The Ego and the Dynamic Ground

The Ego and the Dynamic Ground
Author: Michael Washburn
Publisher: SUNY Press
Total Pages: 296
Release: 1988-01-01
Genre: Psychology
ISBN: 9780887066115

This book presents a transpersonal theory of human development. Using a broad range of both Western and Eastern sources, Washburn answers the challenge of Carl Jung. He shows how modern humans can integrate themselves and attain self-realization rather than self-destruction.

Recentering the Self

Recentering the Self
Author: Michael Washburn
Publisher: State University of New York Press
Total Pages: 719
Release: 2023-10-01
Genre: Psychology
ISBN: 1438494688

In Recentering the Self, Michael Washburn presents a new account of the ego, ego development, and the role of the ego in spiritual life. He starts by tracing the premodern antecedents of the notion of the ego in Greek philosophy and Christian theology and then explains the seventeenth-century emergence of the notion in Descartes's radically new account of the soul’s relation to the body. Reviewing subsequent criticisms of the notion, the author formulates a revised conception of the ego that highlights the ego's inherently two-sided nature, as a subject and agency that, although rooted within interior consciousness, lives originally and primarily in the material, social world. Washburn uses this revised conception of the ego to explain how the two sides of the ego develop in concert over major stages of the human lifespan and why the ego, despite widespread belief to the contrary, plays primarily a positive role in spiritual life. Recentering the Self makes important contributions to the history of philosophy, consciousness studies, phenomenology, developmental psychology, and spiritual or transpersonal psychology.

Embodied Spirituality in a Sacred World

Embodied Spirituality in a Sacred World
Author: Michael Washburn
Publisher: State University of New York Press
Total Pages: 248
Release: 2012-02-01
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 0791486265

Anyone seeking a deeper understanding of human spirituality will find something of value in Michael Washburn's new book. Drawing on a rich variety of psychoanalytic, Jungian, and existential-phenomenological sources and on both Western and Asian spiritual texts, Embodied Spirituality in a Sacred World provides a theoretical foundation for the idea that human development follows a spiral path. Washburn shows that ego development early in life requires us to turn our backs on original sources of our existence and, therefore, that spiritual development later in life requires us to spiral back to these sources on the way to whole-psyche integration. He elucidates the underlying causes and pivotal events that set development on its spiral course and traces six major dimensions of experience as they unfold along the spiral path: the unconscious, the energy system, the ego system, the perceived other, the experiential body, and the life-world. In providing a theoretical foundation for the idea of the spiral path, Washburn defends the idea against its critics and helps explain why the idea has been compelling to so many people in diverse traditions.

Transpersonal Psychology in Psychoanalytic Perspective

Transpersonal Psychology in Psychoanalytic Perspective
Author: Michael Washburn
Publisher: SUNY Press
Total Pages: 392
Release: 1994-01-01
Genre: Psychology
ISBN: 9780791419533

In this book, Michael Washburn provides a psychoanalytic foundation for transpersonal psychology. Using psychoanalytic theory, Washburn explains how ego development both prepares for and creates obstacles to ego transcendence. Spiritual development, he proposes, can be properly understood only in terms of the ego development that precedes it. For example, many difficulties encountered in spiritual development can be traced to repressive underpinnings of ego development, and significant gender differences in spiritual development can be traced to corresponding gender differences that emerge during ego development. Washburn draws on a wide range of psychoanalytic perspectives in discussing ego development and uses both Eastern and Western sources in discussing spiritual development. In rethinking transpersonal psychology in psychoanalytic terms, he explains how essential elements of Jungian thought can be grounded in psychoanalytic theory.

Psychotherapy and Spirit

Psychotherapy and Spirit
Author: Brant Cortright
Publisher: SUNY Press
Total Pages: 276
Release: 1997-01-01
Genre: Psychology
ISBN: 9780791434659

The first concise overview of transpersonal psychotherapy.

Changes of Mind

Changes of Mind
Author: Jenny Wade
Publisher: SUNY Press
Total Pages: 356
Release: 1996-01-01
Genre: Psychology
ISBN: 9780791428498

An original theory of the development of consciousness that brings together research from neurology, new-paradigm studies, psychology, and mysticism.

Revisioning Transpersonal Theory

Revisioning Transpersonal Theory
Author: Jorge N. Ferrer
Publisher: SUNY Press
Total Pages: 304
Release: 2002-01-01
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 9780791451670

A participatory alternative to the perennialism and experientialism dominant in transpersonal psychology.

The Ego Tunnel

The Ego Tunnel
Author: Thomas Metzinger
Publisher: ReadHowYouWant.com
Total Pages: 442
Release: 2010-05-21
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 1458759164

We're used to thinking about the self as an independent entity, something that we either have or are. In The Ego Tunnel, philosopher Thomas Metzinger claims otherwise: No such thing as a self exists. The conscious self is the content of a model created by our brain - an internal image, but one we cannot experience as an image. Everything we experience is ''a virtual self in a virtual reality.'' But if the self is not ''real,'' why and how did it evolve? How does the brain construct it? Do we still have souls, free will, personal autonomy, or moral accountability? In a time when the science of cognition is becoming as controversial as evolution, The Ego Tunnel provides a stunningly original take on the mystery of the mind.

The Integration of Psyche and Spirit

The Integration of Psyche and Spirit
Author: Burton Daniels
Publisher: iUniverse
Total Pages: 393
Release: 2002-11-04
Genre: Psychology
ISBN: 1469796570

The Integration of Psyche and Spirit presents an interactive model of a new genre of psychology: Integral Psychology. In this genre, all schools and systems of psychology are unified within a single, all-inclusive framework. Psychoanalysis, Behaviorism, Cognitive Psychology, Existentialism, and Transpersonal Psychology all find their rightful place as members in a new "democracy of mind". Building on the pioneering work of Freud, Jung, Kohut, Maslow, and Wilber-as aligned to the spiritual revelation of the Ruchira Avatar, Adi Da Samraj-Burton Daniels has developed a comprehensive theory of psychic structure, personality development, and clinical practice. It is the intent of this work to usher in a new era within professional psychology, where all schools and systems can benefit from a common language and theoretical framework. This breakthrough is made possible by a conception of the psyche that includes every aspect of structure and development within a single, comprehensive theory: The "Apex" Paradox. "The author integrates the Avatar Adi Da's teaching on psychology and spirituality into this analysis, providing a compelling argument for the inclusion of spirituality into psychological theory and a strong argument for the truth of the Avatar Adi Da's teaching." - iUniverse

Shadow, Self, Spirit - Revised Edition

Shadow, Self, Spirit - Revised Edition
Author: Michael Daniels
Publisher: Andrews UK Limited
Total Pages: 483
Release: 2021-09-28
Genre: Psychology
ISBN: 1845406923

New and enlarged edition. Transpersonal Psychology concerns the study of those states and processes in which people experience a deeper sense of who they are, or a greater sense of connectedness with others, with nature, or the spiritual dimension. Pioneered by respected researchers such as Jung, Maslow and Tart, it has nonetheless struggled to find recognition among mainstream scientists. Now that is starting to change. Dr. Michael Daniels teaches the subject as part of a broadly-based psychology curriculum, and this new and enlarged edition of his book brings together the fruits of his studies over recent years. It will be of special value to students, and its accessible style will appeal also to all who are interested in the spiritual dimension of human experience. The book includes a detailed 38-page glossary of terms and detailed indexes.