NEWSLETTER # 1 August 2017
22.08.2017
11th Annual Conference SOCIETY FOR HUMANISTIC PSYCHOLOGY
11.02.2018
NEWSLETTER # 2
February 2018
The Sacred Science Circle www.sacredsciencecircle.org gathers a sacred circle of individuals and groups that honor the “fires” of transformation implicit in all scientific, scholarly, and artistic endeavors. Our mission is to further that profound route to knowing, wisdom and enrichment of being that the confluence of science and the Sacred can bring to us and to our modern world. In pursuing sacred science, the Sacred Science Circle and our partner institution, the Alef Trust, aspire to transform both ourselves and the world.
The Sacred Science Circle e-Archive includes research resources on Art-based Research, Confucian Hermeneutics, Inclusive Psychology, Intuitive Inquiry, Sacred Wisdoms and Transpersonal Psychology.
In service to the Sacred,
Rosemarie Anderson & Les Lancaster, Sacred Science Circle, Co-Directors
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Research Updates
Research Ethics in Humanistic and Transpersonal Research by Hennie Geldenhuys
Truth-speaking as Heroism by Jacqueline Linder
Conferences & Events
11th Annual Conference, Society for Humanistic Psychology, Liberation Through Wisdom & Love, Boulder, CO, USA, March 22-25, 2018
Institute of Transpersonal Psychology Gala Fundraiser, April 7, 2018
Division 32, American Psychological Convention 2018, Celebrating the 50th Anniversary of the Founding Transpersonal Psychology, San Francisco, CA USA, August 9-12, 2018
Association for Transpersonal Psychology, The Future of Transpersonal Psychology: Integrating Science, Philosophy, Art, & Embodied Spirituality, San Francisco, CA, USA, August 13-16, 2018
19th European Transpersonal Association (EUROTAS) Conference, Tools for Evolution: Knowledge & Practices That Make Us Real, Saint Petersburg, Russia, September 19-23, 2018
RESEARCH UPDATES
RESEARCH ETHICS IN HUMANISTIC & TRANSPERSONAL RESEARCH
By Hennie Geldenhuys
Even done with honorable intent, research brings potential risks for participants. Some of these risks are obvious, such as breach of confidentiality or activating adverse emotional triggers. Others are unpredictable and on levels we may not quite understand, especially in the relatively young field of transpersonal studies in which deep and existential participation is often involved.
Transpersonal research methodology often includes more integrated and enmeshed relationships between qualitative researchers and their research participants, complex research protocols, and the potential psychological effects of the research on the participant. Therefore, the boundaries between data collection, therapy, and experience, may become blurred. Transpersonal and spiritual research is also more likely to directly influence the participant in ways that may require specialized clinical skills in addition to research skills.
Ethical principles of research involving human participants are coded into guidelines, such as the ethics codes of the American Psychological Association (APA) and British Psychological Society (BPS), Declaration of Helsinki, the Belmont Report, and the ICH Good Clinical Practice (GCP). Research Ethics Committees (REC) and Institutional Review Boards (IRB) play a pivotal role as advocates for the rights, safety, and well-being of research participants and must approve and monitor all research.
Do the guidelines accommodate transpersonal and humanistic research? Are researchers adequately informed and prepared for the complexities? Do transpersonal research proposals adequately and proactively address risk and outcome? Are REC and IRB members well enough versed in this distinctive field to fulfil their mandate?
Personally, I think there is still much to do here. As we continue to learn how science can engage with the sacred and the spiritual and the transpersonal, we also need to develop contextual understandings, guidelines, and safeguards for those most cherished in what we do: our participants.
Hennie Geldenhuys is a medical doctor, transpersonal coach, and trainer in South Africa. For more: email henniegel@innerheal.co.za or visit www.innerheal.co.za
TRUTH-SPEAKING AS HEROISM
By Jacqueline Linder
Judith Herman in Trauma and Recovery: The Aftermath of Violence – From Domestic Abuse to Political Terror wrote: “The ordinary response to atrocities is to banish them from consciousness. Certain violations of the social compact are too terrible to utter aloud: this is the meaning of the word unspeakable.” As a psychologist specializing in complex trauma including childhood sexual abuse, domestic violence, and human trafficking, I bear private witness to the unspeakable every day. However, what is most striking to me is not their suffering, but their heroism.
Zeno, Blau, and Zimbardo identified 12 heroic subtypes: 1) Risk heroes who exceed the call of duty; 2) Civil heroes who risk themselves to save others; 3) Religious figures who embody high spiritual principles; 4) Politico-religious figures who are exemplars of public service; 5) Martyrs who endanger themselves in service to a cause; 6) Political or military leaders who guide a nation in difficult times; 7) Adventurers who explore the geographic unknown; 8) Scientific heroes who explore unknown areas of science; 9) Good Samaritans who help others in need;10) Underdogs who succeed despite adverse conditions; 11) Bureaucracy heroes who hold to principles despite pressure to conform; and 12) Whistle-blowers who report illegal or unethical activities in an organization.
In addition to the subtypes above, I would add Truth-speaker as a 13th heroic subtype, characterized by a trauma survivor’s act of shattering the compact of silence and voicing what is unspeakable within a society. This subtype has transpersonal elements because truth-speaking involves moving beyond personal fear and ultimately healing the collective. Because hurt people often go on to hurt others, collective wellness requires that society publicly witness and take responsibility for its own darkness. Somebody must find the courage to tell.
In 2017, the explosion of sexual abuse and harassment disclosures in North America’s entertainment, business, and political industries shattered the traditional compact of silence around sexual issues. What started with the tentative whispers of a handful of Truth-speakers has become a social revolution.
Jacqueline Linder, Ph. D. is a trauma psychologist and Director of City University’s Master of Counselling Program in Edmonton, AB, Canada. To learn more about Jacqui’s work, contact her via email: jacquilinder@yahoo.ca.
CONFERENCES
11th Annual Conference
SOCIETY FOR HUMANISTIC PSYCHOLOGY
March 22-25, 2018
Naropa University
Boulder, Colorado, USA
LIBERATION THROUGH WISDOM & LOVE:
Humanistic Psychology, Social Justice & Contemplative Practice
See conference website for details: www.shpconference.com/
Institute of Transpersonal Psychology Foundation Gala Fundraiser
The ITP Foundation, an independent non-profit corporation, will host a gala fundraiser to support transpersonal and spiritual research studies and projects on April 7, 2018. For details, see http://conta.cc/2F4QzZ4
50th ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATIONS OF
THE FOUNDING OF TRANSPERSONAL PSYCHOLOGY
American Psychological Association Convention 2018
August 9-12, 2018
San Francisco, CA, USA
Events celebrating the 50th Anniversary of Transpersonal Psychology will be hosted by APA Division 32, The Society for Humanistic Psychology, at the APA Convention 2018 in San Francisco. Division 32 convention program and hospitality suite program details will be available in April 2018 at www.sacredsciencecircle.org/news_events/.
Celebrating the 50th Anniversary
THE FUTURE OF TRANSPERSONAL PSYCHOLOGY:
INTEGRATING SCIENCE, ART, PHILOSOPHY, & EMBODIED SPIRITUALITY
August 13-16, 2018
California Institute of Integral Studies
San Francisco, CA, USA
See conference website for details: www.atp2018conference.com
19th European Transpersonal Association (EUROTAS) Conference
TOOLS FOR EVOLUTION:
KNOWLEDGE AND PRACTICE THAT MAKE US REAL
September 19-23, 2018
Saint Petersburg, Russia
See conference website for details: http://eurotas2018.com/en/
Celebrating the 50th Anniversary in Journal Publications
The following two journals will publish special issues or issues dedicated to the 50th celebration of the founding of Transpersonal Psychology:
The Humanistic Psychologist, Special Issue edited by Rosemarie Anderson
The Journal of Transpersonal Psychology, edited by Marcie Boucouvalas
ADVANCE NOTICE
The Fourth Transpersonal Research Colloquium (TRC) 2019 will be held in Paris following the EUROTAS Conference there in late September 2019. Details to follow at www.transpersonalresearchnetwork.com.
Abstracts of presentations at the TRC 2015 Milan, TRC 2016 London, and TRC Prague are available at www.transpersonalresearchnetwork.com/trc/.
TRC Organizers
Rosemarie Anderson, Giovanna Calabrese, Regina U. Hess, Les Lancaster, & Pier Luigi Lattuada
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