Spiritual Emergence
Trusting your intuitive self
An introduction
Those of us who live in a patriarchal and predominantly white society are presently experiencing an age where the transpersonal world is negated. Genuine spiritual experiences are often dismissed or misunderstood. As a result, a person can feel overwhelmed and doubt their sanity, especially if they have no context for spiritual experiences in their life.
Many people, out of genuine longing for spiritual connection, have practices that sometimes give them very strong experiences such as; a loss of a sense of their ego, a feeling of tremendous oneness with nature or visions of other levels of reality. In such cases, some calm, matter-of-fact reassurance from someone who has had similar experiences is invaluable, and can help them integrate the experience.
When Spiritual Emergence becomes an Emergency
The work of Christina Grof and Stanislav Grof has, for over thirty years, provided help for those experiencing spiritual emergency. Through their books and the Spiritual Emergence Network, set up by Christina Grof, countless people around the world have found understanding and support for their evolving spirituality.
At one time such spiritual guidance would have been provided by a village wise woman, a priest, a guru, someone ahead of them on their spiritual journey. In these times not everyone is so blessed.
Psychotherapy with a therapist who has a transpersonal view of the world is not a substitute for a genuine spiritual teacher, however it can help!
Certainly supporting people in this sometimes turbulent process is something that would be impossible for me without my own spiritual experiences with my original teacher Irina Tweedie and the support of our present teacher Llewellyn Vaughan-Lee. You can read more about my journey here.
For some individuals spiritual emergence is a turbulent and utterly transformative process involving surges of energy in the body, extreme emotional states, confrontation with ancestral and personal trauma and visions that overwhelm them.