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The following articles are written by William Braud, Ph.D., on expanded approaches to research and disciplined inquiry.
The following articles are written by William Braud, Ph.D., on topics in the area of consciousness studies.
The following articles are written by William Braud, Ph.D., on various topics in the area of spirituality.
The following articles are written by William Braud, Ph.D., on various topics in the area of exceptional human experiences.
The following articles are written by William Braud, Ph.D., on various topics in the area of transpersonal studies.
The following articles are written by some of William Braud's colleagues on various topics in the area of transpersonal studies.
Can
Research Be Transpersonal? An article originally published in the Transpersonal Psychology Review, Volume 2, Number 3, December, 1998, pp. 9-17. Used with permission. Abstract Individually, conventional and narrow forms of research cannot adequately address transpersonal topics or experiences. Blending several methods together–each for a specific purpose–increases the match between research and the transpersonal. However, the most faithful matches occur only when research methods and approaches can be expanded, extended, enriched, and enlivened, in terms of the very transpersonal qualities that they are used to explore. This paper presents several areas in which research can be expanded, so that it might become more inclusive and better able to honor and appreciate the richness, breadth, depth, and subtlety of the exceptional experiences that are of interest to transpersonal psychology. Copyright ©
1998 by
The British Psychological Society The
Ley and the Labyrinth: Universalistic and Particularistic Approaches to
Knowing An article originally appearing as Working Paper Number 1997-1 of the William James Center for Consciousness Studies, Institute of Transpersonal Psychology, Palo Alto, CA. A version of this paper later was published in the Transpersonal Psychology Review, October 2002, Volume 6 Number 2, pp. 47-62. Used with permission Abstract The ley (straightline path) and the labyrinth (twisting, circling path) are used as metaphors in describing two complementary ways of knowing. The ley represents a universalistic, nomothetic approach to knowing, research, and inquiry; it emphasizes abstractions and general principles, and it is the privileged approach of conventional science. The labyrinth represents a particularistic, idiographic approach to knowing, research and inquiry; it emphasizes unique, individual cases, and it is an approach that is especially congenial to qualitative research, human science, and transpersonal studies. The labyrinthine, idiographic approach honors individual human experiences while, at the same time, providing a potential pathway to universal apprehensions and understandings. The strengths and limitations of the two approaches are illustrated by examples drawn from literature, science, philosophy, psychology, and transpersonal studies. Copyright ©
2002 The
British Psychological Society. Disciplined
Inquiry for Transpersonal Studies: Old and New Approaches to Research
A version of the following article originally was presented at the 76th Annual Convention of the Western Psychological Association, April 11-14, 1996, San Jose, CA. It also appears as Working Paper Number 1996-1 of the William James Center for Consciousness Studies, Institute of Transpersonal Psychology, Palo Alto, CA. Abstract This paper includes three interrelated sections. The first section on "integral inquiry" was prepared by William Braud. The second section on "intuitive inquiry" was prepared by Rosemarie Anderson. The third section on "phenomenological inquiry" was prepared by Ron Valle. The paper describes the essential nature of each of these three new approaches to research and disciplined inquiry–methods that are especially congenial to the study of exceptional human experiences and transpersonal experiences. These sections were the seeds of what later became chapters devoted to these methods in the book, Transpersonal Research Methods for the Social Sciences: Honoring Human Experience, by William Braud and Rosemarie Anderson (Sage, 1998). Copyright ©
1996 by
Rosemarie Anderson, Ph.D., William Braud, Ph.D., and Ron Valle, Ph.D.
All
rights reserved. "Projects
of Transcendence" at ITP The following short article originally appeared in E[xceptional] H[human] E[xperience] News, 1998, Volume 5, Number 1, pp. 8-9. Used with permission. Abstract This brief article describes the whole-person, experiential educational approach of the Institute of Transpersonal Psychology, a graduate school that offers doctoral and master’s degrees and certificates in programs emphasizing transpersonal studies, psychology, and spirituality. Copyright ©
1998 by
the Exceptional Human Experience Network, Inc. All rights reserved.
Growing
Edges: Thoughts on Research and Clinical Practice The following article originally appeared in The Mind’s Eye: An Online Transpersonal Psychology Journal, Issue Number 2, 1997. Used with permission. Abstract In the conventional research paradigm, the stance of the investigator is that of a separate, distanced "objective" observer who strives to be as uninvolved as possible with the research participants and with what is being studied, in an effort to eliminate or avoid contamination by his or her own biases or expectations. There is an attempt to remove the investigator from judgmental and decisional responsibilities through the use of automatic, impersonal decision tools provided by research designs themselves and by statistical outcomes. Such conventions of subject matter, method, and investigator stance tend to distance research from clinical practice, which involves more meaningful and more complex issues and processes, a greater reliance upon experiential, subjective factors, and a greater involvement of the practitioner. These same conventions tend also to separate research from what is happening in the investigator's own personal and psychospiritual experiences, growth, and development. In the transpersonal paradigm, research is complemented by what is missing in the conventional paradigm. Methods of disciplined inquiry are expanded to include qualitative methods that can more appropriately and faithfully address rich, meaningful, and complex human experiences. Full description and understanding are valued as much as prediction and control. Emphasis may be placed upon understanding how processes and issues interact complexly and dynamically in the everyday life circumstances and life journeys of individuals. In this transpersonal paradigm–with its more qualitative and idiographic emphases–research, clinical practice, and the investigator’s own psychospiritual growth and development become much more similar, much more hospitable toward each another, and may occur simultaneously, with minimal conflict. Copyright ©
1997 by
the Institute of Transpersonal Psychology. All rights reserved.
Toward
an Integral Methodology for Transpersonal Studies An article originally appearing as Working Paper Number 1994-1 of the William James Center for Consciousness Studies, Institute of Transpersonal Psychology, Palo Alto, CA. Used with permission. Abstract This paper indicates the
limitations of
older, more conventional approaches to research (grounded in an
exclusively
positivistic paradigm) and suggests ways in which research and
disciplined
inquiry can be extended and expanded to more appropriately honor and
address
exceptional human experiences and transpersonal topics and
experiences. Copyright ©
1994 by
William Braud. All rights reserved. In
Support of Single-Case Clinical Studies A Letter to the Editor originally published in the journal, Alternative Therapies in Health and Medicine, Volume 4, Number 3, May, 1998, p. 88. Used with permission. Abstract This short paper on the value of single cases in several areas of research originally appeared as a Letter to the Editor of the journal, Alternative Therapies in Health and Medicine. The paper highlights John Stuart Mill's (1806-1873) methods ("canons") of inductive inference and indicates how variations of these methods appear in several current research approaches. Copyright ©
1998 by
InnoVision Communications. On
Qualitative Methods and Researcher Qualities and Preparation
Abstract A short article describing the advantages, and appropriateness, of qualitative research methods—such as case studies—for investigating meaningful, dynamic topics of transpersonal relevance. Copyright ©
2001 by
William Braud. All rights reserved. An
Introduction to Organic Inquiry: Honoring the Transpersonal and
Spiritual
in Research Praxis This paper originally was published in The Journal of Transpersonal Psychology, 2004, Volume 36, Number 1, pp. 18-25. Used with permission. Abstract The Editors of this Journal asked me to write a brief introduction to Jennifer Clements’ paper on Organic Inquiry. I provide my introductory comments in the form of an imaginary “Letter to a Student,” in which I describe the history, nature, strengths, and limitations of this approach. Copyright ©
2004 by
The Transpersonal Institute Transpersonal Research From a Global Perspective
Unpublished manuscript, Institute of Transpersonal Psychology, February 23, 2007. Used with permission. Abstract <>In this brief paper, we propose that transpersonal research be expanded to more fully emphasize wisdom and benefits to our global community. We present a vision for research that (a) honors the world's wisdom psychologies, (b) invites all these psychologies to help us "reinvent" ourselves as a global community, (c) affirms our interdependence on one another and the natural world, (d) furthers the well-being of the natural world, and (e) encourages all people to become perfectly themselves in their own time and place. To support this vision, we propose four research emphases that can contribute to an appreciation and understanding of these end goals and also serve as means toward their accomplishment. We recommend research projects that might help reduce factors contributing to unhealthy, unsustainable world conditions--factors such as arrogance, hubris, greed, selfishness, intolerance, fear, overly materialistic values, unequal distribution of wealth, goods, and necessities, and proclivities toward violence, cruelty, war-mongering, and dishonesty.[ article ][ word][ pdf ] Copyright ©
2007 by Rosemarie Anderson and William Braud. All rights reserved.
Psi-Favorable
Conditions An invited chapter for the book, New Frontiers of Human Science: A Festschrift for K. Ramakrishna Rao, edited by V. Gowri Rammohan (Jefferson, NC: McFarland, 2002), pp. 95-118. Used with permission. Abstract This chapter describes the various psychophysiological conditions that have been found to be favorable to the occurrence and accuracy of psychic phenomena such as telepathy, clairvoyance, precognition, and psychokinesis. The favorable conditions include muscular relaxation; emotional, autonomic quietude; cognitive quietude; sensory/perceptual restriction; hypnosis; dreams; and drug-induced states. Several conceptual models are proposed, which address reduced distractions; internally-deployed attention; decreased constraints (destructuring) and increased free variability(enhanced lability and availability); increased expectancy, suggestion, and confidence. Possible physical and physiological psi facilitators are mentioned, as are syndromes of psi-facilitating states of mind associated with faith, hope, and love. Copyright © 2002 by V. Gowri Rammohan [top]
Reaching
for Consciousness: Expansions and Complements A version of this paper was originally presented as an invited address to the 35th Annual Parapsychological Association Convention, Las Vegas, NV, August 9-13, 1992. The paper was later published in the Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research, Volume 88, Number 3, July, 1994, pp. 185-206. Used with permission. Abstract This paper addresses possible ways in which the field of parapsychology might be expanded and made more relevant and useful to human life and human potentials. Possible expansions are suggested in the following areas: types of experimental designs, different indicators of psi, different target events, other procedural accompaniments, our subject matter, our sources of inspiration, ourselves as investigators, our conceptualization of psi, our audiences, and our attitudes toward psi. Copyright © 1994 by the American Society for Psychical Research. All rights reserved. [ top ]
Honoring
Our Natural Experiences A version of this paper was originally presented as a contribution to a symposium on "Exceptional Experiences of Psi Investigators: Their Meanings and Implications," 36th Annual Parapsychological Association Convention, Toronto, Canada, August 15-19, 1993. The paper was later published in the Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research, Volume 88, Number 3, October, 1994, pp. 293-308. Used with permission. Abstract In the service of a Newtonian physical science paradigm, contemporary parapsychology privileges a quantitative, experimental approach that seeks to explain, predict, and control psi. The investigator’s goal is to remain separate, detached, objective, and uninvolved with the process or persons studied. However, there are growing trends in the human sciences toward recognizing this paradigm’s limitations and proposing an alternative that is more hospitable to: (a) inseparability of the knower and the known; (b) recognized and maximized involvement of the investigator; (c) subjective, experiential factors; (d) description, understanding, and meaning; (e) emergence and downward causation; (f) naturalistic and qualitative approaches; and (g) idiographic as well as nomothetic aims. I suggest that recognizing, owning, honoring, and sharing by psi investigators of their own psychic and other exceptional experiences (a) is very much in line with the growing new paradigm, (b) may be beneficial to physical and psychological health, (d) may actually enhance the reality of psi, and (d) may ultimately be more convincing than laboratory data to other scientists. I describe some of my own spontaneous psi experiences (including spontaneous macropsychokinesis, precognitive dreams, crisis ESP, psi-mediated instrumental response, synchronicities), indicate lessons learned from them, their influences upon me, and their implications for our field. Copyright © 1994 by the American Society for Psychical Research. All rights reserved. [ top ]
Can
Our Intentions Interact Directly With the Physical World?
A version of this paper was originally presented as an Invited Address at the Fifth Edinburgh International Science Festival, Edinburgh, Scotland, April 10-24, 1993. The paper was later published in the European Journal of Parapsychology, Volume 10, 1994, pp. 78-90. Used with permission. Abstract The paper reviews evidence from controlled laboratory studies that suggests that mental intentions may interact directly with the physical world. Such direct mental intentions have been demonstrated with mechanical random systems such as thrown dice and, more recently, with electronic random event generators that use radioactive decay or thermal noise as a source of randomness. Direct mental interaction with living systems (DMILS) has also been demonstrated. A wide variety of living target systems have been investigated, including bacteria, animals, and human nervous system and cognitive activity. While there is good evidence for direct mental interaction with animate and inanimate systems, much remains to be learned about how these effects interact with other physical, physiological, and psychological factors. At a theoretical level, such direct mental interactions do not appear to be directly mediated by conventional physical forces, but satisfactory theoretical models have yet to be fully developed. Finally, the implications and potential applications of direct mental interaction are discussed. Copyright © 1993 by William Braud. All rights reserved. [ top ]
On
the Use of Living Target Systems in Distant Mental Influence Research
A version of this paper was originally presented at the 37th Annual International Conference of the Parapsychology Foundation, Chapel Hill, NC, 1988. Later, the paper was published as a book chapter: Braud, W.G. (1993). On the use of living target systems in distant mental influence research. In L. Coly & J. D. S. McMahon (Eds.), Psi Research Methodology: A Re-examination (pp. 149-181). New York: Parapsychology Foundation. Used with permission. Abstract The paper traces the use of living systems as "targets" for direct intentional influences. Historical, theoretical, and empirical reviews are presented, along with suggestions of the implications and potential applications of such work. Copyright © 1988 by William Braud. All rights reserved. [ top ]
Remote
Mental Influence of Electrodermal Activity This paper was originally presented as an invited contribution to a panel on Anomalous Phenomena in Psychophysiology" at the 22nd Annual Meeting of the Association for Applied Psychophysiology and Biofeedback, Dallas, Texas, March 15-20, 1991. A version of the paper later was published in the Journal of Indian Psychology: A Journal of Classical Ideas and Current Research, Volume 10, Numbers 1 & 2, January & July, 1992, pp. 1-10. Used with permission. Abstract This paper reviews empirical research on a psychophysiological anomaly: the influence of physiological activities through mental suggestion, at a distance. The review emphasizes direct (distant) mental suggestion research carried out by early Russian physiologists (Bekhterev, Vasiliev, Platonov, Ivanov-Smolensky), telepathy’s role in Hans Berger’s development of the electroencephalograph, and early French experiments in distant mental influence of hypnotized participants (Joire, Gibert, Janet, Richet). The review is brought up to date through its coverage of recent empirical studies of direct (remote, distant) mental influences of electrodermal activity and other biological activities. Copyright © 1991 by William Braud. All rights reserved. [ top ]
Attention
Focusing Facilitated Through Remote Mental Interaction
An article originally published in the Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research, Volume 89, Number 2, April, 1995, pp. 103-115. Used with permission. Abstract Sixty volunteer participants, during individual 16-minute sessions, focused attention upon a centering object (a candle in a candle holder) while indicating each time the mind wandered from this focus (i.e., each time the mind was distracted) by pressing a hand-held button. A computer monitored and assessed these distraction-indicating button-presses. During eight 1-minute Help periods, another person in a distant room attempted to mentally "help" the participant by focusing on an identical centering object and intending for the participant to attend well and not be distracted. During eight 1-minute Control periods, the helper did not attempt to influence the participant but, rather, thought about irrelevant matters. The random schedule of the two types of periods was unknown to the participant. Participants evidenced significantly greater focused attention (fewer distractions) during Help than during Control periods (t = 2.00, 59 df, p = .049, two-tailed, effect size = .25). The magnitude of the remote mental helping effect was significantly correlated (r = .26 and r = .32) with two measures of the participant's "need to be helped" (measures of concentration difficulties and difficulties in attending). The effect size for the "needy" participants was .56, whereas the effect size for the non-needy participants was -.03. This study is part of a program that is beginning to assess direct mental influences of one person upon a variety of nonphysiological activities (cognitive, emotional, social, psychic) being carried out simultaneously by another, distantly isolated, person. Copyright © 1995 by the American Society for Psychical Research. All rights reserved. [ top ]
Distant
Intentionality and Healing: Assessing the Evidence
An article originally published in the journal, Alternative Therapies in Health and Medicine, Volume 3, Number 6, November, 1997, pp. 62-73. Used with permission. Abstract Since the 1950s, researchers have attempted to understand reports of distant or psychic healing, developing experimental protocols that test the distant healing hypothesis by measuring biological changes in a target system while ruling out suggestion or self-regulation as counterexplanations. This article provides a brief overview of these healing analog experiments. It also provides a summary and meta-analysis of 30 formal experiments in which self-reported healers, psychics, and other self-selected volunteers attempted to influence autonomic nervous system activity in a distant person. Results across the experiments showed a significant and characteristic variation during distant intentionality periods, compared with randomly interspersed control periods. Possible alternative explanations for the reported effects are considered. Finally, the implications of distant intentionality are discussed for an understanding of the possible mechanisms of distant healing, the nature of the mind-body relationship, and the role of consciousness in the physical world. [ pdf ] Copyright © 1997 by InnoVision Communications. All rights reserved. [ top ]
Wellness
Implications of Retroactive Intentional Influence: Exploring an
Outrageous
Hypothesis An article originally published in the journal, Alternative Therapies in Health and Medicine, Volume 6, Number 1, January, 2000, pp. 37-48. Used with permission. Abstract Virtually all medical and psychological treatments and interventions–conventional as well as complementary and alternative–are assumed to act in present time on present, already well-established conditions. An alternative healing pathway is proposed in which healing intentions–in the form of direct mental interactions with biological systems–may act in a "backward," time-displaced manner to influence probabilities of initial occurrence of earlier "seed moments" in the development of illness or health. Because seed moments are more labile, freely variable, and flexible, as well as unusually sensitive to small influences, time-displaced healing pathways may be especially efficacious. This unusual hypothesis is supported by a review of a substantial database of well-controlled laboratory experiments. Theoretical rationales and potential health applications and implications are presented. Copyright © 2000 by InnoVision Communications. All rights reserved. [ top ]
Replies
to Mr. Kennedy, Dr. Kanthamani, and Dr. Anick These replies were originally published in the journal, Alternative Therapies in Health and Medicine, Volume 6, Number 3, May, 2000, pp. 23, 119. Used with permission. Abstract These are brief replies to two sets of comments that were published in response to the full article, "Wellness implications of retroactive intentional influence: Exploring an outrageous hypothesis." The full article is available at this web site. Copyright © 2000 by InnoVision Communications. All rights reserved. [ top ]
Transcending
the Limits of Time An article originally published in The Inner Edge: A Resource for Enlightened Business Practice, Volume 2, Number 6, December, 1999, pp. 16-18. Used with permission. Abstract This brief, popular article addresses the serious possibility that our intentions may work "backward in time" to influence the initial probabilities (seed moments) of events that, according to conventional apprehensions of time, "already have happened." This topic is addressed much more deeply and technically in another article, "Wellness implications of retroactive intentional influence: Exploring an outrageous hypothesis," available on this web site. Copyright © 1999 by InnoVision Communications. All rights reserved. [ top ]
Brains, Science, and Nonordinary and Transcendent Experiences: Can Conventional Concepts and Theories Adequately Address Mystical and Paranormal Experiences? William Braud This paper appeared originally as an invited chapter in the book, NeuroTheology: Brain, Science, Spirituality, Religious Experience, edited by Rhawn Joseph (San Jose, CA: University Press, California, 2002), pp. 143-158. Used with permission. Abstract This chapter provides a balanced account of both the strengths and limitations of conventional cognitive science and neuroscience, as these attempt to address and explain nonordinary and transcendent experiences. These nonordinary and transcendent experiences include—but are not limited to—mystical, spiritual, and paranormal experiences. Although some findings and theories of experimental psychology, cognitive science, and neuroscience may explain, and are quite relevant to, certain aspects of these nonordinary experiences, these same explanatory concepts are not yet able to deal with other aspects of these experiences—particularly those well-researched cases in which the experiences yield veridical knowledge about sensorily inaccessible events or in which they are associated with objectively measurable, distant influences upon others or upon the physical world. The chapter also introduces information relevant to the issue of whether the human brain might wholly produce consciousness (and, hence, nonordinary and transcendent experiences) or whether it might serve, rather, as a vehicle for the transmission and expression of consciousness and of these exceptional experiences. The chapter ends with a fresh conceptualization of bodymind that transcends, yet continues to include, the previously recognized features of each of its members. Copyright © 2002 by University Press, California [ top ] The
Influence of Consciousness in the Physical World: A Psychologist’s View
This paper was originally presented as an Invited Address to the Second International Symposium on Science and Consciousness, Athens, Greece, January 3-7, 1992. It was later published, under the title "The Role of Mind in the Physical World: A Psychologist’s View," in the European Journal of Parapsychology, Volume 10, 1994, pp. 66-77. Used with permission. Abstract Progress in understanding the nature of consciousness is reviewed. There is growing evidence that consciousness can have direct effects on physical systems. Consciousness can directly influence remote physical systems such as random number generators, biological systems such as cellular preparations, and psychological systems such as a person’s cognitive processes. Procedures and conditions, such as the ganzfeld, that are conducive to direct knowing of distant events have been discovered. Less is known about the conditions under which direct influence operates, but relaxation and quietude, attention training, imagery and visualization, intentionality, and motivation are five mental processes that appear to be particularly useful in bringing about effective direct consciousness influences upon remote physical and biological target systems. Three models of the influence of consciousness are described, and their implications for our understanding of consciousness are discussed. A consciousness that can directly influence physical systems implies a profound and extensive interconnectedness between mind and body, and between humanity and the environment. Such an interconnectedness would require a re-examination of our existing scientific worldview. Copyright © 1992 by William Braud. All rights reserved. [ top ]
Nonordinary
and Transcendent Experiences: Transpersonal Aspects of Consciousness
An abbreviated version of this paper was presented at the May 5, 2001, Fourth Consilience Conference, "Towards a Consilient Model of Knowing: Consciousness and the Participatory Worldview," of The Graduate Institute, Yale University, New Haven, CT. Abstract In this paper, I discuss the types of experiences that suggest that there are many more ways of knowing, doing, and being than those usually recognized by conventional psychology and conventional science. I describe the general classes of such experiences, which I call "nonordinary and transcendent experiences," building on Rhea White’s "exceptional human experiences" classifications (mystical/unitive, psychical, unusual death-related, encounter, healing, peak, exceptional human performances/feats, dissociative, and desolation/nadir experiences), mention the evidential bases for these (drawing largely upon my own research), mention models that have been developed to account for these, and indicate what these experiences imply about our human potentialities, our nature, and our identity. I also treat possible practical applications of these areas that suggest that we are "more" than the local, individual egos familiarly associated with, and apprehended in, our ordinary states of consciousness. Copyright © 2001 by William Braud. All rights reserved. [ top ]
The
Sense of Being Stared At: Fictional, Physical, Perceptual, or
Attentional/Intentional? An article originally published in the journal, Journal of Consciousness Studies, Volume 12, Number 6, June, 2005, pp. 66-71. Used with permission. Abstract This article provides open peer review commentary on a “target article” on the sense of being stared at by Rupert Sheldrake in this same journal issue. I suggest that the staring detection effect is real, is not an artifact of physical or methodological factors, but is an indicator of remote-acting attentional and intentional processes, rather than a visual or quasi-visual sensory/perceptual effect, as Sheldrake maintains. Sheldrake is commended for his wide-ranging attempts to democratize science through his encouragement of experiments carried out by students and by the public at large. [article] [word] [pdf] Copyright © 2005 by Imprint Academic Thoughts
on the Ineffability of the Mystical Experience An article originally published in The International Journal for the Psychology of Religion, Volume 12, Number 3, 2002, pp. 141-160. Used with permission. Abstract Ineffability has been proposed as an important feature of the mystical experience. Various psychological processes may contribute to this ineffability, including: expansion of awareness from center to margin of the field of consciousness (building on thoughts of William James and Frederic Myers); an attentional shift from a discrete figure to a large, complex, novel ground; limitations imposed by the nature of the “object” of the experience and by our vehicles of perception and cognition; difficulties of memory transfer from mystical to ordinary states of consciousness; and constraints imposed by brain structures, culture and tradition, and self-fulfilling prophesies. This focus on the limitations of vehicles of expression does not deny that exposure to a transcendent realm may also account for aspects of ineffability. Copyright © 2002 by Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc. [ top ] Empirical
Explorations of Prayer, Distant Healing, and Remote Mental
Influence A version of this paper, under the title, "Healing Analog Research and Human Connectedness," was presented at the Annual Meeting of the Society for the Scientific Study of Religion and Religious Research Association, Virginia Beach, VA, November 9-11, 1990. Later, the paper was published as "Empirical Explorations of Prayer, Distant Healing, and Remote Mental Influence" in the Journal of Religion and Psychical Research, Volume 17, Number 2, April, 1994, pp. 62-73. Used with permission. Abstract This paper provides a review of empirical studies of the influences of intercessory prayer, mental healing, and experimental analogs of direct healing. The paper also addresses theoretical explanations for these phenomena and discusses their implications for the concept of human interconnectedness. Copyright © 1990 by William Braud. All rights reserved. [ top ]
Parapsychology
and Spirituality: Implications and Intimations
An article originally published in ReVision: A Journal of Consciousness and Transformation, Volume 18, Number 1, Summer, 1995, pp. 36-43, and later reprinted in Charles Tart’s anthology, Body Mind Spirit: Exploring the Parapsychology of Spirituality, (Charlottesville, VA: Hampton Roads, 1997). Used with permission. Abstract In this paper, I suggest alternatives to an "over-masculinized" view of the nature of science. I review extensive laboratory research that indicates that persons are able to acquire direct knowledge of remote events, and directly influence distant physical, biological, and psychological events, through means other than those currently recognized by conventional science. A large number of factors known to facilitate such "psychic" functioning sort themselves into three clusters that closely match the three familiar virtues of faith, hope, and love–virtues emphasized in virtually all spiritual and wisdom traditions. These factors are treated in detail. Parapsychological findings can be useful to those on a spiritual path in that they can provide a certain degree of confidence and trust that at least some of the processes and concepts encountered are "real" in a more traditional sense and are not delusions, projections, or misinterpretations. They also can serve to remind us that we are not alone in having exceptional experiences; such experiences are normal, natural, and remarkably widespread. However, these scientific reassurances, though of value, are only partial. A great deal of what is encountered along the spiritual path is quite beyond the reach of current science. Here, one must be armed with trust, faith, hope, love, discernment, and a tolerance for ambiguity and for contraries, rather than with the feelings of safety, certainty, familiarity, and understanding that science can provide. Copyright © 1990 by William Braud. All rights reserved. [ top ]
Review
of David Fontana’s Psychology, Religion, and Spirituality
This is a review of David Fontana’s book, Psychology, Religion, and Spirituality. The review was published in the Journal of Transpersonal Psychology, Volume 35, Number 2, 2003, pp. 169-172. Used with permission. Copyright © 2003 by the Transpersonal Institute. All rights reserved. [ top ]
Exceptional Human Experiences, Disclosure, and a More Inclusive View of Physical, Psychological, and Spiritual Well-Being Genie Palmer and William Braud An article originally published in the Journal of Transpersonal Psychology, Volume 34, Number 1, 2002, pp. 29-61. Used with permission. Abstract The nature, accompaniments, and life impacts of 5 types of exceptional human experiences (EHEs: mystical, psychic, unusual death-related, encounter, and exceptional normal) were explored, using correlational and qualitative analyses. An experimental design and standardized assessments were used to explore possible beneficial outcomes of working with and disclosing EHEs, individually or in psychoeducational groups. EHEs occurred frequently, were perceived as meaningful and important, and their disclosure was perceived as beneficial. Correlational results indicated that frequent and/or profound EHEs were positively and significantly related to high levels of meaning and purpose in life, high levels of spirituality, “thin” or permeable boundaries, and a tendency toward transformative life changes. Disclosure was positively and significantly associated with meaning and purpose in life, positive psychological attitudes and well-being, and reduced stress-related symptoms. Qualitative analyses revealed that EHEs and their disclosure were accompanied by themes of well-being, meaning, openness, spirituality, need-satisfaction, and transformative change. Copyright © 2002 by the Transpersonal Institute [ top ] An
Experience of Timelessness An article originally published in Exceptional Human Experience, Volume 13, Number 1, June, 1995, pp. 64-66. Used with permission. Abstract I describe an experience of altered time perception that occurred a little over a year before the formal report was written, expanding upon notes made immediately after the experience. By using my imagination, I began, deliberately, to induce a state of timelessness. At a certain point, the experience developed a "life of its own," quickly becoming one in which distinctions (including ego) dissolved. In this paper, I describe the procedure and the experience itself, and make supplementary observations on the context, triggers, feeling tone, meaning and interpretation, and aftereffects of the experience. Copyright © 1997 by the Exceptional Human Experience Network. All rights reserved. [ top ]
Response
to Rhea White’s Commentary on "An Experience of Timelessness"
An article originally published in Exceptional Human Experience, Volume 13, Number 1, June, 1995, pp. 67-68. Used with permission. Abstract This is a response to comments and questions from Rhea White about my "experience of timelessness." I describe other instances of altered time perception and related experiences and offer further descriptions and interpretations of my timelessness experience. Although this experience, and a similar one of Boyce Batey (described in the same issue of the Journal), both began as deliberate attempts, ultimately the experiences themselves were gratuitous. Parapsychologists might heed this and devote more consideration to the element of spontaneity. I describe the experience of "wonder-joy tears" and suggest that such tears may be a concomitant of exceptional human experiences (EHEs). Poetry, art, and music seem especially effective–more so, than linear prose–in expressing EHEs. Copyright © 1997 by the Exceptional Human Experience Network. All rights reserved. [ top ]
On
Varieties of Dissociation: An Essay Review of Krippner and Powers’ Broken
Images, Broken Selves: Dissociative Narratives in Clinical Practice
An article originally published in the Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research, Volume 93, Number 1, January, 1999, pp. 116-140. Used with permission. Abstract Because dissociation and related phenomena are highly relevant to the psychical phenomena and the exceptional human experiences (EHEs) that are of interest to readers of this Journal, the author reviews a new book on dissociation in more detail than is usual, comments on the strengths and limitations of the presented findings and thoughts, and includes suggestions on how dissociation-related concepts, findings, and approaches could be adapted for use in psychical and EHE research and investigations. Emphasis is upon the great variety of forms dissociation may take (within and across individuals, and within and across cultures); the maladaptive and adaptive aspects of dissociation; possible concomitants, facilitators, and impediments of dissociation; and how decreasing identifications (dissociations) from certain modes of knowing, being, and doing, and increasing identifications (associations) with alternative modes may provide entry points for new exceptional and psychic experiences that are not possible within the earlier system of identifications or frame of reference. Copyright © 2000 by the American Society for Psychical Research, Inc. All rights reserved. [ top ]
Transpersonal
Images: Implications for Health This paper originally appeared as an invited chapter in the book, Healing Images: The Role of Imagination in Health, edited by Anees A. Sheikh (Amityville, NY: Baywood Publishing Company, 2003), pp. 448-470. Used with permission. Abstract In “preverbal imagery,” the imagination acts to alter one’s own cellular, biochemical, and physiological activity. In “transpersonal imagery,” the thoughts, images, feelings, intentions, or attention of one person are able to influence other persons and other animate and inanimate systems, even when one is separated from those persons or systems in space or time. Such influences are direct—unmediated by conventional sensory or motor processes. This chapter describes the power of the imagination in producing a variety of nonlocal effects under carefully controlled laboratory conditions. These effects are similar to those produced in mental or spiritual healing. Complementary direct knowing findings also are described, in which one can become accurately aware of events beyond the reach of the conventional senses. The chapter also treats similar instances of nonlocal knowing and nonlocal intentional influence that have been described in several spiritual and wisdom traditions. Copyright © 2003 by the Baywood Publishing Company, Inc. [ top ] Human
Interconnectedness: Research Indications An abbreviated version of this paper was published in ReVision: A Journal of Consciousness and Transformation, Volume 14, Number 3, Winter, 1992, pp. 140-148, in a special issue devoted to transpersonal medicine. Used with permission. Abstract I present evidence–chiefly from my own laboratory work–suggestive of profound interconnectedness of aspects of ourselves, of ourselves with others, and of ourselves with all aspects of the biological and physical world. Research findings are presented that indicate connections between body and mind, our connections with other people, the possibility of direct knowing and direct mental influence of remote events, connections between people and animals, connections between people and objects, and connections with cells. I review explanatory models that have been developed to account for such effects, and I mention implications and possible practical applications of these processes. Copyright © 1992 by William Braud. All rights reserved. [ top ]
Limits
and Limitlessness: A Tale This short contribution–originally written in 1994–was later published in The Mind’s Eye: An Online Transpersonal Psychology Journal, Volume 1, Number 2, 1997. Used with permission. Abstract A spiritual, transpersonal, metaphysical tale. AllandNothing plays the Game of Hide and Find and Hide Again. Copyright © 1994 by William Braud. All rights reserved. [ top ]
Assumptions,
Beliefs, White Crows, and Connections Initially presented as part of a special one-day conference on Earth and Soul: Ecopsychology and the Healing of Self, Earth, and Society, sponsored by the Institute of Transpersonal Psychology and held in Palo Alto, California on February 26, 1994. Used with permission. Abstract This presentation covers areas that lead us to question typically held assumptions about our separateness, isolation, and access only to sensory and rational information. It builds upon William James’ reminder that it takes but a single white crow to demonstrate the nonuniversality of the contention that "all crows are black." The beliefs, assumptions, and axioms of the typical Western worldview are our black crows. This presentation highlights of some of the white crows that point to an important implication consistent with the theme of the conference–the deep and profound interconnectedness of all things. Copyright © 1994 by William Braud. All rights reserved. [ top ]
Experiencing
Tears of Wonder-Joy: Seeing With the Heart's Eye A slightly modified version of this paper was published in The Journal of Transpersonal Psychology, Volume 33, Number 2, 2001, pp. 99-111. Used with permission. Abstract Experiences of "wonder-joy tears" are described–their felt sense, their triggers and circumstances under which they occur, their meanings and interpretations, and the impact they can have on life. Wonder-joy tears are not tears of pain, sadness, or sorrow. Rather, they are accompanied by feelings of wonder, joy, gratitude, awe, yearning, poignancy, intensity, love, and compassion. They are an opening up of the heart to the persons or profound circumstances being witnessed. These tears, with their accompanying chills and special feelings, seem to be the body's way of indicating a profound confrontation with the True, the Good, and the Beautiful–an indication of directly seeing with the eye of the heart, soul, and spirit. These kinds of tears also indicate feelings of profound gratitude for such confrontations. Additionally, they can indicate moments of profound insights. The author discusses the potential guiding and transformational aspects of these experiences. Copyright © 2001 by
Transpersonal
Institute. All rights reserved. Intuitive
Inquiry: Interpreting Objective and Subjective Data
[ Contact the author at: randerson@itp.edu ] An article originally published in ReVision: A Journal of Consciousness and Transformation, Volume 22, Number 4, Spring, 2000, pp. 31-39, in a special issue devoted to “connected knowing.” Used with permission. Abstract Intuitive inquiry is a research method that cultivates the epistemologies of the heart. The intuitive researcher integrates rational and unconscious processes, thereby allowing the investigation to be both a creative act and rigorous scientific inquiry. Human emotional and imaginal intelligences inform every phase of the research endeavor, including the development of a research topic, collection and analysis of data, and presentation of findings. Structurally and philosophically, intuitive inquiry is a hermeneutical research method. In a step-by-step, iterative process, the researcher’s understanding of the topic is formed and reformed in at least 3 interpretive cycles. In Cycle One, the intuitive researcher engages daily with a selected text, image, or symbol relevant and evocative of the research topic. The researcher maintains records of his or her reflections and reactions in order to develop a clear and focused research topic. In Cycle Two, the researcher re-engages the research topic through a different set of relevant texts, images, or symbols in order to identify preliminary lenses of interpretation. In Cycle Three, original data bearing directly on the topic are collected. Typically, the researcher conducts interviews with individuals experientially knowledgeable about the topic or analyzes texts collected by others or available in the literature. Using the hermeneutical lenses developed in Cycle Two, the intuitive researcher then analyzes these texts in order to revise, reorganize, and expand his or her initial lenses derived from Cycle Two. When time allows, the final step of intuitive inquiry involves the use of resonance panels to validate the findings by asking panelists to what extent they feel sympathetic resonance with the findings of Cycle Three. Sympathetic resonance is defined as the recognition of one’s own experience in the experience of another. Research findings are presented in a manner that addresses the audience’s needs and maximizes sympathetic resonance. Copyright © 2000 by Heldref
Publications.
All rights reserved. Embodied
Writing and Reflections on Embodiment [ Contact the author at: randerson@itp.edu ] An article originally published in the Journal of Transpersonal Psychology, Volume 33, Number 2, 2001, pp. 83-98. Used with permission. Abstract Embodied writing seeks to reveal the lived experience of the body by portraying in words the finely textured experience of the body and evoking sympathetic resonance in readers. Introduced into the research endeavor in an effort to describe human experience--and especially transpersonal experiences--more closely to how they are truly lived, embodied writing is itself an act of embodiment, entwining in words our senses with the senses of the world. This article describes the collaborative efforts of faculty and students over a 5-year period to develop embodied writing as an alternative or adjunct to conventional report writing often found wanting of the body’s full experience. Seven distinctive features of embodied writing are described and illustrated with examples. On-going studies using embodied writing as a means of collecting data, motivating participants, and reporting findings are explored. The author concludes with reflections on the nature of embodiment, lessons learned in developing embodied writing. Copyright © 2002 by the
Transpersonal
Institute. All rights reserved. Nine
Psycho-spiritual Characteristics of Spontaneous and Involuntary Weeping
[ Contact the author at: randerson@itp.edu ] An article originally published in the Journal of Transpersonal Psychology, Volume 28, Number 2, 1996, pp. 167-173. Used with permission. Abstract Transformative and sacred weeping is defined by the author as the intense, spontaneous and seemingly involuntary “spilling over” of tears that are accompanied by feelings of gratitude, joy, and wonder. The study involved a phenomenological content analysis of writings on sacred or mystical tears and of three in-depth interviews. The analysis resulted in 9 psycho-spiritual characteristics of spontaneous and involuntary weeping: 1) the relinquishing of superficial concerns and aspects of self, of breaking through the façade of the ego; 2) a sense of the re-integration of lost aspects of self; 3) being in relationship with the impulse of life throughout the universe or of a touching reality beyond one’s ordinary awareness; 4) holding together the seeming bittersweet polarities of human existence, e.g., life and death, joy and despair; 5) an apprehension of the tragic dimension of human existence seen as universal rather than uniquely personal; 6) changes in body awareness to include a felt sense of the integration of body, mind, and spirit; 7) changes in visual perception, e.g., a sense of seeing things in their essence or seeing with more than the physical eyes themselves; 8) sense of being startled, awakened, and triggered into an expanded awareness of reality; and 9) an inward sense of freedom, vastness, or pure consciousness from which all activities begin. The results suggest that sacred tears are not only byproducts of the integration of body, mind, and spirit, but play an active role in initiating or facilitating this integration. Copyright © 1997 by the
Transpersonal
Institute. All rights reserved. Psychomanteum
Research: Experiences and Effects on Bereavement [ Contact the author at: arthurhastings@juno.com ] An article originally published in Omega: Journal of Death and Dying, Volume 43, Number 3, 2002, pp. 211-228. Used with permission. Abstract A Psychomanteum Process involving mirror-gazing was conducted in a research setting to explore apparent facilitated contact with deceased friends and relatives, and to collect data on the phenomena, experiences, and effects on bereavement. A pilot study with 5 participants resulted in strong experiences and 4 apparent contacts. The main study took 27 participants through a 3-stage process: remembering a decreased friend or relative, sitting in a darkened room gazing into a mirror while thinking of the person, and finally discussing and reflecting on the experience. Data were collected with pre- and post-questionnaires at least 4 weeks after the session, interviews by the facilitators, and 2 personality measures, the Tellegen Absorption Scale and the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator. Contacts with the sought person were reported by 13 participants. Participants reported that a variety of imagery appeared in the mirror, as well as experiences of dialogue, sounds, light, body sensations, and smell. Several specific messages were reported by participants who believed that they were from the sought persons. Twenty-one self-report items relating to bereavement were analyzed for changes between pre- and follow-up questionnaires. Using a Wilcoxon signed-ranks analysis, statistically significant reductions in bereavement responses were found over the entire group (p = .05 to .0008). These included unresolved feelings, loss, grief, guilt, sadness, and need to communicate. Participants also reported significant impact on their lives following the session. Copyright © 2002 by Baywood
Publishing
Company, Inc. All rights reserved. Organic
Inquiry: Toward Research in Partnership with Spirit
This paper originally was published in The Journal of Transpersonal Psychology, 2004, Volume 36, Number 1, pp. 26-49. Used with permission. Abstract Organic inquiry is a qualitative research approach that attracts people and topics related to psycho-spiritual growth. The psyche of the researcher becomes the subjective instrument of the research, working in partnership with liminal and spiritual influences as well as with the experiences of participants. Analysis involves the cognitive integration of liminal encounters with the data. The goal of organic inquiry is to offer transformative change, which includes not only information, but also transformation, calling these two elements changes of mind and changes of heart. The approach aspires to offer these changes not only to researcher and participants but additionally to future readers of the research. Stories present the findings using both feeling and thinking, in order to engage the individual reader in a parallel process of transformative interpretation. [ article ][ word ][ pdf ] Copyright © 2004 by The Transpersonal Institute. All rights reserved. [ top ]Word documents will require Microsoft Word version 8.0 or higher. PDF files will require a reader to view. To receive your free PDF reader, click on the icon below.
The following articles are written by William Braud, Ph.D., on expanded approaches to research and disciplined inquiry.
The following articles are written by William Braud, Ph.D., on topics in the area of consciousness studies.
The following articles are written by William Braud, Ph.D., on various topics in the area of spirituality.
The following articles are written by William Braud, Ph.D., on various topics in the area of exceptional human experiences.
The following articles are written by William Braud, Ph.D., on various topics in the area of transpersonal studies.
The following articles are written by some of William Braud's colleagues on various topics in the area of transpersonal studies.
Can
Research Be Transpersonal? An article originally published in the Transpersonal Psychology Review, Volume 2, Number 3, December, 1998, pp. 9-17. Used with permission. Abstract Individually, conventional and narrow forms of research cannot adequately address transpersonal topics or experiences. Blending several methods together–each for a specific purpose–increases the match between research and the transpersonal. However, the most faithful matches occur only when research methods and approaches can be expanded, extended, enriched, and enlivened, in terms of the very transpersonal qualities that they are used to explore. This paper presents several areas in which research can be expanded, so that it might become more inclusive and better able to honor and appreciate the richness, breadth, depth, and subtlety of the exceptional experiences that are of interest to transpersonal psychology. Copyright ©
1998 by
The British Psychological Society The
Ley and the Labyrinth: Universalistic and Particularistic Approaches to
Knowing An article originally appearing as Working Paper Number 1997-1 of the William James Center for Consciousness Studies, Institute of Transpersonal Psychology, Palo Alto, CA. A version of this paper later was published in the Transpersonal Psychology Review, October 2002, Volume 6 Number 2, pp. 47-62. Used with permission Abstract The ley (straightline path) and the labyrinth (twisting, circling path) are used as metaphors in describing two complementary ways of knowing. The ley represents a universalistic, nomothetic approach to knowing, research, and inquiry; it emphasizes abstractions and general principles, and it is the privileged approach of conventional science. The labyrinth represents a particularistic, idiographic approach to knowing, research and inquiry; it emphasizes unique, individual cases, and it is an approach that is especially congenial to qualitative research, human science, and transpersonal studies. The labyrinthine, idiographic approach honors individual human experiences while, at the same time, providing a potential pathway to universal apprehensions and understandings. The strengths and limitations of the two approaches are illustrated by examples drawn from literature, science, philosophy, psychology, and transpersonal studies. Copyright ©
2002 The
British Psychological Society. Disciplined
Inquiry for Transpersonal Studies: Old and New Approaches to Research
A version of the following article originally was presented at the 76th Annual Convention of the Western Psychological Association, April 11-14, 1996, San Jose, CA. It also appears as Working Paper Number 1996-1 of the William James Center for Consciousness Studies, Institute of Transpersonal Psychology, Palo Alto, CA. Abstract This paper includes three interrelated sections. The first section on "integral inquiry" was prepared by William Braud. The second section on "intuitive inquiry" was prepared by Rosemarie Anderson. The third section on "phenomenological inquiry" was prepared by Ron Valle. The paper describes the essential nature of each of these three new approaches to research and disciplined inquiry–methods that are especially congenial to the study of exceptional human experiences and transpersonal experiences. These sections were the seeds of what later became chapters devoted to these methods in the book, Transpersonal Research Methods for the Social Sciences: Honoring Human Experience, by William Braud and Rosemarie Anderson (Sage, 1998). Copyright ©
1996 by
Rosemarie Anderson, Ph.D., William Braud, Ph.D., and Ron Valle, Ph.D.
All
rights reserved. "Projects
of Transcendence" at ITP The following short article originally appeared in E[xceptional] H[human] E[xperience] News, 1998, Volume 5, Number 1, pp. 8-9. Used with permission. Abstract This brief article describes the whole-person, experiential educational approach of the Institute of Transpersonal Psychology, a graduate school that offers doctoral and master’s degrees and certificates in programs emphasizing transpersonal studies, psychology, and spirituality. Copyright ©
1998 by
the Exceptional Human Experience Network, Inc. All rights reserved.
Growing
Edges: Thoughts on Research and Clinical Practice The following article originally appeared in The Mind’s Eye: An Online Transpersonal Psychology Journal, Issue Number 2, 1997. Used with permission. Abstract In the conventional research paradigm, the stance of the investigator is that of a separate, distanced "objective" observer who strives to be as uninvolved as possible with the research participants and with what is being studied, in an effort to eliminate or avoid contamination by his or her own biases or expectations. There is an attempt to remove the investigator from judgmental and decisional responsibilities through the use of automatic, impersonal decision tools provided by research designs themselves and by statistical outcomes. Such conventions of subject matter, method, and investigator stance tend to distance research from clinical practice, which involves more meaningful and more complex issues and processes, a greater reliance upon experiential, subjective factors, and a greater involvement of the practitioner. These same conventions tend also to separate research from what is happening in the investigator's own personal and psychospiritual experiences, growth, and development. In the transpersonal paradigm, research is complemented by what is missing in the conventional paradigm. Methods of disciplined inquiry are expanded to include qualitative methods that can more appropriately and faithfully address rich, meaningful, and complex human experiences. Full description and understanding are valued as much as prediction and control. Emphasis may be placed upon understanding how processes and issues interact complexly and dynamically in the everyday life circumstances and life journeys of individuals. In this transpersonal paradigm–with its more qualitative and idiographic emphases–research, clinical practice, and the investigator’s own psychospiritual growth and development become much more similar, much more hospitable toward each another, and may occur simultaneously, with minimal conflict. Copyright ©
1997 by
the Institute of Transpersonal Psychology. All rights reserved.
Toward
an Integral Methodology for Transpersonal Studies An article originally appearing as Working Paper Number 1994-1 of the William James Center for Consciousness Studies, Institute of Transpersonal Psychology, Palo Alto, CA. Used with permission. Abstract This paper indicates the
limitations of
older, more conventional approaches to research (grounded in an
exclusively
positivistic paradigm) and suggests ways in which research and
disciplined
inquiry can be extended and expanded to more appropriately honor and
address
exceptional human experiences and transpersonal topics and
experiences. Copyright ©
1994 by
William Braud. All rights reserved. In
Support of Single-Case Clinical Studies A Letter to the Editor originally published in the journal, Alternative Therapies in Health and Medicine, Volume 4, Number 3, May, 1998, p. 88. Used with permission. Abstract This short paper on the value of single cases in several areas of research originally appeared as a Letter to the Editor of the journal, Alternative Therapies in Health and Medicine. The paper highlights John Stuart Mill's (1806-1873) methods ("canons") of inductive inference and indicates how variations of these methods appear in several current research approaches. Copyright ©
1998 by
InnoVision Communications. On
Qualitative Methods and Researcher Qualities and Preparation
Abstract A short article describing the advantages, and appropriateness, of qualitative research methods—such as case studies—for investigating meaningful, dynamic topics of transpersonal relevance. Copyright ©
2001 by
William Braud. All rights reserved. An
Introduction to Organic Inquiry: Honoring the Transpersonal and
Spiritual
in Research Praxis This paper originally was published in The Journal of Transpersonal Psychology, 2004, Volume 36, Number 1, pp. 18-25. Used with permission. Abstract The Editors of this Journal asked me to write a brief introduction to Jennifer Clements’ paper on Organic Inquiry. I provide my introductory comments in the form of an imaginary “Letter to a Student,” in which I describe the history, nature, strengths, and limitations of this approach. Copyright ©
2004 by
The Transpersonal Institute |
ot
unlike a physical library, the Cybrary is a repository of archived
documents. 
An
integral research approach is proposed–one that acknowledges
pluralistic
ways of knowing, being, and doing. The integral research approach is
informed
by the radical empiricism of William James and by recent developments
in
natural science, psychology, human sciences, philosophy, philosophy of
science, parapsychology, spirituality, and transpersonal studies. This
early paper was the seed of what later became the author’s chapter on
integral
inquiry in the book, Transpersonal Research Methods for the Social
Sciences:
Honoring Human Experience, by William Braud and Rosemarie Anderson
(Sage, 1998). 