Expansion of the Self and the Culture of personal Transformation

Abstract

This study analyses the cultural significance that has been acquired by the theme of personal transformation in contemporary societies, analysing the guidelines adopted and the factors that drive it. This new culture of personal transformation unites psychology and spirituality, emphasizes the transformational power of transcendental experiences and thrives in a heterogeneous and loosely organized milieu oriented towards individualisation and the hybridisation of approaches and traditions. The study advances the hypothesis that this cultural development is a response to a process of change in society at the level of the individual, which we call self–expansion. The link between self–expansion and the culture of personal transformation is the existential malaise that is inherent in self–expansion, which finds an answer in this culture of personal transformation.