Beyond the Mind

Transpersonal psychology is characterised as a contribution given by scientific research to the study and comprehension of inner experiences of the transcendental type. Transpersonal psychology seems to characterise itself as a wide thought and research movement, working towards an integration of psychological principles and methods with spiritual practices or shamanic rituals, in order to synthesise mind, meditation, spirituality and transcendence, the ordinary consciousness and extraordinary one, mystic ecstasy or shaman-ic experiences. Transpersonal psychology works for the realisation of the self, the awak-ening of the spiritual nature in each individual, and of one’s most genuine human qualities. It seems that the word ‘transpersonal’ applied in psychology, was first used by Roberto Assagioli, the father of “Psychosynthesis,” and then by C. G. Jung.
It refers to the areas of the psyche that go beyond the identification with individual personality. Transpersonal psychology thereby refers to the particular approach that studies and develops spirituality and spiritual experiences in a psychological context.
This approach began to assert itself in the field of psychology in the 1960s, moving from the works of A. Maslow, who first put emphasis on an “evolutive” psychology that would take into account the “development of potentialities,” the “gradual needs satisfaction,” the “relationship between persons” involved in the therapeutic setting, and the “mystical experiences” as basics in a self realisation process.
In this book we can find a review of the main theoretical and practical transpersonal models and a contribution by internationally well-know authors like: Stanislav Grof, Laura Boggio Gilot, Massimo Rosselli, Eliezer Cerqueira Mendes.