What is Transpersonal Sociology?

Transpersonal sociology is still a very young academic discipline, so a definition of transpersonal sociology must actually begin with a definition for transpersonal psychology. Although definitions abound, transpersonal psychology can most succinctly be defined as “the scientific study of behavioral phenomena commonly thought to possess the qualities of ‘awe,’ the ‘spiritual’ or the ‘mystical,’ and of the belief systems and physiological states underlying such behavior” (Hartelius, et al., 2007, p. 136 [definition attributed to Leon Pomeroy of New York – letter from 8/29/1986]. Essentially, transpersonal psychology tries to take seriously (while still remaining a science) that in addition to intrapersonal and interpersonal categories that “something” transcendent could actually be involved in spiritual experiences.

As brief introduction, the academic beginnings of transpersonal psychology stretch back to the 1960s, primarily as a psychological movement synthesizing the humanistic psychology of Abraham Maslow with the burgeoning counterculture’s interest in Eastern religions and psychedelic mystical experience.  Since then, transpersonalism has become a thriving area of study within psychology that looks at a wide variety of religious experiences that range from shamanistic vision quests and rites of passage to healing circles and charismatic revivals.  However, much of the research in this vein focuses on the personal level. A correlating discipline of transpersonal sociology has been proposed by a variety of scholars, most notably Ken Wilber, but it has never quite gotten off the ground.

An academic discipline of transpersonal sociology has great potential value. This field is a needed corrective on the side of religious studies to examine fully the cultural, religious, and historical impact of mystical experience. It is in consideration of mystic practices and the mystical experience specifically that I locate my writings and thoughts within transpersonal sociology. You can engage with my perspective on this website and through the following publications:

Wigner, D.E. A Sociology of Mystic Practices: Use and Adaptation in the Emergent Church. (Eugene OR: Pickwick Publications, 2018).

Wigner, D.E. “Icons: A Case Study in Spiritual Borrowing between Eastern Orthodoxy and the Emergent Church.” Spiritus: A Journal of Christian Spirituality 18.1 [Spring 2018]: 79-101.

Wigner, D.E. “Does Wyoming Really Exist? The Metaphysics of Mystical Experiences.” [in process]

Since transpersonal sociology is likely to be such an unfamiliar area to many people, the following sources in transpersonal psychology and sociology can give some good background on the field:

Cohn, Steven F. and Kyriacos C. Markides. “Religion and Spiritual Experience: Revisiting Key Assumptions in Sociology.” International Journal of Transpersonal Studies 32.2 [2013]: 34-41.

Davis, John. “An Overview of Transpersonal Psychology.” The Humanistic Psychologist 31.2-3 [Spring-Summer 2003]: 6-21.

Grof, Stanislav. “Brief History of Transpersonal Psychology.” International Journal of Transpersonal Studies 27 [2008]: 46-54

Grof, Stanislav. Realms of the Human Unconscious (New York: Viking, 1975).

Hartelius, Glenn, Mariana Caplan, and Mary Anne Rardin. “Transpersonal Psychology: Defining the Past, Divining the Future.” The Humanistic Psychologist 35.2 [2007]: 135-160.

Maslow, Abraham. Religions, Values, and Peak-Experiences (New York: Viking, 1964).

Tart, Charles T. States of Consciousness (New York: Doubleday, 1973).

Wilber, Ken. A Sociable God: A Brief Introduction to a Transcendental Sociology (New York: McGraw-Hill, 1983)