|
ABSTRACT: Most psychospiritual
practices in the modern West suffer from
favoring growth of mind and heart over physical
and instinctive aspects of human experience with
many negative consequences. Michael Murphy and
Ken Wilber have each made excellent
contributions in offering prescriptions for
“Integral Transformative Practice” (ITP) which
includes various physical and psychospiritual
disciplines. Their prescriptions, however, can
easily perpetuate the mind-centered direction of
growth characteristic of the modern West in that
they inherently ask one’s mind to pick and
commit to already constructed practices. Needed
is an approach that will permit all human
dimensions to co-creatively participate in the
unfolding of integral growth. As one possible
solution, the author presents a program of ITP
developed by Albareda and Romero in Spain. Their
Holistic Integration is based in group retreats
to practice “interactive embodied meditations,”
which involve contemplative physical contact
between practitioners that allows access to the
creative potential of all human dimensions.
In an age of spiritual confusion, a consensus is
growing among transpersonal authors and
spiritual teachers about the importance of an
integral growth of the person -- that is, a
developmental process that integrates all human
dimensions (body, instincts, heart, mind, and
consciousness) into a fully embodied spiritual
life.1 This emerging understanding
stems in large part from an awareness of the
many pitfalls of a lopsided development, such as
spiritual bypassing (Welwood, 2000), spiritual
materialism and narcissism (Caplan, 1999;
Lesser, 1999), offensive spirituality and
spiritual defenses (Battista, 1996), ethical and
psychosexual problems in the guru-disciple
relationship (Butler, 1990; Kornfield, 1975;
Kripal, 1999), difficulties in integrating
spiritual experiences (Bragdon, 1990; Grof &
Grof, 1989), and a devitalization of the body
and inhibition of primary-sexual energies
(Romero & Albareda, 2001), to name only a few.
Although the idea of an integral spiritual life
that it is firmly grounded in psychosomatic
integration can be found in the world’s
religious literature – for example, in Sri-Aurobindo’s
synthesis of yogas and the Christian phenomenon
of incarnation -- not many efforts exist in
contemporary Western culture that are aimed at
the exploration and development of an
effective praxis to actualize this potential
in human lives. More specifically, not much
attention is given to the maturation of the
somatic, instinctive, sexual, and emotional
worlds, and the unfolding of genuine integral
growth in spiritual practitioners seems to be
the exception to the rule. As several authors
note, even spiritual leaders and teachers across
traditions display an uneven development; for
example, high level cognitive and spiritual
functioning combined with ethically conventional
or even dysfunctional interpersonal, emotional,
or sexual behavior (e.g., Feuerstein, 1991;
Kripal, 2002; Wilber, 2001). A related outcome
of this unbalanced development is that many
honest spiritual efforts are undermined by
conflicts or wounds at somatic, sexual, or
emotional levels. Too often, spiritual seekers
struggle with tensions existing between their
spiritual ideals and their instinctive, sexual,
and emotional drives, recurrently falling into
unconsciously driven patterns or habits despite
their most sincere conscious intentions.
What is more, a lopsided psychospiritual
development may have detrimental implications
not only for human flourishing, but also for
spiritual discernment. As I suggest elsewhere,
it is likely that many past and present
spiritual visions are to some extent the product
of dissociated ways of knowing – ways that
emerge predominantly from emotional or mental
access to subtle forms of transcendent
consciousness but are ungrounded from vital and
immanent spiritual sources (Ferrer, 2002). For
example, spiritual visions that hold that body
and world are ultimately illusory (or lower, or
impure, or a hindrance to spiritual liberation)
arguably derive from states of being in which
the sense of self mainly or exclusively
identifies with subtle energies of
consciousness, getting uprooted from the body
and immanent spiritual life. From this
existential stance, it is understandable, and
perhaps inevitable, that both body and world are
seen as ultimately illusory or defective. But if
our somatic and vital worlds are invited to
participate in our spiritual lives, making our
sense of identity permeable to not only
transcendent awareness but also immanent
spiritual energies, then body and world become
hierophanies -- sacred realities that are
crucial for human and cosmic spiritual
evolution.
An examination of the numerous historical and
contextual variables behind the tendency towards
what we may call a “heart-chakra-up”
spirituality goes beyond the aim of this paper,
but I would like to mention at least a possible
underlying reason. As Romero and Albareda
(2001) suggest in the context of Western
culture, the inhibition of the primary
dimensions of the person – somatic, instinctive,
sexual, and certain aspects of the emotional --
may have been actually necessary at certain
juncture to allow the emergence and maturation
of the values of the human heart and
consciousness. More specifically, this
inhibition may have been essential to avoid the
reabsorption of a still relatively weak,
emerging self-consciousness and its values into
the stronger presence that a more instinctively
driven energy once had in the individual. In the
context of religious traditions, this may be
connected to the widespread consideration of
certain human qualities as being spiritually
more “correct” or wholesome than others; for
instance, equanimity over intense passions,
transcendence over sensuous embodiment, chastity
over sexual exploration, and so forth. What may
characterize our present moment, however, is the
possibility of reconnecting all these human
potentials in an integrated way. In other words,
having developed self-reflective consciousness
and the subtle dimensions of the heart, it may
be the moment to reappropriate and integrate,
while retaining these values, the more primary
and instinctive dimensions of human nature into
a fully embodied spiritual life.2
But what does it really mean to live a fully
embodied spiritual life? Is it actually possible
to integrate the many needs, desires, dynamics,
and understandings of the various dimensions of
our being harmoniously? Can we in fact cultivate
the voice and wisdom of our bodies, instincts,
hearts, minds, and souls without generating
tensions or dissociations within us? And,
perhaps most importantly, how can we lay
down and walk a truly integral spiritual path
that respects the integrity of the many voices
dwelling within us? In other words, how can we
foster the maturation of these dimensions, not
only honoring their nature but also facilitating
their creative participation in our spiritual
lives?
To begin exploring these complex questions, this
paper opens with a brief review of some
contemporary proposals of Integral
Transformative Practice (ITP). I then outline a
participatory perspective on integral growth
that may complement and expand these accounts.
Finally, I introduce Holistic Integration, an
integral approach created by Ramon V. Albareda
and Marina T. Romero which may offer a practical
answer to some of the difficulties that beset
modern individuals attempting to develop an
integral life in the modern West. The paper
concludes with some reflections on ITP as an
incarnational praxis.
INTEGRAL TRANSFORMATIVE PRACTICE (ITP):
CONTEMPORARY PROPOSALS
The three main contemporary proposals of
Integral Transformative Practices (ITPs) are
Murphy (1993), Leonard and Murphy (1995), and
Wilber (2000a, 2000b). We will look at them each
in turn, although we will see that they overlap
one another.
The foremost ITP proposal is from Michael
Murphy, who, inspired by Sri-Aurobindo’s
integral vision and synthesis of yogas,
co-founded with Richard Price the Esalen
Institute in 1962 to advance the development of
the whole person. In his rigorously researched
book, The Future of the Body, Murphy
(1993) offers not only a compelling case for the
evolutionary significance of ITPs, but also the
most extended discussion to date regarding their
guiding principles and potential benefits.
After outlining four possible shortcomings of
conventional transformative practices --
reinforcement of traits, perpetuation of
limiting beliefs, subversion of balanced growth,
and partial focus on specific experiences --
Murphy designs a rich inventory of exercises,
techniques, and practices that can be used to
foster a more integral development. Some of
these include: Sensory Awareness and the
Feldenkrais method for somatic awareness and
self-regulation; depth psychotherapy, athletic
training, and somatic disciplines for increasing
vitality; empathic visualizations, mutual
self-disclosure, and self-examination for the
growth of love; psychotherapy, philosophical
reflection, and study of philosophy, myths,
artistic works, or religious symbols for mental
cognition; witness meditation, cultivation of
mystical states, and karma yoga for
individuation and the sense of self. (This list
is only a representative sample of the various
human attributes and practices presented by
Murphy, and the reader is encouraged to read his
work to properly appreciate the extent of
possibilities.)
Murphy then describes a set of five
interdependent virtues and traits he considers
vital for integral development -- honesty,
creativity, courage, balance, and resilience --
stressing that “The cultivation of any virtue or
capacity can facilitate more than one creative
attribute” (p. 579). Finally, among other
important considerations, Murphy convincingly
argues that these practices must be suited for
each practitioner’s unique dispositions, and,
therefore, “there can be no single or ‘right’
kind of integral discipline with a universally
applicable and strictly specified set of
techniques” (p. 579).
In The Life We Are Given (1995),
Murphy joins George Leonard -- another pioneer
of the Human Potential Movement – and together
define ITPs as “a complex and coherent set of
activities that produce positive changes in ….
the body, mind, heart, and soul” of individuals
and groups (p. 12). Leonard and Murphy’s (1995)
ITP program is based on the combination of
aerobic exercise, a low-animal-fat diet,
mentoring and community support, positive
affirmations, and, most importantly, the regular
practice of what they call the ITP Kata. Drawing
on such disciplines as hatha yoga, martial arts,
and modern exercise physiology, the ITP Kata
begins with a series of balancing and centering
movements, followed by a period of
transformational imaging (intentional use of
mental imagery to promote body health, heart
openness, creativity, or other qualities
selected by the practitioner), and ends with a
time for meditation that combines
self-observation with contemplative prayer. The
ITP Kata can be completed in forty minutes, but
its duration can be extended according to
individual needs and desires.
Leonard and Murphy’s ITP program embraces the
Greek principle of antakolouthia, “mutual
entailment of the virtues,” according to which
the cultivation of any skill at any level --
somatic, emotional, mental, etc. -- has a
beneficial impact on other levels. This
cross-training synergy is one of the chief
guiding principles of ITP: Due to the
interdependence of all human dimensions, mental,
emotional, and physical practices are expected
to have an impact on the entire organism.
According to Murphy, the ultimate goal of ITPs
is “integral transformation” or “integral
enlightenment,” that is, “the flowering, in all
our parts, of all our attributes, of all the
various capacities we have, of this latent
divinity” (in Cohen, 1999, p. 90).
More recently, Ken Wilber (2000a, 2000b, 2001)
has also offered some reflections on ITPs.
Drawing on Howard Gardner’s (1983/1993) theory
on multiple intelligences, Wilber points out
that the various developmental lines --
cognition, morals, affects, sexuality,
self-identity, and so forth -- are relatively
autonomous, in the sense that a person can be
highly developed in some of them but poorly
developed in others. “According to this body of
research,” he tells us, “a person can be at a
relatively high level of development in some
lines (such as cognition), medium in others
(such as morals), and low in still others (such
as spirituality)” (2001, p. 259).
Wilber (2000a, 2000b) uses the term “ITP” to
refer not only to Leonard and Murphy’s integral
program but also to any set of practices that
cultivates all human dimensions. A consideration
added by Wilber is that the fruits of these
practices should not be confused with the
attainment of absolute realization.
Interestingly, Wilber sees ITPs as “facilitation
factors” for achieving what he considers the
ultimate goal of human life: “nondual
enlightenment” or “One Taste.” Echoing Richard
Baker Roshi, Wilber (2000b) states that
enlightenment is an accident, and that although
these practices can not cause it, they can make
one more prone to it: “The idea behind ITPs is
simple: in an attempt to become more
‘accident-prone,’ the more dimensions of the
human bodymind that are exercised, then the more
transparent to the Divine they become, and thus
the more accident prone the individual is” (p.
39).
Wilber (2000b) offers his own inventory of
practices to exercise the basic human
dimensions. To this end, he first suggests
envisioning six columns representing the
physical, emotional-sexual (prana or
chi), mental or psychological, contemplative
or meditative, community, and nature. Then he
offers a variety of possible practices to train
each dimension: aerobic exercise, weight
lifting, and healthy diet for the physical;
yoga, qi gong, and tai chi chuan for prana;
psychotherapy, visualizations, and affirmations
for the psychological; zazen,
vipassana, or centering prayer for the
contemplative; community service, compassionate
care, and engagement with others for the
community; and recycling, hikes, and nature
celebration for nature. Wilber (2000b) states
that “The idea of ITP is simple, pick at least
one practice from each column and practice them
concurrently. The more dimensions you practice,
the more effective they all become, the more you
become one big accident-prone soul” (p. 39).
Finally, Wilber (2000b) aptly cautions the
reader that ITPs can not only become
narcissistic games for egoic control, but also
that their “pick and choose” nature can easily
degenerate into the spiritual “cafeteria model
so prevalent in our culture” (p. 126).
To sum up, contemporary ITP programs are largely
based on an eclectic mixture of practices and
techniques selected from the many somatic,
psychological, and spiritual disciplines
available today in the modern West. Through
these programs, practitioners design their own
personalized integral training to exercise their
various attributes. According to their
proponents, ITPs may ultimately lead to an
“integral enlightenment” (Murphy) or optimize
the emergence of a “nondual One Taste” (Wilber).
In this section, I offer some reflections on
integral growth that may complement and expand
contemporary proposals. As we have seen, modern
ITP programs consist of a combination of
techniques or practices imported from Western
and Eastern traditions and schools. I concur
with Wilber’s (2000b) caution about the
potential spiritual “cafeteria model” (noted
above), and here I would like to suggest that
there may be a more subtle, and potentially more
pernicious, pitfall implicit in the very attempt
to develop an integral life in the modern West.
Briefly, ITP
programs can easily turn into a “mentally”
devised integral training in which the
practitioner’s mind decides what are the best
practices or techniques to develop his or her
body, sexuality, heart, and consciousness.
This is understandable. After all, modern
Western education focuses almost exclusively on
the development of the rational mind and its
cognitive functions, with little attention given
to the maturation of other dimensions of the
person (see, for example, Gardner, 1983/1993;
Hocking, Haskell & Linds, 2001; Miller, 1991).
As a result, most individuals in our culture
reach their adulthood with a somewhat mature
mental functioning, but with poorly developed
somatic, instinctive, and emotional worlds.
Given the extreme “cognicentrism” of our way of
life, the mental direction of integral growth
seems nearly inevitable.3
I believe the
greatest tragedy of cognicentrism, however, is
that it generates a vicious circle that
justifies itself:
Because modern
education does not create spaces for the
autonomous maturation of the body, the
instincts, and the heart, it becomes true that
these worlds cannot participate in an
evolutionary path if they are not mentally or
externally guided. The problem is that insofar
as they are always mentally or externally
guided, these human dimensions cannot mature
autonomously, and thus the need for their mental
or external direction becomes permanently
justified.
Complicating this situation further is that,
after many generations of mind-centered
education and life, often combined with the
control or inhibition of the body, instincts,
sexuality, and passions, these non-discursive
worlds may be not only undeveloped but
frequently wounded, distorted, or manifesting
regressive tendencies. Thus, when such an
individual seeks guidance in these worlds, the
first thing that he or she typically finds is a
layer of conflicts, fears, or confusion that
perpetuates the deep-seated belief that these
worlds need to be mentally regulated in order to
be wholesome or evolutionary. What is normally
overlooked, however, is an essential primary
intelligence that lies beneath this layer which,
if accessed, can heal the root of the conflict
while fostering the maturation and evolution of
these worlds from within.
What is needed, then, is to create spaces in
which these human dimensions can heal and mature
according to their own developmental principles
and dynamics, not according to the ones that the
mind thinks are most adequate. Only when our
body, instincts, sexuality, and heart are
allowed to mature autonomously, will they be
able to sit at the same table with our minds and
co-create a truly integral development and
spiritual life. In developmental terms, we could
say that, before being integrated, these human
dimensions need to be differentiated. Bearing
these reflections in mind, let me offer a
tentative definition of integral growth, and
suggest the heuristic need to discriminate
between integral practice and integral training
as two essential but unique elements of integral
growth.
Integral growth
is a developmental process in which all human
dimensions – body, instincts, heart, mind, and
consciousness – collaboratively and
co-creatively participate as equals in the
multidimensional unfolding of the human being.
This process can be understood as having two
basic elements: integral practice and integral
training.
Integral practice
fosters the autonomous maturation of all human
dimensions, preparing them to manifest their own
intelligence, to be harmoniously integrated, and
to co-creatively participate in the
developmental process. Integral practice
“engenders” and “brings forth” novel potentials,
qualities, and capabilities at all levels.
Integral training
exercises all human dimensions according to
their own developmental principles and dynamics.
Integral training “exercises” and “strengthens”
potentials, qualities, and capabilities that
emerge from integral practice at all levels.
Furthermore, to avoid the risk of aborting the
natural unfolding of unique potentials and
developmental dynamics, integral practice
needs to precede integral training. Most
psychospiritual practices and techniques are
intentional in that they shape and direct human
experience and growth in specific directions
(see, for example, Fenton, 1995). While surely
beneficial in some regards, however, engaging
intentional practices before the maturation of
our somatic, instinctive, and emotional worlds
may not only hinder the emergence of their most
unique potentials, but also leave untouched many
wounds or conflicts. Before the design of an
integral training program, then, these somatic,
instinctive, and emotional worlds need to enter
a process of healing, maturation, and
germination according to their own developmental
principles. Otherwise, integral programs can
lead, in the long run, to a psychospiritual life
that is devitalized, stagnated, conflicted, or
lacking genuine creativity.
To end this section, I offer three interrelated
guiding principles of integral growth:
1.
Integral
growth is co-created by all dimensions of human
nature.
A genuine process of integral growth cannot be
exclusively directed by the mind, but emerges
from the collaborative participation and
creative power of all human dimensions: body,
instincts, heart, mind, and consciousness.
2.
Integral
growth unfolds from within, grounded in our most
vital potentials.
When the various human dimensions mature and
co-creatively participate in a developmental
path, integral growth organically unfolds from
within. A genuine integral growth that is
grounded in our most unique potentials rarely
follows a pregiven path already traveled by
others, nor can it be directed by external
standards. External sources of guidance can be
essential reference points at certain junctures
of the journey, but the path towards the
emergence of our most unique qualities cannot be
directed from outside of us.
3.
Integral
growth balances the feminine and the masculine.
Integral growth combines the more masculine
element of “exercise” and “training” of skills,
with the more feminine element of “engendering”
new qualities and capabilities from within. To
optimize the grounding of the process in the
most vital potentials of the individual, the
feminine dimension needs to precede the
masculine one.
ALBAREDA AND ROMERO’S HOLISTIC INTEGRATION
In this section, I would like to introduce Ramon
V. Albareda and Marina T. Romero´s Holistic
Integration, as an example of an innovative
integral approach that may complement and expand
contemporary proposals while avoiding the
pitfalls identified in the previous section.
Originally
developed in Spain, Holistic Integration is an
approach to integral growth and healing that is
not based on already existing practices or
techniques.5 Holistic Integration
emerges from more than three decades of
practically-based inquiry, with the help of the
experience of hundreds of individuals in healing
and psychospiritual processes. According to
Romero and Albareda (2001), its main purpose is
to facilitate natural conditions that allow each
person, free from the potential constraints that
are subtly imposed by psychospiritual models and
ideals, to lay down his or her path of integral
evolution.6 Through this work, they
add, practitioners learn to self-regulate a
process in which the different dimensions of
their being -- body, instincts, heart, mind, and
consciousness – autonomously mature and are
gradually integrated. As I explain below, this
goal is pursued through simple but potent
practices that seek to open these human
dimensions to the essence of both the vital
energy and the energy of consciousness. Romero
and Albareda (2001) claim that, when these
dimensions become aligned to these energies, a
new energetic axis emerges that guides and
fosters the person’s evolution from within, not
according to external standards or ideals.
Before describing the general structure of the
work, however, it may be important to say a few
words about the central place that the
vital-primary world and sexuality have in a
genuine and creative integral growth in general,
and in Holistic Integration in particular.
7
Besides the energy of transcendent
consciousness, Romero and Albareda (2001)
suggest that there is an immanent spiritual
source in the cosmos: the dark energy.
The adjective “dark” does not have negative
connotations, but simply refers to an energetic
state in which all potentialities are still
undifferentiated and, therefore, cannot be seen
by the “light” of consciousness. The dark energy
is considered to be inherent spiritual life that
dwells within the manifest and is the source of
genuine innovation and creativity at all levels
(cf. Heron, 1998). In other words, the dark
energy is spiritual prima materia -- that
is, spiritual energy in state of transformation,
still not actualized, saturated with potentials
and possibilities. In human reality, they add,
this energy is the source of our sense of
vitality and natural wisdom, as well as the
organizing principle of our embodiment,
sexuality, and instinctive life. For these
authors, the energy of consciousness and the
dark energy are ultimately the same energy but
in different states. Whereas the dark energy is
dense, amorphous, and undifferentiated, the
energy of consciousness is subtle, luminous, and
infinitely differentiated.
This distinction may have important implications
for spiritual praxis and creativity. For
example, it can liberate us from traditional
“monopolar” spiritual visions, which understand
spirituality as emerging exclusively from the
interaction of our immediate present experience
and subtle or transcendent forms of spiritual
consciousness (see Heron, 1998). In this
context, spiritual practice is aimed either at
accessing such overriding realities (“ascent”
paths) or at bringing such spiritual energies
down to Earth to transfigure human nature and/or
the world (“descent” paths). The problem with
this “monopolar” understanding is that it may
ignore the existence of a second spiritual pole
– the dark energy -- whose engagement may
catalyze a spontaneous and creative spiritual
unfolding from within. Let us look at the
creative potential of the dark energy in more
detail.
Elsewhere I argued that human spirituality is
“participatory” in the sense that it can emerge
from (a) the active participation of all human
dimensions (body, instincts, heart, mind, and
consciousness); and (b) our co-creative
interaction with a dynamic and indeterminate
spiritual power or Mystery (Ferrer, 2001, 2002).
Here I would like to stress that these two
dimensions of participation are intimately
intertwined. In other words, the more human
dimensions actively participate in spiritual
knowing, the more creative spiritual life
becomes. In this regard, it is important to
discern that in the same way that our mind and
consciousness constitute a natural connecting
bridge to transcendent awareness, our body and
vital-primary energies may constitute a natural
connecting bridge to immanent spiritual life
(the human heart being the place where these two
energies naturally meet when body, heart, and
mind are free from conflicts and blocks). This
is important because whereas through our mind
and consciousness we tend to access subtle
spiritual energies already enacted in history
that display more fixed forms and dynamics
(e.g., specific cosmological motifs, archetypal
configurations, mystical visions and states,
etc.),8 our connection to our
vital-primary world may allow us to access the
dark energy and its generative power.
In short, the engagement with our body and
vital-primary energy may be essential for a
genuine and creative integral spirituality.
On the one hand, to be genuine, integral
spiritual growth needs to be grounded in our
most vital potentials -- those that make us
unique individuals and which are stored at the
deepest levels of our primary energy. On the
other hand, to be creative, integral
growth needs to emerge from our interaction with
spiritual power in its generative state, which
may be naturally accessed through our embodied
vital energy.
As for the significance of sexuality, Romero and
Albareda (2001) state: “Sexuality is,
potentially, [one of the] the first soil[s] for
the organization and creative development of the
dark energy in human reality. That is why it is
so important that sexuality is an ‘open’ soil
based on natural evolutionary principles, and
not on fears, conflicts, or artificial
impositions dictated by our minds, cultures, or
spiritual ideologies” (p. 13). Due to the
general inhibition of primary and sexual
energies throughout Western history, they
continue, a layer of accumulated conflicts,
wounds, and fears exists between the modern self
and the essence of the dark energy. In addition
to individual dynamics, a nearly universal
ingredient of this layer is organically embedded
shame.
Organic shame, which should be sharply
distinguished from psychological shame (and can
exist without it), manifests through unconscious
energetic contractions in the body that block
the flow of the dark energy and its creative
power within us. In a process of integral
growth, therefore, it may be fundamental to heal
this conflictive sediment and reconnect with the
creative essence of the dark energy. When bodily
embedded shame is cleared out (and the heart is
freed from struggle and the mind from pride),
this energy naturally flows and gestates within
us, undergoing a process of transformation
through our bodies and hearts, ultimately
illuminating the mind with a knowing that is
both grounded in and coherent with the Mystery.
Because of the dynamic nature of Mystery, as
well as our historically and culturally situated
condition, this knowing is never final, but
always in constant evolution (Ferrer, 2002).
Although many variables are clearly at play, the
connection between sexuality and spiritual
creativity may help to explain why (a) human
spirituality and mysticism have been to a great
extent “conservative,” i.e., heretic mystics are
the exception to the rule, and most mystics
firmly conform to accepted doctrines and
canonical scriptures (see, for example, Katz,
1983); and (b) many spiritual traditions have
strictly regulated sexual behavior, and have
often repressed or even proscribed the creative
exploration of sexual energies and sensual
desire (see, for example, Cohen, 1994; Faure,
1998; Feuerstein, 1998; Wade, forthcoming;
Weiser-Hanks, 2000). I am not proposing, of
course, that religious traditions regulated or
restricted sexual activity deliberately
to hinder spiritual creativity and maintain the
status quo of their doctrines. In my reading, I
have found no indication suggesting that
traditions ever made such connection, and all
evidence seems to point to other social,
cultural, moral, and doctrinal factors (see, for
example, Brown, 1988; Parrinder, 1980). What I
am suggesting, in contrast, is that the
social and moral regulation of sexuality may
have had an unexpected debilitating impact on
human spiritual creativity across many
traditions for centuries. Although, as noted
in the introduction, this inhibition may have
been necessary in the past, it is my position
that that an increasing number of individuals
(at least in the modern West) may be prepared
for a more creative engagement of their
spiritual lives in the present.
Structure of the Work
Although Holistic Integration can take many
forms, the usual format involves a group of
individuals who commit to work together for
either a week-long intensive retreat or a cycle
of six or seven months. These cycles typically
include: one weekend encounter a month,
supervised work between these encounters, and a
concluding week-long intensive retreat. Despite
the group format and the dimension of community
that naturally emerges from the work, Holistic
Integration is not primarily focused on group
dynamics (which are addressed if necessary) and
should be better understood as individual work
within a group context.
Essentially, Holistic Integration is composed of
four elements or processes: (a) interactive
embodied meditations, (b) multidimensional
contemplative practices; (c) individualized
integral practices; and (d) integrative work in
everyday life. Although these four processes
tend to unfold sequentially to some extent, the
reader should bear in mind that not only do they
often overlap, but also that this progression
can vary significantly among individuals.
1.
Interactive
Embodied Meditations
With the notable exception of certain tantric
techniques, traditional meditation techniques
are practiced individually and without bodily
interaction with other practitioners.9
One of Holistic Integration’s major innovations
is that it features a variety of meditative and
contemplative practices that, in a structured
and respectful setting, are developed “in
contact” with other individuals.
Interactive embodied meditations are the
starting point of the work. Through them,
practitioners collaboratively experiment with
several forms of meditative contact among the
various energetic centers of the human body:
feet and legs for the body as physical structure
that provides support and containment; lower
abdomen and pelvic area for the vital center and
instincts; chest, back, arms, and hands for the
heart and emotions; and head and forehead for
the mind and consciousness.10 To
optimize the emergence of richer information
about and from these centers, two clearly
differentiated roles are established in each
practice: an agent role, which initiates
and develops the contact, and a receptive
role, which receives the contact. Since the
experience of the same practice can drastically
change (and therefore offer different data)
depending on the role, practitioners usually
start their processes by exploring their
experience in both roles. Regardless of their
role, practitioners are encouraged to sustain an
attitude of non-intentional, open receptivity to
their own experience throughout the practice,
like the one cultivated through mindfulness
meditation techniques.
The general aim of these practices is to allow
practitioners to experientially discern the deep
energetic state of their various dimensions –
body, vital-sexual, heart, mind, and
consciousness – as well as their mutual
integration or dissociation. In other words,
they seek to provide practitioners with an
“experiential radiography” of their structural
and energetic organization as the foundation of
their integral growth.
In this context, physical contact is considered
essential because Albareda and Romero see the
body as the natural doorway to the deepest
levels of the rest of the human dimensions. In
their view, due to their consecutive emergence
in human development – from soma to instinct to
heart to mind – each dimension grows by taking
root in the previous one(s). This developmental
sequence should not be confused with a
hierarchy, where dimensions that emerge later in
time are seen as necessarily higher, more
evolved, or more integrative than earlier ones.
One of the orienting principles of Holistic
Integration is that all human dimensions,
especially when mature, are equally valuable for
individual and collective health, growth, and
evolution. Since the biological organism is the
first dimension that emerges after conception,
however, Albareda and Romero consider necessary
to engage the human body in order to access the
deepest energetic potentials and dispositions
not only of the body, but also of our instincts,
hearts, and minds. Leonard and Murphy (1995)
share a similar view: “body, mind, heart, and
soul [are] coequal manifestations of the human
essence. But where deep down human change is
concerned, there is no more effective teacher
than the body” (p. 145).
As an example, let us consider a practice that
explores the connection between the heart and
the mind/consciousness. One of the actions that
the person in the agent role can develop during
this practice is a meditative contact between
his or her forehead and the center of the back
or chest of the person in the receptive role.
The sustained contact between the embodied
energetic centers of mind/consciousness and the
heart can lead to a variety of important
psychospiritual insights for both practitioners.
In the context of Holistic Integration,11
however, Albareda and Romero claim that this
apparently simple contact can help first, the
receptive person to access the essential
energetic state of his or her heart; and second,
both agent and receiver to experientially learn
about the quality of the connection between
their hearts and their minds/consciousness
(e.g., along the following polar realities:
differentiation/undifferentiation,
integration/dissociation, harmony/struggle,
clarity/confusion, autonomy/dependency, and so
forth). In order to gain more precise
information through experiential contrasts,
individuals can repeat the same practice a
number of times or with different variables
(e.g., different people or genders, only in one
role, for an extended time, in a different
setting, etc.).
Before proceeding
further, two points need to be emphasized here.
First, although these practices can be used to
explore relational dynamics, their typical use
in Holistic Integration is not
interpersonal, but intra-personal. In other
words, in a consensually arranged “contract,”
practitioners function as satellites or mirrors
for each other, facilitating the perception of
their own potentials, dynamics or energetic
states.12 Interactive embodied
meditations, then, should be sharply
distinguished from any kind of intentional
hands-on healing, energetic or body work.. In
practical terms, this means that, regardless of
their role as receiver or agent, practitioners
attempt to remain mindfully anchored to their
own experience during the practices, letting go
as much as possible of any concern or intention
regarding their partner’s experience. This focus
on one’s own experience is facilitated by the
participants’ commitment to stop the practice at
any given moment if necessary. One example of
this might be during cases of physical
contraction, fear, or confusion that the
practitioner may not be ready to explore deeply
or handle constructively. If the agent knows
that the receiver will stop the practice if
needed, then he or she will be able to develop
the action without distracting preoccupations
regarding the receiver’s experience. And if the
receiver knows that the agent will stop the
practice if needed, then he or she will be able
to receive the action without distracting
preoccupations regarding the agent’s experience.13
Second, interactive embodied meditations should
not be confused with techniques aiming at
shaping human experience in specific directions.
To be sure, some form of intentionality is
arguably inevitable in any human activity, and
even non-intentional practices such as wu-wei
(“without doing”), shinkan taza
(“sitting-only”) or zazen take place within
contexts of spiritual aspiration (for
discussions, see Faure, 1993; Loy, 1988; Shaw,
1989; Slingerland, 2000). Judging by their
practical fruits, however, Albareda and Romero
believe that these embodied meditations can be
better understood as structures of contact
that facilitate the direct perception of the
deep energetic state of the various human
dimensions, as well as their dissociation or
integration.
2.
Multidimensional Contemplative Practices
After introducing the interactive embodied
meditations, Albareda and Romero present a
number of contemplative practices to facilitate
a more nuanced, focused, or intentional
exploration or transformation of the somatic,
instinctive, emotional, psychological, and
spiritual dimensions. Many of these practices
are also carried out in interactive embodied
contact with other practitioners in both agent
and receptive roles. No matter which role is
chosen, practitioners cultivate a contemplative
attitude of open presence, non-intentional
receptivity, and unconditional acceptance toward
their moment-to-moment experience.
The structure of these multidimensional
practices is extremely diverse, but most are
oriented by the following aims: (a)
differentiation, maturation, and integration of
all human dimensions (body, instincts, heart,
mind, and self-consciousness); (b) making these
dimensions more porous to both immanent and
transcendent spiritual energies; (c)
differentiation, maturation, and integration of
the “masculine” (agent) and “feminine”
(receptive) capabilities at all dimensions; (d)
healing and transformation of wounds, conflicts,
or dissociations stored at deep energetic layers
of these dimensions; (e) creation of spaces for
the natural emergence of new capabilities,
qualities, or potentials from within those
dimensions; (f) training in the development of
these emerging capabilities, qualities, or
potentials; and (g) integration of polar
realities, such as mind/body,
sexuality/spirituality, masculine/feminine,
individual/community, or strength/gentleness.
Although space does not allow me to discuss all
of these goals here, it may be important to hint
at two distinctive elements of these practices.
The first is the differentiation and integration
of human dimensions and polar realities.
Albareda and Romero consider that the various
human dimensions – body, instincts, heart, mind,
and consciousness -- and polar realities –
masculine/feminine, sexuality/spirituality,
individual/community, and so forth – mature
through a process of differentiation and
integration. This process, they claim, leads not
only to the strengthening of each integrated
dimension or polar reality, but also to the
emergence of novel human qualities. When
strength and gentleness are integrated, for
example, strength can be fully strength because
its incorporated gentleness prevents it from
becoming aggression, gentleness can be fully
gentleness because its incorporated strength
prevents it from becoming weakness, and their
integration brings forth a number of new
qualities such as passionate humbleness or
tender instinct. The “heart-anger” described by
Masters (2000), in which “openly expressed anger
and compassion mindfully coexist” (p. 34), can
be seen as another example of a novel quality
emerging from the integration of instincts, an
undivided heart, and consciousness.
The second is the special attention given to
primary-sexual energies. Given their possible
centrality for a genuine and creative integral
growth, a number of contemplative practices
focus on exploring and, if necessary,
transforming the primary-sexual dimension.
According to Washburn (1995, in press), the
power of the Ground or primordial source of life
– the dark energy, in Albareda and Romero’s
terms – undergoes a primal repression in early
childhood that allows the resolution of the
preoedipal stage and the emergence of a
differentiated mental ego. Despite its benefits,
primal repression not only causes “a loss of
plenipotent energy, fully alive corporeality,
imaginal creativity, and rootedness in the
Ground” (in press, n. p.) but also confines the
power of the Ground to the sexual system and
genito-pelvic area of the body. “In restricting
the power of the Ground to an instinctual
organization,” Washburn (1995) explains, primal
repression “makes the instincts the gateway to
spirit” (p. 199). For Washburn, then, a genuine
spiritual regeneration can only occur when this
previously repressed primary energy is
reawakened and gradually assimilated into a
higher level of instinctual-spiritual
integration.
Due to the tremendous, indeed potentially
overwhelming, power of the primary energy, as
well as the layer of wounds and conflicts
usually stored therein, Albareda and Romero
consider fundamental that this reawakening
occurs in an extremely gradual and careful
manner that permits the appropriate assimilation
of this energy. This is in part why Holistic
Integration’s practices focused on this level do
not involve ordinary sexual behavior, which
tends to not only activate more energy than most
people can integrate, but also evoke
biographical and cultural associations that may
interfere with connecting to the deepest essence
of this energy. With this in mind, Albareda and
Romero have developed a set of original
contemplative embodied practices, which, in a
safe and respectful environment, are directed to
allow practitioners to gently reawaken their
primary energy and gradually integrate it. These
practices -- some of which focus on the vital
center or involve the most primary senses of
taste and smell – seek to facilitate the gradual
assimilation and creative transformation of this
energy through body, heart, mind, and
consciousness. In this context it may be
appropriate to mention the importance given in
this work to alternating cycles of experience
(i.e., direct access to experiential
contents or energies) and assimilation
(i.e., gestation and elaboration of the
experiences through meditation, nature walks,
meditation movement, dance, expressive arts,
verbalization, or journal writing).
Although the aim of these primal contemplative
practices is diverse and, as we will see below,
becomes individualized in the process, they are
devised to free the body from its organically
embedded shame; heal or transform a number of
wounds, conflicts, or inhibitions stored at this
energetic level; allow a more fluid movement of
the primary energy through body, heart, mind,
and consciousness; align the vital-primary
energy and the energy of consciousness;
cultivate the “masculine” (agent) and “feminine”
(receptive) aspects of the primary energy, which
are considered essential for a healthy and
creative life regardless of gender or sexual
orientation; and foster the activation,
gestation, and creative transformation of the
primary energy in order to bring forth novel
qualities and potentials at somatic, emotional,
psychological, and spiritual levels.
As with the basic meditations, practitioners can
repeat any given practice with the same or
different parameters, partner(s), role,
duration, place, and so on, in order to gain
further precision and experiential contrasts,
train new capabilities or qualities, or foster
the vitalization, differentiation, and
maturation of certain dimensions or potentials.
Where possible, many of these practices are
carried out in nature, and the work also
features contemplative practices specifically
designed to be developed in contact with
nature’s healing and transformative resources.
3.
Individualized Integral Practices
Since each individual is similar to others in
some regard, but singularly different in others,
Holistic Integration includes both common and
individualized practices. At a certain moment in
the process, practitioners start to design their
own individualized practices, first with the
guidance of the facilitators, and then
completely on their own. Individualized integral
growth properly begins when practitioners, out
of a clear awareness of their present
limitations and potentialities, lay down their
own personal integral path. According to
Albareda and Romero, individualized practices
are essential because only through them can
practitioners access the deepest domains of
their being and hence ground their integral
process in their unique vital potentials.
It is fundamental to stress that, even though
the facilitators may offer practical advice
about the design of personal practices, the
integral growth process is primarily regulated
by the practitioner’s own multidimensional
experience. In other words, the specific
form of a given practice is organically shaped
or inspired by whatever happens somatically,
energetically, emotionally, mentally or
spiritually in the previous practice (e.g.,
difficulties or tensions, desires or impulses,
confusion or questions, insights or
inspirations, visions or spiritual openings, and
so forth). This is why integral growth unfolds
through a route that can never be predetermined
and that takes as many forms and directions as
the individuals involved.
In order to illustrate the dynamics of the inner
guidance of this process, Romero and Albareda
(2001) offer the following image:
Imagine that we face two magnets and keep them
at a certain distance. Unless other forces are
present, a magnetic field will be generated that
will arrange any metallic object that enters the
field across identical lines.
Now
imagine that one magnet is the dark energy and
the other the energy of consciousness. This
situation generates a new energetic movement in
the interior of the person. The movement affects
the individual just as a magnetic field
influences metallic objects. Essentially, the
individual is impelled toward a new order
from within. Under this influence, and
depending on a variety of factors, an individual
can have two kinds of experiences: First, he or
she can experience dissociation, which reveals
those personal structures or energetic
tendencies that preclude or hinder the alignment
of both energies, for example, conflicts,
blockages, struggles, fears, empty holes, and so
forth. In this case, the individual can become
aware of, relate to, and start to transform
those elements. It must be stressed that the
orientation of this process is neither external
to the individual nor provided by already
learned schemes. Rather, the orientation
naturally emerges out of the new energetic axes
generated by the alignment of the dark energy
and the energy of consciousness.
Second, an individual can experience connection
without resistance between the dark energy and
the energy of consciousness. Such an experience
can become an inner reference point for that
person to lay down [his/her] path, even in those
moments when it may seem very hard or
impossible. It will also be an experience of
profound regeneration and pacification of both
the primary and the spiritual worlds of the
individual. Both types of experiences are
necessary to develop [an integral] path. (p. 10)
According to Albareda and Romero, most of the
practices of Holistic Integration can be seen as
structures that facilitate the organic emergence
of experiential contents (e.g., energetic
blockages, deep emotions, psychological
insights, and so forth). Once the various
parameters of a practice have been clearly
established -- structure, type of meditative
contact, persons, roles, boundaries, duration,
etc. -- practitioners let go of their intentions
and expectations, and simply remain present,
open, and receptive to their experience.
Arguably, one of the main catalysts for the
emergence of experiential materials may be the
embodied contact between consciousness and the
deep layers of the other energetic centers.
Albareda and Romero believe that human
consciousness has the capability to impregnate
the energetic seeds of our somatic, instinctive,
and emotional dimensions, catalyzing a process
of conception, gestation, and emergence of new
life within. In their experience, this process
can have two different, but not mutually
exclusive, outcomes. On the one hand, it can
engender new qualities, capabilities, or
potentials within these worlds (“feminine”
phase), some of which may require intentional
development, elaboration, training, and/or
communal legitimization to become fully
installed in the person (“masculine” phase). On
the other hand, and perhaps more strikingly, the
presence of consciousness can impregnate so
deeply the essence of those worlds that they can
become aligned with the conscious spiritual
orientation of the person, spontaneously and
creatively collaborating in his or her integral
evolution (see Romero & Albareda, 2001).
4.
Integrative
work in everyday life
When Holistic Integration is offered in cycles
of six or seven months, participants are
encouraged to carry on with their practices
between monthly encounters to strengthen their
process and facilitate its integration into
their everyday lives. A dimension of community
naturally emerges from this social network that
can also be more intentionally cultivated
through a variety of social gatherings and group
activities. Both the presence of a community of
support and the importance of integrating one’s
personal transformation into everyday life are
central to Holistic Integration.
In addition to a creative transformation of
everyday life, a more focused creative project
-- educational, artistic, intellectual, healing,
community building, organizational, ecological,
religious, and so forth -- can either guide the
process of some practitioners or naturally
emerge from its culmination. The number of
social and cultural projects that have emerged
from Holistic Integration during the last few
decades is vast, so I will simply mention here a
few examples: an educative project for female
prisoners; various university graduate courses;
an alternative governmental political and social
project in the Canary Islands, Spain; a project
for the integration of immigrant women; several
innovative therapeutic modalities, including one
based on human-animal interaction; an educative
project for the youth in a religious community;
an institutionally incorporated approach to
childbirth called “Welcome to Life”; several
alternative community and ecological projects;
and a large variety of artistic projects,
exhibitions, and shows (sculpture, photography,
painting, visual and plastic arts, music, and
cartoons), including a dance performance called
“Eros & Spirit: Evolution from Within”, which
was presented in 2002 at the Brava Theater for
the Women in the Arts in San Francisco.
Modern ITP proposals can be seen as important
efforts to explore and foster in the modern West
an integrative spirituality that is not only
free from the tensions and contradictions of a
lopsided development, but also grounded in the
maturation and integration of all human
attributes. In this paper, however, I have
identified two potential pitfalls of ITPs: given
the underdeveloped condition of the somatic,
instinctive, and emotional worlds of the
individual, mentally designed ITP programs may
perpetuate their mental colonization, prevent
their autonomous maturation, and paradoxically
undermine the very possibility of a
multidimensional, co-creative integral growth.
And, given the hyper-masculine thrust of modern
Western life and education, an emphasis on the
exercise and training of these human dimensions
through already existing practices and
techniques may hinder the more feminine organic
emergence of their most unique qualities and
potentials.
What is needed is to complement modern ITP
proposals with participatory approaches that (a)
facilitate the autonomous maturation of all
human dimensions according to their own
developmental dynamics; and (b) balance the
exercise of human attributes with the creation
of spaces for the coming into being of novel
qualities and inner potentials. Then a genuine
integral growth – one that is both grounded in
our most vital potentials and co-created by all
human dimensions -- may have some possibility to
unfold.
To illustrate this participatory perspective on
integral growth, I have introduced Holistic
Integration, an integral approach created by
Ramon V. Albareda and Marina T. Romero. In this
work, practitioners learn to first make contact
with the present state of their somatic,
instinctive, emotional, mental, and conscious
worlds, and then design practices to foster
their maturation, vitalization, and integration.
Through a variety of innovative embodied and
interactive contemplative practices,
practitioners seek to access the creative power
of their vital energy and gradually align it
with the energy of consciousness. This alignment
is said to bring forth an energetic axis in the
person that orients his or her integral growth
from within. The form and structure of
individualized integral practices, for example,
emerges from the practitioner’s somatic, vital,
emotional, mental, and conscious experience.
Although systematic research to assess the
actual effectiveness of these practices is
obviously needed,14 the
multidimensional organic unfolding of integral
growth holds a promise to short circuit the
danger of egoic control of ITPs rightly
identified by Wilber (2000b). Besides possibly
engendering unique developmental paths, this
process entails or culminates in the
transformation of everyday life and the world
through a variety of personal, cultural, social,
and ecological creative projects.
To conclude, I would like to stress that, from a
participatory perspective, ITPs may optimize the
emergence of not only Zen-like nondual
realizations, but also other spiritually
significant enactions of self and world, some of
which have been described by the world
contemplative traditions, and others whose novel
quality may require a more creative engagement
to be brought forth. In any event, I believe
that ITPs can be seen as modern explorations of
an “incarnational spiritual praxis,” in the
sense that they foster the creative
transformation of the embodied person and the
world, the spiritualization of matter and the
sensuous grounding of spirit, and, ultimately,
the bringing together of Heaven and Earth. Who
knows, perhaps as human beings gradually embody
both transcendent and immanent spiritual
energies – a twofold incarnation, so to speak –
they can then realize that it is here, in this
plane of concrete physical reality, that the
cutting edge of spiritual transformation and
evolution is taking place. For then the planet
Earth may gradually turn into an embodied
Heaven, a perhaps unique place in the cosmos
where beings can learn to express and receive
embodied love, in all its forms.
1. For example, see Leonard and Murphy (1995),
Murphy (1993), Rothberg (1996, 1999), Welwood
(2000), and Wilber (2000a, 2001)
2. This possibility is arguably connected to the
contemporary revisioning of many religious
traditions, such as Matthew Fox´s (1988)
Creation Spirituality for Christianity, Michael
Lerner´s (1994, 2000) Jewish Renewal and
Emancipatory Spirituality, or Donald Rothberg´s
(1998) Socially Engaged Buddhism. These and many
others spiritual leaders and authors propose
reconstructions of their traditions that seek to
integrate human dimensions that had been
hitherto inhibited, repressed, or even
proscribed (such as the role of women and
feminine values, body appreciation and sensual
desire, or intimate relationships and sexual
diversity). The importance of grounding an
integrated spiritual life in primary potentials
and instinctual life is also central to Michael
Washburn´s (1995, in press) spiral model of
transpersonal development, as well as to Haridas
Chaudhuri’s revision of Sri-Aurobindo’s integral
yoga (Shirazi, 2001).
3. I am using the term “cognicentrism” to refer
to the privileged position that the
rational-analytical mind (and its associated
instrumental reason and Aristotelian logic) has
in the modern Western world over other ways of
knowing, e.g., somatic, sexual-vital, emotional,
aesthetic, imaginal, visionary, intuitive,
contemplative, etc. By no means am I suggesting,
then, that the other human dimensions are not
“cognitive” in the sense of not being able to
apprehend knowledge or creatively participate in
its elaboration.
4. Interestingly, Sovatsky (1994) reports that
some yoga texts state that there are 840,000
yoga asanas.
5. Since 2000, this approach has been introduced
in the United States at the California Institute
of Integral Studies, San Francisco, the
Institute of Transpersonal Psychology, Palo
Alto, the Esalen Institute, Big Sur, and through
several groups of integral growth in the Bay
Area of San Francisco.
6. Although a body of experientially grounded
knowledge has gradually emerged from the work (Albareda
& Romero, 1990, 1999; Romero & Albareda, 2001),
Holistic Integration is offered virtually free
from ideological or metaphysical luggage. It is
probably this non-sectarian character of the
work that makes it appealing to people from very
diverse psychological, social, cultural, and
spiritual orientations, who, according to
Albareda and Romero, usually bring a renewed
sense of creative vitality back to their
personal lives, professions, communities, and/or
traditions.
7. Because of its distinctive focus on
sexuality, understood as vital-primary energy,
this work is also known as Holistic Sexuality.
8. As modern consciousness research shows, for
example, human consciousness can not only access
but also understand spiritual insights, esoteric
symbols, mythological motifs, and cosmologies
belonging to specific religious worlds even
without previous exposure to them (Ferrer,
forthcoming; Grof, 1988, 1998).
9. Holistic Integration, however, needs to be
distinguished from tantric and neo-tantric
practices, in which sexual energies are often
used as fuel to catapult human consciousness to
expanded, transcendent or even transhuman states
(see, e.g., Feuerstein, 1998; White, 2000). In
addition, and for the reasons outlined below,
Holistic Integration avoids sexual exchange
among practitioners.
10. Albareda and Romero are not claiming a
strict correspondence between these bodily areas
and the various human attributes. A human being
is a multidimensional unity, and any attribute
can therefore potentially manifest throughout
the entire organism. As Albareda and Romero have
repeatedly noted, however, this fact does not
preclude that the sustained contact with certain
bodily areas tends to facilitate, in an
overwhelming majority of the individuals with
whom they have worked, access to specific
experiential worlds.
11. The significance of context cannot be
emphasized enough. Holistic Integration embraces
an ecological approach in which many factors
come into play to facilitate the appropriate
conditions for these contemplative practices.
Therefore, their transformative power is to a
large extent due to the carefully crafted
context provided in the work, and it is likely
that, without the pertinent “set and setting”,
most of the practices would be not only sterile
but also potentially confusing or problematic.
The structure and safety provided by the
context, as well as the emphasis placed on
mindfulness, necessary boundaries, and gradual
integration, makes Holistic Integration stand in
sharp contrast to most of the interactive and
group explorations developed in the 1960s.
12. This intra-personal emphasis is especially
important in the first stages of the process. As
practitioners gradually become more clear about
their energetic dispositions and necessary
boundaries, practices can also be used to
explore mutuality, interpersonal dynamics, and
relational forms of spirituality.
13. Of course, knowing when to stop a practice,
or being able to stop it, requires a learning
curve for some individuals. If stopping a
practice is especially hard for a participant,
this difficulty is simply taken as one more area
to explore and work on. In this case, the
practitioner may be encouraged to carry out some
practices specifically designed to gain
discrimination and/or reinforce his or her
capability of expression and boundary setting.
14. Sponsored by
The Salamander Fund, Beverly Hills, California,
a research project is being pursued that will
inquire into the healing and transformative
effects of Holistic Integration in a group of
individuals, as well
as explore its impact on
the evolvement of
their creativity, love, and altruism.
This
research consists of a longitudinal study
involving qualitative
methodologies/questionnaires and
physiological/bio-electrical measures, in an
ongoing examination of the influence of the work
on the lives of these individuals, and possible
repercussions on their communities.
Albareda, R. V. & M. T. Romero (1990).
Nacidos de la tierra: Sexualidad, origen del ser
humano. Barcelona: Hogar del Libro.
Albareda, R. V. & M. T. Romero (1999).
Sexualidad transpersonal y transcendente. In M.
Almendro (Ed.), La conciencia
transpersonal (pp. 218–42).
Barcelona: Kairós.
Aurobindo, Sri.
(1993). The integral yoga: Sri-Aurobindo’s
teaching and method of practice. Twin Lakes,
WI: Lotus Press.
Battista, J. R. (1996). Offensive spirituality
and spiritual defenses. In B. W. Scotton, A. B.
Chinen, & J. R. Battista (Eds.), Textbook of
transpersonal psychiatry and psychology (pp.
250-60). New York: Basic Books.
Bragdon, E.
(1990). The call for spiritual emergency:
From personal crisis to personal transformation.
San Francisco: Harper & Row.
Brown, P. (1988). The body and society: Men,
women, and sexual renunciation in early
Christianity. New York: Columbia University
Press.
Butler, K. (1990). Encountering the shadow in
Buddhist America. Common Boundary, 18(3),
15-22.
Bynum, C. W. (1995). The resurrection of the
body in Western Christianity, 200-1336. New
York: Columbia University Press.
Caplan, M. (1999). Halfway up the mountain:
The error of premature claims to enlightenment.
Prescott, AZ: Hohm Press.
Faure,
B. (1993). Chan insights and oversights: An
epistemological critique of the Chan tradition.
Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
Fenton, J. Y. (1995). Mystical experience as a
bridge for cross-cultural philosophy of
religion: A critique. In T. Dean (Ed.),
Religious pluralism and truth: Essays on
cross-cultural philosophy of religion,
189-204. Albany, NY: SUNY Press.
Grof,
S. (1988). The adventure of self-discovery:
Dimensions of consciousness and new perspectives
in psychotherapy and inner exploration.
Albany, NY: SUNY Press.
Grof,
S. (1998). The cosmic game: Explorations of
the frontiers of human consciousness.
Albany, NY: SUNY Press.
Grof,
S. & Grof, C. (Eds.). (1989). Spiritual
emergency: When personal transformation becomes
a crisis. Los Angeles, CA.: J. P. Tarcher.
Harvey, P. (1995). The selfless mind:
Personality, consciousness and nirvana in early
Buddhism. Richmond, Surrey: Curzon Press.
Katz,
S. T. (1983). The ‘conservative’ character of
mysticism. In S. T. Katz (Ed.), Mysticism and
religious traditions (pp. 3-60). New
York: Oxford University Press.
Leonard, G. & Murphy, M. (1995). The life we
are given: A long-term program for realizing the
potential of our body, mind, heart, and soul.
New York: Jeremy P. Tarcher/Putnam.
Lerner, M. (1994). Jewish renewal: A path of
healing and transformation. New York:
HarperPerennial.
Lerner, M. (2000). Spirit matters.
Charlottesville, VA: Hampton Roads.
Lesser, E. (1999). The new American
spirituality: A seeker’s guide. New York:
Random House.
Loy,
D. (1988). Nonduality: A study in comparative
philosophy. Atlantic Highlands, NJ:
Humanities Press.
Masters, R. A. (2000). Compassionate wrath:
Transpersonal approaches to anger. The
Journal of Transpersonal Psychology, 32(1),
31-51.
Miller, R. (Ed.). (1991). New directions in
education: Selections from Holistic Education
Review. Brandon, VT: Holistic Education
Press.
Murphy, M. (1993). The future of the body:
Explorations into the further evolution of human
nature. New York: Jeremy P. Tarcher/Perigeee.
Parrinder, G.
(1980). Sexual morality in the world’s
religions. Oxford, England: Oneworld.
Romero, M. T. & Albareda, R. V. (2001). Born on
Earth: Sexuality, spirituality, and human
evolution. ReVision, 24(2), 5-14.
Rothberg, D. (1996). How straight is the
spiritual path? Conversations with Buddhist
teachers Joseph Goldstein, Jack Kornfield, and
Michelle McDonald-Smith. ReVision, 19(1),
25-40.
Rothberg, D. (1998). Responding to the cries of
the world: Socially engaged Buddhism in North
America. In C. S. Prebish & K. K. Tanaka (Eds.),
The faces of Buddhism in America (pp.
266-86). Berkeley: University of California
Press.
Rothberg, D. (1999). Transpersonal issues at the
millennium. Journal of Transpersonal
Psychology, 31(1), 41-67.
Shaw, M. C. (1989). The paradox of intention:
Giving up the attempt in order to reach it.
American Academy of Religion Studies in
Religion, 48. Atlanta, GA: Scholars Press.
Shirazi, B. (2001). Integral psychology:
Metaphors and processes of integral
transformation. In M. Cornelissen (Ed.),
Consciousness and its transformation (pp.
29-53). Pondicherry, India: Sri Aurobindo
International Center of Education.
Slingerland, E. (2000). Effortless action: The
Chinese spiritual ideal of wu-wei. Journal of
the American Academy of Religion, 68(2),
293-328.
Sovatsky, S.
(1994). Passions of innocence: Tantric
celibacy and the mysteries of eros.
Rochester, VT: Destiny Books.
Wade, J. (forthcoming). Transcendent sex:
When lovemaking opens the veil. New York:
Simon & Schuster.
Washburn, M. (1995). The ego and the dynamic
ground: A transpersonal theory of human
development (2nd ed.).
Albany, NY: SUNY Press.
Washburn, M. (in press). Embodied
spirituality in a sacred world. Albany, NY:
SUNY Press.
Weiser-Hanks, M.
E. (2000). Christianity and sexuality in the
early modern world: Regulating desire, reforming
practice. Florence, KY: Routledge.
Welwood, J. (2000). Towards a psychology of
awakening: Buddhism, psychotherapy, and the path
of personal and spiritual transformation.
Boston: Shambhala.
White, D. G. (Ed.). (2000). Tantra in
practice. Princeton: Princeton University
Press.
Wilber, K. (2000a). A theory of everything:
An integral theory for business, politics,
science, and spirituality. Boston; Shambhala.
Wilber, K. (2000b,
Fall/Winter). Integral transformative practice:
In this world or out of it? What is
Enlightenment, 18, 34-39, 126-27, 130-31.
Wilber, K. (2001). The eye of spirit: An
integral vision for a world gone slightly mad.
(Rev. ed.). Boston: Shambhala.
Acknowledgments
I want to thank Mariana Caplan, John Heron,
David Nicol, Kaisa Puhakka, Kenneth Ring, Marina
T. Romero, and Michael Washburn for their
constructive comments on an earlier version of
this essay.
The Author
Jorge N. Ferrer, Ph.D.
is core faculty at the California Institute of
Integral Studies, San Francisco, and adjunct
faculty at the Institute of Transpersonal
Psychology, Palo Alto. He is the author of
Revisioning Transpersonal Theory: A
Participatory Vision of Human Spirituality (SUNY
Press, 2002) and editor of a monograph of the
journal ReVision on New Horizons in
Contemporary Spirituality. He can be
contacted at JFerrer@ciis.edu.
Subir al inicio.
|
