New Edition of International Journal of Transpersonal Studies Is Out

The latest edition of The International Journal of Transpersonal Studies (the Journal) has arrived.

The peer-reviewed academic journal, providing cutting-edge articles on transpersonal psychology and related fields, is downloadable for free at www.transpersonalstudies.org and available on Digital Commons@CIIS.

The new issue features a special section on transpersonal measures of spirituality, seeking to demonstrate that rigorous research work--including quantitative studies--can be used to understand the spiritual and embodied aspects of human experience.

These transpersonal areas are often overlooked by cognitive, behavioral, and neuroscience research.

In their editorial introduction, Integral and Transpersonal Psychology Chair Glenn Hartelius, East-West Psychology doctoral student Marie Thouin, and Stanley Krippner of Saybrook University, sound a call for action to expand empirical research in whole-person psychology fields and promote an active bridging between mainstream and alternative fields:

"In an age of science, it requires scientific work to restore these aspects of the whole person to their rightful place in psychology, and in society. It requires a science that has been strengthened and broadened by transpersonal critiques, and transpersonal scholars who are willing and able to build transpersonal constructs and test transpersonal theories and ideas.... Letting go of divides between alternative and mainstream is a form of nonduality that is inclusive rather than exclusive, and that will benefit the field of transpersonal psychology."

Matthew Segall, adjunct professor in Philosophy, Cosmology and Consciousness, also contributed a piece to this issue. His essay, "Retrieving Realism: A Whiteheadian Wager" argues that the organic realism of Alfred North Whitehead provides a viable alternative to the antirealist tendencies abundant in modern and postmodern philosophy since Descartes.

Segall notes that the challenges faced by a diverse planetary society "demand of the philosophical community that some integral cosmic imaginary be articulated within which the salvific fruits of the world's spiritual traditions and the scientific truths of modern physics, biology, and psychology can hang together with equal ontological weight."

Additional articles explore the Christian mysticism of Simone Weil, transcendent states achieved by participation in electronic dance music (EDM) events, meditative states, and sports coaching.