How do adult twins experience and view their identity?

Adult identity formation and individuation have been well documented in psychological and world spiritual literature. Identity and individuation differ for twins because of their physiological and psychological connection. Although the literature has to some extent explored twin identity at prepersonal and personal stages of ego development, little research literature exists which looks to unravel transpersonal phases of twins’ individuation. With a focus on transpersonal development, this research used intuitive inquiry to investigate “How adult twins experience and view their identity.” Individual twins derived from a single ovum (monozygotic) and from two separate ova (dizygotic), were interviewed to understand their personal experience of their identity development. The researcher’s own experience of twin identity was reported through embodied writing and poetry. Results allowed for the formation of an emerging model of Twin Identity Development, which outlined a possible trajectory for twin identity development, introducing the transpersonal as a connecting thread between the prepersonal and personal twin identity. Participant perspectives on identity development indicated the possibility for twins to embrace both an individual and a joint identity and in some cases, transcend both. Embracing all aspects of both identities created a sense of wholeness for twins. Further investigation into different twin identities and parenting of twins could validate the research.

ԱՆՁՆԱՅԻՆԻ ԵՎ ՎԵՐԱՆՁՆԱՅԻՆԻ ԵՐԿՎՈՒԹՅՈՒՆԸ ՀԱՅԿԱԿԱՆ ԷԹՆՈՀՈԳԵԲԱՆԱԿԱՆ ԱՎԱՆԴՈՒՅԹՆԵՐՈՒՄ / THE DILEMMA OF THE PERSONAL AND THE TRANSPERSONAL IN THE TRADITIONS OF ARMENIAN ETHNOPSYCHOLOGY

The article examines two levels of thinking and human activity - personal and transpersonal. It is argued, that for personal activity "everyday life" is the most favorable, and the more it is rooted in the socio-cultural model of life of a given society, the more it affects other types of relations and spheres of social life - economy, politics, upbringing, education, etc. The transpersonal is formed in the human psyche on the basis of the personal as a necessary requirement for further development. But when the transpersonal does not come naturally from the personal and is not the result of its development, then it (transpersonal) is artificially implanted from the outside through upbringing, education or ideology. In this case, in the mental system of the individual, the personal, figuratively speaking, is oppressed, limited by the transpersonal (national, religious, moral or other ideas and phenomena), which ultimately can lead to deindividualization of a person. This tendency is peculiarly expressed in the ethnopsychology of the Armenians, which was formed in many respects in a foreign cultural environment and, as a result, became a "hostage" of the narrowest sphere of human being - everyday life. It is the most favorable for the personal level of thinking and human activity, which can explain individualism and the collectivism in the ethnopsychology of the Amenians, which does not go beyond the framework of everyday - family, friendship - relations. For further transpersonal development of a person a qualitative transition in thinking from ideology to worldview, from dogmatism to critical rationalism is required, which is almost impossible within the framework of the dominant everyday social and cultural model of life organization. This means that the dominant everyday relations are transferred to many spheres of social life - politics, economics, education, etc., and the vacuum in the transpersonal sphere of the human psyche in the process of upbringing, education and socialization is filled with some historical, national, religious and other narratives, that have little meaningful connection with the everyday life and, in total, depress, limit the personal development of a person.

exploration of travel and transpersonal development

This paper explores the relationship between travel, transpersonal development and spiritual growth. Due to the personal engagement of the participants and the author in the subject areas being investigated, Moustakas’ (1990) heuristic inquiry was chosen. This is a qualitative methodology ideally suited to reveal tacit knowledge through those “who have directly encountered the phenomenon” (Moustakas, 1990, p. 38). Interview analysis from the author’s original MSc research uncovered themes that were presented through individual depictions, an exemplary depiction and a composite depiction, portraying recurrent collective themes. The composite depiction forms the results section of this paper. The discussion utilises insights and theories from transpersonal psychology as analytical tools to more closely explore the deeper workings of the phenomena being researched. It suggests that for people who are open to experience and capable of processing that experience, travel, through a search for authenticity and transcendence of the known self and outer world can implicitly share similarities with spiritual practices, therapy, and rites of passage. This can lead to self-knowledge, meaningful transformation, and authentic transpersonal development. Furthermore, the liminal aspects of travel can continue on returning home to aid the process of integration, and ‘re-create’ both personal and communal life at home.