Call of Spiritual Emergency: From Personal Crisis to Personal Transformation

Inc. Bragdon Emma

Description

A feast of revealing narratives expose the amazing story of how people deal with critical points in personal transformation, also known as spiritual emergency. With the increase of interest in yoga, meditation, mental health recovery, and recovery from addiction there is renewed interest in care that is not based on medication as much as empathy and compassionate companionship. This book helps anyone who doesnt have a language to understand intense inner experiences and confuses them with mental illness.If you have felt disoriented by intense spiritual experiences this book will help you understand where you are and where you may be heading. It is a map of the journey of spiritual awakening written by a psychologist who knows the territory well. Reading it may make the difference between heading off to the hospital to get drugs to stop the symptoms or staying home and knowing you are OK.Just because you have had a conversation with your spirit guide, or talked to the spirit of someone who has passed away doesnt mean you are having a breakdown. It could mean you are having a breakthrough to a higher level of functioning. The author is a psychologist and knows the territory.

Sujets

• Philosophie et théologie
• Psychology
• Mind
• Body

Informations

• Publié par: eBookIt.com
• Date de parution: 21 février 2013
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781456610067
• Langue: English

Extrait

THE CALL OF
SPIRITUAL EMERGENCY
 
From Personal Crisis to
Personal Transformation
Second Revised Edition, 2013
 
 
Emma Bragdon, Ph.D.
 
 
The First Edition was published in 1990 by
Harper & Row, Publishers, San Francisco
 
This Second Revised Edition is being published in softcover format in 2013 by
Lightening Up Press , PO Box 325, Woodstock, VT. 05091
www.SpiritualAlliances.com
 


For information about spiritual emergence processes beyond the scope of
this book, or for referrals to professional help in any part of the world,
contact the Spiritual Emergence Network in the USA or other Spiritual Emergency Networks (see Resource Section in this book).
 
THE CALL OF SPIRITUAL EMERGENCY:
From Personal Crisis to Personal Transformation.
Copyright © 1990-2013 by Emma Bragdon. All Rights Reserved.
 
Printed in the United States of America. No part of this book may be
used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written
permission except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical
articles and reviews. For information, address Emma Bragdon, PO Box
325, Woodstock, VT 05091 or mailto:[e-mail]
 
FIRST EDITION
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Bragdon, Emma 1946-
 
The call of spiritual emergency: from personal crisis to
personal transformation / Emma Bragdon- 1st ed.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references.
ISBN 0-06-250104-6
1. Spiritual life. 2. Psychology, Religious. 3.Psychiatric emergencies.
I. Title.
BL624.B635 1990
291.4—dc20 89-29710 CIP
90 91 92 93 94 VICKS 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
 
SECOND EDITION:
Published in eBook format by eBookIt.com
http://www.eBookIt.com
ISBN-13: 978-1-4566-1006-7
THE SOFTCOVER VERSION OF THIS BOOK WILL BE AVAILABLE IN 2013.
 
Disclaimer: This book is for purposes of education and reflection only. It
is not meant to replace the need for clear medical advice. Please consult
your chosen health care provider before making any significant decisions
regarding your health care.


Other Books by Emma Bragdon, PhD
 
A Sourcebook for Helping People in Spiritual Emergency
A Sourcebook for Helping People with Spiritual Problems
Spiritual Alliances
Kardec’s Spiritism
Spiritism and Mental Health
Resources for Extraordinary Healing
 
Credits:
The author wishes to thank the following for permission to reprint selected quotes:
 
Doubleday for The Astral Journey, by Herbert B. Greenhouse. Copyright © 1975 by Herbert B. Greenhouse.
Alfred A. Knopf, Inc., for How Can I Help?: Stories and Reflections on Service, by Ram Dass and Paul Gorman. Copyright © 1985 by Ram Dass and Paul Gorman.
William Morrow & Co., Inc. for Heading Toward Omega: In Search of the Meaning of the Near-Death Experience, by Kenneth Ring. Copyright © 1985 by Kenneth Ring.
Michael Murphy for The Psychic Side of Sports, by Michael Murphy and Rhea White. Copyright © 1978 by Michael Murphy and Rhea White.
Shambhala Publications, Inc., 300 Massachusetts Ave., Boston, MA 02115, for Kundalini: The Evolutionary Energy in Man, by Gopi Krishna, © 1969.
Jeremy P. Tarcher, Inc., Los Angeles, for Moksha:Writings on Psychedelics and the Visionary Experience (1931-1963), by Aldous Huxley, edited by Michael Horowitz & Cynthia Palmer. Copyright © 1977 by Michael Horowitz and Cynthia Palmer.


 
Dedication:
For those who dedicate themselves
to bring to light the Love
that underlies all that is happening at this time.
 
Acknowledgments
 
This book has been given life by many people. Christina Grof has kindly encouraged me to contribute my voice to the field of spiritual emergency, which she initiated with her husband, Stanislav. I appreciate the Grofs' dedication to circulating information about spiritual emergency and their making way for new voices to enrich the song.
 
Tom Grady at Harper & Row helped with the first outline for this book after Shoshana Tembeck Alexander proposed that I further develop the ideas from A Sourcebook for Helping People in Spiritual Emergency . I am indebted to their initial encouragement and timely inspiration. Continuing as my editor, Shoshana gave of her big mind and kind heart—helping me bring these ideas down to earth. I am grateful for her wisdom and generosity. Mark Salzwedel at Harper & Row was a considerate and gentle companion as he taught me about the intricate steps of the publishing world.
 
The territory I cover in this book comes from a broad spectrum of life experience, and I needed consultation with colleagues in reviewing areas of the text. John White, Ph.D., contributed his eye for detail with kindness and tact. Arthur Hastings, Ph.D., helped me to see with new perspectives. The maturity of his knowledge was a refreshing and inspiring influence. Mary Culberson, Ph.D., has been a consistent, supportive presence with whom I could discuss the clinical issues of helping people in spiritual emergency. Aminah Raheem, Ph.D., masterfully encouraged me to be true to my own experience in her insistent, enlightened way. Laura Sosnowski's personal realization of the transpersonal realms was a constant mirror to me of the power and healing represented in the worlds beyond ego.
 
Finally, I need to express my profound appreciation to my friends and clients who offered their stories so that others might hear and learn from them. Interviewing people on the subject of their spiritual crisis points was an intimate and always fascinating process for me. I hope that the love and openness I was given is transmitted through the text to the readers. These stories and the unique individuals they represent are true gifts to this world as it struggles to become spiritually awake.
 
Most of the people interviewed for this book requested that I disguise their identities. I have made every attempt to honor that wish without sacrificing pertinent information: age level, sex, career orientation. The territory of spiritual experience is extremely personal in nature, exploring to the very roots of what makes life meaningful. Stories and information are shared here in the spirit of reaching out to others needing guidance on the path which is our birthright— spiritual emergence.
 
***
 
From “ Shamanism: Archaic Techniques of Ecstasy ” by Mircea Eliade:
 
Medieval legends tell of a "bridge under water" and of a "sword-bridge" which the hero (Lancelot) must cross barefoot and barehanded; it is "sharper than a scythe" and it is crossed "with great pain and agony." The initiatory character of crossing the sword-bridge is also confirmed by another fact: before he starts over it, Lancelot sees two lions on the further bank, but when he is there he sees only a lizard; successfully undergoing the initiatory ordeal in itself makes the "danger" disappear.
 
Introduction
Having been in on the ground level, when the term “spiritual emergency” (SEY) was first articulated and seeded by my colleagues, Dr. Stanislav and Christina Grof, I am in a good position to reflect on how it has changed in the last 33 years to include more territory. This introduction to the 2 nd edition offers a reflection on what it has become, and describes the best care for someone in spiritual emergency today.
 
Consider a tree. The original small seed and young sapling expand and the roots and the canopy of the tree spread out. So, too, with spiritual emergency.
 
 

 
 
The Seed Thought
 
The seed thought for SEY originated by Stanislav and Christina Grof in the late 1970s referred to a process of transformation in which an individual is potentially moving to a higher state of functioning. SEY represents a step up in human evolution that is trying to occur, an integration of experiences one may have considered as an “anomaly” (like hearing the voice of a spirit guide) because it was outside one’s regular conceptual framework. The result of a SEY: One expands into being more true to the core of one’s authentic Self and becomes wiser and more compassionate. However, before one has understood it, this transition in consciousness can involve disorientation that is so intense that a person finds it impossible to carry on normal activities at home and at work for a period of time.
 
Spiritual emergency is a personal crisis that can appear to have symptoms we have associated with psychosis and has thus been confused with psychosis and serious mental illness (schizophrenia, bipolar, schizo-affective disorder, etc.). People in SEY have been misdiagnosed and given inappropriate treatment, e.g. excessive psychiatric drugs. Psychiatric drugs can impede the progress of this transformative process.
 
Spiritual emergence (SE) refers to a process in which a person expands with ease and grace into his or her spirit self without a crisis.
 
The original definition of SEY still forms the taproot for all that has emerged from it since the first edition of this book was published in 1990. The compelling true stories that make up the chapters in this book illustrate how spiritual emergency shows up in a particular phase of life or in spiritual practice, physical stress, emotional distress, sexual experience, using drugs or spiritual medicines, or the impact of the global crisis we are experiencing now. These phenomena apply today as they did in 1990, when the first edition of this book was published. What I have added to this new edition is this Introduction, important updates in Chapter 9 on drugs, and an updated Resource Section.
 
Branching Out
 
The conceptual framework of SEY is currently branching out significantly. This expansion is being nourished by three elements: 1. Research that has guided new thinking about the origin of mental disorders and the appropriate use of psychiatric drugs; 2. Greater understanding and access to wisdom cultures that know the territory of spiritual growth better than we do; 3. A broader understanding of SEY is emerging as individuals deal with the breakdown of the bio-medical mental health