Spotlight on Mystical Traditions & Psychology
ITP is one of the few accredited institutions in the world that offer a broad range of Masters and Ph.D. level courses in various fields related to Transpersonal Psychology. Sufism is one such area of study. The Institute's graduate level distance learning and residential degree programs often offercourses in mystical traditions that are taught by ITP's distinguished faculty. This faculty includes professors who are nationally recognized leaders in their field of specialty.
The following is a list of courses related to mysticism. Most of these classes have been offered in the past. The particular electives offered by the Institute vary at any given time. The Institute tries to be responsive to the particular interests of the current student body and aims to have the curriculum reflect those interests. The number of current classes that fall under the category of mysticism depends on both teacher availability and student interest. Information on current classes can be found in the academic catalog.
Sufism and Western Psychology: Interfacing Two Visions of Human Possibility
This symposium is dedicated to expanding and quickening the dialogue between Sufism and modern Psychology. Despite important cultural and methodological differences, these two disciplines potentially complement each other. Each broadens the other's approach to human development and maturation.
Symposium participants will have a unique opportunity to explore the similarities and differences between these traditions, with a view toward developing a synthesis of both. We hope that this symposium will begin a deepening trans-cultural dialogue, a dialogue which will contribute to the development of a coherent, transformative, and effective science of being. Traditional Sufi approaches will be combined with modern investigative procedures, including phenomenological, hermeneutical, and cross-cultural analysis.
Sufism
Sufism, known as part of Islam, also contains a well developed psychology that has personal, theoretical, and clinical applications that have been developed and refined for at least the last 1200 years. In class we will read, work with, and discuss stories, poems, and short selections from a wide range of Sufi sources. Students are expected to read and write about additional stories and poems as well as to observe their own reactions to these materials.
Psychology of Sufism
Students will become acquainted with the historical roots of Sufism, some classical and contemporary Sufi teachers, and an overview of major Sufi concepts. Students will experience basic Sufi practices of silence, zhikr (remembrance of the Divine), ritual washing, and Sufi prayer.
Sufi Stories will provide the opportunity to move deeper into the study. Students will read Sufi stories from a variety of sources and will have the opportunity to work carefully with several stories. You will review a recent study by Annick Safken on the self-perceived effects of the study of Sufi stories. In addition, students will work with dreams to integrate the coursework; both Sufi and Jungian perspectives on dreamwork will be included. The class will also read about the feminine in Sufism, and will consider a feminist discussion of women's rights in classical Islam.
Kabbalah for Healing: with Meditation, Drumming, Chanting & Ritual
The focus of this course is to introduce students to the Kabbalah and its powerful healing techniques. (Kabbalah is the Jewish mystical tradition underlying Judaism and Christianity.) Together we will study and experience the Tree of Life, the Kabbalistic map of inner development that is used for diagnosis, healing and spiritual guidance.
The Tree of Life is a holistic and integrated system, assisting us with our instinctual, psychological and spiritual development, so that we can develop our soul and discover our spiritual purpose. The Tree of Life is said to live within each person, with its roots, trunk and branches corresponding to body, soul, and spirit. When our roots, trunk or branches have suffered wounding or trauma, our Tree gets out of balance and out of alignment. The key to healing is to get our Tree back into alignment so that the body, psyche, and spirit are functioning as a whole. The purpose of this course is to experience Kabbalistic healing techniques to get our Tree of Life back into harmony, balance and alignment. This course integrates wisdom from Kabbalah, Depth Psychology, Astrology, and Alchemy. We will practice the ancient healing arts of drumming, chanting, Kabbalistic meditation, psychodrama and ritual utilizing the instructor's ceremonial robes.
Psychology of Christian Mysticism
This course provides a rich and fertile experiential overview of meditative prayer and the psychology of the inner life of the Christian mystic. It focuses on themes of inner transformation and purification, death and resurrection, and a creative life of service.
Students in the course will be encouraged to begin a daily practice of Christian meditation, to become aware of the dislocation of personality—commonly called purification—that can be expected in the early stages of spiritual awakening. Students will become conversant with the renewal process, as understood in Christian thought, as well as develop an understanding and perception of the central symbol of Christianity: the death and resurrection of Jesus. In addition, a goal of this course is to acquire an understanding of some of the more subtle developments in interior life, from the perspective of the Western mystical experience, including the potentials for personal creativity and transformative service.
The Inner Experience: Thomas Merton on the Phenomenology of Contemplation
One of the principal and enduring characteristics of Thomas Merton's life and work has been the universal appeal of his spirituality. He demonstrated an ability to touch into the basic religiosity of humanity, which he believed constituted the essence of our being. His writings served as a beacon for others to search their hearts and minds for the answers to life's perennial questions about our origin, purpose, love, and the sanctity of life. Moreover, his own life and spirituality served as a balm for others with regard to the alienation and anguish that humanity inevitably encounters when attempting to extract meaning from the existential givens of birth, death, illness, emotion, despair, guilt, alienation, identity, etc. While Merton has certainly been recognized as one of the intelligentsia of his era, he will be remembered not so much for his acumen as a scholar as for his charismatic capacity to reach people's hearts on the most fundamental issue of becoming fully human.
This course focuses on Merton not as a biographical figure, but as a spiritually awakened monk within the Christian mystical/monastic lineage. The course is structured as a sequence of 10 distinct yet interrelated modules that will give students a more immersed, experiential perspective into a subject matter that is sometimes difficult to perceive through the written word alone. Programmatically there will be an emphasis placed on cultivating a visceral sensibility of the subjective nature of contemplation through didactic lecture, Socratic discourse, and experiential practices that support phenomenological inquiry into direct experience. Each of the proposed modules will orbit around Merton's personal revelatory and scholarly interpretations of the phenomenology of contemplation, as well as the more universal characteristics of contemplative life found in the mystics and diverse spiritual and philosophical traditions before him.
What benefits can students derive by participating in a course on contemplative life? As with other periods in human history, our modern world is teetering on an abyss of reckless self-destruction, manifesting in the daily occurrences of war, genocide, sexual violence, social injustices, racism, and economic inequality. Merton has expressed unequivocally that contemplative life, with its emphasis on solitude, silence, and surrender, can act as an antidote to the unbridled narcissism and passions of the false self that lives a life of alienation and inauthenticity.
Ignatian Spirituality for Transpersonal Psychologists
In this course we will consider the spirituality and spiritual practice of St. Ignatius of Loyola, a 16th century soldier turned Christian mystic, and founder of the religious order known as the Society of Jesus ("the Jesuits"). We will use Ignatian spirituality as a point of reference for examining our own spirituality and spiritual practice. The course will include an experiential learning component, allowing students to "test drive" approaches to prayer and meditation rooted in the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius. There will be room in the experiential learning tasks to adjust them to your own understanding of the Divine, or Higher Power, or God. As we travel through the course, we will also consider psychological constructs that underlie the spirituality of St. Ignatius, such as the role of memory, imagination, intellect, and desire in prayer and meditation; the role of affect in the process of spiritual discernment and decision-making; and Ignatius's notion of the intimate interpersonal quality of communion with the Divine.
Psychology of Shamanism
A course designed to teach tools for self-growth and exploration of the universal processes that are inherent to indigenous peoples and shamanic traditions. Students discover how these principles appear in modern times and will work with journeying and soul retrieval. This is an experiential course that invites exploration of creativity and connection to Earth.
Cross-cultural principles found in the majority of Shamanic traditions will be explored in the service of discovering how these principles appear and are used in contemporary times. Students will identify the metaphors which reveal the stages in one's own heroic journey and personal development, most notably how the four universal archetypes of the Warrior, Healer, Teacher, and Visionary are prevalent in both personal and professional contexts. Students will also explore and identify individual power animals, helping allies, and consistent healing images, and achieve a basic understanding and experience of the oldest form of Shamanic healing and empowerment through the drum and journey work. The course will conclude with an integration of ancient and modern healing methods that can be applied in personal, professional, and spiritual areas of each student's life.
