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A Matter of Heart and Soul: the Value of Positing a Personal Ontological Center for Developmental Psychology Elizabeth M International Journal of Transpersonal Studies Volume 37 | Issue 1 Article 9 9-1-2018 A Matter of Heart and Soul: The alueV of Positing a Personal Ontological Center for Developmental Psychology Elizabeth M. Teklinski California Institute of Integral Studies, San Francisco, CA, USA Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.ciis.edu/ijts-transpersonalstudies Part of the Philosophy Commons, Psychology Commons, and the Religion Commons Recommended Citation Teklinski, E. M. (2018). A matter of heart and soul: The aluev of positing a personal ontological center for developmental psychology. International Journal of Transpersonal Studies, 37 (1). http://dx.doi.org/https://doi.org/10.24972/ijts.2018.37.1.90 This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 License. This Special Topic Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Journals and Newsletters at Digital Commons @ CIIS. It has been accepted for inclusion in International Journal of Transpersonal Studies by an authorized administrator of Digital Commons @ CIIS. For more information, please contact [email protected]. A Matter of Heart and Soul: The Value of Positing a Personal Ontological Center for Developmental Psychology Elizabeth M. Teklinski California Institute of Integral Studies San Francisco, CA, USA A whole person understanding of postconventional development needs to offer a facilitative agent, what is here called a psychocentric dimension, with a unique and necessary role in the transformation of individual consciousness, that complements and completes the egocentric and cosmocentric domains. Sri Aurobindo and the Mother’s writings and praxis concerning what they called the psychic being may elucidate an alternative frame to current theoretical speculations, in a way that may offer a new synthesis and a more theoretically satisfying interpretation. More specifically, it is hoped that an integral yoga psychology framework for postconventional development can meaningfully account for the transformation of individual consciousness by rendering the psychic being as the definitive reference point, facilitative agent, basis, source, originating point of the self and-or cause for the process of self-individuation of postconventional consciousness. Keywords: postconventional development, psychic being, integral yoga, Sri Aurobindo, evolution of consciousness, soul, theoretical hermeneutics he study described herein proposes that an aspect of individual consciousness known as the integral yoga psychology framework makes soul (psychic being or the inmost being in integral Ta positive contribution in articulating the yoga). To this end, an extensive critical evaluation possible nature and unfoldment of postformal, or and problematization of the disparate theoretical postconventional, characterizations of individual literatures indicated that while the egocentric and development by framing it as consciousness evolution. cosmocentric dimensions have been taken into In order to assess the metaphysical assumptions account by various models, the psychocentric, or that underlie many of the dominant developmental more specifically, the evolutionary soul dimension theories, the researcher has drawn largely from the and its role in postconventional development has work of integral scholar and professor of psychology commonly been overlooked. Bahman A. K. Shirazi. In articulating an integral With this background, there appears to psychology framework, she has employed Shirazi’s be hardly any substantial signs of agreement in (1994, 2015) three broad-spectrum paradigmatic the extensive and rapidly expanding literatures on categories of subjective self-experience that he postformal human development. Such division termed: (1) the egocentric, or the composition of has resulted in increasingly heated disagreements egoic (i.e., mental, vital, and physical) dimensions and debates concerning controversies of shape, of the individual associated with the embodied goals, and, particularly, direction (e.g., structural- surface personality (the outer_ being in integral yoga); hierarchical versus spiral-dynamic models; Washburn, (2) the cosmocentric (Atman-Brahman in integral 2003a). The shared shortcoming of egocentric yoga) or pure awakening to the impersonal Self or and cosmocentric views of postconventional Ultimate Reality; and (3) the psychocentric, which development is that they fail to identify a satisfactory is the awareness of the entirely unique and personal facilitative agent that might account for this process. 90 International Journal of Transpersonal Studies, 37(1), 2018, pp. 90–119 Teklinski https://doi.org/10.24972/ijts.2018.37.1.90 Egocentric forces cannot explain a drive for that transcends the domain of scientific method development beyond an egocentric domain—a fact wherever that experience is to be found” (p. xxii). that seems to have gone largely unnoticed in the Such a broad sweep as this is undeniably field of developmental psychology—and it is hard imperfect, as any effort to interpret such a vast body to understand how a cosmocentric view of a single, of theoretical literature requires careful examination undifferentiated consciousness accounts for the from a variety of perspectives, contexts, and ways diversities of life and development. of knowing. For instance, the very process of A whole person understanding of postcon- identifying assumptions underlying a particular set ventional development needs to offer a facilitative of theories calls for intuitive conjecture on the part agent, what is here called a psychocentric of the researcher, as specific biases are not typically dimension, with a unique and necessary role in clearly stated. That is, authors of published theories the transformation of individual consciousness, are not always frank about the way their theoretical that complements and completes the egocentric assumptions have shaped their research questions, and cosmocentric domains. Sri Aurobindo and the designs, interpretations, and conclusions (Paterson Mother’s writings and praxis concerning what they et al., 2001). The process of interpretation, might, called the psychic being may elucidate an alternative for instance, extend from that which has been frame to current theoretical speculations, in a way that studied to that which has not—thus permitting may offer a new synthesis and a more theoretically speculation about why this might be so (Paterson satisfying interpretation. More specifically, it is et al., 2001). In this way, the researcher could help hoped that an integral yoga psychology framework others understand certain problematic areas in the for postconventional development can meaningfully theoretical literatures, which have typically been account for the transformation of individual ignored, misconstrued, or mistreated (Kasper, 1994). consciousness by rendering the psychic being as the It should be conceded from the outset, definitive reference point, facilitative agent, basis, interpretation as employed here does not seek source, originating point of the self and / or cause for to dwell on evidence for and / or against the the process of self-individuation of postconventional soul—a more familiar term with some rough consciousness. equivalence to the notion of the psychic being— While psychology typically relies on empirical nor attempt to establish the ontological reality of evidence, the question of situating postconventional the psychocentric dimension. For that matter, this development differently than egoic development is research, as creative conceptualization, does not relatively novel, so that even preliminary speculative attempt to prove anything at all. As Rachael (2012) framing of the issue is largely lacking. Accordingly, put it, such a theoretical hermeneutic endeavor this paper employs a multidisciplinary approach to “does not interpret texts in an attempt to prove the theoretical hermeneutics, considering the construct existence of underlying phenomena arising out of a of the psychic being in an exploratory and emergent pregiven or objective static ground” (p. 69). While manner that considers potential syntheses between the present writing honors the evolutionary insights qualitative accounts and various theoretical and of Sri Aurobindo and the Mother and furthermore metaphysical contexts along both logical and attempts to remain as devoted as possible to their intuitive lines of reasoning. As such, it challenges integral yogic psychological perspective, it should much of the existing literature with an alternate be emphasized that the researcher does not pretend assumptive ground in its integral aim for a deeper to offer up a universally verifiable and predetermined and richer dialogue. This preliminary effort attempts path, nor a grand map (e.g., Wilber, 2000a; see to apprehend possible outlines of what a satisfying Shirazi, 2001; cf. Ferrer, 2001), that should be solution might look like, as a potential guide to more applied to all psychological theories and all spiritual specific work in the future. Following Gadamer traditions at all times, for all people, now and in the (1960/1975), such a theoretical hermeneutic future. In other words, she presents an interpretive approach is concerned with “the experience of truth model and a privileged (not absolutist) knowledge Positing a Personal Ontological Center International Journal of Transpersonal Studies 91 claim in terms of the ensuing integral psychology in language compatible with
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