Publications
A Mystical Passover eBook Release
by admin on Mar.11, 2010, under Announcements, Books, The Integral Judaism Project
A MYSTICAL PASSOVER: A TRANSFORMATIONAL PASSOVER HAGGADAH
NOW AVAILABLE IN PRINTABLE AND READ-ONLY EBOOK EDITIONS
A Mystical Passover: A Transformational Passover Haggadah offers a powerful psycho-spiritual approach to the Passover experience and includes individual and group psycho-spiritual exercises to help transform the holiday into a deeply mystical and magical experience for young and old alike. This unique Passover haggadah incorporates all three levels of Judaic interpretation (Biblical, Talmudic, and Kabbalistic) and integrates perspectives and practices from all the current Judaic movements (Orthodox, Conservative, Reconstructionist, Reform, and Renewal).
TESTIMONIALS:
“Thank you for your magnificent work. Our Passover was not only Mystical, it was magical.”
“I received the Mystical Passover today. Thank you very much. It is so in line with my way of thinking. God bless you.”
OFFERED IN FOUR EBOOK (PDF) EDITIONS:
- $10.00 – Read-Only eBook Edition for Digital Viewing Only.
- $22.00 – Personal eBook Edition for In-Home Personal and Small Family Use (Printable/up to 4 copies*).
- $40.00 – Family eBook Edition for In-Home Personal and Large Family Use (Printable/up to 8 copies*).
- $90.00 – Congregational eBook Edition for Public/Non-Commercial Printing Use (Printable/up to 18 copies*).
*Additional permissions to print available for purchase for all printable editions at $5.00 per copy.
PRODUCT DETAILS:
Author: Mark Allan Kaplan, Ph.D.
Contributor: Maja Apolonia Rode
Format: eBook (PDF), 8.5 x 11
Pages: 60 pages
Language: English/Hebrew
Item Number: OGPUB-AMPE
ISBN-13: 978-0-9797980-5-4
ISBN-10: 0-9797980-5-1
AVAILABLE FOR PURCHASE AT: http://www.markallankaplan.com/publications/mysticalpassover.htm
Seeking the Heart of Darkness
by admin on Jul.19, 2008, under Articles, The Transpersonal Cinema Project
Schindler’s List (1993)There is violence in the media. There is violence in the streets. My mind has been asking why… what is cause and what is effect? I have tried to rid my thoughts and actions of violence. I have boycotted violent films and the evening news. I have prayed for peace within and without. Yet I have come to see that I am in the realm of aversion and repression.
Within this journey through the darkness there was love and hope and beauty. I also found both the darkness and the beauty inside my self. And for a moment they merged into a sort of sweet sorrow.
Now I am seeking a way not to condone yet not to abhor the violence around me. I wonder if I can use it to seek the violence in me and use its dark mud to grow the golden flowers of light.
I have noticed my own tendency to see Transpersonal films in terms of films of light and not of darkness. Yet now I can think of several films, which are clearly transpersonal odysseys through darkness. There are films which show the triumph of the human spirit through the dark horrors of existence (Schindler’s List, 1993); films which take us to the horrors and madness deep inside us (Apocalypse Now, 1979); and films which take us through the darkness of our minds on our way to the light (Jacob’s Ladder, 1990).
But perhaps every journey through darkness and violence can be consciously used for our own healing. And perhaps as we make this journey and face our fears, the external manifestations will dissolve into the golden lotus growing up from the dark mud.
(Originally published in Focus: The Quarterly Newsletter of the Institute of Transpersonal Psychology, Winter, 2-3, 1994)
The Medium is the Transpersonal
by admin on Apr.18, 2008, under Articles, The Transpersonal Cinema Project
It’s a Wonderful Life (1946)
In the particular case of film, we have a medium steeped in alchemy, mythology, illusion, magic, and transcendence. When audiences first saw the image of a speeding train projected on a screen in front of them, they leaped from their seats and ran out of the theater screaming. A French magician made films in which people disappeared, became transparent, and flew to the moon. Like an ancient religious ritual we enter a darkened place in silence. As we sit before the giant alter, a great light slices the darkness and transforms the two-dimensional screen before us into a three-dimensional world.
Beyond the transpersonal nature of the medium itself, are some films more transpersonal than others? Surely films about angels (It’s A Wonderful Life, 1946), life after death (Ghost, 1990), altered states (Altered States, 1980), dreams (Kurosawa’s Dreams, 1990), archetypes (Star Wars, 1977), UFO phenomena (E.T.: The Extraterrestrial, 1982), mystical realities (The Last Wave, 1977) or religious experiences (The Last Temptation of Christ, 1988) are transpersonal in their content. And films that deal with shifts in temporal and spatial reality, like Field of Dreams (1989) and Groundhog Day (1993), weave the transpersonal into the dramatic structure itself. Then there are the films which embrace the transpersonal in the visual form as well as through the subject content and dramatic structure. In films like Wim Wenders’ Wings of Desire (1987) and Lawrence Kasden’s Grand Canyon (1991) the camera transcends all boundaries, moving through walls and floating through the air to capture the visceral reality of these other realms. Of course these categories tend to overlap and most transpersonal films are a combination of these elements.
I believe there is also a more subtle way that the transpersonal enters the cinema. There are films that move us in ways that are beyond just the stimulation of thoughts, ideas and emotions; beyond content, drama and form. These films cause a subtle shift inside us, they touch us on the level of soul or spirit. Sometimes these films deal directly with transpersonal realms; sometimes they are simple films about love and the human spirit; sometimes they are dark journeys into the underworld.
The power of these films seems to depend on the intersection of our own life’s journey with the journey of the film. When this connection is made it seems as though this film was made for us. A chill moves through us and the notion of a grand design touches our awareness. In this way any film becomes transpersonal. From great works of filmic art to pop culture escapist adventures. Somehow the divine seems to be woven into the light of the movie projector. As the images and sounds dance before us, our realities and projections meet. Sometimes we are moved and entertained . . . and sometimes we are transformed.
(Originally published in Focus: The Quarterly Newsletter of the Institute of Transpersonal Psychology, Fall, 1-2, 1993)
Gravity Waves
by admin on Feb.08, 2008, under Original Gravity, Poetics
The Seeker
by admin on Nov.25, 2007, under Lived Inquiry, Original Gravity, Poetics, The Divine Guidance Project
Artist and Title Unknown? The true seeking of knowledge and wisdom
requires whole person, or embodied learning,
as well as a deep commitment to
a life of lived inquiry,
in which every experience
is taken as a lesson to learn.
Alley of the Unseen Forces
by admin on May.16, 2007, under Books, Drawings, Lived Inquiry, Original Gravity, The Divine Guidance Project
Autumn leaves swirled around the cracked pavement of the alley, being blown in spiraling waves by the strong Midwestern winds. White billowing clouds swiftly rolled across the bright blue sky above, and the electric power lines gently hummed around me. In an instant all my pains and fears vanished and I was filled with a sense of awe and wonder. Somehow I felt the power and beauty of the unseen forces at play all around me, and I sensed a presence of something vast and deep and unknown around me and within me. A feeling of safety and peace filled me, and I stood there for what seemed like hours.
Over the years, I have returned to this memory over and over; bathing in the gravity of that experience; and remembering to open to the unseen forces at play in every moment, both within me and all around me.
*Excerpt from Original Gravity: A Personal Narrative Theology Inquiry into the Experience of Seeking, Receiving, and Following Divine Guidance by Mark Allan Kaplan, Ph.D.
A Tear
by admin on Oct.10, 2006, under Drawings, Poetics
I look, I listen.
The words I’ve written
tell me more than I’d ever wished to know.
Days grow longer…
thoughts dwell, expand, explode – implode…on overload.
I see air swirling in circles around my hand,
tiny particles of violet light
caress my canvased skin.
A humming in my brain
echoes down
deep dark caverns of parts untouched.
In response, my temples pound pain
– shooting nerves never ending.
The veins in my eyes bulge and swell
then suddenly…
I shed a tiny tear.
A tear
salty and sweet
to the taste of my tongue,
A tear
more real than any thought
I’ve ever touched.
- Mark Allan Kaplan
*Published in J. Campbell (Ed.) (1983).Our western world’s greatest poems. Sacramento, California: World of Poetry Press.
Transpersonal Dimensions of the Cinema
by admin on Mar.01, 2006, under Announcements, Articles, The Transpersonal Cinema Project
Announcing the publication of…
Transpersonal Dimensions of the Cinema
By Mark Allan Kaplan, Ph.D.
ABSTRACT: Transpersonal dimensions of the cinematic art form are explored, including transpersonal elements inherent in the nature of the cinematic medium; transpersonal influences on cinematic content, structure, and style; and potential transpersonal effects of the cinematic experience. A preliminary classification of transpersonal cinematic effects indicates potential synchronization effects between constructed cinematic reality and various aspects of creator/viewer realities. Personal filmmaker observations and a review of theoretical, empirical, anecdotal, and historical sources suggests that the transpersonal or boundary-transcending nature and capacities of the cinematic medium make it a potentially powerful and valuable tool for the mediation of transpersonal experience and perception.
Published in The Journal of Transpersonal Psychology, 2005, Volume 37, Number 1, Pages 9-22.
View and Download the Complete Article at: http://www.markallankaplan.com/text/tpcinema.htm
Prayer for the Festivals of Light
by admin on Dec.22, 2005, under Publications, The I-Peace Project
The rebirth of the life-generating and life-sustaining sun
at the darkest moment of the seasons;
The oil of an ancient temple lamp burning beyond its limit;
A shining star in a dark sky illuminating the way;
The light of mercy revealed through prayer and devotion;
The guiding light of seven principles arising from the heart of
the Dark Continent.
This is the season of The Festivals of Light…
The Winter Solstice,
Chanukah,
Christmas,
Ramadan,
Kwanzaa
In the darkness of this Winter
during these terror filled and challenging times;
May we all find the light in darkness,
faith amidst struggle,
rebirth following change and loss,
and virtue and devotion in the face of great challenge.
Published in: Beben, M. T. (2002). New Wine: More Eucharistic Liturgies for 21st Century Small Faith Communities. Boulder, CO: Woven Word Press.
The Experience of Divine Guidance
by admin on Sep.01, 2005, under Announcements, Books, The Divine Guidance Project
Announcing the publication of…
The Experience of Divine Guidance: A Qualitative Study of the Human Endeavor to Seek, Receive, and Follow Guidance from a Perceived Divine Source
By Mark Allan Kaplan, Ph.D.
ABSTRACT
This research study examined the experience of seeking, receiving, and following guidance from a perceived source of divine wisdom. Nine advanced spiritual teachers (5 men and 4 women) from 7 spiritual traditions participated as coresearchers in this study. Coresearchers were North American or European born, predominantly Caucasian, California (USA) residents between the ages of 52 and 74. Coresearcher participation consisted of individual semistructured in-depth interviews. The questions and topics of discussion used for the interviews were developed through a process of researcher heuristic and spiritual self-inquiry. The results of a grounded-theory-based qualitative content analysis of the interview transcripts suggested that the experience of divine guidance, as measured in the current study, is characterized by a common structuring of the experience that includes general categories, factors, and patterns which appear to manifest into various particular and contextual forms depending on the individual person, event, and circumstance. The reported common structures of the experience included: The perception of a divine source of guidance; the experience of seeking, receiving , and following guidance from this perceived source; and various contributing, impeding, developmental , and mediating factors . Additionally, each coresearcher reported a unique metaphor of divine encounter that appeared to give them an archetypal and visceral way of describing and holding the experience. The researcher appeared to experience each of the coresearcher’s metaphors of divine encounter through some kind of resonant learning or mimicking process. A Guidance Experience Template, Guidance Experience Evaluation Checklist, and Synthesized Guidance Practice were developed as aids to counselors, practitioners, and researchers exploring the experience of divine guidance. The findings of this study, and the development and implementation of guidance-related applications in this research, may advance the understanding of this common and historically significant human experience, and offer a valuable contribution to the fields of transpersonal psychology, spiritual guidance, and spiritual psychology.
Proquest Dissertations And Theses 2005. 462 pages; [Ph.D. dissertation].United States — California: Institute of Transpersonal Psychology; 2005. Publication Number: AAT 3174544.
Index terms (keywords): Divine guidance, Guidance, Spirituality, Religious experience, Transpersonal psychology
Source: DAI-B 66/05, p. 2855, Nov 2005
Source type: DISSERTATION
Subjects: Developmental psychology, Religion, Theology
ISBN: 0542126788
