Where East Meets West

My spiritual awakening started a little over a decade ago when my mother became debilitatingly ill. Her health journey soon became a spiritual one, and as her caretaker, I walked that path with her. This experience helped me understand that health and happiness lie within each of us; we cannot find them outside of ourselves. I’ve also come to believe that the world is connected through a divine intelligence that flows through everyone and everything, that nature is alive, and that love is ultimately all there is.

The more expansive my worldview became, the more I began to feel like I was slowly suffocating in the traditional academic model. Everything I was learning in college was predicated on the idea that matter and spirit were separate—or, that spirit didn’t exist at all. For my entire academic career, I’d kept my spirituality separate from my research, but when I began to apply to doctoral programs in psychology, I realized I didn’t want to do that anymore.

One night I googled “spiritual psychology PhD” because I wanted to know if there were programs or institutions that aligned with my thinking and beliefs. The top search result was for the California Institute of Integral Studies, a small university in San Francisco. The webpage highlighted the Integral Transpersonal Psychology Program. I had never heard of transpersonal psychology but soon learned that it’s a branch of psychology that focuses on the spiritual and transcendental aspects of human experience. As I read through the program requirements, I burst into tears because of how right the offerings felt. I’d finally found what I’d been looking for: a university where Western psychology harmoniously coexists with Eastern spiritual teachings.

I’m now entering my third year of online doctoral coursework in this program. My studies allow me to engage with a holistic approach to psychology that integrates the emotional, social, physical, energetic, and spiritual parts of a person. Every day I get to immerse myself in a curriculum that reflects everything I believe.

As enriching as the classes are, it’s the people that make my experience so special. In August 2023, I got to meet everyone from my program in person at a weeklong intensive retreat. Doctoral students flew into San Francisco from around the United States, South Korea, Italy, Singapore, France, the Netherlands, and elsewhere. I experienced a strong sense of familiarity the moment I met my peers. I felt as if I’d known them my whole life. Throughout the week, laughter infused our conversations as we connected with likeminded people.

I’m grateful for my peers’ support and friendship as I refine my dissertation topic. My research explores how popular entertainment resonates with audiences in spiritual ways. Specifically, I’ve been examining the ways the divine feminine archetype—a primordial image found in almost every ancient culture—manifests in modern entertainment, and how this media affects women. After graduation, I hope to work in the publishing world as an editor and writer. I want to create spiritually enriching stories that inspire the world.

Photo: Sydnee Chesley watches the sun set over the Pacific Ocean from a cliff in Carlsbad, California, a location she has visited throughout her life.