The Unfolding Self: Varieties of Transformative Experience

by Ralph Metzner

This book identifies the universal structures that underlie the varieties of transformative experiences, much as William James did a century ago in The Varieties of Religious Experience. Featuring dozens of illustrations, this book, now a "One Spirit" Book-of-the-Month-Club selection, is a brilliant cross-cultural examination of the power of archetypal metaphors to nurture profound experiences of transformation.

Genres: Psychology, Spirituality, Nonfiction, Philosophy, Religion, Mythology, Anthropology

319 pages, Paperback

First published May 1, 1998

About the author

Ralph Metzner Ph.D. was an American psychologist, writer and researcher, who participated in psychedelic research at Harvard University in the early 1960s with Timothy Leary and Richard Alpert (later named Ram Dass). Dr. Metzner was a psychotherapist, and Professor Emeritus of psychology at the California Institute of Integral Studies in San Francisco, where he was formerly the Academic Dean and Academic Vice-president. He received his undergraduate degree at Oxford University and his doctorate in clinical psychology at Harvard University, where he was also the recipient of an NIMH Post-doctoral Fellowship in psychopharmacology at the Harvard Medical School. He had a life-long interest in the many different realms of consciousness and its modifications.

He is the author of The Well of Remembrance, The Unfolding Self, Green Psychology, Birth of a Psychedelic Culture (with Ram Dass); editor of two collections of essays on ayahuasca and on psilocybe mushrooms; and author of a new series of seven books on The Ecology of Consciousness.

Reviews

[Tiegel · Rating 5 out of 5]

The book is sectioned into common metaphors in spiritual transformation around the world. The book is incredibly useful for two main reasons. The first is the extensive amount of width that this book has with many pages of notes/comments/references and bibliography. The second is he often associates modern language/phrases and the way we use them to help open the doors to the examples.

While the width is great there is a common source of references to individuals and texts which clearly had a large impact on the author and these individuals are often referenced in each section. The latter half of the book started feeling less impactful and more grasping. Sometimes this grasping is problematic because of quiet a few factual issues I was discovering in the latter chapters. These factual issues weren't on the main point, but on the corroborating "evidence" (or "evidence" presented in a way to be corroborating). Such an example is that Gilgamesh never had the "immortality herb" (p. 292/C. Journey to the place of vision and power/s. Returning Home) which changes both the value of the referenced source and how it's used.

[Patrick Barker · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book, Ralph Metzner reaches across many traditions to illustrate different growth processes. Its very approachable and insightful. His depth of knowledge has lead me to a number of other readings I wasn't aware of, and his interpretations of familiar stories shed a whole new light on them.

[Jeni Ferret · Rating 5 out of 5]

Awesome explanation of transformation myths and experiences, great counterpart to The Hero with A Thousand Faces. A lot of alchemical references and some woowoo psychedelic nonsense but a phenomenal book with excellent ties and exposition.

[Clivemichael · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fascinating exploration. Extensive notes and bibleography

[Kim · Rating 5 out of 5]

Metzner presents twelve archetypal metaphors of transformative experience. There's nothing really groundbreaking in this book, but I felt that reading the descriptions of these archetypal images did tap my own inner place of connection with the transformative process.