Introducing transpersonal phenomenology: The direct experience of a sudden awakening
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Date
2009
Authors
Solowoniuk, Jason
Nixon, Gary
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Paradoxica: International Journal of Nondual Psychology
Abstract
This paper introduces a transpersonal approach to conducting phenomenological research with the emphasis
on illuminating a first person account of a sudden awakening. Although within Eastern cultures awakening is
typically understood as the purposeful undertaking of spiritual or religious practices toward transcending the
ego, liberating the self, contacting the divine, or becoming consciousness itself, the unsuspecting Westerner
who suddenly finds himself or herself without a self may not have the reference to ground such a radical shift
in identity. This was the case for the first author in this study. Through our transpersonal inquiry (i.e, dwelling
and beholding, noetic reduction, noumenal parsing, and recognition) we were led to understand that a sudden
awakening can involve psychological upheaval, terror, mental collapse, a search for balance and integration,
and an understanding of how to trust existence in the absence of a permanent self-orientation.
Description
Permission to include this article granted by Dr. Gary Nixon, editor of Paradoxica
Keywords
Awakening , Transpersonal phenomenology , Transpersonal inquiry
Citation
Solowoniuk, J., & Nixon, G. (2009). Introducing transpersonal phenomenology: The direct experience of a sudden awakening. Paradoxica: Journal of Nondual Psychology, 1. Retrieved June 25, 2009 from http://www.paradoxica.ca/index.php/issue-1