Editing Religious experience (section)

==Integrating religious experience==
{{See also|Kenshō#Training after kenshō|l1=Training after kenshō}}

Several psychologists have proposed models in which religious experiences are part of a process of [[Spiritual transformation|transformation of the self]].

[[Carl Jung]]'s work on himself and his patients convinced him that life has a spiritual purpose beyond material goals. One's main task, he believed, is to discover and fulfil deep innate potential, much as the acorn contains the potential to become the oak, or the caterpillar to become the butterfly. Based on his study of [[Christianity]], [[Hinduism]], [[Buddhism]], [[Gnosticism]], [[Taoism]], and other traditions, Jung perceived that this journey of transformation is at the mystical heart of all religions. It is a journey to meet the self and at the same time to meet the Divine. Unlike Sigmund Freud, Jung thought spiritual experience was essential to well-being.{{sfn|Crowley|2000}}

The notion of the [[numinous]] was an important concept in the writings of Carl Jung. Jung regarded numinous experiences as fundamental to an understanding of the individuation process because of their association with experiences of [[synchronicity]] in which the presence of archetypes is felt.{{sfn|Jung|1980}}{{sfn|Main|2004}}

McNamara proposes that religious experiences may help in "decentering" the self, and transform it into an integral self which is closer to an ideal self.{{sfn|McNamara|2014}}

[[Transpersonal psychology]] is a school of [[psychology]] that studies the [[transpersonal]], self-[[transcendence (philosophy)|transcendent]] or [[spirituality|spiritual]] aspects of the human experience. The ''Journal of Transpersonal Psychology'' describes transpersonal psychology as "the study of humanity’s highest potential, and with the recognition, understanding, and realization of unitive, spiritual, and transcendent states of consciousness".{{sfn|Lajoie|Shapiro|1992|p=91}} Issues considered in transpersonal psychology include spiritual [[Human Potential Movement|self-development]], [[peak experience]]s, [[mysticism|mystical experiences]], [[trance|systemic trance]] and  other [[metaphysics|metaphysical]] experiences of living.