<p> The understanding of one&rsquo;s personal myth&mdash;the story one tells oneself about one&rsquo;s skills, shortcomings, social possibilities and employment potential&mdash;has been shown to contribute to one&rsquo;s well-being and to enrich personal growth (Angus &amp; Greenberg, 2011a; Friedlander, Lee &amp; Bernardi, 2013; Josselson, 2009; Maruna &amp; Ramsden, 2004). Since transitional periods involve an experience of uncertainty about the present and future (Larsen, 1990; McAdams, 1993), they could also provide prime opportunities for a conscious examination of potentially unconscious personal myths that have been created in the past and that may no longer tell an accurate story about who a person is in the present (Feinstein &amp; Krippner, 1988a; Krippner &amp; Feinstein, 2006; Stewart, Sokol, Healy, Chester, &amp; Weinstock-Savoy, 1982). Since research shows that unconscious personal myths can be limiting to one&rsquo;s possibilities in the world (Feinstein, 1997; Feinstein &amp; Krippner, 1988a; McAdams, 1993; Neimeyer, 1995), this project examined ways in which people become more cognizant of their personal myths, as well as their thought process around the reauthoring or retelling of a new narrative that fits more accurately to their current circumstances in life.</p><p> This research used the qualitative method of narrative inquiry to elicit narratives of people in times of transitions and at turning points, as well as the ways that they experience and tell their personal myths. Specifically, the study examined whether and how people&rsquo;s personal myths are affected in times of transition or at turning points. Five participants were interviewed in two stages: a 60&ndash;90 minute in-depth semistructured interview and a 30&ndash;60 minute follow-up interview, where participants were given time to share their impressions from the transcripts of their first interview, and to share artifacts such as pictures and journal entries from different transitional periods. </p><p> The study explored the relationship between turning points and personal myths, i.e., the ways in which turning points have created changes in participants&rsquo; personal myths. The following themes emerged from this study: Change, Choice of New Action, Contentment Versus Ambition and Action, Pass It Forward, Reflection Back on the Journey, Social Context, Turning Points, Uncertainty, Self-Improvement and Desire for More, Money, and Being in the Moment.</p>

<p> Research investigating the impact of religion and religiosity on aggression and prosocial behavior is mixed. The reason for these inconsistent results may be due to the multifaceted nature of religion. This study was the first to investigate both the impact of different aspects of religion (e.g., spirituality, institutional religion, good and evil supernatural agents, etc.) as well as views of God as punitive on subsequent aggressive behavior. Results indicated that more punitive perceptions of God were correlated with lower levels of aggression. Furthermore, there was a marginal interaction between religious orientation and type of religious priming. Although simple effects and subsequent post-hoc tests did not reach standard levels of statistical significance, the direction of the effect for Christian participants was that priming with evil supernatural agents reduced aggressive behavior but this trend was in the opposite direction for non-Christians.</p>

<p> This thesis uses hermeneutic and heuristic methodologies to draw together the myth of Chiron and the phenomenon of spiritual bypassing. Spiritual bypassing is the tendency to use spiritual beliefs, teachings, and practices to avoid dealing with one&rsquo;s psychology, painful feelings, unresolved wounds, and developmental issues. Chiron is a mythological figure who mentored a number of Greek heroes and Asclepius, the god of medicine in ancient Greek religion and mythology. Chiron, like his mentee Asclepius, embodies the Wounded Healer archetype. Chiron&rsquo;s wounding and healing journey can serve as a roadmap for spiritual practitioners on how to navigate out of bypass and deepen their path toward self-realization and individuation. Developing an archetypal awareness of one&rsquo;s wounds appears to reveal the aspects of one&rsquo;s psychology defended against in spiritual bypass. This emerging roadmap and lessons from Chiron&rsquo;s journey may help therapists, healers, and spiritual teachers accelerate their own path and assist clients. </p>

No description available.

<p> This hermeneutic dissertation examines clinical and theoretical materials from depth psychology, psychology, sociology, anthropology, religion, and literature to understand the role of literal and symbolic death among key thinkers in depth psychology, Sigmund Freud, Carl Jung, and James Hillman. Beginning with the Freud-Jung separation, then moving into the postmodern era with the arrival of James Hillman&rsquo;s archetypal psychology, it explores the collective wound that informed the development of linear models to address grief, as well as minimal education and sparse clinical training on the intricate facets of grief. Although the experience of grief and the manner in which one grieves may be unique to the individual, they are influenced by relational, cultural, and spiritual beliefs. Technological advances have increased exposure to global incidences of death and grief, but this has not led to a reduction in denial and avoidance: they remain prominent Western defenses. Therefore, paradigm shifts that include new approaches to grieving which honor the individual and collective soul, interdisciplinary dialogue, and an ongoing relationship with the dead are essential to humanity and our well-being. </p><p> <i>Keywords</i>: Grief; bereavement; postmodern mourning; Freud/Jung/Hillman; spirituality; aesthetic; depth psychology; hermeneutic.</p>

<p> This qualitative research study aims to explore and provide a comprehensive descriptive record of the significant experiences of Pranahuti Aided Meditation (PAM) practice and transformation by eight practitioners from the San Francisco Bay Area. It investigates the linkage between their meditation experiences and transformations to better understand this new phenomenon.</p><p> PAM, also known as Sri Ramchandra&rsquo;s Raja Yoga or Natural Path, is a new spiritual practice invented by Sri Ramchandra of Shajahanpur, U.P., India in the 1940&rsquo;s. It utilizes the technique of Pranahuti (<i> Yogic Transmission or Transmission of Life Force</i> i.e. <i>Prana </i>) to aid individual&rsquo;s meditation practice and facilitate the process of consciousness transformation. Academic research on PAM has been scant so far. This is the first study using interpretive phenomenological analysis (IPA) to systematically explore the experiences of PAM practitioners with 1 to 10 years of practice experience.</p><p> The first major finding of this study was that this group of participants experienced a large number of positive non-ordinary states, of which more than 95% occurred during Pranahuti. Some altered states were somatic in nature, and some psychological, noetic, and mystical; still some were particularly exquisite and profound. The first major conclusion that can be drawn from this is Pranahuti resulted in positive non-ordinary states experienced by the participants during meditation.</p><p> The second major finding was that participants experienced many positive changes such as acquisition of positive qualities, values and principles, psychological balance, and sense of wellbeing. They had progressed into what in PAM is known as the realm of upper, or altruistic, consciousness to a significant extent, and most had further development in the realm of divine consciousness. The study found a very close correlation between participants&rsquo; meditation experiences and the transformations unfolding in daily lives. The second conclusion to be drawn from this is that PAM practice had enabled all participants move from the lower to the upper plane of consciousness to a significant extent. It also enabled many to move further into the realm of divine consciousness, resulting in various significant transformations including shifting of perspectives, and gaining positive qualities and attitudes in life.</p>

<p> The more we search for meaning and enlightenment, the stronger our pathologies and anxieties become. No rationale can explain that letting go of something guarantees finding it&mdash;or something better, and by accepting various levels of the soul&rsquo;s descent, we find ourselves on the spiritual path of transcendence. Yet this is exactly the message of religion, mythology, art, and literature that emerge through humankind in states of both suffering and ecstasy.</p><p> This dissertation examines an overvaluing of transcendent states to the point of repressing and medicating normal emotional pathologies. The pursuit of perfection in health, beauty, status, and spiritual goals have unintentionally created a culture of addiction, and for many, an unexplained loss of meaning. As a result, addictions to food, alcohol, relationships, technology, street and pharmaceutical drugs are found in all age groups and socioeconomic levels. The search for &ldquo;wholeness&rdquo; and a belief in perfection are a source of anxiety, traced to the confusion between &ldquo;soul&rdquo; and &ldquo;spirit,&rdquo; labels for the unseen diverse and autonomous energies that need expression in the phenomenal world. To reverse the direction of an upside down life is to recognize how the soul&rsquo;s descent into underworld experience is necessary for spiritual transcending, a dynamic that cannot be medicated out of existence. </p><p> Each chapter addresses three interconnected themes: enantiodromia&mdash;the extreme of one thing leading to its opposite, perception and interpretation, and Jung&rsquo;s transcendent function&mdash;an individual&rsquo;s state of tension between conflicting choices until a third state evolves to transcend the discomfort. Introduced here is the imaginal &ldquo;descendent function&rdquo; to honor the anxiety, depression, and suffering that occurs before transformation, and to compensate for current culture&rsquo;s inflated perception of a transcendent ideal based on external influences.</p><p> The research explores certain underworld myths and symbols of descending to the transcendent including Sumerian, Egyptian, Greek, Vedic, and Platonic literature, as well as Eastern and Western traditions of alchemy seeking to bridge the gap between what is experienced in the perceptual world and the body&rsquo;s signals of intuition as messages from a divine order.</p><p> Keywords: enantiodromia, descendent/transcendent function, labyrinth, imagination, participant/observer, compassion, underworld, illusion, faith </p>

with Prof. Colleen Griffith / St. Joseph's Chapel

陳偉強. / 論文 (哲學碩士)--香港中文大學, 1999. / 參考文獻 (leaves 75-83). / 附中英文摘要. / Chen Weiqiang. / Lun wen (zhe xue shuo shi) -- Xianggang Zhong wen da xue, 1999. / Can kao wen xian (leaves 75-83). / Fu Zhong Ying wen zhai yao. / Chapter 第一章 --- 前言 --- p.2 / Chapter 一. --- 本文硏究的目的、理由和方法 --- p.2 / Chapter 二. --- 本文的硏究槪要 --- p.4 / Chapter 第二章 --- <志玄安樂經>的宗教操練 --- p.6 / Chapter 一. --- <志玄安樂經>的背景 --- p.6 / Chapter 二. --- <志玄安樂經> 簡介 --- p.11 / Chapter 三. --- <志玄安樂經> 宗教操練的方法 --- p.13 / Chapter 四. --- < 志玄安樂經>宗教操練所達至的境界 --- p.20 / Chapter 第三章 --- 從本色化角度看 <志玄安樂經> 的宗教操練 --- p.23 / Chapter 一 . --- <志玄安樂經 >是中華本色化了的基督教文獻 --- p.23 / Chapter 二 . --- 從本色化角度看 <志玄安樂經> 的宗教操練 --- p.23 / Chapter 三. --- <志玄安樂經> 宗教操練的特色 --- p.39 / Chapter 第四章 --- <志玄安樂經〉的宗教操練與唐代社會 --- p.54 / Chapter 一 . --- <志玄安樂經〉的宗教操練與唐人的生活 --- p.54 / Chapter 二 . --- <志玄安樂經〉的宗教操練與唐代的宗教 --- p.55 / Chapter 三. --- 論 <志玄安樂經> 的交流模式 --- p.64 / Chapter 第五章 --- 總結 --- p.66 / Chapter 一. --- <志玄安樂經 >宗教操練的貢獻 --- p.66 / Chapter 二. --- <志玄安樂經〉宗教操練的不足 --- p.68 / Chapter 三. --- <志玄安樂經〉宗教操練對當代基督教靈修操練的啓迪 --- p.70 / 附錄： <志玄安樂經> 標點及分段 --- p.72 / 參考書目 --- p.75

<p> What if it was possible to attain enlightenment, or union with God, in the physical body? What if instead of using meditation or prayer to merely transcend embodied existence, practitioners were to transform the experience of their body in order to bring a sense of transcendence into their very physicality and the world itself? These questions are timely. There is much dialogue around the relationship of enlightenment, or union with God, and the body. Using a hermeneutic methodology, this study first explores 8 spiritual concepts (in 8 different spiritual traditions) that refer to subtle spiritual phenomena occurring in the body. These phenomena are alternatively described as a liquid, oil, nectar, or water that penetrates the body, and hypothesized to relate to consciousness as experienced through somatic awareness or awareness occupying the body. These concepts and traditions are as follows: <i>amata</i> (and rapture and pleasure) in Theravada Buddhism, <i>amr&dotbelow;ita </i> in Vajray&amacr;na Buddhism according to the Nyingma and Geluk school, <i> amr&dotbelow;ita</i> in Hinduism according to Hat&dotbelow;ha Yoga, <i> amr&dotbelow;ita</i> in neo-Advaita Ved&amacr;nta, "the descending force" in &Sacute;ri Aurobindo's Integral Yoga, the "water of life" in Christianity according to St. Teresa of Avila, <i>shefa</i> in Judaism according to the <i>Zohar,</i> and "presence" in A. H. Almaas' Diamond Approach. The first part of the study uses canonical texts and authoritative commentaries for hermeneutical analysis. Subsequently, by adopting a comparative methodological approach, the second part compares and contrasts the findings to understand the differences, similarities, and role of the experiences to which these 8 concepts refer in relation to the body and enlightenment, or union with God, as these spiritual goals are understood by each tradition.</p><p>