92 Spirituality Studies 9-1 Spring 2023 emerges to “tame” this experience and protect everyday reality from the uncontrolled ingress of the supernatural. Berger points out the reduction of authority of religious tradition in modern society and the increasing significance of religious experience unmediated by tradition (Berger 1979, 41–65). Peter Berger was the first sociologist to address the issue of transpersonal experience and attempted to understand this phenomenon from a sociological perspective. Later, several authors discussed perspectives and directions of sociological research on transpersonal experience. Ken Wilber attempted to offer a holistic, complex methodological approach to spiritual phenomena, within which the transpersonal sociology of religion is justified (Wilber 2005, 57). Ralph Walsh and Frances Vaughan defined the subject of transpersonal sociology as the social dimensions, implications, expressions, and applications of transpersonal phenomena (Walsh and Vaughan 1993, 203). Robert Rominger and Howard Friedman (2013, 17) analyzed in detail the origin, development, and theories of transpersonal sociology. Susan Greenwood (1990, 1995) played a special role in the institutionalization of transpersonal sociology. Comparing the concept of the collective consciousness by Émile Durkheim and the concept of the collective unconscious by Carl Gustav Jung, she concluded that these authors conceptualized the structures through which religion manifests itself. However, Durkheim focused on the external manifestations of religion and Jung on the internal. Greenwood proposed the concept of transpersonal sociology of religion, which has synthetic potential (Rominger and Friedman 2013, 20). The founding of the Transpersonal Sociology Newsletter is associated with Greenwood’s name. The last issue of this journal, dated back to 1997, contains the definition of transpersonal sociology as a discipline concerned with the study of the social dimensions of those human experiences traditionally called spiritual or religious. This includes the evolution of a sense of self, the evolution of society, and the understanding of consciousness as extending beyond traditional human knowledge (Rominger and Friedman 2013, 20–22). Our understanding of this discipline is closer to the point of view of Roger Atchley (2009), who provides a comprehensive definition of transpersonal sociology as the study of groups and communities of people who share transpersonal states of consciousness and live in accord with such understandings (Rominger and Friedman 2013, 19). Multiple modern authors have touched upon the problems of meditative experience in the context of spreading Eastern religions and spiritual practices in the West. Véronique Altglas (2011), Silvia Ceccomori (2001), Elizabeth de Michelis (2004), Bernard de Backer (2002), David N. Kay (2004), Frédéric Lenoir (1999a, 1999b), Paul Magnin (2003), Thiérry Mathé (2003), Éveline Micollier (1999, 2004), and David Palmer (2003) have studied yoga, Hindu traditions, the adaptation and transformation of Buddhism, and the transnationalization of qigong in European countries. However, despite the abundance of research in this field, researchers typically focus on various aspects of implementing Eastern religions and spiritual practices in the West, characterized by developed psycho-techniques and experience orientation. This short review demonstrates that researchers use different concepts to refer to an individual’s special spiritual experience. William James uses the concept of mystical states of consciousness, which refers to mystical experiences characterized by four features: ineffability, noetic quality, transiency, and passivity. However, mystical states of consciousness is a term that is more appropriate for the European-Christian religious experience. The definition of William James emphasizes the experience of revelation or enlightenment, which is of paramount importance to a person. Nevertheless, people who practice Eastern spiritual practices, such as yoga or qigong, may perceive and evaluate their experiences somewhat differently. Peter Berger uses the term supernatural to refer to the experience of the supernatural, which is outside the logic and laws of this world. However, this view of the world is meaningless for Taoism, which does not recognize a division into natural and supernatural. Therefore, in this study, we use the concept of transpersonal experiences concept introduced by Stanislav Grof. These are experiences in which a person exits the usual boundaries of the ego, such as activation of chakras, identification with fauna and flora, and journeys among worlds. Undoubtedly, sociology is interested in something other than transpersonal experiences as a phenomenon of the psyche, their essence, causes, or forms. These are the subject of other disciplines. Instead, it is important for sociology to examine how transpersonal experiences are part of individuals’ lives and are meaningful experiences. When an individual describes their transpersonal experience, the narrative almost always includes a description of the event itself and a certain interpretation that answers the question, What does this experience mean to me in the context of my life? Therefore, this study focuses on the meaningful contexts of interpreting transpersonal experiences by representatives of Eastern spiritual practices. The term meaningful context is used by the German sociologist Alfred Schütz. According to Schütz (2004, 774), meaningful experiences are included in a single meaningful context if they are constituted within polytheistically
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy MzgxMzI=