Inspiration for this special section came from several sources. One inspiration was undoubtedly an outgrowth of my professional focus on near-death and other nonordinary experiences: the synchronistic, intuitive, paranormal, and mystical. I join the "fourth force" in psychology by calling such experiences "transpersonal" -literally, "beyond the personal" -in that such experiences somehow transcend the normal, everyday time and space limitations of the self and they can both facihtate development of, and provoke development beyond, normal, healthy personal functioning (Scotton, 1996; Wilber, 1996,1997). The transpersonal perspective is universal because it embraces various interpretations of nonordinary experiences, including but not limited to the religous (i.e., pertaining to the human institution of relipon) and to the spiritual perspectives. The transpersonal perspective's multicultural and developmental foundation makes it, I believe, philosophcally consonant with the counsehg profession. Because transpersonal experiences are nearly always spontaneous even when one attempts to f a d t a t e them, they are less amenable to direct study. Yet the developmental possibihties that follow such experiences make them, at least theoretically, a potentially powerful ally in counsehg.
In fact, I have been prideged to work with several clients for whom transpersonal experiences were, indeed, an ally in both their healing and growth; my desire to tell their stories was a source of more spec& inspiration for this special section. There was the client who, after a meditation retreat, experienced a powerful spontaneous image containing profound meaning her desire to process the sigruhcance of this image and exploit the understandmg she believed it held for her life propelled her into counsel-