Editorial Page
The birth of a journal - by Dana Gaynor
With the acts of terrorism against the U.S. in the fall of 2001 and the soul searching each of us is engaging in with regards to our loss, anger, and desire to respond, it seems more important than ever to consider our ultimate nature and the notion of psychospiritual transformation. While we had planned this journal prior to these devastating events, its creation offers a rare opportunity to collectively consider our common needs and natures as well as the possibility for each of us to transcend his or her limiting beliefs and over time come together in a new more inclusive and consciously interdependent world order.
In general our intent is to explore the nature of psychospiritual transformation (i.e. the psychological change associated with spiritual transformation) from as many perspectives as possible. To do this we will offer access to a variety of opinions some spiritual and some decidedly not. Our articles will vary as to scope and definition I am sure but we will always try to offer various models and theories of consciousness, reality and psychospiritual transformation. We will seek out alternative orientations and hope to provide a range of views whenever the material presents itself. The Journal of Psychospiritual Transformation invites the submission of articles, reviews of books and comments on our articles and journal.
In this issue we have put together six articles. The authors form an exceptional group and it is an honor to have them represented here. In several cases we have reprinted previously published articles (see articles) that seemed unusually relevant to our discussion. We take this opportunity to thank the authors, and the journals in which these articles were originally published, for their permission to reprint these works. In this our first issue, Charles Tart offers an emergent interactionist model of consciousness. I offer an interrelatedness meta-model of consciousness, reality and psychospiritual transformation. Fred Abraham discusses philosophy and the notions of topoi and transformation. Paul Wildman explores the seldom considered inner transformation process associated with the doctoral student's dissertation process. In our Practitioner's Corner, Frank Mosca discusses God, Spirituality and the Option Method. Nancy Poitou ends our first issue an experiential model of spiritual emergence developed from her own emergence process and her work counseling others through such experiences.
A vision for the future
As a reader of transpersonal and alternative journals, I have often found what I would call an over-compensatory, politically correct mindset that, in my humble opinion, disproportionately values our differences over that which we all share in common. As a result of this and other associated factors, I think we see fewer attempts at exploring those deeper aspects that unite us. It is our goal to honor both diversity and commonality equally and to provide a truly rounded forum for discussion. With that I welcome you and hope you find this experience as informative, thought provoking, and fun as I have in bringing it to you.
Dana Gaynor
Editor-in-Chief, Journal Of Psychospiritual Transformation