Shadow, Self, Spirit - Revised Edition

Michael Daniels

Description

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.

Sujets

• Sociologie, société et politique

Informations

• Publié par: Andrews UK
• Date de parution: 28 septembre 2021
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781845406912
• Langue: English

Extrait

Shadow, Self, Spirit
Essays in Transpersonal Psychology
Michael Daniels




Published in 2021 by
Imprint Academic
PO Box 200, Exeter
EX5 5YX, United Kingdom
imprint-academic.com
Digital edition converted and distributed by
Andrews UK Limited
www.andrewsuk.com
Copyright © 2021 Michael Daniels
The right of Michael Daniels to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No reproduction, copy or transmission of this publication may be made without express prior written permission. No paragraph of this publication may be reproduced, copied or transmitted except with express prior written permission or in accordance with the provisions of the Copyright Act 1956 (as amended). Any person who commits any unauthorised act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damage.
The views and opinions expressed herein belong to the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Imprint Academic or Andrews UK Limited.



About the Author
Michael Daniels, PhD (b. 1950) was formerly Senior Lecturer in Psychology and Co-Director of the Consciousness and Transpersonal Psychology Research Unit at Liverpool John Moores University (LJMU) where, in 1994, he co-founded the ground-breaking MSc in Consciousness and Transpersonal Psychology. A chartered psychologist and Associate Fellow of the British Psychological Society, he served as Editor of Transpersonal Psychology Review from 2008 to 2013. He taught in higher education for more than 30 years, in the areas of humanistic psychology, transpersonal psychology, parapsychology, research methods, personality theory, developmental psychology, and counselling. For six years (1993–1998) he also trained and practised as an honorary psychotherapist (psychodynamic) in the National Health Service. His publications include numerous articles and chapters, and three books: Self-Discovery the Jungian Way: The Watchword Technique (1992/2015), Shadow, Self, Spirit: Essays in Transpersonal Psychology (2005/2021), and The I Ching Oracle: A Modern Approach to Ancient Wisdom (2017a). He retired in 2010 and moved to the Isle of Man where he pursues a variety of professional and leisure interests.



Acknowledgements
Chapters 2–12 have been revised and updated from material originally published in the following articles, with permission.
Chapter 2. Daniels, M. (2009). Perspectives and vectors in transpersonal development. Transpersonal Psychology Review, 13 (1), 87–99.
Chapter 3. Daniels, M. (1997). Holism, integration and the transpersonal. Transpersonal Psychology Review, 1 (3), 12–16.
Chapter 4. Daniels, M. (1998). Transpersonal psychology and the paranormal. Transpersonal Psychology Review, 2 (3), 17–31.
Chapter 5. Daniels, M. (2000). The shadow in transpersonal psychology. Transpersonal Psychology Review, 4 (3), 29–43.
Chapter 6. Daniels, M. (2001a). Towards a transpersonal psychology of evil. Transpersonal Psychology Review, 5 (1), 15–27.
Chapter 7. Daniels, M. (1982). The development of the concept of self-actualization in the writings of Abraham Maslow. Current Psychological Reviews, 2 , 61–76.
Chapter 8. Daniels, M. (1988). The myth of self-actualization. Journal of Humanistic Psychology, 28 (1), 7–38.
Chapter 9. Daniels, M. (2002a). The transpersonal self: 1. A psychohistory and phenomenology of the soul. Transpersonal Psychology Review, 6 (1), 17–28.
Chapter 10. Daniels, M. (2002b). The transpersonal self: 2. Comparing seven psychological theories. Transpersonal Psychology Review, 6 (2), 4–21.
Chapter 11. Daniels, M. (2001b). On transcendence in transpersonal psychology. Transpersonal Psychology Review, 5 (2), 3–11.
Chapter 12. Daniels, M. (2003). Making sense of mysticism. Transpersonal Psychology Review, 7 (1), 39–55.



Preface
A Needed Revision
The first edition of Shadow, Self, Spirit was published in 2005. Though it was well received and has remained a key text for several international Masters-level programmes in transpersonal psychology, further developments in theory, research and practice during the last fifteen years indicate the need for a new edition. An important landmark during this period was the publication of The Wiley-Blackwell Handbook of Transpersonal Psychology (H.L. Friedman & Hartelius, 2013). Its encyclopaedic coverage of the discipline (706 pages, 38 chapters, and 57 contributors) makes it an essential resource for all academics, professionals and advanced students. Shadow, Self, Spirit has a more defined remit and purpose. As the product of 30 years teaching transpersonal psychology to undergraduate and postgraduate students, it aims to introduce the area to those initially unfamiliar with the subject, as well as providing commentary on some of the discipline’s more important and advanced debates and controversies. Throughout, I attempt to present the ideas of others as accurately and clearly as I am able, while overlaying these with my own interpretations and perspectives.
As well as revising and updating all chapters from the first edition, I have added a new chapter (Chapter 2) and incorporated additional ideas and material from other writings, conference presentations and selected contributions (Daniels, 2004, 2009, 2011, 2013, 2017b; Roe et al. , 2020; Rowan et al. , 2009). In revising the text, I have also taken the opportunity to address some of the criticisms that have been made of my own position. These criticisms focused mainly on (1) my metaphysical agnosticism or seeming ambiguity (e.g., Ferrer, 2017; L. Hoffman, 2006), and (2) my apparent scientism and prioritizing of phenomenological methods (e.g., Cunningham, 2015, 2019a; Ferrer, 2017). I hope in this edition to have clarified my (somewhat modified) arguments on these issues.
A Personal Journey
Whenever I read a book on the transpersonal, I also try to discover something about the author. This is not simply nosiness, but rather reflects sensitivity to the fact that writing about the transpersonal cannot be divorced from a personal involvement or personal experience. All writers in this area are inevitably both enriched, but also limited, by the particular experiences they have had, and all of them, without exception , have their own personal equations, or personal agendas. In some cases, this may be obvious to the reader from, perhaps, a heavy-handed or polemical style, or because the author is explicitly promoting a particular belief or ideology. In other cases, however, it is more subtle or disguised—especially the case, I think, with academic writers. It is important, therefore, that the reader should know a little about where I am coming from if only so that I may, perhaps, be unmasked from any disguise or guile that I may be tempted to perpetrate.
My own study of the transpersonal has its origins way back in early childhood (the 1950s), with an interest that was encouraged by some rare, wonderful, but essentially ordinary experiences of perfect days, perfect walks, perfect moments of laying in the grass and staring up at the clouds. Such experiences taught me, as no formal lesson or book could do, the reality of the human spirit and its mysterious relationship to the All. For me, these experiences contrasted heavily with those that I had when smartened up and dragged reluctantly off to Church on a Sunday (my uncle was an Anglican minister in another part of the country, and I presume there must have been a sense of family honour involved in keeping up Church attendance, even though my own immediate family never appeared otherwise to be ‘religious’). No doubt it was partly for this reason that during Church services I would often feel a distinct sense of hypocrisy among the congregation—accompanied also by a powerful intuition that there was, in fact, a great Truth or Mystery that lay concealed behind the veil of dead intonation and religious trappings. I must have been about four or five years old. Eventually, aged six, I was baptized by my uncle, but this did not seem to me a profound spiritual event.
In my later childhood I found myself interested in other mysteries—especially ghosts, psychism, spiritualism and flying saucers—and I read avidly in these areas. Although at first these phenomena did not strike me as having any spiritual significance, they did clearly relate to some of the big questions: ‘Where do I come from?’ ‘Who am I?’ ‘Where am I going?’ ‘Is death the end?’
The connection between psychism, spiritualism and spirituality came when I discovered Theosophy (at about the age of 12) and, from there, I was introduced to Vedanta and Yoga. A book that left a lasting impression on my developing thinking was Paramahansa Yogananda’s Autobiography of a Yogi (1946) which excited me not only with its exotic tales of paranormal events and Yogic siddhis , but with the humility, sincerity, compassion, love and spiritual depth in the writing. It also reinforced my adolescent intention to find a guru . Eventually (in 1968) I did find an Indian Yoga teacher (who was also a psychiatrist at a local hospital), and I studied Hatha and Raja Yoga intensively with him for two years (this was at a time when Yoga was relatively unknown and undeveloped in Britain). This relationship ended in 1970 when I enrolled on the BSc (Hons) Psychology at Leeds University. [1] This also coincided with my increasing interest in psychical research and esoteric traditions. At Leeds University I founded an ‘Occult Society’ and, as a result, came into contact with many charming and colourful characters. This was a very interesting period in my life!
Studying psychology as an undergraduate in Britain was something of a mixed expe