Section 9: TRACK 5
Mystical Disciplines, Ritual, and Worship
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Track 5: Mystical Disciplines, Ritual, and Worship
Transpersonal psychology data are often amassed by those who engage in other forms of disciplined meditation, though meditation itself has other more important goals. An overview of the achievements of various forms of meditation is presented with respective contributions to ecological civilization. This is distinct from prayer, study, and praise characterizing worship in theistic traditions.
Track Heads
Chris Chapple
Professor of Indic and Comparative Theology, Loyola Marymount University
Christopher Key Chapple is the Navin and Pratima Doshi Professor of Indic and Comparative Theology at Loyola Marymount University (LMU). Dr. Chapple received his undergraduate degree in Comparative Literature and Religious Studies from the State University of New York at Stony Brook and his doctorate in the History of Religions through the Theology Department at Fordham University. He served as Assistant Director of the Institute for Advanced Studies of World Religions and taught Sanskrit, Hinduism, Jainism, and Buddhism for five years at the State University of New York at Stony Brook before joining the faculty at LMU. He co-founded LMU’s program in Asian and Pacific Studies, chaired the Department of Theological Studies for five years, and served as Associate Academic Vice President for four years. In 2002, he established the Yoga Philosophy Certificate Program through LMU’s Center for Religion and Spirituality. He is also Director of the Master of Arts in Yoga Studies program, which established in 2013. Dr. Chapple’s research interests have focused on the renouncer religious traditions of India: Yoga, Jainism, and Buddhism. He has published more than 15 books, including Karma and Creativity (1986) and Yoga and the Luminous (2008).
Steve Odin
Professor of Japanese and Comparative Philosophy, University of Hawaii
Professor Odin teaches Japanese and Comparative Philosophy. He has spent seven years studying in Japan and one year in India. In addition to his years teaching at the University of Hawaii, he has been a Visiting Professor at Boston University, Tohoku University in Sendai, Japan, and Tokyo University in Tokyo, Japan. His most recent grants for research in Japan include: National Endowment for the Humanities, Japan Foundation, and two Fulbright Grants. Professor Odin works include The Social Self in Zen and American Pragmatism, Artistic Detachment in Japan and the West and Process Metaphysics and Hua-Yen Buddism. He has also authored approximately 80 articles in “Comparative Philosophy”. His most recent work Tragic Beauty in Whitehead and Japanese Aesthetics will be forthcoming from Lexington Press in the new Contemporary Whitehead Study Series.
Suggested Resources
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