Welcome! If you’re visiting for the first time, this essay offers the clearest introduction to what this site is about: a psychology that honors science, meaning, symbolism, and our place within a living cosmos. It lays out the key ideas that shape the work here — from the four ways of knowing to a renewed understanding of the psyche’s geocosmological horizon. Begin here, and let the rest unfold from this starting point. The sidebar (Recent Posts) gives you the option of selecting essays by title.
Geocosmology
Our ancestors developed cosmologies through careful observation of the stars, recognizing their relationship not only to the heavens, but to the Earth as well. In doing so, they gave rise to symbolic forms—such as mandalas—that mirror cosmic patterns, among the most potent of these being the natal birth chart. Through such symbolic systems, the psyche comes to a deeper awareness of itself, revealing that it is not isolated, but part of an interconnected and interrelated whole grounded in meaning.
On Soul, Spirit, Consciousness, and Psyche: Four Words for the Inner Life
Soul, spirit, consciousness, and psyche are often spoken of as though they were synonymous, yet each names a different—though overlapping—dimension of human existence: consciousness refers to awareness itself; psyche to the living totality of conscious and unconscious life participating in world and cosmos; soul–an aspect of one’s essence, through which meaning, suffering, joy, and transformation are encountered; and spirit to the transcendent and unifying presence that draws human life beyond the isolated self or personality toward communion with a greater cosmic or sacred reality. Each is nonmaterial.
A “sick soul” generally refers to a disturbance in the person’s deep meaning-bearing center that can reveal a condition of alienation, despair, emptiness, fragmentation, moral conflict, loss of purpose, or estrangement from one’s deeper self and values. In this sense, the soul is “wounded” not medically, but existentially and symbolically.
“Spiritual sickness,” by contrast, usually points more toward a disturbance in one’s relationship to what is regarded as sacred, transcendent, ultimate, or spiritually grounding. It may involve feelings of disconnection from God, spirit, cosmos, community, ancestry, or transcendent purpose. In some traditions, spiritual sickness is understood as arising when life becomes excessively materialistic, ego-centered, fragmented, or cut off from deeper transpersonal or spiritual realities. A wounded soul may lead to spiritual crisis, and spiritual alienation may wound the soul.
Cosmos, Ancestors, and Earth
Across time and tradition, soul, spirit, and consciousness have been understood as more than the body and more than the isolated self contained within a single lifetime—capable of continuing beyond bodily existence as a distinct presence, as a living thread woven through the web of ancestry and cosmos, or as a wave that, having traveled the full distance of a life, returns at last to the greater ocean of being from which it arose.
The Pulse of the Pattern: Intuition as a Bridge to the All
Passages Beyond the Gate: a Jungian Approach to Understanding American Psychology, and the website passagesbeyondthegate.com are guided by the understanding that intuition is foundational to humanity’s capacity for far-reaching symbolic insight — that the psyche does not stand apart from the world, but participates in a meaningful continuity with it.
Long before psychology became a discipline, human beings looked to the heavens and saw not empty space, but pattern, rhythm, and meaning. The movements of the stars were not separate from life on Earth, but reflected within it. From these observations emerged cosmologies — living frameworks in which the human psyche was understood as part of a greater, ordered whole.
This work returns to that insight, not as a rejection of science, but as its necessary expansion.
The Measured Mind and Its Limits
In its modern form, mainstream American psychology has gained extraordinary power by narrowing its focus. It has learned to measure, predict, and analyze with precision, yet in doing so, it has often bracketed the very dimensions that give human life its depth: symbol, value, intuition, and the sense of participation in something larger than oneself.
When consciousness is treated as secondary — understood primarily in terms of underlying biological or computational processes — the lived world of perception, value, symbol, and meaning begins to lose its depth. Experience is reduced to what can be measured and explained, while its significance and symbolic richness gradually recede.
The Integrative Vision
Against this, Passages Beyond the Gate advances an integrative vision of the psyche, grounded in scientific inquiry while remaining open to the symbolic, spiritual, and geocosmological dimensions of human experience. In this view, consciousness is understood not merely as a byproduct of biological or computational processes, but as a phenomenon situated within a larger relationship between Earth, cosmos, culture, and meaning. The psyche becomes aware of itself not in isolation, but through its participation in patterns and synchronicities that are at once biological, psychological, cultural, symbolic, and cosmic in scope.
Here, the insights of Carl Jung take on renewed force, for the psyche he described was never merely personal. While it is shaped by lived experience — by the body, by development, by the contingencies of life — it is at the same time expansive, structured in such a way that it remains open to archetypal patterns and transpersonal realities. The individual, in this sense, does not generate meaning in isolation, but participates in a wider field of symbolic and psychological processes that both ground and exceed personal experience.
Four Ways of Knowing
To approach the psyche seriously is to recognize that knowing does not proceed from a single source. It unfolds through a set of distinct yet interdependent capacities, each revealing a different face of reality, each incomplete on its own. Passages Beyond the Gate builds upon the work of Carl Jung by understanding his four psychological functions — sensation, thinking, feeling, and intuition — not simply as typological categories, but as fundamental ways of knowing. In this light, they can be seen as underlying orientations that shape how different psychological approaches emerge and what aspects of human experience they bring into focus.
Sensation situates us. It brings us into contact with what is present — what can be encountered, touched, verified. It is the ground upon which experience stands, the point at which consciousness meets the world as fact.
Thinking follows by giving experience form. Through its capacity to categorize inner and outer phenomena, it differentiates, orders, and renders intelligible what would otherwise remain undistinguished. In Jung’s sense, thinking tells us what a thing means — clarifying its nature, its definition, and its place within a broader field of understanding. Through thinking, the psyche gains clarity. But clarity alone does not yet tell us why something matters.
Feeling reveals value. It does not determine what a thing is, but what it is worth. It discloses significance — what matters, what carries weight, what calls for affirmation or refusal. Through feeling, the psyche comes to know not just the meaning of things, but their importance.
Intuition moves in a different direction altogether. As Jung suggested, it concerns itself with the movement of things — their emergence and their direction. It senses what is forming beneath the surface of the present moment: the patterns not yet visible, the trajectories already underway, the future implicit within what is now. Through intuition, the psyche does not merely register reality — it participates in its unfolding.
Each of these functions speaks truly, but never completely. Taken in isolation, they narrow the field of understanding. Brought into relation, they begin to widen it. Their integration does not collapse their differences, but holds them together — allowing the psyche to move beyond fragmentation toward a more coherent apprehension of the real.
Towards Wholeness
It is through this integration that the psyche moves toward wholeness — not as a static state, but as an ongoing process of becoming, in which the human being comes into deeper relation with self, world, and the greater patterns in which both are embedded. The task, then, is not to abandon the gains of modern psychology, but to carry them further — to restore what has been set aside, and to bring into relationship what has been divided.
To re-enfranchise the soul is not to turn away from what psychology has become, but to extend it — to restore to it what has been set aside, and to recognize that the human being is not merely a collection of functions or processes, but a participant in a reality that is at once material, symbolic, meaningful, and in motion.
In this recognition, American psychology finds its way forward — not by narrowing its vision, but by widening it — until it is capable of holding the Earth, and the cosmos as part of an integrated scientific and metaphysical understanding of human beings. The passages beyond the gate are not reserved for the spiritually heroic. They are available to anyone willing to pause, turn inward, and take one honest step further than yesterday.
The soul’s measure of a life suggests that our true worth is not found in the accumulation of external titles, but in the depth and quality of our inner world. This measure is a felt assessment of how honestly we have engaged with the underlying rhythms and values that shape our days. It asks whether we have merely moved through the physical world or if we have allowed our experiences to be transformed into genuine wisdom. In this view, a life is measured by its capacity for self-reflection and the degree to which we have gathered the scattered pieces of ourselves into a meaningful, living whole.
To arrive at this measure, I advocate that we embrace a complete psychology—one that does not favor the intellect at the expense of the heart, the material and objective at the expense of the metaphysical and meaningful. A truly holistic understanding of the human condition requires a balanced synthesis of sensation, thinking, feeling, and intuition. These four functions serve as the cardinal points of our internal compass, allowing us to navigate the complexities of reality. When we rely solely on thinking or sensation, we risk a dry, mechanistic existence; however, when we invite feeling and intuition into the fold, we begin to perceive the symbolic and archetypal layers that give life its profound texture.
Meaning emerges at the intersection of these psychological functions, where the raw data of experience is woven into a narrative of purpose. Sensation grounds us in the immediacy of the “here and now,” while thinking allows us to analyze, categorize, and understand the consequences of our choices.
Over the years, I have known several colleagues whose scientific capacities were extraordinary — individuals deeply gifted in research, experimentation, and clinical application. Yet as they encountered the deeper vicissitudes of life, especially in later years, many struggled with questions of meaning and enduring value. They had mastered the art of analysis, but had rarely paused to ask themselves what they truly valued, what inwardly sustained them, or what gave their lives symbolic coherence.
Their sensation and thinking functions were highly developed instruments, yet their feeling function — and often their intuition — remained comparatively underdeveloped or distrusted.
This is not merely an abstract observation. More than one colleague eventually came to me during periods of personal crisis, searching for meaning and stabilizing values after the structures that once organized their lives no longer proved sufficient. By every external measure, these individuals were highly successful, and I deeply respected their contributions to scientific and clinical psychology. Yet by the soul’s measure, the awareness of their deeper spiritual journey still stood near the beginning.
It is through feeling that we assign value to our journey, and through intuition that we catch glimpses of our future potential and the teleological “pull” of the soul. By promoting a psychology that honors all four, we provide individuals with the tools to move beyond mere survival toward a state of individuation, where every challenge is seen as an opportunity for psychic growth.
This balanced approach serves as a vital corrective to the fragmentation of modern life. For those whose lives have been shaped primarily by thinking and sensation, this integration may feel like an upheaval — a gradual softening of certainties long held. For those already attuned to feeling and intuition, the work is different: not awakening to the inner life, but learning to give it form, to trust it in the world, to let it speak with the same authority we grant to reason
When the ego is aligned with the totality of these functions, the “soul’s measure” becomes a reflection of harmony rather than conflict. We begin to understand that our purpose is not a destination to be reached, but a way of being that honors both our biological reality and our transcendent aspirations. This integration ensures that the life we lead is not just productive, but deeply significant, echoing the timeless patterns of human development and the unique calling of the individual spirit.
Ultimately, measuring a life through the lens of the soul requires a willingness to stand at the “gate” between the known and the unknown. It is a commitment to a life lived with intentionality, where the psyche is treated as a sacred landscape worthy of lifelong exploration.
As we harmonize our thinking with our feeling, and our sensations with our intuitions, we fulfill the true goal of psychology: to guide the human being toward a sense of wholeness that transcends the temporal and touches the eternal. Perhaps the most honest thing we can say is that the soul’s measure is never final — not in this life, anyway. The gate remains open. And the only question the soul ever really asks is whether, today, we were willing to walk a little further through it. The passages beyond the gate are not reserved for the spiritually heroic. They are available to anyone willing to pause, turn inward, and take one honest step further than yesterday.
The image before you is not merely an illustration—it is a map of a worldview, a symbolic rendering of a psychology that refuses fragmentation and insists upon wholeness. It speaks in layers: historical, cultural, spiritual, and transpersonal. It reminds us that African American psychology is not a closed system confined to the boundaries of empirical observation alone, but a living, breathing tradition grounded in ancestry, animated by spirit, and oriented toward the liberation and flourishing of humanity.
At its center stands the human figure—not as an isolated individual, but as a node within an interconnected web of meaning. Mind, body, and spirit are not treated as separate domains to be analyzed in isolation, but as dimensions of a unified field of experience. The psyche here is not reduced to cognition or behavior; it is understood as a vessel of consciousness that extends beyond the personal into the ancestral and the cosmic.
Above and behind this central figure rise the ancestors—African and African American—whose presence affirms that the self is never self-created. We are, in a profound sense, continuations. Their gaze is not distant; it is participatory. They speak through memory, through culture, through the enduring patterns of resilience and creativity that have shaped the African American experience in the United States. The struggles depicted—chains broken, voices raised, justice demanded—are not simply historical moments; they are psychological inheritances. They form the ground upon which identity, meaning, and purpose are constructed.
Yet the image does not remain confined to the past. It opens forward into the present and the future through representations of modern Black excellence—scientists, scholars, athletes, creators—each embodying the unfolding of potential within contemporary contexts. These figures stand as evidence that African American psychology is not only a response to oppression but also a framework for achievement, innovation, and transformation. It is a psychology that recognizes capacity as much as it acknowledges struggle.
Crucially, the image extends upward and outward into the cosmos. Here, African American psychology reveals one of its most distinctive features: its inseparability from spiritual cosmology. The universe is not a neutral backdrop; it is alive with meaning. The soul is not an abstraction; it is a reality that links the individual to a greater whole. The transpersonal dimension—so often marginalized within mainstream American psychology—here stands in its rightful place. Consciousness is understood as layered, extending from the personal to the collective, from the ancestral to the universal.
And yet, for all its rootedness, this worldview is not insular. At the base of the image, diverse figures stand together, facing the horizon of a shared Earth. This is a critical statement: African American psychology, while grounded in a particular historical and cultural experience, does not close itself off from the rest of humanity. Instead, it recognizes that its insights—about suffering, resilience, meaning, and transcendence—have relevance beyond any single group. It affirms connection over separation, dialogue over isolation, and shared destiny over fragmented existence.
This is what it means to say that African American psychology is not a closed system. It is open—open to other cultures, other disciplines, other ways of knowing. It is capable of engaging science without surrendering spirit, of honoring tradition without rejecting innovation. In this openness lies its strength.
What emerges, then, is a vision of psychology that moves beyond the limitations of reductionism. It is a psychology that integrates empirical rigor with spiritual depth, cultural specificity with universal relevance. It is, in many ways, a corrective to the fragmentation that has long characterized mainstream American psychology—a movement toward what might be called a more complete understanding of the human condition.
In the language of Passages Beyond the Gate, this image captures a passage itself—a living model of integration that moves from surface awareness to psychological depth, and from an isolated conception of the ego toward a more expansive understanding of human existence situated within community, ancestry, spirit, nature, and cosmos. It reflects the broader argument that psychology becomes most complete not when the four psychological functions identified by Carl Jung—sensation, thinking, feeling, and intuition—are separated or elevated in isolation, but when these distinct ways of knowing are integrated into a more unified understanding of the human being.
African American psychology demonstrates the possibility of such integration. While embracing the value of scientific inquiry and empirical understanding, it also recognizes the importance of collective memory, spiritual meaning, ancestral continuity, and transpersonal dimensions of experience. In this sense, the challenge before mainstream American psychology is not to abandon its existing models, nor merely to refine them, but to reimagine them within a more holistic vision of the human being.
African American psychology, as depicted here, offers one such foundation. It reminds us that to understand the psyche fully, we must be willing to engage not only the measurable, but also the meaningful; not only the individual, but also the collective; not only the present, but also the past and the possible. In doing so, it points toward a psychology that is, at once, deeply rooted and profoundly expansive—one that is capable of illuminating the passage toward wholeness for all.
Closing Reflection
Taken together, the works below reflect a psychology that is not confined to the study of behavior or cognition alone, nor to a purely empirical or material understanding of the human being, but one that recognizes the full depth of the human condition—historical, cultural, spiritual, and transpersonal. They point toward a vision of psychology that is rooted in ancestry, open to the cosmos, and engaged with the ongoing task of human liberation and integration.
In this sense, African American psychology stands as a passage beyond the gate of mainstream American psychology—not as a rejection of it, but as an expansion beyond its limits. It thus represents one of several pathways through which mainstream American psychology may move beyond fragmentation toward a more holistic and integrated understanding of the human psyche, while uniquely preserving dimensions of experience essential to any truly complete vision of what it means to be human.
For a fuller exploration of the meaning of Carl Jung’s four psychological functions, see the section under the subheading Four Ways of Knowing in the essay A Geocosmological View of the Psyche.
Foundations & Further Readings
African-Centered Foundations of Psychology
Akbar, N. African Psychology in Historical Perspective and Related Commentary
Kambon, K. K. African/Black Psychology in the American Context: An African-Centered Approach
Myers, L. J. Understanding an Afrocentric Worldview: Introduction to an Optimal Psychology
Nobles, W. W. Seeking the Sakhu: Foundational Writings for an African Psychology
Parham, T. A., White, J. L., & Ajamu, A. (Eds.). The Psychology of Blacks: Centering Our Perspectives in the African Consciousness
White, J. L. Black Psychology
Jones, R. L. (Ed.). The Handbook of Black Psychology
African Philosophy, Cosmology, and Cultural Grounding
Ani, M. Yurugu: An African-Centered Critique of European Cultural Thought and Behavior
Asante, M. K. Afrocentricity: The Theory of Social Change
Karenga, M. Introduction to Black Studies
Mbiti, J. S. African Religions and Philosophy
Temple, C. (Ed.). African Spirituality: Forms, Meanings, and Expressions
Liberation, Identity, and the African American Experience
Baldwin, J. The Fire Next Time
Cone, J. H. A Black Theology of Liberation
DeGruy, J. Post Traumatic Slave Syndrome
Du Bois, W. E. B. The Souls of Black Folk
Fanon, F. Black Skin, White Masks
Fanon, F. The Wretched of the Earth
Franklin, A. J. From Brotherhood to Manhood: How Black Men Rescue Their Relationships and Dreams from the Invisibility Syndrome
The works listed below are grouped under this heading not merely because they address spirituality or the transpersonal, but because they share a common epistemological orientation: each extends psychology beyond a purely empirical or material framework toward a deeper understanding of psyche, meaning, and consciousness. Taken together, they represent traditions that have often been marginalized within mainstream American psychology, yet are essential for any serious attempt to overcome its fragmentation and move toward a more integrated vision of the human being.
Spiritual, Transpersonal, and Depth Psychology
Grof, S. The Transpersonal Vision
Grof, S. Psychology of the Future
Jung, C. G. Psychological Types
Jung, C. G. The Archetypes and the Collective Unconscious
Jung, C. G. Psychology and Religion
Jung, C. G. Modern Man in Search of a Soul
Maslow, A. H. Toward a Psychology of Being
Maslow, A. H. The Farther Reaches of Human Nature
Wilber, K. The Atman Project
Wilber, K. A Brief History of Everything
Toward Integration and a More Complete Psychology
Jennings, G.-H. Passages Beyond the Gate: A Jungian Approach to Understanding American Psychology
Tart, C. T. Transpersonal Psychologies
Walsh, R., & Vaughan, F. (Eds.). Paths Beyond Ego: The Transpersonal Vision
Long before the emergence of transpersonal psychology as a formal field, cultures across the world developed rich and enduring ways of exploring dimensions of human experience that extend beyond the ordinary sense of self. The contemplative traditions of India articulated inner pathways of transformation through yoga, meditation, and systems such as the chakras. Buddhism offered a precise analysis of the mind, illuminating the nature of suffering, impermanence, and awakening. Indigenous, African, and early European traditions preserved symbolic, ecological, and ancestral ways of knowing that situate the individual within a larger web of life, spirit, and cosmos.
These traditions were not practicing “transpersonal psychology” in the modern sense, nor were they unified in doctrine or method. Yet each, in its own way, engaged aspects of human experience that transcend the individual ego—what we now describe, in contemporary language, as transpersonal. Their insights emerged through lived practice, ritual, contemplation, and symbolic expression rather than through the empirical frameworks that define modern psychology. The images that follow are not intended as strict representations of any one tradition. Rather, they are interpretive and integrative reflections—visual attempts to honor the distinctiveness of these cultural pathways while also exploring the deeper human impulse they share: the movement beyond the ego toward expanded awareness, realization, connection, or awakening.
Taken together, these images point toward a shared horizon: the possibility that human consciousness can deepen, expand, and transform beyond its ordinary boundaries—whether understood as awakening, self-realization, ancestral connection, or unity with the cosmos. They reflect an effort to honor the distinctiveness of each cultural tradition while also recognizing the broader human impulse they express.
Long before the language of modern psychology, the yogic traditions of India articulated detailed pathways of inner transformation through practices such as meditation, breathwork, and the chakra system. These teachings reflect an early exploration of consciousness that extends beyond the individual ego toward what is often described as self-realization. In this sense, they exemplify how ancient traditions engaged transpersonal dimensions of human experience well before the emergence of transpersonal psychology.
Buddhist
Buddhist traditions developed a highly refined understanding of the mind, emphasizing the nature of suffering, impermanence, and the realization of non-self. Through disciplined contemplative practice, they explored states of awareness that move beyond ego-based identity toward awakening. These insights represent a profound engagement with transpersonal dimensions of experience, articulated long before such concepts were formalized within modern psychology.
African / Akan (Adinkra Symbolism)
Within African philosophical and symbolic systems, such as the Akan tradition, meaning is conveyed through proverbs, symbols, and a deep reverence for ancestry and communal identity. These frameworks situate the individual within a continuum that includes past generations, the living community, and spiritual reality. In doing so, they express dimensions of human experience that extend beyond the isolated self, offering perspectives that resonate with transpersonal thought long before its formal recognition.
Indigenous / Native American
Indigenous traditions have long understood human life as inseparable from nature, spirit, and community. Through practices such as vision quests, ceremony, and symbolic storytelling, they cultivate experiences that transcend the individual and affirm a deeper interconnectedness with the natural and spiritual world. These ways of knowing reflect transpersonal dimensions of existence that predate—and continue to challenge—the individual-centered focus of modern psychology.
Indigenous European / Celtic
Early European traditions, including Celtic spirituality, expressed a worldview in which nature, myth, and the sacred were deeply intertwined. Through symbolic narratives and cyclical understandings of life, these traditions explored the relationship between the individual and a larger cosmic order. Such perspectives reflect an intuitive engagement with transpersonal dimensions of experience, emphasizing connection, continuity, and the permeability between seen and unseen realities.
Taken together, these traditions illustrate that the exploration of consciousness beyond the self is not a modern invention, but a recurring feature of human culture—one that transpersonal psychology seeks to revisit, interpret, and bring into dialogue with contemporary understanding.
Foundations & Further Reading
The works below provide entry points into the traditions and perspectives referenced in this essay. They are not exhaustive, but they reflect foundational texts, influential interpretations, and key voices that illuminate how cultures have explored dimensions of human experience beyond the individual self.
Yogic & Vedantic Traditions (India) Inner transformation, Consciousness, and Self-Realization
The Upanishads — Classical Philosophical Texts Exploring the Nature of Consciousness and Ultimate Reality
The Bhagavad Gita — A Synthesis of Devotion, Action, and Knowledge On the Path to Realization
The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali — Foundational Aphorisms Outlining the Discipline of Mind and the Path to Liberation
Swami Vivekananda — Modern Interpreter Who Introduced Vedanta and Yoga to the West
Buddhist Traditions Mind, Suffering, Impermanence, and Awakening
The Dhammapada — Concise Teachings on Ethical Living and Mental Discipline
The Heart Sutra — A Core Expression of Emptiness and Non-Dual Insight
Thich Nhat Hanh — Accessible Writings On Mindfulness and Engaged Buddhism
The Dalai Lama — Contemporary Voice Bridging Contemplative Insight and Modern Science
Indigenous Traditions (North America) Interconnectedness, Nature, and Relational Ways of Knowing
Black Elk Speaks — A Lakota Perspective On Vision, Spirit, and the Sacred
Robin Wall Kimmerer — Reflections On Ecological Consciousness and Reciprocal Relationship with Nature
Braiding Sweetgrass — A Blending of Indigenous Knowledge and Ecological Science.
African & Akan Philosophy Symbol, Community, Ancestry, and Continuity of Life
Akan proverbs and Adinkra symbols — Traditional Visual and Linguistic Expressions of Ethical and Spiritual Insight
The Healing Wisdom of Africa — Exploration of Indigenous African Spirituality and Ritual
Kwame Gyekye — Writings on Akan philosophy, Personhood, and Community
Indigenous European & Mythic TraditionsMyth, Archetype, and the Symbolic Imagination
The Mabinogion — Early Celtic Narratives Reflecting a Mythic Worldview
The Poetic Edda — Norse Cosmology, Fate, and Symbolic Consciousness
The Prose Edda — Later Compilation Preserving Mythic Traditions
W. B. Yeats — Literary Preservation of Mythic and Symbolic Traditions
Note: Much of early European spirituality survives through myth, later texts, and reconstruction rather than continuous unbroken practice.
Transpersonal Psychology & Integrative Thought Bridging Ancient Insight and Modern Psychological Frameworks
Carl Jung — Archetypes, the Collective Unconscious, and Symbolic Life
Carl Jung—Man and His Symbols — Introduction to Symbolic and Archetypal Psychology
Abraham Maslow — Self-Actualization and Peak Experiences
Stanislav Grof — Expanded States of Consciousness and Transpersonal Theory
These sources reflect diverse traditions, each with its own integrity, history, and worldview. Their inclusion here is not meant to suggest equivalence or uniformity, but to acknowledge the many ways human cultures have explored experiences that extend beyond the individual self—experiences that contemporary transpersonal psychology seeks to revisit and understand within a modern framework.
I first heard the words transpersonal psychology as a graduate student at Pennsylvania State University in the late 1970s. I was introduced to the subject by one of the department’s many distinguished faculty members, William Ray, PhD, who also introduced me to the work of the Jungian analyst Marie-Louise von Franz. Having a professor like Dr. Ray introduce me to transpersonal psychology was, in some respects, surprising. His own research and publications were far removed from Jungian or transpersonal thought.
True to Penn State’s strong commitment to evidence-based research, his work focused on biofeedback and the interface of clinical psychology and psychophysiology—particularly EEG—as it related to anxiety, dissociation, emotionality, and individual differences. It was during one of our clinical team meetings, in conversation with a small group of students, that Dr. Ray mentioned transpersonal psychology. He described it as a relatively new approach to understanding human nature—still in its infancy, perhaps even in its toddler stage. Whether he intended the comment to invite deeper exploration, or simply offered it in passing, I do not know. What I do know is that something in that moment took hold.
Months later, that initial spark was further inflamed when I enrolled in a seminar on Carl Jung’s analytical psychology—taught, interestingly, by a professor whose published work remained grounded in physiological psychology. Around that same period, I made several trips to New York City to study Uranian astrology with Charles Emerson, founder of The Uranian Society, a subgroup of the National Council for Geocosmic Research. Trained in mathematics at Brown University, Emerson, a titan of 20th century astrology, had a rare ability to convey the complexity and symbolic depth of that system. Looking back, what stands out is not simply the range of these experiences, but the way they began to converge.
I had long been drawn to science. As a high school student in the late 1960s and early 1970s, I immersed myself in general science, biology, chemistry, and physics. Biology, in particular, held my attention. Yet even then, there were moments that left questions unresolved. During a discussion on the evolution of life, I remember asking—somewhat boldly—whether life might be understood as a kind of force, a type of energy. I expected at least a moment of consideration. Instead, the response was immediate and emphatic: no. Modern biology had moved beyond such notions. The term vitalism was briefly explained, and the class moved on. But I did not move on—not entirely.
Years later, I encountered related ideas in very different forms: Qi in Traditional Chinese Medicine, Prana in Indian philosophy, and later Kundalini—explored not only by Jung, but by figures such as Stanislav Grof, Christina Grof, Ken Wilber, and David Lukoff within transpersonal psychology. What these encounters gradually revealed was not simply a set of unfamiliar ideas, but a deeper divergence in how human beings—and human experience—are understood. On the one hand, the materialistic scientific viewpoint, grounded in measurement and empirical verification. On the other, a metaphysical orientation that approaches human life through meaning, symbolism, and the view that consciousness is not reducible to physical processes alone. These perspectives are often framed as competing with one another. More often than not, they remain separated—each developing along its own path. And yet, in contemporary psychology, something more complex is taking place.
Since its formal emergence in 1969—through the efforts of Abraham Maslow, Anthony Sutich, Stanislav Grof, and others—transpersonal psychology has continued to develop at the margins of the field. In recent decades, however, mainstream psychology has increasingly embraced a number of its tools, practices, and kindred ideas. At the same time, the broader worldview upon which transpersonal psychology rests has not been fully received.
This is the tension.
What is welcomed are the methods that can be adapted, studied, and applied within existing frameworks. What is more often held at a distance are the metaphysical assumptions—the deeper questions concerning consciousness, meaning, and the nature of human existence—that give rise to those methods in the first place. In this sense, American psychology stands at a kind of threshold. It has begun to incorporate insights that point beyond its traditional boundaries, yet it continues to hesitate at the implications of those insights.The integration, therefore, remains partial—not because the tools lack value, but because the worldview from which they emerge has yet to find a fully recognized place within the discipline.
Transpersonal Psychology has Contributed to American Pychology But It Has Much More to Offer
This infographic maps the evolving relationship between mainstream psychology and Transpersonal psychology, a sub-field that integrates spiritual and transcendent aspects of the human experience. The map highlights tools from Transpersonal psychology and its kindred ideas that mainstream American psychology readily embraces, those currently under consideration that have begun to draw its interest, and the practices and experiences grounded in a worldview it continues to reject.
Below is a breakdown of the practices and worldviews categorized in the chart:
Fully Mainstream
These are tools once considered “fringe” that are now widely accepted and backed by significant clinical research.
Mindfulness Meditation: A mental training practice that involves focusing your mind on your experiences in the present moment. It is used clinically to reduce stress, improve focus, and manage emotional reactivity.
Breath-Focused Meditation: A foundational practice where the breath serves as an anchor for the wandering mind. It is a core component of many stress-reduction programs and physiological regulation techniques.
Guided Imagery / Visualization: The use of mental images to evoke positive physical and emotional responses. It is frequently used in sports psychology and for pain management or relaxation in clinical settings.
Somatic Awareness Practices: Techniques that focus on the connection between the mind and the physical sensations of the body. These are essential in modern trauma therapy to help patients “ground” themselves.
Acceptance-Based Practices: Strategies derived from therapies like ACT (Acceptance and Commitment Therapy) that teach individuals to embrace thoughts and feelings rather than fighting them. These focus on psychological flexibility rather than symptom suppression.
Hypnosis & EMDR: Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) and clinical hypnosis are evidence-based tools for processing trauma and modifying subconscious behaviors. Both rely on altered states of focus to facilitate healing.
Flow-State Induction: The study and practice of entering a state of “optimal experience” where a person is fully immersed in an activity. Mainstream psychology uses this to enhance performance and well-being in work and creative fields.
Spirituality-Sensitive Assessment: The practice of clinicians acknowledging and respecting a patient’s spiritual or religious background during diagnosis. It treats a patient’s belief system as a potential resource for coping and recovery.
Emerging
These practices are currently gaining traction in academic research and clinical trials, often showing high potential for therapeutic breakthrough.
Psychedelic-Assisted Therapy: The use of substances like psilocybin or MDMA in a controlled, clinical setting to treat conditions like treatment-resistant depression and PTSD. This field is currently undergoing a massive “renaissance” in mainstream psychiatry.
Compassion Meditation: Also known as “Loving-Kindness” meditation, this practice focuses on developing an altruistic state of mind. Research suggests it can significantly alter brain chemistry related to empathy and social connection.
Nature-Based Practices: Often called “Ecotherapy,” these involve structured activities in natural environments to improve mental health. They are increasingly recognized for their ability to lower cortisol levels and combat “nature deficit disorder.”
Contemplative Movement: Practices like Yoga, Tai Chi, and Qigong that combine physical postures with meditative focus. They are emerging as powerful adjuncts to traditional talk therapy for holistic wellness.
Dreamwork & Active Imagination: Techniques originally popularized by Carl Jung that involve engaging with the symbols and narratives of the subconscious. They are being revisited as tools for self-discovery and resolving deep-seated psychological conflicts.
Sound & Music Healing: The therapeutic use of sound frequencies, music, and vibration to regulate the nervous system, facilitate emotional release, and promote psychological coherence. Practices range from guided music therapy to immersive sound baths, often supporting trauma resolution and affect regulation.
Energy Psychology (EFT, Tapping, Meridian Work): A group of approaches combining cognitive focus with somatic stimulation of the body’s energy systems. Emotional Freedom Techniques (EFT) involves tapping on specific acupressure (meridian) points while focusing on distressing thoughts or emotions, with emerging evidence suggesting reductions in anxiety, stress, and trauma-related symptoms.
Integration Coaching: A meaning-centered, forward-facing process that helps individuals integrate insights from therapy, spiritual experiences, or life transitions into daily living. Emphasizes meaning-making, values clarification, and life alignment, bridging insight with sustained behavioral and existential change.
Still Marginal
These areas remain on the fringes of mainstream science, often because they are difficult to measure through standard empirical methods.
Holotropic Breathwork: A practice using rapid, controlled breathing to induce altered states of consciousness without drugs. It is intended to allow for deep emotional release and spiritual insight, though it lacks broad clinical validation.
Archetypal / Subtle Energy Work: Practices based on the idea of an underlying “energy body” or collective psychological patterns (archetypes). While meaningful to many, these lack a measurable physiological basis in standard Western medicine.
Near-Death Experience (NDE) Integration: Therapeutic support for individuals who have had profound experiences while clinically dead or near death. Mainstream psychology often views these as neurological hallucinations, while transpersonal psychology treats them as significant spiritual events.
Shamanic & Ritual Methods: The adaptation of ancient indigenous healing traditions, such as soul retrieval or ceremonial drumming, for modern psychological use. These are marginalized due to their reliance on non-materialist frameworks of healing.
Consciousness Research: When focused on altered states—consciousness research is the systematic study of non-ordinary states of consciousness—including meditation, hypnosis, flow states, and psychedelic experiences—to better understand perception, identity, and cognition. It includes scientific exploration of phenomena such as telepathy, precognition, and non-local awareness using protocols designed to meet the standards of the scientific method sidestepping spiritual frameworks as explanations. Studies often employ controlled experiments (e.g., Ganzfeld procedures, random event generators) to test for statistically significant deviations from chance, while remaining subject to ongoing debate regarding replicability and interpretation.
A Synthesis of Scientific Insight and Timeless Wisdom Is Ideal
The most complete path to human development—ranging from healing to profound transformation—emerges when scientific understanding and enduring wisdom traditions are integrated; yet mainstream psychology often remains hesitant to accept, or explicitly rejects, the worldview embraced by transpersonal psychology.
Rejected Worldview by Mainstream Psychology
These concepts represent the “hard line” where mainstream psychology typically stops, as they conflict with the materialist, scientific paradigm.
Non-Material Consciousness: The belief that consciousness is not just a byproduct of the brain’s physical activity. Mainstream science generally maintains that the brain creates the mind, rather than acting as a receiver for it.
Reincarnation & Past Lives: The idea that the soul or consciousness survives death to be reborn in a new body. This is rejected by mainstream psychology as it cannot be tested or verified through the scientific method.
Survival Beyond Death: The belief that human identity or awareness persists after the biological death of the brain. While a common religious belief, it is outside the scope of empirical psychological study.
The Universe as Sacred: A panentheistic view holds that the cosmos possesses an inherent consciousness or underlying intelligence and exists within God or the Source, while also being exceeded by it. By contrast, pantheism equates the universe itself with that ultimate reality—what some would call God or the Source.
Astrology, Tarot, & Numerology: Using symbolic systems to interpret synchronistic patterns, cycles, or personality. Mainstream psychology classifies these as “pseudoscience,” viewing any perceived accuracy as the result of the Barnum effect or cognitive bias.
Veridical Deathbed Visions: Reports of dying individuals seeing deceased relatives or “beings of light” that provide accurate, unknown information. These are typically dismissed by the mainstream as end-of-life hallucinations or “brain sparks.”
The Numinous (Spiritual experiences): The numinous is the felt encounter with a “wholly other”—that which lies beyond ordinary categories and is experienced as awe, mystery, or sacred significance—and may catalyze a deep awakening, a lasting reorganization of the psyche that reshapes identity, perception, and meaning-making at a structural level rather than producing a temporary state. While psychology may study these experiences and their effects, American mainstream psychology generally stops short of affirming a literal divine or transcendent presence.
Psi Phenomena (ESP, Telepathy, Psychokinesis): The study of “extra-sensory perception” or the ability of the mind to influence matter. Despite decades of study (parapsychology), these are largely rejected by the scientific community due to a lack of replicable evidence.
A Vision of a Complete American Psychology
We can work towards a vision of a future psychology. This infomap captures a vision of a more complete American psychology—one capable of meeting the full depth of the human condition. Beyond treating symptoms or enhancing performance, it reflects a framework designed to help individuals discover meaning, align with purpose, and integrate the many dimensions of their lives, including the AI-augmented and transpersonal. It envisions a future where the psychological path is inseparable from our spiritual, ecological, and relational lives—offering a holistic guide to wholeness in an increasingly complex world.
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Foundations & Further Reading
The works below are organized to reflect the four domains presented in the accompanying framework—ranging from widely accepted practices to emerging approaches, marginal explorations, and worldviews largely excluded from mainstream psychology.
Fully Mainstream Established practices widely accepted within contemporary psychology
Jon Kabat-Zinn — Full Catastrophe Living
Steven C. Hayes — Acceptance and Commitment Therapy
Bessel A. van der Kolk — The Body Keeps the Score
Peter A. Levine — Waking the Tiger: Healing Trauma
Judith Lewis Herman — Trauma and Recovery
Gabor Maté — The Myth of Normal
Pat Ogden — Trauma and the BodyStephen
W. Porges — The Polyvagal Theory
Daniel J. Siegel — The Developing Mind
Sue Johnson — Hold Me Tight
Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi — Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience
Emerging Promising approaches supported by growing research and clinical interest
Robin L. Carhart-Harris — The Entropic Brain
Roland R. Griffiths — research on psilocybin and consciousness
Gregory N. Bratman — research on nature and mental health
David Feinstein — Energy Psychology
Leslie Bunt & Brynjulf Stige — Music Therapy: An Art Beyond Words
Still Marginal Explored at the edges of psychology and consciousness research
Stanislav Grof & Christina Grof — Holotropic Breathwork
Michael Harner — The Way of the Shaman
Roger Walsh — The Spirit of Shamanism
Etzel Cardeña — research on anomalous experience
Dean Radin — Entangled Minds
Rejected Worldview Concepts largely excluded from mainstream psychology due to prevailing scientific assumptions
Raymond A. Moody — Life After Life
Bruce Greyson — After
Pim van Lommel — Consciousness Beyond Life
Ian Stevenson — Twenty Cases Suggestive of Reincarnation
Jim B. Tucker — Life Before Life; Return to Life
Richard Tarnas — Cosmos and Psyche
Sallie Nichols — Jung and Tarot: An Archetypal Journey
Robert Wang — The Jungian Tarot and Its Archetypal Imagery
Marie-Louise von Franz — Number and Time Closing
Note: Taken together, these works reflect a spectrum—from established psychological practices to emerging research, marginal explorations, and worldviews largely set aside by mainstream psychology. This broader landscape highlights the ongoing tension between what psychology accepts, what it cautiously explores, and what it has yet to fully engage.
This essay explores the tension between transpersonal psychology and the American psychological mainstream. Transpersonal psychology extends the field into symbolic, spiritual, and metaphysical dimensions of experience — including the often‑neglected role of intuition as a valid way of knowing. These same commitments are what make it appear “problematic” to a discipline grounded in materialism and narrow empiricism. What follows examines how the very features that provoke resistance may also offer a path toward a more complete psychology — one capable of addressing fragmentation and restoring depth, meaning, and symbolic coherence to the study of the psyche.
Jung’s Psychological Functions and the Evolution of American Psychology
In the late 1960s, a small group of psychologists, including Abraham Maslow and Anthony Sutich, began to articulate a broader vision for their field. They described four major forces shaping American psychology: behaviorism, psychoanalysis, humanistic psychology, and a then-emerging perspective they called transpersonal psychology. Referred to as the “fourth force,” transpersonal psychology aimed to extend psychological inquiry beyond the individual self, opening it to questions of meaning, spirituality, and the deeper dimensions of human experience.
Early definitions reflected this ambition, with Sutich offering a comprehensive account in 1969, and later Roger Walsh and Francis Vaughan describing it more succinctly as a psychology that integrates the spiritual and transcendent within a modern framework.
The model depicted above is grounded in Carl G. Jung’s theory of the four psychological functions, with its underlying argument articulated in the monograph Passages Beyond the Gate: A Jungian Approach to Understanding American Psychology.
Maslow, Sutich, and their colleagues understood these four forces—behaviorism, psychoanalysis, humanistic psychology, and transpersonal psychology—as distinct approaches to studying the human being. As a student, I found myself drawn to each of them in different ways and began studying their ideas more deeply over time. It was during my graduate work that a unifying insight began to take shape: the possibility that these four approaches correspond to the four psychological functions identified by Carl Jung—sensing, thinking, feeling, and intuiting—and may be understood as different expressions of these fundamental ways of knowing.
The transpersonal perspective, though relatively recent within mainstream American psychology, reflects a far older and widely distributed understanding of human nature. Variations of this view can be found in African-centered psychology, as reflected in the work of Linda James Myers, as well as in ancient Egyptian (Kemetic) thought, which understood the human being as inseparable from spiritual and cosmic realities. It is also given psychological expression in the work of Carl G. Jung, whose conception of the psyche points beyond the individual toward a deeper, collective and symbolic ground. Comparable orientations appear in many Indigenous traditions of the Americas, in Asian philosophical and spiritual systems, and in strands of classical European thought. Across these traditions, the psyche is not treated as an isolated phenomenon, but as embedded within a larger, meaningful, and often sacred order of reality.”
Originally in 1921, Jung (1971) described the four functions in Psychological Types as follows: “Sensation establishes what is actually present, thinking enables us to recognize its meaning, feeling tells us its value, and intuition points to possibilities as to whence it came and whither it is going” (pp. 540–541).
The functions are configured in the human psyche with thinking and feeling existing at the opposite ends of the same axis. Existing at the opposing ends of a second overlapping axis are sensing and intuiting. Together, the four functions represent our means and ways of knowing and understanding reality and all aspects of the human experience while mirroring aspects of the fourfold structure of the psyche. Worthy of note is that the two overlapping axes form a cross which can be referred to as a Jungian cross.
The single function (which can be any one of the four) situated at the north end of the cross is called the superior function. It represents the most dominant and developed function. Opposed to this function is the inferior function which has a special and unique role to play in an individual’s movement towards wholeness. Superior and inferior functions can also be identified in “the psyche” of the people of a nation or culture; and so, too, when identified, the inferior function may potentially, if not surprisingly, reveal a means to wholeness for an individual and/or the people of a nation—and yet, there is typically a price to pay on the journey to wholeness, as there are often considerable challenges to overcome in trying to integrate the inferior function with the other three in an effort to bring about a robust fully functioning psyche—especially, when elements of the shadow (a prominent archetype in Jungian psychology) are attached to the inferior function. According to Jung, the shadow contains repressed qualities that are unacceptable or undesirable—and, thus, are readily rejected by the conscious mind.
The Dynamics of Inferiority in Psyche and Culture
Regarding an individual in relation to the four functions, the ego generally comes to experience three of the psychological functions as helpful. They must, however, occupy the positions of superior, first auxiliary, and second auxiliary functions—or in other words, the positions of North, West and East, respectively, on the Jungian cross. The ego experiences its greatest comfort with the superior function (i.e., the one that develops first in consciousness) while over a period of time, a person’s ego learns to recognize the usefulness of a second function (usually called the first auxiliary function), and a third function that may be called the second auxiliary or tertiary function.
The fourth remaining function (i.e., the one located at the South point of the Jungian Cross) is always the inferior function. Although it ultimately offers an important pathway toward psychological wholeness, it frequently generates discomfort, frustration, and anxiety whenever the ego encounters it or attempts to rely upon it. From the standpoint of the ego, the inferior function often appears unreliable or deficient, regularly falling short of the standards established by the dominant function. Because it is inferior and therefore the opposite of the superior, dominant function, the domain of experience to which it provides access is typically the least valued or least trusted by the conscious personality. Situated close to the unconscious, the inferior function may also serve as a channel through which aspects of what Jung called the shadow can emerge into awareness, bringing with it both the disturbances and developmental possibilities that accompany encounters with previously unrecognized parts of the psyche. At times, similar dynamics can also appear at the cultural level. For example, when certain human qualities or ways of knowing are collectively devalued, they may be projected outward onto others or onto marginalized groups, becoming part of what analytical psychology would describe as the collective shadow of a society.
As the functions begin to differentiate within the psyche of an individual, the order is such that the first to develop is the superior or dominant function. This dynamic process determines which function will become the “troublesome,” unruly function, and that function is always the opposite function of the superior function. Two more functions will over time differentiate and become controllable and reliable (to varying degrees).
Over time things stabilize, and the ego realizes it has three functions that it can effectively use, but one that is unreliable, difficult to manage, and thus often devalued. This dynamic was aptly named by Jung—the problem of the three and the one. It is a dynamic process that can be seen not only in an individual, but in a discipline—such as psychology, which in itself mirrors and identifies dynamics and those things of importance in the psyche of groups that comprise cultures and nations.
If the first force in American psychology, represented by behaviorism, is grounded in the function Jung called sensation—then the alignments of the three remaining functions with the three remaining psychological forces point to psychoanalysis (the original psychodynamic psychology) being grounded in thinking, and humanistic (sometimes referred to as humanistic-existential psychology) being grounded in the feeling function. Transpersonal psychology grounded in intuition represents the inferior function in American psychology; consequently, being on the same axis, it is opposite behaviorism which is grounded in sensation. With this in mind, the argument can be made that behaviorism (essentially, the tenets it rests upon that are consistent with the traditional scientific method) is not only the first force in American psychology, it also is a manifestation of sensation, the superior function in American psychology.
There is a split in the thinking among transpersonalists regarding the means and ways one should go about studying spiritual or transpersonal phenomena. On the one hand, there are those adherents, practitioners, and researchers who are compelled to explore ideas, acquire knowledge, and gather information gained only from identifying and exploring measurable phenomena. There are others who embrace a different, if not, expanded or broader view of the transpersonal that calls for the exploration and gathering of information in realms that go beyond the concrete and measurable aspects of reality. Still, some transpersonalists, like myself, believe both approaches are important, and should be pursued.
In order for transpersonal psychology to provide its ideal and unique contribution to American psychology, it must establish and maintain a firm foothold in the metaphysical dimensions of knowledge and reality. This requirement, however, reveals the central paradox captured in the title of this article: the very condition that gives transpersonal psychology its greatest promise is also the source of its greatest problem. Its commitment to metaphysical inquiry and spiritual values when integrated with the practical applications of scientific understanding positions it to offer a more complete vision of human life. Yet, this same commitment places it at odds with the dominant assumptions of American psychology.
Mainstream American psychology remains skeptical or reluctant to fully embrace all that transpersonal psychology has to offer. While it has adopted certain tools—along with kindred approaches—it continues to view the full acceptance of the transpersonal as problematic.
This tension is not unique to transpersonal psychology, but reflects a deeper and long-standing question within the discipline itself: What is psychology? Is it properly defined as a science, or is it more accurately understood as a field that can be approached through both scientific and non-scientific modes of inquiry? Some of the most influential figures in the history of psychology have resisted reducing the discipline to a purely natural science. William James, often regarded as the father of American psychology, realized psychology aspires to scientific rigor, but its subject matter resists reduction to the methods of natural science. Further, he recognized psychological life cannot be separated from religion, philosophy, and lived experience.
This broader view continued into the humanistic and existential traditions. Carl Rogers and Abraham Maslow argued that scientific methods alone are insufficient to capture the full reality of the person, particularly those dimensions involving meaning, value, and self-transcendence. Likewise, Rollo May emphasized that psychology must also engage interpretive and phenomenological modes of understanding if it is to remain faithful to human existence. From this historical perspective, psychology emerges not as a discipline reducible to science, but as one that can be studied scientifically while also requiring modes of inquiry that extend beyond empirical measurement.
The problem, then, becomes more clearly defined within the context of American psychology. As reflected in its leading academic institutions and dominant research paradigms, American psychology places a disproportionately high value on the sensing function. While indispensable, this emphasis fosters a materialistic view of reality and promotes an overreliance on science as the primary—if not exclusive means of understanding and improving human life. Traditional science, grounded in this framework, tends to deny or disregard the spiritual dimension of existence. It seeks to describe human beings through observable phenomena and measurable processes, and yet, repeatedly, human experience itself points beyond these limits, affirming the enduring truth that “man shall not live by bread alone” (Matthew 4:4).
Historically, this dominance of sensation has taken different forms. It was once most clearly expressed in behaviorism, and today it is reinforced through the widespread insistence on evidence-based approaches—methods that privilege quantification, measurement, and empirical verification, increasingly supported by advances in neuroscience and AI. Yet even as certain dimensions of transpersonal psychology have gained empirical support and found limited integration into mainstream practice, the field as a whole continues to be approached with caution or skepticism. This is due, in part, to its grounding in intuition and its openness to metaphysical realities that extend beyond what can be readily measured or verified.
Evidence-Based Contributions of Transpersonal Psychology This figure illustrates empirically supported contributions of transpersonal psychology to mainstream psychological science, including mindfulness-based interventions, spirituality and health research, meaning and purpose studies, self-transcendent experiences, compassion-based practices, integrative approaches, and post-traumatic growth.
Though often marginalized, transpersonal psychology has quietly contributed to the field’s evolution—most notably in the acceptance of mindfulness-based practices, the exploration of peak experiences, and the gradual acknowledgment that questions of meaning and spirituality belong within psychological inquiry. In this respect, what has long been regarded as peripheral or problematic has, in fact, contributed to the field. Even recent clinical research into psychedelic-assisted therapies, conducted under rigorous scientific conditions, has reopened questions of meaning, transcendence, and transformation, further illustrating that dimensions once considered outside the scope of psychology are re-emerging within it. Here again, its promise and its problem are inseparable: what enables it to expand the horizons of psychological knowledge simultaneously renders it suspect in the eyes of many in the mainstream.
A complete understanding of human nature requires the integration of all four psychological functions, corresponding to the four major forces in psychology. From this perspective, transpersonal psychology cannot be dismissed without impoverishing the field as a whole. Yet, in practice, it is the very approach most frequently ignored, resisted, or even ridiculed. In response, some transpersonalists, seeking broader acceptance, have attempted to align more closely with mainstream expectations by minimizing or abandoning the metaphysical dimension. In doing so, however, they risk diminishing the very essence of what gives transpersonal psychology its transformative potential.
A Seat at the Table: Toward a Holistic American Psychology
At leading academic institutions across the United States, dominant approaches—behavioral, cognitive, biological, and related scientific frameworks—continue to reflect the primacy of sensation-based inquiry. Alongside these, psychodynamic and humanistic-existential perspectives maintain an important presence. Each of these approaches holds a legitimate place within the discipline; yet, without transpersonal psychology, the field remains fundamentally incomplete. Its exclusion is not incidental, but symptomatic of the deeper tension identified here: the difficulty of integrating a mode of knowing that challenges the epistemological boundaries of conventional science. The challenge is not to abandon science, but to recognize its limits: methods that have proven extraordinarily effective in the study of the physical world do not, by themselves, exhaust what it means to understand a human life. The rise of AI and computational models only sharpens this distinction—expanding our capacity to model pattern and prediction while leaving open, and perhaps even deepening, the question of meaning.
For American psychology to move toward wholeness, transpersonal psychology must be granted not only recognition but genuine inclusion. Only then can its contributions be fully realized. Over time, it may come to be understood that the insights derived from an intuitively grounded, spiritually informed psychology are not peripheral, but essential—complementing and completing the contributions of sensation, thinking, and feeling-oriented approaches.
Intuitively grounded transpersonal psychology is seated at the table, contributing to the collaborative unfolding of a holistic American psychology of the human being.
Ultimately, American psychology should strive to embody the fullest expression of all four functions—to measure and quantify the material dimensions of existence; to interpret and explain, with clarity and rigor, the meaning of lived experience; to articulate the values that give direction and significance to human life; and to explore the metaphysical questions of purpose, origin, interconnectedness, and the human spiritual journey. From a transpersonal perspective, engaging these metaphysical questions—both symbolically and, where possible, scientifically, rather than avoiding them, is essential, for they illuminate a deeper truth: that human beings are not merely biological organisms, but fundamentally spiritual beings. It is precisely this vision that constitutes both the enduring challenge and the profound promise of transpersonal psychology.
Note: An earlier version of this article was published in the Association for Transpersonal Psychology Newsletter in 2021.
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Foundation and Further Reading References
Carhart-Harris, R. L., Bolstridge, M., Rucker, J., Day, C. M. J., Erritzoe, D., Kaelen, M., Bloomfield, M., Rickard, J. A., Forbes, B., Feilding, A., Taylor, D., Curran, H. V., & Nutt, D. J. (2016). Psilocybin with psychological support for treatment-resistant depression: An open-label feasibility study. The Lancet Psychiatry, 3(7), 619–627.
Gray, T., Krippner, S., Ferrer, J., Ortigo, K. M., & Grof, S. (2021). Association for Transpersonal Psychology newsletter. https://www.atpweb.org
Grof, S. (1985). Beyond the brain: Birth, death, and transcendence in psychotherapy. State University of New York Press.
James, W. (1890). The principles of psychology (Vols. 1–2). Henry Holt and Company.
James, W. (1985). The varieties of religious experience. Harvard University Press. (Original work published 1902)
James, W. (1897). The will to believe and other essays in popular philosophy. Longmans, Green, and Co.
James, W. (1912). Essays in radical empiricism. Longmans, Green, and Co.
Jennings, G.-H. (2010). Passages beyond the gate: A Jungian approach to understanding American psychology. Bloomsbury Academic.
Jung, C. G. (1959). The archetypes and the collective unconscious. Princeton University Press.
Jung, C. G. (1960). Psychology and religion: West and East (R. F. C. Hull, Trans.; Vol. 11). Princeton University Press.
Jung, C. G. (1968). Aion: Researches into the phenomenology of the self (R. F. C. Hull, Trans.). Princeton University Press. (Original work published 1951)
Jung, C. G. (1971). Psychological types (R. F. C. Hull, Trans.). Princeton University Press. (Original work published 1921)
Maslow, A. H. (1954). Motivation and personality. Harper & Row.
Maslow, A. H. (1968). Toward a psychology of being (2nd ed.). Van Nostrand Reinhold.
Maslow, A. H. (1971). The farther reaches of human nature. Viking Press.
May, R. (1958). Existence: A new dimension in psychiatry and psychology. Basic Books.
May, R. (1969). Love and will. W. W. Norton & Company.
Myers, L. J. (1988). Understanding an Afrocentric worldview: Introduction to an optimal psychology. Kendall/Hunt.
Rogers, C. R. (1951). Client-centered therapy: Its current practice, implications, and theory. Houghton Mifflin.
Rogers, C. R. (1961). On becoming a person: A therapist’s view of psychotherapy. Houghton Mifflin.Rogers, C. R. (1980). A way of being. Houghton Mifflin.
Rogers, C. R. (1980). A way of being. Houghton Mifflin.
Sutich, A. J. (1969). Some considerations regarding transpersonal psychology. Journal of Transpersonal Psychology, 1(1), 11–20.
Walsh, R., & Vaughan, F. (Eds.). (1993). Paths beyond ego: The transpersonal vision. Tarcher
Wilber, K. (2000). Integral psychology: Consciousness, spirit, psychology, therapy. Shambhala.
References Supporting the Chart: Evidence-Based Contributions of Transpersonal Psychology
Carhart-Harris, R. L., Bolstridge, M., Rucker, J., Day, C. M. J., Erritzoe, D., Kaelen, M., Bloomfield, M., Rickard, J. A., Forbes, B., Feilding, A., Taylor, D., Curran, H. V., & Nutt, D. J. (2016). Psilocybin with psychological support for treatment-resistant depression: An open-label feasibility study. The Lancet Psychiatry, 3(7), 619–627.
Cramer, H., Lauche, R., Langhorst, J., & Dobos, G. (2013). Yoga for depression: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Depression and Anxiety, 30(11), 1068–1083.
Desbordes, G., Negi, L. T., Pace, T. W. W., Wallace, B. A., Raison, C. L., & Schwartz, E. L. (2012). Effects of mindful-attention and compassion meditation training on amygdala response to emotional stimuli. Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, 6, 292.
Garcia-Romeu, A., Griffiths, R. R., & Johnson, M. W. (2014). Psilocybin-occasioned mystical experiences in the treatment of tobacco addiction. Current Drug Abuse Reviews, 7(3), 157–164.
Goyal, M., Singh, S., Sibinga, E. M. S., Gould, N. F., Rowland-Seymour, A., Sharma, R., Berger, Z., Sleicher, D., Maron, D. D., Shihab, H. M., Ranasinghe, P. D., Linn, S., Saha, S., Bass, E. B., & Haythornthwaite, J. A. (2014). Meditation programs for psychological stress and well-being: A systematic review and meta-analysis. JAMA Internal Medicine, 174(3), 357–368.
Grossman, P., Niemann, L., Schmidt, S., & Walach, H. (2004). Mindfulness-based stress reduction and health benefits: A meta-analysis. Journal of Psychosomatic Research, 57(1), 35–43.
Griffiths, R. R., Johnson, M. W., Carducci, M. A., Umbricht, A., Richards, W. A., Richards, B. D., Cosimano, M. P., & Klinedinst, M. A. (2016). Psilocybin produces substantial and sustained decreases in depression and anxiety in patients with life-threatening cancer. Journal of Psychopharmacology, 30(12), 1181–1197.
Helgeson, V. S., Reynolds, K. A., & Tomich, P. L. (2006). A meta-analytic review of benefit finding and growth. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 74(5), 797–816.
Hill, P. L., & Turiano, N. A. (2014). Purpose in life as a predictor of mortality across adulthood. Psychological Science, 25(7), 1482–1486.
Jazaieri, H., Jinpa, T., McGonigal, K., Rosenberg, E. L., Finkelstein, J., Simon-Thomas, E., Cullen, M., Doty, J. R., Gross, J. J., & Goldin, P. R. (2014). Enhancing compassion: A randomized controlled trial of a compassion cultivation training program. Journal of Happiness Studies, 15(5), 1113–1126.
Johnson, M. W., Garcia-Romeu, A., Cosimano, M. P., & Griffiths, R. R. (2014). Pilot study of the 5-HT2A receptor agonist psilocybin in the treatment of tobacco addiction. Journal of Psychopharmacology, 28(11), 983–992.
Khoury, B., Lecomte, T., Fortin, G., Masse, M., Therien, P., Bouchard, V., Chapleau, M. A., Paquin, K., & Hofmann, S. G. (2013). Mindfulness-based therapy: A comprehensive meta-analysis. Clinical Psychology Review, 33(6), 763–771.
Kim, E. S., Sun, J. K., Park, N., & Peterson, C. (2017). Purpose in life and reduced risk of mortality. Journal of Behavioral Medicine, 40(5), 730–739.
Klimecki, O. M., Leiberg, S., Ricard, M., & Singer, T. (2013). Functional neural plasticity and associated changes in positive affect after compassion training. Cerebral Cortex, 23(7), 1552–1561.
Koenig, H. G. (2012). Religion, spirituality, and health: The research and clinical implications. ISRN Psychiatry, 2012, 278730.
Lu, F. G., Lim, R. F., & Mezzich, J. E. (2020). Issues in the assessment and diagnosis of culturally diverse individuals. Psychiatric Clinics of North America, 43(3), 373–385.
Pascoe, M. C., Thompson, D. R., & Ski, C. F. (2017). Yoga, mindfulness-based stress reduction and stress-related physiological measures. Psychoneuroendocrinology, 86, 152–168.
Piff, P. K., Dietze, P., Feinberg, M., Stancato, D. M., & Keltner, D. (2015). Awe, the small self, and prosocial behavior. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 108(6), 883–899.
Ross, S., Bossis, A., Guss, J., Agin-Liebes, G., Malone, T., Cohen, B., Mennenga, S. E., Belser, A., Kalliontzi, K., Babb, J., Su, Z., Corby, P., & Schmidt, B. L. (2016). Rapid and sustained symptom reduction following psilocybin treatment for anxiety and depression in patients with life-threatening cancer. Journal of Psychopharmacology, 30(12), 1165–1180.
Sloan, R. P., Bagiella, E., & Powell, T. (1999). Religion, spirituality, and medicine. The Lancet, 353(9153), 664–667.
Steger, M. F., Frazier, P., Oishi, S., & Kaler, M. (2006). The meaning in life questionnaire: Assessing the presence of and search for meaning in life. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 53(1), 80–93.
Tedeschi, R. G., & Calhoun, L. G. (2004). Posttraumatic growth: Conceptual foundations and empirical evidence. Psychological Inquiry, 15(1), 1–18.
VanderWeele, T. J. (2017). Religion and health: A synthesis. In M. Balboni & J. Peteet (Eds.), Spirituality and religion within the culture of medicine (pp. 357–401). Oxford University Press.
Walsh, R., & Vaughan, F. (2017). Paths beyond ego: The transpersonal vision. Journal of Transpersonal Psychology, 49(2), 219–222.
Yaden, D. B., Haidt, J., Hood, R. W., Jr., Vago, D. R., & Newberg, A. B. (2017). The varieties of self-transcendent experience. Review of General Psychology, 21(2), 143–160.
A truly unified psychology recognizes the human being as a whole, integrated, and transcendent being.
American psychology today stands at a critical threshold—one marked by increasing fragmentation on the one hand and a growing call for integration on the other. Across diverse traditions, an emerging movement seeks a more unified and adequate understanding of the human being, as reflected in the work of William James, Carl Rogers, Abraham Maslow, Rollo May, Linda James Myers, and Ken Wilber. What unites these perspectives is the recognition that the human psyche cannot be reduced to any single method of inquiry, but must instead be understood as a complex, layered, and dynamic whole. It is within this broader movement that Passages Beyond the Gate: A Jungian Approach to Understanding American Psychology situates itself, proposing that American psychology moves toward greater wholeness only when it fully integrates the transpersonal, spiritual, and culturally grounded dimensions of human life. The book joins in on a broadened vision of psychological understanding by arguing that American psychology can move toward greater wholeness only when it fully acknowledges the transpersonal and spiritual dimensions of human life.
Drawing on Jungian depth psychology while remaining in dialogue with contemporary developments in behavioral and cognitive science, neuroscience, psychodynamic theory, and humanistic–existential psychology, the book suggests that the discipline has long struggled with fragmentation precisely because it has often marginalized questions of meaning, spiritual development, and the deeper symbolic journey of the psyche.
Over the past decade, fragmentation within American psychology has only intensified. Compounding this condition is the growing influence of AI-driven algorithmic reductionism—the view that the human being may be reduced to little more than a set of predictable data points. The field now finds itself stretched across behavioral-cognitive models, neurobiological reductionism, and psychodynamic, humanistic, and existential approaches in both theory and practice. It also encompasses algorithmic behavioral prediction—the application of mathematical models and data to forecast behavior—as well as strictly evidence-based approaches within positive psychology. Trauma-centered practices, while invaluable, can at times risk organizing identity around injury rather than possibility if not held within a broader developmental frame. Amid these divergent developments is a renewed, though still limited, interest in spirituality and meaning-making.
As psychology fragments into competing frameworks and reduces the human being to data, it risks losing sight of the full depth, meaning, and possibility of human existence.
Each of these movements carries genuine insight; yet, in their relative isolation from one another, they have contributed to a profession that struggles to articulate a coherent vision of the human being. The modern psychologist—unless choosing to privilege certain roles over others—is thus called upon to be scientist, healer, technician, and, at times, a spiritual companion—often without a unifying framework capable of holding these roles together.
In his writings, Jung (1971) identified and described four psychological functions: sensation, thinking, feeling, and intuition. Sensation establishes what is present; thinking determines what it is and how it can be understood; feeling evaluates its value; and intuition perceives its deeper significance, origin, potential direction and/or possibilities. Passages Beyond the Gate uses these functions as the basis of its theoretical framework, thereby advancing a holistic and structurally integrative approach.
Consider the life of an individual who begins therapy through the lens of trauma—an approach modern clinical practice often enters through the body, regulation, and somatic awareness (sensation); or through neuroscience (sensation), or behavior modification (primarily sensation, with elements of thinking). Over time, the individual may gain cognitive insight (thinking), come to identify one’s values (feeling), and eventually confront deeper questions of meaning, purpose, interrelatedness, and possibilities (intuition). At each stage, a different psychological framework proves helpful—but none alone proves sufficient.
Wholeness begins when we stop choosing between perspectives and start integrating the full complexity of the human experience.
True healing occurs only when these perspectives are no longer experienced as competing explanations, but as complementary layers within a larger understanding of the self. What begins to emerge at this point is not merely an eclectic blending of approaches, but a structurally integrative framework of the psyche—one in which biology, behavior, cognition, values, symbolism, consciousness, community, and meaning are understood as distinct yet interdependent dimensions of human experience.
Passages Beyond the Gate advances precisely this model: a developmental, meta-theoretical integration of the psychological functions, in which sensation, thinking, feeling, and intuition are understood not as isolated capacities, but as organizing principles capable of holding together the scientific, clinical, cognitive, emotional, value-laden, symbolic, and transcendent domains of psychology within a single, coherent vision. A developmental model understands the human being not as fixed, but as an unfolding process in which different ways of knowing—empirical, rational, emotional, intuitive, and transcendent—emerge over time and call for integration.
An Unfolding Vision for Psychologists
By emphasizing the importance of the neglected transpersonal, spiritual, and meaning-making dimensions into psychological thought and practice, Passages Beyond the Gate outlines a path forward in which one vision of the modern psychologist among several that shape the contemporary field recognizes the human search for meaning, the transformative potential of the spiritual journey, and the necessity of integrating empirical science with the inner, symbolic, and transpersonal dimensions of experience. In doing so, the work points toward a future for psychology that is both scientifically grounded and psychologically complete as well as capable of addressing not only the mechanisms of mind and behavior but also the deeper existential and spiritual needs that shape the human condition.
For decades, American psychology has lived in fragments that remain divided among powerful and compelling advances in our understanding of human nature, led by scientific approaches inclusive of the theories and frameworks of the behavioral, cognitive, and biological, as well as the insights offered by psychodynamic, and humanistic-existential approaches. But what happens when we finally bridge the gap between science and the intuitive soul? We will stand in the presence of a psychology closer by far to completion than not.
A Rare Trajectory for a Book
In an era when AI, neuroscience, and contemplative traditions are converging in unexpected ways—though it is still more of a dialogue than a full integration, Passages Beyond the Gate offers a symbolic and psychological architecture capable of holding these developments. Although it is a layered work: existential, rich in metaphors, and archetypal symbolism, Passages Beyond the Gate, first runner-up in the Eric Hoffer Book Award Spiritual Category, and Montaigne Medal finalist in 2011, is ultimately a meta-theoretical critique of American psychology.
In a review of the monograph originally published in 2010, James Hollis observed: “In Passages Beyond the Gate, Dr. Jennings calls American psychology to accountability for its own blind spots.” Chief among these, Hollis suggested, is the discipline’s failure to recognize the importance of engaging the intuitive and spiritual dimensions of the human journey which is an essential aspect of human nature. As a result, questions of meaning have too often been set aside, contributing to a psychology that is both fragmented and incomplete.
Writing in the December 2025 issue of the Journal of Transpersonal Psychology, Volume 57 No.2, the premiere journal in the field, Beth Cooper Tabakin, Ph.D., shares a personal shift. She notes that the book “personally and professionally changed me.” She characterizes the book as a “punctuation point to healing possibilities” and a “gem” for anyone interested in personal growth and a more expansive view of psychology as a discipline.
Commenting on the book fifteen years ago, James Hollis’s early recognition finds meaningful continuity in the 2025 review published in the Journal of Transpersonal Psychology by Beth Cooper Tabakin, whose reflections speak not only to the enduring relevance of Passages Beyond the Gate, but to its lived impact. That the work continues to be engaged: first through Hollis’s interpretive lens and now through Tabakin’s personal and professional response suggests a trajectory that is less episodic than cumulative.
That these reviews have emerged fifteen years apart feels symbolically fitting. The book was written to speak across multiple landscapes—temporal, personal, cultural, and archetypal—and its reappearance in professional discourse suggests that the questions it raises have ripened rather than faded.
When science, meaning, values and consciousness meet, psychology becomes equal to the human being it seeks to understand.
Passages Beyond the Gate may be understood as a meta-theoretical model in that it does not propose a new psychological theory among others, but rather articulates a structurally integrative framework through which the diverse and often competing theories of psychology can be understood as partial expressions of a more comprehensive vision of the human being. The work seems to be finding its readers at moments when they are most prepared to engage its deeper implications.
I am deeply grateful to the Editorial Board of the Journal of Transpersonal Psychology for publishing a retro review of my book, and to Dr. Tabakin for the care and seriousness with which she approached the work. Together, the moments of 2010 and 2025 stand not as isolated acknowledgments, but as part of an unfolding recognition of Passages Beyond the Gate—a book that speaks to the individual’s personal journey while also offering a diagnosis of the fragmented state of American psychology and an invitation to participate in its ongoing healing.
Foundations & Further Reading The works listed below reflect several of the major streams of thought that have shaped modern psychology—along with those that point beyond its current fragmentation. Organized thematically, they mirror the movement from empirical science to depth, meaning, and ultimately, transpersonal integration.
Cognitive, Behavioral, and Contemporary Scientific Psychology (Empirical Foundations of Modern Psychological Science)
Kahneman, D. Thinking, Fast and Slow
Hayes, S. C. Acceptance and Commitment Therapy
Christian, B. The Alignment Problem
Zuboff, S. The Age of Surveillance Capitalism
Neuroscience, Mind–Body Integration, and Trauma (The Emergence of Embodiment and Psychophysiological Healing)
Porges, S. W. The Polyvagal Theory
Siegel, D. J. The Developing Mind
van der Kolk, B. A. The Body Keeps the Score
Levine, P. A. Waking the Tiger: Healing Trauma
Humanistic and Existential Psychology (The Turn Toward Meaning, Experience, and Human Potential)
Maslow, A. H. Toward a Psychology of Being
Rogers, C. On Becoming a Person
May, R. Man’s Search for Himself
Csikszentmihalyi, M. Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience
Depth Psychology and the Structure of the Psyche (Symbol, Archetype, and the Architecture of the Inner World)
Jung, C. G. Psychological Types
Jung, C. G. The Archetypes and the Collective Unconscious
Transpersonal, Spiritual, and Cosmological Psychology (Toward the Integration of Psyche, Spirit, and Cosmos)
James, W. The Varieties of Religious Experience
Grof, S. Beyond the Brain
Carhart-Harris, R. L. Research on psychedelic-assisted therapy
Systems, Ecology, and Holistic Worldviews(Reintegrating Mind, Nature, and the Larger Order of Reality)
Capra, F. The Web of Life
Bateson, G. Steps to an Ecology of Mind
Tarnas, R. Cosmos and Psyche
Toward Integration: A Unifying Framework
Jennings, G.-H. Passages Beyond the Gate: A Jungian Approach to Understanding American Psychology
Myers, L. J. Understanding an Afrocentric worldview: Introduction to an Optimal Psychology
Wilber, K. Integral Psychology
Taken together, these works illuminate both the strengths and the limitations of contemporary psychology. They also point toward a broader, more unified vision—one in which scientific insight, depth understanding, and transpersonal awareness are no longer divided, but brought into meaningful dialogue.
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Throughout human history, thoughtful observers have wondered whether the rhythms of the cosmos and the unfolding patterns of human life might reflect a deeper underlying order. As a Jungian and transpersonal psychologist, I approach historical and cultural events with the understanding that human experience unfolds within a larger symbolic and archetypal field.
The relationship between psyche and cosmos has long intrigued philosophers, astronomers, and psychologists alike. In the work of Carl Gustav Jung, this relationship found expression in the principle of synchronicity: namely, the idea that meaningful correspondences can occur between inner psychological states and external events without direct causal connection. For Jung, such correspondences suggested that psyche and the material world may share a deeper underlying order, one in which symbolic patterns can manifest simultaneously in human affairs and in the broader rhythms of nature and the cosmos.
Building upon this line of inquiry, cultural historian and philosopher Richard Tarnas explored the possibility that planetary cycles may correlate with archetypal patterns in human history and collective experience, a thesis developed most fully in his work Cosmos and Psyche: Intimations of a New World View. Tarnas does not argue that the planets mechanically cause events on Earth; rather, he proposes that planetary movements and historical developments may unfold in synchronistic relationship to one another, reflecting a deeper resonance between the structures of the cosmos and the archetypal dynamics of human life. From this perspective, examining planetary transits in relation to major historical periods becomes less an exercise in prediction than an exploration of symbolic correspondences that may illuminate the psychological and cultural themes emerging at a given moment in history.
Seen in this light, the astrological phenomenon known as the Pluto return of the United States can be approached not simply as an astronomical event but as a symbolic moment in the life cycle of a nation. Just as individuals pass through developmental stages and periods of transformation, societies and nations may also encounter historical periods marked by profound confrontation with shadow, power, renewal, and rebirth—the archetypal themes long associated with Pluto.
The following reflections therefore consider the United States’ Pluto return through a symbolic and archetypal lens, exploring how the symbolic geocosmological or astrological language of planetary cycles may resonate with the psychological and cultural transformations unfolding in the nation at this particular moment in its history.
The USA’s Pluto Return (i.e., the time period that marks the “planet” Pluto’s return to its original astrological sign and degree in the birth chart of the United States) is worthy of study. The Pluto Return is a 248 years cycle–and that means it is currently moving ever so much closer to the degree marking its starting point in the USA’s birth chart—namely, 27 and a half degrees in the sign of Carpricorn. This is important because it means we are in the time period of Pluto’s assessment and judgment regarding what the United States has become from the time of its birth as a nation in 1776 until the present. Sadly, the recent unfolding of events–the COVID-19 pandemic, highly impactful incidents of emergent racial injustice, various forms of gender discrimination, ecological concerns, social unrest, political polarization, and social-economic distress affecting millions across multiple levels of society, all contribute to the facts based conclusion that we as a nation, and indeed, the world, are in extremely serious trouble.
When Pluto energies appear and are experienced, the truth and/or that which was hidden can more readily be revealed. Of equal importance, Pluto’s energies can manifest in other ways: including endings that are linked to new beginnings, destruction, healing, and/or transformation. Pluto (along with, Uranus, and Neptune) is a transpersonal planet meaning it represents a path for humanity to higher consciousness.
The Call for Liberty and Justice for All are Values We Must Not Turn Against
Before saying much more about the Pluto Return, for the purpose of comparison, I will briefly write about the planet Saturn and its more widely known Saturn Return. Like the Pluto Return, the Saturn Return (occurring about every 29.5 years) is about assessing and judging how the life of an entity has been lived over the course of its planetary cycle.
Saturn will test the foundational strength of a life and the structure of a life built on that foundation, and if the foundation and life structure fail the test, then it will tear them down, and leave it up to the person/entity to rebuild or not. It’s analogous to a building that collapses under it’s own weight when Saturn makes its return, and decides the foundation and structure of the building are flawed. Once a life finds that it cannot bear the weight of Saturn’s various expressions of its energy or Saturn’s tests, Saturn “shakes it head” and moves on. One has failed and the person must build a better foundation and/or create a new life structure; however, if the life bears the test of Saturn, then Saturn still moves on, but the person/entity can live knowing that it has built a solid foundation and life structure. In other words, it has passed the test. This is why ages 28 to 31 are very important years in a human being’s life.
No human lives 248 years, so no human experiences a personal Pluto Return based on her or his natal chart, however, nations and other “long-lived” entities do.
Although Pluto, too, comes to assess and pass judgment in its return, its energies are different from Saturn’s energies. On the one hand, Pluto can be far more devastating in its destruction (think of a major volcanic eruption, or at its worst, the explosion of a megaton thermonuclear bomb).
The Coronavirus
Among other things, Pluto rules viruses. In fact, the planet embodies a powerful transformative healing and deadly energy that can be expressed in many different ways. Oddly enough, the novel coronavirus (whose known impact can be deadly) has triggered many unexpected, yet positive transformations around the world. Pluto does not have to use viruses to trigger transformation, as it has many means and ways in which it can trigger physical, bodily, social, economic, mental and/or spiritual transformations. Some transformations (in the immediate and initial time period in which their impact occur) can be more welcomed by individuals and/or humanity than others.
Attempt at Limiting the Spread of the Coronavirus
Although the impact of Pluto’s energy will typically take a very long time (possibly even years) to fully manifest and unfold in the life of a person or nation, sometimes the transformative healing energy of Pluto manifests more immediately in ways that can be experienced as growth enhancing, consciousness expanding, spiritually uplifting, and/or extraordinarily exhilarating—indeed, these positive manifestations or consequences of Pluto’s healing energy define an experience that is simply wonderful. For some people and/or societies the above will periodically capture their experience with Pluto’s energy, but for those who exist long enough, often the person/society will also experience the negative aspects of Pluto—meaning Pluto’s energies can painfully and stunningly reveal, and/or destroy that which is incapable of standing up to its judgment. Pluto breaks things down; consequently, even some forms of healing triggered by Pluto will by necessity involve significant levels of pain and/or discomfort. Unlike Saturn, however, Pluto will always trigger transformative healing after it has wreaked potentially devastating destruction or triggers the end of an event or experience. Pluto demands a rebuild, but its energies help in the rebuilding to make things better.
A Symbol for Pluto
We are closing in on the exact degree that defines the Pluto Return in the USA’s chart; that is, the degree from whence Pluto began its 248 year cycle. Yet, what we are witnessing now is only the beginning of the end, along with the demand for, and opportunities with the help of Pluto to bring forth positive changes in the USA across multiple social, governmental, and economic levels of the country. Soon enough the country will enter a period of a new beginning (2023 – 2024), as I, optimistically, believe, after a period of significant trials and tribulations—longterm, greater stability, and a better, more egalitarian way of life in the United States will eventually take hold based on Pluto entering the sign of Aquarius.
When Pluto makes its initial ingress into Aquarius, its transformative energy will continue to be released. The planet (note: in astrology Pluto continues to be viewed as a planet) will retrograde into Capricorn before turning direct, and ingress Aquarius again, as it begins its long 20 year transit of the sign. Once the long transit into Aquarius begins, Pluto will continue to symbolize deep, startling, and exceptionally stunning (for better and/or for worse) transformations perhaps most noticeably in its early transit of Aquarius but periodically in its transit throughout the sign.
A Black Lives Matter Rally
The United States has not fully lived up to its promise as a beacon of light for the world. Pluto symbolizes profound and unfathomable energies and abilities. Having the natal placement of Pluto in the second house (i.e., house of resources and values) of the USA’s (Sibly) chart supports the belief that when one is given much, much will be required (Luke 12:48). Having failed to live up to the standards the nation proclaimed it stands for, Pluto is revealing to the country and to the world its shadow side, the USA’s toxic underbelly, and its disease foundation. One aspect of this toxic underbelly is also known as “America’s original sin,” namely, the nation’s mistreatment of people of color; specifically, the United States’ government mistreatment of native people, going back to the periods when it was an active participant in the near genocide of native people, resulting in reducing many of the remaining Indigenous people to living on reservations—and its mistreatment of black people, namely its widespread acceptance and promotion of black slavery. These are examples of racism and white supremacy.
We are in the midst of Pluto revealing the breadth and depth of these social illnesses (perhaps in ways never before seen) as threats to the stability of the nation. It is ripping off its scabs and revealing its wounds for all the world to see. Racism and all sorts of other inequalities are truly being revealed for what they are as well as the damage they cause across all levels of American life. This is unacceptable to Pluto; and, consequently, much must be noted, addressed, rooted out, and eventually changed, transformed or even destroyed in the USA in an ongoing process before Pluto enters the sign of Aquarius and after its entry into the sign.
Aquarius is the sign of the people. In Aquarius Pluto symbolizes the empowerment of the PEOPLE! Aquarius is perhaps the most egalitarian and technologically advanced of all signs. The ideas of “Power to the People” and “the People will have the Power,” even as technology advances at an incredibly rapid pace captures what will foster an interesting compelling dynamic in the life of humanity.
As it closes in on the degree that marks its Pluto Return in Capricorn, Pluto is making it known (to those who understand its nature and purpose) that it is not pleased with all that it “sees.”
Protestors Making Their Viewpoint Known
Like Uranus, and Neptune, Pluto is a major planet of change impacting individual lives, but especially so, with regards to the masses (i.e., humanity). Its extremely powerful energies will not only demand that America live up to its promises, it will destroy any aspect of the nation, if not the nation itself, that fails to do so. The good news is that it will not just move on leaving us wasted, it will deliver energies that eventually will show us the way. Indeed, humanity can expect to experience consciousness raising insights and opportunities triggered by Pluto that will help us rebuild and undergo uplifting and needed transformation.
Foundation & Further Readings
Jung, C.G. Synchronicity: An Acausal Connecting Principle
Tarnas, R. Cosmos and Psyche
We are one HumanRace–having the Beauty of Different Colors: Our Greatest Strength Results from Us Uniting
Few questions are more profound or more controversial than the relationship between consciousness and reality. Is consciousness merely a byproduct of brain activity, as many neuroscientists assume? Or might consciousness play a more fundamental role in the structure of the universe itself? Over the past century, developments in physics, philosophy, and psychology have revived this question in surprising ways. One thinker who has explored this possibility from the perspective of quantum theory is Amit Goswami.
Although I did not realize it at the time, about ten years ago I attended a lecture that would significantly influence the way I think about consciousness and reality. Seated in the front row of a modest lecture room, I waited for the arrival of Goswami. Once the talk began, I was quickly drawn into the ideas he presented. Among the concepts he discussed, none struck me as more thought-provoking than his claim that “consciousness is the ground of all being.”
Goswami, a longtime professor of physics at the University of Oregon, taught theoretical quantum physics for more than three decades before retiring. Although no longer teaching full time, he remains active internationally as a lecturer and author. During his visit to Drew University, he spoke about consciousness and its relationship to matter which is an issue that sits at the intersection of physics, philosophy, and psychology.
When most people are asked to define consciousness, they describe it simply as awareness. Goswami, however, proposes a far more expansive interpretation. In his view (and in the view of a number of philosophers and theorists interested in the implications of quantum theory) consciousness is not merely a byproduct of the brain. Instead, consciousness may be fundamental to reality itself. From this perspective, the material world emerges from consciousness rather than the other way around.
This proposal draws inspiration from philosophical interpretations of quantum mechanics. In quantum theory, physical systems are often described mathematically as existing in a range of potential states until they are measured. Prior to measurement, the system is represented by a wave function, which describes probabilities rather than definite outcomes. Some thinkers have suggested that this peculiar feature of quantum physics raises deep questions about the role of observation and the nature of reality.
At this point, however, an important clarification must be made. Most physicists do not interpret quantum theory as implying that human consciousness literally creates physical reality. In contemporary physics, the transition from possibilities to observed outcomes is generally explained through physical processes such as measurement interactions and environmental decoherence. The mathematics of quantum theory works extraordinarily well, but its deeper meaning remains open to interpretation. For that reason, the suggestion that consciousness plays a fundamental role in reality should be understood primarily as a philosophical interpretation of quantum theory rather than a settled conclusion of physics itself.
Despite remarkable advances in neuroscience and physics, the nature of consciousness remains one of the most challenging questions in modern science. Increasing numbers of scholars across disciplines, including psychology, neuroscience, physics, biology, and computer science have taken renewed interest in the problem. In fact, the contemporary study of consciousness represents something of a return to earlier concerns in psychology. Before the rise of strict behaviorism in the early twentieth century, consciousness itself was considered a central topic of psychological inquiry.
Today, neuroscientists and psychologists commonly ask: What is the relationship between consciousness and the brain? Many researchers attempt to identify the neural processes that correlate with conscious experience. Few would deny that brain activity and consciousness are closely related. The deeper question, however, is whether consciousness is entirely produced by the brain or whether the brain might instead participate in a larger system of mind?
Philosophers often frame this issue in terms of bottom-up versus top-down models of causality. In a bottom-up view of the universe, matter is fundamental. Elementary particles combine into atoms, atoms into molecules, molecules into biological structures, and ultimately into complex systems such as the human brain; thus, from which consciousness is thought to emerge.
In contrast, a top-down perspective suggests that consciousness may be more fundamental than matter. In this view, the physical universe might arise within a deeper field of consciousness rather than producing consciousness itself. Goswami’s proposal belongs to this latter tradition, which resonates with certain philosophical forms of idealism which is the idea that mind or consciousness is ultimately primary in reality.
Indeed, the suggestion that consciousness may be fundamental is not entirely new. Philosophers have long explored the possibility that mind plays a central role in the structure of reality. Thinkers such as George Berkeley argued centuries ago that reality ultimately depends upon mind.
In psychology, a related insight appears in the work of Carl Gustav Jung. Jung’s depth psychology suggests that human experience is shaped not only by physical processes but also by the symbolic and meaning-making activity of the psyche. From this perspective, consciousness cannot be understood solely in terms of neural mechanisms as it must also be considered within the broader context of psyche, meaning, and the structures of human experience.
Jung himself occasionally speculated about a deeper level of reality in which psyche and matter might ultimately be connected. In his later writings, he suggested that both mental and physical phenomena could arise from what he described as a “psychoid” level of reality, a domain that lies beyond the simple division between mind and matter. From such a perspective, the relationship between consciousness and the physical universe may be more intricate than either strict materialism or simple idealism can fully explain. Questions raised by modern physics about the nature of observation and reality therefore intersect in interesting ways with long-standing psychological reflections on the relationship between psyche and the world it experiences.
These philosophical questions often arise in the classroom as well. During a lively discussion in one of my personality theory courses, a student argued strongly that consciousness must arise from the physical brain, describing it as a byproduct or epiphenomenon of neural activity. He was somewhat surprised when I explained that some philosophers and scientists have entertained the opposite possibility arguing that consciousness may not simply be produced by the brain, but that the brain itself could be an expression or instrument of consciousness.
If one adopts such a perspective, then intriguing questions naturally arise. If consciousness is fundamental, then how did the universe come into existence? Did consciousness create the universe? What role might consciousness have played at the beginning of cosmic history? For Goswami, the answer points toward a universal or cosmic consciousness underlying reality. Some philosophers and theologians have drawn parallels between this idea and classical concepts such as the Prime Mover or the ultimate ground of being which are terms that many traditions associate with the idea of God.
Goswami explores these ideas in his book The Self-Aware Universe, where he presents his philosophical interpretation of quantum theory and its implications for understanding consciousness. Whether one ultimately agrees with his conclusions or not, his work raises provocative questions about the nature of mind, matter, and the deeper structure of reality.
For readers interested in exploring these ideas further, Goswami’s writings offer a detailed account of his perspective. His work challenges us to reconsider a question that has intrigued philosophers, scientists, and theologians for centuries: namely, “Is consciousness simply a product of the universe, or might the universe itself arise within consciousness?”
Reading Proof of Heaven, Dr. Eben Alexander’s near death experience (Photo credit: Lost A Sock)
I loved reading Eben Alexander’s book Proof of Heaven: A Neurosurgeon’s Journey into the Afterlife. When it was first published, I mentioned the book to a friend who is both a theological school professor and a minister. Although I strongly endorsed the book and assumed she would be eager to read it as well, she gave me reason to pause when she said, “I do not need to read a book to know Heaven is real.” In a sense, she was right! And not only about her own belief, but about mine as well.
Whether one conceives of heaven as another dimension or as a higher plane of existence, it remains possible that consciousness is not entirely confined to the brain or to physical processes. Some philosophers and researchers in the study of consciousness therefore suggest that consciousness may not be entirely reducible to brain processes and may, in some form, persist beyond physical death. Such possibilities remain unproven within contemporary science, yet they remain legitimate questions for philosophical and metaphysical reflection.
Trained as a Penn State, and Yale Medical School clinician and researcher, I hold deep respect for empirical science. At the same time, I am a Jungian and transpersonal psychologist; consequently, I do not assume that materialist or purely sensory frameworks exhaust the full range of human understanding. The history of philosophy, psychology, and spirituality suggests that reality may be approached through multiple modes of inquiry: including empirical, reflective, symbolic, and contemplative, with each offering its own distinctive window into the nature of mind and existence.
Questions about consciousness, meaning, and the possibility of realities beyond the material world have long occupied philosophers, theologians, and psychologists. While science remains an indispensable tool for understanding the physical universe, it does not necessarily exhaust every form of inquiry through which human beings explore the nature of existence. Recognizing this distinction allows for a thoughtful openness to questions that may lie at the boundaries of current scientific understanding.
I did not value Alexander’s book because it made one or more higher dimensions (or what many traditions might call heaven) seem more real to me personally: for me, that possibility was already real. Rather, I valued it because it helped make the idea of heaven, or at least the possibility of it, more plausible to many readers who previously had little reason to believe such a reality could exist.
Alexander has therefore become an important voice in contemporary discussions within consciousness studies and transpersonal psychology. Many researchers, clinicians, practitioners, and scholars in these fields share his interest in science and possess strong scientific training, and many have explored questions of consciousness and spirituality for decades. Alexander’s entry into this conversation therefore represents a somewhat different pathway into the subject.
His contribution is distinctive for another reason. As a highly trained academic neurosurgeon who practiced at hospitals affiliated with Harvard Medical School and possessed a deep scientific understanding of the brain, his public willingness to take seriously experiences and forms of knowledge that he had previously regarded with skepticism is noteworthy. For many readers around the world (including some former skeptics) his account encouraged a reconsideration of questions surrounding consciousness and the possibility of an afterlife.
Alexander fell into a coma after contracting a rare and severe form of bacterial meningitis that affected the brain. During this period he later reported a profound Near-death experience. After his recovery, he described the experience as transformative and interpreted it as suggesting that consciousness may not be entirely produced by the brain alone.
Alexander has also helped establish an organization called ETERNEA, which promotes dialogue about the relationship between science, consciousness, and spirituality. I encourage readers who are interested in these questions to explore its work.”
