Spiritual Emergency also called spiritual crisis. During the spiritual journey, we have many experiences, some good and some bad experiences. If our experiences are correct, then we keep on motivating ourselves, but what if our experiences suddenly become so fast that we cannot understand what to do.
Many times, in spiritual practice, such as in some spiritual practice, we start experiencing so much and fast that our conscience is not able to work at all. Such a situation is known as Spiritual Emergency. It can completely change you in no time.
In such a situation, we do not understand what we should do or not. Are our experiences wrong or are we doing something wrong? No, our Sadhana is right but our condition is not such that we can prepare ourselves against this emergency.
Sadhana reveals the secrets inside us first and this process is natural but, if this process starts happening suddenly and rapidly then we do not understand.
In such a situation there is no need to panic because Sadhana is not wrong. What you are experiencing is a normal process and you need to understand it and move on.
If we do not understand this, we start experiencing tension instead of peace. Although we have told about spiritual indifference in the earlier article, but in this post we will try to understand some special things.
What is Spiritual Emergency?
When a person moves on the path of spirituality, they have many different experiences in different conditions. Many times the experiences during spiritual awakening happen so fast that the practitioners who practice it are unable to bear it.
Sudden experiences can frighten the seeker, which directly affects his mind and body. If the seeker has to face the side effect instead of the experience during the Spiritual Journey, then this situation is called Spiritual Emergency.
The Czech psychiatrists Stanislav and Christina Grof who brought this to the world were the first to express their views about it in their 1989 book Spiritual Emergency.
This situation can happen at any time in anyone’s life. If you are not doing any kind of cultivation practice, you can experience it even if you are only connected to the spiritual path with a spiritual crisis.
These experiences are sometimes so terrible that the seeker may get a shock such as a spiritual crisis i.e. a situation in which whenever we want to do something spiritual, the condition around us becomes very bad.
In simple words, I will share my own experience. Whenever I wanted to sit in sadhana, such a situation used to arise with me that I had to leave that place and go out. This situation may persist for some time to a few years.
What do we need to know?
In this post, we have tried to unravel some secrets about the adverse experiences that most people get scared of during cultivation practice. If you want, you can understand the main things about them by clicking on the link below.
- What are the biggest signs of a spiritual emergency?
- What could be the reason for this to happen?
- What can happen in such condition?
- Types of Spiritual Emergency
- How to prevent this?
15 biggest signs of going through a spiritual emergency
Although spiritual experience is good for us, but when its experience starts bothering us instead of benefiting, then we should stop. There are many such experiences in our life which indicate that we are going through some kind of Spiritual Emergency. This situation only hurts us, which I am sharing below.
- You cannot run away from the activities of the day.
- You are having problems with your jobs just because you are not able to hide your inner sensitivity.
- It seems as if the troubles of the whole world are made for you only.
- You are having trouble sleeping, due to which you are facing night terror.
- You are getting confused between both the inner and outer world.
- The flood of emotions in which you feel yourself drowning.
- You have started experiencing strange hallucinations. it is part of Spiritual Emergency.
- Your hold on real and logical experience is starting to weaken, which is turning into psychotic-like symptoms.
- You have attached yourself more to external things, due to which you have lost your consciousness.
- Sometimes vivid past-life flashbacks can also be experienced
- Experiencing strange sensations such as vibration.
- You have trapped yourself in a medically unexplained illness.
- Suddenly you have started having such experiences which have some connection with each other.
- Finding yourself trapped in a different dimension or some kind of black hole.
- You feel like you have gone crazy.
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Why does this happen?
It is common for anyone who practices spiritual practice because not everyone has the same level of understanding. For some, such experiences are quickly understood while others get stuck in it.
There are some common reasons that can be considered responsible for spiritual emergencies such as
- This was your destiny: If the sudden spiritual awakening process is adopted and progressed, then you start experiencing the feeling of keeping yourself strong even in adverse situations. You are able to take yourself far ahead by going through adversity.
- You are strong that’s why circumstances chose you: Most people live life the same way. The same happens in the Spiritual path, here condition means the beliefs, ideas, habits, and patterns which we have got from the society. If you move ahead by breaking them or making changes in them, then it means that you are strong and that is why you have been chosen.
- You are different from others: If we talk about the spiritual awakening process, then connecting you with the forces of the unconscious mind or “spirit realm” is a big part of it. You have experiences but since we are not prepared for this or you do not know how to handle it, so these experiences start becoming frightening instead of pleasant.
- The actions of the past become a hindrance in this: According to some religions, our unresolved trauma from our past lives does not leave us, which can trouble us throughout life. But it may also happen that through Spiritual Emergency, these karma are troubling us to get right through our practice. By dealing with them in the right way, we can adopt the remedy of past life regression, which makes our future perfect.
- You are very sensitive: One reason for this is that you are also sensitive and emphatic. Such people attach themselves to the practice in such a way that the experience starts giving them trouble. As it is often seen that seeing someone’s grief, we make ourselves sad too.
These are all such reasons which may not be proved but are responsible for spiritual emergency. If you want to stop them then you need to give them a purpose.
Experience of Spiritual Emergency or Mental Illness
Now this question must be coming in our mind that what is this after all? Some kind of psychotic break, manic-depressive episode or mental illness.
It is very difficult to answer this because it is not a particular condition.
It’s because we don’t understand it. Its experiences are frightening and when we go through the mental health system, it is suppressed with the help of many high doses of medication. Science still does not believe in Spiritualism. The family does not accept such people and society does not give them space. In such a condition, a person starts thinking of himself as ill.
No mental health system or psychiatric unit is safe for a person who is going through a spiritual emergency.
There is no cure for it in the medical line. They can only give you medicine that can suppress its symptoms. Usually by creating some kind of delusional condition you are prevented from experiencing the real. Science may consider it a cure but it is not a solution.
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What happens in such a situation?
What if you are facing some kind of emergency situation and during this time you have to be admitted to the hospital. There is no one to understand your situation so you are given such medicine which does not cure you but suppresses your experience.
In such a situation, you will not be able to get out of the natural cycle of the spiritual emergency and get stuck in this.
Now you will not have the experiences during the spiritual journey, then you will feel that you are right, but the next time you practice again, the same experiences will start happening and fear will settle in your mind about the experience. Such a situation creates a lot of difficulties from which it is difficult to come out.
There are also many medical fields such as Jungian and trans-personal therapists who do research on spiritual psychology. This field does research especially on the spiritual significance of symptoms, which can be overcome by proper guidance. If you need help, instead of a doctor, take the advice of such an expert who is perfect in this and can understand.
Spiritual emergency or a psychosis?
These two are different things, to understand which you will need a deep study. Sometimes there are experiences that can be kept in both the conditions, while sometimes both are not there. So it would be better to consider both separately.
As Lucas writes, I do not waste much of my time in understanding these things. I agree that this is psyche’s attempt which I have to correct.
We accept all the experience that comes from doing this and then we do not have any problem with it.
If you want that you get help from such people who can get you out of this situation, then first of all you should understand spiritual emergency with the help of positive lens and not from negative point of view. Let us see how many types it can be.
Types of Spiritual Emergency Situations
There are mainly two types
- Mystical Psychosis (hallucinations, mania, etc.)
- The Dark Night of the Soul (depression)
In this kind of experience, we see some such figures which depend on our own energy flow.
If you see any kind of positive virtuous soul then it means that positive energy is increasing, same if the flow of negative energy increases then you can see negative powers like shadow person or sleep paralysis condition in which you get dark demonic The entity is visible but in reality it is not.
As energy flows, we start having experiences in the same way. According to Mystical Psychosis, this happens when the flow of energy rises upwards and occurs in higher realms of Spirit or Consciousness. On the other hand In the Dark Night of the Soul, the flow of energy is downwards which connects us to the realms of the Collective Unconscious and Soul.
We can have both these experiences equally, but in most of the cases it happens that during spiritual emergency, one of these types of experience is happening more.
How to Avoid a Spiritual Emergency
We just have to save ourselves from this kind of situation and not try to fix it. This is because it is a natural movement that happens to us on the spiritual path. The mental health system tries to suppress it and that’s not what we have to do. Let what is happening, we do not have to stop it, but we have to save ourselves from being affected by it for a time.
There is no shortcut to get out of a situation like this. The experiences during this time show that we are moving on the right path because it is a spiritually valid experience. This is the reason why we should let it happen.
Although there is no different way to keep ourselves motivated from this situation because everyone’s experiences are different, but we can adopt some such methods through which we can prepare ourselves for the future by avoiding them.
Quit meditating and practice mindfulness
If we talk about the first reason, then the reason for spiritual emergencies is not being able to tolerate the experience in meditation. Meditation experiences can prove to be frightening for you if you are not able to make yourself physically strong.
Due to this happening, we start experiencing the Dark Night of Soul.
Meditation also opens the way for us to unconscious material, due to which we start seeing some such visions which can make us out of control. All this is the creation of our deep mind, which like an onion layer, makes us aware of such psychic ability.
Spiritual Emergency or crisis can be heal with meditation.
If you do not find yourself comfortable in meditation, then it is better that you practice mindfulness.
Mindfulness meditation is to find yourself in the present while living in consciousness. During this we remain completely connected with our body and senses.
It is not necessary that you meditate, you can fit yourself even in the activities of the day. All you have to do is that whatever work you are doing, keep yourself completely engaged in the same work as to feel your movement while walking.
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Seek Earth Energy
In your daily routine work, you keep getting influenced by external energy, so you should know about earth energy. This energy is deeply grounding and nourishing. Such works in which we find ourselves connected with the earth element are included in this. Whenever you feel yourself full of negative energy, there is nothing to do, just leave everything for some time.
Come out and sit on the ground, it would be better to sit under a tree. Now keep your feet in contact with the bare earth. Slowly you will find that all the negativity and bad thoughts inside you are getting eliminated and you have started feeling calmer than before.
Stop the practice for some time
If you have to go through a spiritual emergency during practice, then never think that it is some kind of side effect, rather it is natural to happen in some spiritual practice. There are also some such Sadhana in which we have to come across the Mystical Psychosis and the Dark Night of the Soul.
If you do not find yourself fit in this type of Sadhana, then it is better to stop the Sadhana for some time. If you cannot do this, then you should connect yourself with nature with spiritual practice. In free time or a part of the day, you spend a natural place in solitude.
Doing so will help you overcome those experiences.
Eat energy rich food
In cultivation practice, we tend to ignore one thing and that is food. We do not pay attention to what we should eat. Try to include hearty meal a day in your daily routine. Foods that contain fibre and root such as beet, carrot, include such fruits and food in your diet.
Include those elements in the food for some time which maintain the grounding energy in you.
Identify your motive in the problem
It is often seen that when we are surrounded by problems, then we start blaming luck, but if it is seen from another point of view, then whenever this happens, after some time good happens to us. Some good changes also come because of the things we curse.
Instead of panicking in bad times, we should see how we can change that time for our good times. The same rule applies here. If you are going through a spiritual emergency, then on the basis of your experience, you can identify what to do right next and move forward instead of blaming yourself.
What do you think, what could be the reason due to which you are going through spiritual emergencies?
When you come to know that because of what you are going through the opposite experience, then it becomes easier for you to get out of the problem.
Here you need to keep calm. Calmly connect to your inner self and think of a way out of the problem. For this, you can take any measures like connecting with yourself, worshiping, walking, spending time with nature, praying to the universe, connecting with universal consciousness.
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Physical and Mental Exercise
Exercising is very important for your physical and mental health. Whether you do gym or a few minutes of pranayama, but doing so can keep you away from a spiritual emergency. There are many benefits of exercising because it connects you with your body and mind.
If you are going through some kind of problem, then make it a part of your daily life for some time and then see how your life starts changing.
Say no to stressful situations and stop being burdened with responsibility
If any Sadhana or practice is spreading, then one of the reasons for this can be that you are taking too much stress. Apart from this, even if you think about something more than necessary or take responsibility, you still promote stress. This is absolutely true and doing so is not beneficial for you at all.
If you have more work than you need, then it is better to leave those works which are not necessary. Do the tasks which have to be done first and not all the work together.
Energy and attention these two things are your weapon during spiritual emergency and if during this time you lose it due to external work then doing so can be harmful for you.
Take only the work and responsibility that you can accomplish. Helping others is a good thing, but it is not right for you to get yourself trapped in their affair.
Get help from someone qualified
If you are not able to handle this situation on your own level, then it is better that you take the help of a qualified therapist or spiritual counsellor. Taking medicine will not do you any harm if you take it in moderation.
Taking medicine in large quantities can be harmful for you, but what to do in such a situation or not, you should decide on the basis of your common sense.
You can take the help of a spiritual healer for this, but first make sure that they are familiar with the situation of spiritual emergency. In the event of this not happening, they will not be able to help you.
Another method you can adopt and that is to take the help of your friends and special people. Their support will help you deal with and get out of this situation. If they support you, then you will understand this by keeping yourself motivated in this situation and will be able to get yourself out.
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Spiritual emergency A spooky experience and my own thoughts
It is common to have such experiences as we move forward in spiritual practice. Even though it may be a terrifyingly and life-altering experience, it is a part of your spiritual journey, so instead of being afraid of it, try to move forward with understanding.
If this happens to you, then it means that the time is coming to get out of the old memories of your life and start a new one.
Even if there is no medical treatment for you and society refuses to accept you, remember that you are not alone. There may be thousands of millions of people like you but they are hesitant to come forward.
In such a situation, go ahead and identify people like you and share your experiences with them as well as understand their experiences. Together you can move forward and motivate each other.
