Video 1
Psychology
“C.G. Jung stressed that the only real adventure remaining for the individual is the exploration of his unconscious. The ultimate goal of such a search is the forming of a harmonious and balanced relationship with the self. The circular mandala images this perfect balance”
(C. G. Jung, Man and his symbols. 1964)
Jung was amongst the first psychologists of the C20th to use the mandala as a therapeutic aid. As his clients presented with various degrees of psychic disturbance he would amongst other things invite them to draw mandalas. This acted as a healing process and as a counter balance to their inner turmoil.
In his later years Jung became interested in the geometry of the natural numbers one through four. He viewed these not merely as measures of quantity but as energetic patterns in themselves. He alluded to the fact that these numbers and their energetic potential may hold the key to understanding the connection between psyche and matter, an area that excites us greatly.
In a letter to Stephen I. Abrams in 1957 Jung writes:
“I think you are correct in assuming that synchronicity, though in practice a relatively rare phenomenon, is an all pervading factor or principle in the universe, i.e., in the unus mundus, where there is no incommesurability between so called matter and so called psyche. Here one gets into deep waters, at least I myself must confess that I am far from having sounded these abysmal depths. In this connection I always come upon the enigma of the natural number. I have a distinct feeling that number is a key to the mystery, since it is just as much discovered as it is invented. It is quantity as well as meaning” (Number and Time, Marie-Louise von Franz, 1974)
Co-founder of transpersonal psychology Dr. Stanislav Grof has developed an entire psychotherapeutic system based on the belief that the psyche has a predisposition to move towards wholeness. In exactly the same way our skin re-knits itself when we cut our finger so too our psyches are endowed with an inner healing mechanism. The cartography of the psyche put forward by Dr. Grof claims we all have within us the capacity to heal unresolved trauma and in so doing enable ourselves to become everything we are capable of becoming. His theoretical model in itself is very mandala like in style. Our tendency towards wholeness, towards completion, towards unity is expressed eloquently in the mandala archetype.
Dr. Grof also explicitly integrates mandala drawing into his psychotherapeutic technique called holotropic breath work. Clients use mandala drawing to integrate powerful experiences that can occur during sessions.
The experience of constructing a mandala is imbued with this sensation of moving towards wholeness. It also can be deeply healing where a sense of encountering a psychic rebuild is experienced. The fractures in our mind melt away and a heightened acceptance of the present moment emerges. This is often accompanied by an enhanced quality of awareness. This very awareness lifts us out of our thinking mind and dissolves the patterns and routines of our everyday lifestyles. In this expanded state we become more open to untapped reservoirs of the psyche and gain access to intuitions from within previously unavailable to us. These reservoirs within correlate with what Stan Grof terms the ‘Transpersonal Realm of the Psyche’. Transpersonal Psychology is a discipline as vast as it is exciting and a wheel with many spokes.
It is a major influence for Solas Art and currently a field of study for us. Here by kind permission of the author is a history of Transpersonal Psychology written by co-founder and leading consciousness pioneer, Dr. Stanislav Grof.
We extend sincere gratitude to Dr. Grof for allowing us include his work here and kindly remind readers that all work is copyrighted and remains the property of the author.
A Brief History of Transpersonal Psychology - (click here to download article)
Stan Grof, M.D., Ph.D. is a psychiatrist with more than fifty years experience researching the healing and transformative potential of non-ordinary states of consciousness.
He heads the Grof Transpersonal Training Program and teaches at the california institute of integral studies. He was formerly chief of psychiatric research at the Maryland Psychiatric Research Centre, Assistant professor of psychiatry at John Hopkins University School of Medicine and scholar in residence at the Esalen institute. He is the author of many books, most recently ‘The ultimate journey, consciousness and the mystery of death’ 2006.
