Psychology & Buddhism.pdf

Five Manifestations of the Buddha 63
The transformations of consciousness envisioned by Watts became, eventually,
the subject matter of a journal that began publication in 1969. The web
homepage of the Journal of Transpersonal Psychology [see References for
address] provides excerpts from the writings in the journal from everyone from
Abraham Maslow to Baba Ram Dass to the Dalai Lama. The focus of the journal
from its inception has been on transpersonal experiences – that is, “experiences
in which the sense of identity of self extends beyond (trans) the individual or
personal to encompass wider aspects of humankind, life, psyche or cosmos”
(Walsh & Vaughan, 1993).
The steady stream of articles published in JTP had a powerful influence on
a resurgence of interest not only in studies of consciousness and “higher” mental
processes, but also in a systematic rethinking of the concept of self in Western
psychology. This new field of inquiry seriously challenged the psychoanalytic
assumption that the “masterful, bounded, empty self ... characterized by a pervasive
sense of personal emptiness” (Cushman, 1995, pp. 6, 287) was the only self
Western minds could experience; with psychotherapy its only solace.
In 1980 Roger Walsh asserted the currency of a way of thinking about
consciousness that had lain dormant in American psychology since William
James. He quoted James’ famous dictum about consciousness:
Our normal waking consciousness is but one special type of consciousness whilst
all about it, parted from it by the filmiest of screens, there lie potential forms of
consciousness entirely different. We may go through life without suspecting their
existence, but apply the requisite stimulus, and at a touch they are there in all
their completeness, definite types of mentality which probably somewhere have
their field of application and adoption.
No account of the universe in its totality can be final which leaves these other
forms of consciousness quite disregarded. How to regard them is the question ... At
any rate, they forbid our premature closing of accounts with reality. (as cited in
Walsh, 1980, p. 665)
Walsh argued that the study of consciousness was a 4th Force in Western
psychology, and called for the inclusion of serious inquiry into states of consciousness,
meditation, modes of psychological health, peak experiences, mystical
experience, and the interconnections between these studies and modern
physics.
For the purposes of this essay, however, the most interesting aspect of
Walsh’s argument came at the end of his essay. He concluded his paper with
a plea; and that plea was that behavioral scientists examine both the literature and
the practices under study, and that these studies be conducted by persons with
“personal experiences of these practices” (Walsh, 1980, p. 671). In short, he was
calling for a new research paradigm, conducted by what he called Yogi-Scientists,
trained in both Eastern and Western psychology. Without this new paradigm,