Papers by Charles Laughlin
International Journal of Transpersonal Studies, 2003
International Journal of Transpersonal Studies, 2004
Most traditional art forms around the planet are an expression of the spiritual dimension of a cu... more Most traditional art forms around the planet are an expression of the spiritual dimension of a culture's cosmology and the spiritual experiences of individuals. Religious art and iconography often reveal the hidden aspects of spirit as glimpsed through the filter of cultural significance. Moreover, traditional art, although often highly abstract, may actually describe sensory experiences derived in alternative states of consciousness (ASC). This article analyzes the often fuzzy concepts of "art" and "spirit" and then operationalizes them in a way that makes them useful for cross-cultural transpersonal research. The fact of the universally abstract nature of traditional art is analyzed and used as a clue to the function of art in expressing and penetrating to the spiritual domain. A "continuum of representational-associational abstraction" model is introduced and described. These concepts are then applied to the author's experiences with Navajo art and the relation between art and the important Navajo philosophical concept of hozho (which may be understood as "beauty," "harmony," "unity"). A perspective on art and spirit is developed that essentially supports Wassily Kandinsky's contention that abstract art is the expression of an "inner necessity" of spirit. The article argues for a greater sensitivity among researchers and theorists for the sublime nature of spiritual art.be induced by very different means, including contemplative practices and chemical substances, and yet have different after-effects. Taken together, these ideas lead to the cautious conclusion that some psychedelics can induce genuine mystical experiences sometimes in some people, and that the current tendency to label these chemicals as entheogens may be appropriate.
International Journal of Transpersonal Studies, 2013
My brain and I are inseparable. I am who I am because my brain is what it is. Even so, I often th... more My brain and I are inseparable. I am who I am because my brain is what it is. Even so, I often think about my brain in terms different from those I use when thinking about myself. I think about my brain as that and about myself as me. I think about my brain as having neurons, but I think of me as having a memory. Still, I know that my memory is all about the neurons in my brain. Lately, I think about my brain in more intimate terms-as me.-Churchland, 2013, p. 11
University of Hawaii Press eBooks, Mar 6, 2008
Dreaming, Dec 1, 2014
Shamanism is a worldwide social phenomenon consisting of a set of practices (e.g., ritualistic dr... more Shamanism is a worldwide social phenomenon consisting of a set of practices (e.g., ritualistic drumming, sensory deprivation, the ingestion of entheogens and dream incubation) designed to obtain knowledge from alternative realities for the purpose of benefiting one's social group. The aim of this paper is to provide a cross-cultural exploration of dreaming in the context of shamanism. We proceed by addressing 2 fundamental questions: What is meant by the terms shaman and shamanic principle, and what is the distinction between monophasic and polyphasic social groups with regards to the veridicality and cultural significance of dreams? It will be demonstrated that the kind of society in which shamanism arises (groups having polyphasic cultures) is quite different compared to modern materialistic/technocratic society (those having monophasic cultures). Subsequently, our cross-cultural investigation of shamanic dreaming focuses on the shamanic call, initiation and healing. Finally, we elucidate the major elements of core shamanism as they appear to influence dreaming, dream interpretation and dream culture, and suggest that in fact dreaming invites shamanism.
American Anthropologist, 1985
McGill-Queen's University Press eBooks, Oct 15, 1987
Anthropologica, 1989
Page 1. THE ROOTS OF ENCULTURATION: THE CHALLENGE OF PRE-AND PERINATAL PSYCHOLOGY FOR ETHNOLOGICA... more Page 1. THE ROOTS OF ENCULTURATION: THE CHALLENGE OF PRE-AND PERINATAL PSYCHOLOGY FOR ETHNOLOGICAL THEORY AND RESEARCH Charles D. Laughlin Carleton University Abstract: A central question ...
International Journal of Transpersonal Studies, 2013
This paper introduces the topic of ethno-epistemology with regards to transpersonal experiences. ... more This paper introduces the topic of ethno-epistemology with regards to transpersonal experiences. The distinction between polyphasic and monophasic cultures is introduced and the interaction between a society's world view and individual transpersonal experience is explained using the cycle of meaning model. A link to philosophical work on "natural epistemology" is made and the importance of the "projectability" of cultural theories of experience is discussed. The individual contributions to this special section of the journal are introduced. It should be possible to formulate more explicitly the necessary and sufficient conditions that make a human existence possible and which account for the distinctive quality of human experience.-Hallowell, 1967, pp. vii-viii
Anthropology of Consciousness
In complexity theory, both the brain and consciousness are understood as trophic systems—they con... more In complexity theory, both the brain and consciousness are understood as trophic systems—they consume metabolic energy when they function. Complex systems are dynamic and nonlinear and comprise diverse entities that are interdependent and interconnected in such a way that information is shared and that entities adapt to one another. Some natural complex systems are complex adaptive systems (CAS), which are sensitive to change in relation to their environments and are often chaotic. Consciousness and the neural systems mediating consciousness may be modeled as CAS and, more specifically, as intelligent complex adaptive systems (ICAS), where intelligence means that a nervous system can solve problems successfully by intervening between sensory input and behavioral output. Evolution of any ICAS will result in emergent properties, particularly advanced brains. Two processes are involved in integrating experience and knowledge: the effort after meaning and the effort after truth. These e...
Transpersonal Psychology Review
This essay provides an anthropological account of a neuroepistemological account of mystical expe... more This essay provides an anthropological account of a neuroepistemological account of mystical experience. We commence by outlining the various qualities of mystical experience (e.g. time-consciousness and space-consciousness distortion). Subsequently, we analyse the epistemology of mystical experience with special reference to the constructivist versus decontextualist debate. Next, we formulate a neuroepistemology of mystical experience and demonstrate how this account might contribute to the ongoing discourse between constructivists and decontextualists. Finally, from an anthropological point of view we discuss various methodological problems that may hinder a neuroepistemological account of mystical experience (e.g. phenomenological naiveté). We conclude by outlining the attributes of neuroepistemology of mystical experience researchers required to resolve the aforementioned methodological problems.
Transpersonal Psychology Review
Although phenomenologist Edmund Husserl’s project was not directed at transpersonal experiences, ... more Although phenomenologist Edmund Husserl’s project was not directed at transpersonal experiences, his methods are nevertheless applicable in a profound and effective way. We explore Husserl’s project and its methods for their relevance to transpersonal studies. Husserl laid out the proposition that science, including psychology, must be grounded in the study of perception, which after all is the source of all data of interest to the sciences. He held that until the essential structures of experience are laid bare, scientists have no idea of which elements of experience come from the environing world (Umwelt) and which are projected by the cognizing mind upon the world. His methods of reduction and epoché are explored and rudimentary steps toward realizing the ‘phenomenological attitude’ are defined. Once we are clear about how Husserlian phenomenology is actually accomplished, we turn to its relevance to transpersonal studies, offering examples first by applying them to the Taylor-Ha...
International Journal of Transpersonal Studies, 2013
In what sense is dreaming real to people of different cultures? How do they come to conclude that... more In what sense is dreaming real to people of different cultures? How do they come to conclude that dreaming is real, and how do they use dreams to expand their knowledge and control of real events? The reader is introduced to dream anthropology and shown that there are universal patterns to how dreams are experienced, expressed, and used by societies. The distinction between monophasic and polyphasic cultures is described, the latter being the majority of societies that consider dreaming as being in some sense real. Neuroscience supports the notion that there is a natural realism behind the experience of reality in any and all alternative states of consciousness (ASC), and that whatever the ASC, there is a transcendental set of obduracies and affordances that condition the modeling, expression, and social interpretation of experiences, most especially those encountered in archetypal (or special) dreams.
The Literature of Leisure and Chinese Modernity, 2008
In lieu of an abstract, below is the essay's first paragraph. "Blanketed by colors of gold, orang... more In lieu of an abstract, below is the essay's first paragraph. "Blanketed by colors of gold, orange and crimson, the young boy relaxed in a bed of damp fall leaves. He had grown tired after a day of hard play under the warm sun and decided to catch his breath against a drooping gold oak tree. Finding a niche for his body between the tentacle roots of the oak, the boy's eyes grew heavy. Giving up on the fight against his drooping eyelids, the boy drifted off into a deep sleep."
American Anthropologist, 1982
International Journal of Transpersonal Studies, 2001
Men past their midlives may become involved in a dialogue with their own unconscious. This dialog... more Men past their midlives may become involved in a dialogue with their own unconscious. This dialogue often takes the form of female and female-related imagery and feelings that represent hidden mental processes in the self. C. G. Jung called the producer of these images and feelings the anima (or the animus in women), the harbinger of the contrasexual aspects of our being. We often come to know the anima by becoming aware of the qualities we project upon our contrasexual Other. The author, a transpersonal anthropologist, explores his own forty years of encounters with his anima, beginning with spontaneous and ecstatic "mandala experiences," and proceeding through decades of meditation and study in the traditions of Tibetan Tantric Buddhism, the Western mysteries, and Navajo religion. He argues that engagement with the anima is a hermeneutic process, and that traditional societies often have an intact, mystical cycle of meaning within which such experiences make sense. Euroamerican contemplatives, however, are frequently in the position of having to create their own cycle of meaning, because their enculturation does not inform their personal anima expetiences. The role of culture in mediating anima/us related interpretations is discussed, and a model is presented that may help guide practitioners to a better understanding of how their psyches work, relative to both their consciousunconscious and their personal and cultural conditioning. The author concludes with an argument in favor of a closer integration of transpersonal psychology and transpersonal anthropology.
Pre and Peri Natal Psychology Journal, Oct 1, 1992
Studies in symbolic interaction, 1986
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Papers by Charles Laughlin