Transpersonal Psychology Essay Example for Free

Transpersonal Psychology Essay The field of Transpersonal Psychology is the fourth field of psychology in addition to psychoanalysis, behaviorism, and humanistic psychology which covers the concepts regarding â€Å"Near Death Experience reality’, ‘dream reality’ and ‘waking reality’. According to Lajoie and Shapiro from the Journal of Transpersonal Psychology, â€Å"Transpersonal psychology is concerned with the study of humanity’s highest potential, and with the recognition, understanding, and realization of spiritual and transcendent states of consciousness. (Lajoie and Shapiro, 1992:91). However, Walsh and Vaughan started to criticize the many definitions of transpersonal psychology and referred it as the branch of psychology which studies transpersonal experiences which can be experienced during a distorted consciousness and other phenomena related to realms of mind and consciousness. (Walsh Vaughan, 1993, p203). Near Death Experience Near Death Experience (NDE) has been regarded as a phenomenon connected with several aspects such as the after-life experience and physiological experience that has both spiritual and psychological effects depending on how it is perceived. According to Jansen and Phil, â€Å"NDE is an altered state of consciousness of potentially great importance to psychology, philosophy, religion, medicine, neuroscience, art, and humanity in general. The mystery which it represents is of universal significance.† (Dr. Karl Jansen MB.ChB., 1998). According to Jody Long, a person who experienced NDE integrates it to his existing belief and strengthens their sense of spirituality which may involve change of religion. (Long, 2003) Generally, Kenneth Ring (1980) classified NDEs on a 5 stages in progression: 1. feelings of peace and contentment; 2. a sense of detachment from the body; 3. entering a transitional world of darkness (rapid movement through a long dark tunnel: the tunnel experience); 4. emerging into bright light which maybe a religious figure; and 5. entering the light. According to van Lommel, et.al., based on the clinical studies, some factors that lead to NDE include cardiac arrest, postpartum loss of blood, anaphylactic shock, coma, asphyxia, suicide, apnoea, near-drowning and serious depression.(van Lommel, 2001) However, it was observed that there are quite similarities among the description of NDEs and the skeptics understood it to be attributed to the pathology of the dying or reviving brain as suggested by Dr. Vladimir Negovsky. (Pravda, 2004). Dream Reality: A dream, as defined by American Heritage Dictionary (1978), is â€Å"a series of images, ideas, etc., occurring in certain stages of sleep.† Physiologically, it is commonly understood to be the product of the subconscious brain in processing waking reality and oftentimes outside the control of the dreamer. Eventually, studies showed that there is an exemption in lucid dreaming where the dreamer can control some aspects of the dream and experience it clearly. Stephen LaBerge, a popular experimenter has defined it as dreaming while knowing that you are dreaming. The clarity of the lucid dream signifies good dream recall. Practicing the control of the dream and recreating it may sometimes need tests to determine whether one is dreaming or not. Most common reality tests applied includes pinching oneself, holding one’s nose, or facing a mirror.(LaBerge, 1993) According to Eugen Tarnow, lucid dreaming is similar to NDE in that the persons involved both recall them with clarity. Both gives color and sound and become part of a long-term memory even during waking life. During waking life an executive function interprets long term memory consistent with reality checking. (Long, 2003) This coincides with Grosso’s observation that both stem from the same matrix of consciousness and involve the same mechanisms. (Grosso, 1983) It can also noted that as the NDErs consciously knows that they are experiencing reality, so the lucid dreamers knows that they are dreaming. It was shown in a study entitled Dreams and NDE that dreams rarely reproduced any part of the experience. (Long, 2003) This became the strongest evidence that NDEs and dreams are generally different states of consciousness.   Another way to interrelated the dreams, NDE and waking life is by looking at the thickness or thinness of boundaries an individual may have. According to Abraham Maslow â€Å"an individual’s capacity to experience transcendent states depends on a quality of openness that permits them to occur. (Kohr, 1983) p.171 Apparently, the â€Å"thicker† or more rigid the person, the less dreams the person recalled while the â€Å"thinner† or more fluid the person, the more dreams and waking reality blended. REFERENCES: Lajoie, D. H. Shapiro, S. I. (1992). Definitions of transpersonal psychology: The first twenty-three years. Journal of Transpersonal Psychology, Vol. 24. p. 91. Walsh, R. Vaughan, F. (1993). On transpersonal definitions.Journal of Transpersonal Psychology, 25 (2) 125-182 Dr. Karl Jansen MB.ChB., M. M. S., D. Phil (Oxon), MRCPsych. (1998). Ketamine Near Death and Near Birth Experience. Retrieved February 26, 2007, from http://www.lila.info/document_view.phtml?document_id=91 Grosso, M. (1983). Jung, Parapsychology, and the Near-Death Experience: Toward a Transpersonal Paradigm. The Journal for Near-Death Studies, 3(1), 19-22. Kohr, R. (1983). Near-Death Experiences In, Altered States, and Psi Sensitivity, Anabiosis. The Journal for Near-Death Studies, 3(2), 169-172. LaBerge, S. a. L., Lynne. (1993). The Light and Mirror Experiment Nightlight 5(Summer), 10. Long, J. A. a. L., Jeffrey. (2003). Dreams, Near-Death Experiences, and Reality Retrieved February 26, 2007, from www.nderf.org van Lommel, P. e. a. (2001). Near Death Experience In Survivors of Cardiac Arrest: A Prospective Study in the Netherlands. The Lancet( 358 ), 2039-2042.