in the USA: please contact the Spiritual Emergence Network in California (reconfirm current contact information on the WWW as the office will be moving soon). Other referral networks in other countries can be located through “Resources” at the back of this book. Those in extreme states of mental disturbance or their family members looking for current resources for help might read, “Resources for Extraordinary Healing: Schizophrenia, Bipolar and Other Serious Mental Illnesses”. The back matter in that book has an extensive list of organizations, residences and treatment facilities in the USA and Europe that offer longer residential treatment that uses medication only cautiously and is oriented to recovery. Health professionals and students of psychology and psychiatry: I encourage you to follow my newsletter for information about courses being given to support newer more effective ways of creating mental health and recovering from mental disturbances. Those with mild to moderate mental problems will also find references to courses that offer integrative models of self-care and only cautious use of psychiatric medication in my newsletter. As this ebook goes to distribution, I am in the midst of creating a wellness center that will offer more resources. Current updates will be posted in the newsletter.
I wish you success on your journeys! May the stories and perspectives that make up this book be interesting as well as a source of support and inspiration for you.
Emma Bragdon, PhD.
Contact: http://www.EmmaBragdon.com
Free quarterly newsletter: http://www.enewsbuilder.net/emmabragdon
Vermont, USA. October 2012
Chapter 1
The Sword-Bridge
Spiritual emergence is a natural process of human development in which an individual goes beyond normal personal feelings and desires—ego—into the transpersonal, increasing relatedness to Higher Power, or God. There are usually critical points in that process when a person feels disoriented and for a time is unable to function as usual in ordinary life, relationships, work, chores, etc., while he becomes acclimated to more subtle levels of consciousness. The end result is positive transformation, observable in increased compassion, creativity, and a desire to be of service to all of life. Like crossing a sword-bridge, this transition time demands more focused inner attention and special care, so as to see things as they really are. The stress of the situation may make things appear more threatening than they actually are. As the story of Lancelot suggests, it may seem that one is walking toward two hostile lions when actually there is only a small, shy lizard on the other side of the sword-bridge.
When spiritual emergence is punctuated by profound emotions, visions, psychosomatic illness, and compelling desires to behave in unusual ways, including suicidal thoughts, the spiritual emergence becomes a crisis, a spiritual emergency. Although the course of growth toward higher levels of functioning and perceiving life follows a predictable progression; spiritual emergency is generally unpredictable, erupting chaotically and spewing forth contents of the psyche that demand attention.
Spiritual emergencies happen in a number of ways. Both spiritual study and inner psychological exploration can precipitate intense spiritual experiences. Resuscitation technology and many types of drugs, including anesthetics, can trigger intense spiritual phenomena. Other catalysts to spiritual emergency are emotional or physical distress, time of life, and extraordinary sexual experiences. How and when spiritual emergency happens is discussed in depth in subsequent chapters. A synopsis of techniques for helping someone in spiritual emergency is in the concluding chapter. The intention of this book is to build a bridge for positive communication between those people going through the experience and the people who care for them—both personal friends and professionals.
In order to address a broad spectrum of people, I have attempted to find simple terms and relatively simple instructions for managing a spiritual awakening. The path into transpersonal levels of consciousness is tricky, and tests us at every turn. People must seek the help they need relevant to their level of understanding of spiritual emergence.
Historical Perspective on Spiritual Emergency
The term spiritual emergency was coined by Christina and Stanislav Grof, M.D. The concept of spiritual emergency grew out of Dr. Grof's research in non-ordinary states of consciousness in a clinical context as well as Christina's personal experiences and work with other people.
Together the Grofs have been exploring the mysteries of spiritual growth, articulating the patterns in which it unfolds, and developing psychotherapeutic modalities to encourage spiritual opening. They found themselves paying particular attention to the needs of people who had spontaneous, unexpected spiritual openings in social contexts which were unsympathetic and unsupportive. Many of these people had no guidance, no encouragement, no companionship, no conceptual framework to help them find their way in integrating these experiences in a healthful manner. Christina Grof founded the Spiritual Emergency Network at Esalen Institute in Big Sur, California, in 1980 as a referral service to assist such people in finding supportive counselors and friends who were prepared to help them integrate spiritual awakening phenomena. At its inception a few work-scholars came each month to train with the Grofs. Together they collected referral names and addresses, produced educational materials, started a library, and published a newsletter.
In 1985, the Spiritual Emergency Network was moved to the Institute of Transpersonal Psychology in Menlo Park, California. Shortly after the move, the name was changed to the Spiritual Emergence Network (SEN) in order to emphasize support of the whole process of spiritual emergence and not only the crises of dramatic transition points. Since 1985, the Spiritual Emergence Network has branched out, and now offers educational workshops, lectures, and conferences to the public, and sponsors the publication of a newsletter, journal and educational materials, as well as continuing to expand its networking.
There are now over forty regional centers throughout the world, providing educational materials and referrals to people who seek this specialized support service. The Grofs travel worldwide, educating people about spiritual awakening phenomena and the Spiritual Emergence Network, as well as continuing their writing and conducting a training program for certification in helping people in spiritual emergency.
My own role at the Spiritual Emergence Network is in writing educational materials, including editing the Spiritual Emergence Network Journal. I also teach workshops about the field of spiritual emergence/emergency based on my first book, A Sourcebook for Helping People in Spiritual Emergency. The Sourcebook synthesizes the seminal work of the Grofs and other leaders in the field of transpersonal psychology with my own perspective. I have been involved with Eastern yogas, shamanism, and transpersonal psychology for twenty-five years. During this time, I have lived within several spiritual communities and worked as a Neo-Reichian therapist. My intimate involvement with the intricacies of spiritual development in myself and others has made me particularly aware of the dovetailing of spiritual and psychological growth.
What does this close relationship between spiritual and psychological growth mean in terms of spiritual emergence? It means that we cannot move forward spiritually unless we are also willing to deal completely with our personal psychology, especially developmental issues from early childhood that pattern the way we perceive and react to the present. In the first half of this century, Wilhelm Reich, M.D., in his study of body psychology, and Carl Jung, M.D., in focusing on wholeness and the quest for meaning, each supported this theory. Various ancient esoteric traditions throughout the world have been built on this premise. More recently, Stanislav Grof, M.D., Ken Wilber, and other theoreticians have tied this idea to the psychology of transformation and the thrust of human evolution.
This book brings these theories close to home, helping to demystify an area of experience often seen as alien or academic. Stories volunteered from my clients and members of spiritual communities, all ordinary