ABSTRACT
In this chapter, the authors explore the place of love in both humanistic and transpersonal therapy. They consider its place in human development and everyday living, therapy and client–therapist encounter, and in spiritual growth. Transpersonal therapy focuses on the development of being, spirituality, and takes a holistic view of the individual. Humanistic and transpersonal therapies are founded on the premise that all beings have a built-in potential to grow and develop and, given the right conditions, will do so. A. H. Maslow and others later developed transpersonal psychology, as they realised the limitations of humanistic psychology in working with personal and spiritual development beyond the ego-self and with states of consciousness that are considered outside ordinary everyday experience. Love is central to all human relationships, although there are many different views on what "love" is and what it means to different people.
