The Aperspectival Playfulness of Allan Leslie Combs

This commemorative article reflects on the work of the late Dr. Allan Leslie Combs, a pioneering scholar in consciousness studies and an influential mentor. The essay argues that his scholarly writing, characterized by profound openness, heartfelt compassion, and sharp wit, represents an embodiment of the integral consciousness he writes about. Through a close reading of his essays and a personal reflection on his mentorship, the article connects his playful style to Jean Gebser’s concept of aperspectival consciousness and frames his humor within Sri Aurobindo’s philosophy of divine “play” (lila), concluding that, for Combs, scholarship is an embodied practice and his manner is a sign of deep developmental attainment. Keywords: Allan Combs, consciousness studies, integral consciousness, aperspectival playfulness, Jean Gebser, Sri Aurobindo, mentorshi

A Thank-You Gift to My Dad: Illustrations Based on Olaf Stapledon’s Star Maker

This essay reflects on a series of etchings created as a personal tribute to my father, Allan Leslie Combs, and inspired by Olaf Stapledon’s Star Maker. Blending memoir, art, and cosmological imagination, the article explores creative gratitude, spiritual vision in science fiction, and the connection between art and consciousness. Keywords: Allan Leslie Combs, Olaf Stapledon, Star Maker, consciousness and creativit

Allan Leslie Combs: Celebrating the Life of a Trickster and Pioneer in Consciousness Studies

The Journal of Conscious Evolution (JCE) is a peer-reviewed academic journal dedicated to exploring consciousness, conscious evolution, and transdisciplinary inquiry as they relate to human growth, transformation, and planetary well-being. Originally founded by Allan Leslie Combs (1942-2025), Professor Emeritus at CIIS, JCE highlights outstanding work from both students and professional scholars around the world. A distinguished author, teacher, and mentor, Combs devoted himself to the study of consciousness, authoring over 250 publications on consciousness and the brain, including Synchronicity, The Radiance of Being (which won the 1996 best book award from the Scientific and Medical Network) and Consciousness Explained Better. He founded the Society for Consciousness Studies and served on the faculties of several graduate programs, most recently as professor and director of the CIIS Center for Consciousness Studies in the Transformative Studies Department (TSD). Known widely for his exemplary and wide-ranging scholarship on consciousness, excellence in teaching, and mentorship of young scholars, Combs was a beloved teacher, mentor, and friend, whose magnanimous presence united diverse communities, as embodied in his deep understanding of several fields, making him what he called a “perennial philosopher.” To celebrate the life and legacy of Allan Leslie Combs, the editors of JCE issued a call for papers relating to the life, legacy, and scholarship of Combs. The submissions in this special issue of JCE explore and reveal impacts from Combs on themes related to JCE and Combs’s own research interests. A variety of topics are explored and expressed through letters, poems, visual art, and essays. Please enjoy this celebration of Combs\u27s life and ideas

In This Issue of IJTS

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BOOK REVIEW Processing Reality: Finding Meaning in Death, Psychedelics and Sobriety, by John H. Buchanan

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Waldorf Education: New Perspectives on a Holistic Approach

This article outlines some of the core ideas underlying the practices of Waldorf education as re-envisioned by an experienced practitioner, as a contribution to the discussion about the educational implications of transpersonal psychology. It outlines a pedagogical anthropology that takes the spiritual dimension into account. It distinguishes between the lived body, the emergent psyche and the agentic Self as the spiritual core of being in the person. Learning is explained as a transformative process that involves the changing relationships to one’s own body, to others and to the world through which potentialities become abilities. The aim of the transformative education is the emergence of subjects capable of life-long learning and the ability to act ethically out of insight

Seeing Through Solid Words: Using Gebser’s Concept of Transparency to Understand a Gnostic Poem Expressing Integral Consciousness

It is difficult to express integral consciousness using ordinary language because of the inherent tendency of language to separate and distinguish. Jean Gebser, in The Ever-Present Origin, suggested concepts such as transparency and diaphaneity as ways to access integral consciousness, and the Gnostic text The Thunder, Perfect Mind (TPM) is written from the perspective of a being with integral consciousness. I use Jean Gebser’s concepts of transparency and diaphaneity to explicate TPM, an enigmatic, paradoxical poem in the Nag Hammadi Library. Because TPM is written from the perspective of an integral being, one who is All-of-It (i.e., paradoxical completeness rather than a consistent but incomplete persona), the poem calls the reader to embody such a perspective of being All-of-It, thereby enabling one to get beyond the limitations of either/or languaging and thinking by apperceiving the transparency of experience in space and through time

Debating Member-Checks of Exceptional Human Experiences

This integrative essay reflects on member-checking and engaged research approaches in the study of exceptional human experiences (EHEs)—subjective accounts that often challenge conventional views of consciousness and physical reality. Member-checking, or inviting research participants to review data or interpretations, can improve credibility by aligning research with their lived experience. While benefits include transparency and insight, risks include confirmatory bias, emotional distress, power asymmetries, and logistical complexity. The evolving nature of EHEs further complicates participant validation. We therefore advocate a six-level fit-for-purpose system to balance rigor with ethical care and responsiveness. We also explore digital, asynchronous, and AI-assisted strategies to enhance accessibility and scale while raising new ethical considerations. Finally, we situate member-checking within broader qualitative and mixed-methods frameworks, offering practical strategies to bridge subjective narratives and empirical inquiry. Our suggested approach aims to affirm participant agency, deepens narrative authenticity, and strengthens the interpretive depth of EHE research

An Interest-driven Approach: An interview with Professor Allan Leslie Combs

On March 17, 2024, I interviewed Professor Allan Leslie Combs about his teaching for my doctoral research project titled Teaching With Consciousness: A Narrative Inquiry Into Scholars’ Experiences Teaching About Consciousness Beyond the Brain. In January 2025, Leslie reviewed a draft of my interview write-up and emailed me, saying, “Beautiful work! And I have to say I am honored by the description you give of my own teaching philosophy.” This article draws on Leslie’s stories and applies their insights to the theory and practice of consciousness education—a field exploring perspectives on the source and nature of consciousness and their implications for ways of being, knowing, teaching, and learning. Keywords: Allan Leslie Combs, consciousness education, consciousness studies, transformative learning, pedagogy, nondualism, student-teacher relationshi

The Filipino Experience of Kutob: Understanding Culturally-Informed Hyper-Intuition

Kutob is a Filipino concept that usually refers to a sense of what may happen. It is often experienced as an omen of negative events. Despite its apparent ubiquity in everyday conversations, there is a lack of sincere academic reflection surrounding the topic of kutob. Relying on foreign (that is, western) approaches and frameworks to understand this concept may only limit it to certain categories of psychological thought. In this paper, I use the lens of indigenous psychology—in particular, Sikolohiyang Pilipino (Filipino psychology)—to identify the nuances and contexts of kutob. I show how kutob is a function of the dynamic between the interconnected elements of self, others, and the world