The survival of the human race and all life on planet earth is endangered by the technological advancements of modern civilization such as weapons of mass destruction and the global climate crisis. In the 1960s and 1970s movements began in the academic field of psychology that radically opposed the paradigm believed to have created this dire situation. Tranpersonal Psychology is an integrated field that approaches the future of humanity with hope as it explores the highest evolutionary potentials of our race as conveyed by comparative religious scholarship, psychological literature, scientific investigations, psychosomatic analysis, and case studies. The problem identified in the old paradigm is a disconnected duality of the reductive model that promotes separation, fear, and conflict. Universal unconditional love (agape) is the proposed trait that when implemented into the new paradigm of integration will dissolve the duality into the unity of a spiritual and physical evolution of humanity.
The research herein suggests not only a continuity to this proposition that can be found amongst the worlds religious and spiritual traditions, but also a physiological exploration into a scientific understanding of extraordinary levels of human functionality. The suggested physiological transformation of the human body, as understood in the Taoist tradition through studies with a Tai Chi Chuan master, renders an individual invincible to any survival threat.
The agape trait in conjunction with the transpersonal movement promotes attitudes of selflessness, compassion, and empathy in order to facilitate an initiative to insure collective survival. Universal unconditional love aligns the collective survival interests with the individual survival interests, and may present an opportunity for humanity to evolve spiritually and physically beyond the threats of our modern day.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:PITT/oai:PITTETD:etd-05142008-150244 |
| Date | 22 May 2009 |
| Creators | Menditto, Thomas A |
| Contributors | Dr. Milica Bakic Hayden, Dr. Kimberly R. Flemke, Ward Allebach, Dr. Joseph S. Alter |
| Publisher | University of Pittsburgh |
| Source Sets | University of Pittsburgh |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Source | http://etd.library.pitt.edu/ETD/available/etd-05142008-150244/ |
| Rights | unrestricted, I hereby certify that, if appropriate, I have obtained and attached hereto a written permission statement from the owner(s) of each third party copyrighted matter to be included in my thesis, dissertation, or project report, allowing distribution as specified below. I certify that the version I submitted is the same as that approved by my advisory committee. I hereby grant to University of Pittsburgh or its agents the non-exclusive license to archive and make accessible, under the conditions specified below, my thesis, dissertation, or project report in whole or in part in all forms of media, now or hereafter known. I retain all other ownership rights to the copyright of the thesis, dissertation or project report. I also retain the right to use in future works (such as articles or books) all or part of this thesis, dissertation, or project report. |
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