Living in two worlds, Your attitude towards your spiritual emergency, by Dr Stanislav Grof, M.D.

LIVING IN TWO WORLDS

The two worlds, the divine and the human ... are actually one. The realm of the gods is a forgotten dimension of the world we know.

Joseph Cambell, The Hero with a Thousand Faces

YOUR ATTITUDE TOWARD YOUR SPIRITUAL EMERGENCY

It is important for you to know that many of the problems that arise during the course of your spiritual emergency, such as those involving your relationships, home, professional life, and health, will be releaved as a part of the transformation process – and not solely through your own forceful efforts. It is impossible for us to give you tips on or solutions to such difficulties in themselves. Instead, we can of the reassurance that if the emergence process is allowed to progress, if the inner world that is causing the discomfort is fully expresssed, you will reconnect with the daily world; in addition, you will most likely have an increased capacity for effective functioning and an insight as to why the appearant problems were necessary for your development.
You may feel as though your spiritual emergency has a mind of its own, arriving in your life uninvited and proceeding on its own course, without regard for timing or convenience. In spite of the fact that existance during this period can be a major challenge that consumes a great deal of time and energy, you can live more comfortably in everyday life by cooperating and actively working with this healing process. Your attitude toward such an event is crucial: as long as you are limited by fear, resistance, disbelief, or denial, a potentially life-changing opportunity can be severly hampered or even interrupted.

In our experience, once an emergency process is set in motion, it will be non stop until it has run its course. The intense period of awakening may take quite some time, ranging from a few months to a number of years. There may be times in which the transformation process is more troublesome or obvious than others, but generally it is conscious until it is finished. Approaching it fearfully of attempting to stop it prematurely is counterproductive. You will most likely find that a resistant attitude makes this natural process more difficult; as a result, it will take much longer.

If you are able to maintain a general sense of cooperation with and even enthousiasm about your spiritual emergency, the entire process will be easier and, most likely, shorter. And you have a good chance of emerging from a journey with a feeling of accomplishment and victory rather than shame and discomfort. So how can you learn to work with this important process?

Often, people in spiritual emergencies will intuitively know what is right for them but have trouble translating these insights into action. We have found it helpful to utilize two general strategies. The first and preferable one is to create a situation in which you can fully confront the inner experiences that are trying to surface, thereby moving through them and learning from their content. The second is to take measures that will inhibit the emergence process and temporarily lessen its impact on daily life when circumstances require it. We will look at each in turn

FACING YOUR SPIRITUAL EMERGENCY

When unconsious emotions and experiences become available, they are on their way toward being cleansed or released from the body and mind. For example, a man who has carried lifelong fear of enclosed places may relive his birth during a spiritual emergency, complete with intense feelings of suffocation and colorful visions of narrow channels; afterward, his claustrophobia can disappear and he may have gained the insight that it was his birth memory, for years just under the surface of his daily awareness, that had kept him out of elevators and airplanes. By fully facing this memory, with all of its complexities, he purges it from his unconscious. Once fully eliminated, it will never return.

You will most likely find it valid and necessary to work with the great range of emotions, experiences and energies that can surface during a spiritual emergency. Sometimes you have no choice but to face them as they come up; you may feel completely consumed by them, unable to control their fluctuations. Or you may find that when the process is not particularly overwhelming, it is helpful to find some nonintrusive method to assist you in confronting the experiences and expressing the energies and emotions associated with them.

There are many ways in which you can actively work with the elements of spiritual emergency as they arise. Some of these approaches include becoming involved in effective therapy or counseling, joining a support group, participating in regular spiritual practice with a knowledgable teacher, and working with a skilled body worker. This kind of help is extremely important and often very necessary, and we will offer advice on how you can find and select such assistance in chapter 10. For now, we will focus on what you can do for yourself. The following suggestions are particularly useful when your process is not so overwhelming that you cannot provide your own support. If you find yourself at the mercy of very strong emotions and experiences, we recommend instead that you find a sympathetic person to help you.

Play evocative music and express emotions and experiences through sound and movement. Choose music that enhances the experiences you are having. Lie down on bed or the floor, and allow the feelings to express themselves. You might find yourself crying, shaking, singing, or moving in various ways. This often brings significant temporary relief. You might find that the same effect can be accomplished through such approaches as dance or yoga; it is important to keep your attention focused internally during the movement so as not to confuse inner experiences with outer surroundings.

Actively work with your dreams. This can give you insights into your own internal world, how it works, and what is contained there. Sigmund Freud, the father of psychoanalysis, called dreams “the royal road to the unconsious.” During a spiritual emergency, your dreams are frequently continuations or completions of the experiences that occur during waking hours. Sometimes answers that you have been struggling to find appear during your sleep. Often, dreams can be instructive or predictive. Try keeping a pad of paper by the side of the bed, and regularly write down your dreams in the morning or if you wake up in the middle of the night. The reserve a quite periode during the day in which you can play with dream imagery, or conduct a dialogue with the figures in your dream. Inquire within yourself about the meanings and origins of the feelings involved and look at the answers you come up with.
You might find another person with whon to regularly share dreams; this works best with someone whoe is caring but has an objective perspective. There are a number of good books that offer instructions abour working with dreams, among them Patricia Garfield’s Creative Dreaming.

Use artistic expression. This will help you understand and process your experiences by exteriorizing them. Drawing, painting, and sculpting, also allow you to channel strong physical and emotional energies, and as you do so, you may well discover some new aspects of yourself. The great Spanish artist Francesco Goya described his sense of increased mastery over his dramatic inner life that came from putting the images within him on the canvas.

The use of artistic expression in this context does not require personal talent. It is simply a powerful tool to help gain insight into a very dynamic and often confusing process. Since vivid visual imagery often plays a part in a spiritual emergency, you may find it extremely valuable to externalize your visions through drawing or painting. It does not matter wether the images that appear are figurative representations, abstract shapes, or plays of color. Sometimes your creations will seem to make no sense at the moment, but after a period of time they may offer an important aid in understanding your experience. Some people keep a journal of pictures, much others write in a diary, beginning or ending each day with a painting or drawing.

Working with clay can be a very satisfying way to express some of the emotional and physical movement of the process. This malleable, tactile material can provide a wonderful outlet for intense feelings and energies, and its three-dimensional qualities may give you an additional perspective on your inner images. As with other forms of artistic expression, if you work with clay during a spiritual emergency, try to focus on the process of using the material and insights that this activity brings you rather than worrying about the finished product.

It is a good idea to keep a hand on a supply of tempera paints, brushes, magic markers (including gold and silver, frequently used to convey the radiance of mystical states), oil crayons, paper and clay.

 

Practice focused meditation. Concentrating on the experiences that you have been having will help you gain insight into the specific areas of your process. Many meditators concentrate on the breath, a candle flame, or a sacred phrase or mantra in order to quite the mind and open themselves to deeper realms within. This approach, although related is somewhat different : here you use physical and mental relaxation to deepen amplify, or refine your understanding of a particular issue, image, emotion, or problem that has arisen as a part of your spiritual emergency or to move past a place where you may feel stuck. It might also help you to complete an experience that you could not finish.

While resting in bed after a night’s sleep or while lying on the floor, play some quite music, relax, and allow yourself to wander mentally through some of the visual images, physical sensations, emotional states, and memories that have been prominent in your inner process. If you want to clarify some aspect of theme of your journey, gently guide yourself to that part of the experience, instructing yourself to pass through it and asking “What do I see around me? How do I react to it physically and emotionally? What is it telling me?” As the information starts to become available, allow it to lead you to new insights and further self-understanding.

When it is time to finish your meditation, gradually lead yourself back to everyday reality, giving yourself plenty of time to complete your experience. As you begin to sense the room around you, gently move your body and stretch. After you have opened your eyes, you might try drawing or writing what you have just seen or felt.

This process is based on principles similar to “active imagination”, an approach to dream work that was developed by C.G. Jung. In working with active imagination, you are asked to go back into a dream and continue it experientially; the content of this proces is then analyzed with the help of a therapist. A good book describing this method is Encounters with the Soul: Active Imagination by Barbara Hannah.

Develop simple personal rituals. Many people do this to help them through difficult stages of a transformation process, often using approaches that are practiced in various spiritual traditions. These are often very personal and may not work for everyone. For example, you might try this simple cleansing meditation during a long shower: while standing under the stream of water, imagine that the water is flowing all the way through your mind and body, clearing out any negative emotional debris and washing it down the drain. This can also work with the image of fire. While watching the flames in a fireplace, envision the heat and power of the fire pouring around and through you, consuming troublesome obstructions within.

You may find it helpful to meditate on relieving yourself of difficulties by giving them to some form of higher power of by asking for help from a larger force. For example, you might visualize yourself offering your problems to a huge, primal region such as the desert, the ocean, the earth, or the infinate space of the universe. Imagine yourself standing on a cliff above a vast expanse of the ocean, holding a large bundle that represents all of your pain and all of your obstacles; then watch yourself forcefully throwing your burden into the sea, with the injunction, “Please take this from me.’. Another approach is to practice surrounding yourself with imaginary blue or white light as a shield that protects you against intrusions by unwelcome elements.

Be creative in finding ways to facilitate the situation. No matter what comes up with, if you believe stronly that it will work, it usually does. Perhaps this is because you feel a sense of mastery or cooperation when actively participating in a process that can feel overpowering or unmanageable at times.

From the book: The Stormy Search for the Self, A Guide to Personal Growth through Transformational Crisis, by Christina Grof and Stanislav Grof, M.D.

Kristof Gabriel Carina van Hooymissen in coöperation with the Spiritual Emergency Network