BAHMAN A.K. SHIRAZI
INTRODUCTION
Integral psychology is a psychological system concerned with exploring and understanding the totality of the human phenomenon. It is a framework that not only addresses the behavioral, affective, and cognitive domains of the human experience within a singular system but is concerned with the relationship among the above-mentioned domains in the context of human spiritual development. It is a system that, at its breadth, covers the entire body-mind-psyche-spirit spectrum, while, at its depth dimension, encompasses the previously explored unconscious and the conscious dimensions of the psyche, as well as the supraconscious dimension traditionally excluded from psychological inquiry It seeks to inspire, encourage, and assist humanity in the profound task of healing and evolution toward a future state of existence that is completely attuned to our state of embodied consciousness.
As Western psychology is historically footed in Western philosophy, so is integral psychology grounded in, and dependent upon, integral philosophy. At the philosophical level, integral psychology is devoted to addressing the essential issues of human spiritual, natural, social, and psychological alienation through a profound method of reconciliation of the ontological and the existential dimensions of being in the process of integral self-realization.
Integral psychology is inspired and informed by the great teachings of ancient wisdom traditions of the world, as well as the panorama of Western schools of psychological thought and practice. It takes into account the importance of self-knowledge, the multidimensional nature of consciousness and human personality, as well as the multicultural world we live in.
One might expect that with thousands of years of living knowledge traditions, including hundreds of years of academic progress, such a psychological system would be well-developed and advanced by now. Yet it is not an exaggeration to state that up until the present time no singular psychological system, Eastern, Western, or otherwise, has been privileged to benefit from a vision of humanity so comprehensive as to be able to respond to the questions and challenges encountered in such a psychology.
The philosophical outlook required for such a complete vision of psychology is unlikely to be born out of the musings or discoveries of a single human being, or even a single thought system. As the human race proceeds on the path of evolution, new horizons of consciousness, new realities, and new challenges arise. An integral approach to psychology, therefore, needs to have an inherent capability to absorb and benefit from the historical contributions, respond to contemporary issues, provide a vision for the foreseeable future, and anticipate the upcoming challenges of each epoch of human evolution.
Fortunately, the dawn of the twenty-first century carries the promise of a new horizon of human experience and knowledge that, more than ever before, is capable of bringing together various strands of knowledge and other conditions necessary for an appropriate epistemology needed for a comprehensive vision of psychology. Some of the factors involved include the contributions of modem Western psychology, psychological dimensions of several Eastern spiritual traditions, modern consciousness research, the wisdom traditions of nature-based peoples, and the rich cultural exchange between various parts of the world.
WHAT IS INTEGRAL PSYCHOLOGY?
Integral psychology is arguably the latest, and if defined carefully, the last wave of development in the current history of psychology. Although it may not be simply possible to have a system of psychology that would be able to unveil all the mysteries of the human phenomenon at once, it is only common sense that psychology should cover all the known dimensions of the human phenomenon within a singular framework. This psychological framework for understanding the total human being is called integral psychology.
Paul Herman,1 an early pioneer in the field of integral psychology, described integral psychology as “… an emergent East-West study of the human psyche. It draws upon the findings of both Western depth psychology, and ancient Eastern teachings and yogas, to express a whole, unfragmented view of human functions to resolve human conflicts and open the way toward activating high levels of potential” According to Herman, “integral psychology concerns itself with all phases of human existence, in its multidimensional fullness, which includes physical, emotional, instinctual, mental, moral, social, and spiritual aspects.” “Integral psychology seeks to be practical and applicable to the problems of daily life, yet at the same time to lead forward those individuals who are ready to transpersonal dimensions of being where experiences of deep integration, meaningfulness, and fulfillment are possible.”
Integral psychology accepts the relative validity of other psychological systems, yet extends the general psychological scope of human development to encompass the full range of the psychospiritual continuum of human existence. Thus, it is concerned with the study of the human psyche in its potential fullness. Accordingly, integral psychology is inspired by and founded upon four general postulates essential to an integral worldview: nonduality, multidimensionality, holism, and evolution.
The principle of nonduality understands the human being as a continuum of body-mind-spirit; thus, it avoids the traditional mind-body (spirit-matter) dichotomy. In an integral framework, human beings can be
best understood in terms of a spectrum of qualities, rather than as a set of discrete constituents. Although the three domains of body, mind, and spirit are essentially unified, they manifest as a multidimensional array of distinct qualities and characteristics.
In integral psychology the human psyche is a multidimensional whole, with consciousness comprising its essential structure. However, it must be stressed that although there is an essential wholeness to the psychic structure of body-mind-spirit, this wholeness exists only as a potential, While integral psychology recognizes the urge toward wholeness as the primary motive in the human being, its goal is to actualize this potential wholeness through a process of harmonious self-realization.
Finally, integral psychology recognizes the importance of the evolutionary perspective of life on earth. Sri Aurobindo’s2 insights into the process of life revealed that the human individual is a transitional being, not a final product of creation or evolution. Understood in this light, the goal of spiritual development is not to arrive at a static, final state; rather, human-spiritual growth is»a dynamic process without any preconceived limits. Thus; ail integrally self-realized being is an active key participant involved in perpetual cooperation with the divine in the process of collective transformation of consciousness and manifestation of the divine life on earth.
This requires a radically new understanding of the role of the physical body, embodiment of spirit, the ego-self, and the mind-body relationships, both at individual and collective levels. Sri Aurobindo asked the simple question, why we are embodied being, in a profound way. He recognized the urgency of including (rather than suppressing) the feminine aspects of the psyche into the overall process of psychospiritual transformation. He was critical of the self-world negating, escapist orientations in many forms of mysticism where the ultimate goal of spiritual practice (at least from a superficial level of understanding) is to avoid being reborn in the physical plane and into the physical body, to ultimately avoid the pain and suffering and dissonance caused by lack of integration of body, mind, and spirit due to ignorance and delusion.
Instead, he affirmed the goal of spiritual practice to be harmonization of the different parts of being through integral yoga and continual cooperation with the Divine in the process of evolution of consciousness on Earth, and the manifestation of the highest of human potential to the point of manifestation of the highest levels of consciousness in the physical body. Integral psychology is, therefore, centrally concerned with the process of embodiment of spirit, Ego is defined as the embodiment principle, and its transformation is key in the overall psychological development of the individual.
DIMENSIONS OF INTEGRAL PSYCHOLOGY
Different approaches to integral psychology may be distinguished on the basis of philosophical underpinnings and epistemological and methodological orientations. So far, three different main approaches to integral psychology have been attempted by Indra Sen2 (1986), Ken Wilber3,4 (1997, 2000), and Haridas Chaudhuri.5 In this chapter I will make an attempt to expound and expand on the integral psychology of Chaudhuri, as his work in this area was never fully published due to his passing away in the midst of this work.
Haridas Chaudhuri’s approach to integral psychology may be characterized as an attempt to build a psychological system, from the ground up, using an integrative methodology, that brings together some of the most powerful contributions of several systems of psychology, both Eastern and Western. Chaudhuri’s integral psychology consists of a triadic principle as well as the principal tenets of integral psychology, which will be discussed in further detail subsequently. Haridas Chaudhuri’s system is inspired by, but does not confine itself to, the scope and terminology of Sri Aurobindo’s integral yoga. As an independent and creative thinker, Chaudhuri was little interested in merely reiterating the insights and terminology of Sri Aurobindo. Rather, he began to develop a system that employed an integrative methodology using insights from various schools of Eastern and Western psychology.
Chaudhuri5 maintains that “integral psychology is based upon experiences and insights affirming the multidimensional richness and indivisible wholeness of human personality. It is founded upon the concept of man’s total self as integral unity of uniqueness, relatedness, and transcendence — as the indivisible unity of the existential and the transcendental.” Ghaudhuri’s attempt at integral psychology may be summarized in terms of his proposed tenets for an integral psychology as well as the triadic
principle of uniqueness, relatedness, and transcendence. The following section will briefly introduce and elaborate on this system.
CHAUDHURTS PRINCIPAL TENETS OF INTEGRAL PSYCHOLOGY
Chaudhuri’s approach to integral psychology is not concerned with extrapolation of psychological insights from Sri Aurobindo’s overall teachings. Instead, it directly applies an integrative methodology to the existing domain of psychological knowledge in order to construct a system of psychology that is phenomenologically oriented in its methodological outlook, and that holds psychospiritual development as its central objective.
In his effort to explore the basic concepts of integral psychology with a minimum of metaphysical assumptions, Chaudhuri5 proposed a number of “principal tenets” that form the basis for his approach to integral psychology. Unfortunately, his work in this area remained unfinished. The following is a list of selected principal tenets:
The Wholeness of Personality
The human being is an onto-psycho-drastic continuum; or a spirit-mind- body unity that in the ultimate analysis is an indivisible whole. The reader should be reminded here that the spirit-mind-body spectrum may be experienced and expressed in much more detail. A more detailed version may be represented by the Spirit-Psyche-Mind-Emotions-Body continuum. This may be further understood in terms of further gradations of the mind (such as described by Sri Aurobindo or other systems as summarized in the works of Ken Wilber based on traditional Hindu teachings or other systems of spiritual practice), further gradations of the emotional bodies (such as “lower or higher vital,” as described by Sri Aurobindo and others), and gradations of the physical body (such as subtle and gross physical bodies).
The number of bands within the onto-psycho-Somatic spectrum depends on the personal experiences and expressions of these experiences, as reported by various mystics, and varies from one system to another. What is important is that all the various bands within the spectrum comprise a single, unified, and no discrete multidimensional reality Changes, disturbances, and developments in any part other spectrum are bound to affect other bandwidths, and unification of mind-body-spirit requires the inclusion of the entire spectrum.
Different Levels of Consciousness
Consciousness is the basic structure of the psyche according to integral psychology. Thus, the various states below waking consciousness, as well as higher meditative states, are-worthy of investigation as valid dimensions of human experience.
Importance of All Phases and Areas of Experience
Not only is it important to make direct empirical observations of human experience, it is imperative that all areas of human experience be included in the process of inquiry. Not only wakeful, conscious experiences but also dreams, nondream sleep stages, altered states of consciousness, and creative imagination are important areas of research in integral psychology. Beside ordinary states of consciousness, pathological, paranormal, and peak experiences must be considered.
Need for Personal Integration
A full experience of wholeness presupposes the full integration of the diversified components and aspects of human personality. To this end it is essential to appreciate the role of understanding the self, because it is only by following the inner light of one’s own self that die human psyche can be comprehended in its fullness.
The Concept of Integral Self Realization
Integral psychology holds that integral self-realization is the profoundest potential for the human being. This achievement requires a thorough integration and harmonization of the personal, the interpersonal/social, and the, and of the existential, and the ontological dimensions of existence.
The Doctrine of Transformation
Integral psychology alerts us to the problem of spiritual by-passing, the i attempt to teach the higher realms of consciousness while suppressing, rather than confronting and transforming, the instincts and other unconscious components of the psyche and the associated emotions and mental states.
In integral psychology the doctrine of transformation replaces the kind of transcendence that results from withdrawal from, or negation of, the world. The lower spheres of consciousness (instincts, drives, etc.) are not escaped from or suppressed but are transformed into desirable qualities, Psychological transformation is achieved through a process of purification and psycho-ethical discipline.
The Doctrine of Ontomotivation
“In the course of self-development, ego drives are ultimately transcended and action becomes a spontaneous outpouring of the creative joy of union with Being as the ultimate ground of one’s own existence.”5 Chaudhuri extended the notion of ego drives associated with egocentric consciousness and their transformation into higher ‘‘Being values,” as suggested by Maslows notion of self-actualization, by, pointing out to further and complete transfiguration of ego/self in the process of integral self- realization.
The Methodology of integral Experientialism
Integral psychology is comprehensive in its survey of human experience. Critical, experiential investigation and evaluation axe incorporated in studying a vast range of states of consciousness and modes and phases of experience. External observations as well as introspective approaches are equally valued in this methodology.
THE TRIADIC PRINCIPLE OF INTEGRAL PSYCHOLOGY
While the preceding foundational principles are useful in understanding the overall parameters, scope, and vision of Chaudhuri’s integral psychology, his triadic principle of uniqueness, relatedness, and transcendence provides another set of guidelines for. understanding the overall process of psychospiritual development and transfiguration; Uniqueness, relatedness, and transcendence correspond to the three domains of personal, interpersonal, and transpersonal psychological inquiry. According to Chaudhuri6
Broadly speaking, there are three inseparable aspects of human personality: uniqueness, or individuality; universality, or relatedness; and transcendence. In different schools of philosophy, we find that there has been a tendency to over-emphasize one aspect or another. It has not occurred to many people that all these are very essential and interrelated aspects of our being.
The uniqueness principle may be best understood in terms of two ancient yogic principles: Svabhava and Svadharma. Svabhava refers to the fact that each individual human being is the result, of a unique set of qualities and characteristics that are not replicable in their exact configuration. Indeed, no two objects or events are exactly the same in nature. Just as no two leaves of a tree or no two snowflakes are the same (despite similarities, no two human beings can ever be identical in the exact configuration of genetic and physiological makeup, temperament, personality traits, cultural and historical conditions, context of personal experience, and, potential for spiritual development. In this author’s view, the more one understands this profoundly meaningful reality, the harder it becomes to use psychological categories and typologies— including pathological categories.
Svadharma implies that there is a unique path of development, growth, and unfoldment for each individual that must be understood in terms of that person’s unique svabhava. Unlike some forms of perennial psychology, integral psychology, then, is extremely sensitive to issues of individuality and the path of individual psychological growth and psychospiritual embodiment and evolution. It is important to note here that most traditional spiritual disciplines, especially those of the East, have overlooked the individual dimensions of personal growth. Individuality has often been associated with egocentrism or selfishness, the antithesis of selflessness, which is a basic tenet of spiritual practice.
In this author’s analysis, misunderstanding of the uniqueness principle results in various forms of narcissistic traits and, in many cases, narcissistic personality disorders. Narcissistic individuals are likely to believe in their own uniqueness (specialness) but would not grant others such a privilege. Narcissism is indeed a strong impediment to any kind of real psychological and spiritual growth.
As important as individuality may be, it is not possible to understand the human being only in terms of individuality alone. Relatedness, or the interpersonal dimension, is of equal importance in the triadic formulation. Obviously, human beings are contextualized within numerous holistically organized systems such as the families, cultures, societies, nations, and ultimately the earth and the entire cosmos. Integral psychology holds the assumption that individuals are microcosmic expressions of the greater macrocosm with infinite potential for spiritual realization. Just as an individual needs to maintain harmonious intrapsychic dynamics, she or he needs also to maintain balance and harmony with others and with nature. In this writer’s understanding of integral psychology, unhealthy and lopsided growth in the interpersonal realm is likely to lead to enmeshment, co-dependency, and borderline personality disorders.
In integral psychology the human being is understood in terms of both the historical (temporal) and the transcendental, formless/timeless (nontemporal) dimensions. Hitherto Western psychology has been concerned with the historical dimension of the human being, which includes
- the genetic/biological characteristics or the physical and vital aspects;
- the’ emotional aspects; and (c) the mental aspects of human existence. In short, psychology until the present has been concerned with what may be referred to as the body-mind configuration, or personality.
However, the transcendental (nontemporal) dimension is of equal importance in integral psychology, which recognizes the importance of the urge toward transcendence and wholeness. Historically the notion of transcendence has been the cornerstone of Eastern psychologies and Western mysticism. Being so, the terminology often characteristic of these systems has been categorically unacceptable to formal Western psychology. On the other hand, traditional mysticism has had little or no concern with the conventional psychological growth and development of the human being. Integral psychology recognizes and emphasizes both of these areas without neglecting either of them.
According to Chaudhuri,6
“the essential significance of transcendence is that man in his inmost being is a child of immortality, an imperishable spark of the infinite.. As a mode of manifestation of being, his ultimate goal is union with that ground of existence, transcending all other limitations.”
The notion of transcendence, however, could be misleading if taken in an ultimate or absolute sense. In an article titled “Psychology: Humanistic and Transpersonal,” Chaudhuri7 critiqued one of the early assumptions of transpersonal psychology—the notion of ultimate states —— and the notion that transpersonal psychology was concerned with recognition and realization of ultimate states. Chaudhuri did not believe in characterization of mystical experiences in terms of ultimate states. Such characterization, he believed, creates the “dichotomy of the ultimate and the preparatory, the transcendental and the phenomenal… the dichotomy of the lower self and the higher self, the flesh and the spirit, relative knowledge and absolute knowledge, conditioned existence and unconditioned perfection.”7
This problem arises when the principle of transcendence is treated in isolation from the principles of uniqueness and relatedness.
Chaudhuri’s integral psychology had anticipated the dilemma of spiritual by-passing, later introduced in the literature of transpersonal psychology. This tendency, especially common among individuals with schizoid personality traits, is characterized by a wish to transcend the physical and affective dimensions through suppression or denial of the body and emotions in order to attain transcendental states of consciousness. It is true that mystical experiences attained in this fashion may have their proper place in the process of psychospiritual development.
But when taken to an extreme, asceticism and denial of the physical-vital energies problematically become the goal of spiritual practice.
It is by now well-established that before attempting to reach higher transcendental states, one must first properly deal with issues of psychological growth and development as well as pathological tendencies and development of a relatively healthy ego and personality. Transcendence, in integral psychology, is replaced by the notion of psychospiritual transformation.
THE PROCESS OF PERSONAL INTEGRATION
The concept of integral self-realization is a key concept in integral psychology, which employs a number of key understandings unique to integral psychology. In order to explore the process of integral self-realization, it is important to briefly discuss the notions of ego and self in integral psychology. The present author8 has previously developed a model for self that distinguishes three distinct spheres of self-consciousness. These are egocentric, psychocentric, and cosmocentric spheres.
The egocentric sphere of consciousness has been the topic of traditional psychological study in the “West Three domains—behavioral, affective, and cognitive—compose the basic dimensions of study in this sphere. Western psychology is particularly adept in this area, with a. vast number of theories and applications, many of which are at odds with one another. Much of personality theory is concerned with day-to-day waking consciousness as well as what is termed the unconscious mind. Recent developments such as transpersonal theories have also included the study of the higher unconscious mind. Transpersonal psychology has extended the boundaries of traditional Western systems by including that which is beyond the immediate ego-based experiences of the self.
In this author’s opinion, on the one hand, Western schools of psychology have not yet defined the concept of ego in a way that explicitly includes the somatic/embodied dimension. On the other hand, transpersonal psychologists (excepting Assagioli) have not adequately dealt with what lies beyond the ego by failing to clearly distinguish between the psychocentric and cosmocentric spheres of consciousness.
Ancient Indian teachings referred to the spectrum of consciousness in terms of five main sheaths (Koshas). These are, from the outermost to the innermost, the physical, the vital/emotional, the mental, the higher men- tal/intuitive, and the soul/higher self (Atman), Atman is a transcendent principle that lies in the non-spatio-temporal dimension. Individual personality manifests as a result of the projection of Atman onto the spatio- temporal planes of existence. According to integral psychology, projection of the higher self onto the plane of personality results in various personality types (such as Jung’s sensate, feeling, thinking, and intuitive), usually with one being dominant. Predominance of the physical results in the sensate personality type, whereas the dominance of the vital results in the feeling type. Dominance of the mental results in the thinking type, and of the intuitiye, in the intuitive type. Therefore, the natural state of personality is an imbalanced one. Integral psychology promotes the idea of a balanced and healthy ego development and affirms the role of strong ego-development in the initial stages of psychospiritual growth. But the ego must first be understood as the principle of embqdiment.This is quite different from the common definitions of the term ego either as a principle of separation or as defined technically within various schools of Western psychology.
In integral psychology psychocentric consciousness is represented through Sri Aurobindo’s “Psychic Being.” It is quite important to understand the role of psychocentric consciousness in the overall process of integral self-realization. Many traditional forms of spiritual practice have either overlooked or totally bypassed this area in favor of direct union with the cosmocentric (ground of existence- non-spatio-temporal principle known as God or Brahman, among numerous other terms. Often the body and gross emotions are viewed as a hindrance to spiritual practice. Various forms of self-denial have been attempted in exchange for transcendental or cosmic consciousness.
Integral yoga compensates for this problem by involving the Psychic Being (the subliminal self that is neither totally transcendent nor physically embodied) in the process of self-realization, which facilitates the development of a healthy ego (embodiment principle) and balanced personality. Through the dynamic process of integral self-realization a gradual shift from ego-based to psychocentric consciousness takes place. Initially ego-based personality obscures the subliminal Psychic Being. This condition is due primarily to the fragmented nature of ego-based personality, which creates a dualistic division between the I and not-I, or subject and object of experience. With experiences of self-opening that result from integral yogic and meditative insights, the locus of consciousness occasionally shifts away from the ego and becomes centered in the psychic being. This transition is not possible without meditative and contemplative effort and is not necessarily a developmental consequence of healthy ego-development.
From the psychocentric sphere of consciousness, the ego is not necessarily hidden or absent. In fact, from this point of view a deeper observation of the ego-structure becomes possible. Repeated insights, into the ego-structure may bring about transformations of the ego that result in the development of a unified and healthy ego, which is the organizing principle of embodiment.
Continued psychospiritual development makes it possible for the ego to integrate further unconscious contents of the mind. As the ego becomes fully conscious, the focus of consciousness moves to the next sphere and becomes permanently centered in the psychic being. This entire process requires the application of the will and continued effort. It is highly contingent upon the psychoethical development of the individual.
Further development toward integral consciousness may require what Sri Aurobindo called the process of involution (Grace), or descent of higher forms of energy/consciousness. This means that the self becomes receptive to the experience of Being, the cosmic ground of ajl existence. This is also a gradual process. Once the locus of consciousness becomes focused in the Self, occasional absorption in cosmic consciousness may occur. Eventually this experience becomes possible at will. Unlike traditional linear conceptualizations, this is not a final point in spiritual development. A human being may continue to exist and operate as a unique individual but without an ego/drive-based will. Rather, this individual is ontomotivated.
In short, three levels of integration are involved in the process of integral self-realization:
(1) integration of personality;
(2) integration of the psychic being into conscious personality;
and (3) integration of the existential and cosmic (ontological) dimensions of being.
Sri Aurobindo termed the first transition Psychic Transformation, and the second transition
Spiritual Transformation. These two transformations are not linearly or developmentally connected and happen differently in different individuals. The third transformation is what Sri Aurobindo called the Supramental Transformation, in which every part of the being becomes supramentalized in the Divine consciousness, resulting in the complete transformation of the physical body down to the cellular level. This would result in a complete transformation of mind, life, and body.
The process of psychic transformation (the transformation of ego and egocentric consciousness) is mainly possible by first awakening and engaging the Psychic Being (also known as the Spiritual Heart) because it may be extremely difficult, if not impossible, to begin with the egocentric consciousness due to ego defense mechanisms and the inherent resistance of this sphere of consciousness to spiritual change and transformation. Psychic (Heart) consciousness is capable of seeing through the character structure and defense mechanisms with self-love and compassion, and in due time will help reconcile deeply rooted conflicts between the conscious and unconscious, instinctual and psychic forces, healing the emotional residues caused by the perceived chasm between material and spiritual energies.
In conclusion, today more than ever before there is an urgent need for psychic transformation on both the individual and the collective levels. Integral psychology has the potential to provide a framework for understanding embodied consciousness and its healing and transformation toward a more just and compassionate existence and creative and joyful fulfillment of the purpose of life on Earth.