THE HOLISTIC DEPTH PSYCHOLOGY OF IRA PROGOFF (PHILOSOPHY, THEOLOGY, SPIRITUALITY

This dissertation on the holistic depth psychology of Ira Progoff address the life of the self. He incorporated the insights of the psychoanalytic tradition which acknowledged the need to develop the creative and spiritual capacities of the human psyche and to take a future oriented relationship to time. Progoff's methodology perceives the human psyche as a objective reality which has developed over the course of evolution. He perceives the mind as the organ of direction and meaning for the individual and as such it is considered as an organic link between the self and the natural order of the universe.;In its historical context, holistic depth psychology acknowledges the central position of the loss of the symbolic dimension for the modern person and the modern person's need to develop one's creative capacities and a flexible relationship to time. Holistic depth psychology addresses these needs by basing its methodology upon the study of creative lives. The approach acknowledges the central role played by the image in the human psyche, it's relationship to behavior and to more comprehensive understandings of dimensions of reality that emerge from below the conscious threshold. His understandings of these processes are embodied in a workbook entitled the Intensive Journal. The journal is systematically introduced to a person through a series of workshops designed to serve as prototypes for modern day initiations.;Progoff's approach acknowledges the transpersonal roots of human existence which have been embodied in the spiritual traditions of human culture. In culling the world's spiritual traditions, holistic depth psychology recognized that each tradition has developed symbol systems for the initiation of the self into large dimensions of reality. Holistic depth psychology draws upon those traditions, integrating the wisdom contained within each into a methodology compatible to the needs of the modern scientifically oriented person.;As an approach, holistic depth psychology provides a methodology for self transformation which can be expanded to include the social and the sacred. This form of depth psychology is based upon model of integral personality development which coordinates the sensory, the recollective-analytic, the symbolic and the integral levels of human consciousness.