ABOUT TRANSPERSONAL PSYCHOLOGY
In the 1970s, Transpersonal Psychology was first introduced to the UK by Ian Gordon-Brown and Barbara Somers, who ran workshops together until Ian’s death in 1996.
Ian Gordon-Brown said: "Transpersonal psychology is about consciousness. It looks towards oneness, cosmic awareness and meta-needs, aiming towards essence..." To read the whole article, click on the link.
Ian Thorp trained in Transpersonal Psychology with Hazel Marshall, who had attended the original trainings run by Ian Gordon-Brown and Barbara Somers. At these seminars, Hazel had made thorough notes of the teachings, which, along with information from sound recordings made at the time, have now been published in three volumes by Archive Publishing www.archivepublishing.co.uk, Ian Thorp’s publishing company, with Hazel as Editor.
These three workshops come from the original work of Ian Gordon-Brown and Barbara Somers.
WORKSHOP 1 – ‘APPROACHING THE SELF’
This workshop starts the journey towards a deeper understanding of the Self. Sometimes called the spirit/soul/higher self, the Self speaks to us through the personality in the form of dreams, symbol and imagery in a way that enables us to make more effective choices in our lives.
Flowing easily between accessible theory, discussion and experiential practice, the session opens us to the richness and fullness of our inner and outer worlds, through inner exploration. We can share in intimate groups, and take time out for self-reflection, partaking in the transpersonal process as it unfolds.
Workshop topics include: Dreams, Symbols, Imaging, Sub-personalities, Maps of the Psyche and an introduction to the Four Functions (how we perceive, interpret and respond to reality).
WORKSHOP 2 – ‘THE MASCULINE & FEMININE WITHIN’
This workshop continues the journey of exploration within; the ways we express ourselves in the world as we grapple with the duality implicit in our being. We look at the great polarities of inner/outer, head/heart, yin/yang, anima/animus, masculine/feminine, and how these affect our lives.
The great impulse to become whole leads us towards the need for balance in mind, body and emotions and the means of expressing ourselves through creativity and intuition to maintain it and the health we seek.
Workshop topics include: The Four Partners at the Marriage, Container and Contained, Symptom as Symbol and much more.
WORKSHOP 3 – ‘CYCLES & STAGES’
This workshop ends the cycle of three and presupposes a profound level of inner work; patterns and cycles emerge, energies and qualities. We explore the mystery of archetypes (queen, father, ruler, priestess, priest-healer, philosopher, maiden, idealist, artist, magician, for instance), asking which of them affect our own lives.
We explore our projections to see where we have placed our energies through the changes and cycles of our lives. We begin to understand that it is wholeness we seek and not perfection.
The first two workshops looked up and out, within and down: the self reaching towards the Self. In this third one, some descending lines have been established, down from the Transpersonal, back from the Self to us.
Workshop topics include: Control Patterns, Projections, Stages of Life, Archetypes.
Dates for the above workshops will be published on the website.
TRANSPERSONAL PSYCHOLOGY by Ian Gordon-Brown
Transpersonal psychology
In the word ‘trans-personal’ the prefix trans means ‘beyond’ – beyond and including the personal. Transpersonal psychology takes account of the unexplained impulses, the unusual intuitions and ideas that rise up in very many people’s experience and, not fitting a rational picture, puzzle them or fill them with strange longings. It is oriented towards the responsible implementation of findings relevant to spiritual paths. Theory is important, as are techniques of exploration. Personality structure is studied, the higher self and the continuum of consciousness.
Transpersonal psychology is about consciousness. It looks towards oneness, cosmic awareness and meta-needs, aiming towards essence, being rather than doing, transcendental exploration and a synergy both individual and species-wide. It is concerned with transcendence of the ego-self, with ultimate meaning and Self-actualisation. It embraces the mystical experience of unitive consciousness, including peak experiences, awe and wonder, ecstasy and bliss.
Transpersonal psychology is an umbrella term, covering a number of related approaches both Eastern and Western. It is interested in the combining of modern knowledge with ancient wisdom. Both the personality and the higher Self, the mechanistic and the depth approach, the masculine and feminine principles, here come together into a synthesis, a living relationship. The inside and the outside are one. It adopts practices for focusing awareness and studies theories of meditation, seeking ways towards wholeness, aiming to make everyday life sacred. It explores the freedom to grow, over against too much ‘should-and-ought’ morality. It notes transcendental phenomena. Its essence lies with ultimate or ‘spiritual’ values – compassion, humour and playfulness among them.
The Transpersonal Self
Outer impressions affect outer judgments and shape our thoughts and decisions, giving incentive to change – as advertisers know well. But we lack ideal images to raise our inner aims. Few heroes mark our inner crises of growth and change; few rituals or structures support us. Those who help other people don’t easily find help or nourishment for themselves. We are not so much wrong as lopsided. And we are searching. The thrust of the inner world is towards wholeness. The transpersonal Self, of which we are unconscious, triggers the search: ‘Am I just a fragment? Is my essence something more than this?’ The Self is trying to help us, longing for us to find meaning, to move through the interplay of conscious and unconscious towards and into Self-knowledge, awareness, actualisation. To change, we need a realisation of this inner, transpersonal Self, this omega point. We seek a route to the centre. Mostly we discover our own way, our own strengths; become our own heroes.
The search
People have always reached into and explored the psyche in different ways. Not all are equally useful; it depends where a person is. Some have long practised astral projection and mediumship. Others employ drugs, including alcohol and hallucinogens. Some do it by hypnotism; some have gone the way of classical psychoanalysis and free association, or employed projective tests – Rorschach blots, word association, bio-feedback and other useful tools. Yet others invoke magnetism by physical means such as mudras, mantras, tai chi, yoga; by interpersonal means – behaviour therapy, gestalt, encounter; and by artistic means – sound, colour, writing. Many in the West are coming to fresh realisations by contemplation and meditation. Dreams offer universal symbols. Creativity is often a powerful way of vitalising the link with the unconscious. The Self may be made manifest through sculpture, painting, poetry, dance. Practical work earths the energy as we build and destroy. Being alive to music and sound makes a resonant channel between the worlds. Then there’s the spoken word: talk yourself through, let there be light. ‘How do I know what I think (or feel) till I hear what I say?’ We hold conversations with the inner world, the dialogue increasing our self-understanding and informing our actions till our lives, and those of the people around us, are changed. Loving and nourishing ourselves and them, we are each enriched by it. So we build – what? Usable bridges, whether between abstract ideas or between people, becoming aligned in love, joy, compassion, serenity. We aim to disengage and so control negative feelings, changing and transforming the energy as we recognise that the inside and the outside are one. We learn to see ourselves more as others do, looking with honesty and openness, discovering what we are. Good and bad may be revealed; but good, bad or indifferent, we can accept this as fact. We know we can change.
These workshops explore mysteries
Workshop I examines mysteries of consciousness, identity and energy. It deals with the conscious ego and the outer world, understanding how the personality works and the relations between conscious and unconscious, ego and Self. It offers basic models of the structure and organisation of psychology, mapping consciousness and the dynamic interactions within the psyche, looking at common patterns and problems. We put ‘I want’ side by side with ‘I need’, sensing priorities, balancing the organism and the environment, the need for solitude and for participation in the world.
Workshop II looks at the contra-sexual sides of ourselves, the mysteries of polarity and relationship, projection and the impulse to become whole. We grapple with the duality implicit in our being. The workshop is not so much about women and men, as about the masculine and feminine present within each one of us. We claim and own not ‘either this or that’, but both. And we look at our own symptoms as symbols.
In Workshop III, patterns and cycles emerge, energies and qualities. We explore the mystery of archetypes (queen, father, ruler, priestess, priest-healer, philosopher, maiden, idealist, artist, magician, for instance), asking which of them affect our own lives. It’s as if we put the map on the floor and stand on it – another dimension, this. It is a profounder, deeper journey. The first two workshops looked up and out, within and down: the self reaching towards the Self. In this third one, some descending lines have been established, down from the Transpersonal, back from the Self to us.
And on …
Who were the workshops for? by Hazel Marshall
(Hazel Marshall trained with Ian Gordon-Brown and Barbara Somers)
Anyone might attend. Open to all, the first five weekends were never restricted to those with any particular professional interest (though, of those who came, many who hadn’t already been working with people did later take up, for example, counselling). The programme began with the three introductory workshops (which had to be taken in numerical order) and continued to deepen with ‘Initiation’ and ‘The Other Self’. These Transpersonal workshops offered ordinary people seeking personal growth the chance to explore their own inner worlds, gain insight into their unconscious patterns, work towards freedom from the control of those patterns and thus find more meaning in their lives. However, Ian said: ‘No one should do the workshops unless they are on an inner, spiritual path, or quest, or pilgrimage – are seeking some sort of initiation.’ It was made clear that it could be useful to have at least six months between workshops; galloping from stage to stage is not helpful. In these experiential weekends, active imagination was offered as the main technique for contacting the inner world.
