Ecstatic Experience

2021 ◽  
pp. 441-468
Author(s):  
Diana L. Stein
Keyword(s):  

This article describes the development of the Sexual Ecstasy Scale, an instrument designed to measure the specific features that emerge when sexual arousal is the trigger for an ecstatic experience. Drawing from descriptions of features of sexual ecstasy in the phenomenological literature, the authors generated an initial survey of 31 items. In Study 1, the survey was completed by a wide demographic sample (N = 331). Exploratory factor analysis revealed a 4-factor solution that was replicated in Study 2 using confirmatory factor analysis with an independent sample (N = 331) that showed strong fit indices. Internal consistency for the overall scale and subscales was high with a Cronbach’s alpha of 0.873. Positive correlations with measures of emotional, sexual, and spiritual intimacy, and a measure of self-transcendence were used to establish convergent validity. The absence of correlations with measures of personal esteem and life satisfaction was used to distinguish the continuum of sexual ecstasy from other personality factors. The results show that ecstatic sexual experience is consistent with other measures of peak experience and heightened emotion while demonstrating the ability to measure the specific features of the construct. Conclusions are drawn regarding the importance of the ecstatic features of sexuality to transpersonal psychology.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Diana L. Stein ◽  
Sarah Kielt Costello ◽  
Karen Polinger Foster

Author(s):  
Ann Taves

In 1934, Bill Wilson (1895–1971), a (failed) stockbroker, had an ecstatic experience of a blinding white light while hospitalized for alcoholism, which he associated with the feeling of a “presence” and which gave rise to a vision of a “chain reaction of alcoholics, one carrying this message and these principles to the next.” The vision led to the anonymously authored “Big Book” (Alcoholics Anonymous, 1st edn., 1939) and the Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions (1953) of Alcoholics Anonymous (AA). This chapter analyzes how Wilson told and retold his story publicly in the context of AA in the 1930s, 1940s, and 1950s. It traces the emergence of a gap between Wilson's personal version of his story and his public account of AA's beginnings.


Psychotherapy ◽  
1963 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 44-48
Author(s):  
Paul Bergman

2017 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
pp. 11-37
Author(s):  
Ben Gook

The Cold War’s end infused electronic music in Berlin after 1989 with an ecstatic intensity. Enthused communities came together to live out that energy and experiment in conditions informed by past suffering and hope for the future. This techno-scene became an ‘intimate public’ (Berlant) within an emergent ‘structure of feeling’ (Williams). Techno parties held out a promise of freedom while Germany’s re-unification quickly broke into disputes and mutual suspicion. Tracing the historical movement during the first years of re-unified Germany, this article adds to accounts of ecstasy by considering it in conjunction with melancholy, arguing for an ambivalent description of ecstatic experience – and of emotional life more broadly.


Effective ICT integration requires teachers to gain proficiency in TPACK (knowledge of technology, content, pedagogy, and the intersection of these) (Mishra & Koehler, 2006; Archambault, & Crippen, 2009). TPACK is perceived as a dynamic framework representing the knowledge that teachers must confide on to design and implement curriculum and instruction while guiding their students’ thinking and learning with digital technologies in various subjects. TPACK competencies are very fruitful in making teaching learning process an ecstatic experience as it would make notable changes in the interaction pattern of educators. Even though TPACK is a boon in teaching and learning, it is a fact that the fruits of these skills are not appropriately utilized by the stakeholders. This study was aimed to evaluate the Technological Pedagogical and Content Knowledge (TPACK) competencies among teacher-educators in teaching training colleges in the state of Punjab, (India). A five-point Likert scale constructed and validated by the researchers was used in the present study. Instrumental survey method was practiced as a tool for the present research. 200 teacher-educators working in different teaching-training colleges in the state of Punjab, (India) were selected through random sampling method. The collected data was analyzed by using SPSS 22.0 software. The findings of the study show that the technological pedagogical and content knowledge (TPACK) competencies have found high in the teacher-educators of Punjab region. The study revealed that there are statistically significant differences in the (TPACK) competencies of teacher-educators with respect to gender, locality of college, stream and type of colleges.


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