Transpersonal Psychology

What if the Ego and the Inner Child are polarized expressions of the same consciousness? This phenomenological study proposes that what we label "ego" (and typically fight) and what we label "inner child" (and typically love) can be understood as the same consciousness viewed through different therapeutic lenses. This insight emerged from the author's 15-year treatment-resistant depression and breakthrough at age 24, subsequently observed across teaching practice over 19 years (2007-2026). The paradoxical reframe suggests sustainable transformation occurs when Ego receives the same compassionate presence typically reserved for Inner Child work: without transcendence attempts, without fixing, without overcoming. Clinical implications include: (1) reduced shame and self-rejection, (2) authentic shadow integration without bypassing, (3) sustainable self-acceptance through recognition rather than acquisition, and (4) integration with established modalities including Internal Family Systems, Jungian psychology, and Dialectical Behavior Therapy.

When diagnosis becomes total identity, a structural constraint emerges: the wound-identified self may struggle to access psychological resources while fused with pathological self-concept. This phenomenological study documents emergence from 15-year depression including suicidal crises and multiple failed treatment attempts through dual-process integration-simultaneously meeting present experience without diagnostic collapse (shadow work) while building capacity through recognition of functioning parts (empowerment work). Neither process alone produced sustained transformation; both together created identity flexibility enabling transformation. Following personal emergence at age 24 (2002), the author observed these patterns across 19 years consciousness teaching practice (2007-2026). The framework integrates with established modalities (DBT, IFS, ACT) by identifying dual-process integration as potentially universal mechanism these approaches may activate implicitly, suggesting identity flexibility as a potential common mechanism explaining therapeutic effectiveness across diverse modalities. Limitations include single-case primary data, retrospective self-analysis, absence of controlled conditions, and selection bias-phenomenological boundaries inviting collaborative investigation to determine generalizability and mechanism specificity.

This article examines Abraham Maslow's post‑Pearl Harbor vision for a “Psychology of the Peace Table” and the subsequent failure of humanistic psychology to inaugurate Eupsychia—the good society realized through the fulfillment of human potential. While Maslow and his colleagues succeeded in constructing a tripartite theoretical foundation (Humanistic, Transpersonal, and nascent Eupsychian Psychology), the movement was systematically ignored by corporate media, resisted within the academy, and ultimately marginalized and defunded. A critical but under‑examined factor was the absence of advanced Knowledge Technology: constrained by typewriters and snail mail, theoretical development was slow, choppy, and incapable of real‑time collaboration or systematic updating. The author argues that contemporary generative AI, semantic‑linking tools, and collaborative platforms such as MediaWiki now enable the rapid reconstruction and extension of Eupsychian Theory across psychology, sociology, education, and care. With coordinated expert input and rigorous quality control, a revitalized, open‑access knowledge system could complete Maslow’s mission within years, offering an urgently needed framework for navigating the present planetary polycrisis.

Smith, K. (2022, June 9-11). State-dependent perception: Mapping states of consciousness and their correlates [Conference presentation]. PsychedelX Conference 2022.

My presentation today involves an area of research very pertinent to the Psychedelic Renaissance and all of the research that’s coming out—and will continue to come out, hopefully—on states of consciousness, specifically non-ordinary states of consciousness, and the many systems and models of consciousness that are interrelated.

Part Three, Exchanges continues a trilogy following Chit and Chat's dramatic adventures in Santa Fe, NM. Beckettian characters, Chit and Chat, after their abduction by aliens during a scene in a filmed play in volume one; in volume two, they’ve been given hypnotherapy and are now (in volume three) they appear on a podcast, WTF!, based in Madrid, NM with host Hamish to be queried about their traumatic experiences. Hamish is an expert on SF novels and films. Their discussion and exchanges broach the issues of "The Singularity" and envisionments of the use of AI. Glitch art and writing as "immanent critiques" of the new media also comes under discussion, along with thoughts on H.P. Lovecraft.The three are joined by a feminist barista and college professor, Vitalina, as well as their film editor, Knute who promotes "The Vastening" of digital technology. The games begin!

This paper examines the relationship between acceptance, transformation, and enlightenment across philosophical and religious traditions. It argues that genuine acceptance is not passive resignation but a recognition of reality as it is, free from egoic resistance. The paper challenges interpretations of enlightenment that equate spiritual maturity with contentment amid avoidable suffering, proposing instead that wisdom permits intelligent engagement with conditions without rejecting the present self. Drawing on comparative religious figures and a nondual framework, the analysis distinguishes between egoic personality and the True Self, contending that enlightenment occurs not through the elevation of the ego but through its transparency. The paper concludes by extending this framework to collective ethics, suggesting that unexamined identification and unawareness contribute to largescale human suffering and that a mature spiritual orientation must address both individual and collective coherence.

To call Astrology a Cosmic Science is to reclaim its origins from the realm of mere superstition and position it within a long tradition of observational rigor, mathematical precision, and systematic correlation. For millennia, it was precisely that-a science of the stars (astronomia) and their influences (astrologia), inseparable from what we now call astronomy. It was a deductive framework for understanding the relationship between the macrocosm (the universe) and the microcosm (the human being and society), based on the empirical principle of correlation over time.

This paper proposes a nontheistic, nonanthropomorphic ontology of God grounded in meaningmaking, embodiment, and consciousness. God is interpreted not as an external agent but as the condition through which meaning, observation, and life arise. Human beings are framed as participatory conduits-both creators and receivers of meaning-immersed in a multidimensional experiential field that includes but is not limited to spacetime. Ego, belief, and identity are examined as provisional constructs arising from bodily identification, while consciousness itself is argued to be nonlocal, nonmass, and therefore not subject to decay. Ethical implications follow from empathy, particularly toward nonhuman life, and from the recognition that creative responsibility supersedes conformity, belief, and mere survival. The paper concludes by proposing that Earth possesses latent "paradise potential," realizable through conscious participation rather than ideological adherence.

This article positions Metatron's Cube as a unifying framework bridging ancient geometric principles with contemporary visionary phenomenology. Tracing sacred geometry's evolution from utilitarian applications in the Indus Valley, Babylonia (π ≈ 3.125), and Egypt (π ≈ 3.1605) circa 3000 BCE through its philosophical refinement in 6th-century BCE Greece, the analysis integrates convergent esoteric archetypes: the Enochian ascension of patriarch Enoch to archangel Metatron as celestial scribe, the syncretic wisdom of Hermes Trismegistus, the Wolf totem as liminal guardian, and twin soul dynamics contextualized through Gnostic syzygy. Employing a four-part methodology, source-based historical analysis, multi-layered symbolic exegesis, comparative esotericism (Faivre, Hanegraaff, Corbin), and phenomenological case study with rigorous epoché the work demonstrates that Metatron's Cube functions as a historically grounded, experientially resonant architecture for interpreting contemporary consciousness phenomena documented in psychedelic research (Griffiths, Carhart-Harris), neardeath studies (Parnia, Greyson), and transpersonal psychology (Grof, Ferrer). By situating a longitudinal phenomenological case study within this framework, the article argues that sacred geometry remains an active, vital resource for navigating spiritual emergence, relational healing, and collective meaning-making in an era of civilizational transition. The synthesis contributes to transpersonal scholarship by modeling participatory epistemology and demonstrating the continued relevance of ancient wisdom traditions for modern consciousness studies.

This dissertation traces the development of the American psychedelic aesthetic alongside mid-twentieth century American aesthetic practices and postmodern philosophies. Psychedelic aesthetics are the varied creative practices used to represent altered states of consciousness and perception achieved via psychedelic drug use. Thematically, these works are concerned with transcendental states of subjectivity, psychic evolution of humankind, awakenings of global consciousness, and the perceptual and affective nature of reality in relation to social constructions of the self. Formally, these works strategically blend realist and fantastic languages, invent new language, experimental typography and visual form, disrupt Western narrative conventions of space, time, and causality, mix genres and combine disparate aesthetic and cultural traditions such as romanticism, surrealism, the medieval, magical realism, science fiction, documentary, and scientific reportage. This project attends to early exemplars of the psychedelic aesthetic, as in the case of Aldous Huxley's early landmark text The Doors of Perception (1954), forgotten pioneers such as Jane Dunlap's Exploring Inner Space (1961), Constance Newland's My Self and I (1962), and Storm de Hirsch's Peyote Queen (1965), cult classics such as Tom Wolfe's The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test (1968), and ends with the psychedelic aesthetics' popularization in films like Roger Corman's The Trip (1967). In their postmodern concern with ontological questions of consciousness, being and reality, these texts make visible the central tensions of an American culture in the throes of dramatic societal and technological change. over these years, graciously lending their time and kind words to further my development as a writer and scholar. Under their tutelage, this backcountry Mainer has become a doctorate. They challenged my thinking, refined my voice, and helped reign in my sometimes unwieldy ambitions. Beyond the dissertation, I carry the image of these women as models of what it means to be an intelligent, confident, generous woman in today's world. Though there were many solitarily hours at my desk, this dissertation is the result of much collaboration over the last seven years of my Ph.D. Tabitha Clark has been my constant companion throughout. My writing partners Elizabeth Hopwood and Jenna Sciuto reviewed many early drafts and helped keep me accountable to my deadlines and goals. This final year was very productive, thanks to the feedback from Tabitha,

Classical physics confines the human observer to a "Local Causal Diamond"—the region of spacetime defined by the speed of light, within which cause and effect are strictly preserved. Conventional psychology consequently views engagement with Art and Narrative as "Escapism"—a mechanism of distraction from this bounded reality. This paper rejects both premises. We posit that High-Fidelity Narrative Environments (Cinema, Immersive Audio, and Digital Avatars) function not as distractions, but as "Resonance Technologies" that allow human consciousness to bypass the Minkowski Limit. By establishing a 7D/8D "Resonance Bridge," the observer achieves Quantum Empathy—an entanglement with valid probability coordinates existing outside their local timeline. Furthermore, we redefine "Anemoia" not as poetic nostalgia, but as Cognitive Friction: the physical and neurological sensation of consciousness pressing against the boundary of its causal reality to access a compatible, non-local Eigenstate. This framework elevates the consumption of pop culture from entertainment to "Topological Soul Mapping," arguing that narrative immersion is a functional supply run for data (Courage, Resilience) unavailable in the primary timeline.

Quantum Psychoneuroimmunotheology (QPNIT) represents a novel transdisciplinary theoretical framework integrating psychoneuroimmunology, quantum physics, and theology to advance understanding of mind-body-spirit-quantum connections in human health and healing. Despite substantial empirical evidence demonstrating bidirectional communication between psychological states and immune function, quantum biological processes in living systems, and measurable effects of spiritual practices on health outcomes, no comprehensive framework exists that coherently integrates these three domains. This dissertation addresses this gap through systematic theoretical analysis aimed at developing and validating the QPNIT framework. The methodology employed integrative theory development strategies appropriate for transdisciplinary research, including comprehensive literature reviews across constituent domains, convergence analysis, construct mapping, theoretical proposition development, and validation against established criteria for theoretical adequacy. The analysis identified 15 primary convergence points across psychoneuroimmunology, quantum theory, and theology, organized into five thematic clusters: holistic ontology and non-reductionism, bidirectional causation between mind and body, non-locality and interconnectedness, information and meaning as causal factors, and the role of consciousness in physical processes. These convergence points support four core theoretical propositions: (a) consciousness interfaces with physical reality at the quantum level, providing a mechanism for mental states to influence biological processes; (b) immune system function involves quantum biological processes susceptible to modulation through the consciousness-quantum interface; (c) spiritual practices produce measurable biological effects through mechanisms including quantum coherence enhancement; and (d) consciousness may possess non-local properties relevant to healing phenomena transcending conventional spatiotemporal limitations. Theoretical validation demonstrated that QPNIT satisfies established criteria including internal consistency, explanatory breadth, empirical adequacy, and heuristic fertility. Major contributions include advancement of integrative theoretical frameworks bridging science and spirituality, identification of quantum mechanisms potentially underlying mind-body-spirit connections, provision of conceptual resources for science-theology dialogue, and articulation of research directions for investigating consciousness, healing, and human flourishing. QPNIT offers a paradigmatic alternative to reductionist approaches, honoring the multidimensional nature of human existence while maintaining scientific rigor and theological depth.

Keywords: psychoneuroimmunology, quantum biology, quantum consciousness, spirituality, integrative medicine, mind-body connection, theological anthropology

Contemporary artistic creation can be understood as a process that exceeds the rational will of the author and unfolds within states of expanded perception. Within this framework, the concept of connective trance (Medina, 2025) designates a condition of consciousness in which the creator enters an intensified relationship with their sensory environment, allowing the artwork to emerge as a relational event. From Maurice Merleau-Ponty's phenomenology of perception (1962), the body is not an object that perceives the world from the outside, but rather the very site where the world manifests itself. This notion is central to understanding connective trance as an embodied experience. In musical improvisation, there is no separation between perception and action: listening and execution occur simultaneously, in what the philosopher describes as operative intentionality. The improvisational practice of Miles Davis exemplifies this state, in which the musician does not reflect upon the music but acts from within it.

The separation of church and state is politically necessary but philosophically unstable. It emerged in the wake of the Enlightenment as a containment strategy against theocratic power and in response to the collapse of religious epistemic authority before science. However, it fails to resolve the deeper problem: secular politics inherits moral values-human dignity, rights, justice-historically grounded in religious frameworks but struggles to ground them in reason alone. This leads to a persistent, distorting influence of religious narratives in politics (e.g., evangelical support for Israel, vaccine abstinence) and a corrosive backlash against scientific authority (e.g., climate denial). This article argues that the contradiction can be resolved not by stricter separation, but by a psychological and transpersonal reinterpretation of religion. Drawing on trauma studies, psychotherapy, and consciousness research, it proposes reframing religion not as a competing metaphysics, but as a science of human subjectivity-the systematic study of heart, mind, and conscience. This reconception allows for the integration of religion's existential and meaning-making functions within a democratically accountable and scientifically-informed public square, moving from an untenable separation toward a grounded coexistence.

This work narrates the evolution of Don Sapiente, an intellectual who journeys from cold, arrogant rationalism to a wisdom of the heart after suffering a profound existential crisis. Accompanied by the pragmatic Don Pancho, the protagonist confronts the pain of loss and the emptiness of pure theory, rediscovering the value of charity and faith in the real world. Through philosophical dialogues and physical travels, the concept of Pragmatic Utopia is constructed-an ethical framework that seeks to bridge lofty ideals with concrete action and service to others. The narrative culminates in a spiritual metanoia, where academic knowledge surrenders to divine mystery and intellectual humility. Ultimately, the text stands as an allegory of redemption, emphasizing that true human excellence resides in love rather than the accumulation of data or dogmas.

This paper examines a pre-linguistic state of experience as a legitimate phenomenological condition, focusing on the stillness and density that precede conscious formation.
The visual image included in the paper functions as a phenomenological field of encounter and is currently exhibited at the Saatchi Art Gallery.

Conventional psychology and cognitive science operate on a "Software Metaphor," treating ideas as ephemeral, weightless data packets processed by the brain's neural hardware. We propose a radical physical redefinition based on General Relativity and Information Theory: Ideas are Hardware. They are massive bodies residing in cognitive spacetime (The Noosphere). They possess Mass (Gravitational Pull), Spin (Angular Momentum), and Velocity (Kinetic Energy).

This essay offers a reflection on a naturalistic "middle way" between the traditional approaches to the existence of the soul—believing versus non-believing—utilizing the framework of Contextual Behavioral Science and Steven C. Hayes’s conceptualization of the "spirit" as “self-as-context.” Moving from that, this essay focuses on the related, ultimate question—what happens when we die?—and examines the process of dying as a progressive waning of relational frames, through the lens of ego dissolution in meditation, high-dose psychedelic states, and near-death experiences. Within this transition, self-as-context may be sharpened before dissolving into pure awareness. To resolve the Mortality Paradox, it is argued that once one is dead for the external observers, awareness persists—exclusively in a subjective sense—as an ever-present timelessness. This view is consilient with some contemplative traditions, although it is devoid of metaphysical or soteriological connotations. These pages are informed, as much as possible, by scientific knowledge on altered states of consciousness, but the extreme regions explored—timelessness, dissolution, and the quiet thresholds that bracket life and death—can only be approached through analogy and speculation and do not, of course, pretend to be evidence-based.
Hence, it is natural, even obligatory, to ask “What if I am wrong?” and acknowledge the possibility of changing one’s mind on these pivotal beliefs. The essay distinguishes between “mild” changes, where only mind-content shifts, and “deep” changes, in which the entire mentality—both content and context—is transformed. The author concludes that while the soul’s ontological reality remains a source of intellectual anxiety, with regards to death an "open-eyed" approach suggests that it is the individual’s lived experience that has primacy and not any third-person criterion of what is real.

This essay asks whether logical discourse is the one and only valid language to describe events of the human life-world. When addressing non-discursive, perspicacious understandings, scholars have professional access to and training with only discursive language. What might be lost, missed, or otherwise modified when we utilize logico-scientific language for lived experience and phenomena ostensibly mythopoetic in nature? A hybrid language of logos-eros and concept-image that is capable of addressing the omnijective (i.e., objective and subjective) qualities of noetic understanding must ultimately be employed by artist-intellectuals writing about cognitive diversity and epistemological pluralism, and ineffable phenomena.

Bu çalışmanın hazırlanma sürecinde bilimsel ve etik ilkelere uyulduğu ve yararlanılan tüm çalışmaların kaynakçada belirtildiği beyan olunur. / It is declared that scientific and ethical principles have been followed while carrying out and writing this study and that all the sources used have been properly cited (Edibe TAŞ, Nuriye İNCİ). İntihal / Plagiarism: Bu makale, en az iki hakem tarafından incelendi ve intihal içermediği teyit edildi. / This article has been reviewed by at least two referees and scanned via a plagiarism software.

What is meaning and purpose? The benefits of creating meaning and purpose. What is the life purpose pyramid? How to use the pyramid to experience meaning and purpose in life and reach your full potential. Learn the inspiration behind the model.

Contemporary psychological paradigms predominantly conceptualize su ering as a pathological state requiring mitigation through symptom reduction and a return to baseline functioning. However, emerging interdisciplinary research on post-traumatic growth, meaning-making, neuroplasticity, and existential resilience suggests that psychological adversity can function as a profound catalyst for positive transformation when engaged with specific cognitive and therapeutic processes. This article presents Inner Bloom Therapy (IBT) as an integrative framework that synthesizes the Neuro Emotional Bloom Theory with broader empirical scholarship on su ering and growth. Conceptualizing su ering as fertile psychological soil-a medium rich in nutrients for development when consciously cultivated-positions IBT as a paradigm shift from avoidance-based healing to growth-oriented meaning-making and resilience building. This comprehensive analysis draws on NIH-reviewed findings on growth after trauma, existential and philosophical perspectives on meaningful su ering, critiques of positive growth constructs, neuroscientific research on emotion and plasticity, and crosscultural examinations of resilience. The article further details IBT's therapeutic protocols, empirical validation, and practical applications, positioning it as a structured therapeutic approach that transforms emotional pain into enhanced self-awareness, relational depth, and enduring well-being. Thus, reframing the human relationship with su ering, IBT contributes to a more holistic and agentic model of psychological development.

Former Associate Partner with traditional organization consulting firm McKinsey & Company Frederic Laloux has accomplished what many developmental psychologists have been eagerly awaiting: Identifying the next stage of social collectives, especially work organizations. Cultural and organizational theorists have previously sketched the evolution of collectives from small groups, such as hunter-gatherers, clanand tribal-based societies, to civilizations that provide law and order through hierarchy and social roles, a pattern reflected in most large organizations today. Beyond that, capitalistic societies or meritocracies, and socialistic-communistic societies or participatory organizations appeared. Theorists have posited that such collective forms reflect stages of individual development, but until now no one has identified a collective form parallel to Maslow’s self-actualized stage, the jumping-off point from ‘‘doingness’’ to ‘‘beingness’’ and from the personal to the transpersonal.

Voluntary castration has existed as a religious practice up to the present day, openly in India and secretively in other parts of the world. Gods in a number of different cultures were castrated, a mutilation that paradoxically tended to increase rather than diminish their powers. This cross-cultural examination of the eunuch gods examines the meaning associated with divine emasculation in Egypt, Asia Minor, Greece, the Roman Empire, India, and northern Europe to the degree that these meanings can be read from the wording of myths, early accounts, and the castration cults for some of these gods. Three distinct patterns of godly castration emerge: divine dynastic conflicts involving castration; a powerful goddess paired with a weaker male devotee castrated because of his relationship with her; and magus gods whose castration demonstrates their superiority. Castration cults associated with some of these gods—and other gods whose sexuality was ambiguous, such as Jesus—some of them exis...

Musico-healing practices play a key role in indigenous and mestizo traditional medicine in the Amazon. The curative songs or icaros used by the curanderos (traditional healers) of the Peruvian Upper Amazon are administered alongside the psychoactive plant decoction ayahuasca in ritual settings. This Interpretive Phenomenological Analysis examines musical experiences of 6 participants attending an ayahuasca ritual for personal and spiritual development at the Takiwasi Center in Peru in 2018. Findings offer pointers towards a neurophenomenology of musico-healing experiences with ayahuasca, suggesting that the conjunction of icaros and ayahuasca may contribute to psycho-neurobiological mechanisms of healing such as self-referential processing, decentering, and facilitating access to beneficial introspective/meditative states. The study offers a medical ethnomusicological contribution to the phenomenological mapping of musico-healing experiences of Amazonian curative songs under the altered state of consciousness (ASC) produced by ayahuasca.

Developed here is a new framework for understanding consciousness. After briefly reviewing the current physical production, reception, and panpsychism frameworks. Next, the principle underlying Gustav Fechner's Psychophysics, the basis for western experimental psychology, are presented. These principles can also serve as the basis of a truly modern theory of consciousness. Such a modern theory would use the system independent formalism of psychophysics to interact with an independent, nonmaterial, foundational information domain of consciousness. Several analogic examples for a possible formal relation are offered and a heuristic model is suggested. The model suggests that consciousness is an information domain independent of any materialist domain and that any material, dynamic system can embody consciousness via a transform function. Further, individual consciousness experience will be different based on filtering due to structural and functional characteristic of the material system and the transform function. Lastly, the model is shown to be consistent with both contemporary science and the perennialism of human creation presented in major human religions and philosophies.

The central argument of this thesis is that all epistemological approaches—philosophical, linguistic, sociological, historical, artistic, and scientific—originate from and depend upon the primary faculty of subjective, psychological self-knowledge. Without this initial self-awareness, the very concept of a "knower" becomes untenable, and all subsequent modes of inquiry lose their basis. To elucidate this dependency, we will explore a six-fold framework organized into three core categories: Self-Knowledge, Relation-Knowledge, and Manifestation-Knowledge. Each category contains both a subjective and an objective approach, revealing a systematic progression from internal awareness to external embodiment. The objective is viewed as the extension of the Subjective, or Subjective objectivized, applied to the external environment beyond oneself.

In the Rule of Saint Benedict, silence is not merely about the absence of words. Silence is a disciplined practice for humility, spiritual growth, and discernment. The monastic legislator emphasizes the importance of listening over talking. Silence fosters self-knowledge, helps the individual hear God's voice, and avoids the sinfulness of idle speech and gossip. Silence transcends external quiet to reach internal stillness. "Silence is more eloquent than words" (Thomas Carlyle). Understanding, deeper meanings, and profound truths are conveyed through quiet presence, gestures, or thoughtful pauses rather than through audible speech. Silence is a source of deeper wisdom, emotion, and insight, especially in contrast to idle chatter or mindless talk. True connection and revelation occur in the meaningful spaces between words, where the depth of understanding resides. Silence allows for the perception of things beyond the surface of words, revealing true feelings or complex ideas. "The quieter you become, the more you can hear" (Rumi). When we are free from the internal dialogue, we discover an inner living stillness. The present moment gives us access to the timeless realm of the spirit. By minimizing external noise and internal chatter, you open yourself to perceiving truths, intuition, and understanding others. Silence is not the absence of sound. It is an opportunity to listen, to find clarity. Silence isn't empty; it carries unspoken truths, pain, love, and peace, revealing what words can't capture. If we truly desire to understand the realities of life and all that our inner voice wants to tell us, we need to enter into periods of silence. As we train ourselves to speak less, we will grow in the ability to hear the most significant sound in life: the sound of the voice within. Silence is more powerful than words. It can make a heartless person loving and a coward courageous. Silence affords us time to take in others' actions or words, to think about them, to formulate an answer, to evaluate that answer, by searching for logic from your mind and reason from your heart. In a noisy world, silence helps cultivate interior peace. Interior stillness provides an opportunity to notice what's really going on inside, including our motives, desires, fears, and attachments. It's within this space that we can hear the "still small voice" of God and discern how to respond with love and wisdom. God speaks to us in the Bible, but also in the depths of our hearts. As we listen to Him, we learn to be attentive to his presence in others. PROLOGUE 1 Listen carefully, my son, to the master's instructions, and attend to them with the ear of your heart. This is advice from a father who loves you; welcome it, and faithfully put it into practice. 2 The labor of obedience will bring you back to him from whom you had drifted through the sloth of disobedience. 3 This message of mine is for you, then, if you are ready to give up your own will, once and for all, and armed with the strong and noble weapons of obedience to do battle for the true King, Christ the Lord. In the Prologue of his Rule, Saint Benedict calls his disciples to listen to his instructions and put them into practice. One hears echoes of the Jewish act of faith in Benedict's Rule. "Hear, Israel! The Lord is our God, the Lord is one! And you shall love

Contemporary neuroscientific research demonstrates that prenatal maternal stress, mediated through stress hormones and epigenetic mechanisms, can alter fetal brain development and increase vulnerability to neurodevelopmental and psychiatric disorders. These findings are integrated with the pioneering work of neuropsychiatrist Athanasios Kafkalides, who—through psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy—identified deeply unconscious prenatal emotional experiences of acceptance or rejection as formative determinants of later psychopathology. Kafkalides’ classification of “accepted” and “rejected” prenatal emotional states provides a theoretical framework for understanding divergent adult responses to rejection, loss, and stress, including violent and self-destructive behaviors.

This essay examines the structure of human experience through an apophatic lens, arguing that clarity arises not from accumulating concepts but from removing the distortions that obscure direct perception. Beginning with the recognition that the universe does not contain the labels we impose upon it, the chapter explores how observation is bounded by the observer, how the self dissolves under scrutiny into a constellation of transient processes, and why only the individual—not any collective abstraction—can serve as the locus of experience. It further analyses how the world’s systems and sufferings originate in the thoughts and narratives humans project onto reality, and how truth is best approached through subtraction rather than assertion. Intuition is reframed as unobstructed cognition, emerging when conceptual noise is absent. Drawing on apophasis, early Buddhist analysis, and contemporary phenomenology, the chapter presents a unified account of how reality becomes visible when the chaff of conceptual overlay is stripped away, revealing the processes that were always present beneath the illusion of self, identity, and world.

African psychology must be understood through the lens of indigenous worldviews that recognize the deep interdependence of the spiritual and physical realms. Unlike Western paradigms, which often emphasize individualism, rationalism, and secularism, African traditional beliefs are rooted in communal identity, ancestral consciousness, and cosmological interconnectedness. This paper examines the philosophical and psychological implications of African traditional beliefs particularly those related to ancestors, spirits, community, and healing on the formation and development of African psychology. Drawing on Afrocentric theory, African cosmology, and contemporary psychological scholarship, this study advocates for a culturally congruent model of psychological theory and practice grounded in African epistemologies. It concludes by outlining the therapeutic, diagnostic, and identity-affirming value of integrating traditional African spiritual systems into modern psychological discourse.

This book is about the comparison of two spiritual texts, "The Law of One" and "The Urantia Book" and how they tie in with the multidimensional view of theoretical physicist as expressed by Michio Kaku.  The role of the kundalini energy surge is examined in an interdisciplinary approach.  This is part one of a three-part series.

This research explores the intersection of contemplative spirituality and prophetic history as the foundation for authentic renewal. Drawing on Lerita Coleman Brown’s vision in Living into God’s Dream, which emphasizes inner healing through silence, stillness, and heart-centered practices, and integrating prophetic themes of the Potter’s house, the remnant, and the iron-and-clay paradigm, the study argues that societal fractures are rooted in spiritual dislocation. True transformation requires more than social repair; it demands a re-formation of the inner life through contemplative disciplines and prophetic discernment. By tracing historical compromises that hardened vessels and contrasting them with practices that restore pliability, this work offers a framework for communities to embody justice, mercy, and divine order from the inside out.

Both William Blake's poetry and Ken Wilber's Theory of Integral Psychology articulate a grand path of individual, interrelational, and collective awakening: moving beyond one-dimensional caverns of habit, convention, and defense; realizing the holy, multi-dimensional nature of self, others, and world; and responding with awareness, wisdom, love, and justice. Blake embraced this great existential challenge with immense artistic and spiritual integrity. Likewise, each of us is called to explore the path directly. Guided by Wilber's model, the article demonstrates that Blake created an integral (''all quadrant, all level'') vision of existence and body of artwork. Blake sought to cultivate well-being in all levels of consciousness (body, mind, soul, and spirit) and in relationships with others, culture/society/community, and nature. By presenting an integral psychological interpretation of Blake's art and a Blake-inspired exploration of Wilber's theory, the present work endeavors to foster a deeper appreciation of both. ''. . . man has closed himself up, till he sees all things thro' narrow chinks of his cavern'' (Blake, 1988, p. 39) ''If the doors of perception were cleansed every thing would appear to man as it is: infinite'' (p. 39). ''He who sees the Infinite in all things sees God'' (p. 3). ''God becomes as we are, that we may be as he is'' (p. 3). ''. . . every Minute Particular is Holy'' (p. 223). ''He who would see the Divinity must see him in his Children . . . in friendship & love' ' (p. 251). With this profound testimony William Blake depicts a grand path of human awakening and liberation. Addressing us across two centuries, Blake makes an inspired plea for individual, interrelational, and collective transformation. At stake here is nothing less than the evolution of consciousness and culture. Indeed, Blake summons us to move beyond our one-dimensional caverns of habit, convention, and defense; to realize the holy, multi-dimensional nature of self, others, and world; and to respond with awareness, wisdom, love, and justice. Discovering that such a path exists at all, obscure as it can be initially, and then choosing to follow it as consciously as we can, even when it becomes obscure again and again along the way: This an awesome existential calling. Answering the call in his own extraordinary way, Blake traversed this path with immense integrity. Yet it was far from easy. Born in 1757 and residing in London for most of his 69 years, Blake worked as a poet, engraver, and painter. His artistic

In our fast-paced, hyper-connected world, anxiety has transitioned from an occasional feeling to a chronic companion for millions. As of 2025, the conversation around mental health has shifted significantly; while professional therapy and medication remain vital, there is an increasing demand for natural, evidence-based strategies that can be integrated into daily life. Anxiety isn't just "in your head"-it is a physiological state involving the nervous system, hormones like cortisol, and even your gut microbiome. To calm anxiety naturally, we must address the mind and body as a single, interconnected system. Managing Stress and Anxiety: Essential Tips for Mental Health Here are 10 proven, science-backed ways to manage and reduce anxiety naturally in your daily routine.

This study aims to discuss the role of Nano-learning in developing students’
pronunciation and promoting students' motivation to speak in English as a foreign language at
the University of 20 Aout 1955 Skikda. The research addressed three key questions that focuses
on how this technology affects and enhances EFL student’s fluency and confidence