the clinical issues of helping people in spiritual emergency. Aminah Raheem, Ph.D., masterfully encouraged me to be true to my own experience in her insistent, enlightened way. Laura Sosnowski's personal realization of the transpersonal realms was a constant mirror to me of the power and healing represented in the worlds beyond ego.
Finally, I need to express my profound appreciation to my friends and clients who offered their stories so that others might hear and learn from them. Interviewing people on the subject of their spiritual crisis points was an intimate and always fascinating process for me. I hope that the love and openness I was given is transmitted through the text to the readers. These stories and the unique individuals they represent are true gifts to this world as it struggles to become spiritually awake.
Most of the people interviewed for this book requested that I disguise their identities. I have made every attempt to honor that wish without sacrificing pertinent information: age level, sex, career orientation. The territory of spiritual experience is extremely personal in nature, exploring to the very roots of what makes life meaningful. Stories and information are shared here in the spirit of reaching out to others needing guidance on the path which is our birthright— spiritual emergence.
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From “Shamanism: Archaic Techniques of Ecstasy” by Mircea Eliade:
Medieval legends tell of a "bridge under water" and of a "sword-bridge" which the hero (Lancelot) must cross barefoot and barehanded; it is "sharper than a scythe" and it is crossed "with great pain and agony." The initiatory character of crossing the sword-bridge is also confirmed by another fact: before he starts over it, Lancelot sees two lions on the further bank, but when he is there he sees only a lizard; successfully undergoing the initiatory ordeal in itself makes the "danger" disappear.
Introduction
Having been in on the ground level, when the term “spiritual emergency” (SEY) was first articulated and seeded by my colleagues, Dr. Stanislav and Christina Grof, I am in a good position to reflect on how it has changed in the last 33 years to include more territory. This introduction to the 2nd edition offers a reflection on what it has become, and describes the best care for someone in spiritual emergency today.
Consider a tree. The original small seed and young sapling expand and the roots and the canopy of the tree spread out. So, too, with spiritual emergency.
The Seed Thought
The seed thought for SEY originated by Stanislav and Christina Grof in the late 1970s referred to a process of transformation in which an individual is potentially moving to a higher state of functioning. SEY represents a step up in human evolution that is trying to occur, an integration of experiences one may have considered as an “anomaly” (like hearing the voice of a spirit guide) because it was outside one’s regular conceptual framework. The result of a SEY: One expands into being more true to the core of one’s authentic Self and becomes wiser and more compassionate. However, before one has understood it, this transition in consciousness can involve disorientation that is so intense that a person finds it impossible to carry on normal activities at home and at work for a period of time.
Spiritual emergency is a personal crisis that can appear to have symptoms we have associated with psychosis and has thus been confused with psychosis and serious mental illness (schizophrenia, bipolar, schizo-affective disorder, etc.). People in SEY have been misdiagnosed and given inappropriate treatment, e.g. excessive psychiatric drugs. Psychiatric drugs can impede the progress of this transformative process.
Spiritual emergence (SE) refers to a process in which a person expands with ease and grace into his or her spirit self without a crisis.
The original definition of SEY still forms the taproot for all that has emerged from it since the first edition of this book was published in 1990. The compelling true stories that make up the chapters in this book illustrate how spiritual emergency shows up in a particular phase of life or in spiritual practice, physical stress, emotional distress, sexual experience, using drugs or spiritual medicines, or the impact of the global crisis we are experiencing now. These phenomena apply today as they did in 1990, when the first edition of this book was published. What I have added to this new edition is this Introduction, important updates in Chapter 9 on drugs, and an updated Resource Section.
Branching Out
The conceptual framework of SEY is currently branching out significantly. This expansion is being nourished by three elements: 1. Research that has guided new thinking about the origin of mental disorders and the appropriate use of psychiatric drugs; 2. Greater understanding and access to wisdom cultures that know the territory of spiritual growth better than we do; 3. A broader understanding of SEY is emerging as individuals deal with the breakdown of the bio-medical mental health care paradigm and create a movement toward a more effective system of integrative mental health care.
Breakdown of the Biomedical Model of Mental Health Care
Currently, the limitations of the biomedical model for mental health care are being revealed by researchers and alternative perspectives on mental disturbance are being given more real consideration.
Paris Williams, PhD in his 2012 book, “Rethinking Madness,” summarizes recent research on the origins of mental illness. According to this research, it is quite clear that serious mental disturbances are not caused by a biochemical imbalance, or abnormalities in brain structure, or inherited genetic issues. Yet, our treatment for mental disturbances is still based on the notion that mental illness is a medical problem that should be treated with drugs. We need to pay attention to the fact that, to date, we have no biological markers to indicate the presence of mental illness in a physical, measureable way. We can measure the symptoms of other biological illnesses like cancer, diabetes, etc. very easily through blood tests and other scanning devices. We have no such measurements for mental disorders. All diagnoses for mental disturbances are subjective and depend on the perspective of the person doing the diagnosis. Many would argue that diagnosis is culture-specific, e.g. a person growing up in the USA where we might think of a medium talking to spirits as crazy would not be considered crazy in another culture that acknowledges that some mediums are valid and of great value to society and do talk to spirits.
On this note, it is interesting to recognize that in some professional circles even the term “mental illness” is being replaced by “mental disorder” or “mental disturbance” to remove it from the domain of a physical or medical problem.
According to Williams, it appears that psychosis—when an individual is overwhelmed with anomalous experiences—is caused by trauma and the best treatment, potentiating full recovery, is consistent loving kindness from peers, a safe physical environment, and medical supervision if needed. As he puts it, “…Psychosis is likely caused simply by overwhelming distress…”
Similarly, those who go through SEY are often struggling with overwhelming stressors in life as well as one or more inner experiences that are compelling and new. For example, an individual might go to a meditation retreat and be suddenly thrust into an experience of the Oneness of all things. He or she might feel the need to be absorbed in that strong inner experience, especially if it is a relief from a highly stressful circumstances at work or at home. The best care for someone in this kind of SEY is the very same that Williams advocates: consistent loving kindness from peers, a safe physical environment, and medical supervision if needed.
With this in mind, our mental health care
