Anxiety and depression are ubiquitous in the present day. It is as though everyone is afflicted by these maladies, either directly or indirectly. They are, in many ways, two faces of a single affliction. According to the World Health Organization, an estimated 4.0% (301 million people) have an anxiety disorder, and a further 3.8% (280 million people) of the population suffer from depression. This global mental health epidemic provides an opportunity to deepen our grasp of the human psyche, and the (...) impact on it of the modern world’s spiritual crisis. This article aims to get a better handle on this far-reaching phenomenon with reference to humanity’s wisdom traditions and its sacred psychologies. In doing so, it is hoped that we may be able to enhance our clinical understanding of these devastating ailments, and to develop treatments that support an abiding well-being. (shrink)

Throughout history, suicide has evoked a remarkably broad range of reactions—from perplexity and condemnation, to glorification and empathy. Many have tried to understand this phenomenon through the lens of psychology, psychiatry, sociology, and anthropology, but much still seems to be amiss. A key factor in our current unprecedented mental health crisis is the undiagnosed impact of modernism and post-modernism; in other words, how has the loss of the sacred contributed to the present-day alienation from ourselves, each other, and the earth? (...) It is only through a fully integrated “science of the soul”—informed by metaphysics and the spiritual wisdom traditions of humanity—that we can, not only better understand suicide, but be properly equipped to avert tragic outcomes. (shrink)

For many of our contemporaries, there is no more pressing issue than the acute ecological challenges facing the planet. Environmental degradation has reached a tipping point, but how have we fallen into such a predicament? At a deeper level, this critical situation can be seen as a mirror that reflects the spiritual crisis gripping the soul of humanity today. This commenced with the secularizing impetus of the Enlightenment project, which has led to a diminished understanding of the human psyche and (...) the cosmos itself. The anomaly of modern Western psychology is that it stems from the same desacralized and reductionistic outlook. By contrast, a deep-seated connection between sentient beings, the environment, and the Spirit has been recognized in all other times and places, throughout humanity’s traditional civilizations. By a resurrection of a “science of the soul” via a rehabilitated sacred cosmology, the spiritual roots of the ecological crisis can be restored and seen in a proper light. This essay examines the metaphysical dimension of the environmental crisis. The framework employed for this study is the “transpersonal” perspective of the perennial psychology—an application of the insights found in the world’s great wisdom traditions. The objective of the study is to propose a more holistic approach to understanding the essential relationship between our humanity and the natural environment—in all of its boundless and complex variety—seen as a manifestation of divine reality. (shrink)

Trauma, which has become a hallmark of everyday life in the modern world, forms part of the broader mental health crisis that afflicts society today. It also, arguably, reflects a lost sense of the sacred. Throughout humanity’s diverse cultures, suffering is understood to be intrinsic to the larger fabric of life in this world; trauma, therefore, is a direct consequence of not being able to properly integrate suffering into one’s life. However, this is not to simply equate suffering with trauma, (...) or trauma with illness. The prevalence of acute traumatic suffering has always been a major cause of disbelief in religion. Yet the increased weakening of faith in the modern world has provoked a particularly severe spiritual crisis, which could be dubbed the “trauma of secularism.” Through recourse to traditional metaphysics, we can begin to understand the transpersonal dimension of this phenomenon and thus accurately assess, diagnose and provide adequate treatment. It will be argued that healing and wholeness cannot take place outside the purview of a “sacred science,” the spiritual dimension of which transcends the limitations of mainstream psychology and its profusion of profane therapies. (shrink)

Carl Jung (1875–1961) was a pivotal figure in modern Western psychology. He understood the malaise of the modern world from its loss of religion, and the resulting mental health crisis it brought in its wake. He countered the dominant scientific reductionism pervasive in his time, and pursued a more holistic form of treatment when this was not popular. He treated his patients as real people rather than merely objects of diagnostic interest, and promoted a more expansive understanding of mental illness. (...) At the same time, Jung remains a controversial figure within and beyond the discipline. His purported alliance with religions, and his efforts to introduce a spiritual dimension into modern psychology, have arguably led to deleterious consequences. By attempting to construct a psychological system that spiritualizes the human soul without any reference to the transpersonal dimension of the psyche, Jung replaced sacred tradition with a secular psychology that offered a new—yet fundamentally misguided—path of salvation for seekers in a post-Christian world. (shrink)

In our post-Enlightenment world, reality has been reduced to only that which can be known through the faculty of reason, or empirically verified by the five senses; all higher levels of knowing have virtually been banished. Current approaches to psychotherapy have failed to discern that, without a proper understanding of the mind in all its dimensions, any discussion about effective mental health is not even possible. This paper seeks to demonstrate that certain pernicious limitations in modern Western psychology today have (...) served to distort our understanding of consciousness. This, in turn, has undermined our ability to deliver efficacious mental health treatment, where every dimension of a human being is taken into account. (shrink)

The widespread estrangement felt by human beings in the present day has led to what has been called an “epidemic of loneliness.” Although a plethora of studies have explored this theme in an attempt to address the problem, effective solutions have proved elusive. Some will no doubt claim that alienation has always been with us, yet what we are witnessing right now is on a scale that is arguably unprecedented. The vacuum created by the loss of connection to a transcendent (...) reality has directly contributed to the dissolution of society, family, and personal relationships. If we broaden the scope of this phenomenon to include metaphysical and cosmological factors, we can better understand the mental health consequences of loneliness as stemming from the spiritual crisis of the modern world, and the corresponding loss of meaning in people’s lives. In order to heal the trauma of secularism, which has led to the burgeoning loneliness and alienation we see today, we need to go to the root of this affliction by offering a radical response that is grounded in the sacred and its manifestations in humanity’s spiritual traditions. In exploring this phenomenon, a metaphysical framework has been adopted to help illuminate this serious affliction. (shrink)

In order to better cope with the pressures and stresses of the current day, modern psychology is anxiously seeking to find new therapies to address the increasing disorders within the human psyche. In the process new fields of research, such as humanistic and transpersonal psychology, curiously appear to borrow more and more from the wisdom of the ages. This volume, containing eighteen articles by noteworthy expositors of the perennial philosophy such as Huston Smith, Seyyed Hossein Nasr, and Frithjof Schuon, presents (...) the spiritual psychology of the wisdom traditions as a much-needed antidote to the current impasse in modern psychology. (shrink)

As conditions in contemporary life become increasingly perplexing and difficult, with greater numbers of people living on the margins of existence, it has become apparent that something has gone terribly awry. Never have there been so many crises in every domain of existence—social, political, economic, cultural and ecological, just to name a few. Everywhere we turn, we see signs of personal and collective disequilibrium. It may be nearly impossible to escape this dystopic reality, as there are few places on earth (...) that remain untouched by its malaise. As the outer world becomes engulfed in strife and chaos, there appears to be nowhere to turn but inwards. Are we still able to maintain personal well-being in a world that has utterly lost its bearings and the ability to sustain our spiritual health? It is time to consider whether the plight of humanity today might have its roots in a crisis that is fundamentally spiritual. If so, we would do well to return—with some urgency—to the sapiential traditions of the world and their sacred psychologies, in which may be found an enduring remedy for our profoundly divisive and disordered times. (shrink)

The global rise of addictions in the modern world is alarming. What the discipline of modern Western psychology fails to recognize is the connection between the loss of a sense of the sacred and the rise in addiction and mental illness. Due to the spiritual desolation prevalent in the present day and its traumatizing effects, the human search for wholeness and healing is all too often diverted into destructive and dysfunctional behaviors. It is only a spiritual approach to the science (...) of the soul that allows psychology to restore the categories of Spirit, soul, and body, along with their corresponding degrees of reality. This paper examines the root causes of addiction in order to better understand the collective search for wholeness and healing. The framework employed for this study is the perennial psychology—an application of the universal wisdom found in humanity’s spiritual patrimony to the proper understanding of this burgeoning crisis. The objective of the study is to propose a more integrative approach to assessment, diagnosis, and treatment of addiction. (shrink)

The psychedelic renaissance did not emerge from a void. While a tremendous upswell of interest in psychedelics can be observed today, there is scant acknowledgment of the current spiritual crisis that has led to this burgeoning enthusiasm. Having lost our sense of the sacred, we have—with disastrous consequences—become alienated from ourselves, others, and the natural environment. Secular psychotherapy and psychiatry have failed to address the myriad mental health problems that are prevalent right now, which has compelled people to desperately look (...) for alternatives to fill the void in their lives. Sacred medicines have been used for millennia in humanity’s traditional cultures as part of their spiritual practices. Now that psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy (PAT) is being developed, we must avoid repeating the mistakes of modern psychology, which misguidedly seeks to situate entheogenic therapy on a desacralized foundation of materialism, reductionism, and scientism. Nevertheless, although the full benefit of entheogens can likely be gained only in the context of a sacred tradition, they may still have some measure of therapeutic value even when used in conjunction with secular psychotherapy. This article examines the metaphysical foundations of sacred psychology and argues that entheogenic therapy needs to be grounded on the same basis. The framework employed here is a “transpersonal” perspective that applies the insights found in the world’s great wisdom traditions. It will be argued that the adoption of psychedelics in mental health treatment presupposes a fully integrated psychotherapy that is possible only when it is rooted in a spiritually informed ontology. (shrink)

The "Eye of the Heart" is the faculty by which we can apprehend spiritual reality. Due to modern Western psychology’s rejection of its metaphysical roots, this potential has been largely eclipsed in us. This has fractured our relationship with the natural world and other sentient beings, causing a host of mental health challenges to arise. This, in turn, has led to a failure to adequately diagnose and properly treat these maladies that have so grievously afflicted our communities.

The epidemic of homelessness has grown exponentially, to the point where it can be found in any major city around the world. The heartbreaking images of people living in these subhuman conditions are beyond belief. Explanations for the rise in homelessness remain murky, inconsistent, and not well articulated. While much funding and resources are directed toward resolving this problem, it continues unabated. Modern psychology and its mental health treatments are also at a loss to account for this affliction. Shifting the (...) terminology from “homeless” to “unhoused,” in order to reduce the stigma, does little to mitigate the crisis. Homelessness is a complex and enigmatic phenomenon, which explains why its real genesis remains undetected: namely, the acute spiritual crisis that plagues the modern world. In restoring mental health treatment to its ontological foundations in sacred psychology, we will have the most promising means available to understand this deeply troubling scourge that is not only social but, ultimately, metaphysical in nature. (shrink)

The seeds sown by the Renaissance, and the Scientific Revolution culminated in the Enlightenment project. This contributed to a deracinated psychology that has rendered human beings one-dimensional. The bifurcation of the inner and outer facets of the person has produced a fissure in consciousness, thus divorcing the soul from its transpersonal center. Furthermore, the denial of our tripartite nature as Spirit, soul, and body has proven profoundly traumatic to the psyche. To heal this scission, there is an urgent need to (...) return to a metaphysical framework that integrates diverse modes of knowing and healing, with a view to gaining a deeper understanding of mental health. Without an ontological foundation rooted in the spiritual traditions of humanity, the quest for an effective “science of the soul” that can cure the ills of the spirit will remain elusive. (shrink)

This book is at first sight a selection of reviews spanning many years, including some fundamental well-known works and some rare gems of world religions, their spirituality and mysticism, touching on theology, ecology and art; as such, it is useful and interesting in itself, not least because the selection of titles under review follows rigorous criteria. But this collection is also much more than its description implies, for the objective and informative aspect of every chapter is inseparable from an intimate (...) aspect, a recurrent invitation to tread the Path within every path. It is written from first-hand acquaintance and from study, but also from passion and certainty. The concrete and diverse examples shed light on the key to solve the religious puzzle of our times: that is, they delineate an integral framework, that of Perennial Wisdom, the Sophia Perennis as understood in the Traditionalist School, which allows both for religious diversity and for religious unity. The voices of tradition are all, and have to be, different, and yet they are of a compelling unanimity on the essentials. Samuel Bendeck Sotillos draws our attention generously to these voices and this One Voice. (shrink)

Since the inception of psychology as a distinct field of study in the modern West, it has been widely regarded as the only valid form of this discipline, supplanting all other accounts of the mind and human behavior. The modern West is unique in having produced the only psychology that consciously severed itself from metaphysics and spiritual principles. The momentous intellectual revolutions inaugurated by the Renaissance and the European Enlightenment further entrenched the prejudices of its purely secular and reductionist approach. (...) Yet, across the diverse cultures of the world, we find spiritual traditions that embrace a fully-integrated psychology, unsullied by the limitations of the modern scientific method. It is only by grounding psychology on a foundation of sacred and universal truths—found in all traditional civilizations—that we can begin to restore a true “science of the soul” that addresses the entire gamut of human needs and possibilities. (shrink)

The quest for more holistic forms of treatment and healing in modern psychology has been provoked by its sole focus on the management of symptoms. This has led to an alarming rise in the use of psychedelic substances. Yet the true cause behind these maladies of the mind is the burgeoning ‘crisis of meaning’ that we find in the world today. This largely undiagnosed predicament has led to religion being supplanted by psychology, and to the realm of the psyche becoming (...) confused with that of the spiritual. Modern societies have clearly lost a sense of the sacred. To the extent that we fail to see this, the use of entheogens will never be able to replace a true “science of the soul,” which offers a more satisfying conception of reality, and a fuller understanding of what it means to be human. In this way, we may discover a properly integrated approach to healing that is grounded in the deeper wisdom to be found in the world’s time-honored spiritual traditions. (shrink)

The emergence, in the modern West, of the nine-pointed Enneagram continues to confound and intrigue. Furthermore, the true source of this symbol (and its application) also remains enigmatic to a secular mentality. Due to the diminishment of religious consciousness in today’s world, esoteric wisdom has been appropriated for mass consumption and relegated to the psychic dimension of life only. Given its powerful influence, the Enneagram has also been weaponized by profane forces to, paradoxically, undermine the sacred altogether. At the heart (...) of all wisdom traditions around the globe, one finds a rich “science of the soul.” Its far-reaching metaphysical outlook can help to demystify the inscrutable origins of the Enneagram, thus making its esoteric symbolism not only intelligible to modern seekers, but also spiritually operative. The quest to understand ourselves beyond our mere egoic personality is key to an authentic spiritual life, and to unveiling the true significance of the Enneagram. In exploring this phenomenon, a “transpersonal” framework has been adopted that aligns with the insights found in the world’s great wisdom traditions and their sacred psychologies. (shrink)

In this wide-ranging interview, conducted on the occasion of the release of a new film addressing the implications of his thought, the physicist and metaphysician Wolfgang Smith speaks about the need to integrate science with reality in a way that affirms the lived experience of humanity, and preserves the archetypal and qualitative dimensions that give it meaning. He is critical of scientific fundamentalism and its overreaching tendencies, of the false premises of Darwinian evolutionism and of the limitations of Einsteinian physics (...) and quantum reality. Physics, on its own terms, he claims, must affirm, on pain of absurdity, the metaphysical dimension of reality and of the corporeal existence that it informs. (shrink)

The immense confusion surrounding sexuality is a powerful indication of the spiritual crisis of the modern world. What are the causes and underlying factors of this state of confusion? The effects of the sexual revolution of the 1960s—a movement rooted in much earlier ideologies—have not diminished but, rather, expanded. The gradual emergence of the Enlightenment project has led to the desacralization of human existence, reducing higher realities to the plane of the material. Modern psychology has played a decisive role in (...) this problem by limiting its account of sexuality to the purely horizontal level of the psycho-physical, when a true comprehension requires the vertical dimension of the Spirit. Modern mental health treatments initially identified the lack of sexual fulfillment as the etiology of psychopathology itself and, while many novel treatment modalities have since been created, to a great extent they only add to the confusion. By contrast, sacred psychology and its metaphysical foundations provide a framework that integrates the horizontal and vertical dimensions of sexuality. (shrink)

The epidemic of mental illness has become a global crisis. The World Health Organization estimates that one in eight individuals—or almost a billion people—around the world experienced mental illness in 2019, often without access to adequate therapeutic treatment. In an era that prizes empirically verifiable evidence-based treatments, it is puzzling that much of what constitutes psychopathology (and its etiology) is a mystery. There is so much that remains unknown about mental illness, yet the mainstream systems continue with business as usual, (...) without giving proper attention to this fundament quandary, let alone the dangers of unleashing, on tens of millions of people, a massive arsenal of prescribed psychotropic medications that are often far from helpful to them. Modern science has failed to fathom psychosis. In order to better grasp its nature, modernist understandings of this phenomenon (and other extreme states of mind) are contrasted with spiritual approaches as illuminated by the world’s religions. (shrink)

The author, a practicing psychotherapist and academic specialist in the area, examines the legacy of Sigmund Freud. He points to the numerous errors within Freudianism, which he exposes as a modernist ideology rather than a science, and discusses its controversies and impacts, exposing the self-styled prophet to be a heretic.

The monopolistic tendency of modern science in asserting itself as the exclusive interpreter of the human psyche or mind through its psychology does so while negating the most crucial dimension that makes it a complete psychology, the metaphysical order as is found across the world in all times and places. The reductionistic turn of modern Western psychology away from its metaphysical roots has deformed the original “science of the soul” rendering it null and void. That spirituality and metaphysics have been (...) marginalized and deemed irrelevant in modern science was assumed to be the logical course of progress. Ironically, however, their fundamental absence is the reason contemporary psychology is in disarray. Numerous individuals may see this as preposterous and think that to suggest this is to turn back the clock to the dark ages of knowledge. However, if psychology is returned to its origin in metaphysics, sacred science, and spiritual principles, it can again become worthy of being called a “science of the soul.” This interview with Islamic philosopher, Seyyed Hossein Nasr, on the discipline of psychology explores the original meaning of the “science of the soul” as it is understood across the diverse cultures of the world. (shrink)

Modern Western psychology is largely defined by its dissociation from philosophy and religion. Yet, prior to the post-medieval world, psychology, philosophy, and religion were unified—and while there was no separate name for what we now know as the formal discipline of psychology, it nonetheless existed since the earliest times. The formation of the modern world and its secularizing outlook led to the gradual divorce of metaphysics and ontology from psychology. Having discarded transcendence and the intermediary realm of the psyche, the (...) discipline has, by and large, forfeited its ability to truly heal the mind. Given its fragmented condition today, psychology is incapable of discerning the mind-body unity and its relationship to the tripartite structure of Spirit, soul, and body—something that was always recognized as central to any spiritually informed therapeutic approach. Ensuring the well-being of the human psyche requires access to a transpersonal order of reality. Only in this way can the metaphysical dimension to psychology be restored, so that it can become, once again, a true “science of the soul.”. (shrink)

On the occasion of his passing, this wide-ranging essay surveys the spiritual pilgrimage and legacy of Huston Smith, teacher of the primordial tradition expressed in the world's religions and of its timeless relevance.

Modern Western psychology is not a monolithic discipline for it has, at its disposal, a host of therapies and techniques. However, it is sustained by a set of hegemonic and totalitarian assumptions that have, in myriad ways, served to undermine other approaches. Mainstream psychology, which is based on a foundation of materialism, is largely incapable of providing authentic healing because it cannot access realms that transcend the empirical order. Yet, since time immemorial, there have been modes of spiritually based therapies (...) connected to the diverse religious traditions of the world. In this ground-breaking work, Dr. Jean-Claude Larchet provides a compelling analysis of the Church Fathers’ profound wisdom into the human condition and its various maladies of the soul. In doing so, he offers remarkable insights into how mental health treatment can be richly informed by traditional Christianity. (shrink)