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Two Transpersonal Psychologists Made Fellows of APAASpiritual Problem has had nationalt the annual meeting ofGraduate School. He has writtenimpact and contributed to the rethe American Psychomore than 60 articles and bookcent opening of the mental healthlogical Association heldchapters, as well as edited severalfield to serious considAugustbooks. His most notable professioneration of spiritual is18-21, 2005, inal achievement is the developmentsues in clinical practice. of the transpersonal construct ofWashington D. C.,He has pubDavid Lukoff and“self-expansiveness”lished moreHarris Friedmanand its accompanyingthan articleswere made Fellowsmeasure, the Selfand chapters,of Division 32, theExpansiveness LevelincludingDivision of HumanForm, which is widetwo in theistic Psychology,ly used in transperTextbook ofin recognition ofsonal research. HeTranspersonallifetime contributionco-edits the InterPsychiatrythrough researchnational Journal ofand Psycholand written work.Transpersonal Studies,ogy, and oneDavid Lukoff,a publication ofin SpirituPh.D., is on thetranspersonal writally-Orientedfaculty at Saybrookings from around theHARRIS FRIEDMANPsychotheraGraduate School andDAVE LUKOFF world. In addition, hepies published by the APAResearch Center in San Franciscohas been involved inwhere he is the director of thePress, and was awardedvarious human rightsHumanistic and Transpersonal Psy- the Exemplary Paper award fromand environmental activism forthe Templeton Foundation.chology Program. He also serveswhich he received the 2003 FloridaHarris Friedman, Ph.D., isas co-president of the AssociationPsychological Association’s awardResearch Professor (Psychology)for Transpersonal Psychology. Hisfor Outstanding Contributions inat the University of Florida andwork in co-authoring the DSM-IVthe Public Interest.Professor Emeritus at Saybrookdiagnostic category Religious orFundraiser for the Stanislav and Christina Grof AV ArchivesOn October 28, 2006,Stanislav and ChristinaGrof will attend anATP fundraiser dedicated to preserving our transpersonal heritage. Recently theGrofs donated a dozenboxes of tapes from thepast 30 years of ITAconferences, and ATP hastapes from its conferences for more than 30years. These includetalks by Mother Teresa, the DalaiLama, AbrahamMaslow, StanislavGrof, Charles Tart, Jeanne Achterberg, Ram Dass, Huston Smith,Francis Vaughan, June Singer,Stanley Krippner, Larry Dossey,Joanna Macy, David Whyte, TerryJUNE / JULY 2006Tafoya, David Steindl-Rast, MichaelHarner, Jim Fadiman, Rachel Remen, Mathew Fox, and many others. Some are reel-to-reeltapes and quite fragile.ATP has made the commitment to have themdigitized for theStanislav andChristina GrofAV Archives,which is alreadyon the ATP website. It currentlyholds more than 200 conference presentations, andthe goal is to digitize morethan 1,000 remaining tapes. At thefundraiser, and soon on-line, youcan sponsor a tape. Then for thenext 10 years, your name as spon-sor will be listed next to it in thearchives.The fundraiser will be held atthe California Institute of IntegralStudies in San Francisco on Saturday October 28 from 7 p.m. to 10p.m. It will include a presentationhonoring the contributions that the Grofshave made throughouttheir career, as well asrefreshments and time tomingle. If you have anyphotos or stories you’dlike to share about theGrofs’ work and contributions, please contactDavid Lukoff at dlukoff@comcast.net. Donations to this project arequite welcome and tax deductible.Visit atpweb.org.ahp PERSPECTIVE5

EXCERPTYOUR PERFECT LIPS:A Spiritual Erotic MemoirBY STUART SOVATSKYiUniverse.com, McGraw-Hill, 2005,106 pp., 11.95, ISBN 13: 978-0-59537587-5.Imagine an alternative Christwhose message of love andredemption is conveyed, not by astory of heroic self-sacrifice andmartyrdom, but by the passionate lovebetween Man and Woman, the PerfectCouple as Religion, a Mystico-Eroticaas its most esoteric scripture. As Krishna proclaimed of Himself in his Songof God, “I am the passion in beings thatis attuned to the Ultimate Goal.” A rarekind of sex in which desire shuddersthroughout the body in myriad crescendos of awe, heat, and bliss, rendering allbodiless religions and myopic sexologiesvestigial to an age on the wane.How so? Far beyond the thrallof the teenaged awakening, Naturehas hidden in us numerous rare andmysterious erotic reflexes (except forKundalini, completely unknown to modern times—did we really believe we haddiscovered everything there is aboutthe erotic universe?) that only an everdeeper passion might awaken: shuddering genital reversals vajroli mudra, thatemerge in meditative depths or onlyafter the second hour of embrace, spinalsurges Kundalini-shakti, davvening,Quakering, Shakering, zikr-ing, holyghosting, involving devotional surrenders requiring an ease with tears at thethought of it all. We might call theseawakenings postgenital puberties as inthe ancient name for Yoga: shamanicamedhra, “the going-beyond-genitalawakenings”—but beyond into what?Always oscillating, Krishna worshipsRadha worships Krishna man worshipswoman worships man thus becominggod, becoming goddess. From the insideout, molting their human skins born outof their arduous longing for this other,the beloved, the ache of it all enduredthis life into That into this into That aweaving maturing of souls verging ononeness, circling auguring ever-deeperinto the Source of incarnation itselfclose and even closer winding towardthe vertiginous center, quickening thehopes and fears of each lover there everwas or will be. . . .6ahp PERSPECTIVESo how could I not touch yoursatiny throat an arm’s length away yetin doing so you started to cry as ifalone then looking up leaning into themystery unfolding, that first slow kisskissing the selfsame kiss except one ismale the other female kisses the onethe other you me, me you with the verbimplied, that close.I recall the kisses of that first nightespecially, so deliberate, slowly focusingour lips upon one another. I learnedmore watching your lips—so shy and,yet, hopeful, waiting so receptively as ifthey were fainting into themselves intoanother place far far away—than your eyes, still tingedwith sorrow. Those lips,wanting more, awaiting more,this way then that, tongueflicks here and there thenopening into the warm moistcathedral of joined mouths.That feeling of warm liquified pink, licking the insidesof your cheeks, beneath your tongue,drinking each other delicately and thenthirstily, years, decades of thirst comingout. Pausing, returning, looking handsgrazing your breasts as you leaningleaned farther toward me the tunnel ofyour deep neckline suddenly droppingdown opening that chasm, the darknessin the center, your breasts revealed indirectly as you crawled toward me closingthe distance fully desiring whether youknew it or not for me to see, look, take,please, reach into me as I reach into you.And then the sighing emerged thehalf-unbuttoning that somehow got inthe way as much as being the way toward one another—who wants to touchbuttons when you are right there? So,unbuttoning became a slow sacrificialritual, the feel of hard pearly plastic being pressed through dislodging with atthiiik parts the panels of a shirt blouseholy ark opens to unseen flesh revealed only for me for you, then slowlytumbling forth a cascade of yeses youso beautiful in the dim-light touchhere there exquisite reaching downthe tthiiik of waistbands opening andfurther in deliberate and pausing, licking here there the black satin coveringslip it down gradually trapping you fora moment at the hips thighs knees trapping in exposed shyness turning awayand toward at the same time like a childvelvety-winged provoking tensions delayed longings and even an uncertainty,would anything happen?With my eyes closed I feel youdiscovering more of your own beautyas you feel me savoring you. In mymind I imagine being in your mind justas your taste is still on my lips, yoursdevouring me, your eyes now oblivious, you washing forth back like wavesalong a foamy darkened coastlineeverything fading backward recedinginto the ocean’s ever-shifting maw. Asif you had been breathing underwaterfor a long time, you look up your facenow blurred with drunken passion. Igive up you said. You are torturingme. Take me. Care of me.Then muffled tears, lostfragments of re-arisinglong-dashed hopes. Anything, anything, I said.You: I am delirious. Me: Ina good way, I hope. You:Yes, in a very good way.In the Vedas two birdsare on a branch, one eats,the other watches feeding upon the eating one’s sheer enjoyment, who enjoysthe watcher’s enjoyment of her enjoyedfeeding, adding to the other’s addingto. The memory of it backwards, thelooking forward to it again, becomingother memories inspiring other lookings forward becoming other memoriesbecoming. Everywhere you look, then,now, later, feeding or being fed upon,like the darting beam of a diamondfaceted miner’s light, consciousness isthere there there, a mushrooming infinity of bliss.Two people chained to one anotherin endless causality by their hungerfor one another, irresistibility incitingirresistibility, chemical fusion reactionsof the entire polarized universe. Everyglistening cell poised aiming him herand nothing else is what every livinggendered fiber wants Has ever wanted,a hundred a thousand a million yearsall cresting right now. Feel it.With you, the one who exceedsall expectations lucky to be with you,lucky to be with you. The tantraweavedness of it all, no longer anEastern philosophy that includes eroticarts, but the ineluctable nature of reality—an intertwining foliating romance,or nothing at all . . .STU SOVATSKY is Copresident ofATP, Trustee for CIIS, a marriagetherapist for 30 years, and author ofWords from the Soul (SUNY Press, 1998).JUNE / JULY 2006

Spalding of CIIS, and Aftab Omer also have joined the board. Aftab is the President of the Council. AftabOmer@imaginal.edu. . (CIIS PsyD Student). 4 ahp PERSPECTIVE JUNE / JULY 2006 CELEBRATION OF WOMEN CONFERENCE Celebrating Women in Transpersonal Psychology T he centennial ATP/ITP conference will open with an