Understanding Death from a Spiritual Perspective, by Pascal Kaplan
In discussing a post-modern, Meher Baba-influenced psychology, there could hardly be a more inflammatory place to start than with this book published by Sufism Reoriented, Walnut creek, California. The book's premise is captured in the divisions: (1) The Itinerary of the Soul from Death to Rebirth, (2) The Spiritual Significance, and (3) Answers to frequent Questions on death and Dying.
The author earned Master's and Ph. D. degrees in Theoloogy from Harvard, and while dean of the School of General Studies at John F. Kennedy University in Orinda, California, was instrumental in offering degree programs in Consciousness Studies, Holistic Health Education and Transpersonal Psychology there.
As my wife cogently asked when I relayed a fascinating passage, "How can anyone know these things?" The question is pivotally important if we want to posit that discussions about the "psychology of death and rebirth" constitute a legitimate topic of discourse in psychology.
More or less since it's inception as an organized discipline (a development I would date to the development of Wilhelm Wundt's laboratory in Leipzig in 1879) psychology has preoccupied itself with the question of "How can anyone know anything about the psyche?" Behavioristic, experimental psychology grew influentially more or less coincidentally with the development of logical positivism, and it's emphasis on verifiable empirical claims. Karl Popper's work sharpened this distinction by requiring that scientific theories possess the capacity of being capable of empirical falsification. In other words, (IMHO of KP) if there is no set of potential data that would permit a theory to be falsified, it might not be considered to be a scientific theory.
Almost universally these days, psychology strives to establish itself as a scientific theory or set of scientific theories. This constraint impels psychology to disregard as "pseudo-scientific" vast and comprehensive theories such as Freudian psychoanalysis in it's various iterations. The constraints, however, have not inhibited the publication of vast troves of experimental and quasi-experimental studies leading to literature reviews, meta-analytic studies, and theoretical surveys.
The development of modern psychology has sadly left outside the fold the works of many thoughtful delvers into the human psyche. William James delivered "The Principles of Psychology" in an era when "science" was a more open concept, and psychology still had room for the paranormal. This was the cornerstone publication of American psychology in its day, until John Watson and the behaviorist movement made it seem terribly romantic.
In this book, Kaplan proceeds from an older view: that truth need not be proved, nor be subject to the Popper test. It needs to be pertinent, internally consistent, and come from a reliable source. He has adopted Avatar Meher Baba as his primary source, accepting him as one who knows. He goes on to cite more than twenty other authors in the "Selected Bibliography," each of whom brings unique perspectives.
The descriptions include the process by which the astral body dissociates from the physical body, a discussion of the relationship that exists between the disembodied soul and the physical world after death, effects of suicide and other unusual circumstances of death, "the reflective phase in which life is reviewed and lessons are taken in," the "heaven and hell" states, and the process or rebirth. There are some provocative ideas about how the afterlife may take different forms for Christians, Hindus, and atheists. Kaplan discusses spiritual effects of these stages, and then explores related topics with Murshida Ivy Duce. Among these fascinating snippets are a conversation about the advisability of looking into past lives and the value of the suffering the sometimes precedes death. The nature and workings of Karma provide a backdrop to all.
Books like this may be thought of as religious treatises, especially since they offer few testable hypotheses, but Kaplan's efforts, in the studied lack of a secular focus, seem to me to be pioneering forays into a kind of religious or spiritual psychology. This book may have a specific application to receptive readers in helping them grapple with the terror of the unknown, as they confront the idea of death.
The author earned Master's and Ph. D. degrees in Theoloogy from Harvard, and while dean of the School of General Studies at John F. Kennedy University in Orinda, California, was instrumental in offering degree programs in Consciousness Studies, Holistic Health Education and Transpersonal Psychology there.
As my wife cogently asked when I relayed a fascinating passage, "How can anyone know these things?" The question is pivotally important if we want to posit that discussions about the "psychology of death and rebirth" constitute a legitimate topic of discourse in psychology.
More or less since it's inception as an organized discipline (a development I would date to the development of Wilhelm Wundt's laboratory in Leipzig in 1879) psychology has preoccupied itself with the question of "How can anyone know anything about the psyche?" Behavioristic, experimental psychology grew influentially more or less coincidentally with the development of logical positivism, and it's emphasis on verifiable empirical claims. Karl Popper's work sharpened this distinction by requiring that scientific theories possess the capacity of being capable of empirical falsification. In other words, (IMHO of KP) if there is no set of potential data that would permit a theory to be falsified, it might not be considered to be a scientific theory.
Almost universally these days, psychology strives to establish itself as a scientific theory or set of scientific theories. This constraint impels psychology to disregard as "pseudo-scientific" vast and comprehensive theories such as Freudian psychoanalysis in it's various iterations. The constraints, however, have not inhibited the publication of vast troves of experimental and quasi-experimental studies leading to literature reviews, meta-analytic studies, and theoretical surveys.
The development of modern psychology has sadly left outside the fold the works of many thoughtful delvers into the human psyche. William James delivered "The Principles of Psychology" in an era when "science" was a more open concept, and psychology still had room for the paranormal. This was the cornerstone publication of American psychology in its day, until John Watson and the behaviorist movement made it seem terribly romantic.
In this book, Kaplan proceeds from an older view: that truth need not be proved, nor be subject to the Popper test. It needs to be pertinent, internally consistent, and come from a reliable source. He has adopted Avatar Meher Baba as his primary source, accepting him as one who knows. He goes on to cite more than twenty other authors in the "Selected Bibliography," each of whom brings unique perspectives.
The descriptions include the process by which the astral body dissociates from the physical body, a discussion of the relationship that exists between the disembodied soul and the physical world after death, effects of suicide and other unusual circumstances of death, "the reflective phase in which life is reviewed and lessons are taken in," the "heaven and hell" states, and the process or rebirth. There are some provocative ideas about how the afterlife may take different forms for Christians, Hindus, and atheists. Kaplan discusses spiritual effects of these stages, and then explores related topics with Murshida Ivy Duce. Among these fascinating snippets are a conversation about the advisability of looking into past lives and the value of the suffering the sometimes precedes death. The nature and workings of Karma provide a backdrop to all.
Books like this may be thought of as religious treatises, especially since they offer few testable hypotheses, but Kaplan's efforts, in the studied lack of a secular focus, seem to me to be pioneering forays into a kind of religious or spiritual psychology. This book may have a specific application to receptive readers in helping them grapple with the terror of the unknown, as they confront the idea of death.
Labels: death, Meher Baba, psychology, thanatology
posted by David | 1:57 PM
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