March 2, 2001

A Dynamic Meeting of Eastern Philosophy & Western Psychology
The Many Faces of Integral Psychology
by Joan Cullinane

Like a new shoot, integral psychology brings fresh life to the tree of psychological studies. Who will be nurturing its growth? Although CIIS carefully tends to the local soil, there is also an expanding network of support abroad.

Bahman and Brant at conference

From January 4-7, the ashram in Southeast India founded by Sri Aurobindo and The Mother (who Aurobindo believed was the incarnation of the divine mother) hosted The Second Annual International Conference on Integral Psychology. An international assemblage of voices gathered to discuss the connections between various aspects of psychology and Sri Aurobindo's integral yoga. Both CIIS faculty and students presented. Bahman Shirazi '97, faculty member and director of graduate studies for the School of Consciousness and Transformation, and Asian & Comparative Studies student presented during the methodological session of the conference. Bahman spoke on "Integral Psychology: Metaphors and Processes of Personal Integration." Kundan delivered a paper entitled "Postmodernism and Beyond: The Meeting of East and West." In the second part of the conference, which addressed issues in psychotherapy, Professor Brant Cortright presented "Integral Psychotherapy as Existential Vedanta." Our faculty's teaching experience was seen as an especially valuable contribution to the conference.

Commenting on his time in Auroville (the community founded on an integral vision of The Mother), Brant says, "I was invited by the residents to give a brief workshop after the conference on integral psychotherapy, and I found them to be exceptionally open and eager to learn about ways of integrating psychotherapy and spirituality." Bahman also spenttime in Auroville, taking in the nearly completed Matrimandir, the gold plated, globe-shaped heart of the city. "It was wonderful to meditate in the profound silence of the inside chamber," he says. As to the future of integral psychology, Brant points out that "integrating Buddhism with psychology has been the dominant trend in American transpersonal psychology thus far. I think an effort to explore the relationship between Hinduism and psychology may be a next step, and people in India are already looking at this. But I don't know how long it will be before America is ready to consider the connection. I think this conference marks a promising beginning. The season is right for sowing new seeds. CIIS may well be incubating new hybrids of its own."

Joan Cullinane is a student in the Drama Therapy Program.

Alumnus Hired as Advancement Associate
Getting a Kick Out of Grant Writing

Kelly Lee, who graduated from the Institute in 1994 with a Ph.D. in Integral Studies, has been hired as advancement associate. Among his duties will be managing donor contributions, coordinating alumni relations and grant writing, perhaps his greatest responsibility.

Kelly earned an M.A. in Creative Arts from San Francisco State University, where he was involved in avant garde performance art. But soon he found himself gravitating toward more ancient and cross-cultural forms of expression (he now practices t'ai chi). Kelly says, "If I were to compare my experience at both schools, I'd say that the environment at CIIS is much more supportive of a different kind of learning. As an institution, it honors what is timeless and universal."

After three years working in development, Kelly realized he was ready to find a position where he could utilize more of his skills and capacities. He says, "At CIIS I can use my background and experience for a great organization that I truly believe in." He admitted a bit sheepishly that he "actually likes grant writing" because it can be very exciting and challenging to think that way, to consolidate ideas and convince someone to support a project that you believe is worthwhile."

Kelly lives with his Australian Shepherd-Collie mix, Brando, in San Francisco.

From Sustainable Development to Disaster Relief
Professor Chatterji Continues Involvement in India

CIIS has always been a school with a particular interest in India, and we have a number of students from that continent. Professor Angana Chatterji, Social & Cultural Anthropology, who is from Calcutta, has been involved in a variety of sustainable development projects there (see 8/24/00 issue of Inner Eye online at www.ciis.edu). When she heard the devastating news about the earthquake in Gujarat, a state in western India and birthplace of M.K. Gandhi, she began to take immediate action. Angana says, "Numerous cities have been completely devastated in Gujarat. Death toll counts estimate between 35-50,000 people dead and 229 villages decimated. As we offer our prayers to mourn the victims and hold in solidarity those who must live with courage and grief, rehabilitation processes are focusing on generating long term sustainable development programs in selected villages." For those who would like to help or make a donation, Angana suggests contacting the following organizations: Sristi, a nonprofit organization working in Gujarat. Contact the Earthquake Relief Fund, Sristi, c/o Professor Anil K. Gupta; phone 011-91-79-6307241, email anilg@iimahd.ernet.in. Janvikas NGO, a Pune based organization. Contact Adi Patel, adidag@axess.com, or contact Angana Chatterji: Angana@aol.com. Angana says, "Adi Patel, its trustee, is a dear colleague of mine and has worked with disaster management and relief for a long time." For additional information, go to www.ciis.edu.

Message from President Subbiondo

Dear Colleagues:

Thank you for the warm hospitality and candid interaction during the WASC visit. When John Simpson, team chair, acknowledged that he had never seen a faculty, staff, and students more committed to an institutional mission than he saw at CIIS, he told us that he understood our community.

In a couple of weeks, we will receive a draft of the team's report that we will review for any errors of fact. I will communicate any errors to the team chair, and he will revise the report accordingly and send the WASC Commission and us a final draft of the report. In June, the Commission will meet to decide the accreditation status of CIIS. They will consider the team's report and its confidential recommendation as well as our statement of progress since the visit. Within two weeks of the June meeting, the Commission will indicate its action to us.

I believe that we can influence the Commission's action with a strong closing of the academic year. As the team indicated in the visit, our trajectory is in the right direction. By the end of this academic year, we can complete our strategic plan, increase revenue, and implement a zero-based budget. Let us resolve to finish the great work that we have started.

 

Joseph L. Subbiondo

President Subbiondo's walk-on office hours are Tuesdays between 2:00 and 3:00 pm.

Keeping in Touch with Student Alliance

Meetings
The Student Alliance meets every other Tuesday at 6:30 PM in the third floor cafe.

Guest Housing
You can help students who need housing. Apply to become a guest host to someone for a period of time; in exchange, you will receive $20-25 per night from the Alliance. Call Sarah Aminoff, housing sub-committee, 415-731-1441.

Bulletin Board
If you are not on the e-mail list, you may check the SA meeting minutes, which are posted on our bulletin board two days after each meeting. To contact us, or to be placed on the SA e-mail list, e-mail ciisstudentalliance@yahoo.com.

New Student Enrollment Yield Increases
Institute-wide Team Effort
by Henry Villareal, Dean of Enrollment Management

While the number of new students enrolling this spring was down by one student in comparison to last spring, the yield significantly increased. The yield, which is derived by comparing the number of admitted applicants to those that actually enroll, was an extraordinary 87 percent. This is an increase of nine percent over last year's yield. Of particular note are the programs in Gender, Ecology, & Society; Women's Spirituality; Philosophy, Cosmology & Consciousness; and Somatics, which experienced a 100 percent yield rate. It is also noteworthy that the Bachelor of Arts Completion Program, which had no cohort enrollment last spring, enrolled 17 of 18 admitted applicants, thus experiencing a 94 percent yield. The Admissions Office team is grateful to the program directors, other faculty, and staff who have been instrumental in supporting their recruitment and enrollment efforts.

BACK TO TABLE OF CONTENTS

CIIS ONLINE

The CIIS 2001 Catalog is now online at www.ciis.edu. Plus, don't miss "What's Hot" in the CIIS community...visit the "Spotlight" section on the website.

On the Page and On the Stage

Professionally Speaking

Angana Chatterji, Social & Cultural Anthropology
Opening speaker and presenter on "Postcolonial Resistance: Challenging the Apparatus of Development," Annual Third World Conference, March, Chicago, Illinois.

___ "The Other Green Revolution: Social Movements and Global Alliances for Ecological Reparation," Society for Applied Anthropology, March, Mexico.

Richard Shapiro, Social & Cultural Anthropology
"Shaping a Postcolonial Anthropology: Radical Scholarship and Academic Practice," Society for Applied Anthropology, March, Mexico.

Bahman Shirazi '97; CIIS Sage Roger Walsh; and doctoral candidates Arife Ellen Hammerle and Amelia Pryor, are participating in a panel on "The Soul's Longing: A Language of Spirit," International Association of Sufism Symposium, Friday, March 23, 3:30-5:30 pm, Fremont, California; www.sufismsymposium.org.

Brian Swimme, Philosophy, Cosmology, & Consciousness
Co-presenting with Mary Evelyn Tucker on "Cosmocentric Consciousness in an Evolving Universe," International Conference on Science and Consciousness, April 20-25, Albuquerque, New Mexico. www.bizspirit.com.

In Print

Lucia Birnbaum, Women's Spirituality
Black Madonnas: Feminism, Religion, and Politics in Italy (Northeastern University Press, l993; Palomar Editrice, l997; Premio Internazionale di Saggistica 1998), has been reprinted by iUniverse.

Angana Chatterji, Social & Cultural Anthropology
"Postcolonial Research as Deconstructive Practice," TAMARA: Journal of Critical Postmodern Organization Science 1(2).

___"The Politics of Sustainable Development: Who is Gaining?
Who is Losing?" International Journal of Economic Development (from presentation given at Sustainable Development Symposium, Penn State University, March 2001).

Please send information about your recent publications or presentations to candicec@ciis.edu.

Inner Eye
Editor: Candice Chase
Editorial Board: Jaclyn Kellye Higgs, Susanna Spiro, Cathy Coleman

The Inner Eye is published by the Communications & Marketing Department.
Deadline for next issue: Monday, 3/12/01
Next Issue: Thursday, 3/29/01

Articles may be submitted to candicec@ciis.edu via email or disks may be put in the Inner Eye mailbox. Articles are subject to editing for clarity, length, and appropriateness.

BACK TO TABLE OF CONTENTS

Sage Perspectives: Dr. Frances Vaughan

Dr. Frances Vaughan, past president of the Association for Transpersonal Psychology and of the Association for Humanistic Psychology, is a member of the CIIS Council of Sages. Her association with CIIS goes back to its very beginnings; she knew founder Dr. Haridas Chaudhuri and took classes at Stanford with Dr. Frederic Spiegelberg, who originally invited Dr. Chaudhuri to the United States to bridge the gap between West and East. In 1999, Dr. Vaughan was presented with an honorary doctorate from the Institute. A leader in the field of transpersonal psychology, she has written many books in the field, including Shadow of the Sacred: Seeing Through Spiritual Illusions, and The Inward Arc: Healing in Psychotherapy and Spirituality, which has been used as a text at both CIIS and the Institute for Transpersonal Psychology (a new edition has just been published by iUniverse.com). Other publications include Awakening Intuition and Paths Beyond Ego: The Transpersonal Vision.

Talking about her long association with CIIS, Dr. Vaughan comments, "I have appreciated my relationships with people in various constituencies at the Institute. The faculty members are wonderful. I am always impressed with the high quality not only of the faculty but also of students and administrators. The Institute seems to evoke a deep sense of loyalty and to offer a sense of fulfillment and meaning to many people. As an educational institution that emphasizes values, meaning, and purpose, it holds a vision of hope that inspires people throughout the country and beyond. CIIS has been innovative in so many areas; through the uniqueness and variety of its programs, it offers a very important alternative in the educational community. My sense is that the Institute has come into a stronger sense of identity, which I'm pleased to see. Keep up the good work!"

Dr. Vaughan is a trustee of the Fetzer Institute, a nonprofit private operating foundation that supports research, education, and service programs exploring the integral relationships of body, mind, and spirit. Fetzer's programs fall into four general categories: leadership, philanthropy, science, and integral practices. The organization has supported such programs as Bill Moyers' "On Our Own Terms: Moyers on Dying," and "On Healing and the Mind," which were aired on public television. Currently, Dr. Vaughan is particularly intrigued by a study on how different spiritual traditions understand and express mystical love. She says, "I feel very fortunate and grateful to have work I enjoy, both in my private psychotherapy practice, which is based on a growth model rather than a medical one, and in the work I'm doing at Fetzer."

More on Dr. Vaughn's work may be found at www.essentialspirituality.com.

Dual Dwelling Duos
Alternative for Long-term Relationships

In the dominant culture in this country, it is generally assumed that people who love each other and want to be life partners should live together, be married, and have families. Even in the psychological community, many therapists label couples who choose to live separately as having a "fear of intimacy."

Judye Hess and Padma Catell, professors in the Integral Counseling Psychology Program, are challenging this assumption in an article entitled, "Dual Dwelling Duos: An Alternative for Long-Term Relationships," which will be published in the Journal of Couples Therapy as well as in a book, both in August 2001. They say, "Given that the divorce rate has been on the rise since the beginning of the 20th century and has hovered around 50 percent since 1960, we surmise that there is a problem with the way we are choosing to relate to each other in committed relationships." Judye and Padma propose that there is an alternative form of relationship, one in which each member of the couple chooses to retain their own separate domicile while still being in a committed, monogamous, and loving relationship. They have dubbed these couples "dual dwelling duos," or DDDs. They conclude their article by saying, "Our hope in writing this article is to broaden the acceptable choices that are considered healthy for long-term relationships, and to make long-term relationships more pleasurable and easier to maintain. Ultimately, we hope to have an impact on the ever-increasing divorce rate by creating the space for the unique needs of certain couples."

BACK TO TABLE OF CONTENTS