Week 6B: Assignment - Discussion of Readings
**Please use the discussion item to post comments on the assigned readings and
videos for this week. You need post only a paragraph or so. Comment only on
aspects that stood out for you in a particular reading or readings. Mention
things that prompted new thoughts or that triggered new and interesting ideas
–aspects with which you strongly agreed, resonated, or disagreed. Don't simply
summarize readings or parts of readings. Indicate how you engaged with the
readings.
Post at least one set of comments in 250 words or less on this week’s readings
in this discussion item. You may post more times, if you wish, but do keep your
postings concise. In addition, respond to one or two of the comments made by
other class members. Cite using APA Style.
Please click on the link below for examples of proper APA citations:
Example for Concise Response to Reading Writing GuidelinesDownload Example for
Concise Response to Reading Writing Guidelines
Aaron Giles
Nov 8 11:06am| Last reply Nov 9 6:19am
Reply from Aaron Giles
I was very impressed with the topics in the readings this week, especially the
excerpt on dreams by Deslauriers. I have been fascinated by dreams for as long
as I can remember, and my own experiences with meaningful, transpersonal dreams
are one of the primary reasons I was drawn to study Transpersonal Psychology.
Throughout my life, I have had dreams that were precognitive in nature in which
I seemed to receive forewarning about major events before they happened. I have
also had dreams where deceased loved ones have appeared with messages, comfort,
or guidance. These experiences have always felt qualitatively different from
ordinary dreams and have shaped my understanding of consciousness, intuition,
and spirituality.
One example is when my brother tragically died unexpectedly a few years ago, I
had a series of visitation dreams from him. For about a year after his passing I
had dreams where we would meet in some kind of environment where he was in a
life review. The first dreams, he was shocked and processing the fact that he
died. He was confused and his soul was unable to accept what happened. We would
cry together and talk about what happened. I would wake up and remember the
entire dream. As time went on, I would have similar dreams but he would be
accepting of the fact that he is not in body anymore and became reassuring that
everything is ok and would offer me advice on how to process the pain and how to
help my family through the pain. Words cannot accurately describe the reality of
these experiences for me, but I personally find them impossible to be my own
recreation of him. Even now writing this, I am brought to tears recollecting
them and the energy of them.
Over time, I have learned to distinguish between dreams that are simply my brain
processing daily information and feel very noisy and chaotic vs those that feel
like genuine transpersonal dreams, often very spiritual. The latter often have a
sense of clarity, deep meaning and emotion that lingers with me long after I
wake. What resonated deeply with me in Deslauriers’ chapter was his point of
view that dreams are not just psychological artifacts, but a valid state of
consciousness where meaning, insight, and transformation can occur. As he
states, dreams offer “a unique access to consciousness that allows for
psychological and spiritual development, emotional and physiological healing,
and valuable insight” (Deslauriers, 2013, p. 513).
I appreciate how Deslauriers reframes dreaming as a natural altered state with
developmental potential rather than something random or secondary. I do feel the
majority of dreams are just some type of mental processing but there are many
layers that go so much deeper in the potential of dreams. This perspective
validates many of my lived experiences. The chapter strengthened my belief that
dreams are one of the most accessible gateways to the transpersonal realm.
Deslauriers, D. (2013). Dreaming and transpersonal psychology. In H. L. Serlin
(Ed.), The Wiley-Blackwell handbook of transpersonal psychology (pp. 512–528).
Wiley-Blackwell.
Thomas Travers
Nov 6 10:57am| Last reply Nov 8 11:16am
Reply from Thomas Travers
When using meditation I have tried to tie in my childhood. This is very
difficult for me to do. Yet, I believe it is an integral part of knowing
yourself. The childhood experience can be of great importance to helping us find
a deeper meaning of ourselves. Schlarb, C. (2007) Itry to use an object from the
past { ex. photo, yearbook, scenes from the past } in my childhood to focus on
during meditation. My mother died when I was born and my dad had to carry the
burden. My grandmother raised me until I was 8 when my dad re-married the
stepmother from hell. My dad worked late hours so I used to sit on my
grandmothers lap at the window and count cars going by until my dad came home.
Those were pleasant memories for me. I use that image as a starting point for my
meditation. It helps a lot with my childhood reflection.
Michael Bell
Nov 6 7:59am| Last edited Nov 6 8:01am
Reply from Michael Bell
My childhood transpersonal experiences are many. this weeks readings brought
back a vivid picture of watching my father drive off as my mother and I watched
through our home window. my parents divorced. Schlarb article on childhood
stimulated this memory
Amanda King
Nov 5 7:42pm| Last reply Nov 7 1:23pm
Reply from Amanda King
I was captivated by this week’s readings and revel in the timing of what is
happening in my life and how they resonate. After reading about expressive and
creative arts therapies, I have been searching for a therapist in my city to
explore this modality. I want to continue to encourage “an expanded approach to
health and healing” by integrating all that I experienced over the past year
during my health journey (Bella & Serlin, 2013). It was such a deeply
transformative experience, and I want to explore the nuances of the material I
excavated during that time. I am also exploring music as a healing modality, as
I am learning to play the guitar. As I begin to hear music I feel a stirring of
emotion that I am allowing without judgment or analysis.
I have been reading The Untethered Soul by Michael Singer and found Fox’s
exploration of Chodron’s meditation practices similar to the act of observing
thoughts and understanding that “the point is to not get rid of the thoughts,
but rather see their true nature” (2004, p. 195). Since practicing mindfulness
over the past year, I have observed a precious kind of awareness that offers a
deeply peaceful feeling, even in the mundane everyday spaces I inhabit.
The readings on children’s transpersonal experiences also resonated, as I can
recall shutting myself off and having difficulty remembering much of my
childhood. I can remember a yearbook picture from grade seven when I was twelve
years old, with my caption underneath that read “solitude is independence”. I
felt alone and different and did not understand why, until now, as I learn to
embrace my true nature.
Bella, K. & Serlin, I. (2013). Expressive and creative arts therapies. In
Friedman, H. & Hartelius, G. (Eds.), The Wiley Blackwell handbook of
transpersonal psychology. (pp. 529 - 543). Malden, MA: John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Fox, M. (2004). One river, many wells: Wisdom springing from global faiths. New
York: Tarcher/Penguin. [Part 3: pp. 187-373]
Singer, M. A. (2007). The untethered soul: The journey beyond yourself. New
Harbinger Publications.
Scott Sudduth
Nov 5 2:10pm| Last reply Nov 6 1:19pm
Reply from Scott Sudduth
I found all of this weeks readings interesting, but I found especially the
writing of Matthew Fox in his book, One River Many Wells(2004). It was
interesting to see all of the perspectives of religion, ancient spiritual
practices, "per-civilized" and indigenous rituals that all seem to feed on some
of the same basic tenants, All believe that there is a soul of consciousness,
that the soul is free and yearns to realize it’s freedom. I found the chapters
on suffering and rebirth, especially interesting in that the references from
Howard Thurman struck in particular familiar cord with me. Howard Thurman was a
longtime professor at my Alma mater Morehouse College. Although he had passed
before I arrived, his teachings still resonated throughout the world in that
Martin Luther King was one of his star pupils and learned about Ghandi and the
first, non-violent movement that he would birth lead. And Thurmond's study of
the African-American experience and how suffering in of itself became a vehicle
for my oppressed ancestors creativity and "re-birth" from systemic oppression is
truly beautiful, using "the pessimism of life as raw material out of which it
creates its own strength" (Fox, 244).
Fox, M. (2004). One river, many wells: Wisdom springing from global faiths. New
York: Tarcher/Penguin. [Part 3: pp. 187-373]
LK
Lai Man Kan
Nov 4 1:58am| Last reply Nov 8 11:13am
Reply from Lai Man Kan
Dreaming is a very useful way to interact with and get insights from our
unconscious mind. Dream recall, self-reflective awareness, and interpretation
are important skills to be developed in order to take advantage of this powerful
tool. I have been practicing dreamwork and agree with Deslauriers, D. (2013)
that dreams are narrative and full of metaphors. The snake in one’s dream can
have totally different meaning than that in another person’s dream. The symbols
and metaphors are very much related to the dreamer’s culture and personal
background and experience. Deslaruiers’ ideas regarding perspective and
self-awareness in dreams such as goal-orientation (like holding a remote
control), emotional self-monitoring, etc. describe things that we have been
practicing in our class. I personally have experienced most of the extraordinary
dreams stated in the list identified by Krippner et al. (2002) such as spiritual
and visitation dreams, healing dreams, precognitive dreams, clairvoyant dreams,
out of body dreams, dreams within dreams, initiation dreams, lucid dreams, etc.
In our Taoist ritual practice, we also have dream vision and our way of
interpreting dreams. We receive from our deities training, warnings, hints or
precognitions through dreams.
In addition, expressive arts such as dancing, drawing, painting, writing,
singing, etc. can also help tap into the unconscious mind, like dreaming, and
provide an avenue for individuals to express painful or traumatic things that
are buried deep and protected by the unconscious mind . As per the finding by
Schlarb, C. (2007), childhood peak experiences were not shared as children due
to fear of unacceptance or being seen as abnormal. However, they would express
in art, writing poetry or other channels without words instead. It appears that
tapping into the unconscious mind and unlocking our fears, traumas or inner
realities require a detour, an indirect way of getting through the veils.
Dreaming and creating arts are valuable in this transpersonal perspective.
References
Bella, K. & Serlin, I. (2013). Expressive and creative arts therapies. In
Friedman, H. & Hartelius, G. (Eds.), The Wiley Blackwell handbook of
transpersonal psychology. (pp. 529 - 543). Malden, MA: John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Deslauriers, D. (2013). Dreaming and transpersonal psychology. In Friedman, H. &
Hartelius, G. (Eds.), The Wiley Blackwell handbook of transpersonal psychology.
(pp. 512 - 528). Malden, MA: John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Krippner, S., Bogzaran, F., & de Carvhalo (2002). Extraordinary Dreams and how
to use them. Albany, NY: State University of New York Press.
Schlarb, C. (2007). The developmental impact of not integrating childhood peak
experiences. International Journal of Children’s Spirituality 12(3), 249-262.
Rick:
Deslauriers (2013) frames dreams as a transpersonal gateway to unconscious insight and healing, aligning with Schlarb's (2007) emphasis on integrating childhood peak experiences for developmental wholeness—both underscoring non-ordinary states as structured paths to ego transcendence. This resonates with the Science of Creative Intelligence (SCI), where Transcendental Meditation (TM) provides replicable access to the unified field, settling fragmented thoughts (including dream-like residues) into pure consciousness without interpretation effort (Maharishi, 1995). In my TM practice, the inward stroke often surfaces childhood memories as entangled cognitions, yielding empathy surges supported by EEG studies showing 40% greater alpha coherence post-TM (Travis & Shear, 2010). Research confirms TM enhances dream recall and lucidity via reduced REM latency (Mason et al., 1997), operationalizing Deslauriers' narrative approach for therapeutic integration.Responding to Lai Man Kan's Taoist dreamwork, TM's effortless "nothing meditation" complements your deity visions by defragmenting the mind passively, like a computer reorganizing data—enhancing precognitive clarity without cultural filters (Shear, 1981). How might TM amplify those ritual insights in group settings?
References
Deslauriers, D. (2013). Dreaming and transpersonal psychology. In H. L. Friedman
& G. Hartelius (Eds.), The Wiley-Blackwell handbook of transpersonal psychology
(pp. 512–528). Wiley-Blackwell.
Maharishi Mahesh Yogi. (1995). Science of being and art of living:
Transcendental meditation. Maharishi University of Management Press.
Mason, L. J., Alexander, C. N., Travis, F. T., Marsh, G. W., Orme-Johnson, D.
W., Gauthier, R., Walton, K. G., Bootzin, R. R., & Lauterbach, D. (1997).
Electrophysiological correlates of reduced sleep and depression in meditators: A
longitudinal study. Sleep, 20(S1), A27.
Schlarb, C. (2007). The developmental impact of not integrating childhood peak
experiences. International Journal of Children's Spirituality, 12(3), 249–262.
Shear, J. (1981). Maharishi, Plato and the TM-Sidhi program on innate
structures of consciousness. Metaphilosophy, 12(1), 72–84.
Travis, F., & Shear, J. (2010). Focused attention, open monitoring and automatic
self-transcending: Categories to organize meditation. Consciousness and
Cognition, 19(4), 1083–1091.
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