Psychology and Spirituality
Presentation: December 5, 2009
Daniel Deslauriers, Ph.D.
Brief Description of Presentation
It its fullest expression, psychology encompasses the entirety of human experience, including a person’s direct relationship to the “Ultimate”. This presentation introduces four distinct ways by which psychology and science have sought to understand the role of spirituality in the life of the person: through the prism of the Numinosum (Jungian Psychology), that of intelligence (Developmental and Cognitive psychology), the cultivation of presence (Contemplative psychology), and brain function (Neurosciences). We will discuss their relative merits and potential limitations of each, as well as offer a personal illustration.
Prayer Exercise
Centering Prayer
Preparation for Session and Bibliography
Preparation Article: Either one of the two articles shown below. (Click on article to retrieve it.)
Corbett, L. (2007). Psyche and the Sacred. Spirituality beyond Religion. New Orleans, Louisiana: Spring Journal Books (Introduction and Chapter One). If you wish to purchase the book, the link is: www.springjournalandbooks.com
OR
Supplemental Readings:
Deslauriers, D. ( 2000). "Dreamwork in the light of emotional and spiritual intelligence." Advanced Development. Vol 9, pp. 105-122.
Siegel D.L. (2007). The mindful brain. NY: Norton. (excerpts).
D’Aquili, C. & Newberg, A. (1999). The Mystical Mind. Probing the Biology of Religious Experience. Fortress Press.
Casement, Ann & Tacey, David (2006). The Idea of the Numenous. Contemporary Jungian and psychoanalytic perspectives. NY: Routledge.
James, William. (1902/2002). Varieties of Religious Experience. (Centenary Edition) New York: Routledge.
Jung. Carl Gustav. (1963). Dreams, Memories and Reflections. New York: Vintage Books.
Noble, Kathellen. (2001). Riding the Windhorse: Spiritual Intelligence and the Growth of the Self. NY. Hampton Press.
Otto, R. (1917.1958). The Idea of the Holy. London, Oxford University Press.
About Daniel Deslauriers, Ph.D.
Daniel Deslauriers currently teaches on the faculty of California Institute of Integral Studies in San Francisco.
He received his doctorate in Psychology from the University of Montreal (Quebec) and conducted research at the University of Auckland (New Zealand) and the Chronopsychology Laboratory, Carleton University (Ontario). He lived in Indonesia and has studied the religion and sacred arts of Bali, and trained in Gamelan music and Balinese dance. He was co-founder of the Montreal Center for the Study of Dreams.
Daniel co-authored Le rêve: sa nature, sa fonction et une methode d'analyse (P.U.Q., 1987), has published articles on epistemology and narrative research, and is currently completing a co-authored book (with Fariba Bogzaran), Integral Dreaming (SUNY Press, forthcoming).
His professional interests in consciousness studies include: traditional and contemporary approaches to dreams and imagination, altered states of consciousness, spiritual intelligence, and integral psychology. He is also a practitioner and teacher of Unity in Motion, a bodymind integrative practice. He was selected winner of the Templeton 2000 Science and Religion Course Award Competition for a course he developed entitled "Consciousness, Science and Religion."