Transpersonal psychology looks to saints, prophets, great artists, heroes, and heroines for models of full human development and of the growth-oriented nature of the normal human psyche. Transpersonal psychology and transpersonal psychotherapy, in particular, does not see the human personality as an end in itself. Our personal history and the resulting personality traits, tendencies, and attributes are seen as the crust or skin covering our transpersonal essence. Another way of putting this is that the personality is, by design, the vessel or vehicle which enables the soul and spirit to navigate through the world. Thus, the proper role of the personality is to be a translucent window, a servant to divinity within.
Transpersonal psychology is a psychology of human development.
As developmental psychologists, we agree with the object relations theorists that there is a continuum of development, in the sense of self and its stability. This continuum begins with individuals who have not achieved object constancy and strong ego identity, people who might be called psychotic. Transpersonal psychology, at this point, extends object relations theory by pointing to the next stages of human development, wherein there is disidentification from one's personality or personal identity and recognition of object impermanence or transciency. This stage is typified by the states of consciousness obtained by advanced meditators. Transpersonal psychology is an approach to the whole person.