I am a student trying to decide on a field of study. One interest is Phsycology, especially the area of Addiction/Alcoholism. What relevance(if any) does Transpersonal Psycology have in this area?

-- Kenneth Falk (kenyfalk@hotmail.com), June 05, 2000

Answers

Dear Kenneth,

I am not an expert in TP., but the relevance of TP in AA is immense. One source of such wisdom is the book by Eric Fromm, called "To have or to be". I think you would find it most interesting. However, TP lacks in terms of one thing: TP only exist long as we experience it. It is not in the books, or in the theories, just like the food is not in the receipe. It is in your/my curiousity to understant whether there is a way to perceive without modifying the object of perception in the process. We always use ourselves as a point of reference in defining "what is", in terms of what we perceive, thus modifyng the object of perception according to our own coloured glasses. Kind of narcissistic. The crux of TP as I understand it, is to be able to see the coloured glasses as modifying perception, and in that, the glasses come off. Objectify the ego, that is, in a way, thus being aware of it. Normally, we are the coloured glasses, so we don't see them, because they are subjective, we identify with them, it is our own persona, mask. One good writer is Jiddu krishnamurti, and he was one of the foremost TP writers, although the institutions have not recognized him and his writings, because he was a threat to them. The threat was because if one is able to remove the coloured glasses, then, the person can see through the deception of research, which eliminates the researcher as a participant (observer) and also sees that institutions are not concerned with reality, but with maintaining the status quo. Governments don't like humans to be free, because a free human being is not open to control and deception, to greed and injustice, to corruption and violence. A free human being is full of love and compassion, because in the perception of a liberated human, all things are sacred. Systems and governments are denegrating sacredness and beauty, they try to capture it and sell it, imprison it, possess it. Such things cannot be possessed, and only the free human, in which there is no spec of greed, can sacredness, beauty, reveal itself.

The journey is hard, because we are told by society to possess, accrue, not share, etc. although all religions say otherwise. One can find out by one's self about the truth of it, but deceptions are many along the way. The very attempt, desire to find out is a barrier to finding out. Look at Zen. Tao. Any move away fromwhat is, creates conflict, and perception is divided.

I wish you good luck in your journey: it begins with you and ends with you. But the one who begins is not the same as the one who ends the journey (not that there is an end to it, but there is a mutation in perception along the way, and that's when the real journey starts).

May you be a light unto yourself, and yourself only. I am your fellow traveller, neither here, nor there, you can see but can't find. Disregard what you've read, collect nothing along the way, so that your burden will not be heavy. Travel light and take no thought about anything, the Light is not a thing, but a living experience. You are the Light, there is no need to search. There is no other Light, there is no other You. All things are an invention of the mind (ego). When you see this, the mind will settle, and will be silent, creating space for discovery, seeying. Whrere there is space, there is freedom. No control, but communion. Knowledge is a tool, but not the Toolmaker. There is no Toolmaker. The Light is a living, being, process of continuous experiencing, in the here-now. In the here-now, there is no past, present or future. It(You, awareness, which is different from the objects of awareness, including body, thoughts, whatever can be experienced objectively) is immeasurable. There is no other place other than here-now. The running, seeking, stops with the revelation of the immeasurable.

..............................

-- Johnny Atman (s355849@student.uq.edu.au), September 12, 2000.