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Ritual Opening and Individual Transformation: Rites of Passage at Esalen
Author(s) -
HOLLOMAN REGINA E.
Publication year - 1974
Publication title -
american anthropologist
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.51
H-Index - 85
eISSN - 1548-1433
pISSN - 0002-7294
DOI - 10.1525/aa.1974.76.2.02a00010
Subject(s) - psychic , liminality , rite of passage , gestalt psychology , rite , psychology , state (computer science) , cognitive psychology , event (particle physics) , transformation (genetics) , history , social psychology , psychoanalysis , aesthetics , sociology , art , philosophy , anthropology , computer science , perception , neuroscience , medicine , algorithm , theology , alternative medicine , chemistry , pathology , biochemistry , quantum mechanics , physics , gene
Ritual manipulation of emotion can result in “psychic opening,” a state in which the individual's defenses are suddenly lowered. An individual in this state is vulnerable and suggestible, and major shifts in his psychic configurations can occur. When ritualized psychic opening exists as a part of a cultural event‐pattern for the purpose of inducing psychobehavioral transformation in individuals, the process can be considered as a type of rite of passage. An encounter/Gestalt workshop at Esalen Institute is discussed as an example of this process. The data show that the group setting itself has many liminal characteristics .