From Philosophy to Phenomenology: The Argument for a “Soft” Perennialism

Abstract

This paper argues for a soft perennialism, distinct from the hard perennialism which suggests that spiritual and religious traditions are expressions of the same underlying spiritual realities. There are two reasons why it is necessary to think in terms of a soft perennial model: firstly, because of a number of important common themes or trends across spiritual traditions; and secondly (and most importantly) because when the process of expansion of being or awakening occurs outside the context of spiritual traditions, broadly the same themes and tendencies appear, suggesting that there is a common landscape of experience which precedes interpretation and conceptualization by spiritual traditions. This applies to the perception of an all-pervading spiritual energy or force which may-in some traditions-become conceptualized as an allegedly ultimate reality but is not necessarily seen in those terms. It is suggested that transpersonal psychology would benefit from loosening its association with spiritual traditions and focusing more on studying expansive states of being in a nontraditional, secular context.

Taylor’s Soft Perennialism: A Primer for Perennial Flaws in Transpersonal Scholarship

“…aside, and perhaps seek review of the analysis by others with expertise in either the topic or in qualitative research; rather than reporting such disclosures and validation procedures in his research (Taylor, 2012a(Taylor, , 2012b, Taylor (2016) has instead claimed that evidence for his pre-existing opinions emerged naturally out of the phenomenological data. This is an alarmingly unreflective claim that places even the validity of his empirical work in serious question.…”

Moving Beyond Materialism: Can Transpersonal Psychology Contribute to Cultural Transformation?

“…As suggested in Taylor (2016), awakening experiences (or ongoing states of wakefulness) may be interpreted within the context of particular spiritual traditions, but they frequently occur to individuals who have no background in or knowledge of the traditions. According to the soft perennialist model, spiritual and mystical experiences are glimpses of expansive potential ranges of human experience that are more fundamental than any particular tradition.…”

“…This spiritual force is the essence of everything that exists, so that there is a fundamental interconnectedness between all things. It is also the essence of one's own being-as is sometimes directly sensed in experiences of "pure consciousness" -so that human beings are fundamentally interconnected with (and even actually one with) all things, including all other human beings (Taylor, 2016). These claims accord very well with the post-materialist scientific claims that "mind is fundamental in the universe," that "there is a deep interconnectedness between mind and the physical world," and that "minds are apparently unbounded and may unite in ways suggesting a unitary, One Mind that includes all individual, single minds" (Beauregard et al, 2014, p. 273).…”

“…The evidence for soft perennialism-or essentialism-presented in Taylor (2017a) includes the various studies using Hood's scale (suggesting a common core of characteristics of mystical experiences across and outside spiritual traditions); the examinations of cross-traditional spiritual texts and reports of mystical experiences made by Studstill (2005), Rose (2016), and others; many cases of individuals who have experienced expansive states of being outside the context (and without knowledge) of spiritual traditions; a number of similar themes in the process of spiritual awakening across various traditions (as presented in Taylor, 2016); accounts of the aftereffects of near-death experiences and of the characteristics of post-traumatic growth; the inadequacy of attempts to explain these commonalities through neuroscientific reductionism, contextualism, or radical diffusion, and so on. My own research has also highlighted that both temporary awakening experiences and ongoing states of what I have called wakefulness often arise spontaneously outside spiritual traditions, allowing for the possibility that there are realms of more expansive potential human experience that precede and inform spiritual traditions (see Taylor & Egeto-Szabo, 2017, for the most recent examples).…”

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“…Maslow (1969) also argued that behaviorism was inappropriately modeled on physical sciences, and that psychoanalysis considered only those things that the person has in common with animals, rather than what might be uniquely human. While it has been correctly noted that Maslow expressed musings about mysticism and religion that seem to have a perennialist flavor (Taylor, 2016), none of his concerns argued against the pursuit of scientific work in areas of interest to transpersonal scholarship.…”