Italian Association Transpersonal Psychology A I P T

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Italian Association of Transpersonal Psychology
Founding Member of the
European Transpersonal Psychology Association (ETPA)
and of the European Transpersonal Association (EUROTAS)
Italian Association
of
Transpersonal Psychology
Founder and President
Laura Boggio Gilot
Honorary Counselor
Founder and President
Laura Boggio Gilot
Ken Wilber
Advisory Board
Marc-Alain Descamps, Claudio Naranjo, Roger Walsh, Pierre Weil
AIPT
Via C. Corvisieri 46, I-00162 Rome, Italy
Tel. & Fax +39-06862.18495 – e-mail: info@aipt.it – Web: www.aipt.it
AIPT
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You are a flame
of the one Fire that all pervades.
You are in conflict
and live the solitude of the ego
because you consider yourself
a little flame
parted from the Source
The senses are great,
greater than the senses is the mind,
greater than the mind is the intellect,
and greater than the intellect is the Self
Bhagavad-Gita
Raphael
Spring 2007
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Contents
Transpersonal Psychology
2
The Mission of the Transpersonal Movement
4
The Italian Association of Transpersonal Psychology
6
The Integral Institute: Psychology and Meditation
9
Meetings and Publications
13
Satya—AIPT Publications
15
Suggested Readings (Essential References)
16
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19
Transpersonal Psychology
One can give and receive from life
only what he is
YOGA-VEDANTA TRADITION
Bhagavad-Gita, translated in Italian and commented by Raphael,
Asram Vidya.
Mandukya Upanisad, translated in Italian and commented by
Raphael, Asram Vidya.
Patanjali, La via regale della realizzazione [Yogasutras], translated in
Italian and commented by Raphael, Asram Vidya.
Raphael, Essence & Purpose of Yoga, Element, Shaftesbury.
Raphael, Fuoco di Ascesi [Ascesis Fire], Asram Vidya.
Raphael, La triplice via del fuoco [The Triple Pathway of Fire], Asram Vidya.
Raphael, La scienza dell'amore [The Science of Love], Asram Vidya.
Raphael, The Pathway of Non-Duality, Motilal Banarsidass, Delhi.
Sankara, Aparoksanubhuti, translated in Italian and commented by
Raphael, Asram Vidya.
Sankara, Opere Minori [Minor Works] – Vols. 1,2,3, translated in
Italian and commented by Raphael, Asram Vidya.
Sankara, Vivekacudamani, translated in Italian and commented by
Raphael, Asram Vidya.
Self and Non-Self – The Drigdrisyaviveka Attributed to Sankara, translated and commented by Raphael, KPI, London.
A . Maslow

The word “transpersonal” means that which is "beyond
the personality”, and refers to consciousness experiences in
which the sense of identity expands beyond the ordinary ego,
encompassing wider aspects of the mind, humanity, and the
world (Walsh and Vaughan).
Transpersonal psychology includes all the aspects of scientific
psychology and extends the research to unexplored potentialities of psychological health and development: consciousness
and its non-ordinary states, creativity, intuition, values, and
the transformative processes toward completeness integrating
the components of human totality: physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual.
 
CHRISTIAN TRADITION
Anonymous, The Cloud of Unknowing, Delta.
Anonymous, Imitation of Christ, Catholic Books Publishing Company.
Merton T, Seeds of Contemplation, W.W. Norton.
St. Francis of Sales, Philothea, or an Introduction to Devote Life, Tan
Books Publisher.
St. John of the Cross, The Ascent of Mount Carmel and The Dark
Night of the Soul, Image Books.
St. Nikodemus of the Holy Mountain (Compiler), The Philokalia
– The Complete Text, Faber & Faber.
St. Teresa of Avila, The Inner Castle, Image Books.
Walshe M.O. (ed.), Meister Eckhart: Sermons and Treatises, Harper
& Collins.
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TRANSPERSONAL PSYCHOLOGY (follows)
Wilber K., No Boundary – Eastern and Western Approaches to Personal Growth, Shambhala.
Wilber K., Engler J., Brown D.P., Transformations of Consciousness –
Contemplative and Conventional Perspectives in Development, New Science Library.
Wilber K., The Spectrum of Consciousness, Quest Books/The Theosophical Publishing House.
Wilber K., The Atman Project, – A Transpersonal View of Human
Development, Quest Books/The Theosophical Publishing House.
Wilber K., The Eye of Spirit, Shambhala.
Wilber K., Integral Psychology – Consciousness, Spirit, Psychology,
Therapy, Shambhala.
PSYCHOANALYTIC PSYCHOLOGY (for psychotherapists)
Adler A., What Life Could Mean to You, Hazelden Information
Education.
Adler A., Understanding Human Nature, Fawcett Books.
Blanck G., Blanck R., Ego Psychology, Columbia University. Press.
Gabbard G.O., Psychodynamic Psychiatry in Clinical Practice – The
DSM IV° Edition, American Psychiatric Press.
Greenberg J.R., Mitchell S.A., Object Relations in Psychoanalytic
Theory, Harvard University Press.
Jacobson E., The Self and the Object World, International Universities
Press.
Kernberg O., Borderline Conditions and Pathological Narcissism, Jason
Aronson.
Kernberg O., Object Relations Theory and Clinical Psychoanalysis,
Jason Aronson.
Kohut H., Analysis of the Self: Systematic Approach to Treatment of
Narcissistic Personality Disorders, International Universities Press.
Kohut H., Ornstein P.H. (ed.), The Search for the Self – Selected Writings of Heinz Kohut: 1978-1981, International Universities Press.
McWilliams N., Psychoanalytic Diagnosis, Guilford Press.
Schafer R., Aspects of Internalization, International Universities Press.
3
With Ken Wilber, the theoretical leader of the movement, an
integral psychology is affirmed, honoring the entire spectrum
of human experience, including the psychopathology, the
existential, and the spiritual level.
Interested in the psychological roots of the contemporary
crises that threaten human and the planet’s life, the transpersonal perspective seeks to foster the development of wise and
mature human beings, awakened to solidarity toward humanity and reverence toward nature, and able to contribute to
human wellbeing.
Transpersonal psychology was born in the USA at the end of
the 1960s at the initiative of a group of humanistic psychologists among whom Abraham Maslow was the prominent
figure. Transpersonal psychology developed first in the USA
through the Journal of Transpersonal Psychology and various
organisations, such as the American Association for Transpersonal Psychology (ATP) and the International Transpersonal
Association (ITA). Its main leaders, in addition to Ken Wilber,
include Stanislav Grof and Roger Walsh, Frances Vaughan,
Claudio Naranjo, Charles Tart, James Fadiman, Pierre Weil.
In Europe, the movement is represented by the European
Transpersonal Psychology Association (ETPA), founded by
Laura Boggio Gilot and Marc-Alain Descamps, and by the
European Transpersonal Association (EUROTAS), founded
in the 1980s by representatives of Belgium, France, Holland
and Italy.
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4
The Mission
of the Transper sona l Movement
A
central purpose
of the transpersonal movement is
to develop a “Psychology of human
and ecological survival” to cope with
the psychological
roots of the planet’s global threats. According to
Roger Walsh, who introduced this
expression and promoted such
an objective, the major crises of
the planet are caused by human
beings and have psychological
roots. In order to face the different forms of de struction characterising the modern world, one
needs to face human imma turity
and foster a concept of healing
that supports the development of
consciousness beyond the limits
of the ordinary ego. To this effect,
the transpersonal movement stresses the importance of a frame of
reference recognising the complementarity existing between psycho-
logy and the spiritual tradition of the
East and West.
A psychology of
human and ecological survival is
a discipline referring to intercultural insights and
involving individuals of any nation, group or ethnicity, working
to apply their experience to this
theme, which is the most urgent of
our time.
The purpose is to disclose the
psychological forces that have led
to this turning point in our history, to work to transform them
into positive forces for the survival, well-being and satisfaction
of everyone, and beyond all that,
to foster a psychology not only of
survival but of development and
well-being. For the planet’s life to
last, our main hope must be placed
on education and the preparation
of future generations.
Boggio Gilot L., Crescere oltre l’io – Principi e metodi di psicologia
transpersonale [Growing Beyond Ego – Principles and Methods of
Transpersonal Psychology], Cittadella.
Boggio Gilot L. (ed.), Il tempo dell'anima [Time of the Soul], Psiche.
Boggio Gilot L., Il cammino dello sviluppo integrale [The Path of Integral Development], Satya-Edizioni Aipt.
Boggio Gilot L., Pensieri dal Silenzio [Thoughts from Silence], SatyaEdizioni Aipt.
Boggio Gilot L., La depressione [Depression], Satya-Edizioni Aipt.
Boggio Gilot L., Sulla via del ritorno [On the Backward Path], SatyaEdizioni Aipt.
Capra F., The Web of Life: a New Understanding of Living Systems,
Doubleday.
Capra F., The Turning Point: Science, Society, and the Rising Culture,
Bantam Doubleday Dell Publications.
Fizzotti E., Salustri M., Psicologia della religione, [Psychology of Religion], Città Nuova.
Grof C., Grof S., The Stormy Search for the Self, Tarcher-Perigee.
Grof S., Beyond the Brain – Birth, Death, and Transcendence in
Psychotherapy, State University of New York Press.
Hillman J., The Soul's Code – In Search of Character and Calling,
Warner Books.
Leloup J.Y., Prendre Soin de l'Être, [Healing the Self], Edition Albin
Michel.
Maslow A., Toward a Psychology of Being, Van Nostrand, Reinhold Co.
Naranjo C., Character and Neurosis – An Integrative Way, Gateway/
IDHHB.
Pierrakos E., Fear No Evil: The Pathwork Method of Transforming the
Lower Self, The Pathwork Foundation.
Vaughan F.E., Awakening Intuition, Anchor Books.
Vaughan F.E., Shadows of the Sacred, Quest Books/The Theosophical Publishing House.
Vaughan F.E., The Inward Arc – Healing and Wholeness in Psychotherapy and Spirituality, Shambhala.
Venturini R., Coscienza e cambiamento – Una prospettiva transpersonale
[Consciousness and Change – A Transpersonal Perspective], Cittadella.
Walsh R., Staying Alive – The Psychology of Human Survival, Shambhala.
Walsh R., Essential Spirituality, Wiley & son.
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Suggested Readings
(Essential References)
TRANSPERSONAL PSYCHOLOGY
Beyond the works of C.G. Jung and R. Assagioli, forerunners of
transpersonal psychology, the following works are suggested:
Boggio Gilot L., Forma e sviluppo della coscienza – Psicologia transpersonale [Form and Development of Consciousness – Transpersonal
Psychology], Asram Vidya.
Boggio Gilot L., Il Sé transpersonale – Psicologia e meditazione YogaVedanta [The Transpersonal Self – Psychology and Yoga-Vedanta
Meditation], Asram Vidya.
Boggio Gilot L. (ed.), Sofferenza e guarigione – Psicologia e tradizione
spirituale [Suffering and Healing – Psychology and the Spiritual Tradition], Cittadella Editrice.
To this aim, as has been said by
Roger Walsh, “we need people of
wisdom and maturity, who work
not only to relieve suffering but
also to awaken themselves and
others.” The objective outlined
by Roger Walsh is confirmed and
supported by the research on consciousness, that finds in Ken Wilber its theoretical leader.
Wilber points out that two great
developmental projects are being
realised, one in the area of biology and the other in the area of
psychology. Biology has realised the
“Human Genome Project”, aimed at
creating a map of the entire human
DNA sequence and decoding all of
its specific genetic messages: such
a spectacular project revolutions
our ideas on growth, development,
and disease.
Not equally known, but perhaps
even more important, is the
“Human Consciousness Project”, an
effort to map the different stages
of consciousness: this shows how
the ordinary ego state is actually
suboptimal. Every human being
is endowed with an unconscious
potential of knowledge and vir-
tue; once these are brought to
consciousness, they expand the
limited ideas one has about oneself, the world, and the meaning
of existence, thereby producing
well-being and right action.
The study of consciousness,
through the multicultural approach of hundreds of researchers in
the world, shows how to overcome
the “psychopathology of normality” that is the state of the ordinary
personality. This fosters development toward a wholeness that includes awareness of the Soul and
its connections with humanity, nature, and the universe. This goal
is described in meditative paths as
the non-dual state, which is associated with altruistic love, discriminative wisdom, profound peace,
and is naturally free from mental
suffering and destructiveness.
To study, to teach, and to follow
this path of enlightenment and
liberation, integrating the tools
of psychology with spiritual tradition, is the central challenge for
researchers in the area and the
most valuable contribution of the
transpersonal movement.
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The Italian Association
of Transpersonal Psychology (Aipt)
Publishing House
Satya - Aipt Publications
att
ya
The Italian Association of Transpersonal Psychology (AIPT)
was established by Laura Boggio Gilot with the inspiration
and support of Raphael, the Master whose endeavor has also
produced the Asram Vidya publications.
AIPT is a nonprofit organisation uniting individuals of different beliefs and professions, interested in a model of growth
and healing that integrates the bodily, emotional, intellectual,
intuitive, and spiritual components.
Based on Ken Wilber’s integral approach, combining the
notions of psychology and psychotherapy to the wisdom of
meditative traditions, AIPT fosters a developmental and educational model directed to the actualisation of the potentia-
Satya in Sanscrit means Truth. Under the auspices of this
name, Satya - Aipt Publications aims at disseminating those
methods of self-knowledge, healing, transformation, development and education that are based on the integration
of scientific and meditative knowledge and find in the full
realisation of one’s essence the fundament and the condition
for a profound and lasting mental health.
In this context, Satya will publish texts promoting the knowledge, study and application of an integral model working
at the physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual level, and
aiming at a mental health not disjoined from awareness, capability to love, and responsibility toward life.
With this goal, Satya intends to contribute to the social need
of consciousness development and to take part to the wider
movement that today unites religions, cultures, and science
in its more enlightened expressions, directed toward overcoming the destructiveness that is crumbling our modern world,
and allied in pursuing the goal of the unity and salvation of
humanity.
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 Meditation and Psychotherapy – Awareness practices.
 Death -- Suffering, faith, knowledge, and experience.
 Meeting of the Paths – From suffering to Liberation.
 Narcissism and Spirituality – The integral approach between
psychotherapy and meditation.
 The Pathology of Love in the Suffering of Mind and Society.
ASSOCIATIONS
AND
NETWORK
AIPT is a founding member of the European Transpersonal
Psychology Association (ETPA) and the European Transpersonal Association (EUROTAS), and is related to Ken Wilber’s
Integral Institute, and to the Association of Transpersonal
Psychology and the Institute of Transpersonal Psychology in
the US.
lities of intelligence, creativity and goodness, unexpressed in
the ordinary condition.
The Association functions through the activity of a group
of Service, whose members follow meditative disciplines and
operate with no compensation, in the spirit of the “action
without attachment”, regulated by a code of ethics applied to
speech, thought, and behavior.
This way of being and operating is meant to witness a spirituality engaged socially in the dissemination of theories and
techniques aiming to develop wise and mature individuals, in
the conviction that to operate in this way for oneself and the
others is today an urgent must for humanity and a significant
contribution to offer to existence.
In Italy AIPT has established a Network aimed at bringing
together associations and institutions that operate for transpersonal purposes and are oriented according to the integral
approach.
AIMS
PUBLICATIONS
 To promote the study of the developmental and healing
 Proceedings, workbooks and CD of the various activities.
 To promote the development of integral psychology and
psychotherapy through courses, meetings and publications.
components of meditation.
 Association Newsletter, disseminating the annual pro-
 To promote the research on consciousness and its nonor-
grams along with short articles and information from Italy
and abroad.
 To train therapists and other health professionals sharing
 Web-site in Italian and English, with updated information
on the association’s activities and specific sections on integral psychology and on the Vedanta tradition.
 Publishing house, Satya-AIPT Publications.
dinary and transpersonal states.
the integral approach.
 To promote the development of a network of centers ope-
rating in Italy with a transpersonal orientation.
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ACTIVITIES
Meetings and Publications
In order to realise its objectives, since its foundation in 1988
AIPT has conducted teaching activities centered on the relations between psychology and meditation, establishing to this
end an Integral Institute which offers weekly courses, retreats
and intensive programs.
Over the years, additional activities have been developed
to study and promote transpersonal psychology, including
meetings and one-day seminars, international congresses,
the establishment of European associations and a network of
related contacts, the publication of newsletters, workbooks,
and more recently the establishment of the publishing house,
Satya-AIPT Publications.
CONGRESSES
 Suffering and Healing – First Italian Congress of Transpersonal Psychology, Assisi 1992.
 The Inner Path – Second Italian Congress of Transpersonal
Psychology, Assisi 1995.
 Time of the Soul – European Congress of Transpersonal
Psychology, Assisi 2000.
 Depression – European Symposium of Transpersonal
Psychotherapy, Rome 2002.
 Transpersonal Methods of Healing and Awakening – European
Symposium of Transpersonal Psychotherapy, Rome 2005.
 Context and Contents of Transpersonal Psychotherapy – European Symposium of Transpersonal Psychotherapy, Rome 2006.
We need people of wisdom and maturity
who work not only to relieve suffering
but also to awaken themselves and others.
Roger Walsh
ONE-DAY SEMINARS
 Awareness, Discrimination, and Listening – Three ways of
access to the transpersonal.
 Ego Integration and Ego Transcendence – The stages of
development.
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TEACHING
W ORK
ON
OF INTEGRAL PSYCHOLOGY
B ODY , E MOTIONS , T HINKING ,
AND
S PIRITUAL W ORK
The Integral Institute
Psychology and Meditation
The following practices are associated to the theoretical work:
 Readings of intercultural spirituality and meditation
 Physical and energetic disciplines
 Meditative practice of self-observation
 Dynamic practice of awareness
SPIRIT
 Imaginative practice and work with symbols
SOUL
 Concentration practice and creative meditation
MIND
 Music, mantra chanting, and drawing
BODY
 Psychotherapy techniques and work on clinical cases
For an integral psychology, the deepest drive
is the drive to actualize
the entire developmental field of personality,
so that one becomes,in full realization, a vehicle
of Spirit shining radiantly into the world.
K.Wilber
The Integral Institute offers teachings which combine the
knowledge of psychology and psychotherapy with the wisdom
of meditative traditions. The integral approach, outlined by
Ken Wilber, works at all levels of the human being: physical,
emotional, mental and spiritual, fostering the integration and
wellbeing of the total personality.
The expansion of awareness beyond the ordinary ego, the
overcoming of narcissism, and spirituality applied to life are
considered to be fundamental for full psychological health.
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The integral approach fosters a psychology of health and a
psychology of consciousness which have profound implications in developmental theories and psychotherapy. The field
of study and application of the integral approach includes
the entire spectrum of emotional, cognitive, and behavioral
disturbances considered in psychotherapy, and adds to these
the suffering of the ego separated from the soul, which manifests itself in the unawareness, egoism, lack of creativity and
of positive values, which trouble social life.
In the integral approach, the psychotherapist needs to
combine the ordinary clinical background with a profound meditative path applied to the daily existence. The ideal integral psychotherapist is an advanced
meditator who remains centered in the meditative practice during the course of professional and private life.
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THE
TEACHING OF
VEDANTA
MEDITATION
The Vedanta tradition is not in contrast with other traditions nor
excludes them, since it aims at an expansion of awareness toward
the sacred nature of the Self and releasing its powers of force,
intelligence, and goodness, applied to action in the world.
The meditative itinerary consists in the study of wisdom teachings and practices of awareness and transformation, which
dissolve the factors of illusion and mental suffering and foster
spiritual and intuitive qualities, bearing peacefulness, mental
clarity, detachment from egocentered conditionings, mental
stability, and self-control.
THE
TEACHING OF PSYCHOLOGY
OF CONSCIOUSNESS
Starting from Ken Wilber’s integral approach, the psychology of consciousness is developed by researchers in the field
deeply immersed in the doctrine and practice of meditative
systems and the comparative study of their application to
both the developmental theories and the clinical practice of
psychotherapy.
Research at AIPT has first of all addressed the nature and
development of consciousness through theory and practice,
particularly referred to the Yoga-Vedanta tradition, and then
the study of the implications of meditation in mental health
and the evolution of the developmental lines of personality
(cognitive, emotional, motivational, moral, spiritual, and of
object relations), toward the stage of transpersonal development and the expression of the powers, talents, and virtues
of the total Self.