tion of the revolution that has already occurred in our understanding of matter. The changes we would have to make in our thinking about psychiatry, psychology, psychotherapy and even the nature of reality itself fall into several large categories: 1. New understanding and cartography of the human psyche; 2. The nature and architecture of emotional and psychosomatic disorders; 3. Therapeutic mechanisms and the process of healing; 4. The strategy of psychotherapy and Self-exploration; 5. The role of spirituality in human life; 6. The nature of reality. 5 New understanding and cartography of the human psyche The phenomena encountered in the study of holotropic states cannot be explained in the context of the traditional model of the psyche limited to postnatal biography and the Freudian individual unconscious. The dimensions of the human psyche are infinitely larger than it is described in handbooks of academic psychology and psychiatry. In an effort to account for the experiences and observations from holotropic states, I have myself suggested a cartography or model of the psyche that contains, in addition to the usual biographical level, two transbiographical realms: theperinatal domain, related to the trauma of biological birth; and the transpersonal domain, which is the source of such phenomena as experiential identification with other people or with animals, visions of archetypal and mythological beings and realms, ancestral, racial, and karmic experiences, and identification with the Universal Mind or the Supracosmic Void. These are experiences that have been described throughout ages in religious, mystical, and occult literature of different countries of the world. 5.1 Postnatal biography and the individual unconscious The biographical level of the psyche does not require much discussion, since it is well known from traditional psychology and psychotherapy; as a matter of fact, it is what traditional psychology is all about. However, there are a few important differences between exploring this domain through verbal psychotherapy and through approaches using holotropic states. First, one does not just remember emotionally significant events or reconstruct them indirectly from dreams, slips of tongue, or from transference distortions. One experiences the original emotions, physical sensations, and even sensory perceptions in full age regression. That means that during the reliving of an important trauma from infancy or childhood, the individual actually has the body image, the naive perception of the world, sensations, and the emotions corresponding to the age he or she was at that time. The authenticity of this regression is supported by the fact that the wrinkles in the face of these people temporarily disappear, giving them an infantile expression, the postures and gestures become childlike, and their neurological reflexes take the form Spirituality Studies 2 (1) Spring 2016 9
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