73: Mark Ryan – A Different Dimension: Reflections on the History of Transpersonal Thought

The Sacred Speaks

Conversation starts @ 5:00 In this episode, Dr. Price interviews Dr. Mark Ryan, and we begin with a quote from Dr. Ryan’s book defining transpersonal psychology. “Our individual ego, our sense of a personal self, and the psyche that sustains it, is imbedded in an interconnected cosmos; our personal psyche reaches into, and is penetrated by, a collective consciousness, a natural ambience, a spiritual foundation and context” (p. 127). Through this conversation we explore the definition of transpersonal thought, meaningful perspectives at the root of religious and spiritual values, constructivism and perennialism, William James, Ken Wilbur, and other luminaries of religion, psychology and spirituality, North American thought and the history of mysticism in the United States and how this influences modern thought in the west, the science of the psyche, the influence of behaviorism and Freudian thought on religion and spirituality, cosmic consciousness, the science of the paranormal, psychical research, psychological reduction, materialism, a review of the founders of modern psychology and spirituality, the conscious and the unconscious, mystical experience, panpsychism, & psychedelics. Bio: An historian of American thought and culture, Mark Ryan was Dean of Jonathan Edwards College and a teacher of American Studies and history at Yale University for more than twenty years. Subsequently he was Titular IV Professor at the Universidad de las Américas in Puebla, Mexico, where he also served as Dean of the Colleges, Regente (Head) of José Gaos College, and Coordinator of the master’s degree program in United States Studies. He holds Ph.D. and M. Phil. degrees from Yale, an M.A. from the University of Texas at Austin, and a B.A. from the University of St. Thomas. Mark is author of A Different Dimension: Reflections on the History of Transpersonal Thought (Westphalia Press, 2018), A Collegiate Way of Living (Yale University, 2001), articles in various journals on higher education, and articles in The Journal of Transpersonal Psychology and related publications on the history of psychology. He is certified by Grof Transpersonal Training as a practitioner of Holotropic Breathwork, served for fourteen years on the Board of Trustees of Naropa University, is past chair of the Board of Directors of Wisdom University, and past chair and current trustee of the Jonathan Edwards Trust at Yale. Living now in his native city of Houston, Mark teaches and lectures at the C. G. Jung Educational Center and other venues, and is a principal facilitator of Holotropic Breathwork Houston. https://www.holotropicbreathworkhouston.com Website for The Sacred Speaks: http://www.thesacredspeaks.com WATCH: YouTube for The Sacred Speaks https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCOAuksnpfht1udHWUVEO7Rg Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thesacredspeaks/ @thesacredspeaks Twitter: https://twitter.com/thesacredspeaks Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thesacredspeaks/ Brought to you by: https://www.thecenterforhas.com WATCH Get Centered https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCdbeVcDXWXezYMkHJg-2duw Theme music provided by: http://www.modernnationsmusic.com