Educating the “More” in Holistic Transpersonal Higher Education: A 30+ Year Perspective on the Approach of the Institute of Transpersonal Psychology

This article describes a holistic and transpersonal approach to higher education and presents the graduate psychology programs and practices of the Institute of Transpersonal Psychology (ITP) as an illustrative example of this approach, given its 30þ year history. The article describes ITP’s transpersonal and whole-person focus, its experiential learning emphases, its foundational principles and their implementations, a unique six-facet project for assessing students’ transpersonal qualities and transformative changes, and the use of internal and external evidential indicators of its educational effectiveness. The article also addresses issues of transpersonal assessment and research and presents a variety of views of transformative change and spirituality that are relevant to transpersonal psychology. This discussion is useful to anyone wishing to understand how experiential and transpersonal principles and practices might be applied in higher education in order to more effectively foster and serve the full range of human capabilities and potentials—treated in terms of the ‘‘More’’ described by William James. The object of education is to bring out the best and highest powers in [those being] educated. Do we, in our education, even attempt to bring out the best and highest powers of the spirit, as we seek to develop those of the body and the mind? . . . The mischief is that whatever our theoretic beliefs, we do not in practice really regard spirit as the chief element of our being; the chief object of our educational care . . . It is the whole self which is called to turn towards Divine Reality . . . not some supposed ‘‘spiritual’’ part thereof. (Evelyn Underhill, 1920/ 1960, pp. 87, 88, 101) This article addresses the nature of holistic transpersonal education, focusing particularly on graduate education and on the approach of the Institute of Transpersonal Psychology (Palo Alto, California, U.S.A.), with its overarching and overlapping emphases on transpersonal studies and experiences and on experiential and whole-person learning. The approach’s rationale, implementation, and methods of evaluating its educational effectiveness are considered. For purposes of this article an approach can be considered a form of transpersonal education if either its intention or practice yields experiences or understandings consistent with the construct transpersonal, as defined and elaborated below. Transpersonal education can involve transpersonal content or a transpersonal approach or stance; ideally, both content and stance would be present. It addresses material that can be considered spiritual as well as material relevant to the existence and importance of that which is other than, or more than, the typically conceived self. It aims to confront and apprehend the whole of what is studied by means of the whole being of the student; its approach or stance is holistic, inclusive, integrated. It emphasizes and values the continued growth, development, and transformation of the student. Copyright 2006 Transpersonal Institute The Journal of Transpersonal Psychology, 2006, Vol. 38, No. 2 PURPOSE OF THIS ARTICLE AND WHY ITP? The chief purpose of this article is to describe some of the essential features of holistic, experiential, and transpersonal education, and to provide a concrete example of how these features have been applied in the context of higher education. The Institute of Transpersonal Psychology (ITP) was chosen as an illustrative example because of its long (over 30 years) and successful history in implementing these principles, and because—although an increasing number of schools now are providing transpersonal offerings—ITP remains the only accredited institution of higher learning that offers a doctoral degree in transpersonal psychology. This example is offered for readers who might wish to understand one way in which transpersonal psychology graduate education has been designed and operationalized successfully. This information may be useful to those who wish to develop similar implementations or devise their own variations on the themes presented herein. It is not the author’s intent (nor is there space) to provide detailed historical information about ITP. However, certain aspects of this history may be found in various sections of this article. EMPHASES OF THE EDUCATIONAL PROGRAM Described most directly and simply, the Institute’s aim is to help its students recognize that there is More (see William James’ treatment of a More, below) to our ways of knowing, being, and doing, and More to our nature and worldview, than commonly is recognized in conventional academic education. The aim is to help students learn about the nature of this More, access it better, integrate its aspects more fully into their lives, and share the benefits of this learning and integration with others by means of their own teaching, research, and practical applications. In this approach to transpersonal education the transpersonal aspect provides the academic content and informs the stance of the practitioner, while a holistic and experiential emphasis informs the pedagogy. The major subareas to be addressed in this article include (a) the meaning of a transpersonal emphasis, in general; (b) an emphasis on experiential learning; (c) expanded meanings of intellect and ways of knowing; and (d) transpersonal approaches to inquiry and research. The presentation of the Institute of Transpersonal Psychology’s program and practices, as an illustrative example, will indicate specific, concrete ways in which these subareas can be addressed and integrated. Transpersonal Emphasis In surveying an extensive set of definitions of transpersonal psychology, Lajoie and Shapiro (1992) found that the most frequently mentioned themes involved states of consciousness, one’s highest or ultimate potential, going beyond ego or personal self, transcendence, and spirituality. In a subsequent and more theoretically neutral treatment, Walsh and Vaughan (1993) emphasized the study of transpersonal experiences ‘‘in which the sense of identity or self extends beyond (trans) the The Journal of Transpersonal Psychology, 2006, Vol. 38, No. 2 individual or personal to encompass wider aspects of humankind, life, psyche or cosmos’’ (p. 203). They indicated that this emphasis did not exclude or invalidate the personal but, rather, ‘‘set personal concerns within a larger context that acknowledges the importance of both personal and transpersonal experiences. Indeed, one interpretation of the term transpersonal is that the transcendent is expressed through (trans) the personal’’ (p. 203). A century ago, William James (1902/1985) expressed a similar idea in describing succinctly how one becomes conscious of and in touch with ‘‘a MORE’’ with which one is ‘‘conterminous and continuous’’ (p. 508); and Van Dusen (1999) recently conveyed the essence of the transpersonal in speaking of the ‘‘More-than-Self’’ (p. 42) and how one relates to the latter. Van Dusen provides one of the most straightforward and satisfying statements of the transpersonal stance: ‘‘to love, honor, care for, or respect what is more than yourself’’ (p. 57). In a recent issue of this Journal, Caplan, Hartelius, and Rardin (2003) updated and expanded our understanding of the nature and emphases of transpersonal psychology—and, indirectly, the nature of transpersonal itself—in their presentation of the views of 41 individuals who are active in the field. What stands out, especially, in that presentation is the increased richness and diversity of the expressed views. Recent developments, concepts, and approaches within the new but rapidly growing field of positive psychology (Lopez & Snyder, 2003; Snyder & Lopez, 2002, 2007) also have helped us refine our understanding of transpersonal and how that overlaps and differs from what is treated in that new area of study. Positive psychology is beginning to explore topics treated by transpersonal psychology decades earlier. However, the former can be distinguished from the latter in terms of its subject matter and its approaches. Positive psychology continues to emphasize qualities within the realms of ego and, sometimes, of self actualization (with less attention to features beyond ego and features of self transcendence), and it tends to continue to approach its subject matter using positivistic research strategies (which emphasize quantitative, behavioral, and cognitive methods) rather than the more radical empiricist, pluralistic epistemology (which includes qualitative methods, experiential methods, and alternative modes of knowing) advocated by many transpersonal psychologists (see, e.g., Braud & Anderson, 1998). The transpersonal might be described succinctly as ways in which individuals, societies, and disciplines might increase their ambit and become more inclusive and expansive in areas of sense of identity (including ways of being and ways of functioning beyond the typical egocentric mode), development and transformation, conditions of consciousness, ways of knowing, values, and service. The transpersonal also involves recognizing and honoring the spiritual aspects of our being, actions, and ways of thinking. In discussing transpersonal education—as a way of drawing out or leading forth (educare) transpersonal qualities in practice—Clark (i.e., Frances Vaughan) (1974) stressed its concerns with the study and development of consciousness (especially ‘‘higher states of consciousness’’ [p. 1]) and with ‘‘the spiritual quest as an essential aspect of human life’’ (p. 1). She emphasized its devotion to knowledge and the ‘‘discovery of truth’’ (p. 1), its interest in ‘‘questions of value, meaning and purpose’’ (p. 1), its valuing of subjective experience and intrapersonal (as well as Holistic Transpersonal Education interpersonal) work, and the importance of an open, nonauthoritarian, nondogmatic attitude in doing all of these things.