The transpersonal vision is broad, deep, integral and integrating. In many ways the movement that since the 1960s has gradually established itself around this vision, thereby claiming possession of the new emerging paradigm, is revolutionary. While it is firmly rooted in science, it does not forget the wealth of knowledge borne out of the greatest spiritual traditions. Indeed, it seizes upon the most thought-provoking queries and earliest insights to have accompanied mankind throughout its evolutionary path and rises to the challenge of responding to large-scale, all-encompassing questions of meaning; all the while, it traces the outlines of a science of consciousness and ultimately succeeds in conceiving a coherent and spiritualized existence.
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We would like to quote E. Lazlo when he says that “the emerging vision of reality is more than a theory and does not involve scientists alone. It draws us closer than ever to lifting the veil of sensory perception and to understanding the true nature of the world. This is a welcome discovery for our own life and prosperity that validates something we have always suspected yet were unable to express in these modern times (even though we have never tried to do so, unless in the guise of poets or lovers). That something is a sense of belonging … we are a coherent part of a coherent world.”
By reaching beyond the barriers of space, transcending linear time and bringing about an amazing expansion of consciousness, transpersonal experiences lead us into the presence of a Oneness, let us knowingly partake in the interconnection, integrality, and consistency of the Cosmos. Our encounter with the Holy can deeply change us, making us take on the responsibility of witnessing and spreading a culture that is entwined in spirituality, imbued with love, geared towards sharing.
From Einstein onwards it has been our belief that science is lame without religion, and religion is blind without science.
We believe in the possibility of tracing the outlines of a Science that does not claim to utter certainties without providing guarantee of validity; a Science that does not wither and die in the exercise of verifiable and repeatable experimental protocols without waiving its duty to question nature by means of reliable investigative procedures; a Science that is not reduced to what is measurable but is capable – as Maslow hopes – of broadening its jurisdiction and its methods, dares to venture boldly where angels fear to tread – as suggested by Bateson – yet, at the same time, knows when to stop humbly at the threshold of the mystery.
We believe it is useful and necessary to work for the rise of a knowledge that, while providing guarantee of validity, speaks wisely on the individual Self’s participatory journey into Psyche’s Kingdom, on the individual Soul’s journey into Anima Mundi, and on the individual’s journey into the Cosmos.
This editorial project starts with the intention of being an instrument for sharing and giving to all those involved in inner experience; a meeting point for those who draw knowledge and inspiration from the transpersonal dimension.
ITJ seeks to provide a space where to gather and discuss openly, where to focus the cultural production of all those who, as humbly yet as powerfully as they can, are capable of casting upon the world the unique look of awareness, while at the same time preparing themselves to process any number of tools and frameworks designed to highlight the guarantee of validity.
In this way we wish to help craft an epistemology that allows the transcendental inner experience and the phenomenal experience of the world of nature, culture and environment, consciousness and matter, to be all examined in a participatory light that is also dynamic and interconnected by means of that threefold gaze as suggested by St. Bonaventure and submitted again by Wilber: an eye of the flesh, an eye of the mind, and an eye of the spirit.
ITJ wants to brand itself as a place of teaching and learning, and where, upon listening, one transcends and encompasses, free from the known, and where one undertakes that journey towards Oneness we strive to partake in.
From a cultural perspective, this is a journey that, following the suggestion of Confucius, should be able to restore things to their proper name, and hand words such as Science, Psyche, Theory, Soul, Spirit, Sacred, Medicine, Void, Love (to name but a few) back to their true meanings.
Staff of ITJ