Space, Time, and Spirit: the Analogical Imagination and the Evolution of Transpersonal Theory Part Two: Contemporary Transpersonal Models

The author calls for a more mindful engagement with the analogical imagination, the creative promptings of which have guided the evolution of transpersonal theory from its inception to the present. Having traced, in Part One, the role of spatial and temporal image schemata in the models of such transpersonal precursors as Fechner, James, Myers, and Jung, this second part considers the further evolution of transpersonal theory into the paradigmatic models of Wilber (from Wilber I to IV) and Grof. Special attention is given to the tendency to spatialize, and therefore obscure, the more complex aspects of psyche and its relation to Spirit or the transpersonal. This tendency, when not rendered conscious, can lead to a kind of hardening of the categories and to a clash of tacit metaphysical assumptions and character dispositions hidden behind the variously defended ‘‘positions.’’ I have called for a more mindful engagement with the analogical imagination, the creative promptings of which have guided the evolution of transpersonal theory from its inception to the present. I began, in Part One, with some reflections on the metaphorical or analogical ground of all theories, and went on to trace the role of spatial and temporal image schemata in the models of such transpersonal precursors as G.T. Fechner, Frederick Myers, William James, and C.G. Jung. In this Part Two, I consider the further evolution of transpersonal theory into the paradigmatic models of Wilber (from Wilber I to IV) and Grof, along with some implications of the trajectory as a whole.