Artigo Revisado por pares

Emerging Influence of Transmodernism and Transpersonal Psychology Reflected in Rising Popularity of Transformational Festivals

2015; Taylor & Francis; Volume: 17; Issue: 1 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1080/19349637.2014.957607

ISSN

1934-9645

Autores

David Lane Bottorff,

Tópico(s)

Psychological and Temporal Perspectives Research

Resumo

AbstractThe broad cultural themes of modernism and postmodernism have played crucial roles in intra-, inter-, and transpersonal growth, particularly in economically mature societies. Today, the tendrils of transmodernism appear to have captured the attention of many young adults eager to find meaning in a wake of postmodernism's reductionist, nihilist, and existential impulses. Evidence of this shift away from postmodernism is the emergence of transformational festivals—countercultural and co-created gatherings that may offer an anecdote for modern life's anomie, anxiety, and depression. Elements of transpersonal psychology and psychosynthesis appear to be reflected in each festival's design and implementation. Intense communal activities work synergistically with sacred and contemplative activities to promote relational, introspective, and transcendent growth that resembles interdisciplinary psychotherapy. Guided by an ethos of radical acceptance and mutual support, the social and solitary limbs create a safe container in which participants may dissect, test, and reassemble aspects of psyche while remaining receptive to enhanced appreciation of the transcendent world. Participants routinely express a greater sense of wholeness and self-possession with reduced negative affect. Parallels between the broad cultural theme of transmodernism and immersive psychosocial events like the Burning Man art and music festival suggest a mutually beneficial and symbiotic relationship.KEYWORDS: postmoderntransmoderntranspersonal psychologypsychosynthesistransformational festivalsBurning Man Notes1. Thielicke (Citation1955) mused, "any author and any movement succeeding in forming a word ending with -ism will surely get the attention of all the -ism addicts. … For an Ism is always a sign of the fact that one has absolutized a principle, or to be more precise, that one thinks that it is possible to form a coordinated system, in which one can more or less provide a place for and bring into a certain order all phenomena of life" (p. 343).2. Additional information on The Bloom: A Journey Through Transformational Festivals is available at http://thebloomseries.com3. A description of the 10 Principles is available from http://www.burningman.com/whatisburningman/about_burningman/principles.html. The Burning Man Mission Statement is available from http://www.burningman.com/whatisburningman/about_burningman/mission.html.4. Lists of major transformational festivals can be found at http://thebloomseries.com/featured/featuredfestivals/, http://realitysandwich.com/168630/conscious_convergences/, http://keyframe-entertainment.com/electronic-music/transformational-festivals/, and http://festivalfire.com.5. List of past and upcoming festivals, along with convenient brief descriptions and URLs, can be found at http://realitysandwich.com/168630/conscious_convergences/.6. Although not the longest running transformational festival, Burning Man's history is replete with interesting personalities, nontraditional behaviors, and wide-eyed dreams. The founder's reflections on anarchy and civic responsibility during the early days of Burning Man are available at http://blog.burningman.com/2013/11/tenprinciples/how-the-west-was-won-anarchy-vs-civic-responsibility/.7. A satellite image taken by Geo-Eye of the 2012 Burning Man is available at http://burners.me/2012/09/07/hi-res-satellite-photo/.8. In his 3,055-page bibliography on materials relevant to transpersonal psychology, Lefebvre (Citation2013) counted 22,458 entries, including 2,232 doctoral dissertations, all of which he placed in 31 discrete categories. While compiling the "extremely incomplete" tomb he realized the extensive interdisciplinary character of transpersonal psychology, contributors to which include such varied thinkers as Frankl (logotherapy), Jung (analytical psychology), and Assagioli (psychosynthesis). Lefebvre also noticed that many psychologists either pay short shrift to the "whole" person or, when they do recognize the spiritual dimension, do so without self-identifying with transpersonal psychology. The bibliography lists 28 of these psychologists and 39 of the many terms they use to reference the transcendent self.9. Gene Roddenberry tapped into this theme when he wrote about a perfectly quiescent society slavishly following a deity's instructions as mediated through lawgivers, only to erupt at "red hour" in frenzied carnage. The deity, Landru, turns out to be a computer built by a scientist some 6,000 years earlier to guide his people toward peaceful and civilized progress. A counterculture group helps two wise visitors from afar destroy the computer and return the community to self-governance. The story became the 21st episode of Star Trek's first season and aired February 9, 1967.10. Many Burning Man participants use or are given pseudonyms, creating still greater psychic space between the individual and the boundaries of daily life.11. Temple names: 2014 = Temple of Grace; 2013 = Temple of Whollyness; 2012 = The Temple of Juno; 2011 = Temple of Transition; 2010 = Temple of Flux; 2009 = Fire of Fires; 2008 = Temple of Community; 2007 = Temple of Forgiveness; 2006 = Temple of Hope; 2005 = Temple of Dreams; 2004 = Temple of Stars; 2003 = Temple of Honor; 2002 = Temple of Joy; 2001 = Temple of Tears; 2000 = Temple of the Mind.12. Additional information on the Gamelatron is available at http://gamelatron.com.13. "A rock pile ceases to be a rock pile the moment a single man contemplates it, bearing within him the image of a cathedral" (de Saint-Exupery, Citation1986, p. 129).14. Art Themes: 2014 = Caravansary; 2013 = Cargo Cult; 2012 = Fertility 2.0; 2011 = Rites of Passage; 2010 = Metropolis; 2009 = Evolution; 2008 = American Dream; 2007 = The Green Man; 2006 = Hope & Fear; 2005 = Psyche; 2004 = Vault of Heaven; 2003 = Beyond Belief; 2002 = The Floating World; 2001 = The Seven Ages; 2000 = The Body; 1999 = The Wheel of Time; 1998 = The Nebulous Entity; 1997 = Mysteria; 1996 = The Inferno.15. It is much more appropriate to draw a parallel between the human brain and the entire World Wide Web than to a solitary computer (Gackenbach & Karpen, Citation2007). The power and flexibility comes from distributed networks because the whole is greater than the sum of its parts.

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