Grof Stanislav - Spiritual emergency : when personal transformation becomes a crisis

Grof, Stanislav, 1931

Grof, Christina

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Spiritual

emergency

When Personal TransformationBecomes a Crisis

CONTRIBUTORS

R. D. Laing / Roberto AssagioliJohn Weir Perry / Ram DassLee Sannella / Jack Kornfield

P Paul Rebillot / Holger Kalweit JAnne Armstrong / Keith Thompscm

and others

EDITED BY

STAN I SLAV GROF, M.D..ad CHRISTINA GROF

spiritual Emergency

&

This New Consciousness Reader

is part of a new series of original

and classic writing by renowned experts on

leading-edge concepts in personal development,

psychology, spiritual growth, and healing.

Other books in this series include:Dreamtime and Dreamwork

EDITED BY STANLEY KRIPPNER, PH.D.

Healers on Healing

EDITED BY RICHARD CARLSON, PH.D., AND BENJAMIN SHIELD

Meeting the Shadow

EDITED BY JEREMIAH ABRAMSAND CONNIE ZWEIG

Mirrors of the Self

EDITED BY CHRISTINE DOWNING, PH. D.

Reclaiming the Inner Child

EDITED BY JEREMIAH ABRAMS

To Be a Man

EDITED BY KEITH THOMPSON

To Be a Woman

EDITED BY CONNIE ZWEIG

What Survives?

EDITED BY GARY DOORE, PH. D.

We dedicate this hook with appreciation to our heloved teachers

who have guided us during our own journeys; to the many fellow

adventurers who, over the years, have told us their personal

stories; and to the visionaries throughout the ages who have

forged the trails and provided the maps.

CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION i^

PART ONE: DIVINE MADNESS:

PSYCHOLOGY, SPIRITUALITY, AND PSYCHOSIS

SPIRITUAL EMERGENCY:

UNDERSTANDING EVOLUTIONARY CRISIS

Stanislav Grof and Christina Grof 2

SELF-REALIZATION AND

PSYCHOLOGICAL DISTURBANCES

Roberto Assagioli 27

TRANSCENDENTAL EXPERIENCE IN

RELATION TO RELIGION AND PSYCHOSIS

R. D. Laing 4^

PART TWO: VARIETIES OF SPIRITUAL EMERGENCY

SPIRITUAL EMERGENCE AND RENEWAL

John Weir Perry ^

WHEN INSANITY IS A BLESSING:

THE MESSAGE OF SHAMANISM

Holger Kalweit yj

KUNDALINI: CLASSICAL

AND CLINICAL

Lee Sannella 99

THE CHALLENGES OF PSYCHIC

OPENING: A PERSONAL STORY

Anne Armstrong 109

THE UFO ENCOUNTER EXPERIENCE

AS A CRISIS OF TRANSFORMATION

Keith Thompson 121

PART THREE: THE STORMY SEARCHFOR THE SELF: PROBLEMS OF THESPIRITUAL SEEKER

OBSTACLES AND VICISSITUDES IN

SPIRITUAL PRACTICE

Jack Ko mfield 13 7

PROMISES AND PITFALLS OF

THE SPIRITUAL PATH

Ram Dass 171

PART FOUR: HELP FOR PEOPLE INSPIRITUAL EMERGENCY

ASSISTANCE IN SPIRITUAL EMERGENCY

Christina Grof and Stanislav Grof 191

COUNSELING THE NEAR-DEATH

EXPERIENCER

Bruce Greyson and Barbara Harris 199

THE HERO'S JOURNEY:

RITUALIZING THE MYSTERY

PaulRebillot 211

THE SPIRITUAL EMERGENCE

NETWORK (SEN)

Jeneane Prevatt and Russ Park 225

EPILOGUE: SPIRITUAL EMERGENCE AND

THE GLOBAL CRISIS

Stanislav Grof and Christina Grof 233

APPENDIX: FURTHER READING 236

NOTES AND REFERENCES 241

BIBLIOGRAPHY 245

INTRODUCTION

To your tired eyes I bring a vision

of a different world,

so new and clean and fresh

you will forget the pain and sorrow

that you saw before.

Yet this a vision is

which you must share

with everyone you see,

for otherwise you will behold it not.

To give this gift is how to make it yours.

A Course in Miracles

The central theme explored in this book in many different waysby various authors is the idea that some of the dramatic experi-ences and unusual states of mind that traditional psychiatry diagnosesand treats as mental diseases are actually crises of personal transfor-mation, or "spiritual emergencies." Episodes of this kind have beendescribed in sacred literature of all ages as a result of meditativepractices and as signposts of the mystical path.

When these states of mind are properly understood and treatedsupportively rather than suppressed by standard psychiatric routines,they can be healing and have very beneficial effects on the people whoexperience them. This positive potential is expressed in the term spir-itual emergency, which is a play on words, suggesting both a crisisand an opportunity of rising to a new level of awareness, or "spiritualemergence." This book is meant to be an educational reader forpeople undergoing such crises, for their relatives and friends, for theministers whom they might consult, and for the therapists who treatthem. We hope that it will help turn such crises into opportunitiesfor personal growth.

The concept of spiritual emergency integrates findings frommany disciplines, including clinical and experimental psychiatry,modern consciousness research, experiential psychotherapies, anthro-pological field studies, parapsychology, thanatology, comparative re-ligion, and mythology. Observations from all these fields suggeststrongly that spiritual emergencies have a positive potential andshould not be confused with diseases that have a biological cause andnecessitate medical treatment. As we will see in this book, such anapproach is fully congruent with ancient wisdom as well as modernscience.

The focus of this book is primarily, although not exclusively, onexperiences that have an explicitly spiritual content or meaning.Throughout the ages, visionary states have played an extremely im-portant role. From ecstatic trances of shamans, or medicine men and