to find that.

Robear  also  made  a  deliberate  attempt  to  search  for  someone  to
help  him.  He  searched  for  someone  who  could  teach  him  about
being  Native.  He  talked  about  having  to  travel  West  to  search  for
his  Native  roots  because  his  own  people  have  become  so  assimi

lated that their connection with their traditions are relatively non

existent. He talked about meeting a Cree Elder and said, “After my
encounter with that Elder, we sat and we spoke for a long time. /

was so happy. Ah, Home . . .

then he introduced me to the

sweatlodge.”

Becoming Involved in the Ceremonies and Rituals

Robear,  Andrew,  Tuuk,  Dancing  Cloud,  Ted,  and  Rose  began  to  be
more  involved  with  the  ceremonies  and  rituals  which  became  a
powerful  force  in  bringing  them  deeper  into  the  Native  world.  It
was here that they had to deal with their fear of the unknown. It was
also  here  that  much  of  the  healing  occurred.  By  learning  about  the
traditions  through  their  participation  in  ceremonies  and  rituals,
they  came  face  to  face  with  themselves.  While  Robear,  Andrew,
Tuuk,  and  Dancing  Cloud  felt  a  strong  emotional  connection  with
Native  cultural  ways  when  they  were  exposed  to  key people,  it was

in the involvement in ceremonies and rituals that Rose made an

emotional connection.

Feeling an Emotional Connection with the Native Cultural Wavs
Through Involvement in Native Ceremonies and Rituals

Dancing Cloud talked about going to his Native advisor in a time of

crisis.  It  was  then  that  she  taught  him  about  a  ceremony  called
“smudging.”  He  recalled,  “.  ..  And  there’s  no  words  that  I  can  use
to  explain,  but  when  I  did  that  ceremony,  there  was  some  kind  of
change.

I don’t know how or why. But I felt some kind of connect

edness with something

....” Rose talked about her involvement in

the sweatlodge while she was training at a Native drug and alcohol
treatment center. She recalled, “... we went out for a sweat there,

and it was this woman’s lodge, and I knew somehow that that was
the piece that was missing.. . .

And I knew I belonged there and 1

continued going and today I still go.” Robear remembered the
feeling of awe in his first sweat as he recalled, “... they say you

The Journal of Transpersonal Psychology, 1995, Vol. 27, No. I

“I

was

happy.

Ah,

Home”

always remember the first time in anything. Simple.. .. Yet ...
when it’s so simple, how does awe come into the picture, you
know, versus the big cathedral and stuff like that.”

Ted’s  experience  was  different.  He  talked  about  his  first  experi
ence  in  being  part  of  a  healing  circle  in  the  first  night  of  a  weekend
workshop  he  attended  but  never  returning  for  the  rest  of  it.  He
recalled,  ..  So  I  guess  for  me  bccause  it  was  new,  it  was  really

scary ... because it was just my first time ... meeting all these
different people ... all strangers.... It was so powerful. You could

feel everything in the room. ”

2) Dealing with the Fear of the Unknown

Needless to say, becoming a part of the Native world involved

feelings of fear because the Native world was an unknown. Going

to a ceremony for the first time was not an easy experience for

Robear, Andrew, Tuuk, Dancing Cloud, Ted, and Rose. Being

novices, the ceremonies were ultimately a mystery to them. They
did not know what was going to happen or what it was about.

Dancing Cloud, Tuuk, and Andrew talked about going through

periods of self-doubt. Robear, Rose, and Ted talked about their fear
of not being accepted by the other Native people.

Experiencing Self-doubt

Dancing  Cloud  recalled  his  first  sweat  lodge  experience.  He  did  not
know  anything  about  it  and  called  himself  “a  naive  urban  Indian.”
When  he  went  to  the  reserve  where  it  was  being  held,  he  did  not
know  anyone.  He  said,  “I  felt  scared  as  hell.  Hell,  they’re  Indi

ans. . .. And my friend wasn’t there .. . about five or ten minutes

before we were supposed to go into the sweat, he pulls in ...” He

recalled his friend saying to him before he went into the sweat

lodge that he was no different from the other Indians. His friend

said to him, “When you go in there, just experience it for what it is.

Don’t question it.” He recalled, “... So ever, ever getting deeper

without ever having any kind of plan but I remember that I felt like
I

belonged. I wasn’t judged. It’s like at that time nobody says, ‘You

don’t  belong  here.  You’re  white....’  Nobody  said  anything.”
Dancing  Cloud  also  talked  about  his  experience  of  self-doubt  when
he  participated  in  the  Sun  Dance.  He  recalled,  “I  remember  stand

ing there with my pipe towards the end of the row ... figuring,
‘What the hell am I doing here?’ And the message came extremely

quickly, ‘You belong here. You always were meant to be here.

You're home again.

Tuuk talked about his experience of self

doubt when he went to his first fast and sweatlodgc in the Kootenay
Plains:

Rediscovering Native Rituals

felt

like

belonged. "

They were all saying, “Well, there’s fasting. Do you want to come?”
“Fasting? What do you do?” “Just come,” he says, “You’ll discover it

when you get there.” So I jumped in my car... and we drove into the
sunset.... So, I was, “O.k., here we go,” and I haven’t the faintest idea

why I’m doing this. All I know is that everybody else is doing it. So I’ll

... hell, I might as well get right into it, too.... I remember... people

praying and I was praying. I don’t know why I was there. I was praying
and 1 didn’t know what I was praying for.... Anyway, we were in the

fast four days, and I thought, “This is ridiculous. What am I doing?
Why do you want to do this?”

Andrew recalled his fear of going to his first fast:

So that (the fast) was my first really, beside the sweat, the first

ceremony  I  participated  where  I  became  more  involved....  I  didn’t
really  understand  it  but  it...  I  felt  better.  I  felt  good  that  I  made  that
connection, so  1 made  a commitment next  year  to want to fast. .. one
thing led to another and I realized it’s something I had to do ... when

I’m afraid of something, my tendency is to attack it, to get into it, and I
know I was afraid to go to the fast but ... at the same time it was
something that I wanted to experience.

Fear of Not Being Accepted

Robear,  Rose,  and  Ted  talked  about  their  fear  of  not  being  accepted
by  other  Native  people.  Robear  talked  about  his  fear  of  not  being
accepted  because  he  was  “white-skinned.”  He  talked about how the
rituals helped him deal with that:

From my experience, the journey has been. I’d call it an arduous

journey. Things don’t come easy, especially when you’re white

skinned.  To  find  one’s  roots,  it  was  scary  too.  Scary  in  a  sense,  am  I
gonna  be  accepted?  And  it’s  still  part  of  that  process,  still  of  being
accepted, you know. It never really ends ’cuz you’ll always have I think
ethnocentricity  within  any  group....  I  expect  to  go  on  a  Vision  Seek
this summer and then later to a Sun Dance. I’m apprehensive and yet
I’m  excited.  Apprehensive  because  again  we’re  back  to  two  worlds.
Down  in  Quebec  everyone  is  light-skinned,  so  there  isn’t  a  problem,
but when  you get  up  here, that  becomes a problem.  I always  have to
deal with that in my mind whether I’m accepted or not. Once I get into
a sweatlodge or smoke the pipe, then 1 know that I am part of it. That

fear goes away.

Rose  recalled  her  fears  of  not  being  accepted  at  the  sweat  lodge  as
she  said,  “...  A  lot  of  times  I’d  go  there  and  I’d  feel  like  the  women
didn’t  want  me  there,  that  they  knew  what  I  did  in the  past.  .  .  and

they weren’t gonna love me and they weren’t gonna accept me.”

All except Ted continued to participate in the ceremonies despite

the fear and doubt. Ted has just begun his journey. Unlike the

others who have the support of other Native people, Ted does not

The Journal of Transpersonal Psychology, 1995, Vol. 27, No. 1

how

the

ritual

helped

him

have much contact with Native people. The person who is his

support system is his therapist who is a non-Native person. He said,

“I don’t really have a lot of contact with other Natives. In more

ways than one, I actually try to stay away from other Native people.

That’s just my own little inner personal problem that I have with
that.” He talked about wanting to know who he is as a Native

person  but  at  the  same  time  feeling  afraid  of  not  being  accepted  by
other  Native  people  given  that  he  was  raised  in  “white  suburbia.”
He said,  “It’s like being Native but not Native, trying to understand
what Native is with groups of other Natives. How are they going to
look  at  me?  I’ll  still  be  that  different  person.  I  wanna  try  to  fit  in
here. ...”

3) Healing through the Rituals

As  they  learned  more  about  what  it  meant  to  be  Native  through
ceremonies  and  rituals,  Robear,  Andrew,  Tuuk,  Dancing  Cloud,
and  Rose  were  able  to  begin  the  process  of  healing  the  emotional

pain brought about by being separated from the Native world. A

natural  part  of  learning  about  Nativencss  involved  making  com
parisons  between  Native  and  non-Native  cultural  ways.  Another
part  of  healing  through  ceremonies  and  rituals  was  facing  one’s

imperfections.

Learning About the Meaning of Nativeness

Learning  about  what  Nativeness  meant  through  the ceremonies  and
rituals  was  an  important  part  of  the  healing  process  because  it  gave
their  lives  meaning.  Much  of  the  healing  occurred  with  the  help  of
the  ceremonies  and  rituals  because  the  connections  with  Native
traditions  and  Native  people  were  strengthened.  Andrew  talked
about  learning  through  fasting  to  appreciate  life  and  to  become
more responsible. For him, this was what Nativeness meant:

You really begin to realize the value of where your life’s coming from,

and I think that tradition had helped me understand more about life ...

and

the fast made me appreciate what life has given to me. . . . It’s a

different sense of you and the world, I think. And I think that’s what
fasting helped me is to realize that, 1 guess, in a Native sense that’s the
sacredness of life, that these things are giving you life. I guess that this
is why they can say the Earth is your Mother. It is feeding you. It is
giving you that life and it is that appreciation that does ... it does

impact.... You see so much and you understand so much. It makes

you more responsible.... I guess it’s what these rituals like fasting and

Sun Dance does in some ways. Every culture experiences that at some

point in time. They have some kind of ceremony to get you past from
being a child into being responsible in the world.

making
comparisons
between

Native

and
non-Native
ways

Rediscovering Native Rituals

separating

from

the

dominant

culture

Robear  talked  about  his  sense  of  Nativeness  as  “having  a  rapport
with  Creator,  Mother  Earth,  and  everything  that  grows  upon  it.”
For  him,  “Our  rituals  keep  us  conncctcd  to  Mother  Earth.”  Rose
talked about learning that the Earth is alive:

And it was my culture and my identity, where I come from that was
missing. And learning all about... I always wanted to know why the

Earth was the way it was and why there were trees and why there were

the animals and the rocks even, and since I’ve found my culture... like

it was never ... my culture was never lost. It was me and since I’ve
found it. I’m getting all these answers ... even why the little bugs and

just everything is here ... and the power that the Earth has, like

everything’s alive! Everything is alive ... like She’s living.

Dancing  Cloud  talked  about  the  important  place  that  the  circle  has
in  the  meaning  of  Nativeness  as  he  said,  “Like  our  life  is  a  circle,  a
Medicine  Wheel.  There’s  four  parts  to  it.  There’s  the  physical,
emotional,  mental,  and  spiritual.  We  also  travel  in  a  circle  in  life.”
He  talked  about  Nativeness  in  terms  of  Native  values  such  as
“honesty,  kindness,  caring,  sharing,  strength,  respect”  which  com
prise “all the stuff that Native people have always lived by.”

Comparing the Native and Dominant Cultures

As  Robear,  Andrew,  Tuuk,  Dancing  Cloud,  and  Rose  began  to
accept  their  Nativeness,  they  also  began  to  separate  themselves
from the dominant culture. Comparing the Native and the dominant
cultures  was  a  natural  part  of  that  process  where  they  began  to
distinguish what was Native and what was not, what they were and
what  they  were  not.  Their  identity  as  Native  people  became
strengthened.  They  looked  at  different  aspects  of  Nativeness—
differences  in  communication  styles,  religious  beliefs,  attitude

towards learning, and world view between the Native and the

dominant cultures.

Communication Styles.

Robear, Dancing Cloud, and Andrew

looked at how Native people communicate. Robear talked about

the importance of storytelling in Native communication:

When one asks a question, I’ve noticed that we (aboriginal people)

never seem to give a direct answer. The answer to the question is there,
but  it’s  circular,  not  linear....  I  was  at  a  conference  not  too  long  ago
and  an Elder was speaking. He  talked and just talked, and he had so
much  to  say  in  just  that  talking.  Questions  were  asked  and  he  kept
talking. .. giving an answer to those questions. Now most of the people
there had never associated with a Native storyteller or knew anything
really  about  the  culture  except  through  books.  ...  And  they  were
shaking their heads. They didn’t know what he’s talking about.., they
should just listen to the story and let the story permeate, go into their
minds  slowly,  and  the  truth  will  come  out of that  story. Not  look for

The Journal of Transpersonal Psychology, 1995, Vol. 27, No. 1

Religious Beliefs.

Tuuk compared Native religious beliefs and

Roman Catholic beliefs:

Roman Catholic values and beliefs were really imposed on us as Native

people.  It  just  didn’t  sit  well  with  us.  I  guess  their  values  and  beliefs
seemed  to  me  ...  I  guess  we  were  in  trouble.  .  ..  We  were  in  trouble.
There’s  all  kinds  of  commandments  that  you  weren’t  supposed  to
break. What I discovered over the years was that the Roman Catholic
Church  was  a  shame-based  religion.  And  so  when  I  look  back  at  the
Native people, that’s what they are. When I look at them, they’re so full
of shame and guilt and everything else ... where I used to come from,
when I look at what the Roman Catholic Church was doing with their

laying a heavy number on guilt and shame to the people—do this or

you’re going to hell. All those things we used to hear. The whole idea
about religion was sin. When we talk about human beings in the Native
culture, we came in here pure as children of the Creator. I have not

You notice there’s long pauses? In the technological world today, that’s
(technology) the governing force really, we don’t have time to think.
And when we do think, we’re looked upon as being slow, you know,
like what's wrong with that person? ... In a European education
system, we were taught to be so questioning, and I had that questioning
and I was always wondering why the Elder would look at me, but he
understood the impatience on my part.. . wanting to know'.

Rediscovering Native Rituals

specific points because you’re not gonna get a specific answer. That is
not our way.

Dancing Cloud talked about the importance of listening in Native
communication and why it is that people who want information

from Native people often do not get it:

It’s like they come in with a preconceived set of ideas. A paradigm

that’s totally at odds with Native beliefs and Native ideas. And it’s like
they wonder why nobody ever talks to them. Well, in order to talk, you
have to listen. And I’ve come to realize that listening is an art that’s not
very well understood, and the essence of Native culture and tradition
has always been oral. So there have been people who have been picked
from childhood to be the storytellers.

Andrew talked about the importance of approaching Native people

in the proper manner when asking them to share their knowledge
with you:

.. . They’re willing to share their knowledge if you approach them

properly, and there is a proper way to approach them in terms of giving

them tobacco, bringing food, and stuff like that ’cuz they have suffered
for their knowledge. And I think that if you don’t sacrifice something of

yourself when you ask for something, you lose appreciation, and you

lose a lot when you don’t appreciate what it is that you are given.

Robear talked about learning about silence:

learning
about

silence

the

“Native

problem ”

heard any Elder in town or in the country say that when we came into
the world, we were tainted. So that’s the difference in the two pictures.
We came into the world untainted and the way that we believe it is we
are untainted, whereas the Roman Catholic Church tells us that as soon

as you were bom, you were doomed. Sorry, but you’re going to hell

unless you learn your catechism and first communion and confirmation
and all those things and then you might get to heaven. There’s a lot of
fear around. I think that’s what we grew up with—the reality of the
Roman Catholic Church.

Attitude towards Learning.

Robear compared the difference be

tween the two cultures’ attitude towards learning. In his mind,

novices in the dominant world are not given much of an opportu
nity to make mistakes:

When I first smoked the pipe, I wanted to do it right and you say, “Oh,
how do you do it right?” And yet you’re nervous and you want to show
that you know and yet you don’t want to. It’s sort of like... again we’re

back to the European mindset where you’re not allowed to go into

something being innocent. You have to sort of think, “I know. I know.”
You go, “I could take care of it. No problem.” And all that. So I had to
shake that off. That was ingrained in me through the system.

World View.

Dancing Cloud talked about the differences in the

Native and European world views by telling me a story about what
the Jesuit missionaries (Marquis, 1916) did to take care of the
“Native problem”:

And there was this Jesuit missionary named Paul Lejeune who wrote a
four-point plan for pacifying or making Native people into no problem
any more. And I remember reading those words and feeling absolutely
chilled. First of all, it was you had to change the gender roles into man
superior, woman inferior as the European model was, whereas with the
Native American at the time, there was gender equality. It’s like there
was  respect  for  each  role. And  that had  to be  changed. The  next  one,
you had to change the societies into one central community, preferably
near a white community so you could teach them. Third one, you had to
introduce the concept of punishment as a teaching tool. In the old ways,
you  taught  a  child  by  modelling.  They  would  watch  you,  and  if  you
were making a basket, they’d watch you do it and then they’d try it. And
even if the kid made a horrible mess of it, it’s like, “Oh, that’s very nice.
Maybe if you tried something like this.” And I firmly believe that there
was  no  concept  of  physical  punishment.  There  were  things  such  as
shunning. There were things such as if the child wasn’t doing what he
was supposed to at the dinner table, and he’d been shown a number of
times,  they  would  turn  his  food  basket  over,  and  then  he’d  have  to
figure  out  what  he  did  wrong....  So  it  was  important  to  use  punish
ment as a teaching tool (in the four-point plan), and the fourth part of
this  was  to  teach  the  children  separate  from  the  community  and  the
family. That way if you could separate them, you could teach them the
values and also the child would go back and teach the others. So within
a  generation  or  two,  of  course,  you’d  have  all  these  brown-skinned

The Journal of Transpersonal Psychology. 1995, Vol. 27, No. I

people living white values. That’s never worked. It never worked in

1634, and it’s still not working today.

Facing One’s Imperfections

Facing  their  imperfections  through  the  process  of  participation  in
ceremonies  and  rituals  was  the  most  difficult  part  of  rediscovering
their  Native  roots.  It  was  generally  an  unpleasant  experience.  One
came  face  to  face  with  one’s  imperfections.  Andrew  talked  about
suffering  in  the  fast.  Not  only  was  it  a  difficult  experience  physi
cally,  it  was  also  difficult  emotionally,  psychologically,  and  spiritu
ally  because  he  had  to  really  face  himself.  It  was  through  the
suffering that he learned not to take his life for granted. He recalled,

.. You struggle with your fears. You struggle with yourself and

it made me think about different things that I would never have

thought about before now that I look at it. . . H e talked about

modem  culture  not  teaching  us  to  appreciate  life.  Through  the  fast,
he  recalled,  “.  ..  I  think  you  suffer.  .  .  I  mean you’ve gotta  face your
imperfections  I  suppose...  out  of  that  suffering,  I  know  it  enriched

me more even though I’m afraid to learn more, to see more.”

Tuuk  also  learned  much  about  himself  physically,  emotionally,
mentally,  and  spiritually  through  his  suffering  in  the  fast.  He
realized  that  he  had  not  been  paying  attention  to  these  different
aspects  of  himself  and  had  taken  his  life  for  granted.  He  said,

.. you find out things about yourself.... I think that’s a teaching

... when you’re into fasting and rituals like that, you take in more

teachings, insights.” He recalled one emotional experience during
the fast when he realized that he was the one who left his culture
and he had to take responsibility for it:

... I was praying to the Creator and I remember saying something to

the effect that, “There were times when You seem so far away. Where
are  You  going?”  I  was  angry.  I  remember  after  going  through  my
dialogue with God and such, I stayed quiet for a while. 1 was looking up
at the sky, and I heard a voice and the voice said, “I have never left you.
I have never left you. I would never leave you.” I remember breaking
down  and  crying  because  I  realized  that,  yeah,  I’m  never  alone.  It’s
only  me  who  goes  away.  All  the  times  I  left,  so  yeah.  There’s  a  lot  of
times I left. I didn’t care.

Like Tuuk, Rose expressed the same sentiment when she said,

“... my culture was never lost. It was me.”

4) Evaluating Changes Within Oneself

Comparing what they were like before (past) and after (present)
rediscovering their Native traditions and rituals and evaluating

modern
culture
not
teaching

us to
appreciate
life

Rediscovering Native Rituals

the

deeper

the

involvement,

the

more

meaningful

life

became

those changes became an important part of the healing process, as

it  helped  them  take  responsibility  for  making  those  changes  and  to
feel  pride  in  their  accomplishment,  reinforcing  them  to  keep  up  the
work.  Interviewees  talked  about  how  rediscovering  their  roots
through  learning  about  traditions  and  rituals  had  brought  their  life
meaning  and  a  feeling  of  connection  to  the  self,  to  others,  and  to

spirituality. Very simply, the changes they experienced were about

“Becoming whole.” As Dancing Cloud succinctly stated, .. Our

life is a circle, a Medicine Wheel. There’s four parts to it. There’s

the physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual. We also travel in a

circle.”

Becoming Whole

Finding Meaning.

Finding meaning was an important change for

interviewees  who  became  very  deeply  involved  in  ceremonies  and
rituals.  The  deeper  the  involvement,  the  more  meaningful  life
became.  As  Tuuk  recalled,  ..  the  Indian  way  of  belief  and  values
seem  to  make  my  life  much  more  stronger  in  terms  of  having
meaning

here for me, much more deeper than the way it used to be

... much more simple, much more fine.” Andrew talked about no

longer  feeling  that  there was something missing in  his life, when  he
found  meaning  and  enrichment  through  the  rituals  and  ceremonies.
He  recalled,  “I  begin  to  see  more  meaning  to  my  life.  That’s  what  I
was  looking  for  that  was  missing  ...  it’s  enriched  my  life  ...  it  has
matured  me  in  a  lot  of  ways  that...  the  education  system  presently
could not give me....”

Having Connections.

Having connections with the self, with

others,  and  with  spirituality  was  ultimately  what  participation  in
ceremonies  and  rituals  achieved.  The  more  involved  they  became
in  ceremonies  and  rituals,  the  more  connected  they  felt  and  the  less
alone  they  became.  They  no  longer  had  to  go  through  crises  alone.
Dancing  Cloud  talked  about  how  important  being  connected  to  his
roots,  to  people,  and  to  himself  were  to  him.  He  talks  about  having
“a  feeling  of  belonging  to  something,  belonging  to  a  culture  that  is
older  than  the  hills.”  He  described  his  experience  of  connecting
with  his  roots  as  returning  to  a  place  where  he  feels  “a  part  of,
rather  than  apart  from,  people,”  no  longer  “dctachcd.”  He  recalled,
“...  I’m  a  part  of...  a  nurturing  way  of  living  ...  a  part  of  the
human  race....  I  don’t  feel  detached  ...  I  belong  somewhere....
I’m  accepted  for  who  I  am....  I  have  some  knowledge  of  who  I  am
as a human being.” Rose also talked about the impact that rediscov
ering  her  Native  roots  has  had  on  her.  She  has  learned  to  love
herself,  her  culture,  and  creation.  She  said,  “...  I  love  who  I  am  ...

if I hadn't found my culture ... I think I still would be lost.... It

was my culture, my identity, where I come from that was missing

. . .

like my culture was never lost. It was me....”

The Journal of Transpersonal Psychology, 1995, Vol.

27.

No. 1

Tuuk  talked  about  connecting  with  the  spiritual,  emotional,  psy
chological,  and  physical  aspects  of  himself  through  his  involve
ment  with  Native  cultural  ways.  He  talked  about  how  the  Native
culture  brought  “awareness”  into  his  life.  He  said,  "It’s  a  spiritual
experience.  It’s  an  emotional  thing.  It’s  a  psychological  thing.  It’s

a physical thing. It’s all these four embedded into one.

It’s a real

important aspect in my life when I get involved.” Robear talked

about becoming a stronger person who is connected to his roots and
to  his  people.  He  expressed,  “It’s  made  me  a  much  stronger  per
son.  ...  I  look  at  myself  in  a  different  way  ...  I’m  not  alone
anymore....  Now  I'm  a  strong  person  with  connections.  "  Andrew
talked  about  connecting  with  his  Nativeness  through  the  ceremo
nies.  He  said,  “I  always  somehow  wanted  the  Native  name  1  never
had.  So  that  was,  really  besides  the  sweat,  the  first  ceremony  ...
and  I  didn’t  really  understand  it,  but  I  felt  better.  I  felt  good  that  I
made that connection...

DISCUSSION

Rituals have played an important part in the lives of the one Native
woman and five Native men interviewed. The journeys of redis

covery of Native rituals undertaken by Robear, Andrew, Tuuk,

Dancing Cloud, Ted, and Rose were not easy. To walk on a path

that  was  not  previously  known,  or  of  which  they  knew  very  little,
was  challenging  if  not  frightening.  The  stories  that  Robear,  An
drew,  Tuuk,  Dancing  Cloud,  Ted,  and  Rose  offered  reveal  that  their

journeys of rediscovery took them on a path that would not only

acquaint or reacquaint them with their Native roots, but with
themselves.

Their journeys of rediscovery dealt with more than simply the
question of “What is my heritage about?” Ultimately they had to

deal with the question of “Who am I?” Taylor and Smith (1986)

examined a similar journey. In their analysis of Ahsen’s epic poem,
“Manhunt in the Desert,” they found that the journeyer, a desert

wanderer,  “guided  by  intuition,  wilfully  approaches  the  unknown”
(p.  121).  In  a  society  that  devalues  the  spiritual  dimension,  an
individual’s  ego  and  soul  are  separated  (Taylor  &  Smith,  1986).  To
heal  that  separation,  like  the  six  individuals  interviewed,  s/he

walks on a lonely journey in which s/he encounters forces s/he is
unaware of in everyday life, namely his/her fears (Taylor & Smith,

1986). In delving deep into his/her unconscious, the journeyer

“relies upon imagination to reveal his[/her] personal darkness.
Image then ,.. becomes the support and guide to connect to the lost
soul” (p. 122).

Hence, like the journeyer, these individuals travelled into their
personal darkness to face, explore, and accept the contradictions

Rediscovering Native Rituals

journeys

of
rediscovery

within themselves (Loomis, 1960). Jung called this “the realization
of the shadow,” the shadow being the dark side of the ego-person-

ality  (von  Franz,  1964).  In  realizing  the  shadow,  the  contents  of  the
unconscious  are  brought  forth  into  consciousness  (Jung,  1971).
Jung  (1971)  recognized  that  to  attempt  to  experience  this  process  of
“realization  of  the  shadow,”  which  is  ultimately  a  self-realization,

was a difficult one because it meant having to come face to face with

the  unpleasant  contents  of  the  unconscious.  However,  this  process
was  a  necessary  part  of  the  journey  if  the  journeyer  was  to  become
transformed.  Like  the  journeyer  in  Ahsen’s  epic,  these  six  individu
als  make  their  pilgrimage  by  way  of  rituals  that  attempt  to  “make
the  soul”  or,  simply  put,  to  become  aware  of  and  in  touch  with  the
soul,  bringing  them  closer  to  becoming  whole  (Taylor  &  Smith,

1986). Specifically, this “wholeness” involves a coming together of

the  masculine  and  feminine  principles  of  the  psyche  as  it progresses
towards  conscious  integration  (Cirlot,  1962).  A  bridge  is,  therefore,
built  between  the  journeyer’s  rational  and  spiritual  selves,  resulting

in  the  journeyer’s  vision  of  a  new  world  (Taylor  &  Smith,  1986).
Having  successfully  dealt  with  the  conscious  integration  of  the
contradictions  within,  the  journeyer  is  transformed.  Like  a  new
child, the journeyer sees the world in a new way.

The  journeys  undertaken  by  Robear,  Andrew,  Tuuk,  Dancing
Cloud,  Ted,  and Rose to  rediscover their  Native roots  offered  a way
for  them  to  achieve  the  sense  of  completeness  and  the  sense  of
greater  meaning  they  could  not  find  in  the Dominant  world. Redis
covering  their  Native  roots  was  a  way  for  them  to  heal  their
“wounded  personalities,”  the  split  between  their  conscious  and
unconscious selves.

By  rediscovering  their  Native  roots,  they  were  given  the  opportu
nity  to  heal  that  split  so  that  they  could  reconnect  with  those
primordial  images  which  were  lost  to  them  with  the  imposition  of
the  dominant  world.  They  were  given  the  opportunity  to  learn
about  the  myths  and  the  sacred  beginnings  of  the  Native  peoples
and to deal with their fear of the unknown within the safe context of
other  Native  people  who  would  support  and  guide  them.  Through
the  rituals  and  the  ceremonies,  they  were  given  the  opportunity  to
witness  the  enactment  of  the  myths  and  experience  the  awesome
ness  of  the  mysterious  Universe.  Their  identities  as  Native  Indians
also  became  strengthened  as  they  symbolically  died  and  were
reborn  as  members  of  the  Native  cultures.  As  Robins  (1973)
succinctly  states,  “Rites  of  passage  ...  concern  identity  formation
or  change”  (p.  1208)  by  “inculcating  in  its  members  knowledge  of
behaviors  and  symbols  appropriate  to  given  identities”  (p.  1308).
Through  the  rituals  and  ceremonies,  they  were  given  the  opportu
nity  to  come  face  to  face  with  the  contents  of  their  unconscious  and
with  the  opposing  forces  within  themselves  and  to  learn  to  achieve
a  balance  between  them.  As  they  recognized  their  shadows,  they

The Journal of Transpersonal Psychology, 1995, Vol. 27, No. I

the

opportunity

heal

the

split

were  also  given  the  opportunity  to  learn  that  they  were  imperfect
and that it was all right. They were given the opportunity to become
whole  as  they  learned  to  reconnect  with  the  physical,  mental,
emotional,  and  spiritual  aspects  of  themselves.  By  facing  the  dark
ness and journeying towards their inner center with the help of their
cultures,  they  found that the  Universe was powerful, that  their  lives
had  meaning,  and  that  they  were  no  longer  alone.  Robear,  Andrew,
Tuuk,  Dancing  Cloud,  Ted,  and  Rose  continue  to  connect  with  the
authentic  paths  that  have  led  them  “home.”  What  propelled  them
was  the  feeling  that  there  was  something  missing  in  their  lives.  As
Ted succinctly states:

I’m wanting to learn more about what my Native heritage is all about so
I can get a more complete picture of who I am. I guess that’s the whole
thing right now ’cuz I sort of know who I am, but I don’t know who I am

... so I can have a deeper understanding of the whole picture.... I

guess the impact is that it has me curious. It has me curious, wanting
this, really wanting this. It’s gone beyond need.

What  kept  them  on  their  authentic  paths  to  home  was  feeling  a
strong  emotional  connection  to  the  Native  cultural  ways  and  find
ing  a  Native  support  network  to  guide  them  as  they  made  the

journey home. For them, “home” meant having a life that had

meaning and a place to belong. For them, “home” meant knowing
the answer to the question, “Who am I?” and being proud of it.

NOTES

The interviews were audiotaped, then transcribed to begin data analysis. The steps

outlined  in  the  grounded  theory  approach  were  closely  followed  with  the  six
individuals  so  that  it  went  from  paraphrasing  to  open  coding  to  axial  coding  to
selective  coding  to  grounded  theory.  Analysis  was  done  paragraph  by  paragraph.
Any biases, judgments, values, and preconceptions were documented with the help
of memos, diagrams and a research journal, and “bracketed” throughout the research

process (Quartaro, 1986). I divided the interview into meaning units which were
paraphrased. The codes were chosen for each unit. In choosing a code, I stayed as

close to the data as possible. The codes were transferred to 3x5 index cards and were
sorted into what I thought were appropriate clusters. The codes that did not seem to
belong  anywhere  were  examined  again  together  with  the  corresponding  meaning
units  and  original  transcript.  Where  necessary,  either  new  codes  were  selected  to
better capture the meanings or if they were deemed similar enough to existing codes,
they were absorbed under those codes. This process was repeated until all codes fell
into particular clusters and no stragglers were left. The clusters were then examined
and  themes  identified.  The  final  step  involved  the  assignment  of  a  “name”  to  the
overall process. After the completion of transcription and analysis of the interviews,
interviewees  were  contacted  to  show  them  what  I  had  done  so  far  and  to  get
feedback.  No  further  analysis  was  performed  when  the  analyses  shown  to  the
individuals were approved.

REFERENCES

irlot

, J.E. (1962). A dictionary of symbols. New York: Routledge &

Kegan Paul Ltd.

authentic

paths

to
home

Rediscovering Native Rituals

’A

quili

, E.G. & L

aughlin

, J

., C.D. (Eds.) (1979). The spectrum of

ritual: A biogenetic structural analysis.

New York: Columbia Univer

sity Press.

enzin

, N. K. (1989). Interpretive biography. Newbury Park: Sage.

liade

, M. (1958). Rites and symbols of initiation: The mysteries of birth

and rebirth.

New York: Harper & Row.

liade

, M. (1963). Myth & reality. New York: Harper & Row.

pes

rown

, J. (1989). Becoming part of it. In D.M. Dooling & P. Jordan-

Smith (Eds.), I become part of it (pp. 9-20). New York: Parabola

Books.

laser

, B.G. (1978). Theoretical sensitivity. Mill Valley, CA: Sociology

Press.

laser

, B.G. (1992). Emergence versus forcing: Basics of grounded

theory analysis.

Mill Valley, CA: Sociology Press.

mber

-B

lack

. (Coppersmith), E. (1986). Odysseys of a learner. In D.E.

Efron (Ed.), Journeys: Expansion of the strategic-systemic therapies
(pp. 3-29). New York: Bruncr/Mazel.

ung

, C.G. (1971), The portable Jung. New York: Viking Press.

aughlin

, J

., C.D. &

’A

quili

, E.G. (1979). Ritual and stress. In E.G.

d’Aquili, C.D. Laughlin, Jr., & J. McManus (Eds.), The spectrum of
ritual: A biogenetic structural analysis

(pp. 280-317). New York:

Columbia University Press.

oomis

, E.A. (1960). The self in pilgrimage. New York: Harper.

alinowski

, B. (1984). The role of myth in life. In A. Dundes (Ed.),

Sacred narrative

(pp. 193-206). Berkeley: University of California

Press.

arquis

, T.G. (1916). Jesuit missions: A chronicle of the cross in the

wilderness.

Toronto: Brook & Co.

, R. (1991). The cry for myth. New York: W.W. Norton.

anus

, J. (1979). Ritual and human social cognition. In E.G. d’Aquili,

C.D. Laughlin, Jr. & J. McManus (Eds.), The spectrum of ritual: A

biogenetic structural analysis

(pp. 216-48). New York: Columbia

University Press.

oore

, S.F. & M

yerhoff

, B.G. (1977). Secular ritual. Amsterdam, The

Netherlands: Van Gorcum, Asscn.

uartaro

, G.K. (1986). The grounded theory method: A review of the

method's impact on research and some reflections on the role of the

researcher.

Paper presented at the Fifth International Human Sciences

Research Conference, University of California, Berkeley.

obins

, R. H. (1973). Identity, culture and behaviour. In J.J. Honigmann

(Ed.), Handbook of social cultural anthropology, (pp. 1199-222). Chi
cago: Rand, McNally & Co.

aylor

, R.E. & S

mith

, L. (1986). A transformational journey into inner

emptiness in Akter Ahsen’s epic poem Manhunt in the Desert. Journal

of Mental Imagery, 10(2),

121-26.

van

ennep

, A. (1960). The rites of passage. Chicago: The University of

Chicago Press.

von

ranz

, ML. (1964). The process of individuation. In C.G. Jung (Ed.),

Man and his symbols,

(pp. 157-254). New York: Dell.

Requests for reprints to: Sandra Diaz, 7260 Davenport Road, #106, Goleta, CA

93117.

The Journal of Transpersonal Psychology, 1995, Vol. 27, No. 1

regular  zazen,  the  self  gradually  comes  to  not  be  as  preoccupied
with  its  daily round of worries and striving. Its true nature becomes
more  present,  first  in  the  act  of  zazen  and  later  in  every  act  of  life.
As  Suzuki  said,  “Just  remain  on  your  cushion  without  expecting

anything. Then eventually you will resume your own true nature.

That is to say, your own true nature resumes itself” (p. 49).

What is our true nature? Suzuki was quite succinct about this.
“True nature is watching water” (p. 134). In other words, our true

nature is the functioning of the everyday observing mind. The

everyday sense of observing, however, does not include the reflec
tive egocentric function. Rather, “True mind is watching mind” (p.

134). Our true nature is not the self we reflect upon, nor is true mind

the  mind  which  reflects  upon  the  self  and  its  experiences.  For  Zen,
our  true  nature  or  true  mind,  synonymous  terms,  signify  the  act  of
simply  observing  without  objectifying  that  which  is  perceived.
That  is  why,  in  Soto  Zen,  single-minded  attention  to  one’s  posture
and  breathing,  the  simplest  of  activities,  is  itself  the  manifestation
of our true nature.

As  soon  as  we  objectify  our  experiences  of  this  activity,  however,
we  become  caught  up  in  the  self/world  dichotomy  with  its  usual
egocentric  focus.  When  that  happens,  the  mind  becomes  attached
to  its  own  thinking  and  feeling.  This  leads  to  problems  because  the
mind  then  tends  to  take  its  thoughts  and  feelings  as  the  true  reality
of  life.  But  this  is  subjective  reality  only,  not  the  true  nature  of  the
reality  of  the  world.  For,  as  Suzuki  said,  “Reality  cannot  be  caught
by  thinking  or  feeling”  (p.  135).  When  we  take  our  subjective
reality  for  the  reality  of  the  world,  we  are  likely  to  encounter

problems of faulty assessments of what is real. To prevent this kind

of confusion from developing in our lives, Zen suggests zazen as

the best way to allow the true mind to resume its original position

as that which simply observes.

In the Rinzai tradition, on the other hand, the emphasis was on a

more  expressive  manifestation  of  one’s  true  nature  or,  as  Rinzai
referred  to  it,  one’s  true  self.  Rinzai  Gigen  (d.  866)  was  known  for
his  force  and  directness  in  demanding  that  his  monks  work  hard  to
attain  a  direct  realization  of  the  true  self  (Schloegl,  1975).  He  often
tested  the  depth  of  their  insight  with  obscure  questions,  a  practice
which  became  the  koan  approach  to  Zen.  Koans  are  irrational
questions  which  cannot  be  answered  by  any  appeal  to  knowledge
or  accumulated  experience.  Their  solution  can  be  revealed  only
through  demonstration.  Since  koans  are  always  about  one’s  true
self,  the  solutions  are  demonstrations  of  the  degree  to  which  a
person  has  realized  the  true  self.  Through  this  dynamic  method,

Sasaki (1974) said, “Zen is not just meditation or zazen, it is ...

practice or work to manifest self” (p. 50).

The Journal of Transpersonal Psychology, 1995, Vol. 27, No. 1

Soto Zen

and

our

true

nature

The  true  self  is  free  from  everything.  Thus,  to  manifest  oneself  in  a
true way  is to  manifest as  emptiness, that is,  as empty of all content
by  which  the  ego  typically  identifies  itself.  Our  usual  tendency  to
name  and  categorize  experience  and  the  self  is  not  at  work  in  the
manifestation  of  true  self.  When  one  realizes  and  demonstrates
one’s  true  self  in  this  way,  it  can  also  be  said  that  one  then  unifies
all  opposites  such  as  good/bad  and  beauty/ugliness  (Sasaki,  1974).
Thus,  the  true  self  is  able  to  fully  engage  in  any  situation  in  life
since  the  empty  self  is  not  attached  to  any  specific  conditions  in  the
world.  At  the  same  time,  the  true  self  unifies  itself  around  the
situation.

This true self, then, dwells in nothing while simultaneously dwell
ing in everything (Sasaki, 1974, p. 87). He goes on to say, “When

you look at a flower, you give yourself to the flower. So there will
be no thought, ‘I’d like to have that flower. I’d like to pick that

flower’” (p. 79). The same statement could be made regarding a
man, a woman, a job, or a situation.

Finally, the Rinzai school demanded that we make a continual
effort to live free of our usual egocentric preoccupation.

We all have personal consciousness which looks at things as objects.
You have yourself who looks at a pine tree ... as object. That’s why

you are not perfect. To have perfect consciousness, you have to throw
your personal consciousness away. Where do you throw it? When you
are looking at a pine tree, the pine tree is the only place where you can
throw away your personal consciousness. Throw your whole self into
that tree! In that moment, the pine tree is not the pine tree that you are
observing as object, but a pine tree which contains yourself (Sasaki,

1974, p. 88).

To summarize, the common goal of both the Soto and the Rinzai
schools of Zen is realization, of one’s true nature or true self. The

main feature of the true self is that it transcends the usual subject/

object  dichotomies  of  consciousness.  In  doing  so,  the  true  self  is
able  to  live  with  equal  attention  to  whatever  situation  life  brings,
because  its  true  nature  is  to  simply  watch  and  observe.  It  is  equally
free  of  all  limitations  it  places  on  itself  in  terms  of  identity  and
preferences,  including  all  subjective  realities  formed  by  thoughts
and feelings.

The method for each school appears to differ, however. Dogen
most clearly placed the emphasis on zazen alone.

The most important point in the study of the Way is zazen. Although the

old Masters urged both the reading of the scriptures and the practice of
zazen, they clearly emphasized zazen. Some gained enlightenment

through the

koan, but the merit that brought enlightenment came from

zazen (Masunaga, 1971, p. 96-97).

Zen Meditation: A Psychoanalytic Conceptualization

Rinzai Zen
and
our

true

self

Through this practice, he seemed to be saying, there is no room for
the self to maintain itself. Gradually the self fades into its true
nature.

Rinzai, on the other hand, apparently was more interested in an
active attempt to have a direct experience of one’s true self. Yet, in
the end, he also recognized the importance of zazen. For, he told his

monks,  “Do  not  tire  yourselves  by  making  up  discriminations,  and
quite  naturally,  of  itself,  you  will  find  the  Way.  Better  it  is  to  have
nothing  further  to  seek,  and  crossing  one’s  legs  on  the  meditation
cushion, just sit” (Schloegl, 1975, p. 41).

A PSYCHOANALYTIC ACCOUNT OF ZAZEN

Freud  (1960)  said  that  “in  each  individual  there  is  a  coherent
organization  of  mental  processes;  and  we  call  this  the  ego.  It  is  to
this  ego  that  consciousness  is  attached”  (p.  7).  In  the  same  work  he
said,  “The  ego  represents  what  may  be  called  reason  and  common
sense  . . ( p .   15).  In  a  later  writing,  he  said  that  “[the  ego]  has  the
task  of  self-preservation”  (Freud,  1949,  p.  15).  It  seems  accurate  to
say,  then,  that  the  ego’s  primary  function  is  to  order  and  structure
its  life  in  such  a  way  as  would  be  best  for  its  own  continued  well
being in the world.

It does this by mediating or moderating the expressions of the id in
the world. Since the ego “is that part of the id which has been

modified by the direct influence of the external world ..(Freud,

1960, p. 15), the ego always remains partially grounded in the id. It

“seeks to bring the influence of the external world to bear upon the

id  and  its  tendencies  . . ( p .   15),  thereby  attempting  to  control  the
id  by  “transforming  the  id’s  will  into  action  as  if  it  were  its  [ego’s]
own”  (p.  15).  This  is  the  general  way  in  which  the  ego  serves  its
own interest of self-preservation.

The Journal of Transpersonal Psychology, 1995, Vol. 27. No. 1

A more detailed account of how this task is accomplished issues

from  the  way  in  which  the  ego  transforms  the  id’s  will.  According
to  Freud  (1949),  the  id  is  that  which  “contains  everything  that  is
inherited,  that  is  present  at  birth,  that  is  fixed  in  the  constitution
above  all,  therefore,  the  instincts”  (p.  14).  He  named  the  two  basic
instincts as Eros and the destructive instinct and went on to give the
name  of  “libido”  to  the  “available  energy  of  Eros”  (pp.  21  -22).  This
libido  originally  seeks  discharge  in  the  world  and  thus  needs
objects  with  which  to  attach  or  cathect.  But  since  the  ego  is
originally a part of the id, a portion of libido stays with the ego as it
is  differentiated  from  the  id.  Thus,  where  the  id’s  will  is  to  cathect
to  libidinal-(erotic)  objects  in  the  world,  the  ego  transforms  this
object-choice  into  ego-objects  to  better  serve  the  ego’s  self-preser
vation.  Freud  (1960)  pointed  out  that  this  “transformation  of  an

the

ego

serves

its

own

interest

erotic object-choice into an alteration of the ego is a . .. method by

which the ego can obtain control over the id and deepen its rela

tions with it. .. (p. 20). Thus, there appears to be two sources of

libido, both of which seek objects but each of which has a different

need  of  the  object.  Where  the  libidinal-object  is  sought  for  the
purpose  of  (erotic)  gratification,  the  ego-object  is  sought  as  a
source  of  ego-identification,  the  primary  basis  for  self-preserva
tion.

In  Zen  meditation  there  is  a  deliberate  attempt  to  suspend  the
activities  of  the  ego  in  both  its  rational,  ordering  function  and  in  its
function  of  mediating  or  moderating  the  libidinal  expressions  in

the world. In relation to the latter function, the ego also suspends its

own object-seeking. All these functions are suspended by the Zen
injunction to just sit and attend only to very simple and immediate

bodily  activities,  the  posture  and  the  breathing.  Through  this  prac-
tice,  the  ego-functions  have  little  opportunity  to  emerge,  and  when
they  do,  the  Zen  student  is  advised  to  not  dwell  on  the  ego’s
activities,  with  the  one  exception  of  the  observing  ego-function.
This  function,  the  attention,  is  to  always  be  brought  back  to  the
posture  and  the  breathing.  Furthermore,  the  practitioner  is  not  to
attach  to  any  thoughts  or  feelings  as  they  arise.  Finally,  if  the  koan
is used, the ego is further frustrated in its rational function.

When  the  ego  is  frustrated  in  fulfilling  its  natural  functioning,  it
can  be  assumed  that  it  will  regress.  Freud  (1949)  indicated  that
regression  is  one  of  the  ego’s  defenses  against  a  task  which  it  is

prevented from performing. The ego regresses to a former, i.e.,

more  primordial,  way  of  being.  This  results  in  the  diminishment  of
the  ego’s  goal  of  obtaining  ego-objects  as  it  approaches  its  original
state  of  an  undifferentiated  id-ego.  At  the  same  time,  the  libido’s
goal  of  seeking  its  objects  rises  to  primary  status.  But  something
happens  to  the  eroticized  nature  of  libido  as  the  result  of  losing  the
ego’s  involvement  with  libidinal  energy.  The  libidinal  force  be
comes dcsexualizcd and functions as pure Eros, or lifc-cncrgy.

The  libido,  then,  no  longer  has  any  need  to  remain  cathected  to  any
one  object,  as  was  the  case  when  the  ego  was  involved.  For,  in
seeking  objects  with  which  to  identify,  the  ego’s  influence  on  the
libidinal  cathexis  of  objects  was  to  fix  it  on  certain  object-choices.
Libido,  however,  by  itself  is  non-discriminatory  and  equated  with
life  itself  (Freud,  1961).  Libido,  thus,  forms  the  core  of  our  being
(Freud,  1949),  and  in  seeking  objects  with  which  to  cathect,  with
out  becoming  fixated  on  them,  it  seems  equivalent  to  the  Zen  state
of “watching water” and of “dwelling in everything.”

This notion implies that there is a degree of consciousness which is
not attached to the ego. Freud (1960) suggested this when he said

that the “ego is first and foremost a bodily ego; it is not merely a

not

dwell

on the

ego's

activities

Zen Meditation: A Psychoanalytic Conceptualization

surface  entity,  but  is  itself  the  projection  of  a  surface”  (p.  16).  This
statement  was  elaborated  in  a  footnote:  “The  ego  is  ultimately
derived  from  bodily  sensations,  chiefly  from  those  springing  from
the  surface  of  the  body”  (p.  16,  n.  1).  Prior  to  that,  he  stated:  “All
perceptions  which  are  received  from  without  (sense-perceptions)
and  from  within—what  we  call  sensations  and  feelings—are  con

scious from the start” (p. 9). Here Freud is implying that the body is

the true seat of consciousness and that its sense organs, especially

of sight and hearing, are the body’s modes of consciousness. When

this is compared to statements made by the Zen Master Bankel

(1622-1693), there is an apparent similarity.

The Unborn Buddha Mind is just like this. It’s natural that you see and
hear things, whatever they are, when you deliberately

try to see and

hear them; but when you see and hear things that you hadn’t originally
anticipated seeing or hearing, it’s through the dynamic of the Buddha
Mind that everyone of you has. That’s what’s meant by the Unborn
Buddha Mind (Haskel, 1984, p. 34).

When  the  ego  has  regressed  through  its  inactivity  in  Zen  medita
tion,  it  resumes  its  original  nature  in  and  as  the  id.  This  means  also
in  and  as  the  body.  In  this  state,  the  libido  is  strictly  life  affirming,

for in this undifferentiated state, the destructive impulses are neu

tralized  by  the  libido  (Freud,  1949).  Its  fixation  in  the  erotogenic
zones  is  removed  as  it  resumes  its  seat  in  the  bodily  senses  in
general.  Thus,  seeing  and  hearing  become  as  much  a  way  of

libidinal cathexis with objects as were the more sexualized forms
coming from the oral, anal, and genital regions. In fact, a case could

be made for the primacy of sight and hearing cathexes over the

erotogenic  ones  where  the  preservation  of  the  organism  is  con
cerned.  For,  after  all,  we  make  our  way  through  the  world,  organis-
mically  speaking,  more  by  means  of  sight  and  hearing  than  by  our
sexuality.

CONCLUSION

The  libido  appears  to  be  that  psychical  function  through  which  we
are  connected  to  the  world.  It  is  into  the  libido  that  the  ego
regresses  from  its  more  conscious  concern  with  the  self-preserva
tion  of  the  organism.  However,  just  as  the  ego-libido  rejoins  ob-

ject-libido in the regression, so too does the consciousness which

belonged to the ego become a part of the consciousness which
resides in the senses.

It  may be helpful at this  point to  describe this  dynamic  in phenom
enological  and  existential  terms  to  see  some  of  the  practical  impli
cations.  The  libido’s  function  of  connecting  the  organism  to  the
world  through  the  consciousness  of  the  senses  is  similar  to  the

The Journal of Transpersonal Psychology, 1995, Vol. 27, No. I

ego

resumes

its

original

nature

existential concept of consciousness per se. The function of con
sciousness is to help the individual survive in the world by provid

ing it with the awareness of the world as the place in which it lives.

Thus, through consciousness, the world as a field of objects is

presented to the individual, thereby giving the individual organism

the existential grounding in the world. Through being grounded in
the world, the organism is simultaneously in direct connection with
the world through the senses.

At  the  same  time  as  consciousness  highlights  the  world’s  objects  to
the  individual,  the  individual  becomes  aware  of  itself  as  an  indi
vidual  being.  It  is  through  the  awareness  of  the  object  that  the

individual becomes aware of itself as a subject, that is, as a self.

Consciousness then can look upon the self in the same way as it
looks upon the world’s objects, and the self appears to be separate
and in opposition to the world.

Thus, in relation to consciousness, the self and the object have a
different status. The object is revealed in consciousness as “out

there,” while the self appears to be that which is within conscious
ness. In this way, though the object of consciousness changes with

its intentionality, the self which looks out through consciousness

remains  the  same.  The  self  which  resides  in  consciousness  is  not
equated  with  consciousness  since  it  itself  can  be  an  object  of
consciousness.  This  description  is  similar  in  dynamics  to  the  ego

which returns to reside in the libido from where it emerged in the
first place.

Existential consciousness and the self residing in it can legiti

mately replace the concept of libido and ego respectively, both in
their structural relation to each other and in their dynamic function

ing. This reframing may be useful in application of these concepts

to  counseling,  psychotherapy,  and  other  human  services.  To  see
these  dynamic  functions  expressed  in  more  existential  terms  may
help  to  bring  a  clearer  focus  in  such  applications.  Where  libido  and
ego  were  at  best  coexisting  with  each  other,  in  the  existential

understanding  there  is  a  self  which  is  at  best  trying  to  coexist  with
the  world.  Consciousness  is  the  tool  which  this  self  uses.  Self  is
seen as unified from the start but initially attempting to find itself in
the  world.  The  conflict  is  not  internal,  as  it  is  with  the  id-ego
dichotomy  within  the  psyche.  It  is,  rather, a  conflict which has  from

the beginning been an attempt of the self to see itself reflected by
the world. Only after the self has come to the point of realizing that

it is not, and never really has been, in the world, does it use the tool
of consciousness to look within for its true nature.

Zen Meditation: A Psychoanalytic Conceptualization

replacing

the
concept

libido

and
ego

REFERENCES

DeMartino, R. (1991). Karen Homey, Daisetz T. Suzuki, and Zen Bud

dhism. American Journal of Psychoanalysis, 51(3), pp. 267-83.

reud

, S. (1949). An outline of psychoanalysis (J. Strachey, Transl.). New

York: W. W. Norton. (Original publication, 1940).

reud

, S. (1960). The ego and the id (J. Strachey, Transl). New York:

W.W. Norton. (Original publication, 1923).

reud

, S. (1961). Civilization and its discontents (J. Strachey, Transl.).

New York: W.W. Norton. (Original publication, 1930).

romm

, E., S

uzuki

, D.T. & D

artino

, R. (1960). Zen Buddhism and

psychoanalysis

. New York: Harper Colophon Books.

Haskel, P. (1984). Bankei Zen: Translations from the record of Bankei.

New York: Grove Weidenfeld.

asunaga

, R. (1990). A primer of Soto Zen. Honolulu: University of

Hawaii Press.

asaki

, J. (1974). Buddha is the center of gravity. San Cristobal, NM:

Lama Foundation.

chloegl

, I. (1976). The Zen teaching of Rinzai. Berkeley: Shambhala.

uzuki

, S. (1970). Zen mind, beginner's mind. New York: Weatherhill.

Requests for reprints to: George Leone. Ph.D., 352 Gorman Avenue, Belen NM

87002.

The Journal of Transpersonal Psychology, 1995, Vol. 27, No. 1

BOOK REVIEWS

Transpersonal psychology is blessed with many creative authors who generate an abun
dance of new work. Their contributions also endure, not only in the twenty-seven years of

this

Journal, but also in significant updates of their books. This brief overview focuses on

eight such texts that continue to shape transpersonal theory and practice.

Charles Tart’s

Transpersonal Psychologies (1975, Harper) was the first major work to

systematically examine multiple spiritual paths from a transpersonal perspective. A 1983
second edition was followed by the third edition (1992, HarperCollins) that dropped a

chapter on Arica training and added a subtitle,

Perspectives on the Mindfrom Seven Great

Spiritual Traditions. Another “multiple-path” guide, with origins in the author’s early JTP

articles, is Daniel Coleman’s

The Varieties of the Meditative Experience (1977, Dutton). It

is an informed, practical guide to spiritual practices and disciplines. In the 1988 revision,
The Meditative Mind: The Varieties of Meditative Experience (Tarcher), the author added

a substantial new section on the psychology of meditation.

Predating this

Journal’s emergence in 1969 is Huston Smith’s classic. The Religions of

Man (1958, Harper) which sold one-and-a-half million copies. It is completely revised and

updated as

The World’s Religions (1991, HarperSanFrancisco) and is lauded for its

luminous and human treatment of religions. For twenty years, a personality course

textbook by James Fadiman and Robert Frager,

Personality and Personal Growth, has,

through three editions (1976, 1984, 1994, HarperCollins), incorporated increasing trans
personal content. This lively text includes the classic and more recent theorists, a section

on the psychology of women, and adds Eastern systems including Sufism and Islamic

traditions.

In the 1980s, transpersonal literature began to proliferate. Roger Walsh and Frances
Vaughan collected work from sixteen contemporary contributors in

Beyond Ego: Trans

personal Dimensions in Psychology (1980, Tarcher). This serviceable anthology was

replaced by

Paths Beyond Ego: The Transpersonal Vision (1993, Tarcher), a radically

revised collection with thirty-seven authors and a sweeping range of perspectives.

In 1986, Frances Vaughan, a psychotherapist, combined transpersonal psychological

theory with exercises in a “practical wisdom” approach.

The Inward Arc: Healing and

Wholeness in Psychotherapy and Spirituality (Shambhala). It is now reissued in a second

edition by Blue Dolphin Publishing (1995). When Michael Washburn published

The Ego

and the Dynamic Ground: A Transpersonal Theory of Human Development (1988, State
University of New York Press), he argued for a spiral, rather than hierarchical, pattern in

human  spiritual  development.  His  revised  model  appears  in  a  1995  second  edition  also
from  SUNY  Press.  Another  example  of  SUNY  Press’s  impressive  list  is  John  E.  Nelson's
Healing  the  Split:  Integrating  Spirit  into  Our  Understanding  of  the  Mentally  III  (1994).

This second edition is a courageous, well-referenced foray into the complexities of
madness, creative genius, spiritual experience, and psychotic illness.

There arc, of course, many other contemporary contributors to this literature—Ken
Wilber, Stansilav Grof, John Welwood to note a few—whose work spans decades. All of

these authors, and many to come, are enriching transpersonal psychology with a new,
renewed, and constantly creative energy. —

Miles A. Vich

Book Reviews

BOOKS OUR

EDITORS ARE

READING

eber

, E.Q. (Ed.). Chipping away on earth: Studies in prehispanic

and colonial Mexico in honor of Arthur J. O. Anderson and

Charles E. Dibble.

Lancaster, CA: Labyrinthos, 1994.

evenson

, E.. The ambiguity of change: An inquiry into the nature

of psychoanalytic reality.

New York: Basic Books, 1983.

ayer

, J. & A

bramson

, J. Strange justice: The selling of Clarence

Thomas.

Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1994.

. . . James F. T. Bugental

ollins

, T.C. Comprehensive health care for everyone: A guide for

body, mind, and spirit.

Nevada City, CA: Blue Dolphin, 1995.

arney

, C. The way it is: One water, one air, one Mother Earth.

Nevada City, CA: Blue Dolphin, 1995.

. . . Paul M. Clemens

Epstein, M. Thoughts without a thinker: Buddhism and psycho

therapy.

New York: Basic Books, 1995.

alzberg

, S. Lovingkindness. Boston: Shambhala, 1995.

ilber

, K. Sex, ecology, spirituality. Boston: Shambhala, 1995.

. . . Daniel Goleman

ilber

, K. Sex, ecology, spirituality. Boston: Shambhala, 1995.

ansey

, D. The origins of the Mithraic Mysteries. Oxford: Oxford

University Press. 1989.

, H. Secrets of Mayan science/religion. Santa Fe: Bear, 1990.

. . . Stanislav Grof

ackman

, B. The journal of Hildegard of Bingen. New York: Bell

Tower, 1993.

artmann

, E. Boundaries of the mind. New York: Basic Books,

1991.

inkleman

, M. Ethnic relations in the U.S.: A sociohistorical

cultural systems approach.

New York: West Publishing, 1993.

. . . Stanley Krippner

arvey

, A. The way ofpassion: A celebration of.Rumi. Frog, Ltd.,

1994.

alzberg

, S. Lovingkindness. Boston: Shambhala, 1995.

.. .John Levy

ontzevitch

, l.M. The acquisition of the holy spirit in ancient

Russia.

Platina. CA: St. Herman of Alaska Brotherhood, 1988.

eil

, A. Spontaneous healing. New York: Knopf, 1995.

. . . Huston Smith

ilber

, K. A. A brief history of everything. Boston: Shambhala,

1996.

chachter

, Z. From aging to saging. New York: Warner, 1995.

. .. Frances Vaughan

The Journal of Transpersonal Psychology, 1995, Vol. 27, No. 1

ogart

, G. Finding your life's calling: Spiritual dimensions of

vocational choice.

Berkeley, CA: Dawn Mountain Press, 1995.

rabtree

, A. From Mesmer to Freud: Magnetic sleep and the

roots of psychological healing.

New Haven, CT: Yale, 1995.

ooper

, D. A. Silence, simplicity, and solitude: A guide for spiri

tual retreat.

New York: Bell Tower, 1992.

pstein

, M. Thoughts without a thinker: Psychotherapy from a

Buddhist perspective.

New York: Basic Books, 1995.

old

, P. Navajo and Tibetan sacred wisdom: The circle of the

spirit.

Rochester, VT: Inner Traditions, 1994.

oodwin

, M. The lucid dreamer: A waking guide for the traveler

between worlds.

New York: Simon & Schuster, 1994.

arema

, W.J. Fathering the next generation: Men mentoring men.

New York: Crossroad, 1994.

enny

, C.B. Listening, playing, creating: Essays on the power of

sound.

Albany, NY: S.U.N.Y. Press, 1995.

etzner

, R. The well of remembrance: Rediscovering the Earth

wisdom myths of Northern Europe.

Boston: Shambhala, 1994.

iller

, J.E. What will help me: 12 things to remember when you

have suffered a loss/How can I help: 12 things to do when

someone you know suffers a loss.

Ft. Wayne, IN: Willowgreen

Publishing, 1994.

aranjo

, C. Character and neurosis: An integrative view. Nevada

City, CA: Gatcways/IDHHB, 1994.

ogers

, N. The creative connection: Expressive arts as healing.

Palo Alto, CA: Science and Behavior Books, 1993.

ardello

, R. Love and the soul: Creating a future for Earth. New

York: HarperCollins, 1995.

helton

, C.M. Pastoral counseling with adolescents and young

adults.

New York: Crossroad, 1995.

alentis

, M. & D

evane

, A. Female rage: Unlocking its secrets,

claiming its power.

New York: Carol Southern, 1994.

illis

, R.J. Transcendence in relationship: Existentialism and

psychotherapy.

Norwood, NJ: Ablex Publishing, 1994.

BOOKS

noted

Books Noted

ABOUT

THE

AUTHORS

Tom S. Cleary, M.A., is completing his doctorate in clinical psychology
(December, 1995) at the University of Hawaii. His research for the present

article was conducted over the last three years at U.H. in collaboration with

Professor Sam I. Shapiro. Tom currently resides in Los Angeles.

Sandra Diaz, M.Ed., is a doctoral student in clinical psychology at The

Fielding Institute in Santa Barbara, California. Current interests include

marital/family therapy, the relationship between spirituality and mental

health, and alternative, nontraditional forms of therapy and healing.

George Leone, Ph.D., holds a certificate in Psychodynamic Psychotherapy

from  the  St.  Louis  Psychoanalytic  Institute.  His  doctorate  is  in  counselor
education.  For  the  past  four  years  he  has  taught  graduate  programs  for
counselor training at the University of New Mexico and the University of
Texas  at  El  Paso.  He  has  been  counseling  since  1979  and  practicing  Zen
meditation since 1970. Currently he is in private practice of psychotherapy

in Albuquerque, New Mexico.

D. Don Sawatzky, Ph.D., is Professor and Area Coordinator for Counseling
and School Psychology in the Department of Educational Psychology,

Faculty of Education, at the University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta.

Current interests include counseling psychology, family counseling, and
counselor education and supervision.

Sam I. Shapiro, Ph.D., is Professor of Psychology at the University of
Hawaii at Manoa, in Honolulu. He publishes internationally in various
scholarly journals and teaches courses on a variety of topics related to East-

West psychology. He has held graduate seminars in transpersonal psychol

ogy and transpersonal psychotherapy at U.H.

Charles T. Tart, Ph.D.. Professor of Psychology at the California Institute

of Integral Studies and at the Institute of Transpersonal Psychology, is the

author of many articles on transpersonal topics (see

JTP 1970, 1971, 1976,

1979, 1986, 1990, 1991 #1 and #2, 1993) and numerous books including
Transpersonal Psychologies; States of Consciousness; Waking Up; Open

Mind, Discriminating Mind; and Living the Mindful Life.

Roger Walsh, M.D., Ph.D., is Professor of Psychiatry, Philosophy, and
Anthropology at the University of California at Irvine. His publications
include

The Spirit of Shamanism; Meditation: Classic and Contemporary

Perspectives; and two volumes coedited with Frances Vaughan: Paths

Beyond Ego: The Transpersonal Vision and Gifts from A Course in

Miracles.

The Journal of Transpersonal Psychology, 1995, Vol. 27, No. 1

Cleary, Tom S. & Shapiro, Sam

I. The plateau experience and the post

mortem life: Abraham H. Maslow’s unfinished theory.—Not long before he

died in 1970, Abraham H. Maslow, co-founder of humanistic and transper
sonal psychology and a President of the American Psychological Associa

tion,  began  to  describe  a  state  of  consciousness  he  called  the  plateau
experience,  an  experience  that  he  credited  to  becoming  reconciled  to  his
death. The plateau experience bears some resemblance to Maslow’s earlier
concept  of  the  peak  experience,  but  is  a  discrete  state  of  transpersonal
consciousness. Aside from Maslow’s own research, however, the concept
has not been examined by others in much detail. This article characterizes
and  explores  the  concept  of  the  plateau  experience  more  fully,  based  on
Maslow’s writing on the subject and related topics.

Diaz, Sandra & Sawatzky, D. Don.

Rediscovering native rituals: ‘“Com

ing Home’ to my self.”—This research examines the role of rituals in the
lives of one Native woman and five Native men, using an adaptation of

procedures associated with grounded theory. A model delineating the
process of learning about their Native rituals was subsequently developed
based on these six interviews. This process has been conceptualized as
“Coming Home” to my self, the components of which include: 1) exposure
to Native ways of knowing and healing; 2) dealing w'ith fear of the unknown;
3) healing through the rituals; and 4) evaluating changes within oneself. The
process ultimately deals with self-realization rather than simply with the
issue of what Native ceremonies and rituals are about. How such ceremonies
and rituals help with self-realization is discussed.

Leone, George.

Zen meditation: A psychoanalytic conceptualization.—

Zen meditation is a powerful method to encounter a profound existential

dimension of life and potentially to come to experience an egoless state of
being which is active in everyday living. Descriptions of the process

whereby this egolessness emerges have typically been philosophical, reli
gious, or poetic. This paper examines the Zen experience from the stand
point of the concepts found in Freud’s structural theory of the personality.
The Zen experience is presented in terms of existential significance which

illuminates the inherent ground of being.

art

Charles

T. Toward the objective exploration of non-ordinary real

ity.—Throughout human history some people have had vivid experiences

of  their  consciousness  temporarily  being  located  elsewhere  than  their
physical  bodies,  i.e.,  out-of-the-body  experiences  (OOBEs).  Robert  A.
Monroe, recently deceased, was one of the most well known of such people.
His three books have affected hundreds of thousands of readers. This article
presents nine hypotheses, illustrated by Monroe’s experiences, to be consid
ered  as  possible  explanations.  They  range  from  a)  psychopathological
fantasy,  to  b)  fantasy  combined  with  ESP,  to  c)  OOBEs  as  providing
experiential access to nonphysical, but objectively existent, worlds.

Walsh, Roger.

Phenomenological mapping:

method for describing and

comparing states of consciousness.—The range, variety and value of
recognized states of consciousness continue to increase and with this has
come an increasing need to more precisely describe, differentiate, map, and
compare them. This paper outlines a method of phenomenological mapping

ABSTRACTS

Abstracts

BACK ISSUES OF THE JOURNAL OF TRANSPERSONAL PSYCHOLOGY

1969

Vol. I

No. 1

No. 2

1970

Vol. 2
No. 1

No. 2

1971

Vol. 3
No. I

No. 2

1972

Vol. 4

No. 1

No. 2

rmor

, T. A

note on the peak experience and a transpersonal psychology. •

ssagioli

, R.

Symbols of transpersonal experiences. • M

aslow

, A.

The farther

reaches ol human nature. • M

aslow

, A.M.

Various meanings of transcendence. •

aven

, A.

The mystic union: A suggested biological interpretation. • M

urphy

, M.H.

Education for transcendence. • S

utich

, A.J.

Some considerations regarding Trans-

personal Psychology.

arman

. W.

The new Copernican revolution. • L

han

, I,.

Physicists and mystics:

Similarities in world view. • M

aslow

, A.H.

Theory Z. • P

ahnke

, N. & R

ichards

W.A.

Implications of LSD and experimental mysticism. • S

utich

, A.J.

The American

Transpersonal Association. • W

apnick

, K.

Mysticism and schizophrenia.

la i r

, M.A.

Meditation in the San Francisco Bay Area: An introductory survey. •

riswell

, E.

Experimental yoga psychology course for college students: A progress

report. • G

reen

, K., G

reen

, A.M., & W

alters

, E.D.

Voluntary control of internal

states: Psychological and physiological. • T

art

, C.T.

Transpersonal potentialities of

deep hypnosis. • T

immons

, B., & K

amiya

, J.

The psychology and physiology of

meditation and related phenomena: A bibliography.

adiman

. J.

The second Council Grove conference on altered states of consciousness.

• H

art

, J.T.

The Zen of Hubert Benoit. • M

aslow

, A.H.

New introduction:

Religions, values, and peak experiences. • R

ass

Lecture at the Mcnninger

Foundation: Part I.

oleman

, D.

Meditation as meta-therapy: Hypotheses toward a proposed fifth state

of consciousness. • G

reen

, E.E. & G

reen

, A.M.

On the meaning of transpersonal:

Some metaphysical perspectives. • R

ass

Lecture at the Menninger Foundation:

Part II. • S

utich

, A.J.

Transpersonal notes.

endrick

. N.

A program in the psychology of human consciousness. • T

art

, C.T.

psychologist’s experience with Transcendental Meditation. • T

art

, C.T.

Scientific

foundations for the study of altered states of consciousness. • V

uys

, D.

A novel

technique for studying attention during meditation. • W

eide

, T.N.

Council Grove III:

The third annual interdisciplinary conference on the voluntary control of internal

states.

oleman

, D.

The Buddha on meditation and states of consciousness. Part I: The

teaching. • G

rof

, S.

Varieties of transpersonal experiences: Observations from LSD

psychotherapy. • S

herman

, S.E.

Brief report: Continuing research on “very deep

hypnosis." • S

utich

, A.J.

Association for Transpersonal Psychology. • W

eide

, T.N.

Council Grove IV: Toward a science of ultimatcs.

oleman

, D.

The Buddha on meditation and states of consciousness. Part II: A

typology of meditation techniques. • K

rippner

, S. (

.).

The plateau experience:

A.H. Maslow and others. • R

ichards

, W., G

rof

, S., Goodman, L. & K

urland

, A.

LSD-assisted psychotherapy and the human encounter with death.

Back Issues

101

rof

, S.

Theoretical and empirical basis of transpersonal psychology and psycho

therapy: Observations from LSD research • Ram Dass. Lecture at the Maryland

Psychiatric Research Center: Part I. • S

utich

, A.J.

Transpersonal therapy. •

rungpa

, C.

An approach to meditation. • V

ilhjalmsson

, G. V., & W

eide

, T.N.

The

first international transpersonal conference. • W

eide

, T.N.

Varieties of transpersonal

therapy.

lark

, F.V.

Exploring intuition: Prospects and possibilities. • K

atz

, R.

Education

for transcendence: Lessons from the !Kung Zhu/twasi. • N

itya

, S

wami

Excerpts

from a discussion. • O

sis

, K-. B

okert

, E., & C

arlson

, M.L.

Dimensions of the

meditative experience. • R

ass

Lecture at the Maryland Psychiatric Research

Center: Part II. • W

eide

, T.N.

Vallombrosa: A major transpersonal event.

ampbell

, P.A., & M

ahon

, E.M.

Religious-type experience in the context of

humanistic and transpersonal psychology. • C

asper

, M.

Space therapy and the Maitri

project. • C

lark

, F.V.

Rediscovering transpersonal education. • C

rampton

, M.

Psychological energy transformations: Developing positive polarization. • G

oleman

Perspectives on psychology, reality and the study of consciousness. • K

ennett

, J.

Translating the precepts. • R

edmond

, H.

A pioneer program in transpersonal

education. • T

immons

, B., & K

anfllakos

. D.P.

The psychology and physiology of

meditation and related phenomena: Bibliography II. • W

atts

, A.

Psychotherapy and

eastern religion: Metaphysical bases of psychiatry.

ernbaum

, E.

The way of symbols: The use of symbols in Tibetan mysticism. •

rager

, R. A

proposed model for a graduate program in Transpersonal Psychology.

• J

ain

, M., & J

ain

, K.M.

The samadhist: A description. • K

ennett

, J.

On meditation.

• R

ing

, K.

A transpersonal view of consciousness: A mapping of farther regions of

inner space. • S

tat

, D.

Double chambered whistling bottles: A unique Peruvian

pottery form. • T

arthang

ulku

The self-image.

ugustine

. M.J. & K

alish

. R.A.

Religion, transcendence, and appropriate death. •

rager

, R. & F

adiman

, J.

Personal growth in Yoga and Sutism. • K

ennett

. J.,

adha

, S

wami

, & F

rager

, R.

Howto be a transpersonal teacher without becoming a

guru. • R

ass

Advice to a psychotherapist. • S

hultz

, J.V.

Stages on the spiritual

path: A Buddhist perspective. • S

imonton

, O.C. & S

imonton

, S.S.

Belief systems and

management of the emotional aspects of malignancy. • T

rungpa

, C.

Transpersonal

cooperation at Naropa.

eatherage

, G.

The clinical use of‘mindfulness’ meditation techniques in short-term

psychotherapy. • G

arfield

, C.A.

Consciousness alteration and fear of death. •

oleman

, D.

Mental health in classical Buddhist psychology. • H

endricks

, C.G.

Meditation as discrimination training: A theoretical note.* Maquet, J. Meditation in

contemporary Sri l.anka: Idea and practice. • W

ilber

, K.

Psychologia perennis: The

spectrum of consciousness.

apra

, F.

Modern physics and Eastern mysticism. • S

utkh

, A.J.

The emergence of

the transpersonal orientation: A personal account. • T

art

, C.T.

The basic nature of

altered states of consciousness: A systems approach. • T

arthang

ulku

A view of

mind. • V

ich

, M.A.

Anthony J. Sutich: An appreciation.

eslie

, R.C.

Yoga and the fear of death. • R

ass

Freeing the mind. • R

ing

, K.

Mapping the regions of consciousness: A conceptual reformulation. • S

inger

, J. A

102

The Journal of Transpersonal Psychology, 1995, Vol 27, No. I

1973

Vol. 5
No. 1

No. 2

1974

Vol. 6

No. 1

No. 2

1975

Vol. 7
No. I

No. 2

1976

Vol. 8

No. 1

No. 2

1977

Vol. 9
No. I

No. 2

1978

Vol. 1 0
No. 1

No. 2

1979

Vol. II

No. I

No. 2

1980

Vol. 12
No. I

No. 2

Jungian view of biofeedback training. • W

alsh

, R.N.

Reflections on psychotherapy. •

elwood

, J.

Exploring mind: Form, emptiness, and beyond. • W

illiams

, R.R.

Biofeedback: A technology for self-transaction.

rhard

. W. & F

adiman

, J.

Some aspects of est training and transpersonal psy

chology: A conversation. • K

iller

, M.

Henry David Thoreau: A transpersonal view.

elwood

, J.

Meditation and the unconscious: A new perspective.

nderson

, R.M..

. A holographic model of transpersonal consciousness. • K

ohr

R. L.

Dimensionality in meditative experience: A replication. • R

ass

& S

teindi

ast

, B.D.

On lay monasticism. • W

alsh

, R.N.

Initial meditative experiences: Part I.

• W

elwood

, J.

On psychological space.

urdock

, M.H.

Meditation with young children. • T

aylor

, E.I.

Psychology of

religion and Asian studies: The William James legacy. • W

alsh

, R. N.

Initial

meditative experiences: Part II. • W

ashburn

, M.C.

Observations relevant to a unified

theory of meditation.

oals

, G. F.

Toward a cognitive reconceptualization of meditation. • G

reen

, A.M. &

reen

, E.E.

Some problems in biofeedback research. • W

alsh

, R.N., D. G

oleman

. J.

orneield

, C. P

fnsa

, D. S

hapiro

Meditation: Aspects of research and practice. •

elwood

, J., F. C

apra

, M. F

erguson

, J. N

eedleman

, K. P

ribram

, H. S

mith

, F.

aughan

, R. N. W

alsh

Psychology, science and spiritual paths: Contemporary

issues.

ornfifld

, J.

Intensive insight meditation: A phenomenological study. • M

eadow

M.J., S

wami

java

, I.. B

gman

, W.H. C

lark

, G. G

reen

, S. K

rippner

, L..R.

ambo

, K. R

ing

, C.T. T

art

, K. W

ilber

Spiritual and transpersonal aspects of

altered states of consciousness: A symposium report. • S

tensrud

, R., & S

tensrud

, K.

The Tao of human relations. • W

wood

, J.

Self-knowledge as the basis for an

integrative psychology. • W

ilber

, K.

A developmental view of consciousness.

oorstein

, S.

Troubled relationships: Transpersonal and psychoanalytic approaches.

• T

rungpa

, C.

Intrinsic health: A conversation with health professionals. • V

aughan

Transpersonal psychotherapy: Context, content and process. • W

alsh

, R.N.

Emerging cross-disciplinary parallels: Suggestions from the neurosciences. • W

alsh

R.N.

Meditation research: An introduction and review. • W

elwood

, J.

Befriending

emotion: Self-knowledge and transformation. • W

hite

, L.W.

Recovery from alco

holism: Transpersonal dimensions.

ohm

, D. & W

elwood

, J.

Issues in physics, psychology and metaphysics: A conversa

tion. • B

orcoivalas

, M.

Transpersonal psychology: A working outline of the field. •

urns

, D. & O

hayv

, R.

Psychological changes in meditating Western monks in Thai

land. • D

rengson

, A.R.

Social and psychological implications of human attitudes

toward animals. • J

amnien

, A

jahn

& O

hayv

, R.

Field interview with a Theravada

teaching master. • M

etzner

, R.

Ten classical metaphors of self-transformation. •

homas

, L.E. & C

ooper

, P.E.

Incidence and psychological correlates of intense

spiritual experiences.

oorstein

, S.

Lightheartedness in psychotherapy. • B

rown

, D.P. & E

ngler

, J.

Stages of mindfulness meditation: A validation study. • L

angford

, A.

Working with

Cambodian refugees: Observations on the Family Practice Ward at Khao I Dang. •

Back Issues

103

urphy

, M.

The Esalen Institute Transformation Project: A preliminary report. •

elwood

, J.

Reflections on psychotherapy, focusing and meditation.

1 9 8 1

Vol. 13

No. 1

No. 2

1982
Vol. I
No. 1

No. 2

1 9 8 3

Vol. 15

No. 1

No. 2

1984
Vol. I
No. 1

No. 2

idas

, A.

Psychotherapy and surrender: A psychospiritual perspective. • P

eters

L.G.

An experiential study of Nepalese Shamanism. • S

mith

, K.

Observations on

Morita therapy and culture-specific interpretations. • W

ilber

, K.

Ontogenetic deve

lopment: Two fundamental patterns.

modko

, J.

Focusing applied to a case of disorientation in meditation. A

ndson

, J.

Will in the psychology of Otto Rank. • E

arle

, J.B.B.

Cerebral laterality and

meditation: A review. • E

pstein

, M.D. & I.

iefe

, J.D.

Psychiatric complications of

meditation. • G

oleman

. D.

Buddhist and Western psychology: Some commonalities

and differences. • O'H

anlon

, D.J., S.I

. Integration of spiritual practices: A Western

Christian looks Fast.

nthony

, D.

The outer master as inner guide: Autonomy and authority in the process

of transformation. • L

ieff

, J.

Fight reasons doctors fear the elderly, chronic illness

and death. • V

aughan

, F.

The transpersonal perspective: A personal overview. •

alsh

, R.

A model for viewing meditation research. • W

ortz

, K.

Application of

awareness methods in psychotherapy.

itken

. R.

Zen practice and psychotherapy. • A

lpert

, R./R

ass

A ten-year

perspective. • R

iedlinger

, T.J.

Sartre's rite of passage. • S

peeth

, K.

On psycho

therapeutic attention. • W

elwood

, J.

Vulnerability and power in the therapeutic

process: Existential and Buddhist perspectives.

riedman

, H.L.

The self-expansive level form: A conceptualization and measure

ment of a transpersonal construct. • G

rof

. S.

Fast and West: Ancient wisdom and

modern science. • K

omito

, D.R.

Tibetan Buddhism and psychotherapy: A conversa

tion with the Dalai La m a . • L

ane

, D.C.

The hierarchical structure of religious visions.

• S

hapiro

, D.H.

Meditation as an altered state of consciousness.

oorstein

, S.

The use of bibliotherapy and mindfulness meditation in a psychiatric

setting. • G

allegos

, E.S.

Animal imagery, the chakra system and psychotherapy. •

astings

, A.

A counseling approach to parapsychological experience. • H

enderson

Self-help books emphasizing transpersonal psychology: Are they ethical? •

enkin

, W.

Two non-ordinary experiences of reality and their integration. • K

Negation of ego in Tibetan Buddhism and Jungian psychology. • M

urphy

, M. &

onovan

, S.

A bibliography of meditation theory and research: 1931-1983.

ngler

, J.

Therapeutic aims in psychotherapy and meditation: Developmental stages

in the representation of self. • K

omito

, D.R.

Tibetan Buddhism and psychotherapy:

Further conversations with the Dalai La m a . • W

elwood

, J.

Principles of inner work:

Psychological and spiritual. • W

ilber

, K.

The developmental spectrum and psy

chopathology: Part I. Stages and types of pathology.

rmstrong

, T.

Transpersonal experience in childhood. • A

sante

, M.K.

The African

American mode of transcendence. • E

pstein

, M.D.

On the neglect of evenly

suspended attention. • G

ross

, R.M.

The feminine principle in Tibetan Vajrayana

Buddhism: Reflections of a Buddhist feminist. • S

hafranske

, E.P. & G

orsuch

, R.L.

Factors associated with the perception of spirituality in psychotherapy. • W

ilber

, K.

The developmental spectrum and psychopathology: Part 11. Treatment modalities.

The Journal of Transpersonal Psychology, 1995, Vol 27. No. 1

104

1985

Vol. 17
No. 1

No. 2

1986

Vol. 18
No. 1

No. 2

1987

Vol. 19
No. 1
No. 2

1988

Vol. 20

No. 1

No. 2

oorstein

, S.

Notes on right speech as a psychotherapeutic technique. • M

etzner

, R.

Knots, ties, nets, and bonds in relationships. • S

cotton

, B.W.

Observations on the

teaching and supervision of transpersonal psychotherapy. • S

ovatsky

, S.

Eros as

mystery: Toward a transpersonal sexology and procreativity. • T

hapa

, K. & M

urthy

V.N.

Experiential characteristics of certain altered states of consciousness. •

elwood

, J.

On love: Conditional and unconditional.

hinen

, A.B.

Fairy tales and transpersonal development in later life. • G

oleman

, D.,

mith

, H. & R

ass

Truth and transformation in psychological and spiritual

paths. • L

ukoff

, D.

The diagnosis of mystical experiences with psychotic features. •

ukoff

, D. & E

verest

, H.C.

The myths in mental illness.

utcher

, P.

The phenomenological psychology of J. Krishnamurti. • K

noblauch

D.I.. & F

alconer

, J.A.

The relationship of a measured Taoist orientation to Western

personality dimensions. • R

othberg

, D.

Philosophical foundations of transpersonal

psychology: An introduction to some basic issues. • R

ussell

, E.W.

Consciousness

and the unconscious: Eastern meditative and Western psychotherapeutic approaches.

oorstein

, S.

Transpersonal context, interpretation, and psychotherapeutic tech

nique. • C

hinen

, A.B.

Elder tales revisited: Forms of transcendence in later life. •

Epstein, M. Meditative transformations of narcissism. • F

leischman

, P.R.

Release:

A religious and psychotherapeutic issue. • T

art

, C.T.

Consciousness, altered states,

and worlds of experience. • Welwood, J. Personality structure: Path or pathology?

ubs

, G.

Psycho-spiritual development in Zen Buddhism: A study of resistance in

meditation. • T

eixeira

, B.

Comments on Ahimsa (nonviolence).

hinen

, A.B.

Middle tales: Fairy tales and transpersonal development at mid-life •

avis

, J. & W

right

, C.

Content of undergraduate transpersonal psychology courses.

• E

chenhofer

, F.G. & C

oombs

, M.M.

A brief review of research and controversies in

EEG biofeedback and meditation • L

, F.G. & H

eming

, G.

The effect of the film Ikiru

on death anxiety and attitudes toward death • M

eadow

, M.J. & C

ulligan

, K.

Congruent spiritual paths: Christian Carmelite and Theravadan Buddhist Vipassana •

eimer

, S. R.& I.

, F.G.

Personal transformation through an encounter with death:

Cinematic and psychotherapy case studies.

hinen

, A.B.; F

oote

, W.; J

, R.W.; L

ukoff

, D. & S

pielvogfl

, A.

Clinical

symposium: Challenging cases in transpersonal psychotherapy. • E

pstein

, M.

The

deconstruction of the self: Ego and “egolessness” in Buddhist insight meditation. •

iltunen

, S.S.

Initial therapeutic applications of Noh Theatre in drama therapy. •

endzik

, S.

Drama therapy as a form of modern shamanism. • W

ilber

, T.K.

Attitudes and cancer: What kind of help really helps?

umulative

ndex

: T

ournal

ranspersonal

sychology

, V

olumes

1-20,

1969-1988.

Contents listed by volume year. Alphabetical list of authors. • L

ukoff

Transpersonal perspectives on manic psychosis: Creative, visionary, and mystical

states. • L

ukoff

, D. & L

, F.

Transpersonal psychology research review: Topic:

Mystical experience. • V

ich

, M.A.

Some historical sources of the term "trans

personal." • W

ilber

, K.

On being a support person.

Back Issues

105

1989

Vol. 21
No. 1

No. 2

1990
Vol. 22
No. 1

No. 2

1991

Vol. 23
No. 1

No. 2

1992

Vol. 24
No. 1

No. 2

pstein

, M.

Forms of emptiness: Psychodynamic, meditative and clinical perspectives. •

eery

, M.W.

Inner voice experiences: An exploratory study of thirty cases. • R

oberts

, T.B.

Multistate education: Metacognitive implications of the mindbody psychotechnologies. •

hapiro

, D.

Judaism as a journey of transformation: Consciousness, behavior, and society.

• W

alsh

, R.

What is a shaman? Definition, origin and distribution.

arlat

, D.J.

Psychological motivation and the choice of spiritual symbols: A case study. •

ukoff

, D. & L

, F.G.

Transpersonal psychology research review: Topic: Computerized

databases, specialized collections, and archives. • N

elson

, P.L.

Personality factors in the

frequency of reported spontaneous praeternatural experiences. • P

eters

, L.G.

Shamanism:

Phenomenology of a spiritual discipline. • S

chavrien

, J.E.

The rage, healing and daemonic

death of Oedipus: A self-in-relation theory. • S

erlin

, I.

A psycho-spiritual-body therapy

approach to residential treatment of Catholic religious.

pstein

, M.

Psychodynamics of meditation: Pitfalls on the spiritual path. • F

, W.

Transpersonal ecology: “Psychologizing” ecophilosophy. • H

olden

, J. & G

uest

, C.

Life

review in a non-near-death episode: A comparison with near-death experiences. • N

elson

, P.

The technology of the praeternatural: An empirically based model of transpersonal experi

ence. • W

elwood

, J.

Intimate relationship as path.

ughes

, D. & M

elville

, N.

Changes in brainwave activity during trance channeling: A pilot

study. • L

ukoff

, D., Z

anger

, R.

& L

, F.

Transpersonal psychology research review:

Psychoactive substances and transpersonal states. • T

art

, C.

Adapting Eastern spiritual

teachings to Western culture: A discussion with Shinzen Young. • W

aldman

, M.

Reflections

on death and reconciliation.

oblin

, R.

Pahnke’s “Good Friday experiment”: A long-term follow-up and methodological

critique. • D

ubin

, W.

The use of meditative techniques in psychotherapy supervision. •

ansfield

, V.

Looking into mind: An undergraduate course. • T

art

, C.T. & D

eikman

, A.J.

Mindfulness, spiritual seeking and psychotherapy.

ajoie

, D. H., S

hapiro

, S.E.

& R

oberts

, T.B.

A historical analysis of the statement of

purpose in The Journal ofTranspersonal Psychology. • M

ontgomery

, C.L.

The care-giving

relationship: Paradoxical and transcendent aspects. • T

art

, C.T.

Influences of previous

psychedelic drug experiences on students of Tibetan Buddhism: A preliminary exploration.

• V

aughan

, F.

Spiritual issues in psychotherapy. • V

igne

, J.

Guru and psychotherapist:

Comparisons from the Hindu tradition.

ogart

, G.C.

Separating from a spiritual teacher. • L

ajoie

, D.H. & S

hapiro

, S.I.

Definitions

of transpersonal psychology: The first twenty-three years. • L

ukoff

, D., T

urner

, R. & L

Transpersonal psychology research review: Psychoreligious dimensions of healing. •

amara

, P.

A transpersonal approach to memory. • S

hapiro

, D.H.

Jr. A preliminary

study of long-term meditators: Goals, effects, religious orientation, cognitions. • V

ich

, M.A.

Changing definitions of transpersonal psychology.

ughes

, D.J.

Differences between trance channeling and multiple personality disorder on

structured interview. • L

, D.

Avoiding the void: The lack of self in psychotherapy and

Buddhism. • S

tavely

, H. & M

amara

, P.

Warwick Fox’s “transpersonal ecology”: A

critique and alternative approach. • W

aldman

, M., L

annert

, J., B

oorstein

, S., S

cotton

, B.,

altzman

, L. & J

, R.W.

The therapeutic alliance, kundalini, and spiritual/religious issues

in counseling. • W

alsh

, R.N. & V

aughan

, F.

Lucid dreaming: Some transpersonal implica

tions.

The Journal of Transpersonal Psychology, 1994, Vol 26, No. 2

106

1993

Vol. 25
No. 1

No. 2

1994

Vol. 26
No. 1

No. 2

arr

, C.

Death and near-death: A comparison of Tibetan and Euro-American experiences.

• G

reyson

, B.

The physio-kundalini syndrome and mental illness. • L

ukoff

, D., T

urner

R. & L

, F. G.

Transpersonal psychology research review: Psychospiritual dimensions of

healing. • O

ssoff

, J.

Reflections of shaktipat: Psychosis or the rise of kundalini? A case

study. • W

alsh

, R.

& V

aughan

, F.

The art of transcendence: An introduction to common

elements of transpersonal practices.

umulative

ndex

: T

ournal

ranspersonal

sychology

, V

olumes

21-25,1989-

1993.

Contents listed by volume year. Alphabetical list of authors. • H

anna

, F. J.

Rigorous

intuition: Consciousness, being, and the phenomenological method. • M

iller

, J. J.

The

unveiling of traumatic memories and emotions through mindfulness and concentration
meditation: Clinical implications and three case reports. • T

art

, C. T.

The structure and

dynamics of waking sleep. • W

alsh

, R.

The transpersonal movement: A history and state

of the art. • W

alsh

, R.

& V

aughan

, F.

On transpersonal definitions.

ubin

, W.

The use of meditative techniques for teaching dynamic psychology. • Mf.tzner,

R. Addiction and transcendence as altered states of consciousness. • P

atrik

, L.E.

Phenom

enological method and meditation. • S

teele

, S.

The multistate paradigm and the spiritual

path of John of the Cross.

Boorstein, S. Insight: Some considerations regarding its potential and limitations. •
G

ifford

-M

, D. & T

hompson

, N.L.

"Deep states” of meditation: Phenomenological

reports of experience. • H

utton

, M.S.

How transpersonal psychotherapists differ from other

practitioners: An empirical study. • M

onald

, D.A., T

sagarakis

, C.I. & H

olland

, C.J.

Validation of a measure of transpersonal self-concept and its relationship to Jungian and five-

factor model conceptions of personality. • W

ren

-L

ewis

, J.

Aftereffects of near-death

experiences: A survival mechanism hypothesis.