I’ve posted this abstract before, but since the pre/trans fallacy is very common in spirituality, I’ll repost it:
“In any developmental sequence, growth will proceed from pre-X to X to trans-X (unless X is a definite end limit). Because both pre-X and trans-X are, in their own ways, non-X, they may appear similar, even identical, to the untutored eye. This is particularly the case with prepersonal and transpersonal, or prerational and transrational, or pre-egoic and trans-egoic. Once these two conceptually and developmentally distinct realms of experience are theoretically confused, one tends either to elevate prepersonal events to transpersonal status or reduce transpersonal events to prepersonal status.”