Revisioning Transpersonal Theory

Jorge N. Ferrer is Assistant Professor of East-West Psychology at the California Institute of Integral Studies.

"This book is an important and valuable contribution to [the] understanding and defining of transpersonal psychology." — Breathe Magazine"A fascinating and excellent companion to the work of Ken Wilber, this volume is written in a respectful yet challenging manner that offers the reader an intellectual exercise in transpersonal history. Ferrer's thoughts have a good deal in common with those of Chogyan Trungpa and Alan Watts, but with a very analytical edge. Highly recommended." — CHOICE"This is a brilliant and mature book that is bound to become a classic. Extremely well researched and documented and full of remarkable insights and ideas, it is not only an important original contribution to the theory of transpersonal psychology, but also a work that brings clarity into many problem areas that in the past were plagued by confusion and controversy. It very likely will prove influential in determining which direction the development of transpersonal psychology will take in the future." — Stanislav Grof, author of Psychology of the Future: Lessons from Modern Consciousness Research"Ferrer's narrative opens one surprise after another until slowly the reader begins to 'wake up' and finds him or herself thinking about old problems in a new way. It is learning how to think in this fresh way, free from the grid of conventional transpersonal theory, that is the true accomplishment of this work. Revisioning Transpersonal Theory represents a significant turning point in transpersonal thought." — Christopher M. Bache, author of Dark Night, Early Dawn: Steps to a Deep Ecology of Mind

• Foreword by Richard TarnasPrefaceAcknowledgments 1. Transpersonal Theory—Now and Then PART I. DECONSTRUCTION 2. The Experiential Vision of Human Spirituality 3. The Empiricist Colonization of Spirituality 4. Trouble in Paradise: The Perennial Philosophy Revisited PART II. RECONSTRUCTION 5. The Participatory Nature of Spiritual Knowing 6. An Ocean with Many Shores: The Challenge of Spiritual Pluralism 7. After the Participatory Turn 8. A More Relaxed Spiritual Universalism NotesReferencesIndex