Most people would assume that before Sigmund Freud and other Western personality theorists, no real theory of the personality existed. Certainly, in Western culture, this may be a true statement. And certainly, since Freud, the field of psychology has rapidly developed over the years moving from a simple study of mental neurosis to a field that encompasses actualization and higher functioning of the self. Transpersonal psychology, which evolved out of the work of Abraham Maslow in the area of humanistic psychology, goes even further as it acknowledges the importance of the transcendent aspects of the human experience. My contention is that development of the transpersonal approach is really psychology coming full circle, that there existed an optimal study of the psyche in ancient Africa from which the seeds of modern psychology were generated.

          In this paper, I will give a brief summary of the major concepts of Western transpersonal psychology, then give historical background and analysis of a psychological framework that originated in the Mystery System of ancient Egypt and is being practiced today as an optimal psychology. As you will see by comparison and contrast, the Western transpersonal psychology seems to finally be making its way back home.

Transpersonal Psychology

Transpersonal psychology is the moniker given to the discipline that evolved out of the work of Abraham Maslow and others. As an alternative to both the behaviorist approach of B. F. Skinner and the psychoanalytic approach of Sigmund Freud, transpersonal psychology expands on the humanistic approach to incorporate the spiritual dimensions of the human experience. Owing much of the scope of its theory to religious thought as well as the spiritual traditions of the East, the transpersonal approach expands the study of the psyche to include transcendent states of consciousness and thereby opens the door to an extraordinary potential for individual growth.

As such, the transpersonal approach is a departure from its predecessors in a variety of ways. First, it accepts and validates psychological reality. Second, it places the individual at the center of the cosmos to which s/he is integrally connected. Transpersonal psychology also allows for different states of consciousness and considers it healthy to seek their experience. And finally, it assumes growth beyond adult maturity is necessary and even expected.

          The work of theorists like Ken Wilber, Stanislav Grof, and Robert Assagioli has done much to expand the scope of transpersonal psychology. Collectively, they have incorporated concepts from Asian philosophies and research into psychedelics and altered states of consciousness and have developed systems to integrate the personal self with a greater transpersonal self.

          All in all, the transpersonal approach is important because it transcends the person and opens the door for deeper investigation into the nature of being. As we will see in our analysis of African psychology, this is truly a return to the past.

          What I term an optimal psychology is really a transpersonal psychology that has it roots in Africa. As such, the terms African psychology and optimal psychology will be used synonymously. In this section, I will detail the foundation and historical development of optimal psychology, outline its structure and major concepts, and discuss the dynamics and obstacles to growth. And finally, I will discuss the therapeutic process and its outcomes.

          Optimal psychology is a framework that dates back at least 5,000 years to the Egyptian Mystery System. (The English word Egyptian is a derivation of the Greek word Aiguptos which means black. According to Homer and Heroditus, the Egyptians were black people as were the original inhabitants of the land we now call the Middle East, Western Asia, and India.) Growing from the worldview of the ancient Africans, the Egyptian Mystery System was an institution for formally educating students in the beliefs, skills, and knowledge of the culture. The objective was the deification of human which meant the liberation of the mind from its finite consciousness to become one and identify with the infinite and the divine.

It is extremely important to note here the scope and nature of the Egyptian Mystery System and its approach to knowledge and concept of knowing. The Egyptians had a remarkably complex and integrated worldview that did not split into separate components. Subsequently, one cannot make distinctions between their psychology, physics, chemistry, mathematics, art, religion, or philosophy as such divisions would be meaningless from the Egyptian conception of the universe. The study of wo/man was viewed as paramount in this system, and the study of the psyche (soul) of wo/man was an integral aspect of this system as were numerology, astrology, and alchemy. Interestingly, in the Egyptian Mystery System, numerology was the study of the relationship between symbolic quantification and human expression. Alchemy was the study of the connection between the transformation of materials in nature with the transformative potential of the human psyche. And astrology examined the inseparable relationship between the human process and the celestial process. Importantly, the Egyptians viewed the movement, timing, and consistency of nature as integral to understanding the development of the mind where consciousness was the ultimate goal. Such were the fundamental principles of development for anyone studying in the Egyptian Mystery System.

          After thousands of years of prohibition against Greeks studying in the Mystery System, the Egyptians finally admitted them after the Persian Invasion. Greeks such as Socrates, Plato, Pythagoras, Heraclitus, Parmenides, Democritus, and Aristotle were among those were known to have spent decades studying in the Mystery System. Unfortunately, the Egyptian concepts were distorted when they were taken back to Greece, and the transpersonal nature of the concept of the psyche was lost reducing psychology to the study of mind and subsequent human behavior.

          Nevertheless, the worldview of the ancient Africans provides a theoretical framework for the optimal model of psychological functioning as it posits spirit as the basis for all reality. This follows from the tradition within which psychology was concerned with the study of the soul (psyche), immaterial essence, animating principles, and actuating causes of life.

From the African perspective, the study of psychology becomes the study of human illumination—a principle of life. They considered this principle of life divine wisdom manifest in the creation, government, and redemption of the world. As such, it is the controlling principle of the cosmos. Humankind is a spiritual force not separate from infinite spirit, infinite energy, infinite consciousness, and/or supreme or ultimate reality (God).

Several major concepts help explain the framework of African psychology.

Optimal Worldview. An optimal worldview is defined as one that views spirit as the basis for all reality. In other words, everything is spirit manifested and reality is at once spiritual and material. Spirit in this sense refers to that permeating essence that is known in an extrasensory fashion. Within this spiritual/material ontology, we lose the sense of individualized ego/mind and experience the harmony of the collective identity of being one with the source of all that is good. The concept of self in this worldview is extended to include all of the ancestors, the yet unborn, all of nature, and the entire community. One’s being did not automatically make one a part of the community or entitle admission to the position of ancestor. Both positions require the proper consciousness evidenced through behavior and attitude.

The optimal worldview considers self-knowledge to be the basis of all knowledge and one acquires knowledge through symbolic imagery and rhythm. And diunital logic (the union of opposites), which yields “both/and” conclusions, is the mode of reasoning that characterizes the system. Also, in the optimal worldview, ntuology—all sets are interrelated and interconnected through human and spiritual networks—is the process by which one’s goals are achieved. Consequently, assuming the interrelatedness and interdependence of all things, an optimal conceptual system yields a worldview that is wholistic. And finally, the highest value is placed on positive interpersonal relationships.

Sub-Optimal Worldview. The sub-optimal worldview starts with the basic assumption that the nature of reality is principally material, and the epistemological perspective assumes external knowledge to be the basis of all knowledge. Consequently, this worldview experiences a world in which the resources necessary for survival are finite and limited. The process of life from this view is such that survival is based on competition for limited resources, and highest value is placed on their acquisition. Consequently, when resources are not obtained to satisfaction, one is left feeling insecure, anxious, depressed, and looking outside one’s self for something else for fulfillment. Individualism, competition and materialism provide criteria for self-definition. Also, the sub-optimal worldview is one that lacks self-knowledge and is one where experiences are derived from ignorance, fear, guilt anger, anxiety, jealousy, envy, and frustration. The primary mode of reasoning from this worldview is predominantly dichotomous, yielding “either/or” conclusions. And finally, moralism, externalization of conflict, institutionalism, a need for definiteness, ambivalence toward parents, and authoritarianism are hallmarks of the sub-optimal view.

It is important note here that the sub-optimal world view is not limited to particular cultures or races. Individuals themselves can determine how they view the world. All cultures have within their institutions--and all individuals have within their worldviews--the capability of both optimal and sub-optimal functioning.

          Consciousness. Consciousness is defined as all categories of experience processing, knowing, and analyzing including perception, cognition, intuition, instinct, and emotion. This is at all levels or domains, including those commonly termed conscious, subconscious, and unconscious.

Consubstantiation. Consubstantiation is a sharing of the substance of the whole with each of its parts. This is the principle behind the hologram which is able to produce a complete image from only a fragment of the original item.

Correspondence. The concept of correspondence suggests that as is above, so is below. In other words, human beings are a microcosm of the macrocosmic universe.

Rhythm. The concept of rhythm deals with the way things, ideas, and human beings fit together to form the whole. It implies a relationship between that which is known to be true and that which is appearing. Rhythm implies motion, the opposite of stillness, and the analysis of isolated moments does not provide an equivalent appreciation of the movement of one moment to another.

Veridicality. Veridicality is the African system of identity that says an individual exists out of the interaction and properties of the collective. By the same token, however, the individual creates the collective. In other words, the human being is the individualized expression of infinite spirit, influenced by an interaction of the energies within which it exists, of which it is comprised, and which it generates.

          Spirit. Spirit can be defined as that which is known in an extra-sensory fashion. Other terms that are used synonymously are supreme consciousness, God, and absolute energy.

          Symbol and the Symbolic. Symbolism is a mode of expression. It must be distinguished, however, from “the symbolic”, which is the application of a “state of mind“ or a “mentality.” As such, symbolism is technique whereas the symbolic is the form of writing of a vital philosophy. The use of symbols and symbolism in ancient times was the means for transmitting a precise and exact rational, if not suprarational, knowledge which emerged from the ancients’ intuitive vision.

So what does growth mean and how does it happen within the optimal framework? Growth begins with questioning with sincere desire to know and understand. Within this framework, it becomes evident that the purpose is to bring into greater awareness one’s nature as infinite spirit. In doing so, we become one with the source of all good; and that higher spiritual source is the controller of our good and well-being. As this continues, the pain, insecurity, guilt, fear, anxiety, and destruction of the sub-optimal world view eventually reawakens the search for an alternative in order for to return to one that honors peace, harmony, collaboration, and the good of all. This is the dynamic of one becoming two (self-alienation—becoming aware of an alternate perspective).

Eventually, as one becomes two, the resulting concept is three. In other words, a single perspective (one) becomes dualistic (two). As the growth process continues, we transform (unify and contain) and transcend the opposing perspectives to get to a positive whole (three).

          The major obstacle to growth is the phenomenon of perceiving reality in an extra-sensory fashion, but tending to not acknowledge or interpret it based on that awareness. An example would be giving power to the illusion that the individual is separate from God/Spirit.

Without going into great detail, the ancient Africans believed that the psyche (soul) was composed of seven divisions from subtle essence to dense physical matter. The nature of all things in existence was said to be the Ka, or spirit, the first of the seven divisions. This understanding necessarily translates into the belief that all is essentially spirit, and that the multiplicity of forms of being are essentially quantitative alterations of the same supreme energy. This can be summarized in the statement “I am, because we are; and because we are, therefore I am.” In this view, I is the individual and the infinite whole. We is the individual and collective manifestation of all that is. Self includes all ancestors, the yet unborn, the entire community, and all of nature.

Belief Systems Analysis (BSA) is a cognitive therapy in the sense that it is very much concerned with the process of knowing, including awareness and judgment. It differs however from other cognitive therapies because it is based on the optimal (African) model and because it specifies the conceptual system of the reality the therapist wishes the client to create. Furthermore, BSA is transpersonal in nature because it crosses the barriers of world religions and other consciousness disciplines.

          The goal of BSA is to teach the client a method of viewing the world within which s/he can achieve maximum positivity of experience.

Again, the purpose is to help each individual seek, find, and more fully understand the optimal. BSA assumes that the sub-optimal worldview creates disorder; the optimal restores order. Movement is during the therapeutic process is from the most inward to the most outward. BSA also tries to eliminate false identity—seeing ourselves as separate from supreme reality—and help the client exercise control over thoughts and exert control in terms of the meanings used to access language and create thoughts. Eventually, clients see that positive thoughts directly give form to positive experiences.

          The process of BSA includes three steps. First, there is an examination of the client’s belief system and an assessment of how much change the client desires to make. Second, the therapist explores the presenting problems in terms of underlying assumptions to understand their utility as evidenced by the client’s personal history, goals, and consciousness. And finally, the therapist introduces alternative (optimal) beliefs that gradually lead to spiritual growth.

          Outcomes will be seen in the client as self esteem, health and resourcefulness, and prosperity and self-determination. We can also expect the convergence and synthesis of ancient wisdom and contemporary thinking.

          Several techniques are employed, however, modeling is an important aspect of the therapeutic process. Other techniques include encouraging the client to become a critical thinker by questioning and challenging assumptions and making wholistic analyses. Also, self-monitoring of thoughts and feelings with an observer’s detachment, meditation, and practicing in the daily activities of conscious awareness of spiritual union are beneficial techniques. Additionally, hypnosis, dream analysis, relaxation exercises, biofeedback training, astrology, and other activities that promote self-knowledge and self-awareness may be useful.

Transpersonal psychology transcends the person and opens the door for deeper investigation into the nature of being. As I have shown, the framework of the unity and integration of knowledge that we seek in a transpersonal paradigm already existed in the ancient African worldview and is identified in optimal psychological theory. The framework for optimal (African) psychology can thus be viewed not only as one the wellsprings from which Western psychological theory emerged, but can be recognized as a transpersonal psychology in its own right.

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Frager, R. and Fadiman, J. (1998). Personality and personal growth. New York: Longman.

Myers, L. J. (1988). Understanding an afrocentric world view: Introduction to an optimal psychology. Dubuque, IW: Kendall/Hunt.

Nobles, W. W. (1986). African psychology: Toward its reclamation, reascension, and revitalization. Oakland, CA: Black Family Institute.

Schwaller de Lubicz, R. (1949). Symbol and the symbolic. Rochester, VA: Inner Traditions International.