Definitions and a Potted History of Transpersonal Psychology

Abstract

When exploring the transpersonal, a good beginning is to take some time examining the definition of the term transpersonal itself, whilst briefly placing it in historical context. This is important, for, unlike theoretical schools such as behavioural psychology, which can be seen as having and relying upon a narrowly focused epistemology, transpersonal psychology has its roots in and springs from a multidisciplinary movement that comes from a wide spectrum of diverse fields. These include bodies of knowledge that often would be seen as strange bedfellows, such as religion, psychology, neurobiology and philosophy.